Blame it on the Moon – Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N – Here is the second part. Sorry but this is all just Hotch and Beth – well JJ shows up at the end… Hope you enjoy.

They were in the car on their way home. Hotch couldn't focus. All he could think about was JJ. He kept picturing her standing on the deck bathed in moonlight, then in his arms. He let out a heavy sigh remembering her face when they'd separated. She should have slapped him, but she hadn't. She clearly decided they'd both been swept up in something neither could deny and she chose not to hold him accountable. He shook his head. Touching her had clearly been a mistake.

"They would make a cute couple though, don't you think?"

He frowned wondering what Beth was yammering on about. "I'm sorry, what?"

She let out a long suffering sigh. "JJ and Spencer."

His senses perked up. "What about JJ and Reid?"

"I swear you haven't heard a word I've been saying. She was with him in the bedroom right after we found you. She said she was just sitting with him because he had a headache but her lips were all swollen."

"What?"

"Her lips were swollen." She repeated slowly. "You know, like they get when you've been thoroughly kissed. I guess maybe they want to keep it a secret. They do look cute together though, huh?" She repeated.

"No." He bit the word out wondering if he left her to deal with Reid on her own. If he had been inside the room where he and JJ had, what had they done? Kissed? Made out? A small dreamy smile lit his face. He'd stolen second and had been on his way to third. Christ he had to stop thinking about it he was making himself uncomfortable.

"You know, I just don't know what's going on with you. You drag me to a party with people I hardly know then you just disappear and now you've gone silent again." She let out another long suffering sigh. "Aaron, are you even listening to me?"

"I heard you." Heck the neighboring car probably heard her.

"Well?"

"I chose not to comment."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded to know.

"Well, you found the invite. You wanted to go the party. Not me." He reminded her. "I wanted to stay home." He was glad that he hadn't but he wasn't about to tell that to her.

"Well I would have stayed home if I knew you were going to ignore me all evening. I didn't travel all the way from New York to spend the evening by myself." She stated angrily.

Hotch frowned and looked over at her remembering what he had been thinking before he spotted JJ. "What are we doing, Beth?"

The question and the tone had her pausing, her own pitch lost its bite. "What do you mean?"

"Just that. What are we doing? We see each other maybe once a month and we either spend the time having sex or arguing. Lately it's been more the later."

The charge had her growling. "Whose fault is that?"

Hotch shrugged and answered truthfully. "I don't know. Probably mine. I think I wanted something that just isn't there."

The statement was so simple and honest it stopped her cold. "Oh." She looked at his profile. "Wow. Are we breaking up? Are you breaking up with me?"

He turned once more and looked at her somberly. "I think it's probably best for both of us." He sighed as tears flooded her eyes. "I think we both want and need things from this relationship that just aren't there."

"What do you need that I can't give you?" She wondered in a small voice, sad and hurt that he might find her lacking.

"Beth, it's more me than…"

She didn't give him an opportunity to finish his sentence. "Please do not give me that crap line it's not you it's me. If you're breaking up with me do me the decency of being honest with me." She demanded.

Hotch nodded. "I am trying to be honest. It is me. There are times when I need quiet and understanding. I need to be reflective."

"And I don't give you that." She wiped at a lone tear that made its way down her cheek. "I don't." She agreed. "I always assumed that you needed someone to pull you out of your shell so you didn't get stuck there but that's not what you need. I'm sorry, Aaron."

"I didn't say that to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. But I do want to be honest with you. You deserve that much and more." He wasn't sure he could feel like more of a heel. It wasn't her fault that she was the way she was. He initially found those attributes attractive. "You need a man that appreciates your vivaciousness."

"The curator at the museum asked me out." The confession was blurted from her lips.

Hotch raised a brow as he tried to remember what she had said about him. "The new guy?" She nodded. "Do you want to go out with him?" He asked gently.

"No." Her refusal was weak. "Maybe. I don't know. He flusters me."

Hotch chuckled feeling relieved, but definitely not jealous, at the news. "Flustering is good, Beth." They were stopped at a light and he turned to smile at her. "He wouldn't fluster you if you weren't interested." He told her gently.

"This is weird. I just told JJ that I couldn't wait to get you home and in bed and now we're talking about me dating another man." She watched as he lost his smile and went a shade of white. "What? What's wrong?" She recalled the comments Emily made earlier in the night. Her mouth opened in stunned surprise. "Oh my gosh she was right!"

He wondered how she had taken Beth's pronouncement. Did she think he could easily go from one woman to the next? "Who was right, JJ?"

The car behind him blew their horn. "The light is green." She told him unnecessarily.

"What did she say?" Apparently he was a glutton for punishment because he wanted to know her reaction. Did she even care? Maybe she wasn't interested in him. Maybe it was just the moon.

"Aaron, the light is green."

"What?" The car behind him laid on the horn. "Oh."

Beth wasn't sure what to make of the situation. He looked so gosh darn forlorn that she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Should I be angry?" She questioned softly.

"About?"

"I think there is a little more going on here than you're telling me." She wanted him to admit he had feelings for his coworker.

Hotch let out a sigh and confessed. "I kissed JJ tonight."

Even though she suspected something the confirmation still hurt. "Oh. Wow. Okay." She couldn't stop the flood of moisture that coated her eyes.

Hotch winced. "I know. I'm a giant asshole. I'm so sorry."

She couldn't help but recall the woman's bee stung lips. "It was you."

He nodded and then blurted out. "She was out on the deck and I was just going to go and talk to her and let her know I was there for her if she needed anything and the next thing I knew I was kissing her." He didn't know how to explain what drove him to behave the way he had. He didn't know how to explain that he couldn't have stopped himself if he'd wanted to.

She stared at him for a minute. "Because it was something you've always wanted to do." She said simply.

"Yes." He looked at her sadly and said again softly, "Yes."

It was Beth's turn to sigh as intuition hit. "You're in love with her."

He wanted to deny it but he couldn't. "Probably."

He looked so miserable she couldn't help herself. "I had coffee with Mark." She said softly, then added with a glint in her eye. "It wasn't a date and he didn't' kiss me. Although, I really feel like I probably should have let him now."

Hotch let out a chuckle as he pulled in the drive. "I am really sorry."

She knew him well enough to believe his apology. "Let me grab my bag and you can drop me at my mother's before you head back to Rossi's." She told him as she opened the car door.

He followed her out of the car. "What?" He frowned at her as he moved to open the front door.

"You need to go back." She moved quickly to gather her belongings and gave a last sad look around the room when she'd completed the task.

"Why do I need to go back?" He asked when she arrived back downstairs.

"Because I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about you." She'd seen the pain flash in the other woman's eyes when she mentioned going home and having sex. She'd written it off to JJ being a little jealous that she didn't have anyone and at the time she'd felt a little smug. She had always felt a little threatened by Aaron's relationship with JJ. Obviously for good reason.

"Is that likely to change if I don't go back tonight? Should I give her time to process what happened? Figure out what I should do?" He needed time to consider what his next course of action should be. Failure to plan was what got him in the mess he was currently in.

Beth placed a hand on both arms and squeezed. "She thinks you went home to have sex with me. She might want to find someone to help her get through the night herself."

The mere suggestion shocked him. JJ wouldn't do that. She wasn't like that.

Beth could see the doubt in his expression so she helped him get some perspective. "Aaron, if she thinks there is no future for the two of you what is stopping her from finding a little comfort where she can?"

"She can't do that!" The thought was reprehensible.

"She can and she might." She wouldn't be the first woman to do so.

"The hell she can!" Hotch reached for his cell and hit a button. He grew frustrated as it only continued to ring. Cursing fluently he disconnected and hit another button only to suffer through the same treatment. "You have got to be kidding me! They are supposed to answer their phones when I call."

"Aren't you on stand down?" Beth reminded him calmly.

"That's irrelevant!" He growled as he continued to try to ring his team.

Beth reached over and squeezed his forearm. "Okay, quit picturing her naked under another man and take a breath."

He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I wasn't picturing that until you suggested it!"

"I know, it was kind of rotten of me to say that but you do kind of deserve it." She took the keys from his hand. "I'll drive. You keep trying to get a hold of someone. I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason they aren't answering their phones."

"Maybe because one of them is helping her take her mind off me." He gripped the phone tightly as yet another of his team refused to answer his call. "You said yourself that she and Reid made a cute couple."

Beth nodded. "Yes, but that was before I knew all the facts. Let's think this through. Reid's probably not answering because he's trying to get rid of his headache."

The scenario seemed plausible to Hotch. "He does get bad migraines. He might be indisposed."

"I'm sure you're right." She reversed the car and pointed it in the direction they just came from. "Just calm down."

"Well that still leaves Morgan and Rossi." He sneered as he said the older man's name. "Rossi has appreciated her assets from day one." His nostrils flared in remembrance. "I'm not talking about her profiling ability either."

"I didn't think you were." Beth chuckled.

"That's probably the exact kind of man she'd want. No strings. He's got a reputation as a ladies man." He could picture Rossi romancing JJ. "If you had to have sex with any of them who would you pick?"

She giggled at the absurdity of it. "You realize you're being a little ridiculous."

He waved his hand in the air. "Yeah, sure. Which one?"

She appeared to be giving it some serious thought. Then she asked. "Well if I'm having a fling why do I have to pick only one? They're all attractive in their own way."

He glared over at her. "You have a serious mean streak."

She grinned. "I'm not sure how I kept it hidden so long. It's probably best that you dumped me."

He stopped looking at his phone to stare at her. "Ah geez. I really am a jerk."

"Well you're not as perfect as I'd once imagined." She chuckled. "It's nice to know you're flawed too."

"I can't believe that anyone would think I was perfect." Hotch scoffed at the absurdity of it.

Beth gave a serene smile. "At the time you were. You were exactly what I needed." It had been a rough time for her after the passing of her father and Hotch had been a balm. The relationship had been sweet and easy. Non-complicated. That was probably the first true sign that it was faulted. No relationship is perfect.

They were both quiet and reflective for a time before she spoke up again. "I really hate to let you off the hook so easily." She pierced him with a look before blowing out a breath. "But you know, we would have probably split a lot sooner if we didn't have a long distance relationship."

He nodded. "It was too easy."

She shook her head. "It was too insignificant. Neither of us made it a priority." She lifted a shoulder. "We made time for it when it suited us and just ignored it when it didn't." She reached over for his hand. "We were both guilty of that."

"So. Tell me about Mark." Hotch asked. "You want me to run a background on him?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "He's a nice guy. He's into art like I am, he doesn't spend his days chasing weirdos."

"That's a definite plus."

"Yes and no, there's no badge or gun either." She gave him a dimpled smile. "Although it is a hot look."

"Well sure but I've heard that a sweater vest and tweed jacket can also be appealing." They shared a laugh over the absurdity of the comment before he sobered and said sincerely. "You know I wish you nothing but the best."

She dimpled back at him. "Well it's a little early to know if he's the one but I'll keep you posted."

He was humbled by the way she handled everything. "We can still be friends?"

"I think I'd like that." She smiled as they turned into the lit drive and cautioned him. "Don't do anything stupid or cave man like if there is another man hanging around her."

He ran his suddenly damp palms over his jeans. "Define stupid." He joked, watching the house appear through the trees as his heart began to race.

"Talk first, act later. Don't just kiss her senseless, let her know how you feel about her. Make sure she knows that you're coming to her a single man." She sensed that fact would be key. "Don't assume she knows what is going on in your head."

He nodded to indicate he'd heard her comments. "Then I can kiss her senseless?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "Sure." She pulled in front of the house and came to a stop. "I'm taking your car. I'm going to assume that you can get a ride."

He lifted his hand showing her his crossed fingers then added a little uncertainly. "Worse case I can crash with Dave."

She had a feeling that wouldn't be the case. "Good luck."

Hotch leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the lips. "You know you really are great."

Beth smiled as they separated she looked past him to the well-lit atrium and groaned. "Aaron, don't freak out but JJ just witnessed our goodbye."

The blonde stood her ground though as if the sight didn't bother her.

He watched as she gave them a slight smile that failed to reach her eyes before turning away. "Shit she'd probably going to misinterpret that. She's going to think we resolved whatever issues we had and we're making up. She's going to…"

"Leave if you don't get your ass out of the car and talk to her." Beth urged him with a gentle shove, prompting him into action.

Thanks for reading!