A/N: Hey all! Sorry for the extra bit of wait, I had a little bit of writers block. Not just with this one but with everything I'm writing. So that sucked. But, I think I'm getting over it… here's hoping.

Anyways, it's back to my two favourite characters: JJ and Hotch! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 10: JJ/Hotch3:

JJ:

JJ sat at her desk, finishing up some paperwork that needed to be done before her last day. She had done it, she'd requested a transfer back to the BAU and by some miracle it'd gone through.

Though, she believed it had more to do with Rossi's persuasive skills and the fact that the BAU were essentially two men down than anything else.

She rubbed at her tired eyes and looked at the clock, 6 o'clock.

One more hour, she thought to herself, and then she'd go home.

It wasn't that she was desperate to finish all the paperwork that had her staying until 7 pm. No, it was the fact that she knew Will's shift would be starting at 8 o'clock and she'd have just enough time with him to ask him about Henry's day before he had to go to work.

It had been a week since she'd last seen Hotch on that airplane where she'd figured out what she was going to do. But figuring it out had been the easy part. The hard part, she'd realized rather quickly as she had looked into the pale blue eyes of her son's father, was putting it into motion.

And since she'd failed that night, one week ago, to tell Will what she'd had to do, she'd been avoiding all the men in her life. Basically, she was taking the coward's way out until she grew or found some courage.

JJ knew she wasn't being fair to the men in her life. But she couldn't help it; she just didn't do well with change. And what she had to do would change everything.

"JAREAU," a voice suddenly barked out of nowhere. "What are you still doing here?"

She jumped in her seat and then looked in the direction of her doorway. Her supervisor and boss stood there giving her what she liked to call "the wrestler's glare," due to the fact that Ron Carter was built exactly like one.

"Sir?"

"You're transferring out by the end of tomorrow," he stated incredulously. "Get out of here. We thank you for your services, but you're done here."

She gave him a quizzical look. Carter had never been a straight forward guy since she'd begun working for him. She didn't know if he was angry or disappointed or just couldn't care less that she was leaving.

"Ok, sir," she managed to get out.

She quickly got her briefcase and coat and stood up. Carter was still there, waiting for her. She walked towards the door and he stood aside to let her walk through.

"Jareau," he said as she walked by him.

She turned halfway to see what else he needed.

"You did a great job here. Good luck in the BAU."

Surprised, she mumbled out, "Thank you sir."

He was on his way just as quickly as he came. JJ headed for the elevators. She had to muse that at least he was one man in her life that didn't seem to hate her.

As she stepped into the elevator she looked at her watch, it was only 6:20pm. She let out a sigh. If she went straight home now she'd have to have that soul-searching talk with Will that she could see was waiting to be had in Will's eyes.

Or… she thought to herself. I could go get a cup of coffee first. I worked hard, I deserve it.

Yeah, that's what she'd do. She'd go get a cup of coffee and then head home to her baby.

Hotch:

Hotch let out a weary sigh at the sound of a knock on his door. He had so much work to do now that he was essentially doing two jobs, his own and Erin Strauss's. He really couldn't use any more distractions. He had enough on his mind as it was. Hotch hadn't seen or heard from JJ in a week and that was enough to make him go crazy.

"Come in," he said, voice gruff.

"Aaron," Rossi's voice scolded. "What are you still doing here?"

Hotch looked up to see Dave giving him a concerned look. Then he glanced at the clock, almost 7:30.

"Working," he answered, just as gruff, as he went back to his paperwork.

He heard Rossi let out a sigh and he knew that meant the man wasn't going anywhere. Hotch dropped his pen to give the man his full attention, hoping that would speed things along.

"What's going on?" Hotch cut to the chase.

"I could ask you the same question," Rossi countered.

"I just have a lot of work to do," Hotch offered.

"More than normal; it's been awhile since you've put in twelve hour days, Aaron," Rossi speculated, than paused. Hotch frowned at him, knowing he wasn't finished. "How's Strauss doing? I haven't seen her around in awhile."

"Dave…" Hotch began in a warning voice.

The man shook his head, letting him know he was backing off.

"I've got some interesting news for you," Rossi said instead.

Hotch mentally cringed. New news usually meant more work for him. On top of his own and Strauss's jobs, he had to re-take on some of the duties Morgan had taken on. And he had to do all that plus help look for new cases. When did anyone expect him to have a life?

"What is it?" he asked, voice tentative.

"We're finally going to get some help around here," Rossi stated proudly.

Hotch's face lit up. Thank God, they were floundering without any help.

"You hired someone?" Hotch exclaimed.

Rossi shook his head. "More like the Director did, after some persuasive hinting on my part."

The Director? Why did the Director of the Bureau need to be hiring someone for their small unit?

"Dave," Hotch warned when the man looked like the cat that ate the canary. "Out with it."

"Ok, ok," Dave said, exasperated. "Sheesh… it's our very own Jennifer Jareau."

"What?" he instantly exclaimed.

His mind went numb as Rossi continued to speak.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be a good idea to get back one of our own. So, I spoke with JJ, she was, of course, in. And then I got on the phone with the Director; I'm not ashamed to admit I played the sympathy card. I told him Emily's passed on and Morgan's in a coma and we're getting buried. I said to him, 'We could really use someone who already knows the ropes.' And then he was on the phone to the state department making it happen."

JJ was coming back to the BAU, he thought numbly.

"She'll of course have a few more duties then just being our media liaison… but she'll be back. That's what counts," Rossi stated happily.

"How… long?" Hotch asked, voice coming out hoarse.

"What do you mean?" Rossi asked frowning.

"How long has this been in the works?" he demanded.

"A couple of months. Since before Emily died—" Rossi explained.

"A couple of months," he echoed incredulously.

"Yeah, we…" Rossi continued to speak but Hotch tuned the man out.

She'd known all this time she'd be coming back to them, to him and she hadn't said one word to him. All this time she'd kept telling him he was the only one she confided in, the only person who knew all her secrets. She was lying. Because she was keeping one huge secret to herself.

"Dave," he said abruptly, cutting the man off. "I've got to go."

Rossi gave him an astonished, bewildered look. "Ok, yeah, you should go… home."

Hotch was already out of his seat grabbing at files and furiously shoving them into his briefcase.

"Aaron… is everything all right?" Rossi asked tentatively.

"Fine," he briefly replied, going for his coat.

"JJ coming back," Rossi said slowly, "it's a good thing."

It was a very good thing; he just wanted to know why he of all people didn't know about it first.

JJ:

JJ walked up her walk way, coffee cup in hand. As she reached her front door, she thought better of walking in with a Starbucks cup. She didn't want to look like she'd been out on the town instead of working hard. She placed the cup behind the bushes; she'd get it from there later.

Looking at her watch it was 7:45pm. She'd killed plenty of time, but she wondered why there was no patrol car on the street. Will's partner should have been there by now to pick him up.

She decided to find out. Unlocking the door, she stepped inside of their shared home.

"Will?" she called out.

"In here," he called back from the living room.

She threw her keys on the hallway table, dropping her bag right there too. Then she made her way to the living room. The sight before her put a smile on her face, despite the fact that Will was still in jeans and a t-shirt.

Her four year old son and his father were crouched on the ground playing with the train set her dad had gotten his grandson. They were crawling around the room, chasing the train, imitating the train noises. It was a pretty sweet sight.

"Mommy!" Henry exclaimed, when he finally noticed her. He ran straight for her; JJ knelt down quickly to catch him in a hug.

"Hey honey," she greeted, smoothing down his unruly blond hair.

Henry struggled out of her grasp, only to point at his train set. "Look mommy, daddy set up the twains down here so I could pway wit' them."

"I see that sweetie," she replied. "Did you have lots of fun today?"

"Lots!" Henry exclaimed. "And daddy says he's going to stay so he can read me a story."

JJ looked at Will. He didn't meet her gaze. Something was up and she didn't like it.

"Henry," Will spoke up. "Why don't you go pick the story you want me to read and I'll be right up?"

"Ok daddy," the little boy said excitedly.

Henry ran out of the room and they could hear his little feet pattering around upstairs.

"Will, what's going on?" JJ wanted to know. "What happened to work?"

"I took a personal day," he informed her.

"What?" she said in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He frowned at her. "If I had told you, could you honestly say you'd have been home before I'd gone to bed?"

She didn't answer him because she wouldn't have been.

"I didn't think so," he said wryly. "Look, I'm going to read our son a story. And then I'm going to come down here and we're going to talk like the two adults we are. No more running, JJ."

She nodded dumbly. She guessed he'd caught her. Now she was going to have to tell him what she had to do.

"No more running," she murmured as her partner went to the stairs.

Well that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks to all who are still reading and alerting. And thanks to those who reviewed: Hotch Fan; vampiremuggle; JJandHotch4ever96; angry penguin (I try :) ); and mindspsychoaddict (I seriously thought about it for a second too, but I decided it would be too soon for the Emily reveal.)

Next update should be up by next weekend.

See ya soon!