Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and alerted to this story. I'm truly astounded by the response for this story, so thank you.

In the end, at the hint that JJ needed somewhere else to spend the night, Hotch jumped at the chance to let JJ stay with him. The chance to do something, anything, to make this right was almost too good to pass up.

Because he had missed it for far too long.

"Henry's asleep." JJ sighed tiredly as she sunk down into the overstuffed arm chair. "Normally he whines until I sit with him and watch him fall asleep, but tonight he went to bed all by himself."

Hotch bit his lip, "How is Henry? When I picked him up at school that day, they said he was in 'Individualized Education'?" He asked carefully, not wanting to insult the mother, but dying of curiosity.

JJ shuddered as she remembered the argument that accompanied Henry getting 'that damn Retard Ed'. "Yeah." She sighed, lost in her own thoughts. After a moment, she spoke, not really to Hotch but more to herself, "They tested him for autism, for intelligence…" She trailed off.

"And he's autistic?" Hotch deduced, having heard the rumors that circulated government offices.

She shook her head quickly. "No. I mean kind of. They've diagnosed him with autism, but—" She looked for the right word, "It's not that he can't talk, or can't interact in social settings. He just doesn't." She explained, "He shows some signs of autism, he gets startled with loud noises, he doesn't ever want to leave my side…" She trailed off and Hotch could tell this was something she had analyzed for years. "He's smart, not Reid-smart, but smart. Smarter than other kids his age." She added defensively.

"Why am I on Henry's contact list?" Hotch interrupted, deciding that topic might be safer ground.

After all, he didn't want to make things any harder.

JJ blushed furiously, and for a second Hotch cursed himself for bringing up another obviously sensitive topic. Then, he pushed that thought away as he realized that somebody had to be looking out for JJ even if she wasn't going to. After a moment, JJ spoke quickly to fill the awkward silence, "I don't think he thought I would actually let them call you."

"What do you mean?"

"Will and Garcia…" JJ cringed at the thought of the pair of them coupled together, "they don't get along, and Will didn't want her on the Emergency Contact list for Henry." She explained. "We needed someone else and…well I think he agreed to it because he thought I'd never let them call you."

Hotch blinked for a moment, completely uncertain of how to process this information. "So why couldn't you pick him up that day when they called me?"

JJ grimaced noticeably and traced invisible patterns along her knee as she sighed, "Can we not talk about this?" Her voice was vulnerable, pleading, as she begged, "Can we talk about something else? Anything else?"

Hotch hated himself. He loathed himself. But this was the perfect opportunity. "When did it start?"

JJ's face blanched, and she bit the inside of her cheek. Deciding to delay the inevitable as long as possible, she feigned oblivion. "I don't know what you're—"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." Hotch interrupted. "When did it start? When did he start hitting you?"

JJ hesitated.

"When did he start, JJ?" Hotch repeated gently. He didn't want to appear to be a bully, but he had to know. He had to know how long this had been going on so he could help her.

So he could get her out.

"I don't know!" She snapped. "I don't know, okay!"

Hotch fell silent, knowing that at least the floodgates had opened. He hoped he could do something to help.

"I just—He's always been…protective." She explained, "when we were dating, he was so romantic, he always wanted to know where I was. He got frustrated with my faults, but Hotch he was—he still is—so gentle."

"JJ, you know it's not okay for him to hit you, right?"

"What, you think I'm some weak idiotic housewife that doesn't know any better?" She looked at him incredulously. "How could you think that?"

"JJ, I—"

"No!" She stopped him, "It's just…he doesn't hit me all the time. Most of the time, it's good. No relationship is perfect." She reasoned.

"JJ, it's never okay for a man to hit—"

"I know what you're going to say." She interrupted, as if incensed that he could be thinking the things that she knew deep down. "But you don't understand. I just make him so mad sometimes, and he's so forgiving. I don't deserve him."

Hotch ground his teeth in an attempt to stay silent.

"Sometimes, yeah, it gets out of hand. But most of the time, I just…I should know better than to make him angry after a long day of work." Seeing that she wasn't being at least outwardly judged, JJ stopped her defensive stance. "He loves me Hotch."

"How could he love you if he treats you like this?" Hotch asked sincerely, his stomach churning at JJ's insistence as the next question spilled out of his mouth. "How could you let yourself go through this?"

She paused, having wondered the same thing before herself. "I love him." She admitted, her voice cracking slightly with vulnerability at the honest statement.

She loved him. Maybe more than she had ever loved anyone else.

Which must mean he loved her too.

Hotch fell silent for a moment, words failing him. "I can't let him hit you." Hotch replied softly, his voice no larger than a whisper.

"It's none of your business." JJ retorted seriously, her eyes clear and warning as she folded her arms defiantly. "I don't need you to stop him. I don't want you to stop him. I want you to stay out of it."

"JJ—"

"Hotch, you're my friend, but if you want to continue being my friend, you'll let me handle this. It's my life."

"But he's—"

"I can handle it." She reported firmly, obviously ignoring the fact that she had just been released from the hospital and the Social Worker had forced her not to go home with Will.

"I know." Hotch's voice cracked and he cleared his throat as he gestured toward the stairs. "I know, but I'd better go to sleep."

JJ nodded, rising herself from the couch to awkwardly follow Hotch up the stairs to his guest bedroom.

As he reached the third stair, Hotch couldn't keep it in any longer and turned around, facing the blonde that he was now a foot taller than due to the stairs. "But JJ, I have to say—"

"Hotch" She groaned warningly, ready for another person to belittle her life.

"He doesn't deserve you." He gulped down the rest of his emotions, incensed that someone could be chipping away at the perfect Jennifer Jareau. "You're—" His voice cracked slightly and he shook his head, "You are great." He settled for lamely, knowing there was so much more he longed to say.

She snorted, "You'd be the only one who thinks that." She rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"I only think it because it's true." He said, and without another word left a dumbfounded Jennifer Jareau on the first step, gaping after him in surprise.