A/N: Hey all! Thanks for the lovely response to the first chapter. Here's the next one! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 2: Caught Red Handed:

"Will, this isn't what it looks like!"

Dave glanced from the beautiful blonde he'd just saved, in his arms, to her partner, who looked fire-ant mad, to Hotch, who actually let out what he believed was a hearty guffaw.

Oh, this definitely looked bad, he thought to himself. Not that he cared about himself, necessarily; his reputation had him doing things much worse than saving a co-worker/friend from unnecessary harm.

When the angry look on Will's face only intensified and JJ had yet to say anything else other than "I didn't do it," basically, he took over to save the day.

"Down you go, JJ," he said cautiously. "You all right? Almost gave yourself a nasty little bump."

Her nervous gaze fluttered off of Will to rest on him. "I… I'm fine… thanks."

Gently, he settled her down onto her two feet, in the black pumps he so enjoyed seeing her in, and let go of her completely. He glanced in Will's direction, the anger on his face seemed to be dissipating and the man looked to be putting together what actually happened.

When Dave glanced back at JJ, her blue eyes—the ones he could stare into all day long—were riveted on him.

"Thanks," she murmured again.

"JJ, you all right?" Hotch, not Will, asked her concernedly.

She seemed to have to tear her gaze away from him to look at their stoic Unit Chief. "Yeah… I am… thanks to Dave."

Dave followed her gaze back to Hotch to find the man staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

What? Dave thought back defensively. For once in his life he'd been found in a compromising position and it had been actually perfectly innocent.

"Good Job, Dave," Hotch commented, dryly. "Why don't we leave JJ and the detective alone, since he came all this way to speak with his girlfriend."

Real subtle, Hotch, Dave sarcastically thought. But he nodded his agreement, nonetheless.

He turned to JJ one last time, putting a hand on her upper arm. "You sure you're ok?"

She gave him a bright, sunny smile, the kind that got his own heart racing. "Yeah, thanks again."

And then he broke himself away from the caring woman to start walking up with Hotch. On their way up, he could sense that Hotch had something to say, but Rossi didn't much feel like hearing it.

"Shut up, Aaron."

JJ stared down at the mature profiler's hand on her arm and then back up into his chocolate eyes. She had no idea why her heard had started to flutter at the contact or why she suddenly felt elated to be doted on by her friend who was probably at least twenty years her senior. But when he looked at her like that, like she was the only one in the whole entire world, she couldn't help but bestow upon him her brightest, most sincere smile.

"Yeah," she answered his concerned question, surprised momentarily by how breathy her voice sounded. "Thanks again."

She watched him nod in acknowledgement and then join Hotch as the two men left the area. Once out of sight she turned back to focus on the man that was part of the uncertainty in her life.

Will did not look one ounce of happy.

"I fell," she said lamely, pointing at the ladder. "From up there…"

Will continued to not say anything. These days, no reaction from him was almost as bad as getting a reaction from him. Things weren't great between them and she knew exactly where the tension had come from: her decision to take Dave up on his offer to rejoin the team and Will's archaic sense of family. The two ideas were like oil and water, seemingly un-mixable in Will's eyes.

"He caught me," she continued with the same tone. "I would have broken something…"

That seemed to get his attention. "You all right?" he said in his deeply accented voice.

He approached her rubbing his hands up and down the side of her arms. His touch, for some reason, sent an involuntary shudder through her body. She crossed her arms over her chest, confused at her body's reaction.

"Oh Jay," he said in a gentle voice. "You're shivering."

He put an arm around her shoulders, beginning to lead them towards the exit.

"You must be in shock… let's get you home."

In shock? she thought tiredly. You're the one who couldn't say anything two minutes ago.

She shrugged out of his grasp, annoyed by his belief that she was a fragile rose petal. "I'm fine, Will. What are you doing here?"

He returned her annoyed look with his own, for a second, before he put on the look she called, "Isn't JJ silly?"

"Can't a guy visit his own girlfriend?" he asked, good-naturedly.

"Will," she said, trying her hardest to keep her annoyance from her voice. "I'm working."

The look on his face faded to be replaced with a full-fledged frown. "Agent Hotchner didn't seem to mind."

Well, I do! she yelled in her mind.

"Will," JJ said slowly, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. "You can't just show up at my place of work, unannounced."

"Well, if you didn't work so much maybe I wouldn't have to drop by here to see you," he replied, tauntingly.

Oh God, this again…

"Go home, Will," she said, voice dangerous. "We'll talk about this tonight."

What was new? That was all they seemed to talk about lately. She just wanted it to stop.

"Is this about Agent Rossi?" he asked, coldly.

Her eyes snapped up to his and she must have looked furious because the look on Will's face was immediately regretful. "Ok, it's—"

"Go. Home. Will," she said with finality.

He looked about to say something else but thought better of it. Good idea, because she was about ready to spit fire. He turned and fled.

She lowered herself to the bottom rung of the ladder needing to seriously get herself under control.

God, when did my life turn into a freaking' soap opera?

Hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter should be up by Sunday or Monday at the latest. Please let me know what you think! Thanks.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing: p95000 (nope, not torture at all, he can catch me any day. Lol); Anonymous; llunisol (had to seriously use Google Translator to figure out your review. Lol. Thanks!); DreamerChild88: dakota1013; Longbourn22; ilovetvalot (glad you like :) ); angel85qcca; Fanatical Writer (thanks! It was a great sentence!); and SunnyInOregon.