"Some people walk into your life like bullets. Others stay in your chest like shrapnel—quiet, permanent, and impossible to forget." —Jennifer "JJ" Jareau
Location: North Rockies – Jason's Cabin – 7:41 AM
Snow lined the edge of the porch. The forest was still, as if nature had exhaled and finally decided to rest.
Jason stirred the fire, cracked eggs into a skillet, and fed his dog—Rust, a half-wild shepherd with a limp and a wariness Jason understood deeply. He hadn't looked at his phone in a week. Not once.
He didn't need to.
He'd felt the silence.
The world moved without him now.
Until it didn't.
The knock came soft but firm. Three taps. Familiar cadence. He froze for a beat, then crossed the floor and opened the door.
JJ stood there, snow clinging to her shoulders, breath curling from her lips. Her eyes searched his face like she expected it to be someone else. But it wasn't.
It was still him.
"I didn't know if you'd answer," she said.
"I wasn't sure I would," he replied.
Inside the Cabin – 8:03 AM
They sat at the table in quiet. He poured her tea. She didn't drink it.
Finally, JJ broke the silence. "I wasn't sent."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "Not even Garcia?"
"She's mad I didn't tell her."
Jason allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch. "That sounds right."
JJ looked around the cabin—modest, clean, still haunted by the kind of order that came from someone trying to keep chaos at bay.
"I thought I'd find a version of you here," she said. "Wounded. Hiding. Angry."
"What did you find instead?"
She turned back to him. "You."
Jason looked down. "I'm not who I was."
"No," she said, softer. "You're not. And I think that's why I came."
Flashback – Quantico – One Week Earlier
JJ sat alone in her office, staring at the corner where Jason used to lean during long debriefings. No banter. Just presence. She remembered the way he'd speak with precise restraint—measured, but never cold.
Garcia stepped in quietly, holding a file.
"Still not over it?"
JJ shook her head. "I'm not sure what 'it' is. Him leaving… or the fact that he didn't ask me to stop him."
Garcia smiled sadly. "You didn't ask him, either."
JJ closed her eyes.
And made her decision.
Back to the Cabin – 8:22 AM
Jason stood at the window, watching snowfall. JJ moved beside him, their shoulders inches apart.
"I kept hearing your voice in my head," she said.
"What was I saying?"
"Nothing." She paused. "That's what scared me."
Jason turned to face her. "JJ—"
She stepped closer.
"I'm not here to ask you to come back. I don't need you to pick up a badge or a gun. I just need to know if you're still in there."
Jason looked at her—truly looked.
"I didn't ask you to stop me," he said, "because I didn't think I had anything worth staying for."
Her eyes shimmered. "You were wrong."
He hesitated. "And now?"
JJ reached up, fingers brushing the side of his face. "Now I'm here. And I'm not asking for promises. Just… breakfast."
Jason exhaled a shaky laugh.
"I can do breakfast."
Later That Morning – 9:15 AM
They sat by the fire, her feet on the hearth, his shoulder resting gently against hers. Rust snored nearby, oblivious to the shift that had just taken place in the room.
They didn't speak much after that.
They didn't need to.
Quantico – One Week Later
Hotch read the letter in his office.
TO: Unit Chief Hotchner
FROM: Jason Cole
RE: Temporary Consulting Assignment
"I'm not coming back to stay. But if the ghosts come calling again, I'll be ready. I'll be near enough to help… far enough not to bring the storm with me."
—J.C.
Hotch folded the letter with care.
"He'll be back," Morgan said, standing in the doorway.
"Not for the job," Hotch replied. "For the right reason."
Morgan grinned. "You mean her?"
Hotch smirked. "Maybe the reason found him."
Cabin – Nightfall
Jason lay awake, JJ's head resting lightly on his chest, their breaths synced with the creak of the firewood.
For the first time in years, sleep came not with a trigger finger…
…but with a heartbeat that matched his own.