The bird's opening - Criminal Minds - JJ

The job

Afghanistan, 2010

JJ never thought she would be in this situation. If she was being honest, she never thought she would be in any situation even close to this one. She was the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Analysis Unit's liaison. Well, at least she used to be. Considering that now she had been taken away from that job, she supposed that wasn't her position anymore. She thought she was being transferred to a job in the Pentagon. And she had, actually. They had put her behind a desk to deal with the information that went in the Pentagon and the information that went out. She had a nine-to-five now. She had normal working hours and her weekends were always off. It was, actually, exactly what Will wanted for her.

JJ knew her boyfriend was starting to grow tired of the wild, unpredictable hours of the BAU. JJ didn't like them either. If she could, she would have kindly asked the serial killers around the country to please stop killing on the weekends so she could have a normal family day with her boyfriend and son, but she couldn't. And, as much as she hated her crazy work hours, she loved her job. She loved her job and she loved helping people. She loved her team and she missed them like crazy which had been - as far as JJ was concerned - the last straw for Will.

"You have a good position now, JJ!" She could still remember him telling her during one of the endless arguments the two of them had seemed to be getting into ever since she was pulled back from the BAU. "You have normal work hours! You can pick up Henry from school and you can spend time with him. Actual time with your son, isn't that enough for you?"

"Don't make this about Henry." JJ had told him then, her blood boiling under her skin at the way Will seemed all too ready to use their son against her. "I love him, you know I do. I love him with all my heart and when I was at the BAU, I wished I could have more time with him. But this job at the Pentagon... This is not me, Will. I'm not happy there!"

"Maybe you could learn to be." Will had argued. "You should be grateful, JJ. They didn't fire you. They've transferred you."

"Well, they might as well have fired me, because I don't think I can spend another day in that damned desk-job."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm tired." JJ had sighed. "It means I don't want this job and if they don't want me back at the BAU, they won't have me at the Pentagon."

"Jennifer..."

"Don't do that to me, Will." JJ shook her head. "The BAU is my family."

"Henry and I are your family."

"Of course you are! I know that!"

JJ had watched then as Will's eyes rolled a little, how his shoulders slumped and his frown deepened and his head shook. JJ had watched, in that moment, as the man she once loved so dearly, gave up on her and on the relationship they had been building. And it had hurt. God, it had hurt so badly to see him ready to walk away, it hurt now. But JJ had no other option. She was being true to herself just as her mother had told her to be - just as her sister had once taught her to be. She didn't want that job at the Pentagon and if her professional happiness was something Will couldn't take, then JJ had her hands tied.

"It's just sometimes it seems like you forget it."

Will's words had stung more than him leaving. They had stung more than watching Will pack his bags and leave. It stung more than watching as she and him fell into a routine with Henry, sharing days and important events so they wouldn't have to see each other more than necessary. JJ knew Henry was her family. Of course she did. He was her son and she loved him more than anything in the world. He wanted him to be happy, but the only way she could do that was if she was happy herself. And in that job at the Pentagon, she wasn't.