A/N: Here's the sequel to Lessons from the Past. While you don't necessarily need to read that story to understand what's going on, it would be much appreciated if you did :)

And thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Your words of encouragement mean a lot, and definitely make me more motivated!

Much appreciation to my beta REIDFANATIC for all her help :)

Disclaimer: Sadly, only the plot is mine

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

-Joseph Addison

When Emily walked into her apartment after picking up Jack from daycare, she was shocked to find that Hotch had beaten her home. She assumed nothing was wrong, since she could hear him humming happily as enticing smells wafted in from the kitchen. Jack, who didn't question the unusual occurrence of Hotch being home early, ran into the other room to greet his father and tell him all about his day. Emily finally gathered her bearings and walked into the kitchen to find out what brought Hotch home so early. She smiled at the sight that greeted her: Hotch holding out a wooden spoon with sauce on it, blowing on it gently before crouching down to Jack's height and allowing his son to have a taste. Standing up, he smiled when he noticed Emily enter the kitchen. Hotch gave the sauce a quick stir and turned it to simmer before placing the spoon on a holder and walked over to where Emily was standing.

"Hi sweetheart," Aaron greeted Emily, brushing his lips gently against hers. Emily blushed at the endearment and affection, which caused Hotch to grin, his dimples coming out to play.

"Ew, kissing," Jack scrunched his face in disgust. "If you guys are going to do that, I'm going to my room to play." With that, Jack turned on his heel and marched out of the kitchen, much to the laughter and amusement of both Hotch and Emily.

"Hmm, now that Jack is gone, I can greet you properly." Without giving Emily a chance to react, Aaron swooped down to give her a real kiss. He cupped the back of her neck with one hand, entangling it in her hair, while the other curled around her waist, pulling her closer. The kiss embodied everything that Emily loved about Aaron; it was gentle, passionate, demanding, and loving. Their tongues intertwined as they became lost in the kiss, the world narrowing until they were the only two in it. It was with great reluctance that they ended it when the need to breathe became too great to ignore.

"Wow. That's one hell of a first kiss." Emily panted, pulling away breathlessly.

Hotch leaned forehead against hers, smiling. "Yeah, it was pretty great, wasn't it?"

Emily laughed. "Don't know if it was such a good idea yet."

Hotch tightened his arms around in her, determined to not let her go, though he pulled his head away in shock. "Why do you say that?"

A glint sparkled in Emily's eye. "Well, every good girl is taught never to kiss on the first date. Here we have this amazing first kiss, and we've never even been on a date." She smiled as she saw Hotch visibly began to relax when he realized she was teasing, though his arms around her never loosened.

"I think the years we wasted being apart because of stubbornness makes us an exception to the rule." Hotch replied, grazing her cheek with his lips before leaning forward to whisper, "Besides, good girls never have very much fun, and I know you've always been a bit of a rebel." The huskiness in Hotch's voice made it impossible for Emily to doubt his meaning, causing the blush in her cheeks to deepen.

"Aaron Patrick Hotchner! I'll have you know that I have always been a very good girl." Emily grinned devilishly before adding, "At least when my mother was watching." Aaron laughed, something he found himself doing more often in Emily's presence, before reluctantly releasing Emily and turning back to the preparation of dinner.

"Can I help with anything?" Emily asked as she leaned against the counter, trying to collect herself from Hotch's banter and the ferocity of his kisses.

"No, everything is almost ready. If you want, you can pour us some wine," Hotch said, nodding his head toward the bottle on the counter, "I picked up a couple bottles of your favorite on the way home. I noticed you were running low."

Emily, smiling at his thoughtfulness, dug through the drawer for the corkscrew. "So how come you're so early? You're never home before six, and you beat me and Jack home. I almost had a heart attack when I walked into the apartment before I figured out it was you."

"I realized that there was no place I'd rather be than home with my son and the woman I love. The paperwork will still be there tomorrow. I spent too many years letting my work take precedence over my family. Now that I've got a second chance, I'm not going to let that happen again." Hotch replied, turning serious for a moment. "Nothing is more important to me than you and Jack." Emily's eyes grew watery, knowing how much Aaron meant what he said.

"I love you so much, you know that?" Emily whispered as she handed Hotch his glass of wine, caressing the side of his face with her hand.

"I love you too." Aaron replied with a loving smile, setting his glass on the counter and giving her a gentle kiss. Though he had said he'd loved her in his note, Emily's heart soared at hearing the words out loud. After exchanging a few more tender kisses, Emily and Aaron parted and he went back to finishing dinner, knowing Jack would be running in at any moment. While Aaron removed the sauce from the burner and drained the pasta, Emily grabbed the silverware and went into the dining room to set the table.

Just as Hotch was bringing in the spaghetti, Jack came running in shouting, "Emmy, my tummy's rumbling!" Laughing, Emily swept the little boy into her arms and smothered him in kisses and tickles. Aaron reveled in their laughter, knowing the sound helped to mend another piece of his tattered heart. Placing a reverent kiss on Emily's neck, he ruffled Jack's hair before setting down the bowls and taking a seat at the table. Emily released Jack and got him settled in his booster seat next to his father before taking her own seat on the other side. Dinner was a joyous affair, with much laughter as the trio exchanged stories and the details of their day. The scene was rather typical of an average American family (though their family was anything but average), something that both Aaron and Emily took comfort in. They knew that it was these normal pieces of domestic bliss were what kept them sane and gave them the strength to go back out and make the world a little safer, one unsub at a time.

After dinner was over, Emily went into the kitchen to clean up while Hotch took Jack into Emily's bathroom for his nightly bath. As she methodically washed the dishes, Emily thought back over the past couple of days, amazed at how much had changed. Had it just been a few days ago when she was lamenting over unrequited feelings? Though their mutual declarations of love were only a few hours old, it felt as if it had always been like this, and Emily had a hard time remembering what it was like to not be with Aaron. They had transitioned seamlessly from friends to… well, to something more. Their newfound relationship was hard to define- there didn't really seem to be a name in her repertoire that could perfectly described what they now were. Lovers wasn't quite accurate, seeing as how they hadn't done anything more than exchange a few heated kisses. It seemed too juvenile to call him her boyfriend, though essentially that's what he was.

Deciding that now was not the time to be figuring out what to call Aaron and herself, Emily quickly finished washing the rest of the dishes. Pouring another glass of wine for each of them, she carried the glasses into the living room and settled onto the sofa. Flipping on the radio, the dulcet tones of Ol' Blue Eyes came pouring out. It wasn't long until Hotch and a sparkling clean Jack came out to join her. Jack gave his dad and Emily a kiss goodnight before returning to his room to watch a Scooby-Doo movie before bed, promising that he'd go straight to sleep once it was over. For a while they just sat there sipping wine together, Emily curled tight against Hotch's side with her head resting on his chest, his arm draped across her shoulders.

"It's hard to believe that we reached this point." Emily spoke up, breaking into the comfortable silence that had surrounded them.

Hotch cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I always thought you and I were inevitable, if I ever got the courage to man up and admit what I felt."

Emily chuckled before replying. "Oh come on Aaron, I doubt you always thought we were inevitable. Do you not remember how we began? When we first met I was a scrawny teenager desperate to escape the clutches of my mother, and things weren't any better when I joined the BAU."

"Hey, in my defense, I thought you were a mole planted by Strauss."

"Well, I was," Emily conceded, "although when I found out that was the real reason I'd gotten assigned there, I resigned."

"Thank god Garcia was able to put that hold in the system. The team and the Bureau would have suffered a great loss if you had never returned. I would have suffered a great loss if you had never returned." Hotch emphasized, kissing the top of Emily's head.

"The little girl in me, who still clings to the idea that fairytales, believes that we would have somehow found a way to be together."

Aaron smiled indulgently. "Sweetheart, if we had taken any longer to get together, I probably would have gone crazy. We wasted enough time as it is." Emily didn't reply, instead setting their glasses on the table before drawing his head down for another breathtaking kiss. As Aaron lost himself in the heat of her kiss, his last coherent thought was about how right this felt, and how glad he was that he could finally call Emily Prentiss his.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed! It would be much appreciated if you reviewed after. It does wonders for my muse :

I'll be doing a lot of stories in this universe. I'm in the process of writing the stories explaining how each relationship came about, but those are on the back burner for now because all of them will be multi-chapter and most will probably be case-fics. In the meantime, I'll be writing random little short stories about the goings-on in everyones' lives. If you have any ideas for something that you'd like to see, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do!