Disclaimer: We don't own Criminal Minds.
A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks again for reviewing the last chapter!! This one is quite a bit longer, and because of that fact it's our Christmas present to all of you! We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday tomorrow and we also hope that you like this new chapter! Please let us know what you think! Also I, ssbailey, am going to shamelessly plug our other story "Christmas Confrontations" again in hopes that you will at least check it out. I know there aren't a lot of JJ/Morgan shippers out there, but even if you're not I think you'll like out upcoming sequel to "Christmas Confrontations" that we're in the beginning stages of planning. So check it out and if you hate it don't worry about it, but if you like it...let us know in a review for that story! :) Thanks so much for being such loyal readers and reviewers. It really means a lot to us!
Chapter Nine
It was almost eight-thirty before Jack joined the trio downstairs in the kitchen. "Santa comes today!" He called, surprising the three of them.
"Yeah, Buddy, why don't you get ready and we'll go do something fun." Hotch instructed.
"Something fun?" JJ asked. She was in need of some fun. "Like what did you have in mind."
Hotch thought for a moment and then thought of the perfect idea. Suddenly having a very out of character moment of nostalgia, he said, "How about we try doing an old family tradition, we used to do it before my dad died."
"Alright, what do you want to do?" JJ said with a smile, feeding in to Hotch's unusual excitement.
"Ice skating. We can go to get hot chocolate afterwards, it is perfect." Hotch exclaimed, glad that JJ was understanding his enthusiasm. As an after thought he added, "We could also call Sean and Emily, it is always good to spend the holidays with family."
"That sounds great." JJ lied. She was so glad to see Hotch excited about something, she had never seen him like this. But, the truth was that she was an absolutely awful ice skater. The last time she had tried, she fell and sprained her own ankle as well as breaking her high school boyfriend's arm. JJ laughed at the irony of the only thing that Hotch had visibly showed emotion about, was the only thing she absolutely hated.
"Ok, I will call Sean and Emily. I will tell them to meet us at the park at 11 o'clock, then we'll go out for lunch." Hotch replied, not catching JJ's hidden disdain for the sport.
"Ok." JJ said in apparent dread. For Hotch usually being a very perceptive person, he was being awfully dense about this.
"OH! And, I'll call Strauss to watch Henry. He seems to be feeling better, but I don't think he should be out today in the cold." Hotch said excitedly as he walked out of the room. JJ fought the pit that was growing in her stomach, this is not going to go well.
"This is Sean." His brother's familiar voice came over the phone.
"This is Aaron. I was calling to talk to my sister about an old family tradition." Hotch said cryptically, hoping that his brother would understand his message.
"Oh. Emily told me about that. She can't come to the phone, but do you want us to meet you there?" Sean replied, letting his brother know that he had indeed understood the allusion to their childhood. They had discussed deeply the necessity of maintaining the cover at all times. Although Sean may not have been an FBI agent, he knew what it meant to have your life in danger.
"The rink in the park on 42nd. Eleven o'clock." he said pretending to be annoyed at the fact that Emily couldn't come to the phone as he disconnected the line.
"Thanks for coming," JJ gushed as she opened the door for Erin Strauss. "I know it's Christmas Eve, but Henry's been sick and--"
"I'm sure I can handle it." Strauss interrupted.
Once Jack and Hotch were ready to go, JJ attempted to hand the grumpy boy over to her superior. "Now, he's just had his medicine, so he should be ready for a nap in a few minutes, we should be back before he needs more." JJ instructed as Henry clung onto her tighter.
"I'm sure it will be fine." Strauss assured as she pried the sick child from his mother. Henry began to wail loudly, and it was only when Hotch took him from her that he quieted immediately. Settling him down for a nap, each adult in the home hoped that they would be back before he would awaken.
Once they were satisfied that Henry was settled, JJ, Hotch, and Jack all made their way over to the small neighborhood ice rink. Hotch was practically humming as he pulled into the parking lot of the place and JJ noticed Emily and Sean waiting for them by the entrance. As the three of them exited the car JJ had to practically force herself to calm down. She was panicking on the inside, but to the rest of the world she looked every bit like her usual calm, cool self.
She was debating whether to run for the hills when she felt a strong, warm hand envelop her smaller one. "Thanks for letting us do this Jenna. It reminds me of when things were still good between my parents." Hotch said sincerely, and on a whim he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
As they watched Jack run ahead to hug his Uncle Sean and "Aunt" Emily she sighed and tugged on his hand to get his attention, "Aaron wait."
"What's wrong?" He asked and she noticed his real happy smile starting to be replaced by a fake one.
"It's just...I don't...I don't know if I can do this." she said honestly as she gestured to the somewhat busy skating rink.
"Oh Okay. I'll just get Jack and..." he said, and she could tell he was obviously disappointed and maybe a little hurt underneath.
"No! Listen to me, please. It's not that I don't want to...I love seeing you this happy. I just haven't had very many good experiences ice skating, I'm not even sure if I really know how anymore--not that I ever really did." she admitted and looked down at her feet in embarrassment. She was not usually one to show weakness, and this was definitely one of her out of character moments. But she didn't want to end up hurting him or embarrassing him once they were out there.
When all she got was a sot chuckle in reply to her she wondered why his laughing at her almost brought tears to her eyes. Why did it suddenly matter what he thought? Controlling her emotions as best she could she added without looking at him, "You and Jack have fun and I'll lean on the fence and cheer you on. The sign over there says they have hot chocolate so I'll just drink that to stay warm."
Realizing she had taken his soft chuckle the wrong way when she tried to slip her hand out of his, he quickly tightened his grasp on it. Using his free hand he placed a finger under her chin to get her to look up at him, and when she did he was surprised to see her battling tears in her eyes. "Sweetheart I wasn't laughing at you, I was just laughing at myself. It's hard for me not to think the worst every time we do something because it's all I know. Growing up in the house I grew up in I learned that if you don't expect too much, you aren't disappointed too often for getting less than you deserve. But you make me have to re-educate my brain a little. I mean how you are with Jack, and what you did with that costume at the last minute...well that isn't something that I grew up with or even experienced in my first marriage. To be honest I think Hailey would've just sent Jack out in a green plastic bag for waiting to the last minute to tell her." He said honestly, "You aren't like that, and that's something I love about you, but it just took me a second to realize that you didn't mean we had to leave, you just were a little unsure--and that's okay."
"Really? You're not upset?" she asked as she looked into his dark eyes. "It's just the last time I went skating with someone they ended up with a broken arm and I had a twisted ankle..."
"Jenna?"
"Yea?" she asked, wondering why he hadn't answered her question. Was he really upset?
"Be quiet." he whispered as he leaned down and softly kissed her lips. "Now, let's go. Today you're going to learn how to ice skate--safely." he said smiling as he lead her towards the entrance where the others were waiting.
"You dated a professional wrestler?" Hotch teased incredulously, this shocking revelation changed the way he saw JJ. He had been trying to get her to relax the entire time on the rink, she really was a terrible skater. It wasn't that she didn't have the natural ability, she just thought about it too much.
"Only for a month, he had some aggression issues. And in my defense I was in college! I was young and impressionable. And he wasn't professional yet." JJ defended herself. JJ smiled in spite of herself, it was really nice to talk about something real for a change, just as she began to relax, her feet began to slide further apart as she had to fight for balance.
"Jenna, the guy goes by 'Thrasher', of course he had some aggression issues." Hotch said as he steadied her from behind. He was still cursing himself for his bold movement earlier, hoping that he hadn't messed up the friendship that he treasured.
"Alright mister, its your turn. Crazy ex story." JJ demanded once she was firm on the skates again.
"The only ex I have is Hailey, and you've met her." Hotch told her, "Nothing too crazy." Truth be told, he had plenty of stories, but it wasn't right to air all of the dirty laundry from his first marriage.
"She let you go, I'd call that a crazy move." JJ replied, shocked and embarassed at her own boldness. She couldn't believe that she just said that to her boss. Trying to distract him from what she had just said, "So, did you have any pets when you were younger?" Skating forward a little more boldly.
"Yeah, I had a dog, her name was Lucy." Hotch said, stifling a laugh as he quickly caught up with her. What JJ had said had made him a very happy man, but if she wanted to change the subject he'd let her. "How about you, any childhood pets?"
"I had a dog too, his name was Doggie." JJ told him, seeing his face, she swatted him playfully causing herself to lose balance momentarily. "So what? I was not a creative child, and I had to name him something. Doggie seemed like an obvious choice."
"No, really, Doggie is great. It's just...how did you not end up naming Henry 'Baby'? I mean it sounds like 'Baby' would be all that your creative threshold would allow." Hotch teased.
JJ misjudged the footing as she turned to slap Hotch playfully once more, instead throwing herself completely off balance and careening into her unit chief. The pair landed on the ice with a thud as other patrons had to maneuver skillfully to avoid them.
"You know, that always looks more romantic in the movies.' JJ observed as she rubbed her hip that was beginning to ache from the sudden interaction with the ice.
"Now I know about you being dangerous on the ice. Come on, I think you've had enough for the day, time for hot chocolate."
It was only ten minutes later that Jack approached them with Emily and Sean. "Hot chocolate!" Jack yelled excitedly as he grabbed one of the extra cups of warmth from the table that Hotch and JJ were sitting at.
"Hey buddy, are you ready to go? It's beginning to snow." JJ pointed out hopefully at the small flakes that began to dust the group.
"Are you sure you just don't want to have to get back out on the ice, Jenna?" Emily teased. Skating with Sean had been fun. Watching JJ skate had been extremely fun.
"Well, that might have something to do with it." JJ admitted as she sipped the liquid warmth in her hands.
"I'm fairly certain that I don't want to get back on the ice with her, so I think it's about time we head home." Hotch teased as the others laughed.
"Hey do we have any normal person tylenol or am I going to have to scam a little of Henry's?" Hotch asked as he entered the kitchen to find JJ digging through the fridge for something. His head was beginning to throb from the block hours earlier. Hearing her noncommittal grunt, he smiled and asked "Need something?"
"I think there's some ibuprofen in the cabinet above the stove." JJ answered, her head still buried in the fridge, "You have got to be kidding me! Are we seriously out milk, eggs, and chocolate syrup on Christmas eve?! And I haven't even looked to see if we have any marshmallows to make the rice krispie treats..."
"Rice krispie treats? And why can't we just get milk when everything opens again on the twenty-sixth?" He asked and earned himself a look from her that signaled she thought he had fallen off his rocker.
"Aaron.." JJ said exasperatingly, "How exactly to you think they boys are going to leave milk and cookies for Santa if we don't have any milk or anything but flour to make the cookies with?"
"Okay, point taken. Make me a list of things we're gonna need for the next two days and I'll go to the store and pick them up." he offered and felt oddly proud at the look of relief that washed over her soft features.
"Mommy! Rudolph's over! Can we watch Frosty now?" Jack called from the TV room impatiently.
"Can you put them a new movie in while I make up the list?" she asked, eyes pleading--not that there was anyway he could say no to her anyways.
"Sure. I'll be right back." He added and smile softly as he left the room leaving her to quickly find a pen and paper on which she quickly began scribbling down the short list. Okay we need milk, eggs, rice krispie cereal, marshmallows, really strong coffee for in the morning...
"Hey, don't make any plans for us tonight...It was snowing so hard I barely made it back home." Hotch said as he sat the shopping bags down on the island in the center of the kitchen. JJ was sitting at the breakfast table flipping through a magazine and texting someone on and off.
"Oh. Really? It's already that bad out there?" she asked, quickly typing something else on her phone, "Guess we won't be going to midnight mass after all. Amanda invited us to go with them, but if you think it isn't safe for us to drive I don't want to risk it. There will be other things we can go to..."
"I'm sorry, I know you really like hanging out with her. Maybe the four of us can go to dinner sometime after the holidays." He answered as he shrugged off his coat and placed it on the hook by the back door. "Listen I have an idea, and this one is something that is completely safe. Trust me?"
"You know I do." She answered as she looked over to where he was currently putting away the small amount of groceries, "Now, tell me, what's this big idea you've got on how to entertain two hyper young children inside on the day before Christmas?"
"What if I make us a late lunch and then we can all make cookies together for Santa? By then it should be nap time..."
"No! No nap today. They need to go to bed earlier than usual or we'll only get around an hour's sleep before someone wakes us up to open gifts. Even Henry wakes up early on Christmas, not sure how, but he does."
Hotch was kept from retorting by the phone at his side that began to buzz. Vito Giordano. He looked at her and she caught his gaze sympathetically.
"You'd better go." She said sadly. She knew he had to go, but she couldn't help the fear that gnawed at her gut every time he walked out the door.
It was almost eleven before he returned. He looked around the small home that they shared, the boys long ago having fallen asleep. A half eaten cookie sat out, along with half a glass of milk signifying that Santa had already visited the home. Sighing, he opened the door to their bedroom, his heart warmed from the freezing depths of despair at the sight of JJ eating popcorn while watching a children's Christmas movie special.
"What are you watching?" He asked from his place in the doorway after a few mintues. She looked so peaceful as she watched the simple children's movie.
"Elf" she said sighing, "I usually watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' with my family, but you know what? It's okay, there will always be other Christmases. Want to watch it with me?"
"I'll be right back." He added as he headed back downstairs in search of something. The small twinkle in his eye reminding her of Jack. Within seconds he was back and holding two small gift bags as he sat down on the bed next to her. "I was going to give these to you tomorrow, but I think you might enjoy at least one of them more now."
"Oh you didn't have to get me anything Aaron." she said with a small smile. She could see the small bit of blood on his tie, not enough to mean any real damage to anyone, but enough to add a little to the worry in her stomach. She decided asking him about it could wait, or at least hopefully he would tell her about what happened sometime in the next few hours.
"I wanted too, open them." He suggested easily as he handed her the larger of the two packages.
"Okay...I have something for you too." She said as she tore open the shiny paper to reveal her own personal copy of both "It's a Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas". "Oh...Thank you..." she said sincerely with touch of awe to her voice. "Will you watch them with me tonight? I know we need to go to sleep soon, but I..."
"Of couse I'll watch them with you sweetheart" He said sweetly, the endearment running off his tougne easier with each time he said it. "But first open the other gift..."
Nodding her head she pulled the tissue from the small red bag, and pulled out a square blue jewelry case. "Aaron..." she whispered as she looked up at him.
"Just open it. I want to know if you like it..." He pushed. "Henry helped me pick it out a few days ago."
"Okay" she said quietly as she opened the small blue box to reveal a very simple silver charm bracelet with four charms already added. "It's beautiful...Thank you! What do the charms all mean?"
"The small Christmas tree is a sort of thank you for making this Christmas wonderful even with everything that is going on. The heart is for everything you've done for me, Jack, and for every person I've ever seen you open your heart too. You make people feel safe around you, and that is something so amazing because you've even managed to break down some of the walls I've had around me since I was five years old. The "mom" charm is from Henry and Jack, they think of you as the most amazing mother and I absolutely agree with them. And lastly the star is from me, but I want to wait to tell you what it means. There's some things I need to figure out first before I tell you..."
"Baby...I..I..all I can say is thank you..." she whispered again as she sat there staring at her new bracelet. "Put it on me?"
"Sure..." he said as his profiler side of him completely catching on to her calling him "Baby", but the other side of him just smiled as he hooked the bracelet on her wrist.
"I found out today that our room is the only place that's 'bug free' in this house." He blurted after the silence seemed to stretch between them for a minute. And she could tell by his sudden change of subject that something was deeply troubling him.
"Oh." She said softly, not wanting to pressure him but knowing he needed to talk. "Well, what happened?"
"Fredo picked me up. Told me about the bugs on the way down to the warehouse. There was a man they wanted me to 'take care of'. Everything was going to plan until the NYPD showed up. Some of the younger guys panicked, came in as I was giving the man a small flesh wound on his shoulder, shot him right between the eyes." Hotch said. What he neglected to mention was that he had hidden in a back alley for almost three hours vomiting over the man he couldn't save with Derek right next to him doing just the same thing. Neither one of them had expected to see an innocent man killed right before their eyes tonight, but it relieved her to know that the blood on his tie wasn't his own.
"In all my years, I've had to shoot over a hundred UnSubs. Fifteen of them never even made it from where I shot them before they were pronounced dead. But this, this..." He trailed off. It was interesting how easy it was to talk to JJ, he had never felt this way with Hailey.
"I don't know that it ever gets easy." JJ said, putting the small green bowl full of popcorn on the nightstand and motioning for him to scoot over closer to her. "After Battle, I went home and threw up in my bathroom. I was up the entire night, just picturing it--his face as the bullet hit him, the shock in his eyes as he saw me behind him. I can still remember the feel of my gun as the bullets left the barrel that night." JJ admitted, then immediately began to blush. She hated to appear weak, especially with someone like Hotch that she respected, but she wanted him to know that she could relate.
"What about Tobias?" he asked, as though it suddenly dawned on him that her experience may have been traumatic. He'd been so focused on getting Reid back and figuring out Emily's angle for joining the team, he had barely registered more than the fact that she was okay that night.
"I still have nightmares about those dogs." She admitted quietly. They sat in silence for a moment, looking at each other. "It took me a long time to be able to feel again, I was numb--for a long time--until Will." She smiled sadly. How ironic that the man that had pulled her out of the depressive tailspin of that moment had been the Southern Sleazebag himself. If it wasn't for Henry she would almost wish she had never even given him her number.
"What happened? With Will I mean." Hotch asked quietly as he sat next to her and put his arm around her comfortingly. Together they sat, leaning into the bed frame for support. She snuggled in closer to him, pulling warmth and protection from his body, as though it was now finally safe to share.
"It was fine until about a month after Henry was born. He started getting all possessive, telling me that he was sure I was cheating on him or that he wanted me to quit the bureau and be a stay at home mom to Henry. 'You should want to be home with him JJ. You should've just quit when you found out you were pregnant.', that's what he said to me after everyone left the hospital the night I had Henry. Finally, one day he came home drunk and he...he...umm...tried to get a little forceful with me... So I left him. Three months later I got a paper signifying he wanted to terminate his parental rights. I was thrilled until he sent me a letter last month saying he wanted to see Henry, that he'd gotten him a birthday present. I just couldn't let him after everything, not that he legally had any right to see him anyways, so I just didn't reply. That was the last time I heard from him." She finished. She had never actually told anyone the real reason for the split. Knowing that she worked with a bunch of profilers, she knew that they would leave her alone, satisfied in the knowledge that she could tell them if she wanted to.
"Oh." Hotch added, then felt compelled to share with her as well as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Hailey was sleeping with someone else, she's already engaged to him and it's only been ten months since the divorce--His name's Richard. That was why she wanted to end it, she said he understood her better than I ever did, and you know what? She was probably right, things changed between us after Jack was born." He said sadly as she nodded silently. After another moment of silence, she turned to him questioningly.
"How did you get custody of Jack?" He was a good father, but everyone knew how the courts favored mothers.
"Hailey's fiance, Richard, has a history of suspected molestation. Jack told me that he didn't feel comfortable around him, and I wasn't about to let my son be in danger." JJ smiled softly at the devotion that Hotch had to his son. He pulled JJ in closely, and as she turned to look at him in surprise, he closed the distance between their mouths, his lips touching her soft warm ones.
"Aaron..." She started pulling away, it wasn't that she didn't want this, but she didn't want him to be doing this in a strange attempt to comfort her.
"Shh. Tonight, I just want to feel...Please..." He said, as he looked deeply in her brown eyes. She nodded slightly before wrapping her hands around the back of his neck and pulling him in for another deep kiss, her body moving to straddle his.
Hours later, well after two in the morning, Aaron Hotchner lay wide awake as his "wife" lay peacefully sleeping curled into his side with his hand running along her bare back. Both of their clothing lay haphazardly all over the floor, her tank top resting on the lamp on the floor lamp nearest the bed, and the only items left on her body were the bracelet he'd just given her and her wedding rings.
They'd just spent the past two hours making love, something that amazing couldn't have been just sex, and it was now, in the dark of night that he realized that he may never be able to walk away from Jennifer Jareau. She'd have to be the one to end whatever this was that happening between them because after tonight there was no way he was ever going to let her go if he could help it.
When JJ woke up on Christmas morning, she realized that she had, yet again, found herself in a very close position with her boss. She mentally cursed whatever subconscious part of her brain made her seem to search him out while her inhibitions were down.
That was the weirdest dream...JJ pondered before realizing that she was not wearing any clothes under the warm maroon comforter that adorned the bed, and neither was the one and only Aaron Hotchner. She sat up completely horrified and embarrassed, 'Oh God. I was such a mess last night...Did I really let my pathetic crush on my boss get this out of hand?' She thought to herself. JJ knew that she couldn't really be with Hotch. Cover or no cover, they could not actually be together--it was an unfair reality of their line of work. JJ also had to deal with pain, that while she had wanted this for far longer than she'd ever admit, Hotch really was forgetting that this was not real. She couldn't blame him, he hadn't had a real family for so long. But the truth remained that even though she was crazy about him, she could not do this with him because he was vulnerable, and she didn't want to be with him just because they were undercover a a married couple. She wanted something that was every bit as real and beautiful as what her parents had, not something that was just going to help prove a cover identity.
"Santa came!" Jack burst into their room quickly, dancing around blindly in his Rudolph PJ's. JJ pulled the cotton sheets to cover her bare chest before Jack could see JJ and his dad completely in the nude and became scarred for life. Knowing she had to get him out of the room quickly, JJ decided to intervene.
"Jack, Sweetie, go brush your teeth, please. Then we'll open presents." JJ called to the young boy before he looked up. Hotch began to stir quietly.
"Okay!" Jack replied simply, running out of the room to complete the task JJ had just given him.
"Aaron! Wake up!" JJ whispered urgently when Jack was out of earshot.
"JJ, wha...what?" He asked, slightly irritated.
"Just to clarify, did what I think happened last night happen?" JJ asked panicked, worried about how absolutely awkward this cover was going to be after this.
"Uh, well I am no Spencer Reid, but the evidence is pointing to the affirmative." Hotch said although he clearly remembered the night before.
"Do you realize that your son almost walked in on us just now! We're both completely naked, together, in the same bed!" JJ alerted him quietly, but firmly. She jumped out of bed and jammed her legs into the navy sweats lying on the floor before quickly pulling a t-shirt from the dresser and dragging it over her head urgently. He smirked a little at the fact that the t-shirt was one of his, but she was completely oblivious.
"Well, its a good thing he didn't." Hotch responded calmly. "And it is only five thirty in the morning."
"But, I can't believe that I--"
"Look. We're both adults, right? This doesn't have to be a big deal, but I don't think it was a mistake." Hotch comforted her, although he knew that for the next ten months he would spend his entire free time convincing her that this wasn't just casual sex between them or just something to numb the pain they both felt. He wanted her, every part of her, and he was bound and determined to get her to realize that.
"Emily." Sean said in a sing song tone as he sat on the bed they shared. Thus far, their relationship had been completely platonic, but Sean was more than willing to let it grow. He had gotten up early to make her breakfast, and now it was time to wake her up.
"Go away or I will shoot you." Emily moaned and peaked an eye at her alarm clock. "Sean! It's before six! Go away." She buried herself further in the navy silk sheets and pulled the tan comforter over her head.
"Okay well I guess I'll just have to eat these Belgian waffles all by myself... It's a shame, really. I had strawberries with whip cream and everything." He said as he began to lay it on thick, stifling a smile when her head peaked out from under the covers again.
"Waffles? With strawberries?" she questioned like in a small, but excited voice.
"Yep, with strawberries. Too bad I have no one to eat them with..." he said as he sighed playfully. He knew she would never be able to pass up the strawberries, they were her absolute weakness next to any kind of seafood.
"You know, I take back what I said earlier..." Emily started as she eased up from the bed. She had a plan and she didn't want to alert him until she put it in action. As soon as her feet found their way to the floor she screamed happily, "Race you to the kitchen!" before taking off running in that direction.
"Emily! Oh no you don't silly girl..." he called as he started after her, "At least save some strawberries for me!"
Every night that Morgan had slept in the same bed as Jordan Todd he'd woken up cold and alone on the far left side of the bed while she stayed curled up on the right. Almost like their bodies knew that even in their sleep they didn't want to be together. So why was he being prompted awake by a warm body hovering above him and warm kisses to his neck? Opening his eyes slowly he found a sight that both startled him, and for some reason turned him completely off. Which was something naked hot women in his bed normally didn't do. Jordan, dressed in a Santa hat, heels from what he could feel under the covers, and nothing else, had somehow slipped his boxers off while he was sleeping and was now pressing light kisses down his weak spot as she straddled his waist. Everything about this woman he despised, she had shown her true self during this undercover case, and he wasn't about to let a few hours of fantastic sex change his mind that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her--ever.
"Jordan! Jordan get off me!" He yelled as he pushed her off him angrily and hurriedly redressed in the boxers and sweats near the side of the bed. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"What?" she asked as she batted her eye lashes innocently. She was apparently not bothered by the fact that she was now sprawled completely naked in front of him. "C'mon you know you want to..." she said seductively as she ran a hand down her hip.
"Are you kidding me?! Seriously, now. Is this candid camera or something? For the love of God PLEASE put something on!" Morgan raged, "You have done nothing but degrade and harass me since we started this partnership and now you try and ATTACK me in my sleep? What the hell Jordan? Did you think I would just forget about everything that you've done for a quick roll in the sack? I'm worth so much more than that. I'm going to talk to Hotch about getting you taken off this case or reassigned somewhere else. I can't do this anymore!" He yelled as he stormed over to the closet and pulled on a Mets hoodie.
"Oh come back to bed baby, you don't mean that..." Jordan said huskily as she flipped over on all fours on the bed, "Why don't you just come and play..."
"Did you not just hear anything I said?" He screamed again this time twice as angry as he pulled on his tennis shoes and headed for the door. "And for God sakes Jordan have some respect for yourself. You don't have to be a whore to have someone care about you." Was the last thing he said as he grabbed his keys and stormed out of the apartment.
Sighing irritably as she heard the door lock angrily behind him she plopped back down on her back and pulled her cell phone from the dresser. After the second ring it was answered, "Matthews."
"Baby, can you come over? I..I need you...No one's home but me and Santa's little helper wants to play..." she said as she added a few little breathy noises in to ensure he would come.
"Jordan.." he groaned happily, "Be there in ten minutes."
"Thanks Uncle Dave! I love it!" Garcia yelled excitedly as she opened a box containing a pair of highlighter yellow high heels.
"Thank my credit card, that you so blatantly stole and took shopping." Rossi told her sternly. Really, if he had not found her kidnapping his credit card and going on her own personal Christmas shopping spree so funny, he would be furious. But Rossi had enough money that she didn't even make a dent in his finances, and if she had the guts to try that on him...Well, he could respect that.
"And you even got Reid something!" Garcia cried, disregarding his earlier statement. "Open it!" She commanded the genius.
"Thanks..erm, Rossi?" Reid said as he opened the gift. "A first edition Proust novel! I can't believe you found this, it must have cost you a fortune!'
"No problem, kid." Rossi said as he began planning the long overdue revenge. Sure, he could respect Garcia for her guts, but nobody got the best of David Rossi.
One mile down...Morgan thought to himself has he took his impromptu run through the park. He was glad for sometime to clear his mind, he wondered what had gotten into Jordan and why she suddenly decided that after weeks of acting no where near human, she now wanted him. Even to he, an experienced profiler, it made no sense.
Out of habit, he began profiling the people he ran past and why in the world they would be in the park when it was Christmas morning. The first man he past was homeless, probably due to an addiction to gambling, Morgan surmised. The next was a young family, with the way the parents were clutching their young daughter's hand, he assumed that they were using the park merely as a shortcut. They seemed way to worried about the vagrants in the park to be there for the fun of it. Then, Morgan saw a couple that caused him to feel like he had been punched in the stomach. The woman was beautiful in the light falling lightly on her dark hair, her nose ring glistening ever so slightly. She was walking a young puppy with the man she was with. Immediately recognizing Emily and Sean he got an idea.
Morgan knew it was immature, but he couldn't help himself. He grabbed a handful of snow and skillfully rolled it into a ball. Morgan made sure that he rolled it tight, so on impact, it would hurt-- just a little. With the skill of a college football quarter-back, he aimed directly for Sean Hotchner's head and threw. Seeing the snowball hit the chef made Morgan want to throw another one, just at a different location.
Rolling another tightly packed ball of snow, and cursing whatever had drove him to sink so low, Morgan threw the ball at the targeted area. Watching Sean fall to his knees and moan in pain was far more rewarding than he originally anticipated. Emily crouched down to help her wounded cover fiance.
Emily, noticing where the second snowball came from waved. "Derek, I can't believe you!"
"It slipped! I am sorry Sean." Morgan lied, ashamed that he had sunk to the level to actually target out another man's sensitive spot.
"It's okay man, it happens." Sean groaned, still doubled over.
"Derek, stop acting like you are in fifth grade and come over here and meet my new puppy." Emily called smiling, motioning Morgan over to her, the unwelcome intruder, and a small Jack Russell Terrier.
Morgan ran over to her, suddenly missing Clooney, his faithful dog, who was living with his sister Sarah. He felt pity for his poor dog, Sarah was not an easy woman to live with, but then neither was Jordan.
"What's its name?" Morgan asked Emily.
"Bill." She said proudly, and then bent down to the dog. "Bill, go get him. Go boy. Go." She pleaded with the dog who had already jumped into Morgan's arms, then back down, and was now licking Sean's hand.
"Bill?" Morgan questioned, it seemed like an odd name for a dog. But then, this dog seemed a little odd.
"I couldn't name him Fluffy, Clooney was already taken, and some guy in Georgia ruined Viper." Emily teased.
Across town Christmas morning at the Bonasera's was even more odd than with the other members of the team. Tension and awkwardness between JJ and Hotch seemed to permeate the room so much that even Jack picked up on it.
"Daddy, are you and mommy fighting?" Jack asked innocently as he played with the toy truck he'd just opened.
"No buddy, why?" Hotch said honestly confused. He knew that he and JJ weren't acting like they had been the past couple of days, but did it really look like they were fighting to his six year old son?
"Yea, Jack. Your daddy's right, he and I aren't fighting." JJ agreed. She wasn't angry at anyone but herself for the previous night, and she didn't want Jack or anyone else to think she was made at Hotch. It wasn't like he had forced her, she had been a willing participant, and from the parts that she could remember she liked to think that even thought it could never happen again, she did enjoy it.
"Then why aren't you talking to each other?" the little boy said as if it were obvious as he handed Henry his juice like it was something he did all the time.
A string of sarcastic retorts flew into JJ's mind as she tried to think of an answer to the child's complicated question. She couldn't tell the six year old that sex complicates everything, could she? "We're just tired Jack, that's all." JJ said as she smiled down a Henry who was noticeably feeling better and had hobbled over to where she was sitting. "And I think Old Faithful here might have given me that bug he had. My tummy's a little upset today."
Without even thinking about it Hotch breezed into the kitchen quickly and returned with a small pack of saltines and a bottle water--placing them both in front of her easily and without saying a word at the surprised expression on her face. "Mommy's right buddy. Now, I need someone to help me make pancakes for breakfast, I wonder who can help..." Hotch said in mock concentration.
"Me Daddy! Me!" Jack said his interest diverted to the morning's menu which cause both adults to sigh in relief. Neither really knowing what to say to Jack about what was happening between them because they didn't understand it themselves.
"Okay, you can help. What kind do you want to make?"
"Banana! Please daddy!" Jack squealed as he danced on his heels a little. Banana pancakes were his favorite, and his daddy's were the best kind.
" 'nana! 'nana!" Henry shouted happily as Hotch scooped him up from JJ's lap.
"Hey little man, you wanna help me too?" He asked. Seeing Henry nod in return, Hotch chuckled as he, Jack, and Henry wandered into the kitchen leaving JJ alone in the TV room.
When the sounds of them banging around in the kitchen could be heard from her position she let her shoulders slump as she fell back on the couch. Seeing Hotch with the boys, spending time with them and playing with them, just made her crush on him grow even stronger. Something was going to have to change, and soon, or she was never going to get over him. And what was that with him bringing me these crackers? JJ mused silently as she nibbled on the corner of a wheat saltine. He was making it awfully hard on her to end her silly little crush on him.