Reconciling the Hotchners | 2

1. History repeats itself

Y/N arrived home from the team's most recent case at 1:35 AM. The team was away for 4 days and Y/N only got 2 hours of sleep during those 4 days. Y/N hoped that when she got home, she'd have a day or two to just relax. She also hoped that she'd be able to stay home so that she could celebrate Toby's 1st birthday.

Unlike his brother and sister, Toby was still a toddler, and Y/N hoped that maybe she wouldn't start the unfortunate trend of missing his birthdays or other important events in his life. So far, Y/N had been able to avoid missing birthdays and other events for Avery and Jack, but there were a few slip ups that Y/N just couldn't avoid.

By 7 AM, Y/N had gotten just under 6 hours of sleep, but that didn't stop her phone from waking her up.

Emily: We have another case. Be here in 30. Sorry. 🙁

Y/N rolled her eyes and got out of bed. She got a new outfit, refreshed her go bag and looked over at Aaron, who was sleeping soundly on his side of the bed. She walked around and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Walking into each child's bedroom, Y/N placed kisses on their foreheads, remembering to give extra kisses to Toby, who was tightly gripping his teddy bear.

She got downstairs, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote a note to Aaron before leaving the house with her phone, her keys and her go bag.

———

AARON
I heard Y/N come home last night. I had no idea what time she had gone to bed, but I knew it was late considering she was trying to be quiet. When she got into bed and put her arm over my torso, I relaxed and thought that maybe she'd get some a day off. It'd be really nice, considering Toby's birthday was today. But, when I felt her get out of bed later in the morning, I knew that she had been called in for another case. I was tempted to roll over and hold her against me so she'd be too relaxed to move, but I knew she'd figure out a way to escape my grasp.

Since leaving the BAU, I thought that maybe life would slow down. I'd become the father I knew I could be, and I did. I left the BAU 2 years ago - back in 2017, and in the time between then and now, Jack was a few months away from turning 14. Avery was now 5 and had been attending elementary school for a few months. In the middle of 2018, Y/N and I welcomed our 3rd child - Toby - into the world and he was turning 1 today.

In 2 years, Y/N had managed to make it home for most special occasions. She hadn't missed a single Christmas or Easter, and she had managed to get home right before any birthdays within the family. A few anniversaries had been missed, but Y/N always managed to make it up to me whenever she got home.

Between 2017 and 2019, Y/N only took 2 months off. Similar to when she was pregnant with Avery, Y/N went on maternity leave in her last month of pregnancy - month 1 off, and she spent a month recovering from Toby's birth - month 2 off.

History was truly repeating itself. With me at home being a full-time dad and Y/N at the BAU, I was starting to understand how Haley had felt before we had gotten divorced. She knew my job was important to me and I never meant to put my job above my family, but now being the parent who stayed home, it sucked being the only parent home to take care of the family - the only differences between then and now being that I wasn't working with the BAU and there were 3 children, not just Jack. Just like I had when I worked with the BAU, Y/N tried so hard to be around as much as she could. Every day I slightly regretted being okay with Y/N continuing to work at the BAU. If I knew then what I know now, I probably would've asked her to find another job within the FBI that would still utilise her skills.

At 10 AM, - the usual wake-up time for the Hotchners on a Saturday - I was woken up to the feeling of something crawling around on the bed. When I opened my eyes, I smiled at the sight of Jack and Avery playing with Toby on Y/N's side of the bed - which was empty.

"Good morning Hotchner children." I chuckled.

"Morning dad!" Jack and Avery replied.

"Good morning, birthday boy." I sat up and lifted Toby off the bed, holding him in my arms. I gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Mom's on a case?" Jack sighed.

"Yep. But I'm sure she's working hard to get home soon." I insisted.

I took the kids downstairs and to the kitchen, seeing a note on the counter. I picked it up and read it.

Aaron,

I'm so, so, sorry! A case came up and I needed to head in. I PROMISE that I'll make it up to Toby when I get home. For now, there's a gift from me in our walk-in wardrobe, and your gift for him is in your drawer. Jack and Avery's gifts are in their desks. Please give Toby a birthday kiss for me.

I love you, Jack, Avery and Toby so much and I'll be home as soon as I can.

-Y/N, xx.

I exhaled, putting the note down. I followed the note and gave Toby a kiss on the forehead.

"Mom says happy birthday, buddy." I whispered to Toby.

———

GENERAL
Y/N didn't return home for 2 more days. She apologised and attempted to make it up to Toby by spending a day with him at the park. But unfortunately for her, Toby started getting sick the day before she came home and even then, she was pulled back to work for another case. It was a local case - meaning no travelling, but she was still pulled away and needed to work all the time. Aaron was glad that the case allowed for Y/N to come home at night, but that didn't matter when Y/N was too tired for anything but eating and sleeping.

Emily did allow her, Matt, and JJ to come back to work each day a little bit later than everyone else, just so they could have breakfast with their respective families. That's how Y/N made up for missing Toby's birthday. She let Aaron sleep in. She delt with getting Jack and Avery up for school and she made Toby his favourite breakfast while he watched his favourite cartoons. By the time Aaron woke up, Y/N had put her phone and badge into her purse, she attached her I.D. to her jacket, she put her gun in its holster around her waist and she was grabbing her keys to head out.

"I'll take Jack and Avery to school. Toby finished his breakfast and is in his play-pen ready for some father-son time. I've also given him some medicine to help calm down his fever." Y/N smiled as she kissed Aaron goodbye before leaving with Jack and Avery.

And just like that, she was gone, leaving Aaron alone with their youngest child.