Out of the Mouth of Babes

Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N – just a short little four parter. Not sure where this came from but the fact that the teacher on Wednesday's episode had the hots for Hotch (and who could blame her) had me chuckling. AU obviously…

Chapter One

"You know who you should date dad?"

Hotch had been enjoying a scotch with Dave and explaining where his relationship with Beth Clemmons had gone off the rails. He completely forgot that his inquisitive son was in the house and tended to hear and question everything.

Hotch looked over to find his son staring up at him devotedly. He could only imagine what kind of choices his boy might pick. His third grade teacher, the school nurse, or, heaven forbid, his Aunt Jessica. So, with not a little trepidation, he asked. "Who's that son?"

Happy that his dad was willing to take his advice Jack chirped, "JJ."

Hotch blinked as Dave choked back laughter. He hadn't even considered that his son would come up with the attractive blonde, although he had to admit it was a very good choice. "Gee Jack, that's not really possible." He stated, trying to let the boy down easily.

Big, blue inquisitive eyes peered up at him. "How come, dad?"

"Yeah dad, how come?" Rossi goaded.

Hotch glared at his friend before turning to his son, "Well."

"You like JJ." It was a statement, not a question.

He didn't hesitate when he responded, "Of course I do." It was a more than a little disconcerting that his son picked up on his attraction for his coworker.

"Of course he does." Dave echoed, enjoying his friend's discomfort.

Jack smiled widely. "She's really pretty. Kind of like a princess."

Hotch couldn't help grinning at his young son's enthusiasm. "Yeah, she is really pretty, pal. But.."

"She is very attractive, Jack. That is an excellent choice for your dad."

"And she's really nice dad. She always talks to me and when I fell at Uncle Dave's she cleaned my knee and put a bandage on it and kissed it better."

The adoration was clearly evident. JJ had stolen his son's heart. "That was very nice of her."

"Plus she's a nice mommy." The statement came out softly.

The words cut through him as he realized that his son obviously missed his mother. "Yeah, she is buddy."

"I like JJ."

He could only sigh and admit. "I do too, pal."

The agreement had his son ecstatic, "Great! Then why don't you marry her?"

"Wow! That is a really good idea, Jack." Rossi agreed with a mischievous grin, earning yet another frown from his friend.

Hotch could only blink as his son had gone from dating to marriage in one giant step and nothing he could think of to say was extracting him from this mess. "Jack, I can't marry JJ."

"Well not now dad, first you have to date her. Then you get to marry her." Jack explained, clearly thinking his father was beyond stupid. "You should call her and ask her to come over for dinner."

"Dinner is another great idea!"

Hotch shot another warning glance which Dave chose to ignore. "I don't' think…"

"Me and Henry can play cars while you kiss JJ."

"Henry and I." Hotch automatically corrected while Dave erupted in a fit of glee.

"Sure, okay, dad, whatever. Are you going to call?" He thoughtfully handed Hotch his cell phone. It was apparent his son had put some thought into this.

Hotch sighed. "Jack I can't date JJ because JJ works for me. Do you understand that?"

"You could switch jobs with Uncle Dave." The young boy suggested, clearly not seeing an issue.

"He's really thought this whole thing through." Dave said with a grin, unknowingly echoing Hotch's thoughts. "You know, that's not exactly a bad idea."

"Please don't encourage him." Hotch told the older man as his son looked on expectedly.

"What could one dinner hurt?" Rossi scoffed.

Hotch wasn't quite sure how it happened but between the pair of them they managed to convince him to call JJ and ask her over for dinner. He knew that she was surprised and more than a little intrigued by the call. He wasn't sure if it was that or the encouragement of her young son that prompted her to accept the invitation.

"This is a bad idea, Dave." Hotch told the man that was still hanging around.

"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?" Rossi smiled cagily.

Hotch frowned. "There are any number of reasons that this isn't a good idea."

"Why don't you focus on the reasons why it is a good idea instead?" The older man suggested.

"Such as?"

"Well let's start with the fact that you are attracted to JJ." His look dared the younger man to deny it.

"She works for me, Dave."

"There are at least a dozen remedies for that. Transfer her to Morgan." There was merit in the suggestion. They brandied the idea around before they just never followed up on the administrative part to actually make it happen.

Hotch sighed. "She's a decade younger than me."

"We should all be so lucky." Rossi scoffed. "That's all you got?"

"JJ needs someone better than a broken shell of a man who's afraid to commit to a relationship. I don't want to ruin the friendship that we already have."

At this Dave rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're going to believe that crap that Beth spewed. Hotch you weren't interested in committing to a relationship with Beth because you entered the relationship with one foot already out the door. Your relationship with Beth didn't work because you were two fundamentally different people and you wanted different things. Not to mention you live in DC and she lives in New York. It was doomed for failure from the get go."

"If you thought that was true why didn't you say anything?" Hotch queried.

"Honestly? I never expected it to last this long." He shrugged. "That was one benefit of the long distance romance." He leveled a look at his friend. "Why don't you admit it?"

"Admit what?"

"You're attracted to JJ. You've been attracted to her for a long time."

"Fine, I'm attracted to JJ." He conceded to his friend. "I don't see where that makes a difference."

Rossi slung a companionable arm across Hotch's shoulders. "I'm going to tell you a story."

"Ah, jeez." Hotch sighed, not sure what his friend would come up with. In almost 60 years of living he had quite a few stories.

"No, seriously. You know my reputation, it was well earned. But what you don't know is I was in love with Erin. True, honest to God love." He paused for a moment in remembrance. Then he slowly started to weave his tale. "Back in the day when we were both up and coming we had a fiery love affair. It was perfect." He smiled rakishly. "Well, it was right up until she told me that she wanted more and I felt like I was at a place in my life where I couldn't give her what she wanted." He sighed. "I thought she would be angry for a while then things would go back to normal between us." He gave a sad smile. "But she didn't. She walked away and was married to another man before I could catch my breath and even attempt amends."

Hotch scowled. "I'm very sorry, but I'm not getting the morale of this story."

Rossi scowled at him for the interruption. "The point is, I was damn lucky to have been given a second chance. You know, had things not turned out the way they had I would have married her this time."

He hadn't realized that and he was truly sorry for his friend's loss. "Dave."

Rossi shook his head, not wanting or needing the pity he clearly read in his friend's eyes. "The morale, my friend, is life is short. Sometimes you just have to take that risk. Put yourself out there."

Hotch let out a long suffering sigh. "We're putting the cart before the horse. Even with me admitting to you that I am very attracted to JJ, and yes, I have been for years, it doesn't mean anything. She might not be so crazy about the idea of dating me."

The older man gave him a sly smile and a pat on the back. "I think you're in for a pleasant surprise, pal."

"Is this your Italian intuition?" Hotch mocked.

"JJ's interested. Sure right now the curiosity is driving her but let me tell you this, if she wasn't interested, she wouldn't be coming over."

Hotch considered it for a moment. He knew that JJ was intrigued but he thought it had more to do with the actual invitation than the person extending it. "So what do I do now?"

Rossi shrugged, "What do you normally do?"

"The fact that I'm taking dating advice from my son might be the first clue that I'm a little out of my element here."

"Fair point."

Thanks for reading!