Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N – Now everyone is going to know as Garcia opens her mouth and inserts her foot. :)

Chapter Nine

Hotch had just finished re-reading an email from JJ when Garcia barged into his office. "What is this?" She yelled as she slammed a file folder on to his desk.

Luckily for Garcia he was in a good mood. He raised a brow and opened the file. Crap. He forgot that Garcia had a tendency to come across stuff that she had no business seeing. He looked up at his technical analyst and leveled her with a stare. "How exactly did this come across your desk, Penelope?"

Not even bothering to appear guilty she loudly announced what the folder held. "This is a requisition request, sir!"

Hotch stared up at her and calmly replied. "I'm well aware of that, Garcia."

"More specifically this is a requisition request to replace Jennifer Jareau." Finding it set her carefully constructed, already in motion, plans haywire.

"You're replacing JJ?" Hearing the raised voice, Rossi meandered from his office to see what the hubbub was.

"You promised JJ that her job would be waiting for her when she returned!" Penelope shouted, not giving Hotch an opportunity to speak.

"I am well aware what my agreement with JJ was." The tone of his voice would have alerted anyone other than Penelope Garcia to tread lightly.

Charging full steam ahead she exploded. "So this is how you treat eight years of loyalty? This is unforgivable! I have to tell you, sir, I never expected this of you."

"Now Penny…" Rossi tried to intervene, sure that there was something more to it that neither of them were aware of.

Penelope spun on him. "Don't you dare stick up for him!" She turned back to Hotch. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I don't have anything to say for myself." Hotch responded coolly. "I do not need to justify my actions with you Garcia."

Still hoping to defuse the situation Rossi began again. "Aaron..."

"But, but, but you promised." Garcia wailed.

Angry that Penelope would jump to the conclusion that he would so easily misplace JJ had him responding sharply. "Any agreement that I made was with Agent Jareau, any changes to that agreement would have been fully discussed with Agent Jareau."

"You've spoken to JJ?" The pronouncement took the wind out of Penelope's sails. "Why would you replace her?" Her eyes got wide. "Oh my stars. She's not coming back is she?" She sunk in the chair in front of Hotch's desk. "She's going to stay there with Emily and I'll never get to see my little godson or the Chocolate Prince."

"Chocolate Prince?" Rossi questioned, not having heard that nickname before.

"Derek's baby." Garcia mumbled, her mind racing at the implications that this would present. How could she fix this?

"JJ is having Derek's baby?" Rossi asked incredulously, his eyes pinning Hotch looking for an answer.

At that Garcia looked up, "What? No. Emily is having Derek's baby."

"Did I just hear you say Emily's pregnant?" Reid stepped in through the open office door. "Are you sure? Emily Prentiss?"

"Emily and Derek are having a baby?" Rossi looked at Garcia then back over to Hotch for confirmation not sure that he had heard correctly. "Together?"

Having followed Reid up the stairs anxious to see what was going on in Hotch's office Derek came in on that last comment. "Oh Baby Girl."

Guilty eyes flashed over to the man that just walked in the office. "It just came out."

"Really?" Derek stared at her. "Just like that?"

Garcia winced. "Well to be fair, Hotch had me all flustered with a request to replace JJ." She glared at the man in question.

"Wait, you're replacing JJ?" Reid asked. "I thought you told her you'd hold her job?"

"See!"

"What the hell is going on around here?" Rossi hollered.

"An excellent question David, one that I would like an answer to myself." Erin Strauss declared entering the BAU Unit Chief's office and fixing Hotch with a glare of her own.

Hotch was just about to respond when his phone began to ring. "I would appreciate it if you could all remove yourself from my office. We're here to do a job people, not discuss people's private lives." He gave them his patented glare and watched as they unhappily began to file out of his office.

"This isn't over yet." Rossi grumbled as he watched the younger man bark into his phone.

"Close the door please." Hotch instructed as Reid, the last one to leave, looked back at him in genuine confusion. He was probably going to have to explain what was going on with JJ but he'd be damned if he was going to discuss what was going on with Derek and Emily. He sighed heavily as he dropped his head.

"Can you talk?"

The sweetly asked question had his mood altering immediately. "For you? Absolutely. I just needed to clear my office." He blew out a frustrated breath. "Garcia found the request for your replacement. In typical Garcia fashion she charged into my office and began to raise a ruckus which brought the rest of the team in." He sighed heavily. "I have a short reprieve; you can help me decide what I'm going to tell them."

"Do me a favor and remind Garcia that we had a conversation about me knowing what was best for me." Her voice had an edge to it that Hotch was just picking up on.

"JJ, is everything okay?"

She was quiet for so long that Hotch started to get worried. "She convinced Will to come over and fight for me."

"She did what!" His brain had stopped functioning. His romance was going to be over before it ever really began. He started mourning the loss of her. Already dreading the answer he couldn't help but ask. "Oh. Well. So should I just tear up that requisition request?" And go back to my sad existence.

"I thought we agreed that we can't have a relationship if I'm working for you, or is this your way of telling me you're no longer interested?" JJ snapped.

And just like that he was able to breathe again. "Of course I'm still interested." He was quick to reply. "I'm trying to be noble. If you're having second thoughts about…"

Her sigh was audible. "I'm not, Aaron. Not at all."

The use of his name brought a smile to his face. Again he regretted that she was so far away from him, but in a way he was also glad. It gave him the opportunity to be bolder than he would have had she been here with him. "Thank God. I was almost in full blown panic mode. I didn't like the idea that we were going to be over before we actually really begun. I was mentally checking into the next school holiday and wondering how Jack would feel about visiting London."

"You were thinking of flying over here to see me?" The tension in her voice had completely disappeared at his admission.

"Both United and American Airlines have nonstop flights out of IAD; it would cost me about two grand. Sure I'd have to borrow from Jack's college fund but he's a smart kid, he can probably get a scholarship." He chuckled. "I may have considered the idea before today."

"You are not dipping into your son's college fund. As much as I want to see you, that is not an option."

He had known that would be her response. "I also have an extremely wealthy friend. I bet he'd be willing to part with the cash. I'll just tell him it's needed for getting me laid. He would support that."

Knowing that it was Rossi he was referring to she agreed. He would definitely support that cause. "You're pretty sure of yourself." She said laughingly.

"Am I wrong?" Hotch asked softly.

"No you are not." JJ sighed, then added softly, "I'm really glad I called you."

"I'm really glad you did too." Hotch replied then brought the subject back to the original topic. "What are you going to do about Will, JJ?"

"Aaron?"

The hesitation had him bracing for another bombshell. "Yeah?"

"I told him that I loved him, but I was not in love with him and I couldn't see that happening because I had feelings for someone else."

He blew out a breath wishing again that he could be there for her. "How did that go over?"

"He knew." JJ's voice cracked. "In fact, he knew it was you that I was talking about. He said that he always suspected that I was half in love with you anyway and that if it hadn't been for Henry you and I would have gotten together long before now."

Hotch was quiet for a second before noting. "Jeez, maybe Will should become a profiler."

"Aaron." Her tone held a gentle reproof.

He could visualize her nibbling away at her bottom lip in worry. "He's not wrong, JJ. We've always had a closeness and with that an attraction, and while I'm incredibly sorry that Will is hurting I'm also incredibly glad that you are no longer with him. I know that makes me a selfish ass, but you not being with him leaves the door open for me, and I've been waiting for that opening for a long time."

"Why did you have to wait until I flew to England to decide to declare it?" JJ huffed, extremely frustrated by the distance between them.

"I was just waiting for you to be ready."

"Well consider the wait over."

~~~CM~~~CM~~~CM

"Who the hell is he on the phone with?" David Rossi growled as he noticed that the phone was still pressed to his friend's ear.

"Why are you so worried about it?" Erin Strauss watched as her lover stalked back in his office. "I'm sure it most likely has to do with a consult. I can't imagine Aaron being on a personal call for any length of time."

"Oh it's personal." Rossi argued. "He was smiling." He looked over at Strauss. "I'd bet my left nut he's on the line with a woman. He looked positively giddy."

"That's charming, David." She shook her head. "Perhaps he's on the line with Jennifer Jareau. Maybe that's the reason she is pursuing another opportunity." She frowned slightly. "She's a bright girl I've never understood why she aligned herself to Aaron in the first place." She resumed the task that she had been working on when he arrived in her office.

"JJ and Hotch?" Rossi pondered that for a minute. "You might be on to something there, Toots."

The pen stopped writing and she glared up at him. "Can you not refer to me in cutesy terms here in the office, please?"

"Sure thing, babe." He had turned back to the door so he missed her glare. "JJ and Hotch. Hmmm. I don't know; I'm not sure I can see it." He turned back around to face Erin, his face all scrunched up considering the possibility.

"What's to see?" She scoffed. "They are both dedicated professionals, both single parents of boys, they are both very attractive…"

"You think Aaron is attractive?" Rossi interrupted.

Erin sighed. "Yes David, I think Aaron is attractive. Would you prefer I lied?" She had a talent for looking down at him even while she was sitting at her desk and he was standing.

"No, no." He waved his hand. "I'm just surprised; it's no secret that you're not his biggest fan."

"We butt heads; he has a different style than I do. However, I sincerely appreciate everything he has done for the BAU." She paused and placed her pen down and removed her eye glasses giving Rossi her full attention. "I don't have anything against the man, honestly." At his incredulous look she conceded. "Okay, maybe a few years ago." She allowed. "But the fact is he's very good at his job and," She smiled widely, "He is very good looking."

"He's kind of uptight." Rossi mumbled, irritated by her admission.

Erin shrugged. "You say uptight, I say focused." She laughed at the fierce expression on his face. "What bothers you most, David, the fact that I find Aaron attractive, or the possibility that I could envision a romance that you didn't foresee?" She watched as he frowned.

"Did you ever consider, you know?"

Erin rolled her eyes. "God no, just because I find a man attractive I don't imagine myself in bed with them. Lord if that were the case you should worry more about Derek Morgan than Aaron Hotchner. Heavens, even Agent Reid looks good enough to eat when he's not sporting that ridiculous long hair. Honestly, what is wrong with today's youth? Long hair." She broke off to find him grinning at her. "Wipe that ridiculous smirk off your face."

"I can't help it. You just admitted to fantasizing about the entire BAU."

"I did no such thing." She calmly picked up her glasses and placed them back on before grabbing her pen and resuming her earlier posture. "You keep me far too busy to wonder about other men."

"I don't need you to appease my vanity." He grumbled.

"Sweetheart, I wouldn't dream of trying to pacify you. If anything I'm just letting you know that I'm a woman that believes in keeping my options open. You start to slip and I might need to look at finding myself a younger lover. I do have such lovely options." She winked at him when his mouth fell open.

"I think I'll go check and see if Aaron is off his phone." He scowled at her as he left her office.

Thank you for reading and as always thank you so much for the reviews and follows. They really do mean a lot and I appreciate every one!