Pretty Little Liar

Ch 1: Fireworks and a Towel

"Oh! That must be them!" I thought to myself as I hopped up from my couch and ran to get the door after hearing 3 petite knocks, a whisper, and a large pounding on the door.

"Jayje, you home?" Garcia shouted from outside. I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by a follow-up question.

"Or are you too busy?" Emily sing-songed, struggling to get the last word out between giggles from herself and Garcia.

"Well, you know, I Just finished doing Hotch on the couch…" I teased them, swinging open the door to see their mouths agape. "But I guess if you need to see me... I could spare a minute or two…"

The three of us burst into a fit of girly giggles. Emily and Garcia both had their eyes wide with surprise and amusement at my previous statement, no doubt, so I decided to keep the epic going. After all, it wasn't completely untrue, I just woke up from a nap, and well… I was dreaming, Okay? Jeez, you can't honestly say you've never imagined yourself in my position before, or at least had some sort of fantasy…

"How was it?" Emily squeaked between giggles.

"Well, of course YOU'D wanna know…" I trailed off, loving the thought that I was dominating the current conversation, and getting to tease Emily about her non-existent secret love for Hotch. We all knew it was really Reid she loved anyway.

"Puh-leeze." Garcia giggled, "Emily? You did say Hotch, not Reid, right?"

Emily's cheeks turned beet red. "Wha-wha-... No…" she attempted to deny in vain. The blushing kinda gave it away though. If Reid wasn't so clueless, I have no idea what she'd be into by now. Especially since Strauss keeps such tight tabs on Reid. But shh… I'm not supposed to know about that, and duct tape is silver…

"JJ…" Garcia said between giggles, "Out with it."

"Alright, alright. Jeez." I started. I opened my mouth, shut it again, looked to the right (profilers loooove that, it means I'm not making anything up), tilted my head to the right, and looked back at them.

"Well… my doorbell rang, and, well, he was there. And, of course I knew what he was there for…" I started, a wicked smile sprouting on my face, raising my eyebrows slightly. Squeals erupted out of the two of them for about 5 full minutes, with the occasional "he" and "he was" and even one "Damn, he's determined!" from Garcia.

"Oh! I've said too much." I giggled. "But you already know how this story ends, right?"

"Hot sex in every room of the house?" Emily asked, giggling.

"You tell me." I winked at Emily. "After all, isn't that what you and Reid do after those Russian movies you go and "watch"?" I made quotation movements with my fingers at the word watch, and that made Emily's whole face turn beet red.

"What's the matter, Emily? Beach sex with Reid giving you a nasty sunburn?" Garcia giggled.

In hindsight, the conversation was so funny for me because a week ago… well, some of that fantasy actually… came true.

Let me explain.

We were on a case. It was really bad. Like, so bad I can't bear to recall it in my memory. It was a child rapist thing; he- oh, well, he raped 13-year-olds, impregnated them, and viciously slaughtered their babies before their eyes before burning them alive. Sick bastard. It was bad. Reeeeally bad. It got me thinking that life was really short, and unexpected things could happen and end it in a flash. And the one worst thing in death would be to leave regretting what you didn't do. So, I thought, in a moment surprisingly alcohol-free, I was going to march right up to Hotch's hotel room and get what I wanted, damn it! Or at least, in my sane mind, tell him I had feelings for him. I mean, after that nasty break-up with Will… I just wanted to find love, you know? Life is too short.

I marched up to his hotel room on the last day of that case. The rest of the team had gone home, but there was a dispute about the evidence and stuff, so he stayed as the acting unit chief, and I stayed as the media liaison. Come to think of it, that was probably a major catalyst, having the team thousands of miles away. I knocked on his hotel room door.
"Just a minute!" he called. I put my ear to the door and heard a sound that made me wish I'd come 5 minutes earlier- running water.

"How the hell am I going to tell him I love him when he's in a TOWEL?" I thought to myself. "He's gonna think I'm a slut."

I had no more time than that to think as he swung the door open.

"Oh, JJ. Hi! Come in." he invited. I walked in, what else could I do? Plus, well, he was kinda in a towel. He then looked down.

"Sorry for the lack of clothes… uhh… this is rather awkward…" he muttered apologetically.

"So, uh, Hotch, uhh, um, with the case and all, well, uhh, I was thinking, uhh, thinking that life is too short to regret anything…" I started. Man, this was awkward.

"Yes…" He added.

"Well, I kinda wanted to say that I've, well, I've always secretly had feelings for you." I blurted. I then covered my mouth.

"Did I just say that out loud?"

"You have?" Hotch smiled. Man, this moment just got 10 times as awkward.

"Umm… Well… Yeah…" I whispered, looking at my feet. There was an awkward silence that hung above us for what felt like 12 hours, but was probably closer to 1 minute.

"JJ, it's okay." He whispered.

"No, it's not. Sorry for barging in on your shower, I should leave." I whispered, embarrassed, my skin redder than the purest of beets.

"No, JJ, stay. There's something I need to tell you too." He whispered, touching my shoulder.