A/N: Hey all! So here's a new little three shot (I think) from me. It's written for the Valentine's Challenge for the facebook Smut Challenge Group. So, it will be rated M, for sure, probably by the last chapter. My pairing is JJ/Hotch and my three prompts are: surprise Valentine's Day wedding; hitting a deer; and helping the less fortunate. Hope you enjoy!

Title comes from The All American Rejects' song of the same name It Ends Tonight.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 1:

JJ couldn't believe she was actually making her way towards the BAU bullpen so early that morning. She wasn't supposed to be there, none of them were, even though it was only Thursday. The team had been given a respite of five days that began that very day, Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, because she'd forgotten to take home all the necessary files she'd needed to take the previous night, she was here, at five am, getting the work she'd be spending most of her mini-vacation working on.

Pulling open the glass doors, she entered the dim room. The only light there was came from the few windows interspersed throughout, and they only showed how early it really was. Without lights on, she needed a moment to let her eyes adjust before walking the maze to her desk. Luckily, she reached it without incident, a broken, or even stubbed toe, would ruin her jam-packed day.

She clicked on her desk lamp and sat down to sort through the mess that was her desk. After five minutes of rifling through files, the pile of take home cases got larger and larger. She would be spending every minute after today working on these. Which was a shame, she really wanted to do something special with Henry. But she was so behind, she needed this time off to catch up.

"JJ?"

She jumped in her seat at the sound of the deep voice. Of course she'd known she wasn't the only one in the building, still she hadn't expected anyone to be around here.

She searched the room and found a tall figure standing up above, looking down into the bullpen from the walkway. As soon as her eyes landed on them, the figure started to make their way down the stairs. As he approached, it became very apparent to her that it was her boss who'd also made an early morning visit to the BAU.

She waited silently for him and when he finally stood in front of her she could see that he was dressed casually, in a dark-green pullover sweater and jeans. Clearly, this hadn't been a planned stop for him either.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, watching her curiously.

Swiveling her chair around, she came back to face him with the massive stack of files in hand. "I needed to get these. Forgot to take them with me yesterday."

Hotch looked from the files to her face, a frown taking over his face. "JJ, I didn't give you or the team five days off so you could just go work at home…" he scolded lightly.

She gave him a small, strained smile. "I know."

Frown still on his face, he didn't bother to continue to caution her, even though she could tell he wanted to. "You're still going to be there tonight, right?"

"Hotch," she said in surprise. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good," he finished, a relieved smile on his face.

She let out a sigh, standing up with the files hugged to her chest. "Still, I'll be cutting it a bit close… I've got this volunteering thing at lunchtime to do, but I should be able to make it."

JJ had been unexpectedly signed up to volunteer for a local school's Valentine's dance by Garcia. It wasn't your typical dance, though; it was specifically geared toward the low-income families of students who attended the school and some of the neighboring ones around it. It was a nice thing to do for people who didn't have much, and JJ, under normal circumstances, would be more than happy to do it. It was just, lately, she felt so run down and tired; becoming a single parent without much notice would do that to you, she guessed.

Will had left her hanging high and dry one day almost two months ago, and JJ had been dealing with the aftermath ever since, especially with Henry. The little boy could not understand why his father had left. And JJ was struggling to make it clear to him that it had nothing to do with him.

Combining it all with the fact that Garcia had suddenly backed out of the commitment, JJ wasn't feeling as lovey as the holiday called for.

She turned to grab her purse, in a hurry to get out of there so she could buy herself a coffee before heading over to the school to start helping out. She was stopped in her tracks, however, when Hotch's hand grabbed her forearm gently. She turned around to see him watching her with concern and something else.

"When was the last time you had a day just for yourself, JJ?" he questioned her.

She gave a nervous laugh under the intensity of his stare. "Come on, Hotch, you and I both know that single parent's don't get days to themselves."

"They do when the people that love them are allowed to help them out," Hotch countered.

"If I had a couple of Jessica's or Sean's I would totally let them help me out, but the family I've got might as well be non-existent."

Hotch was silent for a moment before he took a step closer to her. "You've got me…"

She held her breath, ready for the argument they'd been having for more than a few months now. She could see it in his eyes, all the words he'd said before, all the words he wanted to say again, and then some. But, she just couldn't let him.

Placing a hand on his chest caught his attention momentarily. "Aaron… you know I value your friendship, right?"

His eyes re-met hers and there was a hardness to them that she'd been seeing more of late. The more and more she'd refused to acknowledge whatever there was between them, the more and more he'd been feeling like she was pushing him away. And she guessed that was what she was doing, but it was for both their sakes. Hotch was a special person, and she was just one disaster after another; she did not want to put that in his life.

He took a step away from her. "Friendship, right…" he said dryly. Hotch began to turn away from her without anymore said.

It shocked her because he usually had more to say, an argument as to why they should be more than friends, something.

"Aaron, wait," she called out to him surprisingly.

She heard him let out a sigh before he turned to face her again. "What, JJ?" he exclaimed uncharacteristically. "Wait? Wait for what? I've been waiting for a while now… and you've given me nothing to show that I'm actually waiting for something. You say you value my friendship? But, for God's sake, you don't even let me do anything for you that's remotely friendly… It's like all you want me to be is your boss. Fine, that's what I am. End of story." All she could do was stand there with her mouth dropped open. When she didn't respond he let out a gruff, "Good," and turned back for the stairs.

She opened her mouth to call after him but closed it quickly. Wasn't this what she wanted, for him to give up on any silly notion of there ever being a 'them'? Yeah, she guessed it was. But why, after finally getting what she wanted, did she feel so awful?

That's it for the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed. And hope you'll let me know what you think. Thanks!