Author's Note: Just wanted to let you guys know that no more posts until Monday. I need to take this weekend and try to write. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts! Thanks again for reading. You guys make it worthwhile.

Love is What Happens When You're Busy Not Looking

Chapter One

Smiling in relief as she walked down the long hallway in the Beaumont, Texas sheriff's office, Jennifer Jareau felt her shoulders relax as she moved toward the large bulletin board in the center of the room. Finally, she could remove those horrible pictures, those speechless victims having found justice thanks to their intrepid team. As soon as the team finished up at the final crime scene, she could officially say that another case had been solved. And with any luck, she would be able to wrap up all the loose ends with the press and the local law enforcement in time to have them winging their way back home before nightfall.

And tonight was something she was definitely looking forward to. Shuffling the various official papers on the desk, JJ bit back a smile as she tried to look appropriately serious in case any passing deputy happened to look her way. But her mind was already imagining the coming hours with David Rossi, knowing that if there was ever a night that she needed to decompress, it was tonight. And she could tell that he did to. After all, wasn't that what friends were for?

It had started three months ago, completely innocently... if such a word could be used to describe what they shared. She had slipped into his office one evening following a particularly rough case they had been unable to solve in time before the last victim was murdered. Her intentions had been to drop off a stack of bureaucratic forms, his approval necessary to close the files. But she had known as she had walked up those steps that she was interested in far more than his scrawled signature. She needed to feel alive, to feel human contact. And she had a feeling that night that he did, too, his darkened gaze heavier having lingered on her a tad longer than normal that day.

To this day, she still wasn't sure which one of them had made the first step, but by the time they had made it back to her condo, it no longer mattered. They had satisfied themselves in one another's bodies, taking and giving with abandon. And the connection was born.

They didn't call what they shared a relationship. That was far too serious a word in her opinion. A relationship implied strings, and she had studiously avoided any form of attachment that could end up hurting her in the end. No, what they had could best be described as friends with benefits. And it was definitely mutually beneficial to both of them. She had never had a lover with the skill and innate talent that David Rossi possessed, and she had to admit that he had managed to draw out a part of her that she hadn't known she even possessed.

Her attention drawn back to the present, she turned toward the covered bulletin board as she prepared to clear the evidence. Reaching for the first thumbtack, JJ looked up as she heard a sudden commotion at the main desk, the sound of radios squawking loudly in the otherwise quiet room. Her heart suddenly dropping as she saw the various sheriff's deputies moving quickly toward the exit, she grabbed a passing uniform as she asked, eyes wide, "What just happened?"

"Don't have all the details, ma'am," the tall deputy replied, his face anxiously turning toward the door. "Just got a call that the scene wasn't cleared. There's been shots fired. Think there was a second perpetrator hiding in the basement of the house."

"Wh-what?" she faltered, watching as another couple of uniformed officers rushed past her. Feeling her Blackberry vibrate in her hand, she swallowed the bile in her throat as she lifted the device with a trembling hand and read the digital message.

ROSSI IS DOWN.

Eyes widening as her vision blurred, JJ forced herself to look at the display screen again, mentally willing it to magically deviate from its original message. Blinking rapidly as she forced herself to draw in a breath, visions of herself and the older man fluttered through her mind. Them, laughing in his bed, eating bad Chinese food as they talked about their day. Sitting on her couch, his arms holding her securely against him as the credits rolled on a movie they'd only half seen...the allure of making out like teenagers to much of a temptation to resist. Listening to his stories of the "old" BAU as she'd curled in his lap. Making love to him underneath the stars in the chaise lounge at his cabin in Little Creek. So many wonderfully beautiful memories.

And three simple words had shattered it.

ROSSI IS DOWN.

Catapulting into motion, she grabbed her SUV keys with a shaking hand. It was a small town. Police Station on one end. Hospital on the other. Running toward her parked vehicle, she told herself to stay calm, not to panic. It might not be that bad. It could be a flesh wound...a graze...all taken care of with a dab of alcohol and a quick band-aid. But, somewhere inside her, she knew it wasn't. It was worse.

Driving on automatic pilot, she swallowed hard, mentally willing him to hold on, to not leave her. Had she only just minutes ago been thinking of what they had together as casual? Christ, nothing about this felt casual now. And in those moments, she knew that despite all her well-laid plans to the contrary, somehow, this connection between them had become important...vital.

There were strings. And she absolutely refused to lose it.

Quickly finding a vacant spot in the sprawling ER parking lot, she ran for the sliding glass doors. Running past the ambulance bay, she found it empty and knew that by luck or by fate, she'd managed to beat him here.

Striding toward the ER's information desk, she asked quickly, flashing her badge against the wooden counter, "David Rossi? Is he here yet?"

"The FBI agent?" the young redhead behind the desk frowned, glancing down at a bulky computer monitor.

Nodding jerkily, JJ heard the woman's terse answer. "They're rolling in. ETA is two minutes, ma'am."

"Can I..."

"You can wait by the bay doors, ma'am," the redhead replied quickly, buzzing her back to the unit as she grabbed a ringing phone.

Running down the cool corridor toward the glass doors, JJ bit her lip. How was this even possible? They were supposed to be on their way home...to a romantic evening of Italian takeout and a movie they'd never watch the end of. She wasn't supposed to be frantically running down a hallway, tears streaming down her cheeks to face an unknown destiny with a man she'd never expected to feel this way about.

What the hell kind of alternate dimension had she stumbled into where her future felt pointless now without an arrogant, albeit incredibly sexy, legendary profiler waiting in it?

'Son of a Bitch!' she mentally screamed as she came to a halt just in front of the wide ambulance doors, the bay still empty. Her mother had been right all along. Love really did happen when you were busy looking the other way.