A Hidden Past

Chapter 1

It's cold. Freezing even, although I can't exactly expect a roasting summers day in the middle of January.

I glanced over at my table-side clock. 5:30am. Why on earth am I wide awake at this time, it's still pretty much the middle of the night. I rolled over in bed, facing the door, and was met by Henry who was silently crying as he pushed open the door.

I sat upright and stretched out my arms towards him. He cautiously stumbled over towards the edge of the bed, clutching onto his favourite elephant teddy.

"Hey wee guy. Did you have a nightmare baby?" 

Henry climbed up onto the bed and buried his head into my chest. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. 

"Mumma can I sleep with you tonight?" Henry looked up at me, his eyes filled with tears.

I sleepily nodded my head while lying back down and pulling the covers up to my chin.  

The sound of my ringtone soon echoed the room. Hotch.

It was just gone 7am on a Saturday morning. I'm supposed to be taking a weekend break from work so if Hotch is telling me to get my ass into work then he's got another thing coming. I stretched over the bed and grabbed my phone, putting it up against my ear.

"Yes, Hotch?"

"Sorry JJ it's serious. Can you make it in for half an hour?"

I sighed and glanced over at Henry who was sound asleep. "Hotch I told you I wanted to spend the day with Henry and Michael. Can't you manage without me just this one time?"

"You know I wouldn't be phoning if there was another option."

"Well Will's out of town and I don't have anyone to mind the boys so would you care to come up with a solution?"

"What about your mum?"

I mumbled some amount of gibberish then hung up and rolled back onto my back, sighing. I had already promised Henry I'd take him to the park to play football and I've been working too much since Michael was born anyway. It was now 7:15am, if I were to call my mum she'd firstly tell me it's still the middle of the night then she'd go on to rant about me putting my work before the boys and not being tough enough on the team by not saying no.

I dialled her number into my phone, took a deep breath, then waited for her to pick up. It rung 5 times before she finally decided to answer the damn thing.

"JJ honey do you have any idea what time it is? When I said call me whenever I meant call me when there's daylight outside."

"Yeah mum I know..look...I need to go into work and I was kind of wondering if you would look after the boys. It wouldn't be long I promise."

 "JJ what did we literally just speak about. You can't keep dashing off to work and forgetting about the fact that you have 2 boys at home."

"Mum please"

"Why can't Will do it?"

"He's out of town"

"Oh so both parents are abandoning them then. Well isn't that just fantastic."

"Mum I'm not asking much. I need to go and get ready so I'll drop them off at yours in about half an hour. Just make sure you're dressed yeah?"

"There's no need Jennifer, I'll come to you."

"Fine whatever. Bye."

And with that I quickly hung up the phone before I said something I would go on to regret. I gently nudged Henry's side. He quietly stirred in his sleep before raising his hands to his eyes and stretching.

I smiled down at him. He's such a good kid and doesn't deserve to be stuck in the middle of my mess. I brushed his hair from his eyes and was soon met by a cheeky smile.

"Ok sweetie you and Michael are going to spend the day with granny today. Wont that be super cool?"

"With you too mumma?"

"Not today baby. I've got to go and fight off some bad guys for a while but I'll be back for bed time."

Henry looked down at the floor. I knew he was upset and desperately wanted to go to the park and play football. Sometimes I really did hate Hotch.

"Mumma will you catch the baddy?"

"You betcha"

He looked up and had a gigantic smile on his face, stretching from eye to eye. "Mumma you're like a super hero. That's what Liam's dad said. Liam's dad knows his stuff mumma."

I raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously; "So we'll play football another time yeah?"

Henry jumped up from the bed and crashed onto the floor before getting back up and sprinting out the room while laughing at the top of his lungs. I presume he's ok with that then.

I followed him, at a slower pace, into the living room just as the doorbell went. That'll be my mum then. I quickly locked the drawer with my gun and badge then went over and opened the door. I didn't even give her a glance before I turned back around and walked away from the door.

"Yeah I'll just let myself in then shall I Jennifer."

I sighed. I don't know if it was at the fact she was here or that she was still referring to me as Jennifer but she was really getting on my last nerve. I watched as she went into a different room then got my gun back out of the drawer and put it in my holder. She would probably of had a heart attack if she saw it just lying there in plain sight so I usually keep it out of her way.

I walked into the living room, quickly kissed Michael on the head then smoothed down Henry's hair and gave him a hug before nodding over at my mum and leaving for the car.

I was praying that the case would be quick but by the tone of Hotch's voice on the phone this didn't seem like a case that would be over in a few hours. Well either way I was going to kill the son of a bitch who took me away from my boys and gave my mum the perfect excuse for a rant towards me.