Criminal Minds One Shots

Broken and Working (JJxReader)

"Y/n," JJ beckons. "I think you need to stop."

You give some muffled version of no and keep reading.

"Y/n you've been at this since three this morning. You need to go home."

"I can't," you whisper. "I can't stop, not when we're this close."

JJ crosses her arms and stares at you intensely. She does this for a solid minute before giving up with a sigh. She pulls a chair up on the other side of your desk and sits down.

"What are you doing?" you ask hazily.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"What all this is?"

"What all what is? JJ I don't have time for this. I need to keep—"

"Since when have you been all about staying in late, huh? Since when did you start putting in 20 hour days? Everyone is gone. Hotch left four hours ago!"

You close your eyes, trying not to cry.

"Why are you doing this?" she asks. You can feel her anger and fear in her voice.

"You don't wanna know," you say, taking slow breaths and willing the tears away.

"Yes, I do!"

You shake you head and keep scanning the letter, hoping to find something, anything.

"Tell me!"

"I'M SICK AND TIRED OF BEING BROKEN, OKAY??" you scream at her. "I- I can't sleep and I can't think about anything without," you pause as you search for the right word, "falling. Whenever I'm not focused on a task I- I- I can feel how broken I am."

JJ looks at you, her expression softened. "Y/n you're not broken, you're damaged. You always—"

"No, JJ, I'm broken. I am officially broken."

JJ gasps a little, knowing what you mean.

"I hate feeling like this so I avoid it, immersing myself in work." You give up on not crying and watch as little drops seep through your pants.

JJ gets up from her chair and crouches before you. She lifts you head up and locks eyes with you. "I will help you, okay? I'm going to help you, but you have to let me. Will you let me?"

You nod.

"Good. I need you to come with me then. Stop working and come with me." JJ stands up and begins to grab her things.

"JJ I can take myself home."

"But you're not going home."

You look at her quizzically.

"Leave your car here. You're coming to my house tonight." She turns to face you dead on.

"JJ I—"

"No. You said you'd let me help you and this is how I'm doing it. I'm going to take you home, feed you, and make sure you get a good night's rest."

You shake your head with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I love you, y/n."

You perk up.

"I love you and I can't let you kill yourself like this." JJ stares at you for a moment before stepping closer to you and grabbing your hand and pulling you up from your seat.

Still dumbfounded you mindlessly grab your phone, keys, wallet and everything else you came with before following JJ. "So when you say you love me..."

She doesn't give you the chance to respond. She presses her soft, warm lips against your cracked ones. The kiss is gentle but not in a timid way. When she pulls away you look down sheepishly.

"I assume that answers your question," she replies, hitting the down button on the panel.

"You know you can't love me better, right? I'm always going to be broken."

"I know," she admits, seemingly unfazed by this reality. "But that doesn't mean I can't make you feel less broken."

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Hey Human!

I might not be posting for the next month or so. School's getting really nuts. I hope you can all understand.

Thanks,
Q