Title: Taken

Timeline: about a year after "Slave to duty"

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters, no affiliation with network or show. Definitely no profits.

Summary: First CM's fic, Hotch/JJ center but other characters involved. JJ and Will have been having problems but she never expected what happened next. This summary is purposefully vague so as to not give away plot to early. Thanks for reading, feedback welcome. No beta reader, all mistakes solely my own.

Introduction – Chapter 1

It was a slow day at the office of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. It was one of those rare times where the team could focus on paperwork while waiting for another case to sweep them off to another part of the country. Everyone was fully aware that JJ was sitting in her office sifting through files and it was only a matter of time before she selected a new destination for them.

While JJ sorted through requests for help that littered her desk and shelves, Hotch was also busy in his office with the seemingly endless stacks of paperwork that were required by Strauss and other FBI bureaucrats. Garcia was sitting in her office with her computers while the rest of the team were taking the rare opportunity to lounge and joke in the bullpen as they took advantage of some much needed downtime, entertaining each other with various stories and much lighter topics than the usual serial killers, rapists and arsonists.

It was rare occasions such as this that helped the team maintain their sanity and helped solidify their abilities to coordinate and work efficiently as a team. Morgan and Prentiss seemed to be doing most of the talking while Rossi and Reid supplied the role of audience with occasional laughter and questions or comments. "I wish JJ would take a break and come out to join us" Prentiss finally said as she cast a look towards the media liason's office.

"Maybe we should go invite her to come out and join us," Reid agreed, "she's seemed more preoccupied with work than usual lately" he shared his observation with the rest of the team.

"She's almost as much of a workaholic as Hotch these days." Derek almost muttered in agreement, as he followed the gaze of the others towards her office. "I wonder if there's something wrong?"

The bullpen was quiet as the team's minds whirred while they pieced together the potential similarities that could cause JJ to be working as hard as Hotch. They had already adjusted to Hotch's behavior of burying himself in work. The tendency he had always seemed to have seeming to have only increased in the year that had followed since Haley's death. As profilers they were well aware that this was likely his way of coping with the pain and loss he had suffered. However they had watched enough to know that he still went home, took time from his work to spend with his son and managed the responsibilities of being a single father, so were willing to give him the space he needed to continue to heal.

While most of the team would give him space, it was obvious to everyone that he was continuing to suffer from the weight of responsibility he bore about Haley's murder, and along with that causing Jack to now be without a mother. When they were on a case there was still the usual interaction as needed to solve the case, however when at home the minute Hotch set foot in the building he would isolate from the rest of team and bury himself in the stacks of paper constantly waiting in his office.

Hotch had usually been a little distant with the team as far as social interactions, due to being their superior but that had not stopped him in the past from occasionally joining in for some occasional socialization after a case. But those times had stopped soon after the reaper had struck out sending Haley and his son into witness protection, and had only intensified since the irreparable damage that had been done to the Hotchner family before Foyet drew his last breath.

The team had chosen to respect Hotch's boundaries and leave breaking through them to Rossi. Rossi was the only one with the courage to reach out and go drag Hotch out of his office when it was needed or push him into at least temporarily lightening up when he became almost to serious. After a year of this they were used to Hotch being this way as he slowly fought his way back to normalcy, but they were not used to JJ being withdrawn.

"You call yourselves profilers," Rossi couldn't help but chuckle as he could almost watch the wheels turn in the minds of the three young profilers before him as they tried to recall observations they may have made but not registered over the past couple months.

"You haven't realized that for the past month JJ has been working longer hours, obviously not getting enough sleep and only showing pictures of Henry when asked about the family. I've been married enough times to recognize serious relationship problems when I see them." Rossi said sagely, enjoying the opportunity to share his wisdom and experience on relationships with the younger members. He watched as they thought about his suggestion and could see the lightbulbs start to turn on.

"He could be right, she hasn't talked about their engagement at all, last I heard was a vague mention of not having set a date yet." Prentiss mused before getting out of her chair and starting to walk towards JJ's office, figuring it was time to invite her out after work for some girl talk to find out what as going on. JJ didn't tend to talk openly about her problems at work, but not many of them did. It was one of the downfalls of working with a team of profilers to have a tendency to keep things close to the vest. Garcia was the only one who seemed comfortable being open and sharing herself with the team.

"Hey JJ, got a minute?" Prentiss asked as she walked in smiling brightly trying to act as if this was purely a social call, though she knew any trained profiler could have seen through the act and JJ had probably been with them long enough now to see through it as well as anyone.

"Sure, what's up?" JJ said distractedly as she stopped reading the file and looked up at Emily, who noticed for the first time the tired circles that had been so carefully covered with makeup lurking under her friend's eyes.

"I thought maybe we could get Garcia and do a girl's night after work, it's been awhile you know?" Prentiss said brightly, trying to make it sound as appealing as possible. To her relief JJ seemed to brighten at the idea as she put down the file she was holding.

"Now that you've asked that sounds like a good idea, I have thought of us having a girls night out sometime, but timing has always seemed off." JJ shared, already pulling out her cell phone. "I'll call Will to let him know I'll be late." Prentiss noticed the relief that JJ felt and her inner profiler kicked in as she couldn't help but wonder if it the brightening was due to the chance to go out with friends and talk, or to delay going home, or quite possibly a combination of both she deduced as she watched her friend dial.

To Be Continued