Authors Note- hey yall, this is one of my first fanfics, and it's the one I'm most proud of. Unfortunately, I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. If I did, Hotch and Prentiss would most definitely get together and Reid would have blue hair. (Garcia 'science experiment'. Long story.) ANYWAY, I really hope you like this, I only own Charlotte Hotchner and Matthew LaMontange.
Kisses ~Kendall
"Mm.. Morning." Aaron says, rolling over to face me, giving me a quick but sweet kiss on the lips.
"Morning." I say sleepily. I smile at the man next to me. I snuggle back up to him, enjoying what peaceful time we get before the kids get up. Far too soon for my liking, there is a small knock, followed by the slow creaking of the door and small feet pattering on the old carpeting in our bedroom before a small body jumps up onto the bed.
"Daddy! Emily get up! It's Chars' birthday!" Jack says excitedly and Aaron sits up.
"Morning Bud." He says, ruffling his hair with a small smile. Jack smiles and gives me a hug.
"Daddy lets go see if Charlotte is awake!" As if on cue, we hear Charlotte crying in her room.
"I've got her. You two go start breakfast." I say. I lean over and give my husband a quick kiss before climbing out of bed and heading into my daughters room. "Hey birthday girl," I say softly, picking the newly one year old up and setting her on my hip and bouncing her gently to settle her. "Charlotte Elizabeth Hotchner. One year old. It seems like just yesterday I told your daddy I was pregnant with you." I say with a smile as I walk over to the changing table and change her diaper and get her into her birthday dress, courtesy of my best friend and her godmother, the one and only Penelope Garcia. She smiles and talks/babbles to herself as I get her dressed. "Let's show daddy how you can walk, huh?" I lift her down and set her on the ground and grab her hand as she toddles slowly down the hall to the kitchen.
"Char!" Jack exclaims, jumping off the stool and hugging his little sister. "Happy birthday!" He says. Charlotte smiles at her big brother and I lift her into the high chair and hand her a sippy cup with milk.
"Em, what time did everyone say they were coming?" Aaron asks, setting a plate of pancakes on the table and snakes an arm around my waist.
"1:30, Aaron. Like I told you." I lean back against his chest and smile up at him. "JJ said I'd get 'mom brain' but there was no mention of 'dad brain'." I grin at him and he rolls his eyes. "So we have about 5 hours until her 'party.'." I say. I sit down at the table and cut up a small pancake for Jack and tear off a piece of mine and cut it into tiny little pieces for Charlotte.
"Emily.." Jack starts, "Since you and Daddy have been married for... 7 months," He says counting on his fingers, "Do you think I could call you Mom?" He says nervously. I'm shocked.
"Jack is this really what you want?" Aaron squeezes my hand comfortingly.
"Yeah. Since that bad guy George took away my mommy, you can be my new Mom, right?" He says with that 7 year old innocence that could make anyone melt.
"Yeah, bud. Of course you can call me that." He grins and jumps up and hugs me tightly and I hug him back and kiss his forehead. "Of course you can." I repeat softly. He jumps down and sits back on his chair and finishes his breakfast. I stand up quickly and put my dishes in the sink and rinse them off. I feel Aaron's arms wrap around my waist and his chin rests gently on my shoulder.
"Emily what's wrong?" He asks in a sweet yet stern manner. I hate that about him. He's a profiler. He can read me in an instant and knows something's off about me. Of course I also love that about him.
"We decided early on that this relationship wouldn't take away what you and Jack have, and I wouldn't replace Haley." I sigh. "Now he's calling me Mom and I'm afraid he'll pay less attention to you." I spin in his arms to face him and he lifts my arms so they are wrapped around his neck and his are tightly gripping my waist.
"Emily you aren't replacing Haley. Haley will always have a special place in his heart as his mother and in mine as the mother of my son. But him calling you Emily and him calling you Mom doesn't make any difference. He has always loved you, Em, and he always will. He just wants you to know that." He says and wipes the tears I didn't even know we're falling. He hugs me tightly and rubs my back. "And if it helps at all, I love you more than anything in the world." He smiles and kisses my forehead before picking up my chin with his finger and kissing me softly. "And if we had more time.. And some privacy, I'd prove it to you. But we have to get ready for a party. I hear Reid has a new girlfriend that he's bringing." I smile.
"Reid? Our genius Reid? Got a girl? I'll believe it when I see it." I say with a smirk.
"That's what I said too." He laughs.
"I feel kind of bad for her." I add. "She has no idea what she's getting into. She'll be interrogated by JJ, Garcia, and Morgan. And Rossi will just strike up a conversation with her." I grin. Aaron laughs.
"That's true." He says and kisses me again as Charlotte bangs her cup on her tray.
"Someone's impatient." I say and clean her off from breakfast before lifting her out and bringing her to her and Jacks playroom.
"Char, how old are you today?" Jack asks.
"Un!" She replies, holding up her pointer finger with a giggle.
"That's right, you are one!" He laughs and builds a tower with her. He really is a great brother. He was ecstatic when Aaron and I announced I was pregnant. Of course he requested to name it Tony, after Tony Stark, if it was a boy. I laugh to myself and go back to the kitchen to clean up from breakfast and prepare for the party later.
*****
1:24pm
"Ready?" Aaron asks.
"Yeah. Snacks are out, Char is ready, cakes in the fridge, Jack has promised his best behavior, and so have you." I grin and he gives me a playful shrug. Right away, there's a knock on the door and Jack runs to open it.
"Miss Garcia, Mister Derek!" He yells and hugs their legs.
"Jack-attack!" Garcia laughs and picks him up in a hug.
"It's Charlottes birthday!" He exclaims. I walk up behind them and let them inside.
"Hey, welcome." I say.
"Emily!" Garcia says happily. "It's been a whole week since I've seen you! When you said you were taking 2 years off, I thought it would go by a lot faster than it is. I have oh so much to tell you." She pulls me into a quick hug before saying hello to Charlotte, who's on my hip.
"Hey baby cupcake!" She says. Charlotte smiles back at her and hides her face in my shoulder.
"Hi." She says cutely.
"Princess. And baby Princess." Morgan says, giving me a small hug and tickles Charlotte's side. We all move to the living room and talk for a few minutes until there's another knock on the door. I excuse myself and quickly open it.
"Reid!" I say happily, and give him a quick hug.
"Emily," He smiles. "This is Maeve, my uh.. My girlfriend." He says shyly. I smile kindly at Maeve.
"Hi, I'm Emily, Reid's probably told you that though. You probably know more than you want to." I shake her hand briefly before opening the door and inviting them in. Garcia gets a glimpse of Maeve and immediately runs in.
"Genius, is this your 'special friend'? She asks, giving Maeve a quizzical look before giving her a hug.
"Yeah, I'm Maeve. Maeve Donovan." Maeve announces, giving Reids hand a gentle squeeze.
"Penelope Garcia." She says. "I'm so excited to meet you. Reid's talked about you a lot, but never given us a name or face." Garcia says with a a smile. "I see you've met Emily, the tall, dark, and handsome one in the living room is Derek Morgan, and the scary one with him is Aaron Hotchner, Emily's 'boo'." She giggles.
"Garcia!" I laugh. She just shrugs.
"JJ, her husband Will, and their two kids are coming in a bit. Henry and Matthew."
"Oh, Jack, in the living room is Aaron's. And Charlotte is his and mine." I explain. Maeve nods and Reid drags her into the living room. Penelope and I follow suit and talk for a while. Eventually everyone comes and we talk and enjoy our time together. 5'o'clock comes and everyone says their goodbyes. Soon enough, it's just Aaron, the kids, and I. I plop down on the couch next to him and he pulls me into his side and rubs my back.
"I think that went well." He says after a while. I nod.
"Yeah it did. Except when Reid and Garcia got in a heated argument over Doctor Who." I laugh. "But Charlotte handled a day with no nap surprisingly well. I can't believe she's one already." I sigh.
"I know. And I proposed a year and a half ago." He adds. I smile.
"And I said yes."
He leans down and gives me a kiss.
"Ew!" Jack looks up from his Lego set just in time to see that display of affection. He makes a face and I make it back at him, making him laugh.
"You know soon enough, you'll have a girlfriend and want to kiss her." I say.
"No I won't. Girls have cooties!" He says. "Well not you or baby Char. But everyone else does." He giggles. Aaron smiles and kisses me again. Although this time Jack was too enthralled in making Thor and Iron Man save the day from the evil Loki to notice. I return the kiss and smile at him, before getting up and starting dinner.
As soon as it's finished and both kids are full, we clean up and get the kids ready for bed.
"Mom," Jack calls. "Can you tell me a story before bed?" He asks sweetly and my heart melts.
"Of course I can. Let me put Charlotte down and I'll be right there." He nods and runs into his room, getting his pajamas on as into his bed.
"Hey." Aaron starts. "I'll put the birthday girl to bed. You take care of Jack." He smiles, reassuring me, and I disappear into Jacks room.
"What kind of story do you want, Jack?" I ask.
"Superhero?" He smiles.
"Okay." I smile back at him. "There once was a boy, a few years older than you. He was a normal kid, rode his bike, climbed trees, all sorts of things. But one day, he got bit by a special spider. One that gave him super powers. He wasn't a normal kid anymore. He was..." I trail off, and see that Jack had fallen asleep. It's not surprising. He and Henry played and ran about in the back yard, playing ninjas, fighting imaginary aliens, and of course Agents, their favorite game. He explained it to me a few times. Basically, they are BAU agents who fight bad guys to save the day. I smiled to myself and kissed him on the forehead and tucked him in, leaving the nightlight on, I leave the door open a crack and walk into the hallway and into our bedroom. I crawl in next to Aaron, too tired to put pajamas on.
"Hey," he says. I smile sleepily and he kisses me. "Tired, I see." He adds with a small chuckle. I nod and curl up against him. He runs his fingers through my hair, relaxing me more than I ever thought possible. I yawn.
"I love you Aaron. Goodnight." I say as I drift off to sleep.
"Night Emily. I love you too." He gently kisses behind my ear and I fall asleep, knowing life can't possibly get any better than this.
