A/N OK, big old author's note coming up, making the following points:

a) So...those of you who have followed me across from Part One will be familiar with the set-up. Taken from the LJ community 64damn_prompts, I decided that since there were 64 of them, I should split them up into three parts. Hence, therefore, there will be a final 20-something chapter story following this one!

b) Most of the oneshots will be totally unrelated - if I'm linking any of them together, I'll make it obvious! :)

c) And finally, I'll write at the start of each chapter which characters it's going to involve, although I'm fairly confident that all of them will be JJ/Hotch in some way - don't worry, I normally make it clear what happened to Will! ;)

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the LiveJournal community from which I took this prompt list.

Character/Pairing

Rating: T

Prompt: #22 - Crumble

His heart shatters at the look on her face.

"I can't do this anymore," she says, and she's fighting back tears. His stomach drops to the floor because he's been here before, and he knows that there is only one outcome.

"JJ..." he attempts, but his voice doesn't sound like it should. She shakes her head, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry. It's just not working."

His whole world is falling to pieces and he doesn't know how to stop it. It's like the walls are closing in, the emptiness growing with every step she takes towards the door.

"Jayje, wait..."

"Hotch, I can't."

Hotch. What the team calls him. What JJ calls him. Not once has she called him Aaron. He struggles to remember a time when she even called him Hotchner outside of an introduction. It was always Hotch.

Because she wasn't Hailey. Hailey, who called him Aaron every day for years, who left him without a backwards glance, who took his son away from him.

Her hand is on the door handle, taking his silence as acceptance of her departure.

It's cold outside.

And then his mind is made up.

Hotch surges forward. He catches her wrist, dragging her towards him and away from the door. Like a moth drawn to a flame, his lips find hers, bruising in their force.

JJ gasps, or maybe sobs. He doesn't care. He pulls away, lets his lips walk down her throat to rest on her collar bone.

"Don't leave me," he whispers into her neck.

He sounds so scared.

If anything, JJ would realize later, it was that uncharacteristic fear in his voice that made her drop her bag to the floor and throw her arms around his neck.

Letting out a shaky breath, Hotch buries his face into her shoulder, his arms tight around her.

Her voice comes out as a soft whisper in his ear.

"We all fall down sometimes, but I can't pick you up again if you keep pushing me away, Aaron."

Hotch nods, but can't bring himself to look her in the eye and see the hurt and the anger and the how close he came to losing her for good.

He tightens his arms around her, because if he let go, he wasn't sure he would make it.