Disclaimer: Not Mine
A/N – I started this a long time ago but never finished it until today. I kind of like the idea of JJ and Derek being buddies.
It was about the hundredth heavy sigh that had her snapping. "You know, Derek, you could call her." When he refused to acknowledge JJ's comment she continued. "Or you could email her, text her, IM her or you could just continue to sit here and sigh repeatedly and annoy the shit out of me."
At that comment Morgan glanced up at her and smiled. "I'm sorry, were you talking to me?"
JJ rolled her eyes and laid down the file that she had been attempting to create a profile for. "You're a moron and you're annoying me."
"Yeah, like you're a ball of sunshine lately." Derek muttered.
JJ sat up straight in her chair and scowled over at her coworker. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Morgan shrugged and went for broke, figuring that someone should let her know how she was acting and it might as well be him. "Well since the wedding that you bailed on, you've been kind of moody."
JJ flushed then went white. He knew why JJ stopped the wedding. She confided to him when she broke down. "You know you're an asshole."
"Oh, it's okay for you to make comments but nobody else?" He knew that he'd gone too far but he just couldn't help himself. She started it.
"Come on guys." Spencer Reid, the voice of reason, interrupted. Or at least he attempted to.
"Stuff it, Spence." JJ glared at Morgan. "I hope Emily meets a nice English guy that looks like, like Clive Owen!" Who at the moment was the only Englishman she could name. "I hope she falls madly in love with him and has beautiful babies!" Take that Derek Morgan she thought triumphantly.
Morgan, to his credit, didn't reply back but JJ's phone vibrated shortly after her comment. Still glaring she checked the message.
MtofMscl: Did u hear H&B r going away this wkend? Jealous much?
She read the message twice, blinked at the unexpected moisture that settled in her eyes, snapped her phone shut and headed to the ladies room.
Immediately contrite he called after her, "Jay?" He sighed again and caught himself. He was being annoying. She was right to call him on it. He didn't have to be mean. He knew that JJ was only trying to get him to reach out to Emily. Damn it, now he was going to have to apologize to her.
"You have a big mouth." Reid mumbled wishing a case would pop up so they wouldn't be stuck confined to the office.
"I didn't say anything." Morgan argued.
"So you didn't just send JJ a text about Hotch and Beth going out of town?" Reid surmised.
Morgan's head whipped around to Reid. "How the hell did you know that, kid?"
"I watched her read it."
Not comprehending Derek asked. "Do you read lips now?"
"No dumbass I'm a profiler," he gave him an incredulous look, "I profiled her."
"Who did you profile, Reid?" Both men turned around guiltily to find Hotch standing behind them.
"Um…" Taken unaware he didn't have a ready answer.
"The unsub, she's a woman." Morgan slapped a hand on the file in front of Reid.
Hotch stared at the two of them for a minute before deciding not to call them out on their blatant lie. "Good because I would hate to think that the two of you are profiling JJ. She is going through a difficult time and she needs our support right now." He glanced at her empty desk. "Try to keep that in mind." Sharing his little nugget of wisdom the man headed towards the coffee pot for a refill.
Morgan watched him walk away in disgust. "You know, maybe if the man broke his no profile rule he might figure out what's right in front of his face." Morgan scoffed, before turning to Reid. "Seriously, how'd you know?"
Reid turned towards him. "You know the way you sigh when you look at Emily's empty desk? That's the same sigh JJ gives when she sees Hotch." He quipped. "She's a little more discrete though."
Morgan chuckled. "Good to know." He rubbed a hand over his face while staring in the direction JJ had taken.
"Seriously, why don't you just call her?" Reid's voice broke in.
"I wouldn't want to screw up her romance with Clive." He grumbled.
The stupidity of the whole situation was starting to be too much. JJ pining for Hotch, Morgan missing Emily, they were both getting on his last nerve. "You know, you and JJ are a perfect pair. You should just give up the charade and get together already." The comment, meant only as a joke caused an odd reaction from their Unit Chief. On his way back to his office he came to an abrupt stop causing his full coffee cup to slosh over.
"Son of a bitch." The hot liquid scorched his hand.
JJ, who returned from the ladies room just in time to see the spill, grabbed a pile of tissues from her desk and quickly moved to assist him. She winced at the sight of the red, inflamed flesh. "What in the world happened? Did you trip?" Her mothering instincts taking over she quickly removed the cup from his hands and blotted the excess liquid from his hand. "You need to put some ice on that." She held his hand in both of hers. "Don't we have any ointment? We have to have a first aid kit somewhere." She looked to Reid and Morgan for assistance who obliged her by standing there looking stupid.
"Its fine, JJ." The fact that his body was having a completely unprofessional reaction to the slight blonde leaning over and blowing softly on his hand was not fine. His attempts to pull his hand from hers weren't working either.
"Would you quit being difficult. Do you want this to blister?" She quickly took the proffered first aid cream from Reid and was attempting to apply it to Hotch's hand.
"Jesus JJ I'm not a baby." Hotch snapped, embarrassed at his lack of control coupled with the fact that he kind of liked her hovering over him.
"Well maybe if you would hold still and quit whining I might believe that statement." JJ grinned up at him as he finally ceased trying to shake her loose. "Honestly Hotch, you're almost as bad as Henry. Keep it up and I won't kiss your boo boo better." Her eyes grew wide as she realized what she just said.
"Hey, I think I might have watched something like this last night on Skinamax." Morgan quipped as Hotch swallowed a groan. "But your character was wearing a lot less clothing JJ and may or may not have been on her knees."
Derek's comment had the flush deepening. "I didn't mean that, that came out," JJ faltered, "mom's kiss boo boos," she finished weakly as Derek continued to snicker in the background.
Hotch took the opportunity to discover how big and blue her eyes were, and how ridiculously soft her hands where, not to mention the fact that her lips looked extremely kissable. "I'm fine, honestly." He managed to extract his hand from JJ's and was shocked by how bereft he felt at the loss of contact. "Thank you, JJ." The need for coffee gone he made his way back to his office.
JJ hung her head in mortification and waited until his office door closed. "Oh My God. I offered to kiss his boo boo. I'll probably have a meeting with HR before the day is over."
Morgan shrugged, laughing, "at least he didn't realize it was a euphemism for something else."
"You are absolutely no help." She glanced back at Hotch's office and gave a tiny sigh. "I'm going to visit Pen."
Reid watched until she was around the corner before turning back to Derek. "Did you notice Hotch's reaction to JJ's pampering?" At the other man's negative nod he scowled. "And you question Hotch's profiling ability."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that he was a bit discombobulated." He pointed to the forgotten coffee. "Even before the porn reference."
"Reeeaallly?" Morgan glanced thoughtfully at the mug then up to Hotch's office. "Well, isn't that interesting?"
~~~CM~~~
While JJ and Penelope were skyping with Emily in Pen's office Hotch sat dumbfounded in his own. What the hell had just happened? Sure JJ was attractive but he never thought of her like that. Well, maybe he had appreciated the way she looked, honestly, who wouldn't, she was an attractive woman. But he never envisioned what her lips would taste like. Now he couldn't help but wonder. Shit. He dropped his head into his hands.
"Hey." Derek Morgan stood in Hotch's doorway a fresh cup of coffee. Seeing the emotions race across his leaders face made him certain that Reid was on to something. "You forgot this downstairs. I tossed out the old and poured you a fresh cup." He grinned, winningly. "How's the hand?"
"What?" Hotch blinked up at him.
"Your hand," Morgan glanced down at it, "it doesn't look so inflamed any more. It was a good thing JJ rubbed some cream on it."
"Yeah." Hotch looked at his hand then back up at Morgan, the comment that Reid made bothering him. "Um, about JJ, is there something going on between the two of you? I noticed some tension earlier."
Morgan grinned. "Nothing we can't figure out."
"Is she doing okay? You know, with Will out of the picture?" And just like that he became a teenage girl.
"Nah, man, she's good. I'm pretty sure that she's ready to get back in the game. In fact, I think that the reason she and Will didn't work out was because she had her eye on someone else." He confided, before swaggering across the room to look down at the bullpen.
"Who?" He asked sharply. When Morgan turned to him and smiled widely Hotch's mouth dropped open, "You?" He barked incredulously.
Morgan shrugged without actually confirming Hotch's suspicions, "She could do worse."
"Are you sure that is a good idea? You work together and well, your reputation precedes you, you're not exactly relationship material. You fall under the love 'em and leave 'em category."
"I think I'm offended." The grin on his face belied the comment. "You know, maybe what JJ needs is the opportunity to get out there and have a little fun, let loose." He glanced down and watched as the pretty blonde moved back into the bullpen and sat back at her desk. "I think I could handle being a rebound." He watched as Hotch struggled to reply. "You don't have a problem with that do you?" He raised a brow.
Surprisingly he realized he did have a problem with it. He just didn't understand why the idea was so violently repulsive to him. "I do not want to see JJ get hurt again." The words were bitten out.
Morgan nodded. "I agree. I don't want JJ hurt either." He studied the older man then asked slyly. "You aren't interested in JJ yourself, are you Hotch?"
The question startled him. He wasn't interested in JJ. She was his friend, his subordinate. Realizing that Morgan was watching him very carefully he choked out. "No, I'm just concerned for the team."
The look that Morgan shot him clearly indicated he thought he was full of shit. "Okay, if you say so." Then he left the office quickly before Hotch could say anything further.
~~~CM~~~
Reid watched as Morgan swaggered back to his desk. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." He scoffed.
Reid wasn't buying it, especially when he noticed Hotch. "Then why is Hotch looking down here and frowning?"
"He's concerned about my intentions towards JJ."
At that comment JJ looked up. "What is that supposed to mean?" She jumped a little when Morgan moved up beside her; from her shoulder he chuckled.
"Hotch thinks I'm interested in you romantically."
"Why does he think that?" JJ growled, as she pushed him off. "What did you do Morgan?"
"I may have led him to believe that you were interested in me." He wagged his brows at her.
"You know often times plans like this go awry." Reid interjected.
JJ looked from one to the other. "Plans like what?"
"Derek is attempting to make Hotch jealous hoping that it will induce him to make his own move." Reid explained while Derek smiled at his own ingenuity.
JJ's mouth dropped, she looked at Reid then Morgan then back to Reid before finally settling on Morgan. "You told him." She punched his bicep. "Are you kidding me? You're supposed to be my pal. When you drink a bottle of wine with a friend and share confidences those confidences are supposed to be kept."
"Bottle? Shared?" Morgan snorted. "JJ you had a bottle to yourself, and most of a second one."
"You're missing the point!" She yelled.
Reid quickly intervened. "Actually JJ I've kind of noticed your behavior whenever Hotch is around and you don't think you're being observed." He watched as her eyes grew wide. "I'm certain that no one else has noticed you're very discrete."
"Shit." JJ dropped her head into her hands.
"Reid also noticed that Hotch isn't exactly immune to your charms either." He looked at her critically. "You know, a little makeup, a bra with a little more support…"
"Oh my God, Derek, would you listen to yourself? This isn't high school. He's in a committed relationship. I'm not doing this. You need to stop this nonsense." JJ sat up from her chair. "I'm going for coffee. Please be normal when I get back."
Derek smiled at her sheepishly. "Jay, come on, I'm sorry." His hand grabbed at her wrist before she could stalk off. "Friends?" He opened his arms wide for a hug and grinned hugely when she smirked and stepped into them. "Alright, you go and get your coffee, Little Mama." He slapped her behind as she moved away earning him a frown to which he lifted his hands playfully.
Not making eye contact he moved back to his own desk. "So, did my man Hotch catch that?"
"Yes," Reid confirmed, "he most certainly did." Reid leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. "It's going to be interesting to see which one of them kills you."
"Ye have little faith my friend. Who knows, this could earn me a best man gig."
~~~CM~~~
"So I think it's safe to assume that the weekend getaway did not go as planned." Penelope announced the following Monday.
JJ glanced up at the office overlooking her desk. "What do you mean?"
"Boss Man is on a rip." She confided. "Either the sex was no good or there was no sex."
JJ fidgeted with the tablet in her hand. "Eh, Pen, I really don't want to think about Hotch having sex."
"With another woman you mean." Garcia winked knowingly as the blonde met her eyes.
"Seriously, not again, Pen." She wasn't sure if it was something she'd done that alerted Garcia to her feelings for the Unit Chief or if Derek was still plotting and had recruited Garcia, either was a possibility.
"You know, its okay, Jay, I've often wondered what Rossi would be like in the sack." She volunteered, "It may have something to do with him catching me in the shower. Well, that and his reputation."
JJ closed her eyes and shook her head. "If I told you that sex with Hotch has crossed my mind can we drop it and leave it at that?"
"Sure thing, Peaches, unless you wanted to go into details. Totally your call."
"GARCIA!" The scream stunned them both as they turned to spot Hotch walking their way. "I need you in the war room. Now!"
Penelope mouthed 'help me' to JJ but was quick to respond with a fast 'Sir' to Hotch.
Whatever happened over the weekend it didn't prevent Hotch from offering a quick, "Good Morning, JJ."
JJ smiled brightly at him, hopeful that his weekend did, in fact, tank. "Morning, Hotch. Is there anything that I can help with?"
Hotch paused and then let out a breath probably just realizing the way he had growled. "If you could round the troops as they come in and get them in the room as quickly as possible that would be great. We've got a messy one." He squeezed her arm in appreciation and quickly strode ahead.
Garcia stared at her for half a second. "You seriously suck."
"What?" JJ laughed.
"Are you serious, he's all nice and sweet and nice to you and I get…"
"GARCIA!"
Garcia pointed her thumb in the direction of the bellowing, "Yeah, I get that."
~~~CM~~~
They were currently in the air on their way to the west coast. The one good thing about having a case was the fact that JJ could get her mind off whether or not Hotch and Beth frolicked naked all weekend. If only Morgan would stop wondering.
MtofMscl: Either nothing happened and blue ball syndrome has taken over or B is a lousy lay.
JJ looked up from her phone at the man sitting across from her. "Really Derek?" She groaned as her phone pinged again.
MtofMscl: Boss is uptight. You should help him with that. Get locked out of your room w/only a towel. He couldn't handle you naked. Dude would be like putty.
JJ glanced up again and hissed, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
MtofMscl: My love life sux, I'm here to fix yours. Srsly. Thank me ltr.
"Why don't you hold your breath while you wait for my thank you?" She hissed under her breath.
"You are so feisty. That's hot." Morgan winked, right before Hotch joined them, sitting to the right of her. The feisty and hot comments were obviously said for his benefit.
"Hey, mind if I join you?" He didn't wait for an answer as he settled down in the seat to the right of JJ.
"Sure man, pull up a seat." Morgan smiled widely. "We were just talking about the weekend. JJ and I took in a good movie this weekend. What'd you do?" Then before Hotch could reply he slapped his forehead, "Oh man, I forgot this was your getaway weekend, how'd that go?"
"Um, it actually didn't go very well. Jack got sick on Friday night and I didn't feel right leaving him."
"Is he okay?" JJ asked.
"Yeah, it was just a flu bug." He responded, "He was actually feeling better by Saturday afternoon."
"So the whole weekend wasn't lost." Morgan replied, still digging for information.
Hotch didn't disappoint them as he sighed and confessed, "Actually, it was. Beth decided that I wasn't really invested in the relationship so we're no longer in one."
JJ felt a small glimmer of hope. "Oh, Hotch, I'm so sorry."
He shrugged. "She wasn't wrong. It's really hard to have a relationship with someone that doesn't understand your work."
JJ was glad that Hotch was occupied with looking at his hands and wasn't looking when Morgan started making googly eyes at her.
"So, I was wondering if I could ask you guys your opinion on something." Hotch continued, at their silence he stated, "It was actually something that Derek said that got me thinking. You know, Emily is coming in for a visit next week." He hesitated for a second. "I was thinking about asking her out. What do you think?"
The idea made her absolutely nauseous. It was horrible. But to him she said. "I, uh, I think it's perfect. You'd be perfect." She shrugged as Morgan glared at her. What did he expect her to say? "You know, I have to," she pointed towards the back of the plane. Let them figure out for themselves what it was she was doing. She just needed to get away. She didn't make eye contact with either man as she made her escape.
Morgan, although stunned by Hotch's comments, didn't fail to notice the way the older man watched JJ scurry off. "Are you sure it's Emily who you're interested in?"
Hotch sunk back in his seat and folded his arms. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not so sure your interest in Emily is sincere. Especially considering the notice you just took of JJ's backside."
A flush indicated the comment hit its mark, but Hotch continued as if it hadn't. "I was thinking dinner. You know, relax and let loose." Hotch responded, "I wasn't planning on marrying her."
He hated having his words tossed back at him. "Why Emily?" He wasn't sure if this was Hotch's way of playing with him or not. He'd never noticed Hotch paying any particular attention to her but he could be wrong.
"Why not?" Hotch shrugged, "She's attractive, she's single. She certainly understands my job and the constraints that it puts on a social life."
The thought of his suave boss making a play for Emily made him a little sick in the stomach. He could certainly sympathize with JJ now. "Dude, she's in London, why aren't you looking for an attractive single girl that's right in front of you every day? Ah, you know, like, ah, say JJ?" Morgan threw his hands up in agitation. Was the man blind?
"I work with JJ." Hotch replied calmly.
"So?" Derek scoffed. "She's smart, she's funny, and she's beautiful." He was ticking her attributes off as Hotch watched on humorously.
"I agree. But I was under the impression that JJ was interested in you? Isn't that what you told me?" He challenged.
Morgan stared at him hard for a minute realizing that his plan was falling apart and that his boss was a little more intuitive than he had originally given him credit for. "Let's say she wasn't?"
"Wasn't what?" Hotch replied with a raised brow.
"Interested in me," Morgan admitted. "Let's just say she's a lovely single girl that you have a lot in common with."
"I don't know," Hotch mocked, "I never really thought of JJ that way."
Morgan gave him an 'are you serious' stare.
Grinning Hotch conceded. "Okay, I suppose that's not completely true."
"You don't say?"
Unfortunately what he wouldn't say is that the woman had been haunting his every waking moment since he stared down into her eyes. He himself wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "You know, you seem really bothered by the idea of my asking out Emily."
"If I promise to stop plotting can we just forget about this whole ordeal?" Derek grumbled.
"You were plotting?" Hotch asked in mock surprise. "I'm half tempted to ask Emily out just to spite you. Especially considering the fact you're too stupid to make a play for her yourself."
Derek refrained from saying anything else as Reid joined them and started discussing their case. He did, however, take notice of the fact that Hotch deliberately looked around until he located JJ before turning back to the two of them and focusing on the case. He didn't care what Hotch might have said, the man was definitely interested.
~~~CM~~~
"C'mon. You can't seriously be mad at me?" Derek pleaded with JJ as they made their way up the corridor to their respective rooms. The case had reached a satisfying conclusion and they were scheduled to fly out in the morning. Just in time for Emily's visit.
"Oh, I can, and I am." JJ confirmed. "Leave it alone, Morgan."
"He is definitely interested in you, Jay." He responded stubbornly.
JJ stopped, sighed, and turned to her friend. "Worry about your own love life. Please."
He reached out and snagged her arm just as she was ready to open the door to her room. "I'll make you a deal. I'll ask Emily out if you ask Hotch out."
"No." Her refusal was quick and definite. "Seriously, let it go Derek."
"If Hotch really does decide to ask Emily out she might fall in love with him and I'll never get a chance." He sighed. "Of course, you'll never get a chance either." He kindly pointed out as he looked at her with sad puppy dog eyes.
"Give me a break. If you're so worried about Hotch jumping your claim with Emily I suggest you do something about it." JJ snapped.
"You are so mean."
"You are so pathetic." They engaged in a stare off.
Derek was the first to break. "You want to get drinks after work on Friday?"
JJ shrugged, it was Will's weekend with Henry. "I guess." She slid her key into the slot and opened her door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Penelope and Reid watched as Derek turned and walked several feet and entered his own room. "You know we're going to have to fix this."
"What?" Reid looked at her in alarm. "Why?"
"Because I can't stand seeing my Chocolate Adonis and my Gumdrop so sad." Penelope stated. "All we need to do is work it so wherever Derek and JJ go on Friday we have Hotch and Emily show up."
"Sure that will be easy." Reid sardonically responded.
Garcia pulled him in for a quick hug. "I knew I could count on you."
~~~CM~~~
Getting everyone to the bar turned out to be the easy task. Getting them to socialize outside their own mandated clicks was proving to be difficult. Hotch was currently seated by Rossi. To the right of him sat Emily. It wasn't planned it just worked out that way. Reid was currently sitting at her right. Next to him sat Morgan who was situated closely to JJ. So close that Hotch's eyes narrowed every time he moved. Garcia sat between JJ and Rossi.
"Ah, my lovely family is complete once more." She smiled at all the faces looking at her.
"I think I'm going to play darts." JJ mumbled frowning as Emily leaned in to hear something Hotch was saying.
"I'm with you." Derek stood so quickly his chair would have fallen had it not been for Reid.
"What's with the Dynamic Duo?" Rossi asked as the pair wondered off.
Emily's eyes widened. "JJ and Morgan are together?" She looked to Penelope for validation. Surely JJ would have told her of something so monumental.
"No." Penelope shook her head. "They are definitely not together."
"They have grown close though." Dave remarked as he watched the pair. "They make a cute couple." He turned in time to pat a choking Hotch on the back. "You alright there, pal?"
"I think I'm going to check on Jack." Hotch stood and wandered towards the front of the bar where it wasn't quite as noisy.
Emily, stealing another look at JJ and Morgan, stood as well. "I'll be right back I need to visit the loo, sorry, ladies room."
"This isn't working." Penelope announced as soon as Emily was out of earshot.
"What's not working Penny?"
"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb are fudging things up." She shot a frustrated look back to where JJ and Derek were laughing together.
"Am I missing something?" A confused Rossi asked Reid.
"JJ and Derek have feelings for Hotch and Prentiss respectively, however, Morgan put it in to Hotch's head that JJ had a crush on him, while Hotch put it into JJ's head that he had a crush on Emily when in fact he is truly interested in JJ." Reid summarized.
"Is it just me or did everyone just regress back to junior high?" Rossi rubbed his goatee thoughtfully. "Did you notice that Emily seemed distressed by the thought of JJ and Derek together?"
"Probably because they were getting very close before she jetted off to jolly ole England." Penelope offered.
"And you think Aaron is interested in JJ?"
"Oh, he's interested alright." Reid replied, recalling Hotch's reaction to the mere idea of JJ and Morgan.
Rossi looked up and watched as Hotch carried on a conversation but remained focused on JJ. He also noticed the coveted glances that JJ made to the area where Hotch was standing and the way Morgan's eyes kept wondering back to the area where the restrooms were. Taking charge of the situation he barked, "Reid, you're going to go and join JJ and Morgan. Penny, you're going to get Morgan on the dance floor. When Emily comes back I'll get her out there, we'll switch partners and Reid you bring JJ back to the table and come up with an excuse to leave."
Reid swallowed hard, "Are you sure we should be interfering?"
"Don't consider it interfering, kiddo, we're just going to give them a nudge."
~~~CM~~~
"I don't understand why you just don't ask Emily out?" JJ commented again as she waited for Derek's turn to be over.
"Why don't you just ask Hotch out?"
"That's different, he's my boss." She glared at him. "You know, I'm starting to think all your talk is just that – talk."
"You walked away from one man because of your feelings for another, why aren't you willing to risk it all?"
JJ stared at him for a long minute. "You know what? You're right." She spun on her heel and saw that Hotch was just finishing up his phone call. Driven by some force that she couldn't explain and didn't want to question, she strolled up to him.
Hotch, having said his goodnights to his son, looked up to find JJ standing in front of him with an odd expression on her face. "JJ? Are you okay?"
"I don't want you to ask Emily out." She blurted. "I lied. I think you would be horrible together."
He frowned trying to remember why she though he was interested in Emily. "Actually I wasn't really…" He stopped and focused on her first statement. She didn't want him to ask Emily out. He stepped closer. "Why, why don't you want me to ask her out JJ?"
"Because." She looked up into his eyes and went for broke. "You know what, I'll just show you." She stated, before clasping her hands around his neck and pulling him to her. Her mouth latched on to his and she poured every ounce of emotion she had into the kiss. It wasn't until the need for air separated them and she realized that while she initiated the kiss, he was the one that molded her body to his.
"I never had any intention of asking Emily out." He admitted once he remembered how to speak.
"Well, honestly it's none of my business if you do." She replied shyly, not quiet able to believe her own boldness.
He chuckled down at her. "I think that kiss just stated otherwise."
She blushed up at him realizing that she didn't want to back step, she needed to be completely honest with him. "Fine, I would have a problem with it. You may not want to know this, but I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with you. I couldn't marry Will because I've had feelings for you for so long. I just thought they would go away with enough time, but they didn't, then you started dating again and I figured it was time for me to just really get over it and I couldn't." She blew out a breath at her confession. "I'll start looking for a new job on Monday." She muttered, embarrassed again at having just laid everything completely open like she did. She looked up to find him staring at her. "I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have said…"
His mouth prevented any further talking.
~~~CM~~~
"Is that JJ and Hotch?" Emily asked as she approached the table. She'd noticed that a couple by the door was attracting some attention but she'd been so far back that she hadn't really noticed who the couple was. Her comment had the three that were in heavy discussion breaking apart and looking towards where they had last seen their esteemed leader.
"Huh, it appears he does indeed seem to like JJ."
"She's practically plastered to him." Reid winced.
"Eso esta caliente!" Garcia exclaimed. She grinned when they stared at her and translated for them. "That's hot!"
"It is indeed, Mama." Morgan had strolled up to the table while they were discussing their coworkers. He grabbed JJ's purse and Hotch's jacket. "I'm pretty sure they won't be staying."
"That's a safe bet." Rossi commented, grinning as he noticed Hotch's hand covering JJ's ass. "This is the best floor show this place ever put on."
"They are seriously like seconds away from dry humping." Emily commented her head tilted to the side in complete fascination.
"They wouldn't do that." Penelope scoffed as Hotch's hand disappeared under JJ's sweater. "Then again what do I know?"
"I think it's only fair to warn you that our friends are taking bets on how far you're going to let Hotch go here in public, and the bartender is torn between breaking you two apart or heading back to the men's room to take care of some personal business." Morgan waited to see if his comments were going to penetrate their passion fogged brains. "Seriously guys, get a room. Henry is at Will's for the evening so JJ's home alone."
JJ pulled back from the heated embrace, the catcalls finally penetrating. She was embarrassed to realize that most of the trash talk was coming from her group of friends, specifically Rossi and Garcia. The shower of condoms from Rossi was especially nice. "I am home alone," she stated as she picked up a condom that was lying by her foot and placed it shyly in the palm of his hand.
The gesture had Hotch leaning forward and kissing her swollen lips, hard. "Not tonight you won't be." He winked at her and bent down to gather up the remaining handful of condoms. "I'm not being presumptuous am I?"
"Maybe a little ambitious." Morgan snarked.
"I don't know, Derek. A woman appreciates a man that's not afraid to take charge." Emily responded having decided to find out what exactly was going on. She was more than a little worried that Derek did, in fact, have feelings for JJ.
"I'm not sure I know how to pursue a woman that lives on a completely different continent." He commented back.
"Am I on a completely different continent right now? I flew thousands of miles to see you then I had to sit in here tonight thinking you and JJ had something going on." She complained.
"That's was only him trying to make me jealous." Hotch remarked as JJ took her purse and his jacket from Morgan.
"Oh, it made you jealous." Morgan argued, knowing full well that Hotch had been bothered by the idea of the two of them together.
"It made me jealous!" Emily shouted, finally getting his full attention.
"Well it's not like you weren't all snugged up to Hotch moments ago." Morgan complained back. Then he looked at her. "You were jealous?"
"I leaned forward to hear him over the music." She explained. "Besides, any idiot can see that he's interested in JJ."
"Not any idiot." JJ disputed. She looked over at Emily sheepishly. "Why didn't you tell me you had a thing for Derek?"
"I don't know." Emily shrugged. "Why didn't you tell me about Hotch?" She countered.
JJ smiled. "Hey Em, so there's this guy I work with…"
"Please tell me it's not that Chocolate Adonis, because I am so going to be all over that before the night is over." She looked pointedly at Derek.
"Thank god! I won't have to listen to him moaning like Eeyore all day anymore."
"Please, I wasn't that bad." Derek disagreed. "Besides, like you were any better mooning over Hotch."
"You know, you two actually squabble like siblings." Emily noted. "I'm not sure why I ever thought you could have been interested in him."
"It threw me too." Hotch agreed. "But Derek is a good looking guy. I have to admit, I was nervous there for a while."
JJ made a face. "Ew, you know Derek is like my brother."
"From another mother." The man in question volunteered.
JJ rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and I tend to prefer a more mature man."
"You can say older, JJ, Hotch won't be offended, he'll probably spout some line of crap about experience."
JJ laughed as she latched onto Hotch's hand. "Gosh, I hope you don't wig out and suffer performance issues tonight. I don't want to listen to you sighing again on Monday." She looked at Emily. "Be gentle with him, he's surprisingly fragile."
Derek turned to Hotch. "Seriously, you really need to take her to bed. I'm hoping that she'll mellow out once she gets laid." He was wise to step behind Emily when JJ narrowed her eyes at him.
She said to Emily. "Just so you know, I tried to get him to call you, I tried to get him to email you, but he's a big pussy. Don't get me wrong, he's nuts about you, but he's a massive chicken. I hope you know that if you want a relationship with him you're going to have to take the initiative." She engaged in yet another stare off with Derek.
"I think we need to separate the two of them." Hotch said, putting an arm around JJ to usher her out the door.
"Oh, hey," JJ said, coming to a stop and turning back. "I think I might need to cancel running tomorrow morning." She looked at Hotch questioningly.
"She definitely won't be running tomorrow morning." He affirmed, causing JJ's face to light up in a smile.
Morgan shrugged. "Okay, I guess movies are probably out for tomorrow night, too?" He looked at Emily hopefully.
"I'm only in town for a short time, Derek." Emily pointed out, linking her arm through his. "You'll see your BFF at work on Monday."
Thanks for reading!