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BITTERSWEET
:: xxviii. | cynical times

Hotch was reached by a friend in New York City who needed his help and it was no other than Special Agent Kate Joyner. After reviewing the files and hearing what she had to say, he agreed because this case was a lot bigger than what he thought. So much bigger that Garcia came on the flight with the team.

Hotch filled them in but it wasn't much, considering the call was straight to him. The trip to New York was about roughly almost four hours, but not too bad that one couldn't sweat it. Once they landed, the headquarters is immediately where they went.

Hotch introduced his team to Kate as well as him introducing her. All smiles were shared but some of the team thought she kind of look like Haley, hotch's now ex wife. However, Kate wasn't too fond of agent Morgan and that was very visible to Hotch and Morgan.

Jj however temporarily parted with the group just to make a quick phone call. She was pacing back and forth with the phone to her ear, waiting for it to answer after ring and ring. She didn't expect anyone to answer because of how they left things but jj is a worrier.

"Hi . . . "

"Hey. I know it's been a weird few months but I wanted to see how you were." Jj reasoned.

"Oh. Um, I've been alright." Vanessa sounded nervous on the phone, "Sorry, it's just weird hearing your voice. How are you?"

"I'm ok." Jj sighed, "I'm on a case right now in New York City. You know how these are . . "

"Well uh—" It turned awkward real quick, "Be safe. Bye."

The call ended between the two and as jj was collecting her thoughts, a teammate came from behind with a light tap on jj's shoulder.

"Everything ok?" Emily step back after jj turned to face her.

Jj quickly nodded, "Yeah, it was just Will checking." Jennifer began to head back in with Emily on her side, "So what are we looking at?"

Emily then began to tell her the run down of the case and whatnot as they made their way back to the team in a small conference room while Garcia was looking through security cameras.

• • •

Vanessa couldn't help but think too much into the conversation she just had with jj. She thought how considerate it was that the blonde was thinking of her even after all this time. She smiled to herself thinking of that. Then that smile quickly faded, remembering reality and that reality was — she's not with jj and she knows she'll never be.

However though, what did put a lasting smile on her face was her remembering that she had a date with Savannah later that day. It was only the middle of the day and Cole was getting home from school in the next two hours and she had yet to tell her that she was kind of dating her teacher.

This had been the most exciting thing in awhile for her and she didn't want anyone tearing it down. Cole, Miguel, jj, anyone. She knew they would all have something say and she was finally but slowly moving on from agent jareau. Vanessa didn't think she could do it. It took her a week to finally say yes to Savannah when she was asked and she doesn't regret it. She just hopes nothing could possibly ruin it.

Vanessa decided after finishing the dishes that she was going to begin finding an outfit for the date. Once she was in her bedroom and rummaging through her closet, she didn't noticed that she received a text from Cole saying that she's going to stay for a little while after school but it was nothing alarming. Cole has been surprisingly a good girl lately and Vanessa just hopes it sticks but knowing Cole, it probably won't stick for long.

• • •

Hours had went by since the team got there and after another shooting, the team was finally able to get something. Garcia ended up finding out that this unsub is two different heights which only means that there is more than one unsub. That meant more work for the team which was no problem because they're the best in the biz.

The team had just regrouped into the conference room and Morgan was pissed. He knew he was right that officers should've been put on each block but because of Agent Kate's actions, another citizen died. However, slowly the pieces were coming together and in agent Reid's mind, that's when it clicked,

"I think we're looking at terrorists."

Morgan nodded in agreement, "Make sense."

Spencer then elaborated, "Think about it. Two unsubs. Random shootings and now a cop."

Dave finished the list, "Suicide by cop. It's like they made a pact."

Jj soon chimed in, "If this is true, then there has to be way more than just two."

Hotch sighed, "I'm going to go talk to Kate and when Emily returns, fill her in." Hotch then left to Kate's office.

The rest of the team continued to work the profile and even if with this new found information, they still needed a little more before delivering the profile to everyone.

As the team worked the victimology and geological, Emily had walked in. She gave the team an update about the fallen cop. He was shot pretty good, but he's going to be fine. Just as jj was going to fill her in, she filled jj in that someone was outside waiting for her.

So Jennifer made her exit out the conference room, through the lobby, to the front of the building. And there stood her hero.

"Don't call, text, i was getting worried and usually people in your position take leave when they're pregnant."

She approached Will with open arms, "Well im not usual people."

The couple shared a brief hug before making their way into the building where they ran into the team. Some of them were heading out, calling it a night. Hotch especially.

"Jj, everything ok?" He only asked because Will was there which was weird because they are in a middle of a case.

"I'm pregnant." She blurt out, "And we're deciding baby names."

A small smile crept upon his smile, "Congratulations. If you want to call it in and head back to Virginia we'll understand."

Jj shook her head, "No, I want to be here."

"Alright." Hotch nodded, "I'll see you early."

Hotch then continued his way through the lobby, heading out the door. He was meeting kate at an suv they were going to take together. Just as his hand was on the door to leave the building, Spencer had just approached him.

"Hotch, we got an update about Miguel. There's another victim." Agent reid shared this information with his superior.

Hotch's jaw clenched, "Tell them to bring him in. He'll just wait for us."

Spencer nodded but he had one question, "What about jj? You know how she feels about this."

"I'll talk to her." He lastly mentioned before spencer headed back in and Kate finally meeting him.

Hotch held the door open for her and the two walked down the steps, heading to the black suv that awaited out front for them. They continued to chat on their way down, their hands never even made it to the door before the suv was up in flames.

Hotch's ears were ringing, he could barley hear when he was looking around for kate. He was confused, scared . . . he really wished his team was right there with him.

to be continued . . .

a/n:
y'all remember this episode?
I got big plans lmao.