Her Mother's Daughter - Hotchniss

chapter seventeen: the middle

"It just takes some time / Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride / Everything, everything will be just fine / Everything, everything will be all right, all right"

-

Emily woke early and went out to get coffee for the three of them; Jack wasn't allowed any, but she got him a donut to make up for it. She got Bridget one, too. When she got back, Hotch was awake but still in bed, Jack was fast asleep, and when she cracked open Bridget's door, the girl pretended to be asleep. Emily smiled and shook her head lightly. On the off-chance Bridget was actually asleep, Emily kept her voice at a whisper. "Coffee and a donut if you want it, honey. Good morning." Bridget rolled over. By now she knew a continuation of her act would not do anything for her, she'd already been caught.

"Hi,"

"Hi. Here, love." Emily met Bridget halfway, Bridget trudging out of bed. "Did you sleep?"

"Mm." Bridget rubbed her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. All the energy she had left had been wasted on the SAT the previous day. "Yeah, kinda." Emily rubbed the top of Bridget's head, messing up her dark hair, though it didn't look much different than her normal bedhead. "Thanks for this, Mom,"

"Mhm. Love you," Emily said.

"You, too."

Emily shut the door and let her eat by herself. She took the other two coffees up to her boyfriend.

"Morning," he greeted.

"Hey," Emily sighed, giving him his coffee and sitting in bed with him as they drank. "How are you?"

"I'm good. What's going on? Why'd you go get coffee? Not that I don't appreciate it, darling." Emily put her head on his shoulder, only lifting it to drink.

"Because I don't know what to do. Bridget likes iced coffee. I got Jack a donut, he's asleep, I left it on the table for him. So..."

"What do you want to do? You said you wanted to talk to Bridget about her nightmares. How do you want to do this, my love? You know her better, you tell me what you need." His hand found her leg, just above her knee, through the blanket. He rubbed her softly to comfort her, the sun barely rising over the cold city.

"I don't know...I feel...I feel like I maybe shouldn't do it. 'Cause I put her in this mess,"

"Emily, stop blaming yourself,"

"I can't!" she cried, though her voice stayed quiet. "I can't get it out of my head. This is my fault. She's traumatized because of the skeletons in my closet. I don't know if she still blames me." She sounded so dismal. He hurt to hear it. Hotch turned to kiss his girlfriend's head. "Aaron, I want to help her but I don't know how. My poor baby..."

"Em." This caught her attention. Uncommon was it for him to call her Em. "Would you like me to talk to her?" She nodded with tears in her eyes. "Don't cry, love. I've got you. How do you want me to go about this?"

Emily thought for a moment, keeping her head on his shoulder. He continued to rub her leg, the feeling of the idle movement somehow keeping her mind from spinning.

"'Your mom thinks you might be having nightmares,'" she murmured. "Tell her it's okay, and it's...it's nothing to be ashamed about. She can't disappoint me. Please let her know she can't ever disappoint me, she never has." In her voice, the pain built, and Hotch could hear how upset she was. Not with Bridget, but that she was so powerless to help her. "I'm so immensely proud of her,"

"I know, baby, I know. I will tell her. What else?"

"Ask her what we can do. Therapy, what? I can't stand to see her hurting. My sweet little girl, I hate seeing her so upset, Aaron." His hand left her leg and crossed over her body to her opposite arm, and he pulled her to lay her head in his lap. "Tell her you love her too. She really cares about you,"

"I'll do anything to help her. And you. I love you, Emily. Do you want me to sit here with you for a couple minutes?" he asked gently. How different his work persona was from his domestic one.

"If you want to," she mumbled. He let her lay in his lap a few minutes more before getting up, covering her with the blanket, and leaving her half-asleep in their bed.

-

Bridget heard a knock at her bedroom door. "Yeah?" she said through a mouthful of donut. She chased it down with coffee as her father entered. "Hey, morning,"

"Good morning," he said. His coffee was still in his hand. "How are you?"

"What's this about?" He raised his eyebrows. "You may be a profiler but I'm not exactly oblivious. I can sense your tone, Hotch. What's up?" He stayed standing in the doorway.

"Your mother thinks you've been having nightmares. It's nothing to be ashamed of, Bridget, what you went through was traumatic and wrong. You should not have had to experience that. You are allowed to be hurt. We just want to help you,"

"My mom put you up to this?" Bridget squinted at his unsmiling face. "No, probably not. You offered. She thinks I blame her, right?" He didn't respond. His profiling skills were kicking in, but he didn't want to profile his own daughter.

"Partially," he said finally. Bridget nodded.

"Thought so. I don't, not really. I know she wouldn't want that to happen. She's really tried to make it up to me this past year. It's not her fault. Did she order my kidnapping?"

"No, of course not,"

"Then no, I don't blame her. I'm upset that she faked her own death and didn't tell me. Not exactly having nightmares about that, though."

Bridget was trying her best to be civil and not snarky or shaky, but even she knew she was getting a bit of an attitude. Hotch wasn't too cut up about that aspect, though, and he noticed her efforts in maturity.

"You are having nightmares, though?"

"I'm okay, really." He nodded.

"Bridget, you know that it's okay if you need help. You don't have to be independent all the time. You're not weak, either. You have to be very brave to ask for help. All you have to do is tell your mom and I what you need from us. We can't help if we don't know what's wrong." Bridget nodded. She could sense the lump building in her throat.

"I'm fine. And tell my mom I'm not mad, and if she wants to talk to me, I'm not gonna get pissy with her." Hotch broke into a smile, Bridget following. He nodded to her.

"Okay. Let us know what we can do to help you, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."