Disclaimer: We don't own Criminal Minds or anything else you recognize. :(

A/N: Just wanted to add a quick "THANK YOU!" to all who have read, reviewed, alerted, and even added this story to their favorites! Also I feel the need to mention that Morgan/Prentiss is going to happen in this story, but these first few chapters are more angsty between them. At least through the one's we've written through so far, and that's chapter seven, I think. But good M/E stuff to come, promise! Just bear with us.

Chapter Two

--

"Daddy!" Jack ran to the door as soon as he saw Hotch and JJ enter the home. JJ's mother's house was small and quaint. She and her husband had moved years previously to be closer to their oldest daughter.

"Whoa! Hey buddy!" Hotch scooped up the six year old and held him up while JJ went to locate her mother and Henry. "You, me, JJ, and Henry are going to have a movie night tonight. We need to talk about some stuff."

"Oh" Jack said, his whole demeanor changed, "do you want me to go back and live with mommy?"

"Oh no buddy. I don't want you to go and live with your mother again, only if you want to."

"Oh okay." Jack answered, happy again as JJ and Henry came into the room closely followed by her mother. "Can we have mac and cheese for dinner?"

"I think we can manage that" Hotch answered smiling, "Ready to go JJ?"

"Yeah, I think so. I've got both of their bags from school today. Mom is there anything else Jack brought home?" JJ asked as she adjusted Henry on her hip so she could use both hands to carry both boys backpacks.

"Nope, I think that's it Baby Girl. Call me and let me know you all got home just fine, alright?" Joanna Jareau said smiling as she brushed a piece of hair out of her daughter's face. "I don't want to have to send your father out looking for my four favorite people now do I? He's already worried about your sister getting here in time for Christmas, he doesn't need the extra stress."

"I thought Jess was flying in for Christmas this year?" JJ asked and Hotch took Jack's bag from her hand. "And mom please tell Dad not to freak out when he meets her boyfriend, okay? I know Tim is a little weird, but he's a good guy and she likes him, a lot."

"She's flying in on the twenty first, but you know how your father is. He watches too many movies, I swear. Yesterday he had himself convinced that, that Jack Gyllenhaal boy is really CIA." Joanna said shaking her head, "And you also know that if Tim will just stand up to your father's jokes, Jacob will stop teasing him. He's just trying to see if Tim is really in this relationship for the long haul. Unlike all of your sisters other boyfriends. But at least we get to see Janie again. She misses you, you know? Always 'Where's Aunt JJ?' and all."

"It's Jake Gyllenhaal mom, not Jack. And Dad really needs to let up on Tim--the guy's in his last year of medical school, so I'm sure he doesn't need the added stress of you two ragging on him, okay? Now listen we've gotta go, but I promise to call you when we get home. Tell Janie that I love her for me next time you talk to her." JJ said as she ushered Hotch and Jack out the door. The snow was just barely beginning to fall outside, and she didn't want to risk them getting stuck somewhere. Knowing her mother, if they didn't get out now, they were never going to leave.

"Okay, bye Baby. Take care of yourself and my Henry. And Jack is welcome over here anytime, got it?" Joanna asked as she hugged her daughter.

"Got it. Bye Mama. Love you!" JJ yelled as she started making her way to the car where Hotch and Jack were already climbing in.

"Love you all too!" Joanna yelled one last time and blew the boys a few kisses before waving at them until they were out of sight. "Now, Jennifer why didn't you tell your mother that you had a guy who's already so obviously in love with you, and not to mention his son loves you too? That man is no Will LaMontagne, that's for sure." She mused to herself. Joanna Jareau was nothing if not a match maker for her daughters, and she was going to make extremely certain that JJ and this Aaron Hotchner got their chance at happiness. Together.

*********

"Hi Jack. Mind if I come in?" JJ asked softly, her head poking in just above the floor in the large tree house. The young boy shook his head vigorously.

"It's getting cold, I thought you might want a blanket and some hot chocolate." She held up the items so he could see. His small hands grabbed immediately for the hot chocolate, and he drank quickly as she wrapped the blanket around him.

"My Daddy doesn't want me." Jack sniffled as JJ scooted in next to him. "Nobody wants me."

"Oh, Jack. That's not true." JJ's mind replayed the events the way Hotch had told her they had happened earlier that night, wondering if there was anything they could have done differently to keep the little boy happy. This was going to be a tough situation for everybody.

"Jack, we need to talk." Hotch said authoritatively as the movie ended. JJ had just taken Henry upstairs to put him to bed in one of the small guest rooms. The little boy looked up at Hotch, his young eyes worried about whatever it was his father needed to tell him.

"Something bad has happened. Uncle Sean is in trouble. Daddy's going to have to go away and work for a while, and you are going to stay with JJ and Henry." He explained. Truthfully, Aaron Hotchner was at an unusual loss. How do you tell your son that you are going to pretend to be a cold blooded murderer in order to protect his uncle and your younger brother?

"Do you not want me?" Jack asked, devastated.

"No. Buddy, I love you, it's just--" Jack's eyes teared and he ran out of the house from the back door.

"Jack wait! It's freezing out there!" Hotch yelled out the door.

"What just happened?" JJ asked, descending the stairs.

"He'll be ok. He just needs a minute."

"Mommy even said so." Jack sniffled. "She told me that Daddy wouldn't want me either."

"Jack, Uncle Sean started working with some bad men on accident, and now your Daddy needs to go and make sure he's safe. Have you ever played pretend before?" JJ asked, knowing the answer. Her heart melted as the little boy nodded, his eyes filled with trust as she spoke to him.

"Well, to protect your Uncle Sean, your Daddy is going to pretend to be a bad man. That means that we have to stay somewhere safe, and we're going to have to pretend too. Do you think you can pretend with me?" JJ asked.

"I'm good at pretend." Jack said softly.

"I know you're good at pretend. You're going to have to help me, okay?" JJ asked, and smiled at the resolved look the little boy gave her.

"Okay. I will protect you, JJ." Jack said, causing JJ's heart to melt even further.

"Friends?" JJ asked as she spit in her hand and held it out for the little boy to shake it.

"Why'd you spit in your hand?" Jack asked curiously.

"Friends need a secret handshake, buddy. This can be ours." JJ said smiling as she watch Jack repeat her earlier actions, and shake her hand in acceptance of her offer. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty cold out here in the snow and all. Wanna go back inside? There's more hot chocolate..."

"More?" Jack asked, his large eyes widening, "And I can have some?"

"Of course. What are friends for?" she answered as she helped him start down the stairs of the tree house before they both made their way towards the house. "Hey Jack?"

"Yea, JJ" he asked as the reached the back door.

"For what it's worth, I think your Mommy was wrong. Your Daddy loves you, and Henry and I think you're pretty cool too."

"I like you guys too JJ" he said as he wrapped his tiny arms around her waist in a tight hug, which she returned before getting them both inside out of the cold.

**********

"Everything okay?" Hotch asked tentatively as he stepped into the kitchen with Henry, who had woken up shortly after Jack had gotten upset. The sight before him in the kitchen made his heart warm as he took in the sight of JJ and Jack coloring a large picture of Santa and drinking hot chocolate.

"What do you think Jack? Everything okay?" JJ asked as she put down her red crayon, and picked up the yellow one.

"Everything's okay Daddy." Jack said as he went over and gave his father a hug before he started coloring again.

"Da Da!" Henry chirped happily as he snuggled into Hotch's arms earning him a rare smile out of the profiler.

"Hey little man. What do you think you're doing awake?" JJ asked as her head snapped towards the pair.

Henry just shook his head as if to say he wasn't sleepy, but the little yawn that escaped his lips betrayed him. "I think you are sleepy buddy" Hotch chuckled. "I've got him, JJ. You guys just stay put, and I'll put him back down upstairs."

"Thanks Hotch." JJ answered, the corner of her mouth tilting upwards in appreciation as he left the room.

"So Jack...What do you think about me, you, and Henry going shopping and putting up our tree this weekend? We can watch The Grinch again and make cookies if you want?" she questioned as she watched him carefully color in the black buttons on Santa's suit.

"Okay! Can you make us some more hot chocolate then too?" he asked, excited at the idea of spending the whole day doing things for his favorite holiday.

"You bet. I'll even let you help me pick out which ornaments and lights you want to buy for our tree and which ones you want to put outside, deal?"

"Deal. Thanks JJ...Mommy never lets me help put up the Christmas stuff." Jack said, a shadow of sadness washing over his face briefly, "But the lights with the really big colored light bulbs are my favorite at the store!"

"Then those are the one's will get. They're my favorites too." JJ said in agreement. This undercover operation was suddenly looking up.

"Can we get a star for the tippie-top?" Jack asked carefully, hoping he was not asking for too much, and that JJ would change her mind.

"Of course! Stars are the best part." JJ replied with a warm smile. While JJ had always thought Hailey a difficult person to get along with, she had to give her compliments to the woman for making such an adorable son. But the more JJ contemplated it, the more she believed that perhaps Jack's magnificence should more accurately be attributed to his father. Jack definitely had Hotch's temperament, and it also didn't hurt that he inherited the Aaron Hotchner smile. A smile that, while JJ would never admit it, she had always found familiar and comforting.

**************************

"Garcia, is this going to hurt?" Emily asked frightened. In theory, a nose ring did not sound all that bad, it actually sounded really fun, but now in the depths of Glen's Tattoo and Piercing Parlor, she was having second thoughts.

"It can't be too bad, Sasha didn't complain." Garcia said shortly, checking out the different tattoos that were posted on the wall. "What would you think if I got a dragonfly on my back?" She asked, contemplating whether she wanted it.

"It's your body, and its not like very many people will be looking at it. But, if you are going to get a new tattoo, wouldn't want it in a place where you could actually see it?"

"I don't need to see it, as long as my dark chocolate hunk of meat does." Garcia teased, and added, "as long as Derek 'I-am-so-sexy-its-scary' Morgan likes it, than who cares what it looks like."

"Emily" a large, tattooed man called out from behind the counter. Emily involuntarily gulped for air. She had gotten her ears pierced, and enjoyed in her teen years other piercings in multiple places. But she felt slightly foolish that now, she was very afraid.

Garcia, picking up on Emily's reluctance to follow the man, tried to encourage her friend. "Em, do it for your country."

Emily Prentiss to her credit, arose from her seat and approached the man, like a cow to the slaughterhouse. Emily felt her adrenaline pulsing, she felt her 'fight-or-flight' reflex making itself known. But, she had to face her acquired fear of needles like a FBI agent. She took in a deep breath, the kind that she learned how to do in yoga, and tried to relax herself, entering the curtained piercing station.

Garcia did not think she had to worry about her friend once Emily entered the room, until she heard a scream and something falling to the floor. The tattoo-piercing technician called over to her, peeking his pierced face out of the curtains.

"Hey lady, your friend passed out! What do you want to do with her?" He yelled.

Garcia thought about it for a moment and replied, "Pierce her nose, and I'll take her home."

"You sure she's alright with that?" The man asked skeptically.

"It doesn't really matter if she's alright with it, just do it." Penelope said as she looked at the man and then down at her unconscious friend, "Trust me Angel this is for the best."

**********

Seven A.M. rolled around earlier than most of them expected, or wanted, and the only two people really awake as everyone gathered in the BAU's bullpen were under the age of ten. Jack had almost refused to go to bed until his eyes closed of their own account while he colored in Rudolph's nose, and Henry had kept JJ up most of the night wanting his mother to rock him. All in all it had been a very long night for the two adults staying in the Hotchner household.

Stepping forward to gain the team's attention, JJ did her best not to yawn as she jostled Henry on her hip. "Okay Strauss stopped by my office this morning and gave me a credit card for each of us to use for anything that we will need while we're undercover. There's an unlimited balance on each one, and the Bureau will be covering all costs at this point in the operation. We're all taking the morning and going to DC to get everything, just remember to save the receipts from everything you buy so I can turn them in on our expense reports. Morgan, you and Jordan will be sharing a single card since you're now a married couple, as will Hotch and I because I'll be watching Jack, but the rest of you will have your own cards. Don't forget that you'll need to also purchase not only clothes, but items for you new houses and apartments as well. Also, the meeting with the higher ups and Strauss has been moved to three this afternoon, so we'll all need to be back here by at the very latest two thirty, and don't forget that you're supposed to come as your new identity to the meeting this afternoon. Any questions?"

Being met with several sleep filled grumbles, and one glare from Emily who's nose was looking slightly irritated due to its new piercing, JJ continued as Jack handed out the cards to everyone like she'd asked him to do earlier. "Okay, well if there's nothing else then we'll all meet back here in about seven hours. Good Luck!"

******

"Garcia! I can't believe you had them go a head a pierce it anyway last night!" Emily said in half disbelief and half anger as they pulled into the parking lot of the closest Ikea store. "I mean I would've gotten it done this afternoon or something..."

"Now Baby Cakes that's a lie, and I think we both know it. You would've just passed out all over again. Look at it this way, at least it was me, and not Derek who was with you last night. If he knew about this you'd never live it down." Penelope answered promptly as she grabbed a buggy, and started making her way through the home and garden store without waiting to see if her friend was following her. "Now does the beautiful Italian Emily Bonasera like eggplant colored sheets or cream colored ones?"

"The purple" Emily said grudgingly as she placed the set in the buggy. Her nose felt like someone had tried to surgically remove it without anesthesia. "What about you, O great and powerful one? What color sheets does the fun loving Penelope Russo like?"

"I think she's going to with the deep red silk ones" Penelope said as she reached for her own set of sheets. Of her friends disbelieving look she continued, "Hey, if I'm going to have to sleep on these for a year I'm going to get the comfortable ones. Besides...It's not like we're paying for them or anything..."

"True" the brunette conceded before exchanging hers for a set of purple silk ones and a set of navy ones. "What? A year is a long time Garcia, and you're right...It's not like we're actually having to pay for all of this..."

********

"Derek, I think we should stick with this theme we've already got going with the dark wood bed, and get the black leather sofa." Jordan said thoughtfully as they stood in the middle of one of DC's many furniture stores that circled the only mall in the area with a Saks Fifth Avenue inside. "I know you like the tan one, but I just think we should try and make it all flow together."

"No, the black one's fine" Derek added impassively as he wondered how he was going to manage a year of "Bossy Jordan". And not even bossy in the good way. "We should probably head over to the mall sometime soon Jordan..."

"Well, it's not like you're helping me any here, so lets just go. I'll call them, and order the one I want later" she answered as she crossed her arms across her chest and stalked out of the store.

After her hasty exit, Derek quietly mused "What have I gotten myself into?" before following his angry "wife" out the door. He only hoped she hadn't driven off without him.

**********

"Hey! Isn't that Hotch and JJ?" Reid asked as he pointed to the small family of four happily munching on breakfast from McDonald's in the food court. "We should go and say hi."

"Hold your horses, Reid. Lets just watch for a minute." Rossi said as the two ducked into a small alcove so they wouldn't be seen by their friends. "Well, I'll be damned."

"What?" Reid asked as he looked on as his boss pushed some of his best friend's blonde hair behind her ear, and as she smiled in return before helping Henry with his drink.

"Reid, the last time I saw Aaron Hotchner be that relaxed with a woman he was still married to Hailey. And you and I both know that she doesn't let just anyone close to her like that. Not since Will." Dave explained with a smirk. "A blind man could see the chemistry between those two right now."

"Well, it does look like they seem to like each other..." Reid mused as he quickly moved out of the way for a large man trying to enter the bathroom they were currently standing in front of.

"Yea, and I'll bet you a hundred bucks that neither of them realize it yet." Dave propositioned as they started walking again in the opposite direction of where their friends were seated, not wanting to interrupt their "family" moment.

"Okay, you're on." Reid said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Now, Garcia said something about a store called the Gap...apparently they sell clothes there..."

"Oh this is going to be a long day..." Dave muttered as they stepped on the escalator. Even he knew what the Gap was.

*******

"So what kind of sheets do you want Jack?" JJ asked as the four of them wandered through the aisles of Macy's department store. She could hear Henry behind her talking animatedly to the person he'd deemed 'Da Da' about something that only Henry could understand. Sometimes babies just amazed her.

"Superman" Jack answered almost instantly and JJ had to chuckle a little. Leave it to Garcia to pick the perfect nickname for Hotch. "Is that okay?"

"Hey, it's your room buddy." JJ replied smiling as she squeezed the his hand that was carefully laced with hers. "You can get whichever ones you like."

"Can I get the Superman comforter too?" Jack asked, his eyes shining hopefully.

"If that's the one you want" Hotch answered, startling the two. "But, you can only have one, so make sure that's the one you really want. Okay?"

"It's the one I want Daddy. I promise." Jack said as JJ helped him put it in their overly large buggy along with the bathroom stuff he'd already picked out.

"Okay, if you're sure?" Hotch questioned again. If Jack changed his mind there was no telling when they'd get a chance to swap everything out, and he didn't want to put any more added stress on JJ.

"I'm sure." Jack said honestly, and then added thoughtfully, "What about Henry? Does he get new stuff too?"

"Yep, he sure does. We all do. Remember what we talked about last night?" JJ asked as they started pushing the buggy towards the toddler section of the store. "About how we're going to be playing pretend for a while?"

"Yea. Is that what this is for?" the little boy asked as he took hold of JJ's hand again. "Is that why I can't just use my old Superman covers?"

"Yea, that's why buddy." JJ started to answer, but was cut off by a perky young salesperson.

"Well aren't yall the cutest little family!" The young sales girl said bouncily, making JJ briefly wonder if this "Darlene" was on some sort of drugs. It was way to early for anyone to be this peppy. Her loud voice even seemed to startle the always happy Henry who curled in Hotch's chest with a soft, but almost scared 'Da Da'. "Is there anything you need help finding? We're having a sale on our high chairs and car seats this week if you're interested."

"No, I think we've actually got everything covered Darlene" Hotch said as he noticed the girls name tag, "But thank you anyways."

"Well okay then! Have a nice day!" she said before practically hopping away form them towards the next unsuspecting family. After meeting eyes over Henry's head, both Hotch and JJ seemed to be conveying the same message--They both wanted to stay far, far away from Darlene.