Hotchniss One Shots

"Children"

* Rewritten *

"Emily, Callie is going to be okay," Rossi assured the woman after a long case in Los Angeles.

The case involved the kidnapping of three innocent children. Fortunately, all three of the children were found with minimal injuries. The three were found inside of an abandoned warehouse, and were quickly taken to the hospital, where it was confirmed that the most serious injury they sustained was a scratch on the leg.

Unfortunately, the real damage was physiological. One of the child's parents, the mother and father of Callie Anderson, were both brutally murdered by the unsub.

Now, this girl was probably going to end up in foster care, but at age 13, it was going to be hard for her to find a loving family.

"She doesn't have anyone, Rossi," Emily protested from across the table on the jet, crossing her arms across her chest.

Dave glanced towards the seat behind Emily, where Hotch was sitting. He was clearly listening to their conversation, as Dave watched as he had his eyes glued to the same case file for the past ten minutes.

"The right family will come to her. I know it," Rossi stated simply, giving the woman a warm smile before standing up to go get a cup of coffee, but also so Aaron could take his place.

He stood up and walked across the jet, taking a seat beside her. Hotch placed the case file down in front of him and looked at her as she stared out into the dark sky.

"Dave is right, you know," he said quietly, as the rest of the team was either sleeping or trying to fall asleep. "Callie is going to be okay. We're fortunate to have found her in such good condition."

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. 'good condition'? This girl watched as her parents were killed right in front of her!

"You're being too hard on yourself, Emily. There was nothing you could have done."

She turned and looked him in the eye. "There is something I could have done. I could have prevented her parents being killed, if only we would have looked a little deeper-"

"Hey," Aaron cut her off, "No what-ifs. If you start doing that, you're never going to find peace."

Emily nodded slightly and looked back out the window. Aaron's eyes remained trained on her as he tried to figure out what it was that she was thinking.

"What if I take her?" Emily said quietly, meeting his eyes again. "No. . . what if we take her?"

Aaron furrowed his eyebrows.

"Think about it. We have money and a place to stay. A few more years and she'll be in college. . ." she looked up at the man, who was clearly confused and looked uncomfortable. "Am I crazy?"

"Callie's grandparents are flying in from Montana," Aaron said, glancing down at the file. He thought JJ told her this news.

"Oh," Emily felt her heart drop. Maybe that was for the best, she decided. "That's good. Yeah, that's great."

He stared into her dark eyes and read her expression. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she said and smiled softly. "It's just that you have a son, and I love Jack, you know I do, but I guess I've always imagined myself having my own children. You know, Prentiss blood," she told him, realizing that she may have come across as irrational. The last thing she wanted him to think was that Jack didn't mean anything to her.

"I understand," he said, much to her surprise, "and I know you love Jack." Hotch reached down and picked up her hand carefully. "Have you ever thought about having our own children? Prentiss and Hotchner blood?" he asked cautiously.

Emily's first instinct was to take her hand away from the man. Her mind flashed back to Rome so many years ago with Matthew and John.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she pulled her hand away, his first thought being that he had come on too strong. Was that too fast?

"Aaron. . ." she began, taking a small breath. She knew that it was time to get this off of her chest. He deserved to know the truth. "I had an abortion when I was fifteen," she said almost silently, choking out the words.

He stared at her, then looked around the jet for any eyes that may have been wandering. Fortunately, everyone was sleeping. "You never told me that," he said.

"Yeah? Well it's not exactly casual conversation," she responded a little snappier than she intended.

Aaron nodded. "What happened?"

"My, um, my mother and I moved around a lot when I was a kid, you know that. . .  I wasn't exactly an angel as a teenager, nor was I popular. And when you're fifteen, all you want is to be accepted."

Aaron lowered his head and continued to stare into her dark eyes. This wasn't easy for her to talk about, but he wanted her to know that he wasn't going to judge her.

"I had a friend, Matthew, who helped me through the whole process. My parents never found out about the pregnancy. After that, I never thought about having children again until I met you."

He watched as she struggled to keep her watery eyes at bay. He reached down and picked up her hand once more.

This time, she didn't flinch away.

"Aaron, I've thought about it. I've been thinking about it a lot recently, and I can say with confidence that I would love to be the mother of our children."

"But?" he asked quietly as she gently squeezed his hand.

"I don't think I'm ready yet," she said quietly.

"That's okay," he responded. He was completely fine with waiting. This was the woman he loved, and he would wait as long as it took for her to be ready.

"Thank you," she said to him as she moved closer beside him.

"For what?" he asked as she leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

She squeezed his hand and smiled as she closed her eyes. "For being you."