Disclaimer: I own nothing with Criminal Minds except for my dvds.

Author's Note: I dedicate this to ilovetvalot, who wrote me a Will/Strauss piece (don't ask – my mind is a scary place). Therefore, I am writing her an honest to goodness, non-fantasy JJ/Rossi romance. This takes place in the general season seven. Here goes!

Chapter 1

"Dammit!"

David Rossi stuck his head out of his office at the sound of the frustrated voice. It was late and he had thought he was alone. Instead, he saw the blond head of their newest profiler sitting at her desk, her hand on her desk phone. She held something large in her arms. It took a minute for him to realize that it was her three-year-old son.

Curious, Rossi made his way into the bullpen. "Is everything okay, JJ?"

JJ jumped, startled. She thought she was the only there. "You scared the hell out of me, Rossi."

"Sorry." Rossi held his hands up in apology. "I could hear you up in my office. What are you doing here?"

"My cell phone's dead and I left the charger at home," she admitted.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm trying to find a hotel room, but every place is booked."

Rossi raised his eyebrows. "It's the summit. There's not a free room for a hundred miles." He paused, taking in her aggravated body language. "Why are you looking for a hotel room anyway? You live twenty minutes from here."

JJ sighed, careful not to wake Henry. She didn't really want to tell anyone yet, but she was fairly certain judging by the look in Rossi's eye that she wasn't getting out of here with telling him the truth. "I caught Will in bed with another woman."

"Oh, JJ!" Rossi gasped, gripping her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

She shrugged. "I'm not. At least, not about the affair. That's... whatever. Mostly, I'm upset that he did it on my sheets; my brand new 900 thread count sheets. I can never use those again."

Rossi studied her. He could see the anger rolling off of her. He knew she was more hurt than she let on, but he wasn't going to call her on it quite yet. Rossi folded his arms. "Do you want me to take care of him, old school?"

JJ burst out laughing, both at the serious look on his face and his use of "old school." She smiled for the first time since she had gotten home. "No. Thanks for the offer, but no. You could help me find a hotel room, though."

"Why didn't you just call Emily or Garcia or someone else?"

Again, she shrugged. "I didn't really want to tell them, not now, anyway. Garcia will just pity me. Emily will start the tar and feather brigade. Spence will ask a million questions, none of which I want to answer tonight. And the thought of going to Morgan scares me a little."

Rossi nodded in agreement. "What about Hotch?"

"Hotch has a date."

"He what?" Rossi was stunned that he didn't know this. He had been trying to set up his friend for a year with no success.

JJ nodded. "I set him up with a friend of mine. It took me three months to convince him to out on this date. There is no way that I am going to interrupt it with news of my failed relationship. He'll go running for the hills!"

Rossi chuckled at the image of Hotch running into the hills with his hands waving in the air. "Look, JJ, you're never going to find a hotel room tonight and you need to get that little guy into bed. Why don't you two come back to my place?"

"Okay," JJ said without hesitation.

"Really?" Rossi replied, taken aback.

She gave him a confused look. "You're right. I'm not going to find a hotel room tonight. It's late. Henry needs to be in bed and I'm tired. If your offer is sincere, then yes, I'll take it."

"It's, uh, definitely sincere," Rossi assured her, his heart speeding up just a bit. "Here. Let me take him."

Rossi took Henry from JJ and carried him to her car. He gently placed the preschooler in his car seat, giving him a kiss on the forehead, knowing Henry had a rough time ahead of him. Rossi straightened up to see JJ watching him fondly. He squeezed her hand in support before walking to his own car.

As JJ followed Rossi's car, she was shocked to find that her mind wasn't racing as it had been. In fact, since Rossi appeared at her desk, a sense of calm had slowly been filling her. She marveled at that. The anger, disappointment, and sadness were all there, but for the first time since catching Will in her bed with that raven-haired bimbo, she felt as if her life would be okay.

In his own car, Rossi's thoughts were anything but calm. He jumped from disgust at Will to worry over JJ to anger at Will's actions to sadness over Henry to excitement over having JJ stay at his house. She was a beautiful woman and he had been attracted to her from the moment he saw her, but he was trying to leave his womanizing reputation behind him when he rejoined the BAU and she was with Will. Besides, Hotch had made it perfectly clear that the young woman was off limits.

Still, Rossi mused as he unlocked his front door, he enjoyed the time he spent with JJ, even if it was always platonic. Rossi shook his head as he lead JJ and Henry upstairs to one of his guest rooms. This poor woman had just broken up with her longtime boyfriend, the father of her adorable son, and here he was waxing on about how attracted he had been to her, how he loved spending time with her.

"Dave? Dave!"

Rossi blinked rapidly. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn't realize she had been calling his name. "I'm sorry, JJ. What?"

She smirked at him. "I said, thank you for letting us stay here tonight. I promise we'll be out of your hair as soon as we can tomorrow."

"No!" Rossi practically shouted. He blushed when she raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, there's no hurry. You... and Henry... are welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thanks, but I'm sure after half a day with this little man," JJ motioned to her son, sleeping soundly on the queen-sized bed, "you'll be singing a different tune."

Rossi grabbed her hands. "JJ, listen to me, I happy to have you as long as you want to stay. It'll be nice to have some company."

"Thanks, Dave, for everything." JJ's cheeks tinged pink.

"If you need anything, I'm right down the hall." Rossi released her hands. "Towels are in the closet. You have your own bathroom right through there. Good night, JJ." He cupped her cheek. "Everything's going to be okay."

JJ nodded. She watched as he left the room. She changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed next to Henry, suddenly feeling exhausted. She wasn't sure what life had in store for her coming up, but she had a feeling she was in for an interesting ride.