Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and alerted to this story. I understand how this subject could be personal both to victims of abuse and to those who may have second hand experience. For that reason, I welcome anonymous and signed reviews. Constructive criticism to this story, and any others, is genuinely appreciated.

Sorry it took me a while to post new chapters, I just moved and life is crazy.

Nearly a week later, Hotch was pulled from a deep sleep by an incessant pounding that seemed to be coming from his front door. His stomach sinking, he quickly stood and pulled on a shirt before rushing to the door and throwing it open in the hope to usher the only woman who would be knocking at his door at this hour into a safe haven, protected from the evil influences she didn't seem able to see.

One day would be different. One day she would be ready to leave. One day she would be ready to put this all behind her.

And when it came, he would be right there beside her. But until then, the only thing he could do was to wait and pray that 'one day' would be today.

"Is she here?" Will asked, his fist still raised to continue his assault on Hotch's front door.

Hotch frowned at the sight of the younger man, well aware that his response could teeter the precarious scale of JJ's home life. Anything he said that hinted that JJ had told him about the situation would only be used to hurt her.

And he would die before he let that happen.

"Who?" Hotch yawned, shocked to see the younger man at his doorstep. Though his hair was still tousled from sleep, he feigned ignorance lest he make the situation any worse for JJ.

For JJ.

That was all he ever thought about anymore.

"JJ? Is she here?" Will demanded sharply.

"No." Hotch replied, his voice surprised at the thought that JJ would have gone somewhere else than the sanctuary of his two-story home.

"Bitch." Will muttered under his breath, though still appeared to have some hold on reality as he smiled apologetically at Hotch, deceptively trying to hide the monster that lurked beneath the surface. "Hotch, I'm so sorry to wake you, I just am so worried about her. I thought she might come here."

Will frowned as his mind jumped to analyze the next locations he should check. He hadn't actually expected her to show up here, but the fact that Hotch lived close made it a possibility. And right now, Will LaMontagne had one objective: he had to find her. She had to know she couldn't leave him.

He wouldn't let her.

"She could be at Garcia's." Hotch offered, hoping that Will had already wasted time looking there. His heart sank slightly at the thought that JJ had gone somewhere outside the safety that his own home provided. He forced away the thought that he liked being the safehouse she could run to.

As long as she was safe, nothing else really mattered.

Will shook his head with frustration as he quickly dismissed Hotch's suggestion. "She knows better than to go running off to Garcia's after we have a fight." He murmured.

Hotch's face paled as he realized the eclectic tech might not have told him everything that had happened before he became aware of JJ's situation.

And he felt struck once again that with each stone that was unearthed in this awful situation, he only learned that there was far more happening than he could ever imagine.

He felt sadly certain that whatever was about to happen next wasn't good.

"If you hear from her, will you let me know?" Will asked, his voice urgent as if he were the perfect boyfriend searching desperately for his missing girlfriend.

But Hotch knew better.

Whether the man knew it or not, he was a monster.

And Hotch would die before he betrayed JJ.

"Sure." He murmured, grateful for a reputation as a stoic block of stone that made it easier to mask his utter disgust at the other man who smiled and took his leave.

One day, this would all turn out differently.

One day, there would not be the threat of future retaliation by a man too coward to fight someone his own size.

One day, Hotch would exact revenge for the terror this man had inflicted on his own family.

And Hotch would be waiting.

Tears ran down JJ's face as she sat on the cold park bench in the dark, pulling her son closer to her as if by sheer proximity she could protect her sleeping child.

The late spring air was still cool at this late hour, but it was as if the coldness inside her seemed to chill the air around her.

Things had been so good lately.

Will got a job as a graveyard security guard, keeping him away from home during the long dark hours. Until tonight. Tonight he had come home to find her asleep, and just like she should have expected, an argument ensued.

But he had never threatened to take away her son before. He had never told her that he wouldn't let her leave. He had never warned her that he'd rather see her rot in hell than get custody of their son.

Tonight was different.

Tonight, she had been terrified.

She hadn't been nursing a split lip or icing her black eye. He hadn't raised a hand to her.

But for the first time, JJ saw the cold calculated seriousness in his eyes.

And she was afraid for her son.

When he had gone back to work, stealing her keys to keep her from leaving, she had just stood simply in shock before picking up her sleeping son and walking for God knows how long before collapsing on the park bench beneath her.

She couldn't go to Hotch, not after everything he had done for her.

Garcia had developed an ulcer - a direct result of worrying too much about her failing relationship - so even if her best friend hadn't been out of the question before, she definitely was now.

Tomorrow, she reasoned, she would see the light of day and realize it hadn't been that bad. That she was over reacting. That any threat she had imagined was the result of too little sleep.

But tonight in the cold starlight, all she felt was empty.

And afraid.

A week later, JJ found herself standing in front of Hotch's door for less happy reasons than an attempt to find a silly picture.

Or even that her boyfriend had simply hurt her feelings.

She had been walking on eggshells while Will's patience was waning more and more every day.

Tonight, there was no denying what had happened.

There could be no blissful ignorance as she buried her head in the sand.

Maybe tomorrow morning, she could come up with some way this could be her fault, some miniscule moment that she could have foreseen.

But right now, there was no more living in the dimly lit closet of denial.

Because tonight, her boyfriend had hit her.

He was a mean drunk, she knew that. But tonight he had been stone-cold sober.

And he was vicious.

She had always heard that abuse and alcohol went hand-in-hand. She always pictured abuse being accompanied only by an empty twelve-pack littering the coffee table.

But tonight was different.

Tonight she hadn't done anything wrong.

It had been perfect.

And he hit her anyway.

And after he hit her, he tried to tell her it was her fault. Tried to make her admit that she was wrong.

With a knife up against her throat and Will leering over her as he told her she could never leave him, denial flew right out the window.

It was as if a light bulb went off in her mind. The reality she had been shutting into a tight box had burst, cutting her almost as sharply as if Will's hand had twitched and sliced her skin.

She was being abused.

She shook her head as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair in disbelief. How had it come to this?

She forced herself to knock sharply on Hotch's front door, wincing as she thought of just how messed up her life had become.

This wasn't supposed to be her. Abuse, it happened to other people—to weak, stupid women.

Not to her.

"JJ?" Hotch asked, yanking the door open wide as he ushered the wide-eyed (and shock ridden) woman into his home, her son trailing behind. "What happened?" He asked, sickened at the fear he could feel radiating off her.

"Is it—Hotch—" She closed her eyes, as if begging her subconscious to wake her up from this nightmare with the opening of her eyes again. "Is it okay if I stay with you for a while?"

"Absolutely." He spoke quickly, without hesitation as she stood rooted to the spot just inside the door, biting her thumbnail as she seemed to be consumed with contemplating something horrific.

He leaned down and whispered to Henry, encouraging the boy to go upstairs and find Jack. Henry hesitated as he watched his mom closely, but eventually relented and headed upstairs, the action going completely unnoticed by JJ.

"Is everything alright?" He asked softly, hoping against all reason that tonight would be different. That she wouldn't go back again.

That she would be safe.

She looked at him, turmoil clearly etched along her face, "I need help." She admitted, tears pooling in her eyes.

His heart broke with a mixture of joy at her admission and being panged at the pure devastation that filled her voice. "I'm here JJ." He promised, pulling her into a hug as she fought the urge to sob against him. "I'm here."

"Hotch, I can't go back." She stated, her voice vulnerable and small as it caught against the emotion rising within her.

"No." He sighed with relief. "You can't."