CHAPTER 21:

Season 9 - Episode #1 - "The Inspiration"

"I'll ask Garcia to compile a list of break-ins in the area, and also a missing person's report," Hotch said as he stepped into the room, completely unaware of the fact that the team had just been talking about him.

But then he looked at JJ…he could read her like a book and could see the faint tinge of pink on her cheeks. It was a tell-tale sign that she and the rest of the team been talking about him and the most recent rumours that he was going to be taking over Strauss's old job.

He then glanced at the rest of the team, saw them all staring, and said, "And, yes, they did talk to me about the Section Chief job."

JJ looked over at Reid as he asked, "You want it?"

Her gaze snapped back to Hotch, wondering what he would say.

"I know what I don't want is an outsider coming in and questioning every move that this team makes." It wasn't a real answer and everyone in the room knew it. They were trained profilers, after all. "I told them that I'd think about it," he added, as though trying to reassure them, but JJ knew that it was for her.

Immediately, she asked the question on everyone's mind.

"So, what happens if you accept?"

He let out a sigh as he said, "It means, this would be my last case in the field, but nothing's been decided. As soon as I figure out what to do, you'll be the first to know."

He looked at her, barely noticing or acknowledging the rest of the team when he answered her question, especially at the words, "You'll be the first to know." He looked her straight in the eye on those words, knowing that the two of them would be talking about the situation when they got back to Quantico.

How were they supposed to tell the rest of the team that both JJ and Hotch silently wanted him to take the job? That the whole reason that they wanted it, was so that they could have a stable home for Jack and Henry? So that they could be open about the relationship that they had been hiding in secret for the last few months? Hell, who were they kidding, years. It had started after Haley, but they had become physical in only the last few months.

JJ was more than aware of the fact that her husband was not pulling late nights at work, but that he was having an affair.

She was a profiler, for god's sake…did he really think that he was getting away with it?

Once she'd figured it out, she had felt no shame in finally taking her relationship with Hotch to the next level.

…And it seemed that the next level included not only having the chance to actually be with him at night on occasion, but that it also included playdates, where they soon discovered that Jack and Henry got along as if they were brothers.

JJ knew, in her heart, that she wouldn't mind it at all if that eventually became the case. She was fine with letting go of Will, and to make the change permanent with him. She knew that Hotch would be more than willing to take over that role in her son's life, and Henry already adored the man…

If he accepted the job, they could take the next step.

It could become permanent.

Later, with Reid, it came up again.

"What do you think about Hotch?" he asked as they walked away from the coffee vendor, and she was honest, but circumspect in her answer.

"I think it sucks."

Quickly, he asked, "What do we do?"

She was slightly stunned at the question, and answered without thinking about how it would sound… "Uhh, nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?" he asked her, incredulous at her reply. "I don't want him to leave…"

She could hear the almost childlike tone in his voice and it made her smile. Oh, Spencer. Hotch was the only father that he'd ever really had, especially after Gideon had left, and she'd been watching out for him the way that only a mother would. And she had been a mother to him over the years.

Her tone was almost mothering as she said, "At least he'll still be around…"

"Yeah, with his name on our reports…"

The childish tone again. She tried to console him and explain the situation from Hotch's perspective.

"Look, I'm sure it's hard for him and Rose, he's not going to admit it, but a desk job would be easier on Jack…" Oh crap, she'd let slip about Rose, his housekeeper. She was the only one who knew about her. She silently prayed Spencer hadn't noticed, and her prayer was answered.

A few seconds more of talking and he'd make a breakthrough in the case, and she followed behind him back into the precinct, but her mind was still on Hotch and what it would mean for the two of them if he took the Section Chief job.

It meant she could finally…dare she think it…divorce Will. And move on with Hotch.

It was a heady feeling, and she knew that she couldn't dwell on it. If she thought about it too much, then she would drive herself mad.

No choice but to focus once more on the case.

She and Hotch would deal with it when they came to that crossroads…if they did.

Part 21/?