AN/ Sorry, some people have mentioned the lack of romance. I just didn't want to rush things, but I can see how it seems a little odd. I hope to rectify the problem in this chapter. Let me know if you have any suggestions, I may or may not use them, but if I do I'll be sure to credit you with the great idea. Thanks to phantomcsiwriter for some suggestions and support! And thanks to everybody that reviewed, it's greatly appreciated.

Chapter 4--Moving On

"Hey, JJ, isn't that a new ipod?" Emily asked, packing the last of JJ's box titled 'Main Room Stuff' and pointing at the ipod hooked to the speakers on the counter. JJ's friends had adamantly banned Hotch from helping her pack tonight, saying that a 'girls' night' was in need. Three hours, two pizzas, and a case of beer (for Garcia and Prentiss) later, the women were stillpacking all of JJ's possessions. Since JJ was a little bit of an organizational maniac, packing took a lot longer than anyone had anticipated. Some of the furniture came with the apartment, and Rossi and Morgan had come by earlier to pick up her own large furniture, so the women lounged in the middle of the main room littered with boxes.

"Yeah, it's really weird, I don't remember dropping my other one, but when I went to use it, it just didn't work. Then, I got a cute present on my desk this morning with a new ipod." JJ explained.

"Ooo, from Hotchie?" Garcia squealed

"Hotchie?" JJ laughed at the new nickname, "yeah, I guess so, I've been getting flowers and stuff, but he never signs them." JJ explained dismissively

"So Jayje, who's better on a date? Our boss man, or the good doctor?" Garcia laughed as JJ blushed and took another piece of pizza from the counter. Just then, the doorbell rang, saving JJ from answering Garcia's prying question. Prentiss darted to the door in order to leave Garcia ample time to coerce an answer out of their sputtering friend. A large squeal surprised the two who scrambled to Prentiss's side.

"To Jennifer, Soon we'll be together" Emily read mockingly, holding the card high out of JJ's reach to prevent her from snatching it away. Prentiss was a good 6 inches taller than her blonde friend, and she thoroughly enjoyed taunting the younger woman.

"Oh, how precious" Garcia squealed.

"You're right, he doesn't sign it" Emily observed, "You know, it could be a deep fear of rejection, or--"

"Oh, would you stop profiling everything?" JJ teased pretending to be exasperated, "you two are just jealous since your love lives aren't exactly tabloid material" JJ countered her friends. Truth be told, every time she saw Aaron Hotchner her breath hitched in her throat. But, not wanting to give her friends any more opportunity to tease her, she tried to downplay the way her heart beat loudly in her chest every time he walked by. Not to mention the prospect of sharing a home with him was something that seemed to dominate her dreams of late.

Looking at the card, she said "Its corny" smiling to herself.

"Oh please Jayje, just 'cause you've got the romanticism of a toothpick doesn't mean that every body else does."

"So, JJ, you never answered Penelope's question. Who's the better date?" Prentiss reminded.

Flustered, and realizing there was no way her friends were going to let the subject drop, JJ sighed loudly "you both have heard how the date with Spence went. It wasn't bad. And, with Hotch we didn't really date, it just sort of happened...I don't know, its just kind of been weird lately."

At JJ's not so surprising revelation, the two friends were not about to let this subject go unanalyzed.

"So, wait, let me get this straight. You've had the hots for our good boss for years. Right?" Garcia asked

"Yeah, I guess so" JJ shyly responded

"Now Emily and I have repeatedly told you that the Hotch-man has the hots for you. Right?" Garcia asked again

"Yeah"

"Now you two are married, and are going to have a baby. Right?" Prentiss offered, causing JJ to remember the awkward kiss they shared at their wedding. Coupled with the massive life changes and the fact her family had been watching, it hadn't exactly been a romantic moment. In fact, their quick kiss had seemed to intensify the feeling of awkwardness between them.

"Yep"

"So what in the world is the problem?" Garcia practically shouted. "You love him, he loves you, you've already slept together and you're married, Jennifer! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS STOPPING YOU?"

"Did you know that no one ever calls me Jennifer except for my mother?" JJ asked, attempting to redirect the conversation, but seeing the look Garcia and Prentiss directed at her, she knew they wouldn't let her not answer.

"I just..." JJ uncharacteristically struggled for words, why was this so weird?

"I just don't want him doing all of this because he thinks he has to." JJ finally responded

"Oh please! I don't believe that for a second." Garcia responded ferociously, and began keeping track on her fingers, "He wouldn't have been so overprotective in the last case if he didn't care about you at all. He never would have bought you all this stuff if he didn't want to. He never would have asked you to move in with him so he could protect you if he didn't want to. He never would have married you if he didn't want to. He never would have taken you back home, so that it wouldn't be as hard for you to tell your parents if he didn't want to. So, give it up Barbie, why aren't you all over him?"

"Because I'm scared." JJ finally admitted "I'm scared that once I start enjoying all of this then it will be all over. I'm not good at relationships, and if it doesn't work out with Hotch, then I don't know what I'll do." She finished honestly.

Both women looked at her with sympathy, until Garcia smiled and turned to give Prentiss an expecting look. Prentiss sighed grumpily and begrudgingly withdrew 20 from her wallet. JJ, confused, just continued to stare at her friends, not understanding their interchange after her soul searching confession.

Finally, realization dawned in JJ's eyes, "You bet on me?" she asked incredulously.

"Garcia just said that she could get you to admit that you were terrified of being in a relationship with Hotch. I said that there's no way you would actually admit that, or that maybe you didn't really like him." Prentiss confessed

"and I won" Garcia practically sang. Seeing that JJ was not amused, she offered "I would have let you in on the bet, but that wouldn't have been fair at all, now would it?" As all three women erupted in laughter

"Seriously JJ, you should just enjoy this. How often do you get to be married to a man you're in love with and especially a man who is also in love with you?" Prentiss pointed out after the laughter died down.

"Girl, you know we're behind you, but as much as I love you, you can be infuriating. Emily's right. Give it a chance, what'll it hurt?" Garcia encouraged. "Plus, if he hurts you, there's not a rope long enough to get him out of the hole I'd dig for him."

The night passed quickly, and by the time they finished packing all of JJ's belongings, it was early the next morning. Hours later, Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and Reid all arrived at JJ's apartment clad in casual clothes to help with the heavy lifting. Entering the apartment they found boxes stacked neatly near the door in columns and rows.

"The boxes are in order of how to put them on the truck. Heaviest boxes on the floor and the height is sorted by room." JJ called from another room, the team smiled at JJ's compulsive organizing.

"Man, JJ, how much stuff do you own?" Morgan complained.

"Actually, did you know that the United States consumes one-sixth of the world's total output? This means that every person in America generally consumes--"

"Reid, just take a box" Rossi interrupted before Reid could finish yet another explanation recited from a book.

JJ emerged from the bedroom where she had been collecting last minute things and almost gasped when she saw Hotch. Clad in old jeans and a grey sweatshirt, he was more attractive then she had anticipated. She always thought he looked good in suits, but seeing him in regular clothes just made her heart race.

Walking up to him, she put her arm around his midsection and noticing his surprised reaction said softly, "Hey stranger."

"Hey" he smiled, glad at her unusual display of affection. It wasn't that he didn't notice that she was gorgeous, or that every time she walked in the room his hands started to sweat, he didn't want to mess things up. So, if she wanted the relationship to go slowly, he would go slowly. But it was moments like these, when they were alone and allowed the connection between them to flow freely, that he knew that they had something special. He wasn't naive. He knew the difference between running with emotions and being truly in love with someone. He wanted love with JJ, so he was willing to wait.

It was then that Hotch noticed the flowers on the counter.

"Nice flowers." He commented picking up another large box, ready for the exodus to the truck that would be moving JJ's stuff.

"I know." She responded shyly, standing on her tiptoes to give him a small kiss. Emboldened by her actions, the vase of flowers forgotten, Hotch drew her in, extending the kiss. Electricity flowed through both of them, as they were able to communicate the feelings that they had for each other. They hungrily kissed each other, as though making up for the years of attraction they shared and the time they had wasted. JJ's lips tingled with excitement as she moved her hand to the back of Hotch's head for support, his hand moving around her waist.

Whistling from the doorway caused the two to part. "Guess we solved that problem" Garcia laughed as she moved to take a lighter box down to the truck.

Hotch walked into his front room to find JJ curled up in the middle of the couch surfing through the TV channels. It had only been days since she had moved in with him. Everyday seemed more exciting than the previous. Each minute they spent apart seemed dull, lifeless, and boring. Sharing the drive to work, their hour at lunch, and the drive home didn't seem to be enough. It seemed they had an unending supply of topics to discuss, secrets to discover, and hopes to share. Although both he and JJ were private people, it seemed easy for him to share with her and their conversations never becoming uninteresting. They were able to joke as friends, but keep the passion that they had each felt in the kiss days before. Sometimes they felt like a real married couple, other than the thought that had crossed both of their minds 'is marriage supposed to be this much fun?'

Looking down at the woman who had brought such excitement into his life, he teased "you actually watch this stuff?" JJ seemed the last person on earth he would expect to be a TV enthusiast.

"I'm looking for something good to watch." She said, not looking up at him.

Interested in the rare opportunity to profile, he sat down on the far side of the couch. Noticing his hesitation, she looked up at him questioningly, "What? I don't bite."

Smiling he closed some of the distance between him and JJ, watching for how long she paused before she flicked to the next channel. She tended to stop longer on reality shows, and interestingly enough, the Spanish channel. After a few moments of watching the characters interact in the foreign language, he couldn't help but tease, "I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

Quickly changing the channel, she sheepishly admitted glancing over at him, "I don't. I took it in high school and always wished I could speak it. I'm actually really envious of Emily. Did you know she can speak 4 languages? How cool!" She continued to search through the channels.

Observing JJ completely relaxed was not something he normally had the opportunity to do. Here, on the couch, curled up with a blanket her stomach beginning to show, she was almost an entirely different woman. Joking, cajoling, sarcastic, it was just fun to be around. It was different than when he was with Hayley. He had never really felt like her equal, always trying to do things to prove to her that he loved her, always trying to convince her she was happy. With JJ, he just felt relaxed. Although she still seemed to make his blood pressure rise every time she was near him. The mere distance between them seemed an impenetrable force field that he desperately wanted to destroy.

JJ's sharp intake of breath and small squeal that she attempted in vain to stifle interrupted his thoughts. Looking over to the TV, he found the source of her excitement.

"Oh no!" He moaned

"What?" She asked, turning up the volume

"I am not sitting here for hours watching an Animal Planet documentary on butterflies!" He declared, although she detected a hint of laughter in his words.

"Oh, what? You want to watch some coin collecting marathon, eh nerd boy?" She teased a sparkle in her eyes that Hotch had rarely seen before.

"Yeah, well coins are at least worth something," he countered. "Did you know that the design of the quarter has changed 15 different times including the statehood & territory quarters and a new program is proposed for the national parks?" He said excitedly.

"Wow, that's really interesting. Did you know that you sounded just like someone I know right there...who is that...oh I know, REID!" She teased

He mocked hurt and muttered "Well some rare quarters can be sold for 10,000. I don't know of any stupid butterfly that could make you that much money."

JJ laughed and tossed a pillow in his general direction. Hotch, unfortunately had just turned his head to look a white sedan parked across the street that he could see through the window, and the pillow hit him in the head. Exaggerating, he howled as she doubled over laughing.

"Look at that, I just took down tough Mr. FBI with a pillow!" She managed to choke out between giggles.

"You know what? I don't think its a good idea for you to make fun of me when it's my turn to pick dinner, I just might cook something." He threatened, JJ feigning mock horror at the suggestion. Every day they alternated preparing (or in his case, buying) dinner. JJ would inevitably cook something worthy of Martha Stewart. He really didn't know how she did it. Both would come home together from the office, he would change out of his suit and tie, and JJ would be putting the finishing touches on the one of the best meals he'd ever had. Every other day, was a totally different story. Take out boxes from nearby vendors littered their garbage can, and was a source of constant teasing.

"I'm sorry." She attempted sincerity, unconsciously drawing closer to him and muttered "you big baby."

He stood menacingly, and without hesitation scooped her up and over his shoulder, the small of her back against his shoulder. His arm draped around her midsection steadying her on his broad shoulders. "If you're going to act like that, then I'll show you!" He laughed.

JJ squealed at the unexpected turn and attempted to fight back. She squirmed, kicked her legs and arms, but was laughing much too hard to actually make a difference. Hotch, spinning around the room was debating what to do next when his front door swung open. Hotch spun around, forgetting the blonde woman on his shoulder, to see his ex-wife and 4 year old son walking through the door.

"Aaron, I need you to watch Jack." Hayley marched into his home unannounced. "I had an emergency and I know you don't have a case so I--" She stopped as she spotted the couple dancing in the front room.

Hotch stood dumbfounded. Hayley almost never let him take Jack when he hadn't scheduled, and there couldn't be a more awkward time for her to interrupt...well, there could have been a more awkward time...there had been several more awkward times, but he was sure that this was towards the top of the list. JJ's small cough alerted him to her situation and he quickly helped her to the floor.

"Hayley, you remember JJ, she works with me." He said, quite unsure of how to explain his current situation to his exwife.

Hayley kindly looked at JJ, unsure of how to classify the younger woman's relationship to her ex-husband. "Yeah, how've you been JJ?" Hayley began to scrutinize JJ, and noticing the ring on her finger, "So, who's the lucky guy?"

JJ shocked looked up at Hotch, the unspoken message clearly sent You never told her! as Jack ran over to his dad and wrapped his arms around Hotch's legs.

Smiling, Hotch picked the boy up and sensitively attempted to gauge his ex-wife's reaction, "Uh, Hayley, JJ and I got married last week."

"You did what?" Hayley asked cooly

"I'm starting over again Hayley. JJ and I are having a baby." He said to the woman who seemed to be blowing smoke out her ears with anger.

"Did you hear that buddy? You're going to be a big brother!" Hotch tickled the young boy in his arms who laughed delightfully.

Seeing Hayley's not so encouraging look, he said to his son "Jack, why don't you go up to your room and show JJ your new truck?" The boy squealed and took JJ by the hand practically dragging her up the stairs to his bedroom.

"So were you cheating on me the entire time or was this just a recent occurance?" Hayley snapped angrily at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on! The calls late at night? 'Sorry Hayley, another case?' Calls during birthdays, holidays, weekends? Yeah. Sure. You have no idea what I'm talking about." She angrily mocked him. He could see the fury in her eyes but was not about to let her have the upper hand in this argument.

"If I remember right it was you cheating on me. I never once did anything with another individual that was inappropriate while we were married." He responded calmly only infuriating her further.

"Oh yeah right. A pretty woman you're around all the time and you didn't sleep with her until after the divorce! Whatever Aaron" She continued to rant, coming to a conclusion, "THAT'S WHY YOU COULDN'T LEAVE THE BAU!!" She practically shouted. "That slut!"

Being entirely fed up with her rant he calmly interrupted, "Hayley, this is no longer your home. Jack will always have a home here, but I will not have you insulting my wife in her home. Now get out. I will be more than happy to drop Jack off whenever you want him. But you cannot walk in here unannounced and then attack me in front of my wife. I will not allow it." He finished forcefully.

Too angry to speak, Hayley composed herself enough to say "Tomorrow. 3:00" and angrily bolted from what had been her home.

JJ gracefully descended the stairs moments after Hayley slammed the door in her dramatic exit. "You ok?" She offered

"Yeah, she's always been a little...theatrical. She'll be ok." He said rubbing his forehead.

"Well, I heard what you said. Thank you." She kissed him quickly, grateful that he would defend her even when she wasn't around.

"Hmm, that just reminded me of something important I was doing before she came, where were we?" Hotch smiled as he pulled her close and kissed her passionately.

"Daddy! JJ! Where'd you go?" The cry interrupted the two

Sighing, JJ pulled away from Hotch and began walking up to rejoin the child upstairs expecting Hotch to follow behind. Hotch grabbed her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder as before, careful to place her back and not her stomach on his shoulder. "Ahh, now I remember" He said laughingly as he climbed the stairs with the laughing woman flailing in the air.

"JJ are you coming? We're going to be late for work!" He called up the stairs. Truthfully there was no way they would be late because they were always first in the office, but he hated waiting forever in the foyer while she applied makeup or did whatever she did that took so long.

Finally coming down the stairs he caught a glimpse of the woman he had been sharing his home with for only days. The sight of her still made him tingle with excitement. "Why do you always get so upset? We beat the rest of the team by at least a half hour." She pointed out, grabbing her purse and cell phone.

The couple darted to the car, only for Hotch to find the front tire flat. "This can't be happening" He groaned.

"Oh, relax, I'll just call AAA, and get somebody to fix it." JJ comforted

"Hey. Yeah, I've got a flat tire. 3142 Blakely St. Thanks!" She said, ending the call.

"They said they'd be here in a second. Don't get all grouchy on me!" She teased tapping his butt softly as he bent over to inspect the tire.

"It doesn't look like there's a hole, it looks like somebody just let the air out of the tire." He said standing up.

"What does it matter? It'll be fine." Oh he was adorable when he was concentrating!

Jennifer looked beautiful in her business attire. He just couldn't stop thinking about her. All he had to do was let the air out of the tires while they were sleeping. Idiothe thought as the man with her inspected the tire. It was almost too easy. With all of his money, he could easily buy a cell phone intercepter. He intercepted her call and spoke lovingly to her pretending to be the car service company. She probably knew it was him, that he was only feet away from her out of their sight, she just couldn't let the other man know. He and Jennifer just needed a chance to be together. He stayed, watching her pretend to have affection for the other man, knowing that he couldn't just show up immediately--it would be suspicious. He also knew that she was just waiting for them to be together. Finally, after enough time had passed, he was able to drive up in a non-marked old truck that he had 'borrowed' from his father's company.

"Hey, you called for us?" He asked his lovely Jennifer.

"Yeah, our tire is flat and we've got to get to work" His Jennifer replied lovingly. He could tell by the grateful look in her eye that she felt for him everything he felt for her. Their mutual attraction seemed to radiate within him.

"Ok, let me get this fixed." He replied, brushing ever so closely to her.

The confused look she gave him was just for the other man's benefit. It wasn't their time yet, James knew that. Oh well, soon it would be.

"Yep. It's all good. Have a good day!" James grabbed the air pump and headed off in his truck parking just around the corner and reentering his parked white sedan so he could have a good view to watch them leave.

The man opened the door for her and she kissed him quickly before entering the car. Enfuriated James just clutched the wheel tightly and breathed deeply, remembering the exchange he had with her earlier. Laughing they pulled away while he kept a safe distance following behind.

AN/Let me know what you think!