Work Text:
Jennifer Jareau works really hard. She spends most of her time at work, either in the office or in the field. Because of this, she’s perfected the art of quick self-care. She has a mini-freezer of frozen meals in her office, a whole cabinet of snacks and vitamins and supplements. There’s a box of cleanliness supplies, full of dry shampoo, baby wipes, mouthwash, and clean socks and underwear. JJ has it all down to an art, but there’s one thing that can’t be replaced by a store brand product. Sleep.
Sometimes, it just creeps up on her. She does her best to sneak catnaps and down 5 Hour Energys, but she’s still human and that means sleep inevitably sneaks up on her. For example, right now, JJ is asleep in the briefing room, slumped over the table and her unending pile of files. She tried to escape her exhaustion by moving out of her dark office into the bright light and public eye of the round table room. It doesn’t work.
Hotch finds her. He walks by the briefing room on the way to his office, glancing at the windows like he always does. When he only sees stacks of files, he wonders who left them and peeks in through the doorway. That’s how he sees JJ, sleeping soundly in one of the room’s uncomfortable chairs.
The sight makes him smile. He knows exactly how hard JJ works, and he knows she needs her rest. Still, he can’t leave her like this. She’ll wake up with cramps and aches. So, he moves to the railing of the catwalk and catches Derek’s eye.
The other man leans back in his desk chair until Hotch crooks a finger at him. Summoned, Derek tosses his pen onto his desk and stands. It doesn’t take long for him to reach the catwalk. As he strides down it toward Hotch, he sees JJ and smiles, too.
The whole team is fond of their liaison, and Derek nods when Hotch holds a finger to his lips. The two men enter the briefing room. Hotch points at the wide couch against the wall.
“I’ll pull her chair out, and you can put her on the couch?”
“Yeah.”
They work as quietly and gently as possible. Hotch carefully lifts JJ until she’s leaning back against the seat before pulling the chair out. The blonde doesn’t move at all as Derek slides one arm under her knees and the other around her back.
He carries her to the couch, pausing for a moment so Hotch can remove her heels, and then sets her down on the worn leather cushions. She immediately nestles into the couch, getting comfortable. Hotch taps on Derek’s shoulder.
He nods at the door when he has the other man’s attention and they leave the room. “I’m going to get a blanket from my office.”
“I think I’m going to work on some of her files,” Derek murmurs, looking over his shoulder at the sleeping woman. “That’s a lot of work for one person.”
“I’ll join you.”
Once JJ is covered in a blanket, Hotch and Derek take seats at the table and start silently working their way through the stacks. Normally, they only see a stack or two at a time, but things have been busy and JJ must have fallen behind. No one can blame her, but they can help her.
Emily is the next one who saunters in, mouth open to ask why the men are working together in private. When they both glare at her, fingers to their mouths to silence her, she looks around the room and sees the small blonde sleeping sound. Emily nods, understanding the situation.
She goes to the couch and sets her coffee mug on the floor in front of it. Moving to the table, she looks over the files. “What can I take?” she asks, voice barely audible.
Hotch points to a stack they haven’t touched yet, and Emily takes the files in her arms. It doesn’t take long for her to settle on the floor, ready to work. She leans back against the couch, and JJ scoots forward in her sleep, an arm wrapping around Emily’s neck and her face nuzzling into dark hair.
Emily blushes, but neither man says anything. They just smile at her because they know that JJ takes comfort in her presence. Right now, the only thing that matters is JJ getting rest, and if smelling Emily’s hair in her sleep helps with that, then so be it.
Derek still takes a picture, though, and that means Penelope appears in the doorway a moment later with her laptop, her water bottle, and a large quilt. She drops the blanket on the floor beside Emily and sits beside her. Covering herself, and the brunette beside her, Penelope opens her laptops and starts typing as quietly as possible. She and Emily share the water.
Reid wanders in sometime later, seemingly already aware of the situation. He joins Derek and Hotch at the table and gets to work without a word. JJ sleeps even less than he does, so he can calculate exactly how exhausted that must make her.
Later, after a long and restful nap, JJ begins to wake. The first thing she notices is that she’s comfortable, and that she’s laying down. Her first instinct is to panic because she isn’t working, but a gentle hand brushes through her hair before she can even open her eyes, so she just settles again and takes a few deep breaths.
She becomes aware that her head is in someone’s lap, her face tucked against their stomach and her arms around their waist. The soft smell of honeysuckle tells her it’s Emily, which is good, because she’d be embarrassed if it were anyone else. Well, she would be fine snuggling with Penelope, too.
Her face cracks with a comically large yawn, making her pull her hands over her mouth to hide it. Rolling over she finally opens her eyes. The sight before her makes her smile sleepily.
The whole team is in the briefing room, everyone around the table except for Emily. JJ’s files are neatly organized and the tabs and notes peeking out tell her they’ve been finished. She’s beyond grateful for the team’s help.
The room is dark because Penelope has set up a small projector on the table, the tripod resting on a thick book of Reid’s. A movie plays on the whiteboard silently, subtitles on. The team is giggling behind their hands, trying to stay quiet as they enjoy the film and the company.
Lips press to JJ’s forehead and she glances up at Emily. Dark hair hangs down around her face as she leans over JJ, smiling kindly. The tired woman can only smile back.
Jennifer Jareau works really hard. Her whole team knows it. That’s why they take such good care of her. All of them work really hard, but they make the time to support each other. Sometimes, that support is big and loud and dramatic, but sometimes it’s a few hours spent silently doing paperwork and then watching a movie in a dark room.
JJ sits up, rubbing her eyes and yawning again, and the blanket over her pools in her lap. When she lowers her hands, her team is looking at her. She grins at all of them and waves.
“Thanks,” she rasps, voice rough from sleep. “I really needed that.”
“Not a problem,” Hotch tells her. “We finished up your files. You should go home and get some more rest.” He glances at the watch on his wrist. “Actually… Why don’t we just call it a day? Everyone go home.”
Derek and Penelope cheer, the sound startlingly loud in a room that’s been quiet for so long. Reid laughs as they drag him out of the briefing room. Hotch waves at JJ and Emily as he follows behind at a distance. JJ looks at Emily.
“Yeah,” Emily says before JJ even speaks, “I’ll take you home. You know, it's not fair that you got a nap and I didn’t.”
JJ chuckles and stands, holding her hands out to help Emily up. “I’ll make you dinner,” she offers with an easy smile, “so you can nap.”
“Thanks.”
“Of course. We all need rest sometimes.”