Her Oldest and Biggest Fan
AN/ I don't own Criminal Minds. Warning! This chapter contains somewhat more adult type content. Thanks to you all who have read and reviewed. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 9
"Hello JJ. Come in." Hotch says and opens the door wider to let her in. Jj slowly enters his apartment.
"Thanks again Hotch. Tom must still be working and everyone else is unavailable." JJ couldn't stop babbling.
"It's no problem. You know me. If it was a problem, I'd tell you." Hotch laughs, trying to ease JJ's guilt. And of course he doesn't believe she needs any guilt. But making her feel better is his main goal. He knows her nervous rambles as much as he knows Rossi drinks o release his worries and/or problems.
Garcia plays computer games to left off her tensions. Morgan finds the nearest lady that will have him. His mind doesn't like to think deeper into THAT nugget of information.
Prentiss is a weird one. She switches between two different things. First one is doing work. If there's not work to be done, Prentiss volunteers. Anything she could get. She does them all. Soup kitchens, council children, recycle and blood drives. And those are all of the ones he knows of. There could be more.
Of course, there's Reid. He plays chess. He doesn't do that around the team anymore. That's a Gideon-Reid tradition. And as Jason retired and left, so did the co-worker chess tournaments. He plays chess in the park with other brillant minds.
Yeah, Aaron Hotchner knows his team pretty well.
"May I get you a drink? I have water, milk, juice, beer, wine or soda." Hotch stands there as JJ somewhat closes her body into herself. Call it shock, or resisting her feelings for her boss. She still likes him, but doesn't want to act on it. Even though she loves Tom, the feeling for Hotch have been there for a long time.
"Water is fine, thank you. No caffine or I won't sleep." JJ says, very quietly.
"Why don't you sit down. I'll get you that water, then you can tell me about this break in." Hotch goes into the kitchen and grabs a bottled water from the frige. He wasn't gone that long, but when he got back to the living room, JJ had fallen asleep. Hotch stands there a moment just looking at her sleep peacefully. Her golden locks spraying all over the back of the sofa. She seems so relaxed, but tired.
Hotch sets the water bottle down on the coffee table and went to JJ's sleeping body. He slowly puts his one arm behind her back and under her arms. Then the other arm under her bent knees. He proceeds to pick her up and carry her to his bed room where he'd just changed the bed linen. He gently lays her thining body onto the soft king size mattress. Of course, his mind went to the fact that he normally sleeps right where she's at. That's a bit of a turn on for him. And he scolds himself as soon as he's able to.
Hotch pulls the covers back a little farther so he could take her shoes off, then cover her up. He quickly went back to the living room to get her bag, purse and water bottle. Trying to make sure she would have everything to make her as comfortable as possible. Hotch grabs his tolietrees and his pjs.
Hotch makes sure he takes care of the food and dishes that they had planned on using for dinner. Double checks the door locks and shuts the light off as he heads towards bed.
Hotch leaves both doors open just in case JJ needs him. Once he's ready for bed, he climbs into the smallish bed. Laying there, Hotch says a little prayer that he would do good by Jack and make sure he knew his mother loved him. He also prays that JJ would tell him what's going on with her. First he doesn't want to pry, but he so desperately wants to help. Before Hotch knows it, he's asleep.
"Hotch! Help!" JJ yells. Hotch wakes up and makes a mad dash to his bedroom. Once he's in the door, he sees JJ in her bra and panties. Hotch's eyes are bulging, among other things, at the sight before him.
"Did you need something JJ?" Hotch asks, never blinking.
"Yeah, you." JJ says, motioning for him to come see her.
"JJ, why… why are you not in pajamas?" Hotch asks, walking slowly over to the bed. Although he has no idea how his feet actually moved to get there.
"Because, you would just take them off me. And I left on the bra and panties. Come on Hotch, join me in this big cold bed." JJ smiles coyly at him.
Hotch then hears a bang noise. Coming from a distance.
Hotch sits up in Jacks bed. It's still dark out, but he's unsure of the time. He throws back the covers and get up tp check on JJ. Even with the after effects from the dream. His mind still foggy. Stumbling over a few of Jack's hot wheels cars, he finally makes it out of the room.
Hotch's not ready for the scene that awaits him in his own bedroom. As soon as he sees it, he comes to the conclussion that JJ woke up and accidently knocked over his bedside lamp. When she doesn't recognize anything she gets out of bed completely and hides in the dark corner. She sits there tucked into herself. Unsure where she's at and what happened. So Hotch turns on the over head light.
"JJ, are you all right?" Hotch asks, as he slowly makes his way over to her.
"Hotch, where am I? Where is this place? Maybe I need some time off to decompress." JJ's eyes start to glisten with built up tears.
"JJ, you are in my apartment. Do you remember why?" Hotch's scared for JJ.
"I remember being home. I was cleaning out my go bag, then restocking it. Then I…" JJ starts remembering that the tape's missing. Hotch could see the panic in JJ's eyes. "Ok, I remember. All but how I got into your bed. I was sitting on the couch." JJ waits to hear what happened.
Hotch sits in the chair that is just inside the bedroom door. "I went to get you some water. When I came back, you were asleep. So I picked you up and carried you to the bed. I only removed your shoes." Hotch says, reassuring her.
JJ looks at the lamp, broken in pieces next to her. "I'm so sorry about your lamp. Tell me the cost and where you got it and I will replace it." JJ says, trying to stand on her wobbly legs.
"Don't worry about it. Are you ok? I mean your house was broken into. JJ, something's going on. Why not just tell me and let me help as much as I can. I can see you are in need of help. You seem to be very bothered by something. Does it have to do with your break in?" Hotch asks, tired of playing this guessing game with JJ. He wants to know what she's mixed up in.
"Yes and no." JJ says, looking confused.
"What do you mean by yes and no?" Hotch's voice raises a little.
"Yes, the break in has bothered me. I mean God! This person has touched my things. My private things! No, I don't think it has to do with what is bothering me. Oh, I don't know. For the love of God Hotch, I'm tired and we have to be to work early tomorrow. I need sleep. Nothing is making sense. Oh, I might as well change into my pjs." JJ says exhausted, scared and still glad Hotch hasn't been burdened by this ordeal. But little did she know that it's really hurting Hotch to see her in this kind of pain. He's not a stupid guy.
"Ok. If you need me, I'm right across the hall in Jack's room." Hotch goes to leave the room.
"Thanks Hotch. For letting me stay and knowing when to leave something alone. For now at least. You're a good friend and a great boss. See you in the morning. I'll make breakfast." JJ says with a light grin.
"Your welcome. It'll be nice to have someone else cook breakfast in the morning. But if you change your mind, that's ok too." Hotch attempts to smile an understanding smile. Then he shut the door and was gone. JJ feels almost an ach in her stomach, that's the only way she can describe it. When he's close she feels so safe and relaxed. When he's away, she feels somehow scared. Kind of the way she used to when she left her ailing grandmother. Like this could be the last time she might ever see grandma or Hotch. That feeling always makes her sick to her stomach.
But JJ gets up and changes into her PJ's. The tries to see if the lamp is saligable. She's able to fix the lamp it's self, but the light bulb is toast. She picks up the shards of glass when she notices a sharp pain in her finger.
"OUCH! Damn!" JJ reaches for a Kleenex to wrap around her finger. She applies some pressure and the bleeding seems to slow down significantly. "I guess I can finish that up tomorrow. At least Hotch still has a lamp.
As JJ snuggles into Hotch's bed, she smiles at the thought that Hotch lays here in this exact bed since his seperation. Sure, there were cases that took him away, but this is the place he sleeps when he's home. She pushes her face into his pillow to see if she can smell his shampoo. Smell the essence that is Aaron Hotchner. She loves his smell. The right combination of colonge and shampoo.
As JJ drifts off to sleep, she thinks of the crush she's had on Hotch. Then she thinks of Tom. Both equally hot and delicious all on their own. Tom makes her feel like she's on an amusment park ride. But Hotch makes her feel safe. So she chalks up how she feels. Tom is fun and adventurous. Hotch is safe and predictable. It hits JJ that maybe that safe and predictable feeling she has with Hotch is just the boss, co-worker and friend feelings. Not romantic feelings. That she has confused the two. That Tom is the hot, passionate firecracker.
She does love the feel of his touch. The taste of his kiss. He's an amazing kisser. Oh, she better stop thinking this way. She's getting pretty jazzed up and has no Tom to be jazzed with. But soon she's in dreamland, where she meets Tom. And the fireworks begin to go off.