memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 37

Chapter 37
Abandon All Hope

Jude finished stirring sugar into her coffee and Spencer's, adding an obnoxious amount to his. How he found this palatable, she had no idea, but he refused to drink it otherwise. She stifled a yawn as she walked back to the bullpen with Morgan, who had spent the last five minutes berating her sleeping habits like a concerned older brother.

"All I'm saying is you need to get more sleep. You could carry our caseload in the bags under your eyes."

"Charming," Jude mumbled and tried to remember if she had any concealer stashed in her desk.

"Okay, I could've said it better," Morgan conceded. "But seriously, Wesson, when was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"What year is it?" Her attempt at humor was met with a raised brow. "I don't know...a couple of weeks, maybe. I've just been dealing with a lot lately." Mourning a friend, getting him back, beginning the death clock for said friend's brother, and witnessing the unleashing of Hell on Earth had a way of creating some very unique nightmares.

Jude's bouts of sleep paralysis began shortly after Irene's death. They ebbed and flowed in the years after that, usually spiking around a stressful event. She did not have a sleep paralysis demon, per se; what she saw was linked to her most recent stressor. For the past few weeks, her midnight visitor had been a lifeless Sam propped upright in a coffin at the foot of her bed. His corpse steadily decayed as the nights passed.

"Any way I can help?" Morgan asked.

"Not with this, but thank you." She set Spencer's mug on his desk-he was in Rossi's office, presumably bombarding the man with questions about his books-and settled in her chair cradling her own. Penelope bustled through the doors, her half-up hairstyle held aloft by a purple pom-pom, and passed their desks. "Morning, Pen."

"Good morning, princess," Morgan chimed.

"Good morning." She flung the words at them without making eye contact as she breezed past.

"Pump your breaks." Penelope stalled at Morgan's voice, hung her head, and reluctantly walked back. "Every day, I say 'Good morning.' Every day, you say 'I'll show you a good morning, hot stuff.' Every day. Not today?"

"And you didn't hug me," Jude added. "You do that every morning."

Penelope rolled her eyes and leaned down to hug her. "I hate profilers, you know that?"

"And we love you," Jude smiled. She set her mug aside and leaned forward. "Tell us what's going on."

A smile tugged at the corners of Penelope's cotton candy pink lips. "Fine...I met a guy."

"You did?" Beaming, Jude grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it. This was an occasion for celebration since their jobs didn't allocate much time for a private life. For proof, see Rossi's three failed marriages and Hotch's current separation from his wife, Haley. Jude was almost entirely at peace with this and was planning for a solitary retirement with several cats. "Where?"

"Coffee shop. Smoking hot. I fixed his computer and he asked for my number."

"Please tell me you gave it to him."