This is my first one-shot so tell me what you think. Thanks! And don't forget my poll!
An hour after overhearing a very interesting conversation between Reid and Leah, as they flew over West Virginia, Reid had gone to sleep and Penelope was pacing with Rich now. Hotch moved Emily so that he could get up and offer to take a shift himself.
Penelope gratefully handed her son to him and flopped into the nearest seat, close to tears.
"I can't do this anymore!" Hotch heard her say as he came back towards her on his first lap of pacing. "I can't do this by myself!" She looked up at him, her usually merry eyes swimming with tears. "How do you do this?"
"One day at a time."
"I can't do this by myself." She whispered.
He knew she was referencing not having Kevin to help.
Discovering that so long as he stood and rocked Rich, he could get away with standing still, Hotch said quietly, "You're not alone."
"Kevin was the only family I had, sorry as he was, and he's gone now, too."
"That depends on how you would define family. What about the team? I'd help you whenever I could, and I know Emily will, too. JJ is great with kids, and she'd always be willing to help. So would Leah. Even Reid and Rossi. And Morgan- Garcia, Morgan…" Hotch let the thought trail off, not sure what he should say on that subject. "The point is, we're all here for you. Any time you need any of us."
"Thanks Hotch."
He nodded. "Right now, what you need is sleep."
He turned off the lights in the jet and she curled up and fell quickly to sleep.
He went to the back of the jet, thinking about his BAU family. It was an odd one for sure.
Emily, who wore the promise ring around her neck because she knew he had an image to uphold. They would wait until one of them retired to marry.
Rossi was a father-figure to Hotch.
Morgan reminded Hotch of Sean at times, acting like a rebellious little brother did.
JJ and Garcia: both like kind-hearted blonde little sisters, both recently having had a man break their own hearts. He knew JJ's road to recovery had been quick, and she was almost to the end of it. Garcia had a longer road ahead of her, but the end of hers was more certain.
Hotch had been there himself when Haley died, and it had taken him a long time to come around the final bend and see that he and Emily both wanted him change his relationship with her. He knew that whenever Garcia decided she was ready, Morgan would be there waiting. He always had been, really.
Caleb Curtis had become a cousin sort of person, at least to him, in a surprisingly short period of time.
And the last members of this strange family were Reid and Leah. They were like his children.
Hotch took that moment to wish them each, every member of his team, of his family, every happiness.
Okay, next up is another one-shot titled "Conceive." Yeah, I know it's a weird title, but I'm not to be held responsible for what I come up with between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. This came at 3 am, so yeah. And you get to find out the number of kids our geniuses have! Don't know if I'll get it done in time though, so ya all may have to wait until, like, April 20 to get it.