Chapter 2
Hotch continued to stare at the back of his office door after Rossi departed. " How dare he make a move on JJ, he knows she's off limits." He angrily thought to himself as he began to fume at the thought of the man even laying a finger on JJ. Even though he frequently considered David Rossi to be one of his best friends, this is a place where he would draw the line. As he could feel his blood pressure beginning to rise he stopped to take a deep breath as a calming revelation entered his mind. "Wait, Rossi may be a playboy but JJ won't give him the time of day, he's just wasting his time," he finally told himself, a smile on his face as he imagined his friend striking out. With this firm conviction and faith in JJ's ability to keep a level head on her shoulders he was able to pick up his files and return to work without giving it another thought as the day passed quickly by.
Five o'clock arrived quickly as Hotch closed up his briefcase, eager to pick up Jack and get home for some quality time before the next case would come along to take him away from his son yet again. As he was making his beeline for the elevator his steps slowed as he saw Rossi in the bullpen, talking animatedly with JJ while the rest of the team also remained to work. His good mood dissipated almost instantly as he changed the course of his steps to walk into the bullpen to see what was going on, feeling frustrated when everyone stopped talking to give him their attention. "How am I supposed to know what's going on if they stop talking everytime I walk in?" Hotch's thoughts brought a scowl to his face as he saw a look of confusion cross his teams faces. "Just thought I'd say goodnight everyone, hope you're not planning to stay too late." He finally said the only thing that came to mind to explain his behavior as he turned to leave, choosing to ignore the questioning looks on the teams faces at his unusual behavior, walking faster than normal to his car as he tried to replay the moments in his mind, trying to recall the look on JJ's face as she had talked with Rossi before his arrival.
Sleep was difficult to find that night for Aaron Hotchner as he lay in bed, long after Jack had gone to sleep. His mind churning with possibilities as he tried to imagine what Rossi might be doing now, fighting an irrational fear that he might have already gotten JJ in his clutches. Hotch tried to remind himself to have faith in JJ's judgment abilities and to focus on her good sense rather than what he knew of Dave's approach to relationships. An unbidden image came to his mind as he briefly thought of JJ in the well-used bed with its custom oak framework and even satin sheets from what Dave had bragged about to him previously in discussing some of his exploits. He again reminded himself to focus on his faith in JJ who wouldn't be that easy to attain no matter what tricks Rossi tried to pull.
"Damn him," Hotch cursed into his pillow, angry that his friend had decided to make a move, he had thought it was understood, even if never verbalized that he had feelings for JJ. He had stood back for so long, waiting until the right time. When Will had dumped her so unceremoniously over the phone he all but circled the date on the calendar as he began planning a one year wait to give her enough time to heal to ensure he wasn't a rebound relationship. He had already started thinking about how he would begin a cautious but organized pursuit by suggesting that they do something with the boys and then start moving things up from there. As fast as Rossi had been known to move Hotch knew he didn't have six months to wait if JJ was even the least bit receptive to the older man's advances. Hotch didn't need to know the reputation of his friend to know that with Dave was an expert at insinuating himself into things and taking the proverbial inch for another mile.
As he felt his chest burn at the thought of JJ in Rossi's arms clarity came rushing to him as he knew that now he would have to watch closely and if JJ didn't shut the Italian down cold then he was going to have to step up his own timeline, he cared about her too much to not at least try see if things could work before letting her end up a notch on the bedpost.
AN: Thanks so much reviewers. Thanks to jltmysterylover, chiroho (I didn't know that FBI relationships weren't an issue… I wonder if it's more of a on the same team vs. just working for the same agency thing. Anyway thanks for the insight.), velizara95, stelmw02, Ezrazleo, Flames101 (Feel free to do one of your own, glad you like the idea but would be interesting to see how yours might differ, know it would be great), jekkah (do you really need to ask? LOL, I've been never read so much smutfic in my life as when I got to this fandom and the smutfic challenges aren't helping, lol, not that I'm complaining), whiteswan (glad it made you smile and thanks again)