Criminal Minds 1. Mac n Cheese

**Author's Notes: So this is just gonna be a little collection of scenes about the childhood friendship/hinted romance between Henry La Montagne, JJ's son (obviously) and Joanna Reid, middle child of the Reid family. Joanna's mother was originally going to be Lila Archer, but I dropped her in favor of an OC whose story I have yet to write but might soon enough. I was also originally going to do a whole multi-chapter about Joanna and Henry with a whole plethora of case-related bullshit involving an old friend of Joanna and Henry's from high school, but I decided against because it was just kind of cliché. This is just going to be a few little stand-alones following them up from where they are here to when they're adults. Enjoy.**

"I just don't see why she has to be _here. _Couldn't Uncle Spencer hire a babysitter?" twelve-year-old Henry La Montagne whined at his mother.

"He did. _You. _Spencer is a very busy man, and so is Rachel. They didn't have time to go around, interviewing people to babysit. They know you. They trust you with their daughter. Shouldn't you be grateful?"

"Mom, I'm barely two years older than her! I'm hardly responsible!"

JJ rolled her eyes at her son as she and her husband Will gathered their things for a night out with Spencer and his wife Rachel. "Do not play that card with me, Henry David. Now you will take care of this little girl and keep her out of trouble and make sure she gets fed until we get home, you understand?"

"But Mom—"

"It's just two hours, Bud, you'll be fine," Will interrupted. "You best listen to your mother." He walked out the door with JJ behind.

"Bye sweetie!" JJ threw over her shoulder as the door shut. "Be good!"

"Yeah, yeah," Henry muttered as he collapsed on the couch. The little girl—what was her name? Jessica?—sat at the other end. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, wisps of straw-colored hair falling out of her neat ponytail into her face, her eyes trained on her neatly-polished Mary-Jane flats. Everything about her was neat.

Henry had a younger cousin about her age living on a farm with her family in Pennsylvania, and the two were radically different. Alexis was a rough-and-tumble tomboy who bathed only when forced to and could almost operate a tractor on her own. This polished and neat child couldn't even compare.

It wasn't as if Neat-and-Polished was a stranger to him, though. The team now consisted of Aaron, Emily and their brood of diverse children—Jack, at the moment a moody teenager with an affinity for skateboards and fishing, Samantha, the golden child with the good grades and popularity, and Catheryn, Sam's polar opposite, who had just recently been suspended for punching a peer in the nose—Kevin and Penelope, the young married couple trying for children, but were perfectly content for now chasing around their many nieces and nephews, Derek, the still-untied-down player, and the growing but distant Reids, who had just moved back to Virginia after spending a few years in Vegas, and who had also just discovered they were expecting after having two children—Neat-and-Polished here, and her older sister who Henry had yet to meet, and Henry's parents and him. Whenever they got together, he saw her standing next to Dr. Reid, silent and small, her little hand clutched in his.

"Hey," he said to her. She was unresponsive. "Hey, kid, I'm gonna watch a movie. That cool?"

Her head snapped up and she nodded tersely. Henry took this as a yes. He flipped to some old kids' movie about penguins. He would've watched something else, probably a horror movie, but he didn't want to have her wet the bed or something and then have to take the blame. This was safe. Plus, he didn't know exactly how old she was, somewhere around eight, so this was a good median, because it wasn't _too much _out of either of their age ranges.

About two hours into it, he heard her talk for the first time. "My name's Joanna," she said.

"Huh?" Henry had been so engrossed in the movie, he hadn't heard what she'd said. He just knew she'd spoken.

"You called me 'kid' earlier. That's not my name. My name's Joanna. Some people call me Jo, but mostly just my big sister. Andi—that's my sister—she's thirteen."

"Okay, Joanna. I'm Henry."

"I know."

"Oh. Hey, how old are you, anyway, kid?"

"Nine."

"You're pretty smart for a nine-year-old. I'm almost thirteen, like your big sister."

"Thanks. My dad says when people say that to tell them I'm pretty smart for anybody."

Henry smiled. Intelligent as she was, she still clung to parental figures. Not surprising. "You want something to eat? It's past dinner and I'm starved."

Joanna's eyes lit up. "Okay."

"Mac n cheese sound good? It's the only thing I really know how to make, so it's pretty much our only option anyway."

"Sure, it sounds perfect."


	2. Waves

**Author's Notes: Last chapter was Henry and Joanna at 12 and 9, respectively. This is them three years later, at 15 and 12. At this point, they've been familiar with each other for those three years. No romantic feelings quite yet, more of a brother-sister relationship.**

Henry stared out of the classroom, having decided to spend his time until the bell for third period rang and the class officially began daydreaming. The subject of his dream: the beach. Surfing. The class: AP World Geography.

Henry had fallen in love over the summer. Not with a girl, but with the ocean. His family had taken a vacation to Myrtle Beach for two weeks and his dad had taught him to surf. While he was still a beginner, he couldn't get enough of the waves. He already missed them, and he had a hunch the feeling wasn't going to go away soon. Today was the first day of school, and he was going to have to survive another school year before he could ride the waves again.

Last year had been his first year of high school, otherwise known as living hell. Well, it was for some. Not so much for him. Some of the kids had to go it alone; they were the only ones at Potomac High School from their particular middle school. Henry, however, hadn't pulled the short straw; he'd attended a middle school that funneled nearly all its students here. Which was not surprising, considering it was right down the street.

What was a surprise, however, was Joanna Reid, all 90 pounds, five feet two inches of her, waltzing into the classroom populated mostly by fifteen- to sixteen-year-olds, and parking herself in the seat right beside him. "Hi, Henry!" she chirped. "How's your summer been? I heard you, JJ and Will went to Myrtle Beach, and you developed an affinity for surfing, which really makes sense since now you're right in the general demographic for the surfing industry—upper-middle class male between the ages of 15 and 25. I really hope you were taking the proper precautions, because you know seventy-five percent of surfing accidents happen to new, inexperienced surfers. Hey, did you know that while some people simply practice surfing as a recreational activity, others make it the central focus of their lives? Within the United States, surfing culture is most dominant in California, Florida and Hawaii, too, and—"

"Joanna!" Henry interrupted. "What are you doing here?"

"What, do you mean existentially, as a human being, or—"

"This classroom, AP 10th grade Social Studies, this school, high school period! Why are you here? Do you go here now? I thought you were supposed to be going into the seventh grade this year?"

"I was. Technically, I am supposed to be in the 7th grade, but I skipped it. And 8th. And 9th," she added as an afterthought.

"Oh." Henry shrugged and was about to resume daydreaming again before Joanna started with the word vomiting again.

"Yeah. I was thinking for a while over the summer that it'd be really cool to be in the same grade as you, but then I realized I'd probably get really annoying after a while, and I'd end up being like a younger sibling, constantly popping up to annoy you and wanting to hang out with you and your friends but instead I'd just end up making it awkward, and after a while you'd grow to resent me, so…plus, my counselor suggested that I try to branch out and make friends with people _aside_ from you, so I'll probably not be seeing as much of you as you'd think. Wait, why aren't you surprised that I'm here?"

"I've got a better question," Henry started once she stopped. "Why do you have a counselor?"

"Well, they assign them to all the students that in the Gifted Program who move up a grade, to help them cope with all their peers being older than them, things like that. Now answer my question."

Henry snorted in amusement. "C'mon, Jo, you're a genius. It's not all that surprising."

Joanna's face broke into a grin. "Aww, thanks, Henry! I'd hug you, but I'm pretty sure that would embarrass you."

"Eh." He held out one arm, and Joanna crushed herself into Henry's side, wrapping thin arms around his torso. Henry gasped for air after a moment, choking out, "Jo…too…hard."

Joanna let go, a little red. She smiled sheepishly, and asked him, "So you're okay with that?"

"Okay with what?" Henry asked.

"Me not hanging out with you much. I thought I'd try to avoid you more because if I keep popping up, you'd start to get annoyed with me, and since you didn't say anything before—"

"No, no, hang around with me as much as you want, Jo! You're my buddy, not my little sister. I didn't answer before because I was more concerned about why you had a counselor. I thought you needed help or something."

"I do need help, though. My life is about to get very stressful."

Henry's brow furrowed with concern and protectiveness. "Why? What's wrong? What happened?"

Joanna laughed at his misinterpretation. "I'm going to school with peers three years older than me, Henry. That's a lot of stress."

Henry's face relaxed. "Oh. Nah, you're gonna be fine, Jo."

Joanna considered his words. "Well, Henry, I really hope you're right."


	3. Birthday

**Author's Notes: In this, Henry is 16 and Joanna is 13. Still close friends. This is the end of sophomore year. Also a link to her outfit consisting of a mashup of pictures I found on Google, made with MS Paint and thrown together in, like five minutes: **http:/carez123(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Joanna-s-Outfit-212779369 **just replace the (dot)s with actual periods. Obviously.**

As Henry exited the cafeteria with lunch tray in hand, he scanned the crowd of students in the quad. When he finally spotted Joanna, she was sitting at a picnic table, her carefully packed and even more meticulously unpacked lunch sitting out beside her.

Her nose was stuck in a book, her eyes dashing across the page at a million miles an hour. Completely typical of Joanna. When he got a closer look, he saw it was a battered copy of _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. _She'd already read it about a thousand times. Also not surprising was the fact that aside from her, her book, and her lunch, Joanna's table was empty.

Henry was positive he could sneak up on her undetected, considering the loud buzz of students around them, and the fact that Joanna was a million miles away at the moment, lost in an undersea world. He walked normally across the quad to her table, grass wet with dew under his feet. He approached her from the side, kissing her on top of the head and announcing, "Happy birthday, Jo!" as he sat down next to her.

Joanna started so violently her book fell to the ground and her thick glasses nearly flew off her face. "Henry!" she berated. "Don't sneak up on me like that! Jeez, you nearly gave me heart attack!" She leaned over to pick up her book, and Henry stole a glance at her behind. He knew it was wrong, considering she was so much younger than him and almost like a little sister to him, but he couldn't help himself, and she really was very pretty. She had grown up a lot over the past year…

Henry shook himself. _Get a hold of yourself, kid! _His father's voice scolded him in his head. _Quit lettin' those hormones get the better of you! She's barely a teenager!_

She certainly didn't look the part, however true that was. Joanna had always been taller and more…filled in than other girls, especially now that she was developing like a train going at full speed. Today was her thirteenth birthday, as well as the two-week marker for the last day of school. Joanna had always been a pretty girl, awkward personality and geeky quirks aside, and often times Henry had to force himself to look away from her.

"Henry?" Joanna asked, breaking him out of his reverie. "Are you okay? You look a little flushed."

One hand shot to his burning cheeks. "Uh, yeah, I'm-I'm fine," he stuttered.

Joanna narrowed her eyes suspiciously for a moment, then disregarded it. Her eyes lit up as she said, "I'm so excited!"

"For what?" Henry asked, feigning obliviousness. He knew exactly what she was excited about.

She cocked her head to the side. "My surprise party. Dad didn't invite you? I'll have to talk to him about that…" She trailed off, her lips pursed in confusion.

Henry rolled his eyes in amusement, chuckling lightly. "No, no, I got invited Jo, but it's a _surprise party, _so you're not supposed to know, and I'm supposed to pretend _not _to know."

Her brow furrowed. "Well, that's ridiculous! I know because it happens every year, because my father plans it for me every year. I've grown to expect it, so it's impossible for me _not _to know. It really shouldn't be called a surprise party, considering it hasn't been a _surprise _since I was a child…"

Henry tuned out the rest of her ramble in favor of watching her talk. The way her eyes would sparkle sometimes, how her lips would draw back into a smile—it drove him nuts. She drove him _nuts._

Joanna stopped. "Henry, are you even listening?" she asked, slightly irritated.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, keep going."

Joanna shot him a small glare. "I'm not gonna talk if you're not gonna listen."

"Jo, please don't get mad…" he gave her pleading look. That seemed to pacify her.

"So what's Dad's plan to get me out of the house this year?"

"Oh, I'm, uh, taking you to the movies, like my own personal birthday present to you. On me, of course," Henry responded coolly, though he was slightly frazzled on the inside.

Joanna smiled that smile he knew was just for him. "Alright. When do you pick me up?"

"Four."

"And no dressing up, right? I hate wearing dresses."

"No dresses, but according to your father, you'll have some relatives there he wants you to look nice for, so semi-casual."

"What're you wearing?" she inquired.

"Blue button down and jeans, probably."

Joanna nodded. "So what are we seeing?"

Henry grinned what was close to a shit-eating grin. "Whatever the birthday girl wants."

True to her word, when Joanna answered the door to him at four that afternoon, she was _not_ in a dress. She was in something _way _better.

She wore a light purple, form-fitting tank top with a sleeveless knit white cardigan, a white pleated skirt that reached halfway down her thighs, and flat buckled boots with purple plaid socks that reached her knees visible underneath. She had traded her glasses for contacts, and she wore light makeup. Her blonde hair was back in a ponytail halfway up the back of her head, but her side-swept bangs hung in her face. There was a brown messenger bag at her side.

Henry couldn't tear his eyes away. She looked _awesome. _

"Henry, what do you think?" Joanna asked him. She did a little twirl.

Henry nearly choked on his words. "You look…great. Amazing."

Her cheeks reddened a little—or was it wishful thinking?—and she grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside. "My mom and Andi helped me pick it out."

Henry nodded. "So, the movie starts in an hour. If we wanna get good seats, we should leave soon."

"Oh, I know. I just want to show you something before we leave." She began to drag him trough the house. Just as they walked past the stairs leading to the second story of the house, Joanna's dad appeared at the top of them.

"Oh, hi Henry," he called down. "I thought you two were going to the movies."

"Uh, we are. But it doesn't start for a while, so we're going to hang out outside," Joanna answered for him.

"Uh, yeah. And hi, Dr. Reid."

Reid sighed good-naturedly. "Henry, I've known you since you were in diapers. Call me Spencer. Uncle Spencer, if you want. But not Dr. Reid. It's way too formal."

"Uh…sure, Dr.—I mean Spencer." Henry smiled and Joanna tugged at his wrist.

"C'mon," she whined. "Let's _gooooo."_

"Alright, alright, I'm coming."

Henry followed Joanna through the house to the back door. She opened the door and stepped through, Henry behind her.

Joanna began to ramble about her birthday as they walked to the gazebo at the far end of the backyard. Again_._ One they arrived at the gazebo, Henry paused, confused. "You wanted to show me the gazebo?"

"No, silly! This is just a diversion, in case anyone is watching. They think we're hanging out in here, when in reality, we're checking out my killer birthday present." She grinned at him and turned promptly, waltzing out the back of the gazebo with her ponytail swishing back and forth as she walked. Henry followed again, confused still.

Joanna led him across the grassy backyard to the shed sitting idle in the wide side yard. She went the door, which was secured with a pad lock, and paused. She raised an arm and reached into her hair, pulling out a bobby pin. Inserting it into the padlock and turning after straightening it out, she successfully broke into the shed. She turned to face him, saying, "You aren't going to believe this. Stay where you are." She slipped inside the shed.

After a few seconds the door swung open and there was Joanna, standing with her hands on her hips, looking triumphant. Next to her sat a brand new, shiny, probably very expensive mountain bike. Top grade. _Sick, _Henry thought.

"Huh?" Joanna prompted. "How _awesome _is this thing?"

"It's pretty wicked," he agreed.

Joanna let out a contented breath."Well, then, let's go to the movie."

"Sure." The pair went inside and through the house, and out the front door again. They then walked down to Henry's car, and after some exclamation about the rose Henry had forgotten in the passenger's seat but intended to give to Joanna nonetheless—"It's beautiful! I just _love _it! Thanks, Henry!"—they were on their way.


End file.

Criminal Minds, Friendship, Romance