Disclaimed!
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Hotch followed JJ into the kitchen, where she quickly began distracting herself by tidying up the little clutter left behind after the grown-up's ice cream sundaes, that they had made once the boys had gone to bed.
Placing the spoons into the sink, the blonde FBI agent rested her palms against the cool bench and closed her eyes tightly. "Who does that?"
Hotch frowned as he hovered in the doorway. "What?"
She turned slowly, attempting to keep her gaze off of his concerned expression. "Who just randomly shows up on their kid's doorstep and drops a bombshell like that after nearly thirty five years?"
"Maybe if you let them explain the whole story..." Hotch began only to stop at the torment he could see in her glistening blue eyes.
JJ shook her head determinedly. "No, I can't."
"JJ, they've kept this to themselves for a while now, they obviously feel like now is the right time to tell you, if you only give them a chance." Hotch bargained weakly.
"How can I even be sure she's telling the truth? How does Rossi know for sure? She obviously wasn't that careful thirty five years ago. How can she know for sure?" JJ reasoned tersely.
Hotch waited a beat before stepping further into the room, to stand in front of his petite colleague. "That's something you need to ask her."
JJ looked away from his dark stare, biting her lip to keep the tears which threatened below the surface to fall. "She lied to me. She made me think..."
"What?" Hotch prompted quietly.
She shrugged slightly. "My Dad, my real Dad, was a good man but he was tough... He, erm, he pushed me away a lot and I always thought it was because of my sister... He loved her so much..."
"And he loved you just as much." He comforted knowingly.
JJ shook her head adamantly. "He obviously didn't because he knew I wasn't really his."
Hotch raised his hands so they rested on her shoulders, forcing JJ to meet his eyes. "This is a huge shock for you and right now, you have all kinds of questions and beliefs going through your head. You need to deal with this but it'll take time. Let them explain to you. Let them talk so you can make sense of everything."
"Aaron, this is all just really screwed up." JJ mumbled as she fell into his waiting hold and pressed her face into his chest.
He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head and smirked. "Tell me about it."
"What am I suppose to do? Go back in there and play happy families?" JJ grumbled into his sweatshirt.
Hotch gripped the younger woman more tightly to his body. "I don't know. I'd want to talk about it. What do you want to do?"
"Yell. Scream. Shoot someone." JJ muttered with a sigh.
"I could take you to the firing range?" Hotch suggested with a smirk.
JJ pulled back suddenly and smiled. "Yes, let's go, we can sneak out the back door."
"I was kidding." Hotch replied with a raised eye. "You can't just run from this, JJ."
Scrubbing her eyes with her fingers, the single mother moaned in protest. "I can't handle both of them."
"I'll grab Jack and get Dave home." Hotch dropped his arms back to his side after JJ pulled back.
"I'm not sure if it's going to be safe to leave me alone with my mom." She pulled a face in emphasis of her distain.
He smirked at her eye roll. "I'm sure you can control yourself."
"It's me you should be worried about." JJ retorted knowingly.
The team leader placed his left hand on her arm and ran it up and down comfortingly. "Call me, at any time."
"Thanks, but you'll be seeing me at work tomorrow anyway." The younger profiler stated with a sniffle.
"Why don't you take the day off and spend some time with your mom?" He offered quietly.
"No, no thanks. I'll be in the office normal time." She answered confidently.
"JJ, you need time to deal with this." The Unit Chief sighed at her stubbornness.
"I know. Thanks for staying and not leaving the moment things became a dramatic soap opera." JJ giggled softly.
Hotch remained passive as they continued to hold eye contact. "You've had a tough couple of months, Jayje. I wouldn't have gone anywhere when you needed me."
JJ smiled thinly as she placed one of her palms onto the centre of his chest. "You've done too much for me lately."
"What are friends for?" Hotch countered.
She met his eyes with a smirk. "Getting men, who claim to be my biological father, out of my house?"
Hotch chuckled lowly. "I'll get right on that."
They hugged briefly before Hotch exited the room leaving JJ alone. Several minutes later, Hotch appeared in the living room, with a sleeping Jack in his arms after observing that JJ was still in the kitchen from the hallway.
Entering the living room he saw Sandy and Rossi were standing at the window, Rossi's hands rubbing Sandy's tense shoulder muscles soothingly.
Hotch cleared his throat and raised his eye in curiosity at their guilty expressions.
Sandy stepped towards the tall man with a pained look in her eyes. "How is she?"
"She's... confused. Dave, I'm leaving. Why don't you come with me and give JJ and Sandy a chance to talk?"
Rossi nodded, instantly grateful that Hotch stepped out of the room to say goodbye to JJ, so he could say goodbye to Sandy. "Call me, anytime."
"Of course." She smiled thankfully.
"You'll come and see me before you leave?" He asked hopefully.
"Well, we will need to talk to JJ together, at some point." Sandy sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
"Ready?" Hotch interrupted their embrace awkwardly.
Sandy pulled back first, drying her eyes with her hand and allowing the profiler to move. "I'm coming."
Hotch caught Rossi's hesitance as they stood in the hallway, his gaze lingering on the kitchen doorway, where JJ was sitting alone and deep in thought, on the kitchen bench. "Leave her, Dave."
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Thanks for reading!