a second chance - Hotchniss

Conversations [JJ]

I entered the hospital around three in the morning, carrying Emily's bag with me. Looking around for Hotch, I just found Jonas sitting in one of the chairs next to the entry.

"Jonas?", I asked and he looked up, confused. "I'm JJ, I think we've never met before."

"Oh, hi. I guess Alaska told me about you", he said as I sat down next to him. "And I think I walked pass you here before."

I nodded and asked: "What are you doing here? Visitor times are over and you have to get ready for school in some hours, don't you?"

"I do, but... I just cannot sleep. And I feel better when I am as close to her as possible.", he sighs and looks down.

"You really love her, don't you?", I smiled sadly.

"I do", he whispered. "And there is nothing worse than seeing the person you love hating and starving herself to death, and there's nothing you can do to help her."

I put one hand on his shoulder: "You will get through this, both of you. Okay?"

The young boy remained silent, so I said: "She may not fight for herself, but she will fight for you. To make you proud. She loves you more than anything, I know that. She would never leave you alone."

"Is this what she said?"

"Not exactly, but I'm a profiler. I read people like books, and in Alaska's case, it was really obvious. She told me so much about you", I smiled.

"Did she tell you how we met?", he asked and a small smile formed on his lips.

I shook my head 'no' and said: "Tell me."

"I first met Alaska on a party we were both invited to, in the back yard."

-

The young girl stumbled into the yard, trying to get away as far as possible from this awful party. She hadn't drunk a lot, but already felt a bit dizzy. People who were as skinny as her did not tolerate a lot of alcohol. The fresh air made her calm down a bit and she leaned against the fence.

"You okay?", a voice suddenly asked and she nearly jumped. He himself had been invited to this party as well, but he didn't like it a lot and had headed outside to have a smoke.

"God, you scared me", she hissed but relaxed again as she could see his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to", he apologized. "It just looked like you were pretty drunk and I thought I should ask if you are okay, before anything's gonna happen to you."

"I'm fine", she assured. She didn't like conversations with strangers that much. Her parents had always warned her of all the dangers that could be found around here, but she knew that they were overreacting sometimes. But what else should one expect from two FBI Agents?

He looked at her. She was pretty, her raven hair was long and wavy, her eyes the prettiest he had ever seen. He had never cared a lot for girls, especially not after his heart been broken by this girl in his biology class in fifth grade. But she had a different effect on him. A good one.

"I'm Jonas, by the way", he introduced himself. "I guess we are in the same grade, actually."

"We are?", she looked at him, surprised. "I'm Alaska. And I have never seen you before."

Her honesty hit him like a truck, yet it made her even more attractive.

"Oh", he sighed.

She realized how bad at conversations he was, but she kinda liked him, since he had walked into the yard for the same reason she did, but he had been clever enough to bring a bottle of wine with him.

"Have you ever been to the roof?", she asked, pointing up to the roof of the big house.

"No. Why?"

"It's pretty nice up there and actually the safest place to go. Nobody knows how to get there and even if they would, they are all to drunk to get there.", she explained.

"Sounds good to me", he nodded and they walked back into the house, making their way up to a room, from where they climbed out of the window on the roof.

The air was cold, yet the area was really peaceful. Only then she realized how good-looking he was. His eyes were mixed shade of blue and green, and it drove her crazy that she was not able to define their actual color. His hair was dark blonde, and he was tall and muscular, yet not too muscular. She hated it when boys looked like they were having steroid for breakfast.

They sat down, staring into the dark sky, sharing the bottle of wine. Neither of them talked a lot until she started to get cold. She was only wearing a black dress and her sneakers, which was way too less for staying outside.

"Do you want to have my sweater?", he asked, offering it to her.

"How ironic", she grinned, taking another sip of the wine bottle.

"Better than freezing to death", he shrugged and she pulled his sweater over her head. This unique sent gave her the chills. She didn't know why she liked this stranger so much, but he made her smile and gave some kind of security.

"Why did your parents name you Alaska?", he then asked.

"Why did your parents name you Jonas?", she asked back, turning her head to him.

"No, I mean - Jonas is a totally boring name. I know so many boys who have this name, but I've never met a girl named after one of the coldest places on this planet.", he explained.

"Alaska is definitely not one of the coldest places on this planet", she chuckled. "And I don't know. Never asked them."

"You should."

"Will do."

He smiled at her, but she didn't see it, looking into the sky.

"What do you see when you look into the sky?", she then whispered.

"Um - nothing I guess. At the moment; darkness. And some spots that are probably stars. And the moon. But I don't see zodiac signs or any other special thing.", he admitted, raising his head as well.

"Me neither", she laughed. He soon joined her laughter. And that's how they stayed the whole night, alone on the roof, making each other laugh while they emptied the bottle of wine until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

-

"I've never heard a story like this before", I smiled and Jonas smiled as well, but it was a sad smile. These memories obviously hurt him.

"What's in this bag?", he then asked, pointing at the beg between my feet.

"Oh, that's for Emily. Hotch had to bring her here tonight. He asked me to pack her a bag and wait here, but I cannot find him anywhere. Plus, he didn't even tell me what was wrong with her", I sighed, worried.

Before Jonas could answer, we saw Hotch walking down the hallway. I directly jumped up and made my way up to him. "What happened?!"

"Time moves in one direction. Memory in another." - William Gibson