A/N: This story was written in response to the New Year's Challenge on Chit Chat on Author's Corner. I originally wanted to sit this one out, because I didn't want to be assigned a pairing I wasn't comfortable writing, so a huge thanks goes out to the person who let me adopt their pairing/prompt. As you can see, it's JJ/Rossi, and the prompts were 'waking a sleeping child to see the new year', 'watching the celebration in Times Square (NYC) on TV', 'celebrating with a glass of champagne'. I used the latter two of them, number one didn't fit in.

Please note that I will change the rating to M in later chapters when smut will ensue! If you're not comfortable reading that, you should refrain from starting with this story!

Disclaimer: Neither Criminal Minds nor its characters belong to me.


New York, New York

Chapter 1

.~.~.

Celebrate New Year's Eve in the City That Never Sleeps! Special offer for singles!

The colorful ad in the window display of the travel agency Jennifer Jareau always passed walking back to the office when she had her lunchbreak out, caught her eye. Her life could do with a little adventure these days, she mused. Even her mother agreed with that.

Just this morning she had offered her to watch her two-year-old son Henry over New Year's so that JJ could go out and spend some time thinking about other things than her work or her son.

"You have to start having some fun again, sweetheart! You're too young to waste away alone at home," she'd told her resolutely. "Besides, how are you ever going to find your prince if you don't get out looking for him?"

"Henry's my prince," JJ answered just as firmly, keeping her eyes on the newspaper she'd been reading, and hoping her mother would drop the subject.

"Fine, your king then," the older woman offered dryly.

"I'm not interested," JJ gave back. "I don't believe in fairytale endings anyway."

"Just because you were disappointed once? Look at your father and me-." Her mother didn't want to give up, but was immediately cut off by her daughter.

"Twice. You're forgetting Jake Miller, who decided to dump me the moment I told him I considered applying for the FBI academy as if five years of dating meant nothing. And no offense, Mom, but just because you and Dad have been married for almost forty years does not mean everybody else will have the same luck. Some people, including myself, are simply not destined for love eternal."

JJ sighed as she remembered her own words. If she was honest, her tendency towards keeping things in perspective didn't stop her from secretly wishing for and admiring what her parents had.

She spent many a night fantasizing about her own happily ever after, the man of her dreams even having a face in her wild imagination.

Perhaps that was the problem. Longing for the one man she knew she could never have didn't exactly make it easy to get involved with anyone. He, who didn't need to be named at the moment, was setting such a high standard that everybody else paled in comparison to him.

Although, having a good time every once in a while wouldn't hurt, her mother was right on this point. Even if love eternal obviously didn't seem to be intended for her, living like a nun for the rest of her life wasn't exactly part of her plan either.

Quickly entering the tourist office before she could change her mind, she decided that this was also her chance to get over her childish infatuation with her former colleague once and for all. And who knew, maybe this little trip would bear some unexpected surprises for her.