(Hey everyone! Thanks for your patience and continued support of this story and still reading it even though it's a Christmas fic and it's nearly St. Patrick's Day . This is the final chapter and it's meant to be taking place on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day. It's from JJ's point of view as she's our last team member left. Thanks again, and please let me know what you think. As always, of course, I don't own them, though boy do I sometimes wish I did!)
Christmas at Quantico
Chapter Seven – JJ
"When you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep,
And you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings…"
-"Count your B lessings instead of Sheep" from "White Christmas"
Jennifer "JJ" Jareau had actually moved beyond sleep-deprived and exhausted to a state almost like autopilot as she paced the dim kitchen in her apartment, lit only by the small light over the sink, while she bounced Henry in her arms and tried to still his crying so they could both go back to sleep. Her baby boy, who usually enchanted and entertained her day in and day out, was now wearing her almost ragged. She was on the verge of returning to the BAU and taking the reins back from Jordan, but if she couldn't get a decent night's sleep at some point in the near future, she would never be able to return to her old full steam way of life. She'd loved having time to herself to relax and rejuvenate, and there was nothing like being with her infant son here when he was so young and adorable and seemingly growing every second. It had been good for she and Will as well, and they'd finally worked out a compromise in their relationship and lives that worked for them. Yet, she couldn't possibly deny that she missed the BAU, her team, and her work.
Sighing, she scraped her fingers through her hair to scoop it back off her face and bent her head over Henry's, breathing in the sweet, somewhat milky scent that he always carried and that always managed to calm and soothe her. Bouncing Henry's warm little body while humming quietly and talking sweet nonsense to him, she hoped that eventually the crying would stop. Finally, after several long, drawn-out minutes that felt like an hour, Henry's wails turned into sniffles and grunts, until finally he snuggled into the crook of her neck and snuffled happily as his thumb popped into his mouth.
She walked over to the window and glanced out at the early dawn outside her apartment. She hoped that she and Henry had exited the bedroom before he'd awakened Will. Will had been up with him for the last three nights in a row, and spent most of the day appeasing him as well while she had been on the phone with Hotch, and Jordan, trying to ease the coming transition from Jordan back to her. She adored and respected Jordan, but she'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that the mostly-concealed eagerness to have her back which Hotch seemed to be expressing made her feel both proud and cared for as well. She didn't have any desire to actually become a profiler, but the fact that she filled her role with skill and polish, and her team had missed her touch, was immensely satisfying. Selfishly, JJ wouldn't have wanted someone to be able to easily take her place, even though she'd never have wanted to leave her team in a bad spot.
Thinking about the team, made her smile inspite of her weariness as each of their faces came into her mind. She couldn't wait to pal around in Garcia's lair between cases with the outlandish computer tech who was truly her best friend, and with Emily who'd become not only a teammate but almost what she would have imagined a sister would be like if she'd had one. She couldn't wait to tease poor Reid for adorably stumbling over himself in some local sheriff's office and to ruffle his hair when they were on their lunch break, like he was a younger brother she just couldn't help but mess with. She missed Morgan teasing her and occasionally indulging a protective streak towards her which her post-feminist mind usually rebelled from, but found flattering when it came from him, knowing it was only because he truly cared about and valued her. She'd just felt like she was getting to know Dave when she'd had to leave, but it sounded like he'd taken Jordan under his wing when she'd struggled and he deserved to know that she appreciated it. But Hotch….
The man carried so much weight on his own shoulders, besides taking responsibility for all of his team and the guilt when anything happened to any one of them. She couldn't help but try to be his right hand woman and do anything she could to make the job just a little bit easier. She tried to remain as professional and put together as he himself did and to let him know that he was the best team leader and profiler she would ever come into contact with. Even if she couldn't actually put it that plainly into words, she hoped that with her actions and her support, she got that message across to her superior somehow in at least some small way. He was the backbone of them all, and if she could be a bracing strength to him and the rest of them, then that was what she wanted to do, more than anything else.
Henry continued to resist sleep, but was now gurgling happily as he gazed up at her with wide, guileless blue eyes. "You're Mama's beautiful boy, aren't you?" she said to him liltingly, grinning down at his enchanting little face. She tickled him under the chin and planted a kiss to his forehead. "Yes you are, aren't you? I just want you to go to sleep for me. Can't you do that?"
As if mocking her, Henry let out a sweet stream of laughter and kicked his legs happily, completely oblivious to how desperate his mother was to get some rest. "Please, Baby Boy, don't you want to sleep for just a little while?" But she shook her head even as she said it, knowing nothing of the sort was going to happen anytime soon.
For a moment's reprieve, she glanced up at the clock, trying to see just how late it was. Maybe she could get Henry to babble at his godfather or his Auntie Emily, one or the other, if it wasn't too late too late to call either one or both of her teammates. Deciding it was not so much after midnight that Reid at least would be asleep, she dialled the number, thinking that either someone else's voice would soothe Henry into resting or would wake her up by having someone to talk to. Besides, she thought, chuckling to herself as the phone rang, he was the godfather; this sort of the thing should be expected as a part of the deal.
"Hello? Spencer Reid speaking," Reid's voice broke into her thoughts as he answered the phone just then, his voice sounding deeper and scruffier at this hour than it ever did in the office during the day. "Is anyone there?"
JJ hadn't answered right away, the way his voice sounded right then taking her aback. She had to gather her wits about her, and try not to tease him. He sounded downright sexy, and not at all like he'd been asleep. "Ah- yeah, sorry, Reid, I'm here. It's JJ…and Henry…"
Before he could respond though, JJ very distinctly heard someone else enter the room on his end of the line and then they spoke and she dropped the phone in shock. It was Emily's voice that wafted into her ears asking Reid where he'd said he kept the bath towels. She heard a scuffling sound and Reid nervously clearing his throat as she quickly bent down to retrieve the phone from the floor at her feet. Scooping it up and shifting Henry to her other hip, she put the receiver back to her ear in time to hear Reid chuckling nervously before saying, "Hey JJ, how are you? "
Then Prentiss came on the line as well, "Hey, Jaje, is Henry not sleeping for you?"
Reid's voice sounded confused then, "Em, how do you know that's why she called?"
"Call it woman's intuition, Spencer," Emily responded drily, a light happy laugh in her voice evident to JJ even from across a phone line. "JJ, am I right?"
JJ laughed too, knowing poor Spence couldn't be expected to read her mind, as females still completely baffled her genius friend from time to time. However, if what she'd heard of the happenings at his house this evening were any indication, there might be one he seemed to have figured out pretty well. It was sweet how happy the two of them sounded and she couldn't stop the beaming smile that spread across her face. "Well, I was hoping that talking to his godfather might calm him down, so we could both get some sleep," she explained, "but if I'm interrupting something…"
"No, no, it's okay," Reid said eagerly, sounding as though he genuinely was anxious to talk to the little boy. "I'd love to talk to him."
"And I'll talk to him too, if you don't mind?" Emily added.
"Sure, that would be great. You guys have at it. I'll sit down for a minute and hope you have better luck with him than I have been. And maybe you could start by telling us both if you two have something you'd like to share." She was grinning evilly by now, and she knew that if she could see either one of them they would both be blushing.
"Why, JJ, whatever are you implying?" Emily asked, sweetly playing dumb.
"Well, it's just that Spence and I have been friends a long time, but I don't think I've ever had occasion to ask him where the towels are in his bathroom, if you know what I mean…" Henry gurgled happily again, as if he was in on the joke and made them all laugh.
"Fair enough," Emily answered, point taken. "She might as well know, Handsome, what do you think? They'll all find out soon enough anyway."
"JJ, if you must know," Reid said, trying to sound impatient and annoyed, but really just having a little fun with his friend, "I was about to join Emily in the shower, since we've been spending almost every night together since Christmas."
"Reid!" Emily exclaimed, shocked.
JJ coughed and gasped for air, almost choking on her own tongue. Reid never talked like that and he'd definitely caught her off guard. When she could catch her breath again, she managed to get out, "Reid, for heaven's sake! Since when do you talk like that? I'm not sure I want to have Henry's little ear polluted by his godfather's inappropriate talk."
"Okay, okay, we'll both be good," Emily said, laughing at both her new boyfriend and JJ's reaction. "But you might as well know, that granted this just happened, but I haven't been this happy in as long as I can remember."
"Me either," Reid piped in, sounding more chipper and happy than JJ thought she'd ever heard him.
"You two both sound happy," she added, smiling and feeling her heart warming for them. The job they all did was tough, and it was hard to find a person to love you who could understand with the things they faced each day and deal with their schedule week in and week out. "I'm happy for you two, you deserve each other." She honestly didn't know why their dating as a possibility hadn't struck her before now. In some ways, they were so much alike, and they both had been so lonely and needing someone else to really, truly understand them for so long.
She glanced down and saw that somewhere in the midst of their conversation, Henry had finally drifted off. She smiled down at him, glad he was finally asleep and enraptured once again by how innocent and peacefull he looked while he slept. "Guys, hey, not that I wouldn't like to talk some more, but you've done the trick, Henry's finally asleep, and I'm going to put him to bed before he wakes up and starts fussing again."
"Okay, we'll talk to you again soon," Reid said before hanging up.
"Bye, JJ," Emily added.
She hung up the phone and headed upstairs, bending over the bassinet to lay Henry down gently on his pillow. To her relief, he continued to slumber on undisturbed and she looked down on him, suddenly feeling a rush of love and optimism overwhelming her. It was funny, but between the talk she'd just had with Reid and Emily and looking down at her flawless little boy, she couldn't help but somehow feel better about the world as this new year began. The world was a dark, dangerous, horrible place sometimes; she knew that better and more vividly than most. But her friends, her fiance, and Henry, made her feel like there were more blessings in the world than she often thought. She was incredibly lucky, and she knew as she slipped back under the coves on her side of the bed and pressed a light kiss to Will's sleeping shoulder, that she wouldn't stop thinking so anytime soon. She'd take another year in her life over anything else.