On a trip to New York, JJ finds herself face to face with an old friend.
-> read on ao3
(Post-canon and canon compliant; takes place a year after the end of S15. Emily has been promoted to FBI Director, JJ succeeds her as Unit Chief of the BAU.)
---~.~---
Central Park is nice, JJ thinks, watching her son as he scampers up the large rock formation, carefully selecting footholds before clambering up higher, boyish excitement evident. The park is almost completely sheltered from the rest of New York City, dulling the noise of city life and the bustling of pedestrians and cars, a welcome peace after living in Washington D.C. for most her life.
Henry is here for a Quiz Bowl tournament, a kind of general trivia competition. His middle school’s team made it all the way to Nationals, and both JJ and Will had some vacation time lined up, so they figured they’d make it a family trip. It’s Saturday morning, and Henry and Will are at the local Academy for the preliminary rounds. Although JJ wanted the entire family there, Michael wanted to go to Central Park, and Henry agreed that he should go there.
“The prelims are only gonna be in the morning anyways,” he had explained, “so you can take Michael to the park and come see me in the afternoon.”
Watching Michael disappear over the other side of the rock, JJ feels herself smile. On the one hand, she’s so proud of Henry, proud of him for finding a comfortable compromise that satisfied the entire family, even if it took a small sacrifice from him. On the other, she’s wary at how mature he is, at how understanding he is that he is willing to make a sacrifice, to make sure his little brother is happy, and that subconsciously, he knows that if Michael wanted to go to the park, JJ would want to go with him to keep him safe. With his father in a school full of children and administration and adults, Henry would be safe, but in a strange and foreign park, JJ would prefer to keep watch over Michael than allow anyone else.
It’s jarring, she supposes, at how understanding he is. How analytical he is, despite his young age. It’s probably because of Spence; he’s definitely closer to his godfather than Michael, learning quickly and ravenously through the young man’s lectures and rambles, and their relationship is the reason why Henry is so proficient in Quiz Bowl. She attended one of their meets once out of curiosity, just to see how it worked. It was like jeopardy-- the speaker would give a question, and whichever team answered the fastest and also got the question right received the most points. Henry scored most of the team’s points, hitting his buzzer and giving the answer within milliseconds, and that evening, JJ called Spence to tell him of Henry’s exploits.
“Well, it’s no surprise,” he had said. “Henry’s a fast learner, even for his age.”
“Just like his godfather,” she teased. She heard his smile over the phone and grinned.
With a jerk, JJ comes back to reality and frowns, seeing only the large stone formation and no blond hair.
“Michael?” she calls, craning her neck to look from her seat. “Michael, where are you?”
Her second son is out of sight, and pushing down the rising panic, she stands up, only to sigh in relief as he reappears.
“Mommy, I made a friend,” he yells, scurrying to her in the way a five-year-old would, and following him is a small Asian girl, dressed in a pink sweatshirt and blue sweatpants, eyes timid and curious. JJ smiles at the girl but surveys the park.
“Hey sweetheart,” she says, ruffling Michael’s hair as he clutches at her leg and points to the girl. “Where are your parents?”
“Her name is Mia,” Michael interrupts, “and she lives in Brooklyn, and her favorite color is orange.”
JJ smiles at her but keeps her distance, her motherly instincts and memories at the BAU fighting an internal battle. Desperately, she wants to take hold of the child and make sure she’s safe, but too many cases of children being used by unsubs as bait stops her. The girl, to her credit, stands a few feet away, hands playing with the hem of her shirt and only looking at Michael.
“Mia! Mia, come back!”
The voice drags up memories, buried far down deep within JJ’s mind, and as the girl turns around, a figure appears from the other side of the rock formation.
“Mia, don’t run off like that,” the woman says, strolling forward and holding out her hand. Mia reaches out and grabs hold of it, only nodding as the woman continues gently scolding her, squeezing her hand in some sort of language. “You scared me, I couldn’t see you.”
As though only just noticing JJ, the woman straightens and smiles, only to freeze mid-greeting. JJ frowns; the woman seems familiar, with shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes, but she can’t quite place it-
“JJ,” she says, almost reverently.
JJ scans the woman quickly, lips pursing as she takes in her black trenchcoat and tall boots, and it all clicks together when she sees the tiny scar above her eyebrow.
“Elle.”
---~.~---
Mia and Michael get along well, the latter being the more rambunctious of the two, chirping and cheering and guiding Mia across the rock formations, him scampering along while Mia takes more calculated steps, the only signs of her enjoyment the shine in her eyes and the smile she has on her face. Elle sits next to JJ on the bench, a few inches away as though unsure just how close she can be after being gone for over fifteen years, and the brunette makes no attempt to hide her studying JJ.
It’s not like JJ isn’t studying her too. Years ago, Elle always had this blank look on her face, eyes either glazed and unfocused or hard and piercing, either quiet and solemn or biting and cruel. And then she was gone.
“Are you still at the BAU?” Elle finally asks.
Her voice is quiet but firm; that hasn’t changed. Her old cheekiness is gone, replaced instead with a weariness that comes after years of experience, but still strong and powerful, like when JJ first met her in the bullpen.
“Yeah, I uh- I’m the Unit Chief, in fact.”
Elle arches her eyebrows in surprise, and a warm smile spreads on her face.
“Unit Chief?”
JJ nods.
“Congratulations. Did you ever become a profiler?”
Oh God. When she left, JJ was still the Communications Liaison, she didn’t know about her at the Pentagon or that she became a profiler or that Hotch and Morgan left-
“Yeah,” she says, “yeah, after a couple of years, I took the training.”
“That’s great, JJ,” she says, then winces. “Sorry-”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” JJ says swiftly.
Elle nods, a wariness in her eyes, and JJ wants to cry. You can call me JJ, we’re still friends, she wants to say, you’re my friend even though it’s been years, years since we’ve been more than friends.
“If you’re Unit Chief,” Elle says, realization dawning in her eyes, “then is Hotch--”
“He’s fine,” JJ says quickly, recognizing the fear in her eyes. “He’s still here, he just retired to spend time with Jack.”
Elle smiles warmly.
“Jack. He’s what, 15, 16 now?”
“16,” JJ confirms, smiling. “He and my oldest, Henry, hang out a lot.”
“Henry,” the brunette says, almost as though savoring the word. JJ hums in some sort of affirmation, and her eyes mist over. JJ can almost see the way she pictures an older version of Michael as Henry, standing over his brother, and it makes her heart clench.
“How about Morgan?”
“Morgan retired a few years back, a bit before Hotch. He got married-”
“No way.”
JJ laughs, and it breaks the underlying tension immediately, Elle’s smile breaking into a laugh as they sit there under the morning sunlight, their children playing within the safety of the park, and for just a moment, everything feels right, like sixteen years ago and they were both in the bullpen trading looks as Morgan teased Reid.
“Yes, and he has a son. Hank Spencer Morgan.”
“Oh my God,” Elle says, and JJ notes the familiar twinkle in her eyes. “He’s got a kid? And he named it after Reid?”
“He’s wonderful.”
“No, I’m sure…… how’s Reid?”
“He’s a part time agent now,” JJ explains. “He lectures at Georgetown for the other half on break.”
“Good for him. Good for him, that’s great. Oh, Garcia…?”
“She left about a year ago, to work at a nonprofit nearby.”
“That’s cool. I’m glad she’s doing well.”
“Mm-hm””
There’s a pause as Elle struggles over what to say next, and instinctively, JJ reaches out to touch her hand gently. She assumes she knows about Gideon- it had been in the news, what with the death of a senior FBI agent- and Elle meets her gaze. She holds it, and in that moment, it’s like they both understand, both see each other. There’s a rawness in her eyes that unravels JJ, and her hard brown eyes soften.
“You’ve changed,” Elle says, the tips of her mouth curling up slightly. “You’ve become-” a pause as she searches for the right word. “-harder.”
Her nose wrinkles as she frowns and JJ chokes back a snort.
“No, no, that came out wrong. Reid would probably know what I’m talking about-”
“He could give you like fifty synonyms too,” JJ adds, and they both laugh before she stills a bit, realizing that Elle remembers a Reid before losing Gideon and before Tobias Hankel, a Reid before his mother’s Alzheimer’s and going to prison, and Elle notices her stillness. Something flashes in her eyes, and JJ remembers that Elle was a profiler once too, a fast learner, taking on eagerly after Gideon’s instructions and banter with Morgan, and Elle can probably read everything going on in JJ’s mind and has probably figured out something happened to Reid.
“So what’s with you?” she asks, desperately changing the subject before Elle is reminded further of the horrors of the BAU. “What have you been up to?”
A hard question. The last time JJ saw Elle, she had just shot a man and nearly had a traumatic breakdown. It’s asking a lot, JJ knows, but she also does want to know. Wants to know about Elle. She cares about her, she realizes. Still does.
From the rocks, Michael lets out a shriek, and Mia laughs, the first noise she’s made since JJ met her. Elle takes her time pondering on an answer, watching Mia with the look only a mother can have, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by JJ.
“I was a mess,” she says finally, “when I left. I was in a horrible place.”
JJ doesn’t say anything, only letting her fingers ghost over Elle’s hand. Her hand relaxes marginally.
“I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t have work for weeks, I was about to get evicted, and I was so,” she pauses, searching for a word before heaving a sigh. “Angry. I was angry. At everyone. At Hotch for sending me home. At Gideon for not helping. At Morgan, Reid, you, for not doing anything. At myself, for being so weak.”
JJ hums. It wasn’t your fault. They should’ve done something, she knows. She should’ve done something, she and Elle were so close, she knew something was wrong, but she did nothing.
“And then my sibling came to visit. Nico. They came to check on me since I hadn’t been answering my phone, and the first thing they told me was that I looked like shit.”
She barks out a laugh.
“I told them to fuck off. But Nico’s a lot like Reid, they care a lot and they won’t stop until they can help you, and they came back later that night with takeout and some soap and shampoo, and they said they wouldn’t go until I ate some real food and washed myself up.”
“I moved in with them, with them and their partner in Maine, until they made sure I was gonna make it. It was bad. God, JJ, it was so bad. I was a fucking alcoholic, I was suffering from withdrawal, Nico was driving me to therapy every week, and I was not having a good time.”
Unconsciously, JJ squeezes her hand. I know. Oh God, does she know. Elle’s fingers reach up for hers, and they tangle, sitting in this space as the former agent stares out, eyes unfocused.
“It took years,” Elle says finally. “I think- I still have nightmares. I still get angry. But I’m trying new medication, and I’m going to therapy, and I’m making it work. It’s working out.”
JJ smiles. “Good for you. I’m happy for you.”
Elle’s hand squeezes hers, and JJ squeezes back. This nonverbal communication is familiar, she thinks, albeit in very different circumstances.
“How did you meet your partner?” she asks. Elle’s with Mia, a child of at least five years, and there’s no wedding ring that JJ can see. Elle flushes, and JJ’s smile grows mischievous.
“Five years ago,” the brunette admits. “I moved back to New York and joined NYPD when I stabilized, and one night, it was like two, and I heard this baby crying. Except this happened multiple nights in a row, and I’d been having a rough week at work, so I went downstairs to try and talk to the mom and--”
Elle smiles, reminiscing. “She told me to go fuck myself.”
JJ snorts, and the brunette nods, eyes misting a little.
“Yeah, after that, I apologized, and she just- broke down. I didn’t know what to do, but there were groceries scattered everywhere and she had a backpack full of books and her baby was still crying, so I just went in and put her groceries away, and when I finished, she was just sitting there, watching me, holding the baby. She asked me why I was helping her, and I didn’t know, I just wanted to. So I gave her my number, said if she ever needed anything she could just call and I’d come, and I left.”
“This sounds like a romance novel,” JJ says. “Keep going.”
Elle rolls her eyes before pushing JJ gently, and she giggles as she continues.
“Well, the next day, at about ten PM, I get a call, and it’s from the mom. And she sounds like she’s on the verge of breakdown, and she asks me if maybe I could watch her kid for just another hour that night because she’s late getting back from work, and I say sure, and she gives me the code to her apartment and I go in and watch over the kid, Mia. And she doesn’t get back until nearly one, and when she arrives, she’s apologizing and about to cry, and I tell her it’s no problem, Mia’s been a delight and it wasn’t like I was busy or anything, and she just nods and thanks me. Her name’s Jasmine, she tells me, and I save her number in my phone, and I go back to my apartment to sleep. And when I wake up, I have a text from her, and she’s asking me if I could possibly babysit Mia in the evenings after six for the next week. And I tell her of course, no worries, I’d love to. She starts talking about prices, I tell her it’s not a problem, I’ll do it for free, I get- I get what it’s like to struggle with work and caring for kids.”
“And because she’s pretty,” JJ prompts, and Elle flushes a darker red before laughing.
“Okay, maybe that too. But, well, we work out a pattern- after my shifts, I grab dinner and clean up before grabbing some books and my laptop to bring to her apartment, and I feed Mia and clean her diapers and everything, Jasmine comes back at some god-awful hour of the night, and then I head back and sleep and then go to my shifts.”
“On like five hours of sleep?” JJ asks, impressed at her dedication but also remembering how passionate Elle was- is. She nods, grinning sheepishly.
“Yeah, I didn’t- I wanted to help out. One time, I fell asleep at her place, and when Jasmine got back, she didn’t want to wake me, so she just pulled a blanket over me and I spent the night on her couch. And-”
There it is. A goofy smile on her face that JJ can only describe as “love-struck.”
“She had left before I woke up, but she made me breakfast and left me a note explaining that the day babysitter would be coming around at about nine and she hoped I liked eggs.”
The grin on JJ’s face is so large, her cheeks hurt, and Elle snorts at her. “Please stop looking at me like that, I feel like I’m in the spotlight.”
“I kept babysitting. And Jasmine started coming back earlier, but we just ended up talking at night instead. I told her I was a cop at NYPD, and she said she knew, she’d seen me in the streets before-”
“It’s hard to forget such a stunning figure as yourself,” JJ remarks drily, and Elle laughs before continuing.
“Well, she was a nursing student at Chamberlain and working two jobs to try and cover tuition and take care of Mia, and-- well, Mia’s not hers, she’s her sister’s. But her sister and boyfriend died in a car wreck, and Jasmine was the only relative she had, so she took Mia in. And the night I went to go talk to Jasmine, her old babysitter had quit a few days earlier and she had left Mia alone for so many nights because she didn’t have the time to take care of her properly, and…..”
Elle is quiet, but JJ understands. She knows about Elle growing up, the sole caretaker of her and her three younger siblings, mother gone working three jobs to support the family after her father died, whispered to her in tangled sheets and silver moonlight, and she knows what Elle went through, knows what Elle saw in Jasmine that night.
“I offered to take care of Mia for the rest of her semester. Just for her to get through her finals, and then I offered to care for Mia throughout the summer if she needed, and Jasmine-”
A pause.
“Jasmine is great,” she says. “She’s stubborn and proud and a bit bitey, but she cares so much. She was about to throw me out when I offered, but then I told her about my mom, and she asked me if I thought of her as a horrible person. And I didn’t. And I told her so, and so I was Mia’s babysitter for the rest of the semester, and then the summer, and then the year after that, and then- I asked her out.”
Elle stammers a little, and JJ chuckles at the flush running through her, her put-together composure falling apart at the memory.
“I didn’t want it to be like I was taking advantage of her, since I was the older, more experienced one, and she said she was flattered, but she needed to think about it, and I told her I understood. And then the next day when she came back from work, she told me she was an idiot and she said of course she wanted to go out with me.”
JJ lets out a small squeal, and Elle laughs. She’s invested in her, invested in her story, and it’s comforting. Comforting to see her build herself back up and to be building another chapter in her story.
“She moved in with me after a few months so money wouldn’t be as tight, and two years ago she got her nursing license and so we moved together. And Mia’s attending kindergarten right now, and everything is coming together.”
“That’s great,” the blonde says softly. “Elle, that’s so great.”
“It is,” she agrees. “They’re so wonderful- Mia’s only five, and she already knows English, Manderin, and Spanish. Jasmine’s teaching me Manderin too so I can figure out what Mia’s saying since she just cycles through all three languages in one sentence.”
JJ laughs, the thought of the quiet five year old currently chasing Michael around the rocks speaking three languages at once soothing. She’s distracted by the vibration in her pocket, and with an apologetic hand gesture to Elle, who waves it off, she pulls it out to see it’s Will.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Henry won!” Will shouts, heard just barely over the background noise of cheering kids. “Henry’s team made it to the semis, they start in two hours!”
“Honey, that’s great,” JJ says, smiling. “Michael and I’ll be there in an hour. Take care, okay?”
“That’s the only thing I can do. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
When JJ hangs up, she can feel Elle’s gaze on her, and when she turns, she’s met with a smirk. JJ rolls her eyes and smiles.
“We were in New York for a competition, Henry’s team made it to semis,” she explains, pride rushing through her, and Elle smiles.
“Congratulations,” she says. A quiet beat, and JJ realizes she’s fixated on her wedding ring. She swallows. It’s obvious she was talking to Will, but she remembers that Elle also has never met Will, has no reason to know about him, and it’s weird, so to speak. That she’s sitting with a woman who knows her as intimately as her husband does.
“I suppose you have to go then?” Elle asks, and JJ nods.
Elle stands up and extends her hand, and the blonde takes the offer. They stand, and the look on Elle’s face is so tender yet at peace, no wanting or desire underneath it. They’ve both found their place, JJ muses. Elle overcoming her demons and finding her own little family, JJ still with her passion at the BAU and with her loving family.
“I’ll give you my number,” Elle says, holding out her hand, and JJ presses her phone into immediately. “Let me know the next time you’re in town, and we can meet up. You can meet Jasmine and Mia again, and I can meet Henry and your husband.”
“Will,” JJ clarifies, “and of course. Michael!” she calls. “We have to go, your brother won.”
Michael shouts in excitement, and by the time he’s made it over to JJ, Mia following, Elle has her phone number in, and JJ tenderly enters into her contacts, Elle Greenaway.
“My big brother won a contest,” Michael explains to Mia, “so we have to go and see him.”
“That’s cool,” Mia says, voice a little shy as she peers up at JJ. She waves at her, and the young girl smiles cheekily at her as she grasps the end of Elle’s pant leg. The love in her eyes as she watches Mia doesn’t go unnoticed, and JJ internally captures this moment.
“It was nice seeing you again,” Elle says, extending her hand for a handshake, and JJ stares dumbly at it before laughing.
“Okay, no.”
She pulls Elle into a hug, wrapping her arms around her tightly, and after a brief moment of shock, she feels her arms wrap around her, and JJ buries her face in Elle’s neck, inhaling her scent, a smell JJ never really quite forgot. It seems like forever before she finally breaks the hug, mindful that they need to leave soon, and when they finally break apart, she has to wipe away a tear as Elle watches her with misty eyes.
“I’ll see you soon,” JJ promises, and Elle smiles.
“Take care, JJ,” is her parting remark, and JJ turns and walks away.
“Bye Mia!” Michael calls, and there’s a responding goodbye from Mia that slowly fades as the two make their way out of Central Park.
The walk is silent until Michael finally asks, “Mommy?”
“Yeah?”
“Who was that lady?”
JJ is quiet for a bit, and when she responds, it’s with a smile and a squeeze of his hand.
“That was an old friend of mine. Her name is Elle.”
"venom m/m slash" is, like, first of all, i don't think i've heard "slash" used unironically in like, five years, boyxboy don't like don't read, secondly, it's way too specific to mean eddie/symbiote, even people who call it "he" don't think of it as explicitly male
also the latest attempt to retcon them so hard that they're forever associated with abuse and addiction might actually succeed and no one will ever want to reject all that to write them again lol
i'm thinking it's gonna be venom/some guy... and the "weird horny" part comes from the fact that it's, like, acknowledged as a threesome. it's gonna be The Madness Mark 2. if we're very lucky we'll get a very sensuous symbiote to begin to make up for all that we have suffered
anyway place your bets. this story is "pivotal" and set in the eighties. personally i'm hoping it's Wolverine Again
