Chapter 3

Hotch's senses were on full alert as he opened the glass doors into the Behavioral Analysis Unit, instantly annoyed to see Rossi in the bullpen laughing with the agents, he bristled as he skirted the bullpen to his office hearing JJ's words as she thanked Rossi for a wonderful evening. "Good morning everyone," he almost growled as he practically stomped to his office, disappointed that Rossi had managed to already make progress on his apparent conquest.

"What's up with Hotch?" Prentiss finally had to ask later in the morning as the team took a break from their paperwork, Rossi leaving long ago to seclude himself in his office. The team of profilers had become aware of the sour mood of their unit chief within just a few moments of his arrival when he uncharacteristically almost bit Derek's head off for turning in a report ten minutes late, followed soon after a distressed Garcia leaving his office, obviously close to tears.

"Good question, maybe JJ can go check," Derek said smoothly directing his comment to the blonde only a few feet away.

"Me, I don't want to walk into the lion's den," JJ quickly scoffed at the idea. She could tell when Hotch was in a mood and whatever had him stirred up today seemed to be pretty big.

"Oh come on, you know he's always nicer to you," Derek prodded as he glanced back up the stairs, seeing the door still closed even though the open blinds showed their leader working at his desk apparently reviewing files.

JJ thought a moment, seeing the hopeful looks of her teammates as she considered what they had said. She had to admit she rarely felt the brunt of their leader's wrath and despite her protest, they all knew as well as she did that it was generally only a token response if he seemed to growl at her. As his friend she did feel some genuine concern about what might have caused his mood. "Fine," she sighed as she rose to walk towards the stairs, "but you guys owe me," she had to throw out as she squared her shoulders and began the ascent to his office, trying to ignore the small flutter of trepidation in her stomach as she rapped on his door and heard the clipped invitation to enter.

"JJ, is there something I can do for you?" The busy unit chief asked brusquely, barely looking up as she entered, not wanting her to see his expressions as he felt his stomach clench in anger that he knew stemmed from jealousy at his feelings of betrayal even though she had really done nothing wrong.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," she said, aware even as she said it that she was crossing a line into his personal life. Her question had the desired result as he stopped his writing, looking up at her intently. The penetrating look in his eyes showing curiosity, anger and something else she couldn't quite define.

"I'm just fine JJ, you?" he asked, his words sounding like a normal exchange of pleasantries even though the tone was clearly insincere and patronizing. JJ felt a sting at his response, not used to being on the receiving end of this treatment.

"Aaron what the hell are you doing," his inner voice scolded him as he saw a look of hurt cross her face, "you're letting your jealousy and anger get in the way and you're going to push her right into Rossi's arms." Hotch was able to listen to this voice as he forced himself to relax. "I'm sorry JJ, that was uncalled for," he stated in a more sincere tone, pleased to see that he was apparently forgiven as the look of surprise was replaced by one of concern. It was one of the things that endeared her to him he realized, that caring and compassionate nature that always seemed to lurk not far beneath the surface no matter how tough she had to be in their daily situations.

"Is it anything I can help with, or we as a team" she finally asked feeling more at ease now that the Aaron Hotchner she was used to had reappeared and the icy look had melted from the dark eyes.

"No, just a lot on my mind," he began, intent on letting her go before the voice still in his mind gave him another swift kick as he found himself quickly trying to amend the statement, "I was thinking about taking Jack to the park this evening, maybe you and Henry would like to join us," He quickly invited before he lost his nerve, hoping it didn't sound as awkward to her as it did to his own ears.

"Oh that sounds great, but I already have plans," JJ responded warmly to his impromptu invitation even though she had so quickly turned him down. "I already promised Rossi I would go to his house for a cooking lesson, hey maybe you could come too," she suggested trying to keep the tone friendly even as she saw his face darken again.

"No, that's ok, I'll have Jack anyway, maybe some other time then," he responded trying to keep his voice neutral as he ignored the stab of pain he felt at her quick dismissal.

"Ok, well let me know when you guys are going again, or if there's anything I can do to help," the blonde agent tried to be friendly despite the cloud she had seen settle back over the man she was watching. She tried using her best profiling skills for a moment to find out what was wrong as he was still acting strangely, but he remained an expert at shutting others out when that was his intent and she realized she might as well be trying to profile his nameplate as she reluctantly rose to leave, his body language obviously telling her that he didn't have much more to say.

She walked down the stairs slowly, trying to formulate what she could report back to the team aside from the fact that he was under some sort of stress. Something strange was definitely going on but she had no idea what she realized as she walked back into the bullpen to tell her fellow profilers what little she knew.

AN: Thanks for the reviews: chiroho, (yep we'll see in the end), 14hhpgirl19, jekkah (hahaha, me write smut, probably never but I can certainly keep enjoying it), velizara95, and samcarter1980.