Author's Note: This is (another) one-shot that came out of a Facebook conversation. This time with Whiteswan and whimsical-one-ga (all the way back in August – took me awhile to finish it!) where they requested a "JJ/Haley showdown fic". This is my humble offering.
ENTITLED PRINCESS
JJ sighed as the doorbell rang. It was late, too late for visitors, and even if it had been earlier, it had been a long and she was in no mood to entertain anyone. After all, it wasn't every day that they were wrapped up in a government conspiracy to keep an anthrax outbreak quiet that ended with one of her best friend's in the hospital.
The doorbell rang again and JJ hurried to open it before it woke Henry up, or worse, Will, who she was currently trying to avoid. Their fights over her work, her friendship with her boss, and her unwillingness to get married were becoming more and more vicious. The fact that she couldn't share anything about this latest case was bound to send him through the roof, especially when she received a phone call that evening from Hotch checking in to make sure that she was okay. She just didn't have the energy for that, not tonight.
"Yes?" JJ asked. She froze when she realized it was Haley Hotchner standing on her front porch, a scowl on her face. "Uh, Mrs. Hotchner, what can I do for you?"
"You can back off of my husband, that's what you can do for me," Haley replied, storming past her.
JJ blinked, turning around slowly, muttering, "No, please, come on in. I insist." She followed Haley into the living room. "What exactly is it that you think I'm doing with your husband?"
Haley huffed. "I don't think you really want to know what I think you do with my husband. I just want you to back the hell off."
"Back off?" A white hot anger flashed through JJ's body. She had had enough; enough of being put in the middle of the Hotchners' marriage, enough of being made to be the villain in the stories that Haley and Will created in their heads. It had been a long day and her emotions were spent. "Maybe if you hadn't backed off of your marriage, you wouldn't be in this predicament."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Haley demanded, but JJ caught a flash of fear in her eyes.
JJ threw her hands out to her sides. "How about we lay it all out on the table? I know that you've been having an affair. Do you know how I know? Because of all the nights that I've spent comforting your husband over the whole thing!" She took a deep breath. "You know what the worst part is? He doesn't even blame you. He only blames himself for pushing you into it."
Haley latched onto that. Color rushed into her paled cheeks. "He did. He did push me into the affair. He was never there for me; always traipsing off on another case or 'working' late hours with you at the office. Or so you claim."
"And when were you ever there for him?" JJ countered, choosing to ignore Haley's hints at an affair between herself and Hotch. "Did you ever listen to what he was going through? Do you have any idea what working these cases can do to psyche? Or were you only ever concerned about how you felt? What you needed?"
"This isn't what I signed up for; him gone half the time."
JJ shook her head. "I know his career. I know how ambitious he had to be to accomplish everything that he has. There's not a chance that you didn't know what he was like when the two of you married."
Haley's jaw clenched. "I didn't know he'd have an affair with his young, blond employee." She looked JJ up and down. "I knew there had to be a reason that someone so young got that job."
JJ's eyes widened and her veins turned cold. Before she had a chance to stop herself, she slapped Haley across the face. "Don't you dare come into my house and accuse me sleeping around. I earned my way onto the BAU; something you would know nothing about, you entitled princess."
"You-"
"No!" JJ roared, cutting Haley. "You're done hurling accusations at me. Hotch is a good man; the greatest man that I have ever had the privilege to know. I will not stand here and listen to you spout lies and accusations as you try to justify your own actions. You lost him... from your own actions. The only thing I ever gave him was my friendship." JJ peered at her, her blues eyes cold. "Move on, Haley. And stop using your son as a pawn."
Haley shifted her own eyes away from JJ's, unable to hold her gaze. This was not how she had anticipated this conversation going. She thought that she would be able to get JJ to admit that she and Hotch had been having an affair, forcing Hotch to leave the BAU. Instead, the younger blond had been able to turn the tables on her.
"I hope you'll have better luck in your relationship with him than I did when you finally decide to admit what your 'friendship' really is," Haley snarled, storming past JJ towards the door.
"Don't you dare ever darken my doorstep again." With that, JJ slammed the door on Haley. She turned to see Will standing in the doorway of the living room, his arms and legs crossed. He held her gaze for several heartbeats. JJ opened her mouth to explain what had occurred, but found she didn't want to. She snapped her jaw closed. Will blink once before turning and walking back up the stairs, never saying a word.
THE END