Hotch's Niece | Criminal Minds

Flirting

"Ready to go?" JJ slips into the conference room, her voice just a whisper so she doesn't wake the sleeping child on my lap. It's nearly nine o'clock, and I've long since taken Izzie back from Reid. JJ, Emily and I are all going to head back to the hotel now, and the boys are going to hang around and finish up with the officers who will be out on patrol looking for Annie tonight.

"Yeah, I was just taking a last look at our suspect... there really is not a childhood more suited to create a murderer than the one that Annie Anderson had," I murmur, sighing.

JJ nods, coming to stand beside me as we gaze at our board. "Poor thing. I can't imagine anything worse than losing your parents,"

That phrase causes my breath to catch in my throat and JJ gasps. "Avery, I'm so sorry, I honestly didn't mean to say that, I swear,"

I turn away from her for a second just to catch my breath. Blinking back tears, I allow myself three deep, relaxing breaths before I turn back to JJ, my emotions completely under control. "It's fine, JJ. I've got to get used to that, I suppose. Have you seen this job lately?"

JJ sighs, obviously still feeling guilty. "We've all lost people. My... my sister killed herself when I was eleven. Rosaline," her voice cracks when she says her sister's name and I look over at her, shocked that she's telling me this.

"JJ, you know you don't have to tell me this, I'm not upset," I smile reassuringly, as JJ appears frightened just to be opening up to another person about this.

Taking a deep breath, JJ replies. "Yes, I know that Avery, I just want you to see that, well, we've all been there. We've all lost people, so you can talk to us. The entire team, all of us are more than willing to be there for you, whenever you need us." JJ leans over and hugs me with one arm so as not to disturb the sleeping Izzie.

"Thanks, Jayje, that's really nice of you, and I'm always here if you need me as well."

JJ is honestly a very nice person, and I can most definitely see her being a very good friend, perhaps even one of my best friends. She's a little older than I, but from what I've seen of this job and these people, they all are, and they're the people I'll spend most of my time around. If I let age be a factor of who I'm friends with, I will remain a very lonely person because of my youth in this business.

"Ugh, I'm absolutely exhausted, are you ready to get to the hotel and go to sleep?" JJ asks me, and I smile, shaking off the silence of the moment we've just shared.

"Oh my goodness, yes," I groan. It's been a long, eventful day and I can't imagine anything that sounds better than putting Izzie to bed and flopping down on the pillow.

"Ok, let's go, Em's driving. She's already snagged all of Izzie's things, and we obviously took the car with her seat in it, so that's not a problem." JJ tells me. I nod, and move to pick up my purse, but JJ slips it away from me. "I'll carry that," JJ smiles, "you've got that little girl."

"Thanks, JJ,"

We make our way out to the darkened parking lot, where we find Emily in an SUV. "Hey ladies," she greets as JJ and I climb in, JJ buckling a still-asleep Izzie into her car seat. I take the backseat next to the little redheaded toddler, noticing her pink My Little Pony backpack at my feet.

JJ climbs into the front seat, shuts the car door, and off we go.

It's a short ten minute car ride to the hotel we're staying in for the duration of the case, and we spend it listening to Emily complaining about one of the Radcliff officers, who had been hitting on her. "Ugh, he just wouldn't take no for an answer!" she moans, laughing a little when JJ rolls her eyes.

"Well, you should feel flattered," says the blonde agent.  Emily scoffs at JJ's comment.

"I would be, except he literally did not take a no! And it was gross flirting, too, like that guy who flirted with you in... ah, where were we... oh! The last time we had a case in Florida," Emily says to JJ, and instantly JJ's nose crinkles up.

"Ew, that was disgusting! It was all sexual jokes and him treating me like an object," JJ exclaims.

"Okay, ladies, that's all very sleazy, but try being the youngest person in your college class with a bunch of frat boys," I mutter, and there's a moment of silence.

"Yeah, Avery wins this one," Emily concedes.

I laugh. "Well, yeah, it'd seem so. You ladies got one creepy guy who thought you were really pretty, I was surrounded by easily twenty of them. Every single day,"

We pull into the parking lot of the hotel and JJ jumps out first. She goes around to the trunk and grabs both my overnight bag and hers, leaving Emily to fend for herself. I scoop up my purse and climb out, heading around to the other side. Gently, I unbuckle and lift Izzie from her seat without waking her.

We get up to the rooms quickly, and it turns out that JJ is in the one to the left of me, Emily to the right, and Reid right across the hall. I would be tempted to order room service, but we had pizza just about an hour and a half ago and I ate like, four slices. Morgan, of course, had made a teasing comment about how I was tiny and there wasn't really anywhere for all of that pizza to go.

I situate Izzie on the bed, laying an extra pillow down on either side of her so that she can't roll off - advice from JJ. She said that, if you absolutely must put a toddler or baby on a bed instead of in a crib, lay pillows on either side of them so that they can't roll off and hurt themselves. All I'd had to do was call up to the front desk and ask for a few extra pillows.

I change out of my classy, freaking expensive pants and blouse and into a pair of pajama shorts and an old shirt that was either Uncle Hotch's or my dad's at some point, I couldn't be sure. I'd had it for so long now that the lettering was faded and the shirt that was probably once black was now just a light grey.

Grabbing my bag of toiletries, I slip into the bathroom and take a quick five minute shower, just enough to rinse off the dirt from the day. My hair was still clean, so I didn't bother washing it. As I came out from my shower, toothbrush in hand, there was a knock at the door.

It's Reid. "Oh, hey, Spence, what's up?"

"Nothing," says the genius. "Just came by to say goodnight and see how you were faring with the little one," he smiles.

"Oh, she's been fine. She was out cold before I even left the precinct, so no trouble there. Have any leads turned up with the officers?" I inquire. Spencer shakes his head.

"Not yet, but there are officers out looking for her, and apparently a few of them have connections within the homeless network, so even her own people are looking for Annie. We'll find her, it's just a matter of time."

"What about the mother?"

"We are locating her now, with officers on standby for whenever we find her. They'll watch her, make sure Annie's not after her," Reid answers.

"Good, that's good. Thanks, Spence,"

"Goodnight, Avery." Spencer moves to turn around to head into his room, but I grab his arm, and he turns back to face me.

Standing on the very tips of my toes, I lean up and kiss his cheek. "Goodnight, Spencer," I say slowly, smiling up at him. He blushes and heads into his room.

Okay. Now all I have to do is take care of a two year old for a night. Should be easy.

I can't believe it's taking so long to write chapters these days... I think I'm trying to find a way to prolong this case so that we have a few more chapters with Izzie, as she makes for some excellent #Avereid moments, doesn't she?

She's also absolutely adorable, and very fun to write.

Anyways, here's a new chapter, so read, vote, and comment! Love you all very much, thanks for 3.6k reads... can we get to 4k by the next chapter?