AN/ Alright, so I've been busy, but it drives me absolutely crazy to have stories unfinished. Sadly, i discovered that this chapter had been finished for a long time, so there really is no excuse. There should only be about one more (short) chapter after this, so Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Hotch paused in front of JJ's door. He had been doing this for nearly a half hour. Shaking his head, he sighed in frustration, This is too inapropriate. Tempted to walk off once more, Morgan's words reverbarated through his mind. "When in doubt, follow your heart."

Taking a deep breath, Hotch finally knocked hesitantly. When she opened the door seconds later he almost forgot what he wanted to say.

"It's about time you knocked" JJ muttered, still half asleep, "I thought you were going to pace outside my room all night."

"JJ, listen I have to tell you something..." Hotch interrupted quickly, his mind racing, "Wait. You knew I was out here?"

"Of course" JJ smiled, amused. "You kept sighing and muttering to yourself, but I never heard what you were saying. It looked like you were trying to figure out something so I just let you be."

"Oh" Hotch said softly, blushing slightly. "Sorry."

"It's okay,do you want to come in?" She gestured, trying to mask her interest in what Hotch could have found so important.

"No." He answered just a little to fast, "I just--" The words stopped, feeling like a heavy weight that he knew he had to push through.

"Well, what did you want to tell me?" She prodded curiously, leaning heavily on the door fram. Truthfully, it had taken every ounce of will-power she could muster to prevent herself from opening the door and confronting the man who had paced for what felt like hours. With the slight blush creeping up Hotch's cheeks, her curiosity was jumping through the roof.

He sighed, determined to at least force the words out of his mouth. "I just wanted to--" He paused involuntarily, his mouth suddenly dry. Why was this so hard? "I wanted to talk to you. About Will." He cringed as he saw JJ's face fall slightly.

"Oh." She stated lamely, ushering him into her hotel room. "Okay."

"I know what its like to be in a relationship where the other person thinks you should be giving more. I always regretted that I wasn't more willing to accommodate Hailey, and before I knew it, she was gone." He explained, not sure why he suddenly had the desire to stall.

JJ eyed him curiously. "Um, thanks." She stated. "I keep trying to tell myself that's what I should do, so--thanks." She couldn't help but feel slightly deflated. She'd known for a long time that she should be sacrificing more for her relationship, but something was holding her back. Standing up straight, she shook her head and grasped the door. "Thanks for the advice."

"Oh." He shifted awkwardly, easily sensing that JJ felt the conversation was over. "No. That's not what I meant." He scratched the back of his head. "What I meant, was that I don't think you should go back to Will." He winced as he realized how odd his statment sounded. "I mean, I don't think that you should marry him. I think you know that there's something else, something better." Hotch cursed himself as he tried to organize his jumbled thoughts. This was not going the way he had intended.

"Why?" She was genuinely curious now, and honestly had no idea where this was coming from. JJ couldn't help but smile at Hotch's obvious nervousness.

"Because--" He sighed, realizing that no matter what, JJ deserved nothing less than the truth. "This is going to sound crazy, but when I hit my head, I woke up somewhere else." He winced at the skeptical look on her face.

"Somewhere else?" She pulled away from him slightly, concerned by what he was saying. "Like you had a concussion and didn't remember getting there?"

"Will you just promise to hear me out?" He asked, knowing that this would take a lot longer if she insisted on repeating everything he said.

She nodded silently, respecting him enough to let him continue to explain.

"No. Like I woke up and it was five years from now." He explained. "I saw my future, our future. JJ, I don't want you to marry Will because I want to be with you."

JJ shifted uneasily, like she was trying to figure out where he was going with this and if he was crazy, but he continued, "We were married and these four beautiful kids, well three and one on the way, and Garcia was married to my brother..."

Stifling the chuckle that errupted within her, JJ held up her hand. "Garcia married Sean? Hotch--" She shook her head. "I don't know what to say."

"JJ, just listen to me, okay?" He asked again, his mind spinning to put together a coherent explanation that didn't make him sound like he had lost touch with reality.

"Fine." She relented, silently reminding herself to request Hotch to get a psych eval.

He sighed, then pressed forward. There was no going back now. "I don't know if it was a dream. But now, I know what I want. This life of ours, it wasn't perfect, we had problems, but it was okay because we were doing it together."

"Hotch--"

"No, JJ. I don't care what you say, I'll wait. I'll be here. Because I've seen what's in store for us. This" He gestured between them, "this is right."

JJ sat silently, contemplating his empassioned speech. She had long ago dismissed the possibility that the electricity between her and Hotch was completely one-sided. The possibility that he felt even remotely the same way was intriguing at least. "We had a daughter?" She asked after a moment.

He nodded, smiling. "She was beautiful."

"I'm...I'm going to need time to think about this." JJ added nervously, this was more than alot to take in.

"But you'll think about it? That's all I'm asking."

"I'll think about it, I promise." JJ whispered, her eyes focused on him, "Do you think you could give me some time alone to to think?"

"Sure" He smiled, knowing that nothing good would come of pushing the issue further. He had laid it on the line, and now it was JJ's turn. Unwilling to let the matter drop, he added one final statement, "JJ, it doesn't matter what you decide, because I've seen what we could be together, and I'll be waiting."

With that, he turned and walked back to his room, hoping that JJ would choose the future he knew they could have.