Saving Agent Hotchner | 1

22. Moment of bliss

Aaron hadn't had a decent night of sleep in forever. Since becoming a profiler for the BAU, sleep had become either limited, or non existent. As a prosecutor, he worked 9 AM to 5 PM, sometimes later if necessary, but he was always home at night.

Nowadays, sleep was the only part of his day that brought comfort. When he was asleep, he dreamed that he had saved Haley. One particular dream often played out in Aaron's head while he slept.

At the very beginning, he managed to save Haley. After Haley distracted Foyet long enough, Aaron arrived to the house and immediately shot Foyet, execution style. Haley would wrap her arms around Aaron and soon, Jack would run downstairs and embrace his parents. Y/N and the team would arrive and the moment they saw that Haley and Jack were safe, the entire team would join the hug, everyone glad that Foyet was dead. The scene would change and Aaron stood at the barbeque in Rossi's backyard. He and Rossi would be chatting about random cases. He'd look over to see Spencer and Penelope playing with Henry, Jack and another child, a young girl. This little girl had Y/N's eyes and Aaron's raven hair. Turning his attention to Y/N, she was sitting around with Haley, JJ, Emily and Derek, all of them discussing babies, considering Aaron would look down slightly to see his beautiful wife rubbing her large baby bump.

Unfortunately for Aaron, the dream would abruptly end as his body clock insisted that it was time for him to wake up. Aaron, knowing that he and Y/N weren't due back to work for another 2 weeks, rolled over and tried to go back to the lovely dream he was having, but his brain wouldn't allow him to fall back asleep. So, he laid on his back with his eyes still closed as he enjoyed the small beams of light poking through his bedroom curtains.

Meanwhile, Y/N and Jack were in the kitchen, both trying to be quiet so they wouldn't wake up Aaron.

"Hey, Jack, can you put the maple syrup in the small bowl that I set out over near the sink?" Y/N whispered to Jack, who nodded. 2 minutes later, she carried a fold out tray that held pancakes, maple syrup and some utensils, while Jack carefully carried his father's coffee.

"Put the coffee on the table next to the bed." Y/N looked at Jack, who did what he was told.

"Now...wake him up!" Y/N chuckled, watching as Jack jumped onto the - now king sized - bed, gently shaking his dad awake.

"Morning daddy! Y/N and I made breakfast!" Jack smiled as Y/N walked over to the bed, showing what they had made.

"Chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup." She placed the tray over Aaron's legs as he finished sitting up.

"Breakfast in bed, for me?" Aaron smiled as he placed a kiss on Y/N's lips and kissed Jack's forehead.

"Enjoy the pancakes daddy! They're really yummy!" Jack chuckled.

"Are they?" Aaron cut into one of the pancakes and placed the piece in his mouth.

"You're right, Jack. These are yummy!" Aaron smirked.

"Jack's already had some pancakes this morning. It was actually his idea to give you breakfast in bed this morning." Y/N explained.

"Thank you Jack, and thank you, Y/N. I love you both so much." Aaron spoke before he continued to eat.

"We love you too, daddy." Jack sat beside Aaron.

Without warning, Y/N pulled out her phone and held it up, getting Jack and Aaron in view.

"Smile!" Y/N spoke, earning two bright smiles in return.

The photo was taken and Y/N looked at it, feeling happy. She clicked on Aaron's contact and sent it to him.

"Send-" He barely finished his sentence before he heard his phone buzzing.

"As Garcia would say, already sent." Y/N chuckled, sitting with Aaron and Jack.

"Drink your coffee before it goes cold!" Jack laughed, watching as Aaron finished the last pancake.

As Aaron drank his coffee, Jack was clearly eyeing the box that rested near the window. It wasn't labelled, but Jack had snuck a peek of its contents while Aaron, Y/N and Jess were sorting through everything belonging to Haley and Jack that had been returned by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Y/N looked at Jack as Aaron finished off his coffee, noticing that Jack was looking at the brown box near the window. The box held every single home video that Haley and Jack recorded while they were in protective custody. Obviously, they couldn't have contact with Aaron, so Haley and Jack would record a video, and the video would be sent to Aaron through Sam - who always picked up the videos from random drop-off points.

"What're you looking at buddy?" Y/N looked at Jack, who quickly turned to Y/N and Aaron, pretending as if he wasn't looking at that box.

"N- Nothing." Jack lied. His smile quickly disappeared.

"Hey now, what's wrong?" Aaron looked at Jack, wrapping his arm around the small boy.

"I- I miss mommy." Jack started to cry, knowing he wouldn't be able to lie to his dad.

"Oh, Jack. I miss her too." Aaron placed a kiss to Jack's forehead.

"We all miss her, Jack. That's never going to change." Y/N agreed with Aaron.

"It's okay to miss her, Jack." Aaron nodded.

"How about you pick 3 videos from the box and we'll watch them today. Alright?" Y/N suggested, watching as Jack's face immediately lit up, his bright smile returning.

Y/N knew that Jack would take his time picking the 3 videos he wanted to watch, considering there was over 15 of them. 25 minutes later, Aaron, Y/N and Jack sat on the couch in the living room, the first of 3 videos playing on the TV. Jack's eyes were glued to the TV, a smile on his face as he watched himself and his mother. Aaron sat next to him, one arm around Y/N and the other around Jack. His eyes were also on the TV. Y/N's head was on Aaron's shoulder, looking between Aaron, Jack and the TV.

Everything was okay. Aaron was happy. Jack was happy. Y/N was happy seeing the smiles on their faces. But, Y/N exhaled, knowing that eventually this moment of bliss would end and real life would continue.