PEACE. jareau

004 - fool me, once

❛･❪ PEACE ❫ ･❜
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ  ₀₀₄ -  fool me, once
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WASHINGTON

"I can ask for some days off, if you want. I've got some paid holiday left", JJ proposed, clicking the pen in her hand absent mindedly as she held her phone to her ear with the other. Her office lights were dimmed, with the blinds down and only the lamp on her desk offering a little bit of light to fall onto the table and into her eyes that were still burning from exhaustion. When she'd made it into the building twenty minutes early this morning and her phone had rung before she could even open the door to her own office, she had totally forgot to allow sunlight in or turn on the ceiling lamp. Now, she sat in the dark, with Will talking into her ear and a smile on her face at the thought of her boyfriend finally visiting her again.

"I mean yeah if you had to go into the field, that'd suck", Will breathed, his accent ringing in JJ's ears. "But I can hold up till four if you've got desk duty." Jennifer thought about it for an instance, the line falling silent as neither of the pair spoke. She would give Will any second she had if he asked her to- hell, she would abandon her team and even take unpaid vacation if it meant she could be with him again, but there was something holding her back. Something that a little voice in her head was telling her to be fear. Fear. Jennifer wasn't a fearful person, but the longer she thought about that word with four letters, the more it fit into her self-observation. Her smile disappeared.

"You're right, yeah. We're gonna see", she answered, putting the pen in her fingers down. A glance towards the clock on her desk told her the briefing would start soon, and she still hadn't set up the conference room.

"Listen, I, uh-"

"You gonna go, sure", Will finished her sentence, his voice dripping of disappointment.

"I'm sorry", she answered, muttering a quick i-love-you before hanging up the phone, not bearing to hear the hurt in his voice for another second. God, she hated that she hurt him. With an exhausted breath, she rubbed through her face before lifting herself from her chair and walking out of the door with quick steps.

"Morning, sir", she called as she saw Hotch entering his office, waving at her shortly as she continued her way to the conference room. With a routine in her steps, she opened the blinds, rearranged the chairs and emptied abandon coffee pots into the sink of their little kitchen. Her laptop was set up and connected to the screen without another thought, and when the room was finally the way it was supposed to be and the clock read nine fifty, she allowed herself to exit the conference room and head towards the kitchen to make herself and the others a coffee.
From afar, she could glance through the door that was left open, making out a ponytail of red hair leaning against the kitchen sink. As Jennifer came closer, she noticed the way Robyn tapped her fingers on the counter without a rhythm, rather in a nervous matter.

"Hey", she spoke softly, leaning in the doorway, but apparently her voice wasn't soft enough as Robyn jumped at her voice, turning around quickly. For the shortest second, Jennifer saw a look of panic on her colleague's face, but then again it left so quickly, replaced by the normal, polite smile Robyn's face usually offered, that JJ wasn't sure if she hadn't only imagined it.
"Morning", Robyn gave back, her eyes focussed on JJ, abandoning the working coffee machine. The next thing Jennifer noticed on the redhead's face were the shadows below her eyes, making her seriously question whether the girl had gotten any sleep over their past few days away from the office. Hotch had granted them another long weekend after the agents had returned from their previous case- a serial killer had awoken from a coma and Robyn, Hotch, Rossi and Reid had travelled to Roanoke, interviewing the man with amnesia in hopes to help the attorney find a legal ground to prosecute him. Despite the way Robyn had complained two Wednesdays ago, about the workload and all the traveling throwing her out of routine, Jennifer had practically watched her beg Hotch to let her travel with them. Hotch had allowed her to come with them as a fresh pair of eyes would surely help. Jennifer had seen in his eyes that it wasn't the real reason the unit chief had allowed their newest agent to join them, but after years of working with him, she knew there'd be no way of getting the truth out of him. The team had spent six days in the field before arriving back in Quantico and JJ heard Robyn's voice for the first time since Thursday morning again. Despite the constant phone connection between Garcia's batcave that JJ rested in and Rossi's phone in the middle of a conference room with all of the agents around it, Jennifer hadn't heard Robyn say a single word all through out the time she was gone. Somehow, Robyn had looked better when she'd returned Sunday night, than she was doing now, Wednesday morning. Robyn took a sip of her coffee.