Out of the Mouths of Babes Chapter Four

Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N – Sorry I meant to have this out last week but life threw me for a loop. This is un-beta'd so any mistakes are mine.

Hotch was quietly contemplative as he began clearing the table. He wasn't sure exactly what happened but he knew something obviously had. Dinner turned out to be just an okay event after such a promising start. The boys had been animated and chattered happily throughout the meal but JJ seemed subdued and a little sad, he was just plain confused.

"No, it's okay, I've got it." Hotch stated as JJ began to rise to help.

"I can help, Hotch." She gave him yet another smile that failed to reach her eyes.

He shook his head and gestured for her to remain seated. "It won't take me but a minute to put this all in the dishwasher. You stay put." He let out a frustrated sigh as soon as he was in the kitchen alone. He scowled as he tried unsuccessfully to pinpoint when the shift happened. She was fine when they first arrived, she had been happy and almost flirty. He'd seen the way her eyes lit up when she'd noticed the table, and again when Jack mentioned the tart. But when had it changed? He wished he could figure it out.

"Hey Dad."

He turned to find Jack scrutinizing him. "Hey bud."

"What'd you do to JJ?" Jack said accusingly. "She looks kind of sad."

Hotch wasn't surprised to find that his intuitive son picked up on their guest's mood. He shrugged and admitted. "I'm not sure pal. Maybe she just has a lot on her mind?"

His son titled his head questioningly then asked, "Did you make sure to tell her she looked pretty tonight?"

Hotch frowned, not happy with the interrogation or the assumption that whatever was wrong with JJ was his fault. "Um, I'm not sure – "

"Oh you didn't, did you?" Jack huffed disappointedly. "Dad, girls like to be complimented. Didn't you listen to Uncle Dave? She's never going to let you kiss her unless you start being a little nicer."

Hotch was just about to make an unflattering comment on David Rossi's infinite wisdom regarding the finer sex when a small voice piped up effectively stopping him from voicing something in front of his impressionable son that he would most likely regret later.

"Who do you want to kiss, Hotch?" Henry sat at the island with his chin propped in this hands carefully watching the pair.

Both Hotchner's turned to find Henry studying them with intense interest, he had been so quiet neither was quite sure how or when he got there. Jack looked up at his dad apologetically but before either of them could say anything Henry continued. "I sure hope it's my mommy. She was talking about kissing you with Aunt Pen and Aunt Em."

Jack swung back around to look at his father with renewed hope. "Did you hear that dad?" He exclaimed, extremely happy about the news.

Hotch placed a hand on his sons shoulder. "Calm down, bud, Henry's only four it's possible he might have misunderstood what he heard."

Jack looked at his young friend and realized there might be some truth to what his dad was saying. Before Hotch could say anything else he went over to the island. "Okay Henry, I need for you to concentrate real hard. What exactly did you hear?"

Henry, realizing now that he was the center of attention, got nervous. He wanted to be able to tell Jack everything but he didn't actually remember much of what his mom and honorary aunts were talking about. So he did the only thing he could think of. "MOMMY!"

Hotch understood what he was going to do about a second too late. Definitely too late to prevent JJ from racing into the kitchen and far too late to prevent Henry from blurting out. "Mommy tell Hotch you want to kiss him. I heard you, didn't I?"

Hotch watched in fascination as JJ looked at Henry then him with wide eyes, her face turning a lovely shade of red.

"I, uh," She looked back at Henry dumbfounded.

Hotch gallantly came to her rescue. "Why don't you boys go play for a little bit so JJ and I can talk? We'll call you in a little bit for desert." Hotch ushered them out of the room much more calmly than he felt. He waited as the boys sullenly left the kitchen, both unhappy to be excluded from the grownups talk. Then he watched as JJ paced the kitchen floor. Waiting her out, he poured them both a glass of wine.

JJ let out a nervous chuckle as finally she turned to face Hotch. "I, that is Emily and Pen," She accepted the glass of wine he held out to her. "Thanks." She took a sip and started over. "Uh, well, sometimes we say inappropriate things forgetting that little ears are always listening." The red in her cheeks flared once more.

"And in this particular instance you were discussing kissing me?" He prompted in wonder.

JJ shrugged, "We were trying to figure out why you invited me over to dinner. Had I known that it was only to let me know that you were moving the team to Morgan we probably wouldn't have made any wild speculations."

All at once his confusion cleared and he understood where he'd gone wrong. "Ah, well, you know, there are actually a couple of reasons that I want to move the team."

JJ nodded while she stared at the floor like she was waiting for it to swallow her up. "Oh, I know."

He continued as if she hadn't said anything. "Aside from the fact that it will free me up for other projects, Morgan is ready for the challenge; he deserves this chance."

He observed her closely as she sighed, obviously thinking he was chastising her. "I know. You're right. Morgan does deserve this opportunity and I'm sure he'll be great. I will support this decision, Hotch."

"Right. I assumed that you would, that you all would." He cleared his throat. "But I have to admit that I also had a selfish reason for wanting this move to occur."

JJ finally looked at him. "Oh Hotch everyone knows how much you do, no one would call this selfish."

He smiled at her warmly. "Thank you, that's nice." He stared at her intently. "But actually I was referring to the fact that I would no longer have any direct reports."

His comment obviously puzzled her as she frowned and looked back down at the floor. "Okay."

Since she didn't understand the implication of what that would mean he decided to spell it out for her. "Well, the thing is, since you no longer report to me I would be able to ask you out."

Her head snapped up and she gawked at him. "What did you say?"

She was looking at him rather oddly. "I said I would like to take you out." He repeated unsurely.

"You mean like on a date?" She screeched out.

Her tone made it clear to him that she didn't think it was a good idea. "Or maybe not. I don't want to make anything awkward." Although it was way too late for that he thought as she stood gaping at him.

JJ threw her hands up. "Wait. Stop." She took a big gulp from the glass she still held, nearly emptying the contents. "I need to make sure that I understand this. You want to go on a date. With me?" The expression on her face conveyed her bewilderment.

More than a little deflated by her response he inadvertently confessed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I'm not very good at this. I told Jack it wasn't a good idea when he suggested it."

Suddenly JJ eyes narrowed and she asked tersely. "O-kay, hold on. You want to go on a date with me because Jack thought it was a good idea?"

It was clear he managed to say the wrong thing yet again. He was pretty sure that there was a lot riding on how he answered the question and he did his best to answer honestly. "No, well yes, but not entirely."

"Which is it Hotch?" One brow lifted awaiting his response.

"Jack overheard Dave and me discussing my lack of a love life this morning and he suggested that I date you." He glanced over at her. "My son's a little bit infatuated with you."

"Okay, that's – a little weird." She winced. "I mean, it's sweet and all, it's just a little strange that you would ask me out because your son has a little crush on me."

He felt the tips of his ears warm as he admitted. "Well I figured it was a case of like father, like son." He watched as she processed the comment.

"Oh." The blush was back. "You're not moving the team so you can date me?" She asked suspiciously.

He refilled her glass then gestured for her to take a seat on the stool then sighed heavily. "No. I'm not." He wasn't sure if he was offended that she would think he would make a change like that only to pursue her. "When Jack made the suggestion I said that it just wouldn't work because you work for me, and I wouldn't do anything to put you, or myself in that situation." He said a little stiffly. "I would never reorganize our team for my own personal benefit."

JJ gave a slight smile as she recalled having said the same thing to Pen and Em just earlier that day. "I know that. I'm sorry I would even question it."

"We did talk about it before." Hotch repeated numbly. "Dave reminded me that we already discussed the possibility of moving the team under Morgan. He'll take on more of a leadership role and I'll start doing some of the stuff that has been let fall to the wayside since Erin is no longer here." It truly was a logical solution.

"But won't you miss it?" JJ asked earnestly, knowing how much the man loved what he did.

Hotch sighed before answering truthfully. "Yes and no. I need to start looking to the future, JJ. I can't do this job forever and I've already been doing it a long time." He smiled at her. "I'm pretty good at justifying the need for the funding for our unit. I think I can still play a beneficial role to the team while making sure the BAU remains an elite unit within the FBI."

She returned his smile warmly. "I'm sure there is no one better suited for the job." She watched as he resumed loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen effectively putting an end to the conversation.

As he continued his task of cleaning the dishes Hotch was relieved that JJ no longer seemed upset with him. While he was thoroughly disappointed that his romantic interest was not returned, he was now worried that his fumbling pursuit would result in the loss of their friendship. Wishing he would have thought his plan through more thoroughly he turned back to her to offer his regrets. "I hope this doesn't create any awkwardness between us." He stated solemnly.

"What do you mean?"

Hotch stopped what he was doing. "I would never put you in a situation where you felt uncomfortable to be around me, I hope you know that. I asked you out, you said no. I hope we can leave it there and remain friends. I would hate to lose your friendship."

JJ frowned. "Wait, when did I say no?" She watched as he fumbled the glass he was holding and it shattered on the floor.

"Shit." He looked at the mess then back to the woman, torn over what to do.

JJ got off of the stool and moved to the pantry where he kept his broom. She got back in time to watch him try to clear the glass with his bare hands.

"Ow. Aw, jeez. Shit!" He dropped the pile he had been accumulating in his hand and winced at the blood oozing from his finger.

"Watch out." She put her hand on his arm to help him stand then led him over to the sink. "Honestly don't you know any better than to pick up glass with your bare hands?"

"You kind of caught me by surprise." He told her as she gently inspected his hands.

"Yeah, I got that much." She paused to look him in the eyes. "I never said I didn't want to go out with you." She put his hand under the faucet and pulled a sliver of glass out of his skin. Then she turned the water on and put some of the antibiotic soap that was on the corner of the sink on his hands and cleaned the wound. "Bandages?"

Still stunned speechless he pointed at the cabinet to the left of the sink as she took a clean dish towel and dried his hand before getting the Band-Aid.

She grinned as she unwrapped it. "Captain America, how appropriate." She chuckled as she put a dab of Neosporin on the cut before tenderly putting the Band-Aid in place. "There, all better."

"Aren't you going to kiss is better?" His voice was husky with emotion.

She blinked up at him, a little surprised to find his face so close to hers. "I don't know, do you really think that's – "

His mouth cut off the rest of her sentence.

"I told you he was going to kiss her!" Jack whooped excitedly. "Wait till I tell Uncle Dave, he said not to get my hopes up cause my dad was kind of slow when it came to women."

"Are you done talking yet? Because I thought we were going to have cupcakes for desert?" Henry asked, worried more about the treat than he was what was going on with the adults.

JJ and Hotch broke apart and grinned at one another.

"I'll take care of the glass. You get the boys their cupcakes." JJ suggested.

Hotch had the boys sit at the island while he got them each a glass of milk and the coveted cupcakes. "So Henry, aside from wanting to kiss me what else did your mom and Penelope and Emily have to say?" He asked, feeling a touch cocky now that it was clear that JJ was most definitely interested.

"You might want to be careful." JJ warned. "I can start asking Jack the same question and I can guarantee you that he has better recall of what was said than Henry does." She sent a wink over Jack's way. "Right Jack? You can tell me what your dad and Uncle Dave said about me, can't you."

The boy nodded eagerly. "Well, daddy didn't really say a lot, me and Uncle Dave had most of the good ideas." Jack told her around a mouth full of cupcake.

"Jack don't talk with your mouth full." Hotch reprimanded while JJ moved over to where the little boy sat.

"What kind of ideas?" She asked with unconcealed interest.

"JJ." His tone held a note of caution.

The blonde grinned over at Hotch and shrugged innocently. "Hey, I just want to know what I'm in for."

Big blue eyes regarded her sincerely. "We just talked about kissing and getting married."

"Really?" JJ squeaked, looking back at Hotch with wide eyes.

Hotch chuckled. "Relax. Marriage is the next step in the progression from kissing for young boys." He moved over to where she stood and rubbed a hand down her back. "You might want to breathe, you're turning blue." He teased.

"Yeah, I think that may have backfired on me." JJ stated with a laugh.

Hotch smiled down at her. "So, about that date?" He asked.

"Yes, I would love to go out on a date with you." She replied warmly.

Jack sat and watched the pair happily. "Hey dad, if you and JJ do get married do you think we could have a baby?"

"Whoa, Jack, slow down pal, just because JJ and I are going on a date it doesn't mean we're going to be getting married let alone – "

"As long as it's not a girl baby." Henry stated with a sneer, joining the conversation and sharing his current dislike of all girls with the exception of his mom and her friends. "Maybe we can we get a puppy or kitty instead?" He asked.

Hotch turned to JJ with his hands up in the air. "I swear, we didn't say anything about babies. Heck, I wasn't even sure a date was in the cards let alone anything else."

JJ giggled at the absurdity of it all and ran a calming hand down Hotch's back, mimicking his earlier action. "Well whatever happens, it sure won't be dull."

Hotch laughed down at her and promised, "No, it definitely won't be."

The End….

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