Moving Forward

Part 57

Aaron Hotchner's POV

It has been now three hours that we left. Oliver, Emily, Zoe, and Joy are sleeping.

"Um... I know you prefer not to talk about it, but I was wondering how's doing Joy?" Hotch asks.

"Why don't you ask her?" Dave responds.

"Because I already did, and of course she didn't want to answer..."

"Okay. She's less in pain, but emotionally, she's not going well. But I think it's gonna be okay one day. We just have to let the time do its job. When she first told she was abused by her boyfriend, it took her sometimes for her to be emotionally stable, I think it's the same with what happened. Of course, she is shaken. I recommended her to see a psychologist, she doesn't want to and I won't force her. And you? How's doing Emily?"

"I don't know... I feel like her pregnancy is reopening some scars and I think it's normal! She's showing obvious signs of a PTSD, but I'm not sure it's healthy for our child..."

* * * * * * * * * *

Jennifer Jareau's POV

"Are you sure you feel okay to drive? You're not tired?"

"Spence... C'mon... When I'll feel tired or anything I'll ask Derek to drive, okay?"

"But you've been stabbed last week! A normal person is supposed to still be at the hospital! You're lucky, you've been discharged! But you've been asked to rest! And I don't think the doctor meant driving for hours and going to camping when he asked you to rest!"

I sigh and don't look at Spence anymore.

"I'm sorry Jennifer... I shouldn't have yelled at you... I... I'm just worried. I'm..."

"That's fine, Spence."

"Look... Jennifer. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, you failed."

"Time out!" Derek exclaims.

"Derek... It's really not the right time..." Spence says.

"Are we going to have fun on vacations? The answer must be yes because I wanna have fun and I'm sure everybody wanna have fun. Just... I'm sure Pretty Boy didn't mean to hurt you. Could you accept his apologies? And Spencer... Could you not yell next time?"

We both nod like we've been scolded by our parents.

"Thank you."

There's an awkward moment of silence, but it's broken by the twins screaming and crying. I look up in the rear-view mirror and I see Derek teasing the kids.

"C'mon Derek! You know better than to tease kids!"

"Sorry, M'am..." He responds, guiltily looking down.

But once my eyes are back on the road, I hear the kids crying again.

"Derek!"

"I can assure you, this time it's not me."

"He's right," Savannah declares.

Spence turns back and asks the kids what's wrong, but they won't stop crying.

"It's 12:30pm. They must be hungry. Can you call Hotch and Kate and put them on speaker?" I ask Spence.

He nods and dials their number.

"Yes?" Hotch and Kate answer.

"Um... My kids are hungry and I thought we could stop at the next rest area. We could eat and I heard there's a dairy shop there too. We could buy ice cream. Are you okay with that?"