Since joining the BAU about 4 months ago, you’d noticed that JJ had been avoiding you. It wasn’t overt, she wasn’t hostile or rude - but the tension was impossible to miss. Whenever you entered a room, she’d find an excuse to leave. When she couldn’t avoid you, her responses were curt, her tone distant, and on the rare occasions your name came up in conversation, her remarks were edged with a quiet sharpness you couldn’t ignore.

At first, you tried to shrug it off, assuming she just needed time to adjust to your presence in the team. After all, the BAU was a tight-knit group, and building trust didn’t happen overnight. But as the weeks passed, it became clear that her behavior wasn’t changing. The warmth she so easily extended to everyone else never reached you. During briefings, she offered supportive words to others but skipped over you, leaving an awkward silence in their place.

It all came to a head when Hotch paired the two of you on a case. From the moment the assignment was announced, the tension between you was palpable. The car ride to the scene was heavy with silence, your attempts to engage her in conversation met with clipped replies and neutral stares. It wasn’t just that she was cold - there was something sharper beneath the surface, something that felt personal.

You decided to ask her about her attitude towards you as you were getting beyond frustrated at the months of the cold treatment and childish behaviour.