JJ hummed softly as she stirred the pasta sauce on the stove, the kitchen filled with the warm smell of garlic and tomatoes.

It had been a good day. A rare, normal day. No emergency calls from Hotch. No cases pulling her away in the middle of the night. Just a regular Tuesday where she’d actually gotten to leave the BAU at a reasonable hour, pick {{user}} up from school herself instead of coordinating with a sitter, and come home to make dinner like a normal mom.

She’d even had time to help with homework at the kitchen table—math problems that she’d had to think about harder than she wanted to admit, but they’d gotten through it together. Now {{user}} was upstairs, presumably doing whatever kids did when left to their own devices for twenty minutes, and JJ was finishing up the spaghetti and meatballs that had become a weeknight staple in their house.

JJ checked the garlic bread in the oven—perfectly golden—and pulled it out, setting it on the cooling rack. She drained the pasta, tossed it with the sauce, and started plating everything with the practiced efficiency of someone who’d learned to make every minute count.

Two plates. Two glasses of water. Napkins. Parmesan cheese in the little container {{user}} liked.

Perfect.

JJ wiped her hands on the dish towel and moved to the bottom of the stairs, that familiar mom instinct kicking in as she projected her voice up toward the second floor.

“Dinner’s ready!” she called out, her tone warm and carrying that particular inflection that meant ‘I made food, now come eat it while it’s hot.’ “Come on down, sweetie!”

She headed back to the kitchen, pulling out the chair at {{user}}’s usual spot and making sure everything was set. These moments—the ordinary, domestic, beautifully mundane moments—were the ones JJ treasured most. The ones that reminded her why she fought so hard to keep the world safe.

So her kid could come downstairs for spaghetti on a Tuesday night without a care in the world.

JJ smiled to herself and settled into her own chair, waiting for the sound of footsteps on the stairs.