LO-FI

This chapter contains spoilers for Lo-Fi. Some of the details may not be exactly what happened on the show.

JJ was sitting in her office doing paperwork. Though the weather was fine for a November and she usually kept her office warm, she was wearing a large sweater, growing paranoid that her bump was about to show. Hotch stuck his head into her. " Can we get the team in the round table room ASAP? We have a case?"

" Nothing came by my desk?" she said, unsure.

" It came directly to me." He walked away from the office.

When JJ entered the conference room, everyone was already there.

" Don't get comfortable," Hotch began, " there'll be plenty of time to debrief on the plane.

" Where we headed?" Reid asked.

" New York."

" Five shootings in two weeks... It's about time we got the call," Rossi stated.

" I want to take Garcia with us; hopefully they'll give us access to their surveillance system."

" What do we know?" Emily asked.

" All the killings are midday. Single gunshot to the head with a .22."

" Any witnesses?" JJ asked.

" None."

" .22 calibre is only 1.50 decibels. It could be that people aren't even registering the gunshot until the unsub's already leaving the scene," Reid said.

" Sounds like mob hits," Morgan tried.

" Except none o them have any connection to organised crime."

" Do they have a connection to each other?" Emily asked.

" None they've found," Hotch explained.

" How about communicating with the police?"

Hotch showed them a clip of the latest murder. " Is that the best image the have?" JJ asked.

" He wears a hood... keeps his head down."

" This guy is bold... Crowded area in broad daylight," Prentiss stated.

" So they're completely random?" Rossi asked.

" It seems so, yes," Hotch answered.

" It's Son of Sam al over again," Reid thought aloud. The team were in silence taking it in.

As they disbanded, Hotch called JJ back. " This is dangerous JJ."

" Don't do that... don't keep me out of work because I'm pregnant."

Hotch didn't like the idea of JJ and his child being in a city with a killer who murders randomly, but he didn't have a choice. " Promise me you'll be safe."

" I promise." They both left the conference room, each heading to different offices

Hotch had just gotten all his packing sorted when his office door swung open and Hayley stood angrily in front of him. He looked at her for a while. " There's this thing, Hayley, you might want to familiarise yourself with... It's called knocking."

" Y'know, Aaron, since I have most custody over Jack, there's some things your gonna have to familiarize yourself with. Like clearing things with me before you tell Jack... for example, the fact that you've been screwing around."

Though he had been expecting that, he hadn't expected her to be so angry about it. " What's the big deal, Hayley? He deserved to know."

" But I could go on completely dumb... Have some bimbow raising my son when I'm not looking?"

" Keep your voice down..."

" Make me!"

" Hayley, keep your voice down or get out of my office..."

A knock came from the door and JJ walked in. " Oh... uh, sorry... I didn't realise you had... um, I'll come back..."
" No... It's fine, we're done..." He looked at Hayley. " We're done. I have to work."

Hayley scoffed. " Nothing ever changes with you, does it, Aaron?" she asked, walking off.

JJ lingered in the doorway for a while, watching a stressed out Hotch. " Is everything alright?" she asked.

" I told Jack last night... Hayley found out. She wasn't exactly happy."
JJ felt something rising in her core. " Out of love?"

" I don't know why.. But I really don't want to. You ready?"

" Yeah... um, Rossi and Spence already left, and Garcia's going with Morgan and Emily, so looks like it's just you and me."

" Let's get going then." JJ felt dread replacing her other feeling. Driving with Hotch like this was going to be hell.

When they reached the New York field office, JJ was taken aback by the appearance of SSA Kate Joyner. " Is it just me or does she look like Hayley?" she said to Garcia.

She heard Emily say to Garcia that they had liased together in Scotland Yard, and JJ had fully understood the meaning of that.

Later that night, as she, Emily, Hotch and Reid arrived at the hotel, Emily spotted a newspaper announcing the killings. Suddenly Reid noticed something. " Hey, JJ, look who's here."

JJ wondered who of importance to her and not the others could be in New York. Shock overcame her when she came face to face with Will. " Will!" she said, mimicking her feeling.

Emily greeted him with a smile and, Hotch being ever polite, shook his hand. " Det.," he said politely, but deep down, just as shocked as JJ.

" I'm sorry to just drop by like this, but I went to your office and they said you were here... ... I don't want you out in the field, JJ...not with everything that's been going on..."

" Is everything alright?" Reid asked.

JJ hesitated before turning to the others and shot Hotch a look. She smiled. " I'm pregnant."

Realization suddenly hit Hotch. She'd told him... but not everything. As Emily and Reid congratulated them, Hotch could only shake the man's hand. " We'll give you two some space."

" Hotch," he heard JJ call.

He turned around.

" JJ, you should have told me he know!"

" I know," she said nodding.

" He thinks the baby's his."

" I. Know… Hotch, he got so excited when I told him was pregnant. I didn't want to hurt him."

" Could it be his?"

" I'm usually on the pill when I go to see him… and we use protection… We didn't." She moved her finger to gesture both she and Hotch.

" Everything all right?" Will asked, as the three walked up to them.

Hotch smiled, though right now all he could think was that Will might be raising his child. " Everything's fine." He turned back to JJ. " We'll finish this discussion later." And that was the last time she saw him that night.

While she and Will were up in their room he asked her what she and Hotch had been talking about. She managed to dodge the question when a knock came at the door.

"I'll be right back."

She had expected to see Hotch or Reid standing outside the door. She certainly hadn't expected it to be Emily. She moved outside and closed the door slightly. " What?" she asked.

" What were you and Hotch talking about?"
" Non of your business."

" He's the father, isn't he?"

JJ felt tired and weak. She had no strength to lie to Emily anymore. "How'd you figure it?"

"When I put two and two together I got five… You believing if you can't have him no one can. Then in the lobby, I put two and two and two together and I got six… Hotch is the father."

" It was a mistake that ended with major consequences."

" Why didn't you just tell me?"

" I was ashamed."

"Of what? Being a woman attracted to a very handsome man?" Emily saw the tiredness in her friend's eyes. " You look like hell. Get some rest and then we need some serious girl talk in the morning."

" You got it." Emily turned to leave. " Hey Em." Emily turned back. " Can you and Reid keep a lid on it for a while… Garcia's te only other one who knows…"

" Sure."

With that the two women went in to separate rooms.

The next morning, JJ explained everything to Emily, with Garcia's help. That evening, as JJ and Reid were preparing to leave, she got an envelope containing Will's badge.

" Reid, could you do this alone… There's something I need to do."

" Sure JJ."

She reached the hotel in record time. She found Will in the bar, flicking through a magazine.

" Will…"

" Sweetie."

" Will, you can't leave the force."

" JJ, I need to be in Virginia with you and our kid."

There was no way around it. She'd have to tell him. " Will…" Hotch has a son. He has a wife. Will and I have nothing. Based on what happened yesterday there's every chance of reconciliation. I need Will. He needs me. He wants me. "…you're the best."

He walked her to her car, not wanting to stop kissing her as they went. JJ felt pretty happy. However, a sad and confused Aaron Hotchner became even more so when his SUV blew up in front of him, flinging him into the air.