The very first thing she registered was hearing rapid knocking on her apartment front door.

It was barely 4:30 in the morning, which she found strange as she was assuming it was someone from her team coming to get her for a case because she'd slept through her phone ringing. But there was no obvious messages on the screen, so she frowned and wiped her eyes.

Jodi laid in her bed, blinking for a moment to ensure she wasn't hearing things, then quickly sat up and grabbed her crutches from beside her bed. It took a couple moments of slapping her cheeks to fully wake her up, but when she was sure she wouldn't fall over she was moving towards the door as quickly as she could.

After undoing the three locks on the door she opened it and was met with a sight she definitely hadn't expected; a boy with floppy black curls coiled tightly to his head, dark skin and frantic brown eyes. She knew that he was small for his age — he only reached her elbow even though he was almost 12 now — but he looked thinner than he had last time she'd seen him.

She stared at him for a moment blinking uncomprehendingly. Jodi lurched slightly when he surged forward and threw his arms around her waist and clung tightly to her.

That was what promptly snapped her out of her surprise; "Jesse?"

"She's really really mean, JoJo," the small boy sobbed out, his entire body trembling as she stumbled back into her apartment and close the door behind her. "The lady said they'd be nice and they're not and I didn't know what to do because no one listens and—"

"—Honey, Honey slow down," she murmured, carefully lowering herself to the ground.

Due to her job and it's requirements, Jodi wasn't a top suggestion for having foster children in her care though she'd made sure to be licensed for it the moment she was legally eligible. But Jesse Miller, the boy currently clinging to her, was one of the first children to be placed in her care when she first moved to Virginia.

He only stayed with her for a few weeks before being moved to a more permanent foster home, but he was easily one of the sweetest children to ever stay with her and it was fair to say that she'd grown attached to him. So seeing him this worked up about something absolutely broke her heart.

"Can you take a couple of deep breaths with me, Buddy?" She asked him softly, arms circled around him to keep him tightly in her lap. "Just breathe with me, okay? In...and out...good...again; in...and out...there we go."

Jesse inhaled shakily and wiped his eyes, then fisted his hands into the front of her sleep shirt. She gently rubbed his back as he continued to cry into her chest, feeling tears well up in her own eyes. As much as she wanted to just sit on the floor with him for the rest of the day until he felt safe, she knew that she had to get to the source of his fear sooner rather than later.

So she carefully pulled him away from her, feeling his bones through his dirty clothes, and offered him a gentle smile. "Okay, Buds; how about we get up so I can go put my leg on, and then we'll get something to eat, okay? You can tell me what's wrong then, does that sound good to you?"

"I — yeah," Jesse murmured sleepily.

When she went back into her room he clung tightly to her hand with both of his small ones, and he sat on the bed beside her as she went through the process of putting it on. Then she moved them down the short hallway and into the kitchen that was barely big enough for her and two other people her size to fit in, and she hoisted him up onto the counter.

She knew that even though he was almost twelve, and most twelve year old's didn't like being carried or lifted up like they were still babies, that Jesse was in need of comfort the way he had been when he'd first come to her as a scrawny, under-fed seven year old. "Do you want pancakes, waffles, or French toast?" She asked him calmly, a hand on her hip while she waited for an answer.

Jesse sniffled twice and frowned. "French toast," he decided finally, and she just nodded.

"Sounds good, buddy."

She moved around the kitchen, grabbing eggs, milk, bread, and bowls, then got a frying pan set up on the stove. She had Jesse set the table as she cooked piece after piece, and told him to pick out whatever toppings he wanted; whipped cream, chocolate chips and syrup.

As she waited for each piece to cook she made herself a pot of coffee, and was already half-way through her first cup when she was ready to turn the stove off, and there was enough for them to have three pieces each. Jodi finished her coffee and had her vitamins with her breakfast, and watched sadly as Jesse wolfed the food down like he hadn't eaten in days.

Judging by the condition his body was in, he hadn't.

She'd set a box of Kleenex down beside him because he was still sniffly, and explained that she was going to get dressed quickly and would be back before he finished his breakfast. She was true to her word, because Jesse was finishing the last bite on his plate when she returned in a set of much more comfortable clothes — jeans and a loose shirt — and was pouring herself another cup of coffee as he brought his plate up to the sink.

"What're you doing?" She asked softly, watching as he started digging through the cupboards.

Jesse paused, then bowed his head so that all she could see was his black curly hair. "Mrs Davis makes us do the dishes after she eats," he mumbled quietly, and that was when she understood what was happening.

He'd been placed with one of the not-kind families.

Jodi closed her eyes for a moment and pursed her lips, not wanting to scare him with the concern she could feel taking over her features, and then opened them again. "Where do you want to sit to talk about it?" She asked him calmly after another short moment.

"...can we talk in your room?"

She remembered how much he loved having sleepovers with her when she was home, and they'd would paint their nails and have snacks and watch and Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings until they were both fast asleep under several blankets, and she couldn't help but smile. "Of course we can."

So they crawled under the messy blankets in her bed and she waited calmly for him to start talking, not wanting for him to feel rushed.

When he began, his small voice trembled with fear and he gripped her hand. Jesse told her about how Mrs Davis, his foster mother living a few hours outside of the city, was terrible to him and the three other kids that lived with her. How she made them do the cleaning around the house, and each task they completed earned them a ticket for the bathroom, or for meals, or for sleeping on an air mattress instead of the floor.

How they had to sleep with a chair in front of their bedroom door if they wanted to sleep without her husband coming in during the middle of the night.

By the time he had cried himself to sleep, it was nearly 7:30 in the morning and Jodi was close to tears herself.

As gently as she could, she smoothed her hand over his forehead and pressed a short kiss to it, wanting him to feel love, even if it was just for a moment. Then she climbed out from under the blankets and tucked him in so he'd be warm, and then step out into the living room.

The first thing she did was pull her phone out, and make the first of two phone calls.

"McCoy, where are you? We've got a case and you're scheduled for your psych eval in an hour," Hotch answered the phone sternly, though she could hear the concern laced in with it.

She grimaced, thinking about missing Nadine's skype call. But she'd just have to wait.

"I won't be making it in today, Hotch," Jodi murmured apologetically. "One of my old foster kids came to me at 4:30 this morning, and it looks like I'll be spending some time getting things handled back with my old boss in crimes against children."

There was a beat of silence, and then she heard him sigh. "Of course, I'll reschedule your evaluation; take as much time as you need."

"Thank you so much, I'm so sorry for the short notice—"

"—You don't need to apologize, McCoy...just...get this handled, and get him safe."

"Will do, good luck with the case."

Then she hung up and wandered back to her room as quietly as she could to make sure Jesse was still sleeping. She watched his chest rise and fall for a moment, then stepped back into the living room to phone her old boss, Katie Cole.

She was tapping her leg nervously with the tips of her fingers as she waited, and sighed out in relief when the call was answered after the third ring. "Hello?"

"Katie, hi," she smiled softly. "Sorry to bother you so early."

She heard her laugh softly. "You know me, Jodi; I stayed in the office all night. What can I do for you?"

"I wish it was under better circumstances, but one of my foster kids came to my apartment at around 4:30 this morning and, well...I think this is a case for you."

Katie sighed sadly, and she could practically hear the nod of agreement. "Bring 'im in as soon as you can, I'll make time."

"Thank you so much."

She let him sleep for another half hour, then gently woke Jesse up and found him a change of clothes from the closet of her only spare room that the children usually ended up staying in, and let him go get changed in the bathroom. When she heard him lock the door, then unlock it again as if to check it worked, she felt her heart break.

Within another half hour, she was getting off the bus with Jesse holding her hand and wandering up to the ground floor elevator.

Her team was just stepping off as they closed the door behind them, and she couldn't help but smile at Morgan's shocked face. Hotch was there, and she could see the sad look in his eye because he knew just why they were there. "Hey, kid!" Morgan cheered, reaching up to give her a hi-five.

"Hey," she grinned back, slapping her palm to his. "Guys, this is Jesse Miller, he's someone I fostered a couple years ago."

He waved shyly at Morgan, but kept a tight grip on her hand and eventually buried his face in her side.

"You showing him around the office?" Elle asked with a small smile.

Jodi felt her sadness return. "Actually, we're going to go and talk to Katie up in CAC—" their expressions all stayed the same for Jesse's sake, but she could see their eyes darken and flood with a well controlled fury at the all too familiar acronym "—and then we're going to find Garcia and see if she has any cupcakes we could steal, aren't we dude?"

Jesse nodded shyly again.

Before they wandered into the elevator she bumped her elbow with Spencer's and offered him an encouraging smile, and then watched them leave as the doors slid shut in front of them. "Can I push the button?"

"Only if you push number 8," she agreed, grinning.

Katie was waiting for them in the lobby of the Crimes Against Children floor when they got up there, and she was smiling and holding a bottle of chocolate milk in her hand. After giving her a hug, Jodi wandered into her familiar old workplace and watched as Katie brought Jesse up to her office so they could talk one on one.

👣🔪🧬

By the end of the weekend, the Davis' had been brought into the local PD for questioning, and the kids had all been relocated to a new home for the time being. Jodi had requested that they be sent off to Arkansas to live with Grampa Tom, if that was something all parties involved wanted to proceed with, and in the end her Grampa received three new foster children.

The fourth child was nearly seventeen and already in the process of emancipation and didn't feel the need to be moved to a different state.

Garcia had given all four kids a cupcake when they were brought up to the CAC to talk to Katie, and had set up a movie on one of her screens for the younger ones to watch while they waited for things to happen.

After three days of getting things sorted out, Jodi was sitting in a BAU car with Morgan, who had agreed to personally drive the three kids to the airport for reasons she didn't know; when she'd asked, she'd just gotten a stiff shrug and an I want them to feel safe.

She got the feeling that there was more to it, but she didn't want to push him to talk about it.

She had secrets of her own.

"Now each of you get a piece of paper with my cellphone number on it, okay?" She murmured seriously to them at the flight gate, having noticed a member of the airport staff coming to take the flight with them as had been agreed. "If any of you ever need anything, you give me a call, okay?"

Milo and Ella, the other two children, each nodded and waved at the flight staff with hesitant smiles. But Jesse surged forward and hugged her tightly, as if his life depended on it. "I love you," he whispered to her quietly, and she felt the shoulder of her shirt grow damp with his tears.

After pulling away from him, Jodi kissed his forehead. "I love you," she returned softly, smoothing a hand over his forehead. "You say hi to Grampa Tom for me, okay?"

He nodded.

Morgan lightly rubbed her shoulder as she watched him join the other two kids and board the plane.