JJ felt conflicting emotions at the end of the case in Kansas City. While she was glad that they had wrapped things up quickly, there was a part of her that hated how things had ended. It reminded her too much of her own relationship with Will, and the secrets she had kept from him and the team, the way that she was still trying to project a calm demeanor, as if nothing ever ruffled her feathers.

Sighing, she adjusted the strap of her bag and got on the jet behind Blake. Plopping onto the long set of seats, she stretched out and let her bag fall to the floor as she deliberately closed her eyes and tried not to pay attention to the swirl of activity around her. The hours slipped by without her being able to fall asleep, though she did hear the noises slowly settle down into the rhythm of evening.

Still, JJ didn't open her eyes, until the end of the seat dipped down beneath someone's weight. Cautiously, she slid one eye open, seeing Hotch sitting there, a bemused smile on his lips. She smiled back at him and sat up a little, to give him more room. "Hey," JJ said quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Hey. So, did you get a chance to check in on Captain McGee?"

She shook her head. "No, though he still is with the force. I had Garcia check to see if he had moved on or not. Turns out, he's now heading up the Missing Persons Unit, which seems like the perfect fit for him."

"Yes, it does." There was a heaviness to his voice that she hadn't expected to be there, and JJ frowned a little as she looked into Hotch's eyes, trying to suss out what was bothering him. "Quit trying to profile me," he said, and she shook her head.

"I'm not profiling you, I'm trying to figure out what's bothering you."

A heavy sigh erupted from his lips as he scooted back on the seat, picking up her legs and setting them on his lap so that she would be comfortable, too. "Beth accepted a job in New York. It's an amazing opportunity for her, don't get me wrong, it's just going to be hard to pull off a long distance relationship. How did you and Will make it work for so long?"

A part of JJ thrilled at the notion of Beth being far away from Hotch, even though she knew that there wasn't anything that could happen between the two of them now. After all, she was married, and it wouldn't be fair to Will if she cheated on him. It would just be another in a long list of failures in their relationship. "It was hard, I'm not going to lie," she finally said, worrying her lower lip between her teeth as she thought of what to say next. "But, every weekend that I could, I would go down and see him. His being a detective really helped us out in that department, since he normally didn't work on the weekends."

"That must have cost you a fortune," he murmured as he absently ran his hand up and down her lower leg. She nodded a little, thinking back to that heady time when she had been newly in love, and there hadn't been any issues between them. "But you made it work."

"We did. Even if I feel like it was the wrong decision at times. He just doesn't get the BAU, you know?"

"I do. Haley never got the drive of the job, either. I could never make her understand that I do what I do so that the world will be a safer place for Jack, that he'll see that the dragons don't always win, that good still triumphs occasionally."

JJ nodded as she blinked back tears. "Exactly. And I thought that Will would totally get that, seeing as how he's in the same line of work. He's been asking me to give up the BAU, to transfer to White Collar Crimes, so that I can have a steady nine to five job. I would die if I was forced into something like that. The BAU is my home, and my family, too."

She hadn't meant to reveal quite so much of herself, and she looked away from Hotch to stare at the floor of the jet. Every nerve in her body was aware, though, of how his hand paused on her knee, squeezing a little, as if to tell her that he understood completely. "And we always do what we have to, to protect our family."

In that moment, she knew that he was thinking of Emily, and how much it had hurt him to keep the truth from the team, just as much as it had hurt her. Looking up, their eyes met and she drew in a deep breath at the hurt that lingered in his gaze, even as he quickly shuttered that part of his soul away from her. "That we do, Hotch. You know, I talked to Emily the other day, and she's getting settled in at Interpol quite well. Though she would love to have us over for a visit. Maybe we could finagle a way to all get leave at the same time."

"The last time they gave us that, we had to deal with the fallout from the Fisher King case. I was specifically told by Strauss to not let something like that happen ever again."

She smiled as she let out quiet laugh. "Erin does know that we cannot predict the behavior of the unsubs, right?"

Hotch cocked his head to one side, and JJ wondered what she had said to make him give her that look. "You know, you're calling Strauss by her given name quite a bit lately. Is there something there that I should know about?"

JJ shook her head a little, mentally kicking herself for giving her budding something that wasn't quite friendship with the woman away. "Not really, no. Like I've said, I'm just trying to be a nicer person in general. And she helped me get the budget finished in no time flat, without any questions about why I was doing it."

He nodded a little, though she could tell that he was still trying to assess her. "I suppose that her relationship with Dave has mellowed her out a little," he finally said, giving her a small smile. She smiled back before making herself more comfortable on the seat, letting her eyes close once more.

This time, it didn't seem like sleep would be too long in coming, and as Hotch continued to rub her legs in slow, soothing, motions, JJ let herself drift off, knowing that no matter what happened, he would protect her from the world at large. A small part of her, though, was worried about the fact that she found that she could count on her boss more than her husband. She hadn't taken those vows lightly, and she knew that Hotch also took vows seriously.

Sighing deeply, she turned on her side and ground her hip into the stiff seat of the plane as she let go of all the troubles that were haunting her brain, instead choosing to focus on the way that Hotch's hands made her feel in that moment as sleep finally claimed her.