Disclaimer: Not mine
One More Look
JJ threw one more look at the watch on the wall as she rushed to open the door. The time flew terribly fast. She still had her hair wrapped in a towel and wore only the oversized T-shirt she used to sleep in.
Penelope looked at her the moment the door opened. She looked worried.
„What is it, cupcake?" the TA asked „You sounded so worried on the phone"
„I´m screwed" JJ admitted as she dragged her friend in and led the way towards the bedroom "You´d thing that going on dates would get easier with the age, but I´m still hopeless"
"Oh, your big dinner with the boss-man... Sorry, I mean, with your ex-boss-man" Garcia singed obviously happy. She would pair up the whole world if she could.
"So you know?" JJ wondered.
"Are you kidding?" Garcia exclaimed loudly "It was impossible not to notice, Hotch...
...smiled, he couldn´t help it even if he wanted and he didn´t. Hotch chuckled once more at the reflection in the mirror while he was shaving. He couldn´t believe his luck. The most amazing creature he met probably in his whole life agreed to go out with him. After Haley had left him and even more after she had died, he thought he should never feel about woman this way. But JJ proved him wrong.
He hadn´t felt about her that way at the start of their professional relationship and as it changed with time he just thought it improper.
But now it was all in the past. If Strauss wanted to hurt him with taking away the person he admired personally and professionally, she couldn´t have done worse mistake. If she had known him better, she would have known he would never go against the rules and date his coworker. But now his path to the happiness was open. He threw one more look at the watch he placed carefully on the basin. There was no force in the universe that would make him to be...
...late, Garcia, I´m going to be late" JJ complained as Garcia looked helplessly at the piles of clothes on JJ´s bed.
"Calm down, sweet pea, and try this top" Penelope was very patient with her friend. It was almost impossible to get the nervous blonde to do something rational. But they were almost at the end. JJ had makeup ready and let Garcia convince her to go with ponytail so one of the extravagant earrings she got her would be visible. Now she wore skirt, but deciding on fitting top seemed to be unmanageable.
JJ turned from the mirror to her friend.
"So what do you think" JJ asked.
Garcia exhaled amazed. It was exactly what she was going for. JJ wasn´t wearing anything daring or too elegant. But it was simply feminine and went excellently with the slight blush of excitement on JJ´s face.
"Perfect" Pen exclaimed simply and JJ turned once more to the mirror hesitatingly before she decided to let Garcia be the judge today. She had just enough sense left to admit to herself she was completely out of sense.
"Do you really think so?"
"Sweetheart, you are...
...beautiful. Of course she was going to be beautiful. Hotch was going over the shirts in his closet. He had never paid too much attention to what he was wearing. Usually, it was simple. He had couple of favorite boutiques he went to when he needed to get new suit and the attendants were usually very helpful with getting matching shirts and ties.
But right now he wasn´t going for official. He looked for something more casual and he just couldn´t find it. It was hard going to make good impression on such beautiful creature. Finally he found something that looked at least vaguely like he imagined. It would had to do, because he craved to make great first impression. Then a sudden idea how to gain some points hit him. He was going to buy her...
Flowers? Garcia you´ve read too many novels. We are not going to prom... It´s just dinner. We´ve been on hundreds of dinners before" JJ reprimanded her friend as she was nervously peeking out of the window.
"Just the two of you?" Garcia asked simply "and get out of the window, he still has at least ten minutes"
"OK, so it´s not just a dinner..." JJ obediently made few steps inside the room. "But it still doesn´t mean he has to get me anything"
"We´ll see about it, well, you will" Garcia still remained unconvinced.
"What do you mean...where are you going?" JJ asked surprised.
"Well, munchkin, I´m not going to watch you and the boss-man get all smoochy" Garcia stated the obvious.
"But, Pen, I´m freaking here..." JJ breathed out in unusually squeaky voice.
"Just keep breathing, JJ, you´ll be...
...fine. It will all turn out fine. Hotch was trying to convince himself. He hadn´t been on date for ages...Well, since high school. And even then he had too little practice. Gee, why didn´t he just ask her to meet him at the restaurant as she offered. It would be so much easier, but he had to be a gentleman and offer to pick her up. ´Well, here goes nothing´ he thought as he rose his hand to...
...knock. It was definitely knock on the door. JJ fought the urge to run to open, just to be sure it was really him. But instead she took one calming breath and smoothed her skirt. The last thing she needed was to seem impatient. She walked slowly towards the door and opened them. With smile she said...
...Hello" he greeted her as she appeared in the opened door. He had thought whole afternoon about what he was going to say but ´hello´ was all he managed to get out. JJ usually looked fantastic, but right now she was breathtaking. Not knowing what to say, Hotch stared at her in...
...silence was making JJ more and more nervous. She was sure her hair was standing in the wrong way or she had a make-up smudge on the shirt and Hotch couldn´t find the right words to say it to her. She wished there was a mirror next to the door so she could throw one more look...just to be sure. Finally, she took charge of her body and gave Hotch self-depreciating...
….smile that spread on her face brought him back to reality. He realized he was holding a bouquet and spread his hand to give it her. He watched her as her eyes brightened with surprise as she reached out to get the flowers. He had no idea that her thoughts in this moment were so similar to his: Maybe...
...Maybe, after all, it wouldn´t turn out to be a complete disaster.