Warning: this chapter will contain smut!
It was a long day that thankfully ended well; the team got the UNSUB, his latest victim rescued, and they made it back to the BAU with enough time to finish the paperwork for the case before the day was up.
Amalya was standing in Hotch's office, her hands in her pockets as she watched Hotch pack up his brief case. "Amalya, you don't have to stand there, I will follow you out." He told her.
"Uhuh!" she muttered, unconvinced.
"You don't trust me?" he asked incredulously.
"Trust you with my life? Yes," she started, "with leaving the office if I don't make sure of it? No."
His head snapped up from the file he was browsing, and couldn't help but genuinely chuckle at the unrepentant look on her face. She shrugged shamelessly at him, as he finally closed his brief case, and walked towards her.
"You kids done bickering?" Rossi called from Hotch's doorway.
"Yes, we are, baba." Amalya drawled sarcastically, as they turned around and followed him out of the office, and down the stairs.
"Baba?" Rossi inquired, looking back at her briefly as they headed for the door.
"It's Arabic for Dad." She told him simply, both her shoulders and Hotch's shaking with laughter at Rossi's indignant look.
"I hate you sometimes," he told her, as he pushed the door open and headed for the elevator.
"You love me," she shot back.
"Hey, guys." JJ greeted.
"You're still here?" Hotch wondered.
"Yeah, I have a couple more files to look over, and then I'll head home." She told him.
"How come you're not standing watch on her door?" Hotch asked indignantly.
"Because she actually knows how to make it home at the end of the day!" Amalya deadpanned cheekily.
"Actually, Am, I was hoping to talk to you for a minute?" she added, and Amalya was a bit surprised, but nodded nonetheless.
"Sure." She said without hesitation. It was a bit of an odd request, since they hadn't hung out outside of work, expcet with the team. "Rossi." She looked pointedly at the Italian, with a nod towards Hotch.
"Don't worry, I'm on it." Rossi assured her, just as the elevator's ding announced its arrival.
"You two know I can hear you, right?" Hotch asked incredulously.
"Good night, Hotch." Amalya called over shoulder as she followed JJ back to her office.
"You still wanna maintain that she doesn't mean more to you than the rest of us?" Rossi smirked.
"I seem to recall you calling Haley 'the purest thing in my life' once," Hotch reminded him.
Rossi shrugged. "Things were different back then; you two were still married and loved each other. Circumstances change; I'm sure you still love her, but you two are no longer a good fit together. So, what's stopping you?" Rossi pointed out.
"I meant that to point out that you were wrong before, so don't be over-confident now," Hotch corrected his assumption, while simultaneously dodging the question.
Rossi shook his head. "You deserve to be happy, Aaron. And I'm sure even Haley will be happy for you, so stop denying yourself the chance to find it."
JJ and Amalya walked into JJ's office, and JJ closed the door behind her. She was wringing her hands together, and sighing audibly and repeatedly.
"JJ, everything alright?" Amalya asked in worry.
"I want to take your advice on something, but it'll be kinda vague. Is that okay?" JJ asked her instead.
"Ok." The confused brunette answered.
"Have you ever turned down a job offer that was a step up the ladder? Higher pay-grade? More money and benefits? You know, a bit of a promotion?" she rambled.
"Yeah." Amalya answered without missing a beat.
"Did you ever regret it?" JJ wondered.
"If I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Amalya alluded, and JJ couldn't deny she was surprised.
"When Strauss sent me Foyet's file; I had other offers – with everything you just mentioned – that I put on the back burner until Foyet was neutralized. I could've taken one of them once he was, but here I am." She elaborated.
"Why? If you don't mind me asking," JJ inquired.
"Because those things aren't the only deciding factors for me, I look at the job as a whole. Every job has its price; so, I weight that against the benefits and the higher pay-grade and all that, and see. If the price is fair in my eyes, then so be it. If it's not, then I don't mind taking something with much less all that, but also a far less price to pay." She explained. "Everyone's meter is calibrated differently, JJ. You just have to find yours, and go by it." She added.
The blonde nodded, now more sure of her decision than ever.
They all huddled around Emily's desk, watching the drawn blinds on Hotch's office windows.
"Do you know why JJ's in there?" Morgan asked Emily.
"I have no idea," Emily denied genuinely.
But Amalya had a suspicion that she did; and it was related to her conversation with JJ from a few days before.
"Have his blinds ever been closed?" Penelope wondered in worry.
"Not since I got here," Amalya chimed in, not wanting her silence to be noticed.
"You and Hotch are usually the last to leave," Morgan started, "any ideas?" he bent his head towards the office slightly.
Amalya shook her head. "He didn't tell my anything." She answered honestly.
Her eyes met JJ's briefly when she exited Hotch's office, but the blonde walked over to the conference room rather than the bullpen. Amalya knew that if she followed her, it would look suspicious. The team moved towards Hotch when he descended the stairs, and immediately started discussing the case. She hung back at her desk, pretending to gather her belongings, until she saw JJ exit the conference room. She grabbed her go-bag and headed towards her, joining her as they headed for the double glass door.
"Our talk from a few days ago?" she wondered, and JJ sighed in frustration.
"Yeah, she thinks I'm making a mistake." JJ told her.
"Anything I can do?" Amalya asked.
"I don't think so." She told her.
"Let me know if there is." Amalya offered, just as they made it to Garcia, who handed them both their copies of the files.
As the case progressed, she noticed Hotch taking a few calls away from the team that he wouldn't share with them later on. And they weren't the ones he shared with Jack; the signature softness he would get when talking to his son was missing. And replaced by both worry and pain.
"Hotch, we can't lose her." Morgan almost pleaded with him after JJ went back to talk to the family.
"Strauss thinks we're all replaceable; I went over her head to try to explain that we're not." Hotch told him, but his voice wasn't convinced that he'd succeeded.
It all came to a halt when she saw Hotch exit an interview room, and take a call from Strauss. She followed him, but he didn't seem to notice. She heard his end of the call, and realized that whatever he tried to do, didn't work.
Hotch was devastated when he got off the phone, he didn't know how he was going to tell JJ, or the rest of the team. He turned around to head back to them, and found Amalya standing before him.
"It didn't work." It was a statement not a question, but he nodded painfully nonetheless.
"It's an executive decision, and they're not taking no for an answer." He told her, his voice shaken and choked up. She knew the fact that he couldn't protect JJ was weighing heavily on him.
"Yeah, we'll see about that!" she challenged darkly, the determination in her voice worrying him.
"Lya, I can't lose you too."
His voice had gone softer, more vulnerable, almost pleading. And he didn't usually call her 'Lya', so she knew he was really vulnerable if he did.
"You won't lose either of us." She assured him.
When they landed in D.C., Amalya vanished as soon as they got to Quantico, while he went straight to his office. He found JJ's exit interview on his desk, with a note from Strauss that it needed to be done before she left. That she'd bought her a few more days with them, but that was the best she could do. He tried Amalya's phone, but no luck. And so, with a heavy heart, he walked towards the conference room where JJ was packing up the files.
Their entire exchange was gut-wrenching for him; she was one of the earlier members that he'd hired, and held a great place in his heart. He didn't want to lose her; he didn't want to face the team with the fact that he cant protect them if the powers that be decided to end their careers tomorrow. He'd went to bat for them before and won, but this time…. this time he failed them.
"I'll miss you," he told her truthfully, the tears in his eyes genuine, as he moved to hug her. It only lasted a couple of seconds before he pulled back, and headed straight for his office without looking back at her. His resolve was breaking, and he didn't want her to see that.
JJ sighed loudly as she knew she now had to face the anger and pain of the rest of the team. She bought herself a few extra moments as she filled out her exit interview, before she finally went down to face them.
"No!" Emily objected softly.
"Wait a minute, I thought Hotch was supposed to…" Morgan started.
"It's above his pay-grade." She interrupted him. "Strauss's too." She added.
"They can't just take you away?" Reid murmured in disbelief, and she smiled sadly at him. He was still a little in denial when it came to how some things worked in the real world.
"So, we do nothing?" Emily asked.
"It's done." JJ told her.
"It can't be that simple." Morgan protested.
"It is." JJ chuckled humorlessly.
"This job is hard enough, what are they trying to do? Burry us?" his anger was starting to seep through.
"You're too good." A tearful Emily realized. "That's the problem."
"You're on everybody's wish-list," Rossi picked-up Emily's thought process. "Our loss is somebody else's gain." He told her, but she shook her head at the absurdity of the entire situation.
"They can't just take you away!" Reid repeated his earlier statement, his voice much more vulnerable now.
"They can't and they won't!" Amalya barged in, and they all whipped around towards her.
"What?" JJ's question was somewhere between a sob and a weak chuckle.
"Hotch!" Amalya called loudly, as she walked over to JJ with a piece of paper in her hand.
"If you sign this, you're staying." She told her, just as Hotch came out of his office, a hopeful look on his face.
"How did you…" JJ trailed off.
"There are slight changes in the job description, and since Hotch was going to take over your job anyways, they agreed to this," she started, her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. "You won't be traveling with us anymore, except for the cases we deem absolutely necessary," she continued, "the final decision of which case we'll take will be Hotch's, you'll simply be making briefs of the cases, assigning us our usual consults. And the cases we don't take will be divided up among us to provide profiles and recommendations. You can be loaned out to other agencies if whatever they want you for trumps what you're working on with us, and it can't be for more than a few cases a year for all the other agencies combined, and they can't do so without both your and Hotch's sign off!" she finished, taking in a large gulp of air.
"How did…." Emily started to wonder.
"This offer expires if Strauss walks in here and it's not signed, and she's in the elevator!" Amalya spoke urgently.
"But this will add to all of your workloads, especially Hotch!" JJ protested.
"JJ, take it. We'll figure it out." Hotch urged her.
"And you're all okay with this?" JJ sought confirmation.
"JJ, just sign the damned paper!" Garcia snapped urgently.
JJ chuckled, as she grabbed a pen off the nearest desk, and quickly scribbled her signature. "I don't know how you pulled this off, and I don't care, but I owe you!" she told Amalya as she signed. Amalya took the paper out of her hands the second she lifted the pen off of it, and sprinted towards Hotch – who was still standing in front of his office watching the exchange in disbelief – grabbing a file off her desk as she did, and sprung up the stairs – which was quite impressive considering she was wearing a tight skirt and heels.
She handed him the file, but his mind was still trying to catch up to what just happened, his eyes moving between the paper in his hands, and Amalya. He couldn't believe she pulled it off, and was grateful beyond words.
"Hotch, sign now, hug me later!" she quipped, as she turned around while pulling her hair out of the way so he could use her back for support as he quickly signed his own name.
"She's here!" Garcia announced, quickly shuffling over to where the rest of the team was.
Hotch had just finished signing his name, when the woman in question barreled into the bullpen, not looking all-too-pleased.
"Agent Dawoud!" she groaned in anger and frustration alike.
"It's done!" Amalya simply told her. She'd let go of her hair and let it hide the fact that Hotch still had the file pressed to her back when Strauss walked in, and the BAU unit chief coyly slid the file and paper from under her hair, pushed them into her hand, and slid the pen up his own sleeve. Amalya walked down the stairs, and closed the gap between them, with Hotch closely behind her.
"I don't know what possessed you to even think about a stunt like this," Strauss started, seemingly ignoring what Amalya just said.
"The only job that was on the line was mine," Amalya interrupted her, and Hotch's heart sank. "And don't worry, I made sure your career gets a boost from it all as well." She added coyly, and Rossi smirked while the rest of the team tried to hide their impressed looks.
"This was a major opportunity for Agent Jareau," Strauss argued.
"One that I didn't want," JJ interjected, "and turned down twice," she reminded her.
"She can tear up the paper right now if she wants," Amalya told Strauss, as she handed the paper to JJ.
JJ simply handed the signed paper over to Strauss, who took it from her and sighed audibly in frustration, her fuming gaze still fixating on Amalya who simply held her gaze with confidence.
"I don't know what could possibly have come over you to…" she trailed off in frustration.
"The fact that JJ didn't want to leave! If she did, I wouldn't have done a thing about it. But they don't get to decide for us! You hired me to protect this team, and that's exactly what I did!" Amalya elaborated.
"I called you because of Foyet! And they hired you because you have a damned impressive record, not so you can butt heads with the brass!" Strauss shot back.
"Foyet wasn't just a danger to Hotch and his family, he was a danger to the entire team. Hell, Hotch would have been the only one left alive," Amalya reminded her. "And this isn't even about that; brass wants results, wants whatever makes them look good to the higher-ups, and this team does that. We have the highest closing among the FBI; we get asked for consults almost three times more than any other BAU team; we handle cases in states where the local offices have their own BAU, yet they ask for us," Amalya listed, "and the dynamic of this team is a huge part of that," her voice softened slightly, "None of us can do what the other can, we each have our own set of skills and that's what makes us work. That's why Hotch doesn't just hire anyone who has a profiling background!" she added, and Strauss's eyes shifted to Hotch and Emily briefly, remembering when she hired her without Hotch's consent, much like she did with Amalya. "And if they still want the same results, taking JJ away is a stupid move!" Amalya continued, forcing Strauss's gaze to move back to her. "All I did was point that out!" Amalya stated simply.
"Erin, you know she did the right thing, and if there's no fall back on you, I don't understand why you're so against what she did." Rossi interjected.
"Because an agent shouldn't go rogue and interfere with a team member's career." Strauss pointed out.
"Except I asked her to!" JJ told her.
Strauss stood there watching the team; Amalya was confidently standing a few steps ahead of everyone, with Hotch less than two steps behind her. He was letting her take the lead, but was also making sure he had her back. Strauss knew how hard he tried to overturn JJ's promotion – putting his own job on the line – and how hard he always fought for the team. JJ was standing to the side, completely happy to let Amalya go to bat for her since she'd already tried fighting herself and lost. Rossi didn't intervene until the last minute and it was a simple question, while the rest of the team stood quietly observing the exchange between the brunette and their section chief.
What amazed her the most was the blind trust they had in each other. JJ turned to Amalya for help, and was letting her take the lead because she obviously got the job done. Hotch did his best, but was now simply there for support as he also let the brunette take the lead. While the rest of the team blindly trusted Amalya to go to bat for JJ and them.
And Amalya…. well, her protective instincts were always off the charts during any assessment. But she was one of the very few who knew how to tame that instinct and turn it into a deadly skill. And that skill just paid off.
"You're sure about this?" she finally asked JJ.
"I'm where I belong." JJ repeated her statement from that morning.
Strauss sighed defeatedly, before she turned around and walked away. Amalya followed her quietly, and leaned out the door to watch her walk down the corridor towards the elevator at the other end of the floor. As soon as she turned the corner, Amalya turned around, her hands stretched out by her side, as she did a little dance with her hips.
Morgan closed the gap between him and Amalya in two large strides, and picked up the dancing brunette. Her surprised yelp turned into a laugh when he spun around with her in his arms, mixing in with his own joyous laugh, as the other team members laughed along, and hugged JJ.
"You're the best decision Hotch ever made," Morgan told her, and she laughed. "And we're going dancing to celebrate," he announced, as he let one hand go – keeping the other secure around her waist, which kept her off her feet – while she had one arm around his shoulder, and the other resting on his chest, and pointed at Hotch. "No excuses, man, you're coming," he told the unit chief.
"You weren't gonna hear any." Hotch told him, and he meant it. He wasn't going to object, he needed to de-stress after the day he'd had, and to see her this carefree for a bit more time…. he wouldn't miss it for the world.
Morgan finally set her back down on her feet, when JJ approached them, and the blonde immediately hugged her. "I don't even know how to thank you." She whispered against her shoulder.
"You don't have to thank me, JJ." Amalya said softly once she pulled back.
"Where are we headed?" Reid asked.
"You still owe us a dance lesson." Emily reminded her.
"Alright, let's go then." Amalya suggested, as they all headed for the elevator. She'd left her stuff in the car while she tried to get JJ to keep her job.
Once they got there, it didn't take them long to get on the dance floor and find their groove, despite not understanding the lyrics, but the music was doing a good job hyping them up. Hotch even took off his tie, before he joined them on the dance floor.
They'd told Amalya to order for them, and they danced as they waited for the food to arrive. There was a commotion at one of the tables that caught their attention, and they all immediately looked at Amalya.
"The couple just got engaged and they're congratulating them. And we're about to be hit with a traditional song, so they can dance to it." She told them.
"Sweet, I will finally have my fun." Morgan tantalized, as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
And just like she said, the music started, and people lined up to dance with the happy couple.
"It's not that complicated, it's just about timing." She told them, as she showed them what to do. They all laughed when the owner came, took Rossi's hand and dragged him towards the line where she continued to show him herself how to dance. Emily, Morgan and JJ picked up the steps easily enough, and were fumbling with the timing as they joined in. Reid – who had warned her of having two left feet – was having a hard time with it, repeatedly stepping on her toes, and more than once almost tripping over his own feet. Hotch was dragged by Emily to join them, and to his own surprise, he picked up the pace quite easily. After all, this wasn't his first time; he'd watched her teach Rossi, and had watched that video a million times.
They were engrossed by the dance that they all forgot about the day they had, even Hotch.
"Oh, thank God." Reid groaned when the song finally came to an end, and Amalya laughed. Just then, a slow song came on, and the team saw an opportunity. They all moved in coordination; Rossi took Emily's hand, JJ grabbed Reid, and Morgan spun Garcia around towards him.
Hotch didn't mind the set-up; he needed to talk to her. And this didn't mean anything, did it? Morgan and Garcia were dancing together, and they openly flirted with each other, yet everyone knew there was nothing going on between them. So why was he so self-conscious about dancing with her?
He took her hand in his, her other arm bent at the elbow around his own arm as her hand rested on his shoulder from the back, his own hand resting on the small of her back as they swayed softly to the music.
"How did you do it?" he asked her, and she smiled, knowing he meant JJ.
"I know how to wrack up favors, and who wrack them up against." She said, "and most importantly, when to cash which ones."
"I guess I have quite the debt to you then," he stated, and she frowned.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.
"Foyet and now JJ," he replied, and she shook her head at him. "And don't forget the nightmare, and covering for me." He added.
"Okay, I will keep saying this until I am blue in the face; but you don't owe me anything for Foyet. Like I told Strauss; he was a threat to the entire team, and mankind actually. He needed to be neutralized, and if it meant someone had to take the fall for killing him, then so be it," she told him. "And I took the job because I wanted to." She added before he could say anything.
"And JJ?" he wondered, "I told you I couldn't lose you too," he reminded her.
"My job was never in danger, I only said that so I don't tip my hand too much with Strauss." She soothed, "as for the nightmare; I did what anybody would've done that night, and it wasn't my story to tell. If you didn't want to share it with them, I had no right to." She said simply.
"And throwing Selim under the bus?" he chuckled.
"Eh," she shrugged, "we're each other's scape goats, and he owes me a few dozen times." She added.
"Thank you." His voice was genuine, and she smiled.
"You have to stop thanking me, Aaron," his given name was a slip-up on her part, but when he didn't correct her, she didn't backtrack, and he simply enjoyed how it made him feel.
"This all comes down to one thing; you do what you got to do to protect your family," she added, her voice firm and soothing.
"What I will hold you or though," she alluded, and he arched an eyebrow at her, "is that stunt you pulled with Jack at your place to get me to take the job," she finished, and he laughed.
"You saw through that, huh?" he asked, laughing.
"I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't, would I?" she quipped.
"Well, a good leader uses all the tools at his disposal to get the job done," he fibbed, trying to keep a straight face, only to fail when her chest rumbled with laughter against his own, and he laughed along.
"That's blackmail, so watch out, I will get you for it," she warned mischievously.
"Looking forward to it." He told her.
Throughout their exchange; six pairs of eyes were watching them closely, accompanied by five pairs of grins and one frown.
"Would they kiss already?" Emily groaned.
"So, I see I'm not the only one who sees it," Rossi chuckled.
"Are you kidding? Hotch is head over heels for her, and try as she might to be neutral, I think something is brewing beneath the surface too." She told him.
"I don't see what you guys are seeing," Reid told JJ.
"Oh, Spence. You're a genius, but when it comes to things like this, your brain short-circuits," she joked.
"I don't get why he can't just tell her how he feels? She obviously feels something too!" Garcia whined.
"Come on baby girl, you know how he is. He's scared of letting her in, of losing her," Morgan argued, "I get it. It's not easy for a guy like Hotch to go for a relationship, let alone a workplace one, and especially after Haley. It'll take a while for him to open up, and she might have to be the one to make the first move." He elaborated.
"Oh, Amalya would never make the first move. There's too much at stake; he's her boss, he has a kid," she listed.
"I guess we just have to wait and see," Morgan relented.
"Amalya!" the older woman's call snapped them all out of their conversations.
Amalya called back something of her own before groaning and dropping her head onto Hotch's shoulder for a brief moment, before lifting it back up. "Wrong language!" she chuckled, before calling out something else.
"Food's here!" the woman announced, and all four pairs immediately broke apart and headed towards the small table.
He was sitting on his couch, still in his clothes, his jacket discarded along with his briefcase on the table by the door, the tumbler stood empty on the coffee table next to his cellphone and badge.
"Aaron."
That sultry voice, he'd know it anywhere.
"Lya." Her nickname rolled off his tongue without much thought, and he found that he liked it more than 'Am' or 'Mal'.
She was still wearing the same outfit she wore throughout the case; a black pencil skirt that stopped about an inch above her knee, a white sleeveless button-up V-neck shirt with a grey cardigan that went all the way down to her knees, and a black pair of heels.
She sauntered over to him, her eyes dark with desire, which no doubt mirrored his own. His body had already started to react to her presence, and when she slowly took off her cardigan, and threw it onto the small couch, he could feel himself hardening. When she got to the couch, she bent one knee and put it on one side, while the other bent knee went on the other side. The skirt started to ride up her thighs, and he decided to help it along. He slid his hands from her knees all the way up to her hips, taking the skirt along with it, and allowing her to straddle him properly.
He moaned softly when her body connected with his throbbing body, and she smiled seductively at him. She had one hand on his shoulder, the other cupping his face, her thumbnail lightly scratching against his chin.
"You like that?" she purred.
He moved his hand around her hips and squeezed her bottom, as he pressed her more into him. "Very much so."
"How about this?" she whispered, as she lowered her lips onto his. He kissed her back with a vengeance, sliding his tongue into her mouth the second her lips parted, as he slid his hand up her body until it tangled in her hair.
She'd let go of his face, and slid her hand down the front of his shirt, her fingers expertly opening the buttons one by one until she got to his belt buckle. His breath quickened when he felt her hand reach his belt, and he let go of her lips to trail kisses down her neck as he brought his other hand to help her with his zipper.
"No, no," she objected, patting his hand away, "you're not in control here," she panted, rubbing him over his clothes, and he groaned, "just enjoy the ride." She instructed him, smiling devilishly at him. He simply crashed his lips against her own once more, as he brought his hand to work on the buttons of her shirt.
She made quick work of the belt and zipper, springing him free, before she reached under her skirt to move her own underwear out of the way. Hotch once again let go of her lips and trailed kisses down her neck and all the way to the swell of her breast, just above the bra-line.
He groaned loudly, burying his face between her breasts, which mixed in with her own moan when she lowered herself onto him, and he felt her around him.
It felt amazing, she felt amazing, and it felt wonderful to be inside her. She kept the pace slow at first, almost torturingly so, but he let her keep the control. It was prolonging the pleasure, keeping them from climaxing too fast.
She was moaning things in Arabic, and it was springing him on even further. He was kneading her nipple between his fingers, while his tongue worked on the other one, and his other hand firmly back on her bottom. She still had one hand on his shoulder to keep herself steady, while the other one lay flat on his bare chest.
Their breaths were becoming shallower, as she picked up the pace, when a loud alarm sound made them look to the side.
The alarm sound grew louder, until Amalya's head snapped up from the pillow and she grabbed the clock by her bedside and hit the off-button. She fell back against the pillows, her eyes wide, as her hand rubbed her face and went up to tangle in her hair. "What the hell was that?"
Alright my lovelies; my muses have been singing Hotch and Amalya lately, that whenever I try to post a chapter for another story, I can't seem to focus until I get them out of the way.
I realize that in the actual episode, Hotch simply shook JJ's hand when she was going to leave, but I was re-watching earlier episodes, and Hotch's character changed dramatically - mostly becoming more hardened and distant - after Haley died. So since in this story, Haley is still alive, I am going to slowly bring back the happy, laughing Hotch of the earlier seasons.
Let me know what you think.