"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

E.B. White

It had started out as a pleasant day.

In fact, it almost nice enough to venture out and say that it was enjoyable.

The sun was shining down radiantly on the greatly sun-deprived city and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. That was a rare occasion in Quantico, Virginia. It seemed like almost every day was overcast of dull white clouds, which made the city seem even less exciting and dull to the residents that lived there.

But that day, well, it was pleasant.

It had at least started out that way…

But by the time the sun set and the sky darkened to a sinister dark blue, the almost-enjoyable pleasantness that had started off the day would be gone and everyone would end up longing to bathe in the sun that had previously occupied the sky.

Around noon on that beautiful Sunday, the park in Quantico had been thriving. The surprisingly nice atmosphere had drawn all of the normally cooped-up people to come out of their homes and enjoy some fresh air. They were walking dogs, pushing strollers, riding bikes, jogging, and some were even just sitting on benches and taking in all the enjoyment…it was more crowded than it had been in weeks, maybe even months.

On one of the public soccer fields, the "world famous" BAU soccer match was taking place. It was a seasonal event that the team had decided to hold just for fun to let off some steam over a weekend. This weekend in particular had been perfect to hold it considering how nice the weather had turned out to be. They all knew that the day was going to be fun. It was especially entertaining for people sitting on the sidelines because of how competitive everyone on the team actually was. No one wanted to lose. The two teams were chosen by the only neutral person that they could find; Garcia. She made sure that they weren't stacked.

Team One:

- Hotch

- Jack

- Rossi

- Morgan

Team Two:

- JJ

- Henry

- Emily

- Reid

It seemed pretty even and everyone had agreed that they would let the kids play for, at the most, half the game until the competition started to get too heated for them, but the trash talk, it started long before the game.

"You really think that you can beat us?" Morgan raised an eyebrow, standing powerfully over Emily like he was better than her. "Well…then you've got another thing coming, sweetie." He smirked at her arrogantly, looking almost flirtatious.

"You really think that Hotch and Rossi are going to be that good? Hotch was in musicals during high school and Rossi is a chef. Look at my team; I'm in shape, Reid can help with strategy and JJ played soccer in college. You better not get your hopes up." Emily gave him a challenging look.

Morgan rolled his eyes, "Oh please. Soccer is a man's sport." He stated, matter-of-factly.

"You know, I always knew you were egotistical, but I didn't think that you were sexist too." Emily replied with a tilt of her head. "Maybe I can add that to the list of things that women love about you." She added sarcastically.

The corners of Morgan's mouth tilted upwards in a sly smile, "Let's not bring love lives into this, Em because we both know that I would win."

"Just because you're a pig doesn't meant that you have a better love life than me. I'll have you know that people like me because of my personality, not just because of my looks." Emily gave him a long stare, "Now why don't you move along and start practicing, you're gonna need it." She winked.

"I think that all of this," He motioned to her with a large waving of his arms, "is a defense mechanism that you're using because you know that you can't win so you're just lashing out at the competition." He used his profiling skills as a way to insult her.

Emily rolled her eyes dramatically, "You wish."

Morgan shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well then why don't we just let our talent do the talking?" He didn't wait for answer. He immediately turned his back to her and walking over to his team: Hotch, Rossi and Jack. "Alright guys…we have to win. These girls think that they can beat us. We'll just have to teach them a lesson about manhood, right Jack?" He crouched down in front of the boy.

Hotch gulped and hovered near them uneasily wondering if Morgan was teaching Jack the wrong lessons.

"Right!" Jack smiled brightly. He was obviously excited to be able to take part in the game that he'd sat on the sidelines and watched so many times before.

"Alright I have a plan…" Rossi began and then he gathered his team in a tight huddle to explain it. He seemed pretty confident that it was going to work out for them since he had put each of their abilities as a player in consideration. He surprised himself at how into this game he was getting.

Emily, on the other side of the field, approached her own team. "Morgan was just trying to trash talk me! He was trying to get into our heads, but we're not going to let that stop us." She glanced around and then let her gaze rest on JJ, "Alright, Jayje. I say that you tell us what to do because you have the most experience."

"Okay…here's what's gonna happen..." JJ started to explain it with Henry on her hip. He was big enough to play, but she hoped that everyone would at least be decent enough to go easy on him because she was planning to take it easy on Jack anyway.

"Let's get started!" Garcia called from her spot in the middle of the starting circle. She looked at the teams, who both appeared to be in a huddle.

Eventually, after both finished their scheming they dismantled and joined Garcia, surrounding her in the middle of the field where they went over the rules. It was all the simple, basic stuff that they had heard a thousand times before, but still disregarded.

"Now…JJ's team gets to start with the ball." Garcia announced tossing the ball easily over to Emily, who caught it and then gave Morgan a smug grin.

"Wait, why? What about me baby girl?" Morgan asked, shocked. His mouth hung open in surprise.

"Ladies first, hot stuff! And they also have the younger one of the kids on their team so it's only fair that they at least get to start with the ball." Garcia explained and gave him a quick roll of her eyes, "Duh." She stalked off of the field to go take her spot in a chair on the sidelines. This was going to be amusing to watch. She examined the team members.

Emily and Morgan were talking to each other as she approached the starting line with the ball. It most likely the second round of trash talk. Morgan grabbed for the ball, trying to take it from her, but she yanked it out of his reach. Oh how Garcia loved her smoking chocolate thunder and her tough, spunky girlfriend, but they had so much chemistry together. She couldn't help but wonder if she was the only person who saw it.

To their right, JJ was holding Henry's hand and leading him to the place where he should be starting. She gave him a quick pat on the back and a few encouraging words before jogging to her spot on the other side of the field. The blonde liaison looked determined, a fire in her eyes. It was easy for Garcia to see how fierce she must have been during her college soccer years.

Hotch pointed Jack to the place he was supposed to go, across from Henry, and then walked back towards the goal to speak to Rossi one more time. They both kept glancing back at JJ, probably talking about who was going to guard her. Hotch volunteered and that brought a smile to Garcia's face. She could hear everything from her little spot on the sidelines and it was fantastic, well at least for her.

Reid and Rossi were pretty much disengaged. Rossi, because he didn't really care too much about the game at all since his plan for offense really wasn't that relevant at the moment because of JJ's team starting with the ball and Reid, because he was never very good at physical things. They would put in their best effort, but in the end, whatever the result, they would be unconcerned.

It was time to start the game.

Emily set the ball down carefully, keeping eyes on Morgan, as if she thought that he was going to steal it. She stood in front of it with JJ to her far left and Henry to her right while Reid took his spot in the position of goalie.

"I'll take JJ!" Hotch confirmed to his other teammates, running over to stand directly in front of her so that he could block her path to his goal. This was going to be fun.

Morgan stood across from Emily and Jack across from Henry. Rossi would be the goalie for Morgan's team. Everything actually seemed to work out pretty smoothly with the pairs evenly matched in their abilities.

Emily nodded and then gave Morgan a small smile. The first thing she did was, with the back of her heel, kick the ball backwards behind her where JJ, who had swiftly run over from her spot, intercepted the ball going sideways and started dribbling around behind Henry. Her little boy ran along beside her, laughing. She was glad to see that he was having a good time already. She found herself getting closer and closer to the opposing goal, but before she got within scoring distance she realized that a little further down the line, Hotch was blocking her way so she increased her speed to a full speed sprint straight at him, but just before she reached him she passed the ball gently to her left where her son stopped it with the bottom of his small tennis shoe.

No one moved for a few seconds, not even Henry. They were all waiting to see what his move was going to be until finally JJ broke the silence.

"Dribble, buddy. Go towards the goal!" JJ cheered, excitedly. She was, after all, his biggest fan.

Henry gave his mom a sideways glance, nodded and then took off with the ball, making sure to keep it in front of him. He dribbled easily past Morgan, who had pretended to trip as he ran by.

JJ laughed; happy that her son could have a moment to shine. She walked past Hotch and watched her son travel towards the goal, but Jack was standing in his pathway, blocking Henry from being able to score.

Hotch bit his lip a little bit anxiously. He didn't want Jack to ruin this for Henry either. It seemed like such a sweet moment between him and his mom, but as her son approached his, he saw that Jack pretended to try to get the ball from him, but ended up also letting Henry get by and that made Hotch a very proud dad.

Henry ran straight for the goal and then shot it in the left corner. Even if he had tried, JJ was pretty sure that Rossi wouldn't have been able to get to it because he had been standing near the opposite corner of the goal. As he scored, the little boy put his arms in the air and cheered, running up to his mom.

"Mommy! I scored! I scored a goal just like you do." Henry cheered as his mom lifted him off of the ground.

"Yes you did, baby. Great job!"

Hotch smiled and shook his head. "JJ, how are we supposed to have a chance with a player like Henry on your team? This definitely isn't fair." He sighed and put his hands on his hips, pretending to be frustrated.

"Don't worry!" Henry smiled sympathetically at his mom's boss. "My mommy and I will go easy on you next time."

"Oh Henry…I don't even think that will help Uncle Hotch." JJ shook her head and gave Hotch a playful wink. She was really the only person on the team who could joke with Hotch for some reason. Everyone else seemed to be uncomfortable around him, but she…well…she liked being around him. She liked the way he was with kids and victims and the press. And, though she was embarrassed to admit it, he was fairly attractive too. Dark hair and dark eyes…she liked that. On her first day, she remembered how nervous she had been around him, but not around any of the other profilers she'd met; just him. She'd admit…she may have had a small crush on him, but his wife and kids kind of shut that down pretty quickly so she moved on, as for her feelings towards him…well, they never fully subsided.

In the very next play of the game, Jack scored a point against JJ's team. No one had really gone too easy on him either, but they also hadn't given it their best effort. He seemed like a really athletic kid, but he was also only 7 years old so it was natural that he could move faster than most of them just because of the age difference alone.

Immediately after the ball zipped past Reid, Morgan approached Emily to brag. It broke into another loud, competitive argument.

Hotch realized that things were getting too heated already, "Alright boys…" He started, looking down at the two kids, "How about you let the adults finish the rest of the game? Does that sound good?"

"Okay!" Henry smiled and ran to the sidelines where JJ and Garcia were talking. He climbed into Garcia's lap happily, knowing that she wouldn't mind. If anything, she was overjoyed to have the young boy join her.

"Oh good, now you'll have a great view of me kicking Uncle Hotch's butt." JJ ruffled her son's messy blond hair and then smiled at Jack who quickly joined Garcia and Henry on the sideline.

Hotch smiled when he heard JJ and walked over to the group. "You really think that you can outrun me?" He joked, but as he received a weird look from Garcia he realized that the only person he joked with was JJ so it must be weird for Garcia to see him acting like this. It was just…whenever she talked to him he felt relaxed, like he didn't have to be the responsible one anymore and he liked that. He liked being the Aaron Hotchner that could actually joke around and have a little bit of fun, but he knew that there was no way that he could always be that way. Someone had to be the leader of their team and that really wasn't something to be taken lightly.

JJ smirked and gave him a quick head to toe examination, "I know I can outrun you. It's Morgan that I'm worried about."

"Well, that's a slap in the face." Hotch frowned.

Before she could reply she realized that everyone, except her and Hotch were ready to start again so JJ jogged over to join her friend and her son on the starting line. "Do we have a plan on this one?" Emily asked her friend between her teeth, like that would help shield it from the other team, who were standing only a few feet away from them.

"Let's just wing it on this one, Em." JJ shrugged, sure that they would figure something out.

Emily nodded quickly and then started off by kicking it straight to JJ right off the bat, who sighed loudly and gave her friend an incredulous look. She could have at least dribbled it for a second or two and set JJ up for some kind of play, but now she was going to have to figure it all out for herself.

JJ glanced at Hotch, who was standing in front of her with a competitive smile on his face, and then started to make her way backwards towards her own goal, making more distance between them. It was a trick that she had learned during her college years. She turned back to face him and then just waited there, waiting for him to make the first move. Eventually he sprinted at her, eyes on the ball. She side-stepped him with the ball and then immediately started sprinting down the line. She was too fast for Hotch to catch up, but Morgan was coming her way from the side. Luckily that meant Emily was wide open so she easily passed it to her. JJ ran up to the opposite side of the goal and waited for Emily there. As Morgan blocked Emily's path she passed it back to JJ who kicked it powerfully into the goal, making it easily past Rossi.

"Okay…" Hotch said as he walked up to JJ, "You're good…I'll give you that." He was panting.

"You'll give me that?" JJ smiled and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "You better get used to it…because I'm done going easy on you." She teased lightly.

Hotch wiped some sweat off of his face before letting out a few more pants.

JJ raised an eyebrow. "Out of breath?"

"You could say that." Hotch shook his head, "I had no idea that you were that fast JJ. I thought I could catch up, but you were long gone…" He let out a light chuckle.

"Soccer isn't a sport for slow people."

They both laughed.

The rest of the game was pretty uneventful. JJ's team scored three more points and Hotch's team only scored one. This game was coming to an end quickly and it wouldn't be long before they decided to just call it.

On the very last play of the game, Morgan's team had the ball. He was dribbling it down the field towards Emily and JJ made sure to keep a close watch on Hotch who was running down the line evenly with Morgan. Hotch was so concentrated on waiting for his pass that he wasn't even looking forward where he was running. He collided hard with JJ, knocking her to the ground, but using her momentum to catch himself before he fell on top of her.

"Damn it, Hotch." JJ winced and put her hand on her head.

Guilt coursed through him at the sight of her lying there. He should have been watching where he was going. "I'm really sorry, JJ."

Behind them, Morgan and Emily were arguing again.

"That's a foul!" Emily yelled, walking up to Morgan, getting in his face. There was a playful smile on her face, but determination in her eyes.

Morgan stared back down at her defiantly, "No it's not! I believe that JJ was blocking the line which is an illegal move in soccer…" He trailed off, "Or something like that. Point is…it's definitely not allowed."

"Maybe you should have your teammates watching where they're going. Or did you tell Hotch to do it on purpose? Trying to sabotage our best player? I can't believe you'd stoop that low, Derek. I never thought you were that insecure." Emily smirked and rolled her eyes.

Morgan shook his head, "Insecure? What gives you the idea that-"

"No Derek, it's okay. Men can be insecure too, I get it. I really do. We understand that you can't handle it anymore and we were ready to stop anyway so don't worry about it. I'll figure out a way that you can repay us." Emily walked off of the field, not giving him room to speak.

"Woah Emily!" Morgan jogged after her.

Hotch felt really bad about all of this. Somewhere deep inside of him he knew that he wouldn't feel this guilty if it was anyone else, but it was her. That was why he felt like the bad guy, that was why he had to wipe his sweaty hand off on his pants before stretching it to help her up and that was why he subconsciously pulled her off of the ground the way he did.

Using the hand he had outstretched she got to her feet, but he had pulled a little more than she had expected making her stumble a little bit and almost fall into him. She caught herself, but their bodies were only inches apart and…neither of them felt uncomfortable. That was the weird thing. Being this close to one another almost felt…natural. They could both feel their coworkers eyes burning into them, but neither of them moved until a few long seconds later.

JJ smiled up at him, "It's okay Aaron. I was just kidding before. It was nothing…girls did worse to me when I was in college, trust me." She stretched a little bit, distancing herself from him.

His heart dropped.

"Alright," Garcia spoke up to break the awkward tension between everyone that was on the field, "I think that's our cue to get on with our lives and go home." She smiled charismatically and gave Henry a goodbye kiss before walking over to Morgan.

JJ moved even further away from Hotch and walked up to her son. "Hey buddy, you ready to get home?" She grinned broadly at him.

"When am I going to daddy's house again?" He asked as he was pulled up into his mother's arms.

JJ gave him a small, half-hearted smile, "Not until Monday."

Henry was still adjusting to having divorced parents. It had happened quickly, almost too quickly for the little boy to understand at all. JJ and Will had always argued a lot, but then one day they both crossed the line…and it was just something that neither of them could get past. It was too personal to forgive and not small enough to forget. By then, to both of them, it was obvious that their relationship wasn't working anymore, but JJ was willing to try to at least temporarily figure things out with Will for Henry's sake. She was willing to give him another chance.

But he left.

One day she came home and he was just gone. There was note left on the kitchen table, but she didn't read it. She had been too angry and heartbroken to even think about looking at it. Will didn't deserve her time. It was strange though because…she knew that she didn't love him, but she also couldn't bear the thought of him leaving either. It made her feel like she wasn't good enough. She tried, at first, to blame Will…for leaving his son, but then after a lot of deep thinking and self examination she realized that it could very well be her own fault. The arguments, the work schedule… never spending time with her family…that was why he left.

That was what was written in the note.

She struggled with that for weeks and she knew the team had noticed it too so she finally just decided that the best and simplest solution was… to let go.

She'd contacted Will and they organized an agreement for him to see his son. He wasn't mad at JJ and she wasn't mad at him. They just weren't in love. That was the core problem and neither of them wanted to be the one holding the other back. She kept contact with Will; she could almost say that they were friends.

Almost.

Henry comprehended everything pretty well after they'd had a talk with him. Will, JJ and Henry all in the same room, talking. They gave him the 'mommy and daddy aren't in love' speech and told him that he would still be able to see the both of them, but it would be separate. He just nodded along without a care in the world, but somehow…they both knew that he understood.

Will met a new woman within a few months. Her name was something like Morgan or Monica, but JJ didn't waste the time to learn it. She couldn't help wondering if their relationship had started before JJ and Will's had ended. It bothered her to think that, but within the last few months that they spent together it had been tense and edgy so she could imagine him needing someone…else. JJ had met whatever her name was once and she had seemed polite, but she didn't like that Henry had two parents in one household and one in the other. If he had to choose which one he liked better…she would rather not think about it. She just didn't want to be replaced by Morgan/Monica as Henry's mom.

JJ waved goodbye to the team and started walking towards her car with her son in her arms. It was a short drive home so Henry managed easily to talk the entire way about how he had scored his goal, but then something caught her ear.

"And then…and then Uncle Hotch said that…that I was almost as good as my mommy! He told me that I had a really good mommy and I told him that Jack had a good daddy. And then he laughed." Henry spoke excitedly.

JJ knew that Henry had a lot of male role models in his life; Will, Reid, Rossi, Morgan and Hotch. So she knew that when Hotch had talked to him that it had meant a lot to the little boy, to be noticed by an adult like Hotch. It brought a smile to her face.

"He laughed?" She asked, still grinning.

Henry nodded, "Yea! He did…it was weird. You said he never laughs."

"He doesn't…normally." He does when I joke around with him, but…does that really mean anything? Morgan and Garcia joke around, but nothing ever happens with them. Same with Emily and Morgan. But…with him, it's different or I just want it to be different. Maybe it's just because he's older. She stopped her thoughts from wandering any further.

"Maybe you're just not as funny as me!" Henry cheered arrogantly, throwing his arms in the air. He laughed at himself.

JJ chuckled too, "I'm sure that's it, buddy." She smiled and pulled into their driveway.

They both got out and entered the house together, but ended up going their separate ways. JJ retreated to her room so that she could take a shower and change into some different clothes while her son, without taking a shower, immediately started playing with his toys. She would force him to take a bath later, but after she got out of her shower she laid down on her bed hoping to take a quick power nap. It had only been 5 minutes before her son came bursting through the doors of her bedroom, looking hyper. It was enough to make her groan.

Henry ignored it, "What's for dinner, mommy?" He hopped on to the bed next to her and laid down so that his face was even with hers.

JJ smiled at him and woke herself up a little bit with a yawn, "Well Henry…I'll let you pick. How about…spaghetti, macaroni and cheese or chicken?" She asked, looking at him expectantly. As he contemplated his answer, she glanced up at the hanging clock in the corner of her room. It was almost 7:00. They were eating kind of late tonight, but Henry didn't seem to mind.

"I want…mac and cheese!" Henry exclaimed eagerly. That really was his favorite dish, no matter what the other choices were…if mac and cheese was one of them it would probably be the one that he would pick.

"Alright, well while I get that started, why don't you go clean your toys off of the table, okay?" JJ smiled at her son, knowing that his toys were most likely still covering the table that they were supposed to be eating on.

JJ sulked down the stairs, letting out numerous yawns. She pulled out the pots and pans necessary for making her son's dish, but before she could even turn the stove on, her phone rang…her work phone. With that one ring…her heart immediately dropped. This night that she had been going to enjoy with her son was going to be ruined and for what? Another case, another meeting…another life. She quickly recognized that it was worth it. Saving lives was worth her time. Maybe someday Henry would understand. She reached down without reading the caller ID and pressed the green answer button.

"Agent Jareau." She stated blandly into the phone, hoping that maybe it might have just been someone calling the wrong number, just this once.

"JJ, it's Hotch." His voice was serious and stern so she instantly knew that it was something case-related. "We just received a call about a case and…well…you might just want to come down here and take a look at it for yourself."

"Is it bad?"

There was an uneasy sigh on the other side, "I-ummm…it's not good." He struggled.

JJ noticed his struggle. This had to be bad to shake him up like that. She let out her own sigh, but it was more of an 'I don't want to come in right now' sigh, "Okay I'll be there in 15 minutes." She hung up and started getting dressed in her work clothes. As she pulled the pencil skirt up to her waist and tucked in her flannel shirt, she wondered what the case was about. It had to be urgent for them to be called in on a weekend. She was thinking maybe missing kids, a hostage situation or maybe even a bomb threat.

She had no idea how wrong she actually was.

It only took a few minutes after she was done getting ready for her to call the baby sitter that always looked after Henry. It was a college girl named Taylor, who was always available because she lived across the street from JJ and Henry. She informed Taylor to make her son macaroni and cheese for his dinner so at least that wouldn't be ruined by JJ leaving. She could trust that the teenager would take care of that for her.

"Mommy, where are you going?" Henry had noticed his mother getting ready.

JJ's heart ached. She wanted, more than anything, to stay home with him, make him his macaroni and cheese and spend time together, "I have to go to work again, sweetie. I'm so sorry that I couldn't stay home with you tonight."

"It's okay, mommy!" Henry hugged his mom quickly. "I hope you find the bad guy!"

JJ smiled at her son's understanding. "We will, sweetheart."

"Oh! And tell all of them I said hi! Oh, oh! And tell Uncle Hotch that I said…ummm…" Henry struggled to think of a message to give Hotch, "Tell him that I said good luck." He couldn't seem to come up with anything better than that.

"Okay, I will. I have to go Henry, but I love you buddy and I'll try and make it back before you go to daddy's house." JJ smiled warmly, gave her son a kiss on the forehead, walked out of her house and made the short drive down to the BAU.

As she pushed the double doors open, everyone's heads seemed to turn. They were all down in the pit of offices standing/sitting near Morgan's desks. All of their eyes were trained on her. She knew that they profiling her for some reason. It was peculiar. She distantly remembered a rule being made that team members were not allowed to profile each other, but she didn't mention it.

Something was wrong.

"Ummm…Hotch?" JJ was desperate to talk to someone, instead of being on the receiving end of all these observant stares. "What's going on?" She tried to keep her voice still, but she felt like there was something really wrong.

Hotch walked towards her with cold, empty eyes. He was detached, trying not to have emotions again like he always did when something was close to him. This case was personal, but who? Was it related to one of them? She glanced around, but they all still seemed to be watching her and only her. She could feel her heart beat speeding up in her chest.

Morgan set one of the three case files that he had been holding down on the desk in front of her.

The front of the file instantly threw her off. The papers shook slightly in her hands as she read the name on the front. It made her stomach churn in sickness. Not because of the blood or the bodies that she knew were inside, but only because of the feeling of familiarity that she had. She knew who this man was, she knew what he was capable of, they even lived under the same roof…oh god…she felt like she was going to start throwing up, but instead she pushed it down and swallowed hard. All she could think to do was close her eyes so that she could at least escape from everyone's concerned gazes for a few seconds. She thought that those few seconds would be all she would need to pull herself together, but as she set the file down without even so much as opening it to look at the pictures or read the information inside she knew that this was too much for her. It was too much to pull herself together in that short amount of time. Her stomach rolled another time and she shook her head, opened her eyes and darted to the bathroom.

The file read:

Michael Charles Jareau.

Her father.

"So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and will broken. It sapped your tears and made you hollow."

Anna Godbersen

A/N: So this is my newest story. I've already written a couple other chapters too so the updating might be quick at first, depending on the reviews and how much I work on my other stories. I hope everyone likes this! Don't forget to review! :)