JJ slowly opened her eyes. She took in her first morning breath. She stretched a little, then rolled out of bed, drowsy. She looked around for a shirt to throw on. She found a white button-down, and slipped it over her head.

She strolled to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. She liked her coffee sweet, with sugar. When she was a child, her father drank black coffee. She tasted it once, when she was trying to act old, and she spit it out all over her father's morning paper. She never drank black coffee again.

When the coffee was done, she picked up her mug and sipped a little. She walked back into the bedroom. There was a beautiful arched window that overlooked a park. She rolled back the shades. The sky was a beautiful pale blue that faded into a deep purple where the sun hadn't quite reached yet. It was the most beautiful sunrise she had seen in the longest time.

When she opened the curtains, light began to enter the room. It made JJ feel alive, awake, whole again.

"What time is it?" JJ heard.

"5:35," JJ answered. "Did I wake you up?"

"Well, yes. But it's okay. I didn't need the sleep anyway," Hotch joked.

JJ smiled. She hadn't heard Hotch make a joke in a long time. Certainly not since Foyet had attacked him. She missed his smile, how it spread across his face, lit up his eyes.

JJ jumped back into bed. "We still have a little time before we have to get to work, you know." She cuddled next to him, put her arm around him, and laid her head on his muscular shoulder. She stroked his arm softly, gently massaging it.

Hotch smiled. He enjoyed JJ as company. It took his mind off of work, stress, Foyet, Haley, Jack. He panicked for a moment. Jack? Where was Jack? The he remembered. Jack was spending a little while visiting Haley's mother with Jessica. He sighed of relief. He couldn't explain to Jack why JJ "spent the night."

He couldn't explain why to anyone. He was feeling along, and vulnerable. On the way back from Colorado, JJ told him it gets better. She told him all about her sister, how JJ lost her, how eventually, it didn't hurt anymore. Hotch almost didn't believe her. But JJ was so sincere.

He couldn't remember what happened next. All he could remember was JJ in bed with him. He was caressing her soft, supple skin; she was massaging his broad muscles. He kissed her with passion, with sorrow, with intensity.

"Hotch," JJ interrupted his thoughts. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah," Hotch said. "Everything will be fine."