If loving you with all my heart's a crime
Then I'm guilty

Aaron Hotchner had returned home that evening hoping to get a few hours sleep before starting afresh in the morning. It had been a trying day, he was sure it was the worst day of his career. He had many questions that remained without answers, some of those didn't bother him too much. It was the questions he had for himself that were twisting his heart.

Why hadn't he noticed JJ's pain?

Why hadn't he noticed the on going affair between two of his agents?

If he had noticed would he have been able to stop it?

Stop what exactly? The affair or the murder?

He shook his head, it wasn't murder. He refused to believe it, it was self defense. Proving it was the hardest job, declaring self defense when the victim has their back turned to the shooter was not a smart move. He needed something better than that but he wasn't sure what. They'd spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a profile, the only problem was both agents fitted the profile perfectly.

"The unsub in this case knew what they were doing, two shots to the back directly level with the heart. They knew that it was possible that the first bullet could ricochet so fired a second time to make sure they would be successful." Rossi stated coldly.

"Statistically speaking in 75 % of cases with this type of killing the unsub has been law enforcement or received military training, in some cases even both. The scene was too clean to be carried out by a first timer or someone without inside knowledge" Reid added.

"Any evidence for male or female?" Morgan asked causing Hotch to sigh loudly.

"Oh come on Hotch, what happened to covering every angle?"

"You're right Morgan I'm sorry."

"From looking at the positions of the entry and exit wounds, it's estimated that the shooter would be between 5 ft 4 and 5 ft 7. So in all likelihood the unsub is a woman." Reid said as he studied a piece of paper.

"Or a really short guy." Rossi added.

"So far we've found nothing to rule either one of them out?" Hotch asked.

"Nothing. Everything fits both accounts."

"So what does the profile tell us about why the crime was committed?"

"The unsub was likely at breaking point, either through both emotional and physical abuse over a significant period of time or through anger and carried out the crime as an act of protection. It's difficult to distinguish between the two as ultimately they are intertwined as one. We could sit here until the end of time and we'd never find the truth." Morgan sighed.

"Which is exactly what they want." Rossi said as he stood and made his way around the table.

"If they both stick to their stories, we'll never know which one of them did it."

"I don't think that is their plan. Logically speaking it is more likely that they are protecting each other." Reid said without looking up from the paper in his hands.

"Reid. If that is true then who is the more likely unsub?" Rossi questioned.

"JJ is." He answered quietly.

"And why is that? Rossi questioned again although he already knew the answer.

"Because she has much more to lose. This makes Emily feel more inclined to protect her. Not just for JJ but for the sake of the baby. What good will there be for that child with his father dead and his mother in jail? JJ is protecting Emily out of love, in the hope of confusing the situation so much that Emily can not be charged with murder."

"I don't think this was murder." Hotch finally answered, he took a deep breath before continuing.

"If they were planning this, the best option would be to claim self defense right? But neither of them have, their stories indicate self defense but both have suggested otherwise. Also they would have staged it convincingly, they know how this works, they've been working cases like this for years. If they had meant to kill him they would have made him turn to face them first. Self defense wouldn't have even been questioned and they would have called it in themselves."

"So what do we do?" Penelope asked.

"We only have one choice. We'll have to trick them into confessing."

"Isn't that the problem we already have? That they both confessed?" Penelope asked again, clearly confused by her boss's statement.

"We put them both in a room together, alone and hope that one of them says something to the other out of frustration."

"You expect them to believe that we won't be behind the glass?!" Morgan asked clearly frustrated.

"We won't be. We'll hide a sound recorder in the room. Just a normal room, no glass. To make it seem even more innocent I plan to guide JJ into asking for it. If they think the other one asked for the meeting they may be more open in what they actually say. I know it isn't fair but it's our only chance. If we want to save them both. If we fail to determine who the unsub really is our team could be broken apart, you know we are on dodgy ground as it is. If we are seen as accessories to this it will be the end of the BAU." Hotch looked to his team.

"Are you with me on this?"

No one answered but as he scanned the room he saw four identical nods in response.



JJ looked up at the man standing before her, he was normally so strong and in control of his emotions but she could see this time that he was clearly broken. Her only wish was that the rest of the team had not been too affected by the series of events, she knew it was very unlikely but just thinking it was possible made her feel a little better.

"I'm sorry JJ."

"Sorry for what?" She questioned.

Hotch sits down on the bed beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, allowing her to rest her head in the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry I didn't see this coming, I'm sorry that I couldn't do something to prevent this." He sighed, resting his head on top of the smaller agents.

"Hotch none of this is your fault. Please don't blame yourself. I did what I had to do to protect my baby and unfortunately in the process I exposed my family. Did I make the wrong choice?"

"No. No of course not. You had to protect the baby, I understand that. I would have done the same thing." He smiled slightly and kissed the top of her head.

As he stood he turned to ask her one more question.

"JJ is there anything I can do for you?"

She thought for a few seconds before answering.

"I suppose this is out of the question but could I see her just one more time?"

"I'll see what I can do."

Hotch left allowing the officer to close the door behind him, he wiped a small tear from his eye and headed down the corridor in search of an available room.

"God help me." He whispered to himself as he taped a sound recorder to the centre of the underneath of the table.

He paced the room trying to remain calm as he waited for his two friends to be brought into the room. He waited until they had both entered the room and sat at opposite sides of the table before closing the door.

"You have 10 minutes. I'll be waiting outside with the two officers. I'm sorry but I couldn't get you longer, you shouldn't even be getting this."

"I know Hotch and I appreciate this so much." JJ smiled.

As Hotch left Emily took JJ's hand and kissed it lightly before stroking her thumb across the back of her hand.

"J this is crazy. You need to retract your confession. What happens to bub when you're inside?"

"You're going to take him....or her."

"I'm what?"

"I want you to adopt them. They'll be safe with you."

"That's enough Jennifer! You will not lie to protect me, I won't allow it." Emily almost screams.

"Oh I get it, you'd rather lie and be locked away for the rest of your life than look after the baby. How could I be so wrong about you?" JJ snatches her hand out of Emily's grip.

"You know that isn't true, you know I love you and that I would do anything for you."

"Then why can't you do this for me?"

"Because it's not the right thing to do, we both know that."

JJ sighed.

"What happens if neither of us retracts our confessions?"

"Then we'll both pay for this, they won't drop it. Defendants who take different actions can be convicted of participating in the same crime. Under the longstanding felony-murder rule, any participant in a dangerous felony that ends in a killing - even the getaway driver - is as guilty of murder as the one who pulled the trigger."

"But Em one of us wasn't present, which ever story they believe."

"They'll send us both to trial hoping that one of us will crack. Please JJ just drop this. You gave up so much for me when we started this affair, let me do this."

Emily noticed JJ close her eyes and lower her head.

"JJ? Babe, are you okay?" Emily asked concerned.

"I'm fine, just a slight twinge that's all."

Emily reached across the table for her hand once more. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the lie she was about to tell. She usually took pride in her honesty but today she knew that the need to lie was much greater than the need to be honest. Lying to the woman she loved more than anything in this word was not something she ever wanted to do but there was too much at stake here. The stress wasn't helping the baby.

"Baby, listen to me. If you go out there and tell them you've changed your mind that you didn't do this. Hotch can work me out a deal, we'll go for self defense, just change the story a little. I'll only get a few years and then we can be a family again. We'll get married, we'll be a proper family."

JJ laughed knowing that, that would be a huge struggle. If Emily left her now she wouldn't be coming back to a woman and child she didn't really want in the first place. She knew that Emily wasn't entirely comfortable with her being pregnant, if there had never been Will and they were openly together they wouldn't be having a baby now. JJ was sure of that, she was even surer that they wouldn't ever be having a baby and suddenly that bothered her.

A gentle knock on the door brought her back to reality and she smiled at Emily briefly.

"I'm sorry Em….I can't do this, I just can't."

"Please JJ if not for me then for the baby."

Both women stood up as the officers and Hotch entered the room. Emily was nearest to the door so was the first to be escorted from the room. She took one last look back only to see her whole world crashing down.

"JJ?" She shouted while trying to pull away from the officer.

She saw the fear in JJ's eyes as she held onto the table and the tears streaming her pale cheeks mirrored her own.

"JJ." She shouted again this time receiving an answer.

"Em…I'm bleeding….."

If loving you with all my heart's a crime
Then I'm guilty