A/N: Hey all! I'm back with a brand new story that I'm really excited about! I've had some Criminal Minds writers block lately, but it's definitely cured now.

This story takes place after JJ leaves the team and centers around my two favourite characters to write (JJ and Hotch, of course) and it's about the choices you have to make once you've come to realize that life isn't exactly going the way you thought it would. Right now it's going to be split up into pre-wedding chapters and post-wedding chapters and at the moment, I'm not sure if I'll be switching back and forth or keeping everything in chronological order. So, stay tuned. But, hopefully you'll enjoy it regardless.

Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds!

Pre-Wedding 1:

"Oh no, no Henry," JJ yelled from her position on a park bench to her two, almost, three year old son on the playground. "Henry, stay away from that… puddle."

Too late. Her little boy was having a field day with a puddle of water left over from the heavy rains they'd gotten two days ago.

She heard laughing from beside her and she turned to her present companion.

"Don't laugh," she said, shaking her head sternly at her former boss.

Hotch gave her a grin that she had been seeing more often now that she was out of the BAU offices. "Hey, you laughed at me when Jack did the same thing some five minutes ago…"

His grin was infectious and she couldn't help returning it. "Ugh… now I'm going to have to give him a bath. Do you know how hard it is to get little boys into a bath?"

He gave her a raised eyebrow.

"Right… Jack… the little boy who has a play-date with my son once a week…" she said awkwardly.

Hotch just chuckled at her misstep, she joined in as well.

She'd been out of the BAU for a little more than a month now and, though she missed it terribly, she had to admit she was settling into her new job nicely. Well, at least the job part of it. JJ still found herself comparing her new co-workers to her old ones. And let's just say her new boss, Ms. Angela Bishop, had even less in common with Hotch on top of gender.

"Speaking of baths…" Hotch segued.

JJ looked at her watch. Time to get home. "Yeah, maybe we should get these guys out of here and into a bath before they catch a cold… Jack, Henry!" JJ called.

They watched on as Jack, realizing they were being summoned, took the younger boy's hand and led himself and Henry back to their parents. It was real sweet how Jack had seemed to take Henry under his wing. They acted like brothers, and sometimes referred to themselves as that, always looking out for each other.

"Daddy, is it time to go?" Jack wanted to know immediately.

"No, no go," Henry intimated.

"Yeah, buddy, it's time to go," JJ said, bending down to pick up her son, she thought better of it when she found him muddy from the pants down.

"Yeah, I think we need to get you guys home and into a bath ASAP," Hotch explained further.

At nearly the exact moment, both boys uttered their feelings on the aforementioned bath.

"No, yucky!" Henry yelled.

"I don't need a bath, daddy," Jack said unhappily, as he rubbed at a smudge of dirt on his left cheek.

Both JJ and Hotch shared a laugh at that. Then they led their respective kids back to the parking lot, to their respective vehicles. Once their kids were all strapped in they met at the front of their cars.

"It was nice seeing you, Hotch," JJ said affectionately.

He reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. To his credit, he had started out by giving her a very brief pat on the back.

"I'm still trying to get you back. We miss you there…"

He said it every week, and every week she believed him and it always brought tears to her eyes. Every week she'd give him a watery smile and say, "Thanks." But this week felt a bit different. This week she felt like doing what she'd felt like doing weeks before, when a mere handshake was all they could really do.

JJ pulled a surprised Hotch into a hug. She wrapped her arms around the man she'd come to call her good friend. And after a few seconds hesitation, she felt his arms wrap around her and she felt strangely calm, comforted.

"Thanks," she murmured into his shoulder.

They pulled apart, smiling awkwardly at each other. Then they started to take a few steps toward their cars.

"So…" Hotch began. "I'll call you to set up another date… uh play-date," Hotch said nervously.

JJ smiled at her friend. "Yeah, I uh… look forward to it."

And with that they each stepped into their cars. JJ threw a quick glance back at her son, hoping it would calm her sudden on-edge nerves. Henry was ready to drop. He had that half-open, half-closed eye droop thing going on.

"Night… sweetie," JJ said in a low voice.

Just before JJ turned on the car she heard Henry murmur, "I loves Jack and Hotch…"

JJ smiled at her son, turned the ignition on and admitted to herself that she completely concurred.

JJ opened the door to her new house, the house she and Will had had to buy when JJ had started her new job. She was carrying a sleeping Henry. But instead of taking him straight to his room she took him to the living room. She placed the sleeping boy on the black leather couch and began to take off his muddy clothes. Thank God, the mud had dried by now.

"Hey, you're home," Will greeted, walking into the living room. He came around the couch and leaned down to give her a kiss.

"Yeah, just got back. Henry had a run-in with a puddle," JJ explained, amused. "And when I say run in, I mean he literally ran in."

Will gave her an amused chuckle and came to sit on the other side of the couch, above his son's head.

"So, how was Hotch?" Will wanted to know.

JJ considered the question. How was her former boss? Well… different would definitely fit how he was. Now that he wasn't her boss and they were spending time together, she was seeing a whole new side to the stoic unit chief, one she'd only caught glimpses of in the 6, almost 7 years she'd known him. She was actually getting to know what made the man tick, and she was enjoying each new thing she was learning about the man.

"He was good," JJ said, settling on the non-loaded answer. "He says hi."

Will nodded his acknowledgement.

"So, who do you have a date with next?" Will asked, amused.

It was his running joke, ever since her day to day life moved from Quantico to the Pentagon and she'd had to make almost weekly dates with her former co-workers and lifetime friends to meet up.

"Uh… I think me, Penelope, and Emily are having a girl's night out on Friday," she answered. "Wanna come?"

She gave him a grin which he returned.

"Only if there are strippers," he joked.

"Funny." JJ laughed and Henry began to stir at the noise they were making. "Hey, it's your turn to give Henry a bath."

"Ugh…" Will groaned. "Do I have to?"

She nodded.

"Fine." Will bent down to pick up his son. He started to leave the room when he stopped suddenly. "Uh… JJ, make sure you keep Saturday night free. I've uh… got something uh… planned, ok?"

"Sure," she answered, amused.

"Good," he said relaxing. He left the room then, leaving JJ to wonder why Will was suddenly so tense.

JJ was having a good time. It had been non-stop laughter since the minute Garcia and Emily had pulled up to her house and she'd kissed Will and Henry goodbye. They were doing the Friday night bar-hop, following the carefree, happy-go-lucky vibe wherever it took them.

Currently, they were in a more upscale bar, full of what Garcia liked to call, 'wannabe snobs.' According to her, they were the type of people who weren't rich enough to actually be full fledged snobs, but rich enough to try at it. Yep, Garcia definitely had her quirks. At the moment, they were getting a kick out of imitating those said snobs. Well, more precisely, JJ and Emily were getting the kicks and Garcia alone was doing the imitating.

She had just finished imitating a particularly uptight woman and the group's laughter was dying down, when an errant thought flitted into JJ's mind.

"So, Emily," JJ began lightly.

"Yeah…" Emily replied, giving her blonde friend a suspicious look.

JJ attempted to keep her voice completely casual, not wanting to frighten her brunette friend into silence. "I met with Dave the other week, he mentioned something about you two going to a concert last week, together."

Garcia, at the moment, had been taking a sip of her club soda, when JJ divulged this new information. And in the next instant, Garcia was sputtering the liquid out of her mouth, and sadly her nose, all over her vintage, floral button-up blouse.

"What?" Garcia burst out at the same moment Emily groaned out loud, and JJ laughed. "Why didn't I hear about this?"

"Because," Emily started, annoyed. She shot JJ a very withering, pointed look. "It's no big deal."

"How is going out with the Ross-man no big deal, hello?" Garcia wanted to know.

"Ross-man?" Emily asked wryly.

"What? I think it fits…" Garcia defended. "Hotch is the boss-man, Rossi is the Ross-man."

Emily just laughed at that.

"Dave seemed to think it was," JJ kept right on, half-teasing, half-serious. "A big deal, I mean."

"No way!" Garcia said, deadpan, at the same time a shocked Emily went, "What!"

JJ laughed and then decided to backtrack. "He just told me about how you two went to the concert together. And he didn't stop telling me what a great time he had and how great you are…"

Emily's face went pale. "Really?"

JJ held back her laugh this time. "Yes, really."

There was an awkward moment of silence when everything went completely still. JJ's attempt at light-hearted teasing apparently didn't pan out. And from the look on Emily's face it had down-right frightened her. Oops.

"So…" Garcia broke the silence, sounding as if she was about to say something completely profound. "Are you hitting that?"

This time JJ's laugh burst out, not being able to hold it in at her friend's crude-ish remark. It seemed to do the trick, though; color definitely returned to Emily's face.

"Garcia… what the he—what are you—No, just no," Emily sputtered out.

By this time, JJ and Garcia were laughing uncontrollably. And after a few moments of glaring at her two so-called friends, Emily joined in.

They laughed straight for a good two minutes and only let it die down after a few glares from the wannabe's and the bartender's claim that they were being cut off—though, they were far from drunk. That got them to calm down.

The three friends placed money on the bar, got up and grabbed their things. They left wannabe's-r-us, not feeling the vibe anymore and went on search for a new watering hole.

They didn't go far. There was a less pretentious, more relaxing bar a couple of doors down. And once they were settled in, drinks in hand, Garcia decided to start a new, but albeit related (at least to her), topic.

"Speaking of hitting that…" Garcia started, causing Emily to choke on her drink. JJ gave her friend a few hard pats on the back. "Not Rossi… Don't you guys think its time our boss-man got some loving?"

It seemed to be the night for almost drowning, literally, in their drinks. Because this time JJ's drink went down the wrong tube.

JJ couldn't help it. The idea of Hotch and the phrase "hit that" in the same sentence irked her. First of all, Hotch wasn't the love 'em and leave 'em type. He was kind and caring and JJ knew that he'd take his time with a woman he cared about. Second of all, just the idea of Hotch "hitting" anyone did not sit well with JJ at all.

"JJ, are you all right?" she heard Emily say around her coughing fit.

Was she? Why did the idea of Hotch being in a relationship offend her so much?

"JJ?" Garcia asked concernedly.

It had to be the fact that Hotch was a really great guy. And he'd been through a lot. He deserved the best. Hotch and Jack. She just felt that no one would be enough for them. Yeah, that was it; she wanted the best for her good friend, that's why it affected her so.

"JJ?" Emily this time.

JJ coughed one last time and held up her hand. "I'm fine."

Her two friends continued to give her a concerned look.

"Really, I'm good, now what were you saying?" JJ resumed the conversation.

Garcia didn't look entirely convinced, but answered anyway. "I was just saying I think its time Hotch went back on the market."

"Why?" JJ let slip out.

Emily gave her a quizzical look. "Don't you think he deserves to be in a healthy, loving relationship?"

"Like the one he had with Haley?" JJ blurted out before her mind could filter.

"JJ!" Garcia looked shocked.

Emily just looked horrified.

Oops! JJ covered her mouth. And then taking her hand away she said tentatively, "That came out wrong."

"So, what did you mean to say?" Emily wanted to know.

JJ gave it some thought. Well, even when Hotch and Haley were still married things weren't great. It may have been a loving relationship, but it sure as heck hadn't been healthy. Haley didn't understand Hotch, she hadn't understood the motives behind the things he did.

Hotch needed someone who would understand. Someone who knew that with every case solved, with every un-sub that they put away Hotch was doing his part in saving the world. Hotch was trying to make the world a safer place, a place where Jack could be proud to grow up into. JJ understood.

JJ glanced at her friends who were waiting for an answer. She realized that that was exactly what she'd meant to say. So, instead of trying to explain her apparent defamation of a woman who'd died brutally, she said, "I'm sorry guys, I think I had a little too much to drink."

Her friends nodded their heads, believing her, while they visibly relaxed.

"Come on guys, let me drive you home," Garcia said, standing up, she grabbed her purse, pulling out her keys. She had been the designated driver for the night.

They drove towards JJ's house first, all the while singing at the top of their lungs to a Queen song.

It didn't take them long to pull into JJ's driveway. When they did Garcia turned down the music.

"You know my analyst friend, Stacey?" Garcia asked JJ, surprising her.

"Yeah…" JJ said tentatively, hand on the door knob. She had the insane urge to jump out before she heard the rest of Garcia's query. She didn't.

"You think Hotch would like her?" she wanted to know.

Stacey, a frizzy blonde, who never said an un-kind word to anyone, and was way too perky for her own good, would kill Hotch with her talkative-ness.

"Uh… maybe…" JJ said non-committal.

"Oooh… let's set him up," Emily exclaimed from the back seat.

JJ didn't want to stay to hear anymore. It just seemed wrong. "Uh… guys, I've got to go inside. Henry's waiting for me."

"Oh yeah, sorry JJ, have a good night," Garcia said cheerfully.

"Yeah, say hi to Henry and Will for us," Emily echoed.

Will? Oh yeah… her boyfriend.

"I will, good night," JJ said shakily.

Before slamming the door, she heard bits of their new plan forming for when they should set the two Bureau employees up together.

JJ walked up to her front porch completely disconcerted. How could a night that was supposed to be full of nothing but fun leave her feeling drained and weighed down? She pushed open her front door to the greetings of her family.

"Yay, mommy's home!" Will exclaimed.

"Yay!" Henry echoed.

Her little family rushed her, but the sight of Will did nothing to dissuade all the thoughts she'd had about Hotch all night.

She was definitely in trouble.

Well that's it! Hope you enjoyed! Please review and let me know! Thanks!