Growing Together

Changes

June 2012

Kids' Ages

Jack Hotchner - 6

Henry LaMontagne - 3

Ellie Hotchner - 10 weeks

*Penelope is roughly 8 months pregnant and due at the end of next month.

Hotchner Household

"Ssh, little baby, it's okay," Emily whispered, rocking her 10-week-old daughter.

The baby only cried louder, driving her mother to near tears. Ellie Hotchner, it seemed, was not destined to be an easy child. She simply had too much of the Prentiss genes. It didn't help matters that summer break had officially started last week leaving Jack home all day. Not that Emily didn't love the boy, it's just that her job got infinitely harder when she had to add in entertaining a six-year-old. The cherry on top was that Aaron had ended his paternity leave that day, and had immediately been called away on a case. Thankfully, the case was local, meaning that he would probably be home in less than a week.

Just as Ellie was closing her eyes and the mother and daughter duo were drifting off to a much-needed nap, Jack entered the room loudly.

"Emmy, can we go to the park?"

Ellie jumped awake, filling the room with shrill cries. Emily attended to her daughter, ignoring Jack for a moment.

"I'm bored," Jack complained.

"Jack, shh!" Emily said way harsher than she intended.

She didn't miss the tears in his eyes as he ran out of the room. She sighed, still bouncing the baby when the doorbell rang.

"Let's go see who's here," she cooed at Ellie.

The infant offered nothing other than a cry. Emily carried her over to the door, looking into the peephole. To her surprise, her mother, Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss stood on the other side. Emily sighed. "This will be fun," she whispered to her daughter before opening the door.

"Hello, Mother," she greeted tersely.

"What's the matter with you? Are you not happy to see your mother?" Elizabeth asked, brushing past her daughter and floating in the room.

"I am. But now's really not a great time. I can't get the baby to stop screaming, Jack is upstairs right now probably worried that I hate him, and my husband is away, probably getting shot at. So excuse me if I'm not the perfect host." She attempted to put a bottle in her baby's mouth, but she just spit it out and continued to cry.

"Well, I brought gifts. And I'd really love to meet my granddaughter," Elizabeth responded, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"You have more than one grandchild, Mother."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh. "I know that, Emily. Honestly. You think me a monster. I brought gifts for Jack as well, and I would love to visit with him. However, I have yet to meet Elaine and I would love to."

Emily didn't respond and instead handed off her daughter to her mother. Incredulously, the infant calmed almost instantly in the arms of her grandmother. When she got over her initial jealousy, she smiled. She'd never seen her mother so maternal. Hell, from her earliest memories, she couldn't remember time when she wasn't being taken care of by a nanny, except for during social events. She reached for her phone and discreetly snapped a picture to show Aaron later.

"Stop photographing me and go attend to your son," Elizabeth said, not looking up from the bundle of pink in her arms. "And you could do with a shower; there's spit up on your shirt."