AN: As an FYI I researched a bit what would happen if this scenario really happened and was surprised that there didn't seem to be much in way of what legal system would do if there weren't custody arrangements and duration was short. So unless I missed something doesn't really look feasible to throw the book at him so to speak. If I did miss something, my apologies and just chalk it up to creative license.

Chapter 10

The next morning JJ found herself regretting her disclosures to Emily as she sat in the bullpen at 8:45 waiting for her meeting with Hotch. The thoughts of what she said about their unit chief to Emily caused her to feel slightly sick inside considering she was about to meet with him. She didn't know what had possessed her to be that open, unless it was the stress of the night and finally being tired of keeping her conflicting feelings bottled up. She was grateful at least it had been Emily who stayed, she knew she could trust the other agent to keep her secret safe. JJ's ruminations were interrupted when Hotch's door opened and he gestured her inside.

JJ tried not to appear nervous as she smiled, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach as Hotch sat at one of the chairs opposite her. "I'm surprised you don't have Henry with you." He observed mildly, having expected her to not let him leave her side after the fright of the prior evening.

"He's with Garcia," she quickly answered, "I didn't think he needed to be here for this." JJ stated nervously, her stomach clenching slightly at the thought of how she was going to handle giving feedback regarding Will's fate. On one hand she wanted to see him nailed to the wall and tortured, but on the other up until recently she had thought she loved him and knew Henry loved him, the conflicting emotions already tearing at her.

Hotch nodded in agreement with her logic. "I'll tell you the options regarding his case, you tell me what you're comfortable pursuing and I'll work with the DA. We were college friends, so.." he began his presentation, surprised when JJ moved to interrupt him, letting his voice trail off.

"I wanted to hear about what happened, in the room." JJ clarified. "Prentiss told me about most of it, but she couldn't tell me about what happened when you went in alone. I also want to know about the other woman that was there." Her words came out in a bit of a rush as she could not quite hide her desire to find out more about the unknown party in this puzzle."

"Of course" Hotch answered serenely, having expected this question and trying his best to get some of the blanks filled in before her arrival. It didn't take him long to describe how Will had responded to his arrival, and he tried to be honest about how the man had managed to put Henry's welfare first, even if he had been the one to start the whole ordeal. JJ listened silently as Hotch described the events in a matter of fact way, trying not to show any partiality or influence her thinking process on the options he would soon present. It was harder for him to cover the topic of Becca however without some inflection. It still boggled him that Will could want another woman when he had JJ.

"The woman he was with, her name is Rebecca Hicks, she's originally from Louisiana." Hotch began what little he knew of the tale. From what have been able to piece together so far they used to be together several years ago, they broke up then according to Garcia they reconnected about 6 months ago online. It appears to have started innocently and then grew from there until she came here to see him. According to her financial reports she's been in the area for a little over a month and agreed to help him after he brainwashed her with stories of Henry's absentee mother and how she would be helping him do what was best for the child. She is cooperating fully and has promised to help in any way she can in regards to pressing charges, now that she sees a different side of the picture with the FBI now involved." Hotch finished sharing what little he had learned. "Do you have a picture of her?" JJ finally asked tentatively, wanting to see the face of the woman who had aided in taking her son.

Hotch pulled out a mugshot photo from a folder on his desk and handed it to JJ, watching wordlessly as she scrutinized it. His profiler instincts telling him what she was looking for as she looked at it closely. "No JJ, she's not as pretty as you are." He found himself saying without thinking, surprising himself as much as JJ when she looked up at him with an awkward smile. "Thanks Hotch, I know it's silly but I just wanted to see what she looked like." JJ stammered slightly, trying not to blush at the compliment she had just been paid. Inwardly Hotch felt his heart racing at what he had said, trying to process with himself why he had said it and how it had been taken, fortunately the trained profiler was an expert at hiding his feelings and maintained a calm professional look under JJ's scrutiny.

After a few moments of silence, which had just started to stretch to the point of awkward silence JJ took a deep breath and handed the picture back to him. "So you were going to tell me the options?" She prompted, ready for the conversation to move on before she had more time to mull over what he had blurted out.

"Right, we do have a couple of different courses of action we could take, and various considerations to go with each one." Hotch said once again businesslike, grateful that she had reintroduced the topic as his focus has been slightly shaken. "Technically there are some difficulties here in that there was no custody agreement in place, also he was gone less than 24 hours, under the law there's not a lot one can do unless the biological parent has violated a custody agreement or been gone for more than 60 days, the strongest thing we have in our favor is the letter where he indicates that he has no plans of returning." Hotch tried to give her the news gently as he expected it would be frustrating to learn that the law didn't hold much provision for this type of situation. He considered her silence an invitation to continue. "However you are an FBI agent, between you and this team we all have enough connections that we could probably bury him in a pile of charges and get him put away at least for a few years." Hotch added, trying to hide the slight distaste in his mouth at the suggestion. He would rarely even suggest something like this, but Rossi had already come to him talking about various judges and attorneys and political connections he had that could potentially aid in the case and insisted that JJ needed the option to aid with the decision making even if he didn't really believe she would take it. Hotch was relieved to see JJ quickly nod her head no at this suggestion before she spoke.

"I appreciate it, but I don't want anyone using personal favors to sway the legal system." She said honestly, looking him in the eye as she spoke. He couldn't hold back the smile of approval at this attitude, as a former prosecutor he appreciated the media liaisons ability to keep what she had been through from influencing her moral and ethical code. "So what are the other options?" JJ prompted, wanting to know if there was anything she could do about this to ensure a safe future for Henry.

"The other options are basically we can take what we have, the letter and the events that happened to the courts and let them decide. Based on the evidence he may end up with some jail time, but I would guess if he had a good lawyer he will most likely end up with probation and time served waiting for trial." Hotch watched her face again as he spoke, seeing she hadn't really liked any of the options presented so far. "The final option I see, is to look at what kind of deal you could work out with Will. It's definitely time for a custody agreement to be in place and you're certainly in a good position right now to pursue that."

"So you're saying I could take him to the cleaners in regards to custody rights?" JJ accurately read between the lines. "There's just a small problem with that, I'd have to talk to him." She said with an almost mirthless laugh at the thought. "Not necessarily," Hotch jumped in, "you can always have your lawyer talk to his lawyer." He watched JJ weigh the options before she decided.

"We made this baby together, so as much as I would like to never see his face again, I think it's best for Henry if we try to decide this outcome together." JJ said biting her lip. "As much as he deserves it I don't want him to go to jail, he's a cop and we both know how well they tend to do behind bars with the criminals they put there. But I don't want him to just get a slap on the wrist and think he can get away with it either." She continued mulling the options. Hotch watched her think for several moments before breaking in. "So you want to talk to him?" He finally asked softly, carefully scrutinizing her reaction as she broke her stare into nothingness to focus back on him. He felt his stomach clinch as he saw the momentary grimace cross her features.

Thanks for the reviews – Kimd33, deeda, mummacass, JJHotch4ever96 I'm working up to more Jotch stuff, just have to deal with Will a bit more