Sweet Dreams- a Criminal Minds fanfic

Chapter 15

Hotch unlocked the door to his apartment and held it open for JJ and Henry to walk inside. Jessica, who had been called in a rush to babysit Jack, met them by the front door.

"Is everything, okay?" the blonde asked, worriedly. By the way Hotch had called her, it sounded like something bad had happened. Not that his cases were ever good.

"Not yet," was his short answer and it was the truth. It wouldn't be okay until Will was caught.

"It's safe for me to go home?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, of course," the unit chief replied, giving Jessica a quick hug. "Thank you for coming over with such short notice.

"Anytime. Take care of yourself," she said with a final nod before exiting the apartment.

Henry had tiredly sat down on the couch while the grownups were talking and Julia was sleeping in JJ's arms. The younger blonde was quietly waiting for Hotch to tell her where to go. All she wanted right now was to sleep. Her head was pounding and her whole body felt numb.

"I'll put clean sheets on my bed and you can sleep there. We have Jack's old travel crib where Julia can sleep," Hotch told her.

"Where will you sleep?"

"I'll take the couch right here." JJ was about to protest, but Hotch beat it to her. "No argues."

JJ sighed, "Okay."

Walking upstairs, Hotch showed his guests where his bedroom was. They put Julia in the crib before changing the bed. Henry was quick to lie down and close his eyes. His mother brought the covers over him and dimmed the lights before the adults snuck out of the room, the blonde knowing he'd want to talk, but the truth was that she just couldn't. She didn't wanna think about what Will had done. What made him act like that. What she had done to cause it.

It was all the questions and the desperate need of finding the answers that made JJ's head want to explode.

"You wanna talk about it?" The older man asked.

"About what?" Though JJ knew what he meant.

"Will. Emily."

Shaking her head she tried to keep her tears in line. "I don't know what to say about it. Will got tired of me and snapped. What else is there to say?"

"I know this is hard on you, but it's in no way your fault. None of us could've predicted this. None of us knows why this happened."

"He's my husband. I should've known. I should've seen the signs. It makes me wonder how well I even knew him. What if he's always been like this? What if he's hurt other women before? I don't know what's going on in his mind right now and it makes me so frustrated because I should know. I thought I knew, but now..."

"It's okay to say what you feel, JJ. It's okay to not know. He isn't your husband anymore. He isn't the Will we all know."

"But what is he planning? Is he really coming back? Why?" JJ put a hand on her forehead, rubbing to get rid of the tension, and started walking toward the living room. Hotch followed closely behind, both sitting down on the couch.

"A psychotic break?" Hotch suggested.

"But something had to trigger it."

"Becoming a parent again? Losing you?"

"He only lost me after he assaulted my best friend," JJ said bitterly, a tear slipping down her cheek which she furiously wiped away. "I'm sorry for this."

"Hey, don't apologize. Your husband just committed a heinous crime. It's okay to break down," Hotch said.

JJ only nodded as a reply as more tears gathered in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Hotch was quick to pull JJ into a hug, letting her break down in his arms.