Derek knew Penelope didn’t sleep, but this was just ridiculous. He himself was a light sleeper and so when his blond goddess had climbed out of bed it had inadvertently woken him. He assumed she was just heading to the bathroom, but when she hadn’t passed his bed, Derek assumed she’d chosen a different position. Now, twenty minutes later, she hadn’t climbed back into bed and Derek was a little concerned. He moved quietly so as to not wake Reid or JJ but loud enough that his approach didn’t startle her.
“What’s on your mind, Baby Girl?”
Penelope glanced up at him as he took a seat on the small table in front of her. “Nothing,” she lied softly, going for the most comforting smile she could muster. “Go back to bed. Get some sleep.”
Derek sighed, reaching out a hand to grasp hers. “Don’t lie to me, Princess. Not here, not now.”
“There’s… Jayje is going out there tomorrow,” she said softly, focusing on the warmed of his hand encasing hers.
“She’s done it before,” Derek pointed out. He was terrified for JJ, of course, but he trusted in her abilities. He had to, if only to avoid this kind of turmoil.
Penelope sighed. “Like this?”
Derek let his thumb stroke over the soft skin of the back of her hand. “We’ll all be there, Penelope. We won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I just… I couldn’t be that far away.”
He wasn’t sure if she realized that she’d changed the subject but he wasn’t about to change it back to the danger of the upcoming day.
“Jayje, you… I couldn’t be in Quantico, away from everyone… I needed to be here.”
On impulse, Derek pulled her to her feet, pulling her into his arms, trying to ignore how right she felt in his arms. “We need you here,” he told her. “But you were safer in Virginia.”
Penelope pulled away, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. “I would feel worse if something happened and I was safely in my bunker.”
He sighed, well aware that her fears were well-founded. “Pen, you need to try and get some sleep.”
Penelope’s heart rate was beating erratically as his arms flexed around her form. “I don’t sleep on cases, Hot Stuff, you know that.”
“You need to try,” he cajoled. “Come on, Mama.”
She reluctantly climbed back into bed, pulling the blanket up. As Derek tried to move back to his own bed, she caught his hand. “Stay?”
Derek almost groaned, knowing exactly what she meant. “My bed is three feet away, Goddess.”
“With me, Derek. Please?”
He would move heaven and earth for the woman lying on the bed before him, and there was no way he’d be able to resist her. He climbed in slowly as she moved to accommodate him. Once he was settled, she surprised him again by rolling against him, snuggling in close.
Derek knew it would be a long night.
Aaron was wide awake, his mind whirling. Emily had fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow and even with her soft body beside him, Aaron couldn’t seem to turn his mind off. He sighed for the millionth time since he and Emily had hunkered down. His mind was full of the possible scenarios of their upcoming day. He’d tried to convince himself that they’d been left with no other choice, that a live, televised press conference was the only way to go.
But he knew he was putting JJ in a precarious position. He hated putting one of his teammates in the direct line of fire, especially someone on his team he perceived as vulnerable. JJ, though she’d proven herself a good agent time and time again, was one of those teammates. He was always protective of his team, of his family.
“You’re fussing.”
Her voice surprised him. “I thought you were asleep.”
Emily pushed herself up to rest her head over his heart, an arm around his stomach. “What’s on your mind?”
Aaron shifted her, pulling her entire body on top of his, tucking his hand under his t-shirt to rest on her skin. “There has to be another way.”
Emily hunkered down, snuggling into his warmth. “We’ve exhausted everything. We’ve tried to see if we could find a way to avoid putting JJ out there.” She was as terrified for JJ too, but it was a peril of the job.
“There has to be,” Aaron insisted.
“Aaron,” Emily said in affectionate exasperation. “This is as thoroughly planned as an invasion of a foreign country.”
“How are you so calm?”
“Danger is in the job,” she answered. “JJ knew that this was coming. We’ve done all we can from behind the scenes.” She almost rolled her eyes when he still lay stiffly beneath her. “Every officer has this guy’s picture. Every officer will be there tomorrow. These are their own people at stake.”
“It’s our people at stake,” Aaron contradicted. “JJ…”
“Has more protection than my mother ever had.”
He met her eyes in the dark. “You’ve compartmentalized.”
“Naturally,” she said with a smile, kissing him gently. “Sleep, Aaron. Fuss in the morning.”
It still took him forty-five minutes to drift off.
Spencer looked down at JJ’s head buried in blankets and sighed. He’d spent the better part of the last ten minutes trying to get her out of bed. JJ, however, was surprisingly stubborn when she wanted to be.
“Jenn, you need to get up.”
“Five more minutes,” JJ groaned.
Spencer reached down, peeling the blanket back to her waist. “Come on.”
JJ sighed. “Can we just fast-forward through the day?”
I wish, Spencer thought to himself. “What happened to the woman who could stand up to anything?”
“She went on vacation,” JJ groaned.
Spencer jumped at the loud sound of clapping that preceded the happy face of Penelope from the other room.
“Come on, Girl. Today’s a beautiful day.”
JJ lifted her head to glare at the other blond. “How are you awake?”
“I’m always awake,” Penelope responded cheerfully as she all but shoved Spencer out the door. “Why aren’t you?”
JJ sat up as Penelope settled beside her. “I was fine last night,” she lied. “Well… I’d accepted that I was going to have to do it.”
Penelope waved as Emily returned to change her clothes. “Okay. So what happened?”
“I don’t know,” JJ answered. “I don’t have anything to be afraid of. There’s no way the guy can get in… There’s no reason for me to be afraid.”
“But you are.”
The smaller blond ran a hand through her still mussed hair. “I’m terrified. Something is telling me that things are going to go wrong.”
“With our fantastic team of superheroes behind you? Of course not,” Penelope said, trying for reassurance.
Emily stepped in then, looking fresh and functional, hair back in a ponytail. “Morning. Everyone went down for breakfast.” Then she saw JJ’s slightly dejected face. “Uh oh.”
“I’ve never been this nervous about going on TV since I did my first conference for the FBI,” JJ said, rubbing at her forehead.
The brunette cocked her head to the side. “We’re not even sure he’s still in the city, Jayje.”
“Logic isn’t helping me today,” JJ said on a sigh as she pulled herself out of bed. “I’ll be out in ten minutes.”
The hair on Emily’s neck was standing uncomfortably on end as she stood by the entrance to the precinct. She and Derek stood shoulder-to-shoulder just in front of the podium JJ would soon be behind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Derek nudged her elbow. “You okay?” He knew all of the signs of an uncomfortable Emily Prentiss.
“Something’s off,” she said, her eyes scanning the crowd for the hundredth time.
But there was no time to do anything about her worries. JJ stepped forward, her soft pink blouse and charcoal skirt emphasizing her humanity and vulnerability. She took to the podium, knees locked, the only sign of the veteran liaison’s nerves.
“I’m Special Agent Jennifer Jareau of the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI. We, along with the hard working members of Tuscon’s homicide squad have found our primary suspect in the murders of Reese Joshlynn, Erica Raghnall, Michelle Pegeen, Zoe Duyen, and Olivia Cole as well as in the disappearance of Jo Sile.”
A murmur rose through the crowd, but JJ kept strong.
“We’re looking for reporter Bernard Dell. We believe he is responsible for the aforementioned crimes. We have not been able to find him. If you see him, please call the number on your screen. This will connect you to an FBI tipline. Please remember, this man has killed five Tuscon police officers, he is not someone to be trifled with. Are there any questions?”
Emily felt the hairs on her neck do a funny jig and resisted the urge to wipe a hand over her skin to calm them. Something wasn’t right. Even her gut was churching with the idea. Her body was shaking with the adrenaline of possibility, her mind and eyes restless as they searched the crowd of people. But she never thought to look behind her until it was too late.
“Nobody move or Agent Jareau is dead.”