"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." –J.M. Barrie
An/I know that I sort of broached this idea with "Year Long Romance", but alas, I couldn't help myself. Enjoy.
I don't own Criminal Minds. Its light JJ/Hotch but more friendship than anything.
"Seriously Will?" JJ choked out. "My family is in town for one day and you can't come."
"JJ, I'm sorry. But something came up and--"
"Will, you've known about this for weeks." JJ cried exsasperated. "I told you about it. I just--I can't believe that you aren't going to be able to come."
"Jayje, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I swear. I got to go." He called. "Bye."
"Bye." JJ whispered, though he had long since hung up. Once again, she was going to see her entire family alone. She should be used to it by now, her Grandma was sure that Will had long since left and JJ was just hiding it. Not that she had any reason to believe the truth, she had never seen Will with her own eyes.
JJ slumped down into her chair. She swore that this was always happening. Will always got angry that she was never around, but he was the one who worked all of the time. Since joining the police department, he was busier than she was. She tried to be understanding, but it sucked that it never worked when the shoe was on the other foot. She burried her head in her hands, she hated family parties. Her cousins and aunts always looked at her with pity, as if she were pathetic. She kept reminding them that she did have a boyfriend, but they would just look at her like she a sore sight and discuss the nice men they could set JJ up with.
So lost in her aggitation, she hadn't heard the door open. "JJ?" Hotch asked after a moment.
"Oh, Sorry." She groaned. "Didn't see you there."
"Are you alright?" He inquired. He rarely saw JJ lose her everlasting cool and this was an odd sight to see.
"Yes." She said before changing her mind. "No." She shrugged her shoulders apathetically as she slammed her head into the back of her chair. "I don't know."
"What's the matter?" He asked though he didn't really expect her to tell him. They had a very normal rhythem to their association. They would offer to help and the other refused it. It was the way things worked with them.
"Its nothing." JJ said mindlessly, before suddenly deciding to go off script. "Did Hailey ever bail on your family parties?"
"No." Hotch murmmerd, surprised at the direction this took. "That was usually me."
"My entire family thinks Will is imaginary." She scoffed. "All because he can't manage to make it to one stupid party."
"Where do they think Henry came from?" He asked, suddenly growing interested.
"I don't know, probably that I got abducted by aliens or something." JJ shrugged. "Or that I went wild one night and had a carnal sex romp."
"Well, that certainly would have been intresting." Hotch said awkwardly. He and JJ didn't normally talk about these things, it was all relatively uncomfortable. But in the same right, talking to JJ wasn't awkward at all. It was the two extremes fighting towards the mean, producing the complexity that often took over his equilibrium when he was around the lovely liaison.
"JJ, the golden child, gone wild." She said, seeing the headline in her mind. "I'm sure my mom would have loved that."
"I can see it." Hotch teased. "So why are you mad about your family parties?"
"My entire family is in town and he can't come. I'm doomed for another episode of 'Look how patethic Jenny is.' I think I'm going to be sick." JJ pouted, putting her hand to her stomach, trying to knead the knot out of it.
The expression of desperation tugged on Hotch's heartstrings, though he didn't know why. "Is there anything I can do?"
"You could pretend to be Will." JJ joked. "But they've already seen the pictures of him. Probably think those are fake too." She mumbled, growing more tragic with each moment. She was not this girl, not the girl who whined about boyfriends to their boss. But for some reason, it felt alright this time. Like this was the exception to the usual rule.
"What if I went with you as a friend?" Hotch offered expecting her to decline. Not that it made him any less willing, truth be told, he would love to go with JJ.
JJ sat there, stunned for a moment. "You'd do that?"
"Why not?" Hotch smiled, glad to see her expression become more upbeat. "Its not really that big of a deal."
"You wouldn't mind terribly?" JJ smiled, grateful that Hotch was bring peace to her paniced life.. "I mean, it would be nice to have a friend because they'd keep their mouths shut if I'm not alone. While they like to mock me, they don't make it a habit to do it in public."
"Alright." Hotch grinned in return. He didn't know why he enjoyed making her happy so much, but it was something he was finding addictive. "When?"
"Tonight." JJ informed. "Is that too soon?"
"No tonight's fine." He said, feeling as though he was going on a date with JJ, though that was impossible. It wasn't actually a date, he kept reminding himself, it just felt like it. "Where at?"
"Oh, its at this park down by the new Walmart. Can I pick you up around seven-thirty?" JJ asked hopefully. Hotch was seriously an answer to her prayers.
"That should be fine." He said, more excited than he had been in months. He didn't know why, but he was looking forward to this more than he would like to admit.
"Hi." JJ smiled nervously as Hotch opened the door. He noticed that she was out of her work clothes and he was impressed with how pretty she really was. In her light blue sundress, she really was easily one of the prettiest women he had seen in a while. He smiled as she bounced Henry lightly at her hip, further indicating her anxiety."You ready to go."
"Yeah." He said as he shut the door behind him. He felt strangely like he was playing pretend with JJ, something that he found both pathetic and exciting. "You look nice."
"Thanks." JJ laughed. "I have to impress my grandma. Prove that while I may not be married like my cousin Tasha, I still have some worth."
"Good luck with that." Hotch mused as they reached JJ's small sedan. Without thinking, he helped her put Henry into his carseat and opening the drivers door for her. He hoped that she wouldn't read too much into it, although he knew she wouldn't. He tried to rationalize that he was just being gentlemanly, but there really were some other motivations for trying all of his usual charm moves with JJ. "Grandmothers are hard to surprise."
"Try telling them that you're having a baby out of wedlock." JJ mused. "That sure surprises them."
Hotch didn't know to respond to this. It happened to be that JJ was much more open when she was angry, something he hadn't known before. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
JJ shrugged. "It wasn't that big of a deal. They were just a bit disappointed." JJ couldn't believe she was actually broaching this topic with her boss. It was strange how easily she trusted him when they weren't working. She sped up to pass a an already speeding truck on the ramp up the interstate.
Hotch had to close his eyes. It wasn't often that he was frightened, but JJ's driving made him fear in ways no unsub had ever succeeded. He was beginning to feel a little green and nauseaous when JJ looked over at him.
"I'm not that bad of a driver." She cried indignantly, reading his thoughts without a trouble.
"key word being 'that'." Hotch muttered. "Face it JJ, you're a fifty car pile up waiting to happen."
"That's what Reid always said." JJ mused. "Not that he is any better."
"At least he doesn't go 120 miles over the speed limit." Hotch noted. He was a man, he was supposed to enjoy speeding through the world, faster than lightening. Yet, JJ was enough to take that out of anyone.
"Please, if Reid actually made it to the speed limit, the DMV would throw a party in his honor." JJ retorted. "He is the only person I have ever met to get a ticket for going to slow in a school zone."
"Alright Speedracer, because you've got room to talk." Hotch teased. Actually, he found if funny how easily friendship came between him and JJ. He rarely teased anyone, and now, Garcia would proudly claim him as her friend. It was a strange world JJ brought him into.
"We'll take that wit out of you yet." JJ said, once again exemplifying that she could always read his mind, though he wished she couldn't. "We're here. You officially get to meet the Jareau clan."
"Should I be afraid?" He chortled.
"Terrified." Though Hotch came to find, JJ wasn't joking.
"Jennifer, you made it." JJ's mother called happily. "I was afraid you weren't going to make it." She was glad to see her daughter and grandson walk across the park, approaching the party, but what Diane Jareau hadn't expected was to see a handsome man come with her daughter. She had seen Will before, the scrawny boyfriend of her daughter who was fine in theory but she believed to be a schmuck, and this was not him.
"Hey Mom." JJ called back.
"Who's the guy with her Diane?" JJ's dad whispered to her mom. "That doesn't look like Will?"
"I don't know Henry." Diane shushed her husband. " I was just about to ask."
As the couple continued to conspire, JJ walked closer toward them. At first, she felt self concious with Hotch, like her entire family would be buzzing. But being the adult, self-actualized human being she was, she decided it was best if maybe she just tuned out the distant relations. They didn't matter, most of these cousins she hadn't spoken with in decades. Why should she care what they thought?
"Hi Sweetheart." Henry Jareau welcomed as his daughter was in hug's reach. He embraced her fondly and looked at his beloved grandson who was named after him. "Hey buddy."
"Jennifer." Diane said through a forced smile. "Who's your friend?"
"Mom, Dad, this is Aaron Hotchner, we work together at the BAU." JJ introduced nervously. "Hotch, these are my parents, Henry and Diane Jareau."
"Nice to meet you son." Henry extended his hand cordially. He didn't know what relation to his baby girl this man was, but he had a good feeling about him. Much better than that southern boy that he felt treated his daughter worse than a man should treat his dog.
"Nice to meet you too." Hotch grinned, taking the hand and shaking it firmly. He could tell from Henry Jareau's handshake that he was a strong but pleasant man, something he seemed to think JJ took after. "So I hear you're the one to thank for making JJ a Redskins fan."
"My little girl was a born Skins lover." Henry boasted proudly. "When she was just a kid, she'd cry whenever we turned off the game, she was always my little football buddy."
"We have two other daughters and no sons, so Henry takes any 'non-girlish' activities very seriously." JJ's mom teased. "We always said that we wouldn't know what he would do if JJ hadn't had both the love for football and the athletic ability that talked him off the ledge more than once."
"Jennifer!" JJ's grandma cried as she ran to embrace her baby granddaughter. In truth, JJ and her grandmother had never been the best of friends, but when there was a man present, you would have thought them inseperable. "Its so good to see you darling!"
"Hi." JJ gave her relative a tight squeeze and released.
"Who is this strapling young man?" JJ's grandma flirted. "Are you William? JJ has told us so much about you."
Hotch began to chuckle lightly, trying to fight the awkwardness of the situation. "No, I'm her friend. My name is Aaron Hotchner."
"Oh." Grandma said with imediate disintrest. "JJ, why didn't you bring Will?"
"He couldn't make it, he had to work and---"
"This is unacceptable." Her grandmother chastised. "Are you sure you aren't making him up?"
Hotch instantly burst deeper into laughter. He wasn't normally one to chortle at someone else's pain, but this was flat out ridiclous.
"Yeah Grams, I'm sure he's real." JJ blushed. "I've got the proof right here." She said, lifting Henry up to show off.
"Like that proves anything." Her grandmother muttered disinterested. "Is Rachel here?"
"Rachel is still in Africa." JJ's mom said politely. Hotch could tell immediately that JJ's mom and grandmother did not get along. "She should be here next month."
"Diane, go talk to Cousin Leona, she hasn't been around much." Before Diane could say anything, she was being shoved by her pushy mother-in-law away.
"Help me." She mouthed to her husband.
"I better go rescue your mother." JJ's dad smiled, squeezing his baby girl one more time before heading away.
"You've got nice parents." Hotch noted, not having expected anything less from the beings who created JJ.
"Yeah." JJ smiled. "I'm lucky."
"Who's Rachel?" Hotch inqured curiously.
"My sister." JJ informed. "She's a doctor. She went to Africa for a service stint."
"Ambitious." Hotch nodded.
"Yeah, she was always the good one of the family." JJ chuckled, her heart panging as she suddenly missed her sister. "She could have gotten Will to come. She was never afraid of him."
"Oh." He muttered. Hotch had a question, one that burned inside of him, but he wondered if it was appropriate to ask it. "JJ..." He began before he could stop it.
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?" He inquired tentatively, not believing that he was actually going to say something.
"Knock yourself out." She shrugged, though she had the faintest idea of what he was going to ask and she didn't want to deal with it.
"Why did your Grandma think I was Will?"
JJ blushed furiously, wanting nothing more than to avoid this conversation. "She uh...hasn't ever met him."
"But you're almost engaged." Hotch sputtered, unsure of what to make of this.
"Will doesn't seem to care what my Grandma thinks." JJ shrugged. "I can't make him meet my family, he's just always so busy and--"
"You work 70 hour work weeks and you say he's busy?" Hotch shook is head in disbelief. He never thought he would see JJ reduced to this, defending the man that was hurting her. He was finally understanding what he might have put Hailey through, and it was nearly killing him.
"He is." JJ defended, not wanting Will to be unjustly persecuted. "He works when he needs to and that somehow falls on when my family visits.
"Sure." Hotch agreed, retreating from the offensive he had begun. "He's busy."
"He is." JJ said again, reiterating the point and driving it home. "He works too much."
"I know." Hotch said, wanting nothing more than to pull JJ into his arms and comfort her. She looked fairly near tears, though he knew she wouldn't break.
"He's known about this for months." JJ confided. "There is no way that he would not come if he wasn't busy."
"JJ, you work a lot too." Hotch said, knowing that he wanted nothing more than to rip into Will but he was going to play his advocate. He would defend the devil so that JJ could be mad without feeling like she was on the offensive. He didn't want to, but JJ needed him to.
"But I never skip out when his mother comes to town." JJ grimaced. "Even though his mom is---never mind. I'm just saying a lot of things."
Hotch's hand comforted JJ by rubbing her arm gently. He wanted to protect her, to keep her from getting hurt. But he knew it wasn't his job. He couldn't blur the line between boss and friend, and further more, he couldn't even look at the line between friend and something else. His mind wandered and longed for what it could never have. But that was the temptation of the fruit, never being to be able to touch it.
"Silly right? I'm a grown woman and I can't even manage to communicate effectively to the father of my son." JJ laughed derisively. "I am such a success story."
"The months after you have children are always the hardest." Hotch assured, though in his case, that hadn't been true. After Jack was born, his and Hailey's marriage was air-tight. It was as their son grew that leaks started to appear.
"These aren't the first months, Henry is almost a year old." JJ reasoned. "Oh, well, at least I have you." As she said this, she wrapped her arms around her boss in an awkward embrace. They had never been much huggers before, but this felt nice to her. It actually felt like human contact, something she had been missing for the last several months. There was a new and different peace, a peace that she had been wishing for.
"JJ---" Hotch said, trying to hide his surprise. His small interaction with JJ today had been better than any he had in the previous months. Through being here for her, he had some how brought happiness into his own life. "Its no big deal."
"It is a big deal." JJ said, giving a final squeeze before letting go. "Thank you so much for not making me go through this alone. I will never forget this."
"Don't mention it." Hotch choked, full of happiness at the moment. This had been everything he had wanted and yet, all the wrong timing.
"One of these days, I'll make it up to you." JJ vowed. "Just you wait."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Hotch smiled, thinking of the possiblilities of all the the things that could happen. He had a feeling that things between him and JJ were just about to get good.
"Someday, you are going to make some girl very happy." JJ giggled.
"Lets hope so." Hotch said, knowing very well who that 'some girl' would be. If JJ would ever give him a chance, he would do everything he could to bring joy to her life, including going to her family parties.
An/ Any way, here is a oneshot that I did while I should have been working. I hope you like it as it has been festering in my mind all day. Be sure to let me know what you thought.