Classified light- a criminal minds fan fiction

Wonderful

"That was... a good attempt" Hotch heard Cameron say as sweetly as possible as he walked through the front door into the living room where her and Jack were sat at the piano bench, Jack in fits of laughter of the monstrosity he just attempted to play.

"It sounded horrible" he laughed.

"It was a little... clunky, but it's getting there" she smiled at him which made him laugh more before shaking his head.

"Can you play it for me again?"

"Jack" she chuckled, "I've played it for you 15 times now, you're never going to learn to play it if you just watch me play it over and over again."

"But it sounds so nice when you play it" he beamed at her with one missing tooth, "please?"

She chuckled and nodded, "okay, one more time and then you have to practice your scales."

"Scales are sooo boorrring though."

"I know, I hated them too" Cameron laughed as she played the simple combination she had created for Jack who had begged her to help him learn piano ready for the school talent show, "but you know what helped me learn to love practicing scales?"

"What?" Jack asked, already engulfed in the combination she was playing and subtly added more complex parts with her other hand that he got lost in as he watched her play.

"Adding a melody and rhythm to it, making it into a song" she smiled and he realised that the beautiful song was in fact the scales on top of the combination of her other hand that blended together.

"How do you do that? You're doing it so effortlessly- you're not even reading the sheet music!" Jack quizzed in shock as she smiled at him and continued to play, not even looking at her hands as she freestyled a tune on top of the scales to make it more enjoyable to play and listen to.

"It just takes-"

"Practice? That's what the music teacher at school says, I don't like her much, she's always scowling" Jack sighed, she laughed and shook her head.

"I was going to say creativity and fun; practice is true too but fun is more important. You could be the world's best classically train pianist and know all the correct technique but there's not much fun in just playing incredibly hard combinations over and over again until your fingers bleed- you should have fun with it. Even if it's a simple combination but it makes you smile, that's better than practicing for hours" she smiled at the piano as she let her hands explore different fun riffs up and down the scales to make Jack smile and dance next to her on the bench.

"Do you play classically? Did you used to train like that? Like the people on TV who practice for hours with blades and stuff?" He asked, she paused- her hand automatically hovering over the middle C of the keys.

"I... I used to have to for a while" she nodded and tried to brush past it with a clearing of her throat, "but I prefer to play for fun now, like I did when I was a child."

"It still looks very complicated what you play" he looked at her hands dancing on the keys, "and it sounds great!"

"Thank you Jack" she chuckled before a timer went off in the kitchen, "I think the brownies are done-"

Cameron turned on the piano bench, pausing when she saw Hotch leaning on the door frame smiling at her.

"Aaron!" She beamed before tilting her head, "wait- how long have you been stood there?"

"A while" he chuckled.

"Dad!" Jack turned around, jumping off the bench and running over to him- being engulfed in a huge hug.