"I don't get it." Amy, out of breath, clutched her side as she came to a stop a few feet behind JJ, after an hour and a half hike up a mountain. And Jay said this was going to be 'easy'... "You're carrying a little person inside you and I'm having trouble keeping up."

"Because you are an out of shape lab rat," JJ returned, turning back to Amy, hands on hips.

Amy stared in semi-faux shock. "Wow... Well, that's out there, isn't it?" Even after an 90 minute long mountain hike on one of the hottest days of the year, carrying the extra load, Amy was so in awe of how put together this woman looked. How beautiful she was, especially with the pregnancy glow – if there was one woman in the world Georgia admired, it was her best friend.

JJ threw her hands up in the air and raised her voice. "I'm just so happy you're here. With an apartment and a job." And she hurried back down to Amy and threw her arms around her. Amy laughed and leaned against a rock and, when JJ had finally released her, pulled her boots up to her to retie. "I mean, I don't think I can even believe you are here." JJ eyed her friend cautiously. "I definitely can't believe you know Hotch."

"I was wondering when we were going to get to that." Amy paused a moment, before looking up at JJ who was staring at her intently. She untied her dark ponytail. "You can ask me anything." She gathered her dark brown hair in her hand ans secured it again before the girls continued their hike.

"So Hotch worked on the trafficking case and you guys kept in touch afterwards?"

"Yeah, I think at first he wanted to try and get me through the trial. But he became someone I could rely on. The only person I could rely on."

"Until you met me." JJ ginned. It wasn't a question.

"Of course. Aaron and Haley were really great. They really looked after me. Hotch still does."

JJ looked over at Amy. "You knew Haley?" Georgia nodded. "You weren't at the funeral."

"I was Vietnam for six weeks when she died. When I got back I had about a dozen missed calls from Aaron and Jessica and I flew back straight away."

"You came back for over a year."

Georgia nodded. "I came back to help him with Jack. He started having trouble sleeping. They both did. Not that Aaron ever sleeps much on a good day anyway but it was harder when Jack wasn't getting a good night's sleep either. And since I don't sleep that much either, it seemed like maybe I could help out."

"And then LA?"

"First Europe." JJ nodded. "Then a year in New York, and a year and a half in LA. It was great – an air conditioned lab, living steady. I was still. I could finally be here for you and Hotch when you guys needed me. I was able to come here when Hotch was in the hospital last year."

"Ames, don't get me wrong, because I'm thrilled to see you. But why are you in DC?"

"My sister called me a few weeks back. My grandmother got sick. At least, that's what she told me. I have a feeling it was all a ploy. Besides, everyone I love is here. You guys, and Hotch and Jack. My family." Amy looked at JJ. "What's wrong?"

JJ was trying really hard not to cry. "If you love us, why did it take 3 weeks for me to find out you were here?" Georgia looked away embarrassed. "And it wasn't even because you wanted to see me. We were put into that situation. And why did you never tell me about any of it? Me? Your best friend? Ames, you're the closest thing I have to a sister."

"The same reason I've been running. I'm scared JJ. I always have been. He's still out there. There is a man who bought children to beat and rape them and kill them still out there. No teens, children. And I'm the only one who knows what he looks like." They sat down on the grass: JJ faling back, her hands restingg on her tummy, Amy, cross-legged, picking daisies. "If he comes back, what's to say that he's not going to try and hurt Jack or Henry or the baby. But I can't keep running. I have to face him, if that time ever comes. And I know Aaron would never let anything bad happen. To me or Jack or you. I wwant you guys in my life and I want to be in yours." She threw a daisy at JJ. "And the only reason Aaron knew before you did, is because I had nowhere else to go and if I didn't tell him, he would have found out about it anyway. He has, like a sixth sense. He's a bit of a freak like that."

JJ let out a loud laugh. Unable to stop, she just about managed to make a complete sentence. "He just... He knows, right?"

Amy started laughing too. "And if you dare ask him what's bothering him, prepare for the wrath of Aaron."

"I thought it was just him who was like that, but then Sean came to the office once."

"You should meet the matriarch." Amy stopped laughing. JJ looked at her before she could hide a look that came into her eye. "We really shouldn't laugh at him. He's a good soul. How're you feeling?" She pointed to her friends growing belly.

"Big. Tired. I don't think this was a good idea."

"Let's get something to eat." Amy pulled herself up, and then JJ as they made their way down to diner at the bottom of the hike.

"You know, I always thought that, after Europe, you'd become some kind of food snob."

"Food is food, JJ." They took a booth and ordered. Amy's phone rang and she answered. "Hello... Oh, hey. Your ears must have been burning a few minutes ago." JJ sipped on her drink as they waited for sandwiches. "I'm with JJ right now but I can treat you boys to dinner?" She waited for a response. "Yes, Aaron, I promise I won't cook." JJ giggled across from her. Amy rolled her eyes. "Alright, then, I will see you guys in a few hours." She hesitated before hanging up. "Aaron, you know I hate surprises... Yeah, I'll be the judge of that."

"Is everything ok?" JJ asked as they dug into their food.

"I think so. Hotch wants to talk to me about something. He said it was a good surprise but ... I worry about him, I guess. Anyway, I'm buying him and Jack dinner tonight."

"Well, if it was bad, he wouldn't risk talking about it in front of Jack, would he?"

Amy shook her head. "No. Of course not."

"Ames– where's your head at?" JJ asked, worried.

"Nothing. It's just... second nature, at this point, to think the worst. Fight or flight." She chuckled weakly.

"So maybe it's time to fight." Georgia looked at her friend who was angrily stabbing at her food with a fork. "Would you really do it again? Run? Now that you have a job? Now that you have me and Will and Hotch and the boys and this one?" She pointed to her stomach.

Amy avoided her eyes. "I don't want to. I want to be here in a year. In two years. The rest of my life. I want to have a family. A proper one."

JJ looked at Amy sadly. "You have a family."

Amy reached over and grabbed her friend's hand. "Which is why I want to stay."


Amy knocked on the Hotchner's apartment door, tackling 2 pizzas in her arm, keys, phone and a handbag. Why she didn't put the latter two into the handbag was beyond her. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long. She heard footfalls come closer to the door and it was open. Hotch peered out, the chain still on the door. "Can I help you with something?"

"You can let me in before I camp out here and eat your half of the pizza... You're pepperoni half..."

"You're allergic," he countered.

"Don't put it past me, Aaron." He laughed and pulled open the door. "Jack!" he called, taking the pizza's from her as she swung her handbag onto the couch. Jack came running out of his bedroom, followed by a smiling Jessica.

"Amy." The little boy wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

She bent down, kissing his head. She pulled him away and looked at him, hands on hips, shaking her head. "Jack Hotchner. I only just saw you at Halloween. Why'd you have to go get so much taller? You're supposed to stay small enough that we can pick you up."

Jessica clapped her hands. "Thank you. That's what we keep trying to tell him." Amy laughed. Despite any arguments Amy had with Haley, taking Hotch's side in, well, just about everything, Jessica and Amy had remained friends, a bond that had grown when they both had to step up after Haley died to look after the Hotchner boys. Their division of labour.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Amy asked. "There's enough pizza."

"Yeah... enough to feed a small army," Aaron called from the kitchen.

"No, I have to get back to my boys. Have fun you three."

Jack ran from Amy's arms into his aunts, giving her a kiss goodbye. "Bye, Auntie Jess." When Jessica had left he bounded back to Amy. Aaron laughed. "Are you staying tonight?"

"We'll see, bud. Jack, why don't you set up the movie." Amy walked into the kitchen to help Aaron. "Did you, like, pump him full of bouncing juice or something?"

"He's a Hotchner. It's not his fault he's a catch."

Amy smiled, grabbing the plates from the counter and separating out 9 slices, 3 each, ensuring that she didn't have any pepperoni and Jack didn't have any pesto. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Later." He left her with two plates of pizza as he carried in the third, three glasses and a bottle of pop. "Alright, buddy, you ready?"

Jack nodded his head and placed himself in-between Amy and Hotch as the three settled in for a night of movies.

By 8.30, Jack's head had fallen onto Amy's arm and he was snoring softly. Hotch picked Jack up and carried him into bed. When he closed the bedroom door, he found Amy in the kitchen, cleaning up. "You don't have to do that. Do you want to stay tonight? I can set up the -"

"I want you to tell me what's going on." Amy looked up at him. "Please. I've been worrying all day. Is everything ok with Jack? With you?"

"Everything's fine. Since when did you become worst case scenario?"

"Really? Given my past you actually have to ask me that?"

"Fine." He walked into the living room, opened his briefcase and took out a letter. It was addressed to Amy. "Kate Callahan asked me to give this to you when she came to see me today."

Amy took the letter, opened it and read it, smiling. "She says they're doing well. They're adapting but coping. It's a thank you letter."

He nodded at the envelope. "That's not something I expect you get often at CSU." Amy shook her head, rereading the letter. Aaron gave her a moment then continued. "She came to see me today about taking a leave."

"That's understandable..."

"So, now, I have to find a replacement." He let the last sentence hang in the air as she re-read the letter.

Suddenly, her eyes stopped moving and her head tilted up to him, taking in the smirk on his face. "No."

"You don't know what I'm going to ask?"

"You're going to ask me to join the BAU."

"That's good. You should be a profiler." He couldn't stop the amused smile fully developing on his face.

"I'm not a profiler."

"Stop saying that." He followed her as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. He could understand why – it was the same argument they'd had so many times before. "You've taken the classes, you have the knowledge, the experience. Give me one good reason why not – and not because you're not a profiler."

Amy dropped onto the couch and looked at him sadly. "I don't want to disappoint you."

Whatever he thought he was expecting, that wasn't it. "Amy, you could nev-"

"Yes, I could. And I do and I have. After I took the classes? And I moved to Europe. After Haley died? When I left." He sat down next to her. "This isn't going to be any different. No matter how much I want it to be – or how much I want to stay – give it a year or fourteen or eighteen months and I'm going to leave. It's what I do best."

"I'm trying to give you a reason to stay." He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder. "Amy, at BAU, you have access to all kinds of resources that you wouldn't have at CS. Aside from a very skilled hacker and a genius, you have access to all kinds of psychos in the US - serial killers, serial arsonists, serial rapists."

Amy frowned, her eyes grew wide. She looked up at him, shocked, but smiling. "Are you bribing me to join the BAU?"

"No. It's not a bribe. I'm merely negotiating a deal with you." Amy laughed but she knew her mind was already running the same course that Hotch was. "We travel all the time. You have access to the best team of Profilers to help you find him. And when you do, when he's in prison, you don't have a reason to run ever again. And I want you to say yes." He had her. They both knew it.

"What if I run again?"

"I won't let you. You've stopped before. For me, for Jack."

"I need to think about it."

And she did think, long and hard, about it. She spent the entire night thinking about her options. She could run now. Pack up what she needed and run. But JJ was coming over to her apartment in the morning. And if she did run, she would only be going to spite Aaron and that was something she would never do.

She thought about it as she drove home the next morning, showered, opened the door to JJ, brewed the tea, sat on the couch, felt a nudge on her arm. She looked up to JJ who pointed to the door, sipping her tea. "Someone's there."

Amy shook her head, tried to laugh off the stare JJ burned into her, and walked to the door. She sighed at Hotch standing there. "Can I help you?"

He held up a book. "You forgot this." He walked past her into the room. "Hi, JJ." JJ waved at him. "So..."

"Where's Jack?" Amy asked, trying to deflect his question.

"Birthday party. Have you thought about what we discussed?"

"What did we discuss?" JJ asked.

Amy shook her head, trying to shake off the question but Hotch glanced at JJ. "Amy joining the BAU."

Amy threw him a scowl but JJ squealed and bounced over to her boss and her friend. "Well, what's there to think about?"

"A lot. You guys don't get it. I'm not responsible. I'm not dependable. I'll let you down."

JJ looked at her friend. "You've never let us down before. We'd see each other all the time. Amy, you said it yourself. You want to stay and settle down."

Aaron folded his arms. "JJ's right. It's the whole reason you're renting this place. Why you're at CSU. I know you're... concerned. I am too, to be honest. I'm worried that you will run again. But when you get that feeling you just need to tell me and we can go from there. I really don't want to have to interview people again. Please."

Amy looked between her two friends. JJ's hands were clasped under her chin, Aaron just sttod there. It felt like an eternity until she finally said, "I guess I'm a Profiler."

Aaron smiled and pulled her into a hug while JJ give the air two small fist pumps. Even as her friends were swimming in elation, Amy couldn't help but feel like she had just made a mistake.

This one is a little overdue but there's more to come.