Chapter 10: Distraction

At first it was almost comforting to JJ and Hotch as they walked towards the bullpen of the BAU after dropping off the kids. They could see most of the agents wearing the same glazed expressions they knew they probably were. It was obvious others were already trying to get into their roles as they watched Derek practicing adopting something akin to a gangster stance. Reid had his nose buried in an education book about how to create lesson plans, though Prentiss and Rossi seemed to be enjoying observing more than anything else considering their own roles and prior experiences.

JJ wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not but the team seemed to look at them with a little more interest than they usually did and she could swear she saw a smirk on Rossi's face as Hotch followed her into the bullpen. The innuendo started before greetings were even exchanged.

"So JJ, have you been having fun practicing for your role?" Prentiss asked her voice innocent though the glint in her eyes as she spoke to the other female agent made it clear she was implying more than she said.

"All the cuddling you're probably doing with JJ is hard work isn't it Hotch?" Rossi said, not even fighting back the teasing grin that overtook his features as the team laughed at his question not missing the double entendre. They seemed to be the only ones amused though as the only responses they received from their targets was an eye roll from JJ and Hotch giving him a look that clearly said he wasn't in the mood for their humor.

"I'm sure I have some messages waiting in my office." Hotch finally said choosing to excuse himself before the team got wound up any further. "JJ let me know when you have time and we can start working on the latest assignment." He said regretting his words even as he began to climb the stairs, wishing he had said paperwork instead of assignment considering that had set off a fresh round of comments rippling through the bullpen. He was relieved as he quickly dodged into his office and shut the door, regretting for a minute that he had left JJ to fend for herself, but he knew she was capable of doing so and could also escape to his office if it got to be too much.

Truthfully the agents didn't mind when Hotch quickly retreated because they had to be a little more careful in teasing their unit chief, but JJ was considered fair game as they started escalating their humor and suggestiveness.

Hearing laughter and general merriment echoing from the BAU team, Garcia decided it was time to take a break from her work setting up the communication system and individual computer tablets they would each have. She didn't want to miss out on the rare laughter she heard trickling down the hall as she scurried in the teams direction. She emerged to see a slightly blushing JJ surrounded by her teammates.

"Are you picking on my poor JJ?" She said adopting a motherly tone as she went to her friend's side ready to help her fend off the rest of the team.

"Of course we are," Morgan said, openly admitting it. "She's learning to play house with Hotch, but isn't willing to share with us about what exactly they've been working on, while we've been more than willing to share about OUR assignments." He said still trying to get JJ to open up.

"I don't need to know a lot of details," Prentiss said, giving Derek a dirty look to indicate he wasn't speaking for the entire group. "I just want to know what it's like to kiss him." She looked intrigued as she studied JJ's face which continued to be a subtle shade of pink even though she didn't respond to their attempts to engage her.

"Why does anyone care about that?" Reid asked, looking confused. "Are you planning to kiss Hotch too?" He asked directing his question at Prentiss. Even though phrased innocently enough it was her turn to quickly turn red at the mere suggestion, causing JJ to laugh aloud for the first time since they had gotten the assignment. She had been unsure of what she should tell them, if anything, knowing anything she said could be misconstrued and taken out of context. She took the opportunity to turn the tables briefly.

"That's a good question Reid," perhaps we should see if Em and I can switch places, then she can find out for herself and can come give us full reports of what it's like to be so close to Hotch." JJ teased, knowing from prior girl talk that Emily didn't have any real interest in Hotch aside from the general morbid curiosity many of them shared about what he was like as a "normal" person. She had to admit that aside from the brief glimpse in her apartment she still hadn't seen a lot of that yet but knew she would be privy to a lot more by the time they made it back from their assignment.

Seeing the team gearing up for another round Garcia decided to step in, draping her arm around JJ's shoulder and began steering her towards her office. "JJ can come visit me for a while." She announced, listening to their disappointed groans as she rescued her friend.

"Thanks Pen," JJ said gratefully, glad that she had finally been given a chance to recoup, her head still swirling from their morning training session. She gratefully accepted the bottle of water offered to her as she reclined and surveyed the multitude of screens and equipment littering the computer experts work area.

"No problem, after all it must be so difficult to pretend to be married to Hotch." Garcia said sympathetically as she patted her friend's knee with an innocent smile.

"Not really," JJ admitted, "though we haven't had to do much yet, it's just still getting into the mindset of it that's hard." Garcia nodded understandingly, silently encouraging her friend to continue.

"He cleans up after himself at least, and helped put Henry to bed the other night while I was on the phone. It was a little weird getting used to hugging him though," JJ continued, taking advantage of the opportunity to finally start talking about the thoughts and events that had kept racing through her mind. "I'm really not used to being that close to him, I didn't expect it to be like that." She continued to talk despite a thought popping up that she might be sharing too much.

"Like what?" Garcia asked benignly, still the picture of a supportive friend.

"The way he smelled, the warmth, even the muscles that suit hides, it just felt right after we got past the awkward part." JJ said reflecting upon the time she had spent in his arms. "And we have to keep practicing." She added with a slight smile not hiding that she wasn't really dreading that as much as others might think.

"So have you kissed yet?" Garcia asked, seeing JJ's eyes narrow at her question as she suddenly detected a similar interest to that displayed by the other agents as opposed to a response to what she had shared so far.

"No, we haven't," JJ said delicately, still scrutinizing the blonde analyst. "Garcia, are you really being a supportive friend here, or are you on the same fact finding mission as the others?" She asked, her suspicions confirmed at the guilty look that crossed her friends face.

"Can I say both?" Garcia admitted, having the grace to look embarrassed as JJ rose wearily to leave her office. "No, JJ, wait, I do care and want to be here for you, it's just that it's Hotch, the man who hardly ever smiles, who doesn't seem to have a romantic bone in his body, we're just curious about him you know." She pled even though she could see their session was over as JJ frowned.

"I do understand why you're asking Pen, but I'm not going to violate Hotch's privacy here." JJ said firmly, unsure why but she suddenly felt defensive for her friend. They had enough to deal with right now without dealing with the team's attempts to analyze them both romantically.

"Sorry JJ, I do wish you both the best of luck," Penelope tried to leave JJ with an apology as the blonde profiler quickly left the office and headed directly towards Hotch's office, at the moment not feeling like talking with anyone else. It was not lost on her that the team immediately crowded around Garcia when she followed JJ out and stopped in the bullpen while JJ kept going.

"Was it that bad?" Hotch asked as JJ walked in his door without even knocking, anger evident on her face.

"No, I'm overreacting. It's just here we are, all about to put our lives on the line and their main concern seems to be how you kiss." JJ blurted out, seeing a look of amusement cross his handsome features.

"It does make sense in a way," Hotch finally added slowly, "we often choose to distract ourselves from more serious matters by finding something trivial, that's probably all this is, a distraction. They can focus on going undercover in an unknown situation where another agent has been killed, or focus on something else. I am not surprised that they all find our predicament very interesting."

"That's true, I hadn't thought of that." JJ agreed.

"I'm guessing at some point we're both going to have to find out what it's like. To kiss that is," Hotch finally said, addressing the white elephant they had both apparently been avoiding, rewarded by her color turning brighter than the initial pale shade of pink.

"I guess," she agreed, trying not to focus on his lips as he spoke.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Hotch tried to assure her, "anything that happens will be pretty casual I'm sure, it's not like we're going as newlyweds, probably just a peck or two at some point as I'm leaving for work." He knew he was revealing that he had given it a lot of thought, but still felt it was appropriate to share this with her if it would help calm her nerves.

"I guess we wait for Larry or Debbie to tell us when that time comes?" JJ asked, still a little nervous, suddenly wondering for a moment if he might suggest they practice then.

"Agreed," Hotch said simply, "no need to rush it yet, we haven't even learned to sit together on a sofa, so we're a long way from kissing territory," he said almost with a wink and one of his rare smiles to let her know he was teasing.

JJ smiled in return before shifting her focus to the folder spread out on his desk. "So how much paperwork did they give us?"

"It's going to take a while, we are probably going to need more than a couple evenings to get it all pulled together and get the stories straight." Hotch said, becoming serious again as he addressed the packet of information they were being expected to complete. "I don't know how much of it we can get done here, we might have to do a couple more evenings at your apartment." He suggested, hoping he wasn't sounding forward.

"Now that you mention it, I had an idea to run by you." JJ responded cautiously, having done a lot of thinking during the silent car ride after dropping the children at Jessica's. "We're supposed to be playing house soon, getting used to being in domestic roles, also we've got a lot of work to do, maybe it would help us prepare if you and Jack spent the night with us a few more times. That might be a faster way to get us all more used to being around each other." She suggested, hoping she didn't sound like she was suggesting anything inappropriate, though judging by Hotch's relieved sigh it apparently wasn't taken that way.

"I thought of the same thing actually," he admitted, "I just wasn't sure when to bring it up. You and Henry are of course welcome at our apartment also, but it's not much bigger than your own." He offered.

"So you two can come over tonight, we'll plan more from there." JJ suggested already mentally planning to bring out an air mattress for her guests and trying to think of other things she would need to do to make things more comfortable for them. "Anything we need to do this afternoon while we have the time?"

"They did give us a lot to work on, I've got a sofa here and we don't have the boys for an audience, so maybe we could work on the sitting down portion of the assignment while we have the privacy." The unit chief suggested even though he knew that he would never be able to look at his office sofa the same way again as JJ nodded her agreement.

AN: Thanks to Gibbslover, Lexa, 1701bg, jekkah, whiteswan (good read on Williams), Raini and Andi for the reviews. Hope you all enjoy a change in tone for this chapter.