A/N: Hey again! Just wanted to say thanks for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter. And also, I forgot to mention last chapter the prompts pandorabox82 provided. They are: gingerbread houses, sledding, ice skating, the perfect tree, and matching Christmas sweaters. Happy Holidays, everyone! And Stephanie, I really hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 2:

Hotch wasn't exactly sure where his question had come from—no! That was a lie. It had come from the place in his heart that desperately wanted to get closer to her. He just hadn't actually planned for now being the moment of his big revelation.

And judging by JJ's reaction—a loud gasp, and a deer caught in headlights look—it was a huge revelation.

Practically a minute later, she had yet to say a thing. And that's when second thoughts began to set in. So she had kissed him on the cheek earlier, so what? That had obviously been a friendly gesture between friends. And the twinkle in her eyes had just been gratitude for helping her out. Nothing more. He'd been such an idiot, reading more into tonight's events than they warranted.

"JJ, I'm sorry; forget I said anything…" he said reluctantly, hoping if he backtracked he could salvage their incredible friendship.

A second gasp, a sharp intake of breath, was not what he expected. A relieved sigh, yes, but not a strangled sound of surprise.

Hotch dared to look at her once again. He couldn't quite get a read on what she was thinking. A mixture of curiosity and fear, but also intrigue and maybe, unless he was reading her wrong, a little delight.

Slowly, he watched as she retook his hand, let go when she'd been caught off guard by his question. "What if…" she started. "What if I don't want to forget?"

It was his turn to look completely shocked. His mouth dropped open, his eyes widened to the size of saucers. In his mind, whenever he'd pictured asking her out, her answer was always no. It was his way of mentally preparing himself for the inevitable let down. He'd never guessed that she would possibly consider even saying yes.

"Then—" He had to stop to clear his throat. "Then, I would do it. I would ask you out on a real date."

The delight won over. JJ's face broke into a luminous smile. "Ask me," she breathed out.

He had to smile. He could not believe this was actually happening. "All right, then. Ms. Jennifer Jareau, will you do me the extreme honor of going out with me this weekend? Say Saturday?"

"Yes!" she whisper-shouted. She put a hand over her lips, looking to the boys before uncovering and giving him a sheepish grin. "I mean, yes, of course," she said more demurely.

Hotch chuckled. "If I had known you'd be this enthusiastic in your answer I would have asked a long time ago."

"How long ago?" she murmured.

Too late. He realized what he just said when her smile turned into a confused frown.

He let out a sigh. Hotch certainly didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, but he did not want to lie to her either. "A long time," he confirmed. "Don't get me wrong, JJ, I've probably always been attracted to you. But when you were with Will, when Will was… Anyways, I completely respected your relationship; I admired you as a friend and a colleague. Since then, though…"

He trailed off trying to find the right words to describe what he felt for her now.

"Things have changed," she finished for him. "I feel the exact same."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I… like you, Aaron," she said nervously.

Her cheeks took on a pretty rose shade and she looked off to the side.

Impulsively, he touched his fingers to her chin, silently urging her to look at him once again. When she did so, he didn't drop his hand. Touching her felt too good. And he wasn't about to stop now.

"I like you, too," he confessed. "A lot."

Somehow the distance between them disappeared and just as he was sure he was about to get a chance to taste her sweet lips, Jack stirred from the floor.

The pair of them jumped apart abruptly.

"Daddy?" Jack questioned groggily. He rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Is it time to go home yet?"

He shared a quick longing look with JJ, but answered resignedly, "Yeah, buddy. I think it is."

JJ glided across the gleaming, smooth surface of the freshly cleaned ice. She glanced around the empty arena that Hotch had somehow secured private ice-time in, relishing the crisp atmosphere, the perfect stillness of the moment.

Even though ice-skating happened to be her most favorite winter pastime, she'd only managed to do it a handful of times since moving to D.C. so long ago. And all those times just happened to be before Henry was born.

She hadn't known how much she'd missed it until Hotch pulled up in front of her neighborhood arena and told her his intentions. That he'd also made sure that it would just be the two of them made it all the more special.

They skated hand in hand for most of the time, but now that their time was winding down they'd veered to the playful side of things, chasing each other, laughing happily and whatnot. JJ could not remember ever being happier on a first date before. She was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Turning around, she skated quickly towards Hotch. He caught her around the waist, as planned, bringing her back flush with his chest. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.

She laughed heartily, loving the combined rush of speed skating plus the feel of his hands on her body.

"We have got to teach you how to stop," he commented amusedly, his breath tickling deliciously at her earlobe.

"Why?" She turned in his arms to feign a pout. "Don't you like catching me? Because I do, you are so much safer than the boards."

She tried to hold on to her stern pout under his amused smile, but it faltered quickly. Letting out a girlish giggle, she pushed away again, skating towards the very same boards she said she wanted to avoid.

Bumping into them with a jolt, she scrambled to hold on as she turned to face her date. She loved skating, yes; that didn't mean she was very good at it.

Hotch was watching her with such an adoring look on his face that it took her breath away for a moment. He really did care for her; she marveled privately over this fact. How the heck had she gained the affection of this incredible man, she had no idea. But she had every intention of doing everything in her power to keep it.

"Nope. I don't mind catching you one bit," he let her know. The look on his face told her it was quite the opposite. Gesturing for her to skate back towards him, he added, "I'm just worried that you might hurtle yourself towards me too fast and take both of us down."

She silently scoffed at this notion, instead, speeding up her momentum. JJ reached Hotch at an angle this time. When he reached out to stop her, one foot slipped out further than intended making his stance unsteady. And because he was unsteady, so was she. Just as he prophesized a millisecond before, they both fell to the ice in one big, painful heap.

Hotch bore the brunt of it, breaking her fall. He lay sprawled beneath her, arms out at his sides, eyes firmly shut.

"Just like that…" he groaned out. "Ouch."

JJ quickly pulled off of him, sitting back on the cold ice. "Oh man, I've really got to learn how to stop," she reiterated.

Hotch chuckled, but he hadn't made a move to get up. In fact, other than speaking, he hadn't moved a muscle. Oh God, she thought frantically.What if I paralyzed him with my bad skating?

"Hotch… Aaron?" she started, panicked. "Are you ok? What hurts? Move something for me?"

To her surprise, he just continued to laugh. Maybe I gave him a concussion…

"Aaron, come on, are you hurt? Do you have a concussion?" She leaned over him, placing a hand on his face. Her fingers lifted an eyelid to check his pupils. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was doing.

When his hand came up to grasp hers, holding it there against his cheek she was able to let out a momentary sigh of relief. He can move! she thought happily.

He'd stopped laughing then, only to give her a smile and a look which struck her speechless. He was staring at her so intently, so deeply; it was like he was attempting to see right into her soul.

And then he blinked. "Sorry," he told her. "It was just so… ironic… Us falling just like I said we would."

"Aaron!" she protested, giving his shoulder a bit of a swat. "You scared me half to death."

"Sorry, sorry," he said between some more chuckles.

She tried to give him that same stern pout from before, but once again failed. She smiled; he was ok, that was what mattered. "Don't scare me like that again, all right?"

"Deal," he agreed.

Holding a hand out to him to at least get him to seating position, she was very surprised when he took her hand and, instead, tugged her down over him completely.

"Aaron," she murmured.

"JJ," he answered in turn.

That was all it took, the brief utterance of her name, for her to close the distance between them. JJ pressed her lips to his eagerly; she was met with the exact same enthusiasm as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her soundly.

And just like her first date with him, the kiss was just as perfect.

After a moment more, JJ pulled back so she could look down at him in wonder. That someone as amazing as him could care for him was a dream come true.

"God, you are beautiful…" he murmured.

She rewarded him with a sweet kiss to his forehead.

"All silver and gold and shining… JJ, your wings are beautiful…" Hotch whispered.

She looked back at him with wide eyes. Silver? Gold? Wings? What the heck?

Now that she took a good look at him, his dark eyes had a glazed sort of look about them.

He looked past her suddenly. "Are your twin sisters angels, too? You should invite them down to skate with us?" His hand beckoned her 'twin sisters' forward. "Come on, I don't bite…"

For a moment, she had to laugh at the situation; it looked like she had actually given him that concussion, or at least, knocked him silly. She sighed, getting up off the ice; she mentally prepared herself for a night spent in the hospital emergency room.

"Come on, Aaron, time to go," she said cooingly, holding out a hand to him.

He took it. "Are your twin sisters coming, too? Can we go see Santa Claus?"

"Yes, Aaron, we're going to see Santa and his elves and they've got lots of presents for you…" she murmured as she hauled him to her feet.

It wasn't exactly the way she thought the date would end. But, as she put an arm around his body, bracing him, she knew that at the very least, she'd have an interesting story to tell their grandkids someday.

"I want a… a magic wand, and a Tonka Truck!" he continued to babble as she led the two of them off the ice. "JJ, do you think it's ok if I like Ron better than Harry? I don't want to hurt Harry's feelings… but Ron's my favorite…"

And that's it. And I have no clue where that ending came from. Lol. Hope you enjoyed it anyways.

Thanks for reading! Hope you'll let me know what you think!