A/N: quick drabble for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner Candyland Challenge. My prompt was chupa chups. There's a cameo for butterfly kisses there too.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, all characters and registered brands belong to their respective owners!

It was well over midnight when Aaron Hotchner finally made it back to his office, and he hoped he wouldn't have to go through days like these anytime soon. It drained him of all his energy, and made him miss an evening with his son for a reason he deemed completely unacceptable but he hadn't been able to fight an unfair decision, he simply didn't have the right weapons to do so and if there was one thing he hated it was being helpless.

That was exactly how he had felt most of the day. During the long meeting with section chief Strauss, where he unsuccessfully tried to convince her to oppose the decision to transfer his media liaison without questions. Strauss hadn't necessarily loved the idea, but she had gone along with it, in the process bringing JJ around to the idea of actually considering the new position. They had gone on a case, and in the end he had come out one team-member less. The decision was out of his hands, he knew that, but he also wondered if there wasn't anything else he could have done, despite JJ's resignation.

She was barely gone, but already the BAU felt a little more soulless, less kind, less compassionate. Less efficient too. Aside from the human component of losing a family member, he also didn't know how he would handle their new team make-up. They already were stretched too thin, and with one person less they would need to take on more work themselves. Not to talk about all the time they would waste during cases doing the things JJ pulled off naturally while they didn't even know where to start.

Cursing, Hotch sat down in his desk chair, reaching for the bottle in his drawer Rossi left him. That day, he had been caught between a rock and a hard place, had to hand over control to a bloodthirsty crowd of local police officers for a guaranteed suicide-by-cop, he had been just as disgusted probably as Morgan had been but he also knew the rules better than whoever. There too, there had been nothing he could do. And then, shortly thereafter, the Reaper had been back, and he'd taken the love of his life away from him, and for a while his whole world had gone dark. The only thing pulling him through was his son, and the support from his sister-in-law Jessica and his team, JJ most of all.

Instead of the bottle his hand closed on a plastic tub, and he pulled it out, curious. As far as he knew the drawer contained just the files he hadn't been able to let go once they became cold cases, and of course, said bottle. Well, it was a new one since then. Still courtesy of his oldest BAU friend. Looking at the container, he smiled for the first time that day, hell, probably that week or even month, at least at work.

Chupa chups. Only JJ.

When Haley left him, JJ had been there to help him with Jack, so he wouldn't lose the precious hours he had with his son. One Friday night, it was his weekend, Haley had come to confront him at the BAU, fed up with his inability to pick Jack up at daycare, and JJ had worked out something with her, in the meantime looking after Jack while Hotch was wasting precious time in a meeting with Strauss who had no other time left in her agenda.

When he finally got out, listening to the angry messages Haley had left him after he had left one on her answering machine about asking her if he could pick up his son later at home, he suddenly heard his son's voice, and stopped dead in his tracks. He thought he had hallucinated, but clear as day, it was his boy's laugh, through JJ's open office door.

"Daddy!" the little boy exclaimed from his spot on the blonde's knees, when he saw his surprised father in the door frame, his mouth completely blue, while JJ had an apologetic look for her boss.

"Sorry, Hotch, he wanted candy and all I had was a Chupa Chup, he ate all of his meal and I figured, if I hold it..."

She had mistaken the shocked look on his face for displeasure, but he quickly reassured her of the contrary. He had simply been taken aback by the lengths she had gone through to ensure he could see his son. Without her, Haley would've taken Jack with her to visit relatives out of state, at least according to the latest voice mail he just saved. He understood Haley's grief, he knew JJ did too, but her loyalty touched him. He had always been able to confide in her, and he liked to think she also confided in him, perhaps more than in other colleagues, but this was beyond anything like that.

"Thank you," had been his only response, and she had nodded while she handed him Jack and his overnight bag.

"Anytime, Hotch," was her simple answer, and he had made Jack wave goodbye at Miss JJ. Only months later he realised that JJ had missed her flight to New Orleans that night, and he'd only appreciated what she did even more.

Opening a wrapper, he knew it was her way of telling him that despite being gone, she was always there for him. The next morning, he vowed, he'd have an extra large arrangement of butterfly kisses sent to her new work place. Just a little reminder, he was still there for her too.