Chapter 3

JJ finally came to the conclusion that if she wanted her life to change she would have to take the first step. And that way of reasoning was what made her visit her best friend; "Garcia, can we go for a drink later, if we aren't called away on a case?" JJ asked when she had barely opened the door to the techs' lair.

"Oh, JJ I thought you would never ask!" Garcia exclaimed happily while she turned around in her chair and looked up at the younger woman. Due to her own relationship with Kevin and JJ and Will having Henry 'girls night out' had been reduced to every once in a while, and the last time had been way too long ago. She kept the smile on her face, but she couldn't hide the worry which was visible in her eyes. "We should ask Emily to come with us." Garcia suggested, hoping that she was reading JJ wrong and that the other woman wanted to go for a drink and have a girl's night out for old time's sake.

"Uh… no, can't it just be… me and you?" JJ said softly, her voice barely audible while the usually well spoken JJ stumbled over her words not able to form a complete sentence. "You know how you asked me if I believed that everything happens for a reason when you met Kevin. After … you know you were shot?" JJ asked, thinking back of the moment when she had been so scared to loose her best friend, and Emily had been there. Of course Emily had been there for the same reason as she and their other team members, but in that moment it felt like Emily was solely there to support her.

"So the nature of this invitation is not a funky girl's night out, but a night filled with advice from the omniscient one?" Garcia said keep her smile firmly in place but the worries filled her mind even more. Today would be a long day she knew that much, a long day worrying about her young friend. Now even more then before she knew that something was bothering JJ or she would not have asked her for her advice. JJ usually kept her personal problems and worries private and dealt with them in her own way. But then again usually JJ usually never wore her heart on her sleeve.

JJ smiled; "Yes, that would be the meaning behind my invitation. I need help; I need someone I can rely on." And with that confession she quickly left the small room and retreated to her own office as fast as she could.

She barely left the room all day, except for when she ran out of coffee and she found herself in need of a refill. It never took her more then a few minutes at a time and she never talked to anyone. Though she did notice the worried looks her team members send her way; she chooses to ignore them all. Especially those coming from Emily she was afraid that she would be the one who would look straight through her facade and JJ was not ready for that. Not yet.

Hours later Garcia found herself in the door opening that led to JJ's darkened office. So far she had been standing there unnoticed while she watched her young friend who was half hidden behind several stacks of file folders of pending and recent cases.

She knew that the other woman had been struggling with something and by the looks of the office which was even more cluttered with files then usually; it must have been something big. Something which was consuming JJ in a huge way, Garcia tried to remember when she had seen the woman smile recently. Other then while she was on the phone talking to her son and listening to his baby talk, she couldn't remember a recent smile gracing the younger womans' face. All of them had been struggling; the horrors of Haley Hotchner's death had impacted them all in one way or another. The whole ordeal had hit JJ harder then the others besides of course Hotch and Jack.

JJ seemed to be lost in thought staring at the picture frame which was placed on the corner of her desk; Garcia knew that it held a picture of Henry. For a second Garcia wondered if JJ was expecting a second child and if that was the reason for her recent mood swings and maybe everything was happening too fast for JJ's liking. Or maybe ... Garcia's breath hitched at the mere thought; maybe something was the matter with young Henry, she quickly pushed that thought from her mind it would break her heart if the little boy was sick. But it would explain a lot of the behavior JJ recently had been portraying around the office.

Garcia knew that she was driving herself crazy with the way her mind was rolling through one possible scenario after another. She raised her hand and knocked on the wooden door frame forcing a smile on her face while she watched JJ's head snap up in her general direction; "Hey Gumdrop, you ready to go?" She asked in her usually chipper tone of voice.

JJ rubbed her eyes and got up; she slowly let her eyes move over the stacks of folders on her desk and the chair on the other side of her desk. She sighed deeply before she grabbed her bag; "Yes, I am ready I am sure that this will all be here in the morning when I come back."

"Hmm... yes there is no one who secretly comes in at night and continues where we left off, unfortunately." Garcia agreed with a smirk; "Let's go and have that drink, you look like you could use it and in the morning you can worry about this collection of file folders here." Garcia said with a raised eyebrow while she looked at the desk or rather what little part was visible of it from her position in the doorway. JJ made her way around the desk and grabbed her coat from chair and barely got a chance to put it on before she was firmly grabbed by her arm and dragged away from her office, Garcia was relentless today she would find out what was bothering JJ. One way or another she would get answers; tonight. JJ noticed that the office was already empty, which meant that it must have been later then she had presumed it was.