"Little do you know" - Hotchniss

small doses

Kaia Anjelique Prentiss.

Tears of joy ran down Emily's cheeks as she finally held her little daughter in her arms. Her eyes were the same as Emily's and the little hair on her small head was raven.

"Hey you", she whispered, filled with so many emotions that she wasn't even able to say more. Her love for this baby was immense, she wanted to protect her from all dangers on this planet and only show her the beautiful sides of life. She had finally become a mother.

Some minutes later, she watched Josh holding his daughter, talking to her and just being an amazing father. She knew that he was propably the best Dad her baby could have gotten. Yet, it had been Aaron who had been by her side all time during labour and birth since Josh had fainted before. She wondered where her best friend was now.

"Have you seen Hotch?", she asked him.

Josh raised his head and looked at her, confused about the fact that the first one she was asking for after giving birth was her best friend. Not even her mother, her father or someone else - no, it was her best friend.

"I saw him standing in the hallway earlier, talking to someone on the phone", he replied.

Emily just nodded. She wondered if he had already left. Would he do that? No, definitely not, at least not usually.

"I want him to be Kaia's godfather.", she then stated.

"Him? I thought we wanted my brother to become godfather?", Josh asked and looked at her.

"I have never met your brother before, Josh", she explained. "And excuse me for already being motherly-protective but I'm not going to give my daughter a godfather I have never seen before in my life."

"That's not fair", he said. "Don't you trust me? He is my brother, I know him, he's really good with children. He's a teacher!"

Emily didn't reply. Thanks to her own experience she knew that teachers were not necessarily good with children, but she was too tired to argue with him. "We'll talk about this later", she yawned.

"Okay", he smiled, happy that he had avoided a potential fight with her. "Do you wanna sleep? I can leave with Kaia."

"No", she immediately said, nearly jumping. "I want her to stay with me." God, did she even hear herself? She couldn't believe how overprotective she had gotten within some minutes of being a mother.

"Okay", he nodded and carefully laid the baby in her arms. "I'm just gonna call my mother. She has to come and see her!" And with these words, he was gone.

Emily let out a little sigh and looked down at Kaia. "I know, he's a bit weird sometimes, but he's going to be an awesome Dad, I promise. And concerning your godparents; don't worry, I'll make sure that you are going to get the best godparents ever, okay? Because I love you so much, little girl. I do."

Aaron had waited outside all the time, waiting for Josh to leave Emily's room. He didn't want to play the third wheel and make the whole situation awkward by not being able to control his feelings. Scarlett had called him earlier, since she had woken up without him, and he had told her that he was in the hospital with Emily. Luckily, Scarlett had promised him to take care of Jack and her son while he was away.

As he saw that Josh rushed out of the room, excitingly talking to his mother, he used his chance and walked up to the room. He lightly knocked and his heart grew warm as he heard her voice saying "Come in?"

His smile was as warm as his heart as he slowly entered her room. There she was, sitting in her bed with her daughter.

"Hey you", Emily smiled. She had missed him, even though he had been with her before.

"Hey you two", he replied and sat down next to her bed. He had seen Kaia before, since he had been with her through the birth, yet he couldn't stop looking at her. She looked exactly like Emily. Insanely beautiful.

"She looks just like you", he smiled.

"She does?", she smirked. "Josh said that she looks like his mother."

"Is there anything Josh does not connect with his mother?", he said and directly regretted it. He had sworn to himself that he would never shade Josh as long as he made Emily happy, which he did, or at least Hotch assumed so.

"No, I don't think so", she chuckled and to his surprise, she laughed. He soon joined her laughter. It brought them back to old times, where they had hung out through the night, drinking tons of coffee, talking and laughing about everything. Both of them felt entirely free in this small moment, they forgot about how much had changed ever since.

"He's talking to her right now", she grinned.

"I know", he chuckled. "I saw him coming out of your room, he was totally freaking out on the phone, he was really excited to tell her."

"Sounds like him", she sighed. She really wanted to tell him that Josh wanted his brother to become godfather instead of him, but she didn't want to ruin this moment, so she decided to do that some other time. "Thank you, by the way. I hadn't had the chance to thank you for staying with me all the time."

"Always", he smiled. "I promised that I will always be by your side when you found out that you were pregnant, remember? I never break my promises."

She embraced Kaia, who was now peacefully asleep, in one arm and reached out for his hand with the other. They were crossing the line again, but neither of them cared. He interlaced their fingers and both of them remained silent, just staring into each other's eyes. Of course he had noticed the ring on her finger. Even though Emily had been cut off on the phone by her water breaking, he knew that she had said 'Yes' to Josh's proposal. He had already known as he had met them in the hospital, as he had recognized the ring. And it hurt, it hurt so much.

He still loved her, he really did. And she still loved him, she had never stopped. It was insane how scared both of them were, what their fear made them do. It made Emily accepting the proposal of a man she had never even said 'I love you' to and it made Hotch desperate to find a woman that would help him get over Emily. If only they had the guts to open their mouths.

They rushed apart as Josh walked in again. "My mother is on her way!", he announced, still excited. Of course he had seen them holding hands, yet he ignored it. He had always noticed that Emily was different when she was with Hotch, but he had decided to not talk about it. That would only lead to trouble.

"Can I hold her again?", he smiled at Emily and carefully lifted Kaia in his arms, hoping that she would not wake up. But instead, she woke up as soon as Emily had let go of her and immediately started to cry.

Josh was really overstrained, he had no idea what to do. He had read many advising books about parenthood, yet he now felt like he had no clue what to do. She just wouldn't stop crying.

"Wait, let me help you", Aaron said and carefully took Kaia, rocking her softly until she had calmed down. He smiled down at the mini version of Emily. This had always worked with Jack when he had been a baby.

Kaia looked at him with wide eyes. He could already tell that she was going to be very clever, which would not be an advantage for Emily in the future.

"She's going to be a little heart-breaker with those eyes", he smiled and turned to hand her back to Josh, but he just shook his head: "I guess she wants to be with her mummy."

Emily and Aaron both tried to hide a smile, both thinking the same. He was so damn overstrained.