Title: Letting Go
Author: wildwordwomyn
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: mild Morgan/Reid
Rating: PG for slight angst
Disclaimers/Warnings: Spoilers for "JJ".
Author’s Notes: Okay, so I cried at the end of episode. What? This is my take on how the team responds to JJ leaving.
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- Morgan's View -
"But they can't take you away!" The voice sounds so lost, so afraid, that Morgan has to turn his head in order not to see, in order not to cry.
He doesn't want JJ to go any more than the rest of them. He doesn't want it for himself, but he especially doesn't want it for Reid. Because he doesn't know how much more the man can afford to let go of. And the last thing Morgan needs is to lose him...
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- Hotch's View -
He can't keep them together. Strauss, even if she could, won't. JJ takes the news gracefully but...
Family. She's family. They are a family. The best family he's even known. And he can't-
He shouldn't have to fight to hold on. But it's always like this, isn't it? He's always struggling to hold the people he loves close, and in the end he's always being forced to let them go. One by one by one. He closes his office door. Only then does he let himself cry.
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- Rossi's View -
He knew as soon as he saw Strauss take JJ into Aaron's office what would happen. The Big Boss is no different than the others he'd had to deal with all those years ago. Stealing the best talents away from the other bureaus without apology and having the nerve to say, "It's for the best..."
They're a team. The best he's ever worked with. Now they'll have to get used to another missing face. First Elle, then Jason. JJ, though, was somehow their rock. Imagining her gone is an impossible task. Poor Aaron...
_________________________
- Reid's View -
First it was his mother. Not that she didn't need to go. He couldn't care for her any longer. If he'd continued her illness would've drowned him. Reid's smart enough to understand this. But somehow losing her set the tone for his life. Elle burned out spectacularly and he still thinks about her sometimes. Then Gideon, gone one day. The letter explained, sure. It just isn't the same as feeling him here and now. And now JJ...
He doesn't even attempt to keep the fear, the hurt, inside.
Reid has always had a hard time saying goodbye.
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- Garcia's View -
The bastards...How dare they think they can just- You don't break up a family like that. You just don't. They work because it's them. All of them. Together. Every person unique and brilliant and bringing their particular awesomeness to the table. Don't they get that? Homeland Security doesn't need JJ. Not like they do. She can't blame them for wanting her but she's necessary to the BAU. N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y!
When Derek passes the box of tissues to her she takes a handful...
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- Emily's View -
Emily's used to holding things in, to not showing emotion. But the blow packs a helluva punch. JJ's leaving. Possibly for good. She doesn't even have the words to express how wrong that feels.
Suddenly it's hard to see. There's something in her eyes. She doesn't wipe them though. She wants to be strong for JJ, for the rest of them. The guys will need her even more now, but...
She just never imagined it would hurt so much to watch JJ walk away.
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- JJ's View -
When she looks around the bullpen JJ takes in the silence and fills it with memories of Elle's laughter and Reid's embarrassed squeak. Derek's cologne floating around her like a mist. Gideon's lectures. Hotch's rare smile. Rossi's watchful gaze follows her hands as she runs a finger over her Garcia-decorated pen. She smiles softly to herself as she thinks about the silly conversations she, Emily and Garcia have had around that desk.
People they've saved, people they've lost, those in between…
When she steps into the elevator after dropping off her exit interview she thinks, "No regrets," and means it.
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