Author's Note: "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum would like to announce that we have opened signups for our first annual "Valentine's Fic Gift Exchange". Signups are thru January 31st and assignments will be made on February 1st for this one. Simply name the pairings you are willing to write, the pairing you would like to receive as a gift, one famous love song and three Valentine's Day prompts.

Finally, new Fortune Cookie prompts are available at the forum for those of us that need a kick start to our writing muses.

As ever, thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting and alerting our stories. We truly appreciate each one of you. And because I haven't said it in a while, we (neither ilovetvalot or tonnie2001969) own Criminal Minds (though we really wish we did).

Broken Resolutions

Chapter One

There were times in a man's life when he knew when to fold. Cut his losses and leave the damn table while he still had his dignity intact. His father had taught him that. Better to leave when you could walk away with a straight back rather than dragging the tatters of your shattered pride in your wake.

A man had to be a man…whether he wanted to or not.

Now was one of those times, he thought, his eyes lovingly watching her graceful sway as she walked past the BAU bullpen. It was time to resign himself to what was.

Jennifer Jareau wasn't his to have.

And in the spirit of the new year, it was time to make a solemn resolution. A resolution that he had to keep if he was to maintain what little sanity he still possessed.

Jennifer Jareau was permanently off his menu.

It wasn't that he didn't want to keep her on his list of most favorites. Oh, but to the contrary. He wanted her so much that he was finding himself daydreaming about her in ways that were far less than just a simple friendly thought. He could actually see himself doing what he had once thought to be impossible: living happily ever after with her.

Except for one small thing, he reminded himself darkly….she was not in any position to be pursued. Not now. And maybe not ever. It was painfully clear to everyone, himself included, that she was planning a future with someone else. She had a kid with the other man, for Christ's sake. That usually signified commitment, didn't it?

But maybe not, his mind countered, the devious devil on his shoulder intent on having his opinion heard. Maybe things weren't as they seemed. Shaking his head, Dave did his best to dislodge the little imp from his perch, refusing to let himself be swayed. This was the best course of action. He had to make this choice and stick to it.

After all, everyone needed a New Year's resolution. And this one was his. David Rossi was going cold turkey…if it killed him.

And he was pretty certain it just might.

XXX

Sighing heavily as she reentered her office, Jennifer Jareau wondered how much more of the holiday hoopla she could take. If she had to endure one more lecture from Penelope Garcia on how she couldn't allow herself to become some fading flower on the wall, she was going to run screaming from the building.

She knew her friend had the best of intentions. She also knew why her friend needed to embark on a one woman crusade to force her back into the world. All that, however, didn't mean that she wasn't going to implode under the pressure.

The last thing she needed was to show up at Garcia's annual New Year's bash sans Will LaMontagne. It wasn't the appropriate venue for that kind of announcement. Of course, Garcie, in her determined, benevolent fashion, disagreed. To her mind, an apartment full of single, attractive guys was just what a single and looking to mingle Jennifer Jareau needed to revive her social life.

Arguments that three months wasn't long enough to mourn the dissolution of JJ's relationship had fallen on deaf ears. Cheaters definitely never prospered in PG's world; she'd made sure of it. And according to her, there was nothing to feel sorrowful about regarding LaMontagne...other than the fact that JJ had wasted a year of her life.

Of course, all she'd needed to do was point at her son to quell that particular line of thought.

She was the first to admit that having a baby hadn't been her original plan…and she was also the first to assert that she wouldn't have changed a single thing. Her son was the reason she got up every morning, knowing that she was making the world a better place for him and his future. And every night when she tucked him into his crib, his small thumb stuck into his mouth as his eyes slowly closed into slumber, she knew at that moment that she had never seen anything more precious in her life.

But what amazed her…no, absolutely astounded her…was the fact that Will could so blithely walk out of Henry's life. She no longer cared about herself or her feelings; she was a big girl and could get over any sense of betrayal. But what she would never forgive was someone deliberately turning his back on a small defenseless child that he had helped create.

Shaking her head as she stared down at her desk, JJ straightened her shoulders as she gathered her thoughts. No use going down that road again, Jareau, she counseled herself sternly. This was obviously for the best. If Will wanted out, then now was the time to cut ties, well before Henry could remember. And besides, Henry had plenty of role models. Aaron Hotchner…Derek Morgan…even Spence…

And David Rossi. Don't forget him, her ever helpful mind reminded her.

Since well before Will had been out of the picture, she'd sensed herself forming an attachment to the gruff older man. She wasn't quite sure what attracted her to him. It certainly wasn't his money or success, although those certainly weren't anything any self-respecting woman would sneeze at. But they weren't what caused her eyes to keep wandering in his direction.

Most days she attributed it to his sheer charisma. Masculine and forthright, he didn't give a damn what other people thought of him. He was unapologetically aggressive when he thought he was right. But alternately, she knew he had a softer side. A tender side.

She'd witnessed it when Zoe had died and he'd tried to pay for the young woman's funeral. She'd seen it in his wounded eyes when he'd looked at Emily and Spencer's battered faces when they'd walked out of Cyrus' compound. And most recently, she'd viewed it when he'd slid a folded check on her desk with a soft spoken request that she include it in the Communion card she was sending a little girl that had just lost her father to a brutal unsub.

Something about the man called to her on an instinctive level and try though she might, it was becoming harder to ignore that magnetic pull.

But that was exactly what she was going to do, she told herself with a decided snap. She was just now getting herself and her son back on an even keel, and she wasn't about to do anything to disrupt that delicate balance. As much as she was intrigued by Dave, she couldn't allow herself to invest any time or energy into that pursuit.

But why not, her recalcitrant mind demanded with a voice that sounded eerily similar to Penelope Garcia's affronted tones. Groaning to herself, JJ knew that this would be just the thing Garcia would be delighted to hear.

But she never intended to let that happen. JJ was perfectly fine just as she was at this exact moment…and she would continue to remind herself of that for the next year. She was resolved to not let another man back into her life. Not now…and maybe not ever.

That was to be her New Year's resolution, she told herself as she reached for the open file on the corner of her desk. Between her commitment to her son and her commitment to her job, she had her hands full already. And while she may be excellent at multi-tasking, she also knew which things she could live without.

But as she tried to focus on the file, she felt herself slipping again, her thoughts scattering as she saw David Rossi's scrawled signature at the bottom of the first page.

Maybe this New Year's Resolution was going to be much harder to keep than she had originally thought.