Fluffing the ends of her hair, the ambassador's daughter did her best to ignore the murmurings from her children a few feet away. A day didn't go by where there wasn't bickering between the two little ones, but unless it got down to a physical fight or a tantrum from one, the brunette did her best to stay out of it.

"Mine!"

Huffing, Emily spun around and quickly made her way over to the two children fighting over a toy in the living room. "Enough," she said sternly, taking the toy from both of them. "Now mommy gets it."

The five year old's jaw dropped.

"Mommy no!" the two year old yelled at her.

Emily's eyes hardened. "Don't raise your voice at me," she warned. "If you can't share, neither of you get it." The dark eyed woman huffed and walked over to her husband, setting the toy train down on the table in front of him. "Don't give this to them, they're not allowed to use it right now."

Hotch finished his coffee with a nod. "Ok. You ready?"

The brunette smiled to the older man, letting him lean down and kiss her lips. "Yeah, the photographer said he'd be ready out in the backyard whenever we were ready."

"Lily baby, are you ready?" Hotch smiled down to the two year old and hiked her on his hip. "Ready to get your picture taken?"

"Yeah daddy!"

Taking her son by the hand, Emily grinned. "Are you ready to get your picture taken?" Her five year old was the shyest of the bunch, and she tried her best to get him out of his shell. "Marcus, look at mommy."

The caramel skinned boy gave a small nod.

"Ok baby, let's go."

Hotch combed Jack's hair to the side to make sure none of his baby hairs would stick up. "Do you like that or the other way better?"

The eight year old frowned. "I'm fine." His father was making too big a deal over this family picture. "Is Uncle Morgan here yet?"

"He isn't, he had to go pick up your mother," Hotch said distractedly, fixing the skirt of Lily's dress. "They should be here any minute. Are you ready?"

"Been ready, dad."

Smirking at his son, he playfully pushed at his shoulder. "Watch it."

Carrying her son out to the backyard, the brunette woman pressed a kiss to each of her children's' cheeks. "Who's ready for their picture to be taken?"

"Me!"

Emily grinned down to the little girl standing on the ledge that blocked the backyard from her small flower garden, setting Marcus down right beside her. "Look how beautiful you are," she cooed to her daughter, running a finger through a tight curl. "And Marcus, so handsome." Turning to see the eldest standing beside his siblings, Emily let her thumb trail his cheek. "You're the most handsome," she whispered to Jack, laughing with him before walking over to the photographer.

"Hotch?"

The Unit Chief looked up to see his friend walking through his living room. "Hey," he grinned, letting the darker man bring him in for a hug. "How was Chicago?"

"Good," he nodded. "Mama's good." Looking over to the garden, his eyes brightened at the sight of his son. "Too bad I didn't get to take this one with me," he grinned, charging over and swinging his laughing son into the air.

Emily turned at the sound of laughter, smiling gently as she watched her friend hug their son to his chest.

"I had classes, daddy," the five year old said, carefully picking his words. "School is important."

Morgan rubbed his son's back, smiling to him. He had finally gotten 'important' right. "You're right, Mark. Tell me, does Lily still love those ladybugs?"

"Yes!" the two year old cheered, jumping into Morgan's free arm. "Yes I do!"

"Yes she does," Haley smiled, noticing the ladybug barette in the toddler's dark hair.

Emily left the photographer to greet her husband's ex by their back door. "Haley," she grinned, taking her into a hug. "How are you?"

"Good."

"How's Michael?"

Haley smiled to the older woman, thinking of her husband back at home. "He's good too. We took a cooking class together last week with my sister and her boyfriend, and he made the most amazing sauce. It was so surprising," she laughed lightly.

"Oh, Aaron burned our sauce last night," the brunette said with a grimace. Her husband was a great cook, but a lot of the time there was a mess up here and there.

"Everyone ready?"

Emily stole Lily from friend and gave him a smile. "How are you?" she asked. Both she and Aaron had missed a few days of work to go on vacation with the kids, their cabin just an hour away, and Morgan himself had gone to Chicago. "How's your mom?"

"Really good," he nodded, bringing his friend in for a hug. "Do you think I can take Marcus for Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, that sounds ok. Haley wants Jack for Christmas Eve, so we can have them all on Christmas day."

After Hotch and Haley had broken up there was automatically a prospect of the Unit Chief getting together with the put together and beautiful ambassador's daughter. But after a fight, before they had even begun dating, Emily had gone for Morgan. After only a few dates she'd ended up pregnant, and she'd entered her marriage two years later to her boss with a child from his past relationship, a child from her past relationship and shortly after, one between the both of them.

Hearing the photographer call them again, Hotch gestured for the adults gather the children around. "The flowers are going to be behind us."

They all sat on the ledge that separated the flower garden from the rest of the backyard, Lily and Marcus sharing Emily and Derek's laps with Jack kneeling in front of them. Hotch sat beside his wife, and Haley next to the other BAU member.

"Say cheese."

"Cheeees!"

The adults cracking up at the two year old's pronunciation, the photographer was satisfied with the candid picture. After a few more shots, he brought his head up from behind the camera. "Can we switch the kids around?"

"Here." Morgan let Haley take Lily into her lap and passed Marcus off to the Unit Chief. "Get back here, buddy," he laughed, pulling Jack into his and Emily's laps.

"Beautiful family," the photographer smiled to the group, clicking a few photos before he asked them to stand so he could take individuals. He watched how they all interacted, surprised at the intimacy and happiness he saw among the strange looking family.

These would be the best picture he'd ever taken.