Proposing Marriage 101

Disclaimer: They belong to CBS. I just like to play with them.

Somehow or another, he wasn't quite sure how, FBI TA Kevin Lynch found himself walking through the park a short distance from the Academy building in the late evening dusk. Walks in the park weren't his normal after-work activity; normally, he'd be with Penny or playing his favorite MMORPG but since the demise of their relationship after his ill-fated proposal, he found that the online world wasn't quite the escape it used to be. He'd asked his guild buddies for advice on proposing and their suggestions had brought about disaster. To make things worse, Morgan had refused to help him. And as a result, he'd lost Penny. Life sucked when you were a guy who was more comfortable in cyberspace than in the real world; you couldn't propose to a girl without screwing it up. What he wouldn't give for some cheat codes or a level guide to a woman's heart.

Voices coming down the path towards him broke through his reverie and a moment later he recognized them: it was Agents Hotchner and Jareau. The moment he registered this, he jumped off the path towards a copse of trees, hoping they wouldn't spot him in the shadows. It wasn't that he was afraid of them….he'd just been avoiding anyone and anything to do with the BAU since he and Penny broke up and didn't want to have to make conversation with them.

As the two agents came closer, Kevin was surprised to see them walking arm in arm; even more shocking, Agent Hotchner wasn't wearing a suit! He pulled off his glasses and scrubbed the lenses against his shirt before replacing them and looking at the couple again; nope, he wasn't seeing things. The two agents were dressed somewhat casually, heads together and…smiling! Were they….on a date? He nearly panicked when they sat on a bench near his hiding spot and debated as to whether he should bolt and risk getting caught or just stay put. Agent Hotchner was an intimidating guy on his best day and he'd seen Agent Jareau shoot a man in the head through a solid glass door. Who knew what they'd do if they saw him spying on them? Self-preservation won out and he hunkered down next to a thick sapling, the better to stay out of sight. He couldn't help overhearing their conversation though.

As the tech watched, Hotch put his arm around the blonde at his side, "You ok?"

JJ nodded, "Just thinking about the boys. Are you sure Jess didn't mind taking them for the night? We both know that Henry's been a handful lately."

The unit chief smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Of course not; she threatened to kidnap them if I didn't let her watch them so we could go out tonight. They're having a blast over there. I'm trying not to think about the coming sugar high."

"I know. I guess I'm still a little surprised that she's being so supportive of us being a couple. I don't want her to think I'm trying to take Haley's place in Jack's life."

"She knows you're not. Jack loves you and you love him and that's all that matters to her. She just wants him to be happy. You do that sweetheart. You make both of us happy."

Despite their intimate conversation, Kevin couldn't seem to tear his eyes or ears away from the scene in front of him; he'd never expected to see either of the two agents on such a personal level, much less with each other. As he watched, JJ leaned into Hotch's shoulder and sighed, "You make Henry and me happy too. He loves staying over at your place and sharing Jack's room. He never wants to leave."

Kevin saw the smile that the blonde didn't as Hotch reached into his pocket before gently extracting himself from their embrace. Meeting the blonde's confused eyes he knelt in front of the bench, "Well, I hate it when you leave as well. I'd like to make it so you don't have to again." Opening the box, he pulled out a ring, "Will you marry me JJ?"

The blonde profiler's eyes went wide and happy for a moment before tearing up a bit, "Aaron, we've only been dating a few months. Are you sure that we're what you want?"

"JJ, I've been sure for a long time now." Kevin thought that the older man would be upset at the lack of a straight answer but Hotch just waited patiently as she reached for his free hand and spoke again.

"What about the team? The brass will never let us work together Aaron. Do you want me to quit? And what about the boys? I…."

To Kevin's continued surprise, Hotch just held her hand and met her eyes, ""JJ, I already took care of the formalities at work; neither of us will have to transfer. You don't have to quit your job unless you want to; I know you love your work. As for the boys, they'll be thrilled. Jack's already asked me if it'd be ok if he called you Mom."

That brought a small gasp from JJ, "He…he did?" To their listener, she sounded like she was going to cry.

"He loves you JJ; you've been a mother to him for a while now. This will just make it official. "

There was a split second's pause before JJ practically leapt off the bench into his arms with a resounding, "Yes!" and the impact knocked them both back into the damp grass. The two kissed deeply for a moment before Hotch helped her to her feet and slipped the ring onto her finger. Another deep kiss followed that and then the two turned back the way they'd come, their pace faster than before; Kevin didn't even want to think about what they had planned next. Once they were out of sight he emerged from the trees and sat on the bench the couple had recently vacated.

As he thought about what he'd witnessed, he came to realize that he'd screwed up several things when he'd proposed to Penny. He hadn't made it special; he'd just sprung it on her at work and in the middle of a case no less. Then when she freaked over the commitment issue, something he'd already known she feared, he didn't reassure her like Agent Hotchner had Agent Jareau's worries; he'd brushed them off, disregarded them as if they weren't important. Then to top it all off, he'd gotten impatient and issued an ultimatum; he should have been patient and waited. Maybe if he had, he'd still have her.

With a sigh, he got up and started to make his way home. He may have lost Penny but he had learned a few good lessons tonight. Maybe next time he wouldn't screw up so much.

But someone really did need to write a cheat guide to make women easier to navigate.