A/N: Written for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum Challenge - Round 9 - March Madness

Pairing: Hotch/Prentiss

TV Title Prompt: Family Guy

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Criminal Minds. I'm just playing a little :)

When Aaron Hotchner put the phone down, he stared blankly ahead of him for a few minutes. His thoughts shifted between two very different women and the strange circumstances they now all found themselves in. JJ had just let him know, in carefully couched language, that she had seen Emily Prentiss in Paris and had given her the documents she needed to stay out of sight. Hotch didn't know exactly what JJ, in her DOD role, had procured for Prentiss, but he didn't want to know either. The fewer people who knew Prentiss remained alive, the safer she would be, and the less those people knew about her movements … well, better still.

The minutes ticked by, and Hotch knew he should begin to focus on the case notes spread across his desk, but really all his mind seemed to be able to see this morning was both JJ and Prentiss the last time he had seen each of them – Prentiss when she was being wheeled into surgery five weeks ago after Doyle's attack on her, and JJ at Prentiss' sham funeral one week after that. Thoughts of the funeral led him to contemplating what was left of his once stalwart team. For a while there, he had allowed himself to believe that they could survive anything, as long as they were able to tackle it together.

Now he knew different.

The powers that controlled their professional lives could move one of them like a pawn on a chessboard, and someone's past could come back to destroy their future. There was nothing anyone could do in either case, except deal with the loss. Aaron Hotchner felt both losses keenly. He also felt very unsure of how he was dealing with them.

At least, he thought, JJ is whole and healthy and will be home in a few days.

Not Prentiss. Neither whole, nor healthy, she still had a hugely bandaged scar somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach and she was still recovering from more than six hours of surgery. Certainly, she was unable to return home, not now and not for the foreseeable future either. He's not even sure what a woman like Prentiss truly viewed as home, but he hoped that she at least had some peace of mind in the years she had spent living in Virginia and working with the BAU.

Hotch had thought about Prentiss' past often in the last few weeks. He'd mulled over her decisions eight years ago and her choices more recently. While he didn't agree with any of them, he had done and seen enough to know that he cannot know what was truly in her heart when she chose to handle her past herself. He, of all people, could never judge her. Instead, he chose to remember the last non-work related conversation he'd had with her before the events which changed all their lives.

Seated in the chair across from Hotch's desk, one long leg crossed casually over the other knee, Emily Prentiss gave a verbal summary of the file she held on her lap. It was her second monthly assessment of their trainee, Agent Ashley Seaver. Having offered to be Seaver's Training Officer, Prentiss took her duties seriously. She monitored Seaver in the field, spent hours coaching her afterward in the office and wrote detailed assessments of her performance which neither overemphasized her weaknesses nor downplayed her strengths. He was grateful for Prentiss' thoroughness, because it meant less paperwork for him regarding Seaver.

Just as they were wrapping up, Hotch's cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. After a quiet conversation, during which Emily must have noticed he actually smiled at least once, he hung up and turned his attention back to the Special Agent sitting across from him. With a trace of the smile still on his face, he said, "JJ says hello."

Grinning, Emily responded, "I thought it was her."

Quirking one eyebrow at her, Hotch silently waited for an explanation. Emily didn't hesitate to provide him with one.

"You smiled. In fact, you're still smiling."

"You're going on not much evidence there, Prentiss." Hotch responded mildly, glancing back to the papers spread out before him. "I smile when I talk to other people too, you know."

"Uh huh." Emily responded, clear disbelief in her voice. "Not that smile."

Without waiting for a response, Emily forged on, voicing something that was clearly on her mind. "You should ask her out, you know. There's nothing to hold you back now."

Good God, Hotch thought. Did everyone think he should ask JJ out? This was the second time someone on his team had voiced the idea. Of course, the last time had been Reid at New Years, and despite his 'deal' with the young agent, Hotch had not done a thing about it.

Then again, Reid had done nothing about Ashley Seaver either, come to think of it, so neither one was living up to their promises. For a moment, Hotch's thoughts wandered to Reid, and then he glanced speculatively up at Prentiss watching him calmly, seemingly waiting for his response. Suddenly, several things fell into place for Hotch and he found that he understood Reid's apparent reluctance of late.

While Reid was by nature reserved and took his own time about things, Hotch had really thought he would have asked Seaver out by now … it had after all been almost three months. He had, however, noticed Reid's behavior around Prentiss lately and it had crossed his mind to wonder what was up. Now however, he realized he had suspected the younger agent had a crush on the raven-haired woman sitting across from him. Hotch had sufficient time to wonder whether Prentiss returned Reid's feelings, before she became impatient with waiting for a response from him.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Hotch countered, stalling for time.

"C'mon Hotch!" Emily leaned forward, "Why haven't you asked JJ out yet? She's no longer your subordinate and Will's been gone nearly five months now. Nothing's standing in your way anymore."

"It's not that simple," Hotch mused, setting down his pen and refusing to grant recognition to the thought creeping into his brain about why he was discussing this with Prentiss in the first place.

"Why not?" Emily was like a dog with a bone when she got hold of something she deemed important. It made for a damned good Special Agent, but right now, it was the proverbial thorn in Hotch's side.

Looking into her dark eyes, and seeing only concern for him, Hotch decided to tell the truth. He didn't really know why. Maybe, subconsciously he was hoping Prentiss would knock down all his objections and force him to think clearly about his reluctance.

"I think about Jack a lot, actually." Hotch began.

"You think he won't like the idea of you and JJ?" Emily interrupted. "That's ridiculous! He adores JJ, and she adores him."

"No, no … nothing like that." Hotch protested, then leveled his gaze on Emily. "Are you going to let me finish, before I decide against saying anything more at all?"

Raising her hands in a gesture of surrender, Emily said nothing, but only smiled as she waited for him to speak.

"I have a hard time as it is doing what's necessary to handle this job and still give Jack what he needs – a father who's present." Hotch paused, clearly expecting a comment. Emily didn't speak, and the expression on her face was encouraging, so Hotch continued, suddenly determined to get this all out.

"JJ has Henry to consider and I have to think about that as well. I wouldn't want him to get accustomed to someone else in his life, and then it doesn't work out with JJ and me. I mean, I wasn't exactly husband-of-the-year to Haley."

Having expressed his deepest fear, Hotch waited for Prentiss' reaction. He expected almost anything other than what actually happened.

Emily stared at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable … and then she burst out laughing.

Hotch stared in shock at Prentiss almost doubled over in laughter. Just as he was seriously regretting having opened himself up at all – reminding himself why opening up was never a good thing, she got her laughter under control and was able to speak.

"Oh come on, Hotch … you're the quintessential family guy, in spite of your job! The mere fact that you're even thinking about it should tell you that you have little or nothing to fear. Haley never understood the changes in you and couldn't accept them. That wasn't your fault. She married a lawyer and wanted to remain married to one. There was absolutely nothing you could do about that."

"I guess …" Hotch began reluctantly, "But –"

"There's no 'but' about it, Hotch." Emily interrupted. "JJ's not Haley, and you aren't even the same man you were two years ago. Give yourself – no, give both of you a chance, Hotch. You both deserve a family."

He wondered now whether Emily had been thinking about her own lost chances at having a family of her own when she'd said those words to him.

In the midst of the bleakness that surrounded the last few weeks, Hotch held fast to that one shining moment with Emily in his office. It seemed a much more innocent time, though he knew that wasn't quite true. Still the image held, and with the picture of her smiling face now firmly in his mind, he picked up the phone and re-dialed JJ's number, hoping to catch her before she boarded her plane in Paris. He wasn't one hundred percent sure of what he would say if she did answer the phone, but if Haley's death hadn't sufficiently taught him that life was short and needed to be lived, then Emily's circumstances had surely brought it home.

He was saved from further speculation, because JJ didn't answer her phone. It didn't matter. He would just call her when she got back … and ask her to dinner … or breakfast … or a play-date with the boys in the park. Any one of them would make a fine beginning.

FIN