At around 9am the next morning, Hotch awoke from his peaceful slumber. The house was silent so he assumed JJ had yet to wake up.
He had a quick shower and he got dressed into his casual clothes, some jeans and a sweater, and he walked down the hall to wake JJ up.
He opened the door to JJs room and found her fast asleep tangled in blankets. She looked so peaceful and youthful that Hotch didn't want to wake her so he sat on the bed next to her and stroked his hand through her golden locks.
"Morning sleepyhead." Hotch said gently when he saw JJ begin to stir.
JJ didn't say anything, instead she curled up into hotchs side and fell back to sleep.
Hotch wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
"JJ you gotta wake up now honey." Hotch tried again.
"mmm k' "JJ mumbled.
Hotch lifted her into his arms and felt her snuggle into his neck.
"Breakfast or shower first?" Hotch asked.
"Shower" Came JJ sleepy response.
"Okay well you leave the door unlocked, okay?"
Hotch turned on the shower for her and left her to it.
"I'll be right outside if you need me" He said to JJ as he closed the door.
JJ took about 15 minutes to shower, it took her longer than usual because she wasn't used to having such short arms and small hands.
When she got out she wrapped herself in a towel which was huge around her, and walked out to meet hotch.
"All done" JJ said as she flashed her cute smile.
"Okay well go in and get dry, I picked out some clothes for you to wear, then come down and we'll eat breakfast, okay?"
JJ got dry and looked at the clothes hotch had picked for her. It was a white dress with pink and blue flowers on it and he got one of her blue denim vests to wear with it.
She tried to brush through her wet hair but her arms weren't long enough so she got dressed and went down to hotch with her brush.
"Hotch?" JJ asked nervously
"Yes Jennifer?"
"could you?" JJ said as she held her hairbrush out to him
"Of course."
Hotch sat jj down on his lap and stared brushing her hair, once he had done he got a towel and dried it even more.
"We don't have a hair dryer so I'm afraid you're going to have to let it dry by itself."
"okay thank you" JJ said
"so what do you want for breakfast, you can have cereal, toast, pancakes. If ive got it you can have it."
"Can I have a glass of milk." JJ asked
"You gotta eat something JJ" Hotch said as he sat on the chair in front of her
"m' not hungry." JJ said not meeting hotchs eyes.
"How about a small bowl of cereal?"
Hotch got up and picked out a small bowl and poured A handful of lucky charms into it with a splash of milk.
"Okay there's not a lot here so I expect you to eat it all." Hotch said as he put the bowl down in front of her
JJ looked at it like he had given her a three course meal.
She started eating, taking really small mouthfuls.
Hotch was watching her like a hawk as she slowly ate her breakfast making sure she ate the whole thing.
"JJ come on, you have to finish it all." Hotch tried gently
"I'm trying!" JJ raised her voice
Once she looked up she realised he had done wrong and her face turned a deep shade of red. Her lip started to quiver and tears started to fill her eyes. She tried to blink them away but she couldn't stop them from rolling down her face which annoyed her even more. Hotch gently reached over and stroked her arm.
"Get the hell off me I'm not a child, stop it. I'm trying my hardest you aren't helping me you're just treating me like a child" JJ screamed at the top of her voice
This shocked hotch so much that he had no reply. He let JJ storm out of the kitchen and stomp up the stairs and slam her bedroom door.
Hotch heard JJ's sobs from the kitchen where he sat to give her time. He stayed there until he couldn't listen any longer, he ran straight to her room, when he opened the door he saw that she had thrown as much stuff around as she could and she was hidden under the bed sobbing and shaking so hard.
"JJ, come out from under there please."
JJ clearly could not hear him over the sound of her own sobs which made hotch reach under the bed and drag her out. He held her in his arms and made his way over to the bed. JJ curled up on top of his lap and cried into his chest. Hotch simply sat there and stroked her hair and kissed her head.
After about ten minutes of JJ crying into Hotch's shirt, he finally felt her stopping.
"I'm sorry Hotch." JJ said quietly
"it's ok princess, let's take a nap baby just close your eyes"
JJ, who had worn herself out crying, easily fell straight to sleep in her protector's arms. Hotch was holding and rocking for not long before he too fell straight to sleep.