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Also, many thanks to Sugarhigh for giving me this prompt via Facebook!

"Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths." - Criss Jami

"No." Emily said softly, her voice the first to break the silence as JJ stepped out of Hotch's office, seeing right past the false smile JJ had plastered on her face. The team stood and moved towards her, their faces in various stages of confusion and sadness. Reid looked devastated, Morgan a mixture of hurt and anger; Rossi and Emily simply looked defeated at the loss of a battle they thought they would win.

"Wait a minute, I thought Hotch was supposed to,-" Morgan started to say, his familiar bass rumble echoing through the quiet bullpen, but JJ cut him off, not wanting to hear anything from her secret lover, already trying to distance herself, knowing that allowing herself to get sentimental now would only make it harder to take the step to D.C. that loomed only a few days away.

"It's above his paygrade. Strauss' too." JJ said softly,her voice soft, not with affection like it often was, but soft with sorrow, knowing she was losing her family that had been together through so much JJ couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with anyone, knowing that the emotions she would see would be too much for her to handle. A silence fell for a moment as they took it just what it was she was saying.

"They can't just take you away." Spencer said quietly, his voice cracking at the thought of losing the closest to a sister the young genius had ever had. JJ's heart broke, hearing the sadness in his voice, but the decision was well and truly beyond her control at this point- there was nothing she, or anyone, could do to keep her with the team now.

"So we do nothing?" Emily asked, obviously displeased with the entire situation, both her body language and her tone suggesting that even though she may seem angry on the outside, honestly, the beautiful brunette was devastated at the loss of her friend. JJ nodded with a sigh, struggling with the concept herself.

"It's done." JJ said quietly, knowing that her friends were as hurt as she was that she had to leave. She had known about the offer beforehand- but she never thought that they wanted her so badly that they would be willing to go above her head, effectively forcing her to take the position against her will. Derek shook his head, emotion pulsing through his dark eyes, a combination of anger at the way JJ was being treated and hurt at the thought of her being so far away.

"It can't be that simple." Derek said, and for the first time since she'd left the conference room, the weight of the terrible news she was bringing sitting heavy on her shoulders, she made eye contact with the older man, who not only had become one of her closest allies, but also her secretive lover over the past months.

"It is." JJ said bluntly, growing upset with the repetitive comments, all meaning the same thing, even though she knew that her team had every right to be upset. Looking away and plastering a sad smile on her face she turned to look at Rossi, who looked upset, but was still unusually quiet for the vocal Italian.

"This job is already hard enough, what are they trying to do, bury us?" Morgan asked, his control over his temper starting to slip, obvious to everyone, even those that weren't as close to him as she was- although the fact that everyone could see how angry he was becoming was a true testament to how hurt he was. He had turned away from JJ, almost asking the others, like he couldn't bring himself to face her.

"You're too good, that's the problem." Emily said with a slow nod, directing her comment towards JJ, although the rising tension between JJ and Derek was clear, and no-one was sure what to expect next from the day that seemed to steadily get worse.

"It's true. You're on everybody's wishlist." Rossi said bitterly. "Our loss is somebody else's gain." Emily nodded in agreement, and JJ felt tears prickling in the back of her eyes, wishing there was some way to make this easier on them.

"They can't just take you away." Spencer said quietly, repeating his earlier words. Emily looked away, but Derek again tried to make eye contact with JJ, but she couldn't bring her eyes up. JJ stepped towards Spencer and put a hand on his arm, watching as the genius tried to hide his near , JJ pulled away and walked down the hall to Garcia's office, and as she walked away, Morgan couldn't help but feel that this was the last time he would see her for a very long time.

When she stepped into the lair, Garcia was shutting off her monitors for the night, the screens flickering off one by one. JJ leaned against one side of the doorframe, folding her arms as she rested, knowing the TA was almost never here this late. "You're still here?" JJ said softly, her tone gentler than it had been outside with the rest of the team.

Garcia turned slowly until she faced JJ, leaning back against the table to look up at the blonde agent. "Figured you'd get to me eventually." she said quietly, every syllable filled with emotion. "You're leaving?" at JJ's silent nod, acknowledging that what she had heard was the truth, Garcia sighed. "You could've told me. I would've done something, I would've made it impossible for them to let you go, I would've put something in your file,"

"It's not up to me." JJ said, cutting off the TA gently, knowing that Garcia would ramble, trying to find ways to blame herself for JJ's forced promotion. "Or Hotch."

"Don't they understand that we're a family, that that's why this works is because we're a family, do they even care?" Garcia asked, her tone frustrated. She'd seen this team pull together through so much, work together so well as they dealt with some of the sickest of the sick, and to see their makeshift family fall apart because of the one thing they never expected killed the normally perky analyst.

"I don't know." JJ said, lifting her eyes from the floor to make eye contact with Garcia, instantly feeling guilty when she saw that her friend was struggling to fight back tears. She knew that it wasn't her fault that she had been promoted; but it was tearing her friends apart, and it hurt every bone in her body to know that she was behind that pain.

"I can't believe you." Garcia said quietly, but shook her head slightly and heaved a sigh. "No, that's.. I'm supposed to say this is a great opportunity, which it is." the analyst stepped toward her until she was only a few feet way. "I don't know the way this place works without you. You're like, the glue around here, whose going to make us feel safe?"

JJ shook her head, almost sadly amused. "There's plenty of big strong men around." she said bitterly, thinking of the fact that while she was leaving, Morgan would be here to have his way with anyone he chose.

But Garcia didn't see the undertones, having never known of their relationship. "See that, right there, your total ignorance to how awesome you are, is one of five million things I love about you." with eveery word, the analyst was closer to tears.

"I'm still gonna be in the city." JJ said, shrugging slightly. "More than normal, probably."

Garcia swallowed hard. "True." she said quietly. "and then we'll make a plan, breakfast every... Tuesday, and then life gets in the way, and what if I only see you on birthdays, and holidays?" JJ's heart broke at the sad words.

Standing slightly, JJ caught Garcia's eyes. "I won't let that happen." she said softly.

Garcia swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay." she said hesitantly. "You want to walk out with me?"

JJ shook her head slightly, apologetic. "I've got one last thing I need to do." she said, holding up the exit interview. Garcia nodded, hugging her and walking out. As JJ followed, walking through the bullpen to walk up to her office, she could feel Derek's eyes burning into her back, like she was guilty of some deep, dark, heinous crime, and he was just waiting for the evidence to make the arrest.

Secrets were killer sometimes.