A/N: Well, you guys were helpful… I'm sorry if I didn't use your idea, if you read all of my reviews for chapter four, you'll see why I couldn't use everyone's. By the way, this is all fluff and very little humor. Just so you know.
"Aaron Hotchner." I smiled. Oh, yeah, Aaron Hotchner, I remembered him! I was looking forward to this date! When I walked into the BAU the next day, Strauss smiled tightly.
"I hear that your dates so far haven't gone so well. Is this going to be a problem anymore?" I shook my head.
"It won't be as long as the gentlemen are, well, gentlemen!" Aaron walked out.
"Jean? It's time to go." I nodded. He opened the door for me as we walked out of the BAU.
"Wait, so, where are we going?" Hotch turned to me.
"The rules say that I get to choose where we go…" Oh, boy, I thought,
"And I want to go wherever you choose." I looked at him, surprised. He smiled slightly.
"After your other dates, I figured you might want one that is actually enjoyable, and getting to choose where we go might help that." I smiled at him.
"Hmmm… a picnic lunch in the park sounds nice… too bad there isn't one packed…" He opened the door to his car, held it open for me while I got in, and closed it gently behind me. He took his place in the driver's seat, and said,
"We could stop by my house and pack one if you want to." I nodded.
"That sounds good." He glanced at me almost apologetically.
"My son is at home, and he'll probably say something about you or to you. His baby-sitter is watching him, but she can only keep so close an eye on him…" I nodded.
"That's fine." We made small talk on the way there: how I got involved in the drawing, how the BAU worked, what kind of picnic lunch to eat, ect. When we arrived at his house he opened the door to let me out of the car, and held the door to let me into his house. I smiled at the woman holding a toy truck as a young boy was jumping up to get it. It was obvious they were both having fun. The boy stopped suddenly and looked at me.
"My name's Jack. Are you daddy's girlfriend?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aaron blush. I smiled.
"For today, yes." He frowned.
"Why just for today?" I answered,
"Well, I won a date with your daddy and each of the men he works with. Today it's his turn, tomorrow it's another person's turn." He nodded, but I could see he was still confused.
"Will you play cars with me?"
"I would, but I have to go help your daddy pack lunch." I really did want to stay and play with the kid, but I couldn't just ask Aaron to pack the lunch all by himself. He apparently sensed my dilemma, because he said,
"No, Jean, it's ok. You already told me exactly what you want to eat. I'll fix it." I smiled at him gratefully. He smiled back. I had heard that Aaron Hotchner didn't smile. I guess they were wrong. He did smile. And his smiles were dazzling.
"Are you going to stare at the kitchen, or are you going to play cars with me?" Jack's voice brought me back to reality.
"Cars. Have you ever heard of the game 'Drive 'n surprise'?" He shook his head.
"Well, you take the car, and drive it by someone," I said as I did so,
"And suddenly… SURPRISE!" I started tickling him. He giggled. I felt someone's eyes on me, but decided to ignore them.
"Well, how do you like that? Laughing when I'm giving instructions!" I faked offense.
"I'll just have to repeat the rules. See, you take the car, you drive by someone, and suddenly," I felt someone right behind me, and a voice whispering,
"Surprise!" I jumped up, startled, and spun around. There stood Aaron, a trace of a smile on his lips.
"Don't do that!" I exclaimed, trying to glare at his. Soon, however, we were both laughing. Jack spoke up,
"Where are you guys going to go eat?" Aaron answered,
"A picnic at the park." Jack squealed,
"Can I come?" I saw out of the corner of my eye that Aaron was absolutely mortified by this, although he hid it well.
"If it's ok with your dad, I see no reason why not." Aaron looked at me, surprised. I smiled. He shrugged.
"Ok, if it's ok with her, it's ok with me." Jack grinned.
"Yay!" When we got into the car, he held the door open for me again. I happily settled into the seat. This was going a lot better than some- make that all- of the other dates.
The drive to the park was fairly focused on Jack- School, hobbies, ect.
When we reached the park, Aaron again got my door. This was nice. We found a picnic table and settled down. It was at that moment that I realized that we hadn't packed anything for Jack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that woman-Jessica? Hurrying up behind us. She handed Jack a paper bag.
"Thanks." I said. She nodded and hurried off. Jack ate quickly, before begging to go feed the ducks in the pond. Aaron shook his head.
"We don't have anything to feed them." Jack frowned. I closed my eyes for a moment, before saying,
"Well, see that nice family over there?" Jack nodded.
"The woman is my friend, Nicole. I have a feeling that if you asked nicely, they would give you some of their bread!" Jack grinned.
"Can I, Daddy? Please?" Aaron glanced at me.
"How well do you know them?" I laughed.
"Well, I've known her since Pre-K, and we met him in fifth grade." He nodded.
"Ok, go ahead." Jack ran over to them, pointing in Aaron and my direction. Nicole smiled, waved at me, and handed Jack a few pieces of bread. He started feeding the ducks, and I turned back to Aaron. He smiled lightly.
"Thanks for letting Jack come." I smiled at him.
"No problem. He's a sweet kid." Aaron's smile stayed in place, which I was very pleased about.
"So, Nicole is a friend you've known for a while?" I nodded.
"Hmm... You said some old friends were giving you a hard time, which is why you signed up for the drawing. Was she one of them?" I smiled and nodded. I saw him blush slightly as he said,
"I'm glad she did." I smiled.
"Me too." He looked thoughtfully at the man, before asking,
"What was your first impression of her husband?" I could see in his eyes that he had no idea where that came from. I laughed lightly.
"Nicky and I both laughed at him the first day, actually. He was trying to get the attention of the most popular girl in our school, Rebecca Clarkson. She just rolled her eyes at him, like he was some sort of pest. One day, though, she took it too far, by gathering a crowd around and asking him if he wanted to go to the dance, and he of course was thrilled, saying 'yes' immediately, and she said loudly, 'well too bad! I'm going with my boyfriend'! I was furious. I mean, just because he wasn't popular didn't give her a right to do something like that! I glanced at Nicky, who nodded, and we made a big scene about how she had no right to do that, and then Nicky asked him to go to the dance. She said she wasn't popular, but she wouldn't back out on him. And from that day forward, they were the 'it' couple at school." I suddenly stopped, realizing that that was probably way more than he wanted to know. He smiled.
"Well, it sounds like you two caused a little bit of trouble in school!" I laughed.
"Kind of. We have this habit of sticking up for the underdog, but not caring what happens to the big dogs." His smile stayed on his face. I was glad. I heard he didn't relax enough to smile much. Just then, Nicole walked up.
"Um, I hate to bother you guys, but I think Jack's getting tired." We looked over where she was pointing, and laughed out loud. Jack was laying with his head on Nicole's husband's lap.
"Thanks, Nicky. It's getting late, anyway." As we walked over to Jack, Aaron quietly slipped his hand into mine. I didn't say anything, but as we kept walking, I thought, "This is the best date I've ever been on." Aaron let go of my hand to scoop up Jack, and we walked back to the car. Without even discussing it, I opened the door, and he put Jack in the car. He closed Jack's door, and opened mine. We drove back to his house to drop off Jack in silence, but a comfortable one. Jessica came out to the car and picked up Jack silently. She waved at us. We waved back, and Aaron drove off, heading for my house. He walked me to my door, and he leaned in and kissed me. I saw him blush, as he quietly said,
"The rule." I nodded, and walked inside waving over my shoulder. Half an hour later, I settled into my bed and wrote,
"On a scale of 1 to 10? 10! He was a perfect gentleman, and we had a great time!" Strauss called and said,
"Your next date will be with…"
A/N: Wow, this did not turn out the way I had planned! Can you believe that there is only one date left? I can't!
