"Can you believe she's graduating from medical school today?' Dave asked.

Hotch looked up from the graduation program he had been staring at. "No…god it seems like just yesterday Haley and I were bringing her home from the hospital, and now she's a grown woman about to start her career. " Hotch's eyes burned as he said this. To him it felt like he should still be tripping over her baby toys on the living room floor, or arguing with her about her curfew, or even helping her through stressful times in college. He can hardly bear to think that in a few short days, his little girl will be packing up and moving across the country to start this new phase in her life…a phase without him.

As if reading his mind, Dave thought aloud "It's too bad that she has to move to San Francisco for her residency. She didn't match with any of the DC hospitals?" Dave was surprised by this, since, as her godfather, he had used his considerable power and called in many favors to make sure she matched at George Washington University hospital in DC. When she broke the news of her move to him and the rest of the team, his first thought was that heads were going to roll for this. He later learned that she did match at both GW and UCSF Medical Center, but she chose UCSF in San Francisco. He was astonished and curious about her choice. Dave knew she was close to her father and the rest of the team, yet she was still moving across the country when she could have stayed right here in DC. He didn't ask her about it though…he learned long ago not to use his connections to try and help her, and since she hadn't made it common knowledge that she was accepted at both hospitals, there was no way of asking her without revealing his own meddling.

"She matched at both GW and UCSF. Keep that bit of knowledge to yourself, she doesn't want that made known to everyone, because she's afraid that everyone will think she's leaving to get away from them. When she got her match results, she and I had a long talk about where she should do her residency. I told her she needed to do what was best for her and that I would support her decision either way. She finally decided that she needed new experiences and she didn't think she could get them here in DC." Hotch thought back to that discussion, remembering how his heart felt like it was tearing in two when she finally decided on UCSF. She seemed afraid of his reaction, so he pasted on a smile and immediately started making Christmas plans with her, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. He wasn't an overbearing father, but for fourteen years it had been just the two of them and they had grown close. Sure they had the arguments and conflicts that any father and daughter have (at some points it seemed like the arguments would never end), but they usually got past them in a few days. He wished Haley could have been here today. He didn't miss her that often anymore, but today was one of those days he wished he could share with her. He thought back to earlier this morning.

**********

He barely made it up the stairs without spilling coffee all over himself. He was carrying a plate with a toasted bagel and butter along with two large cups of coffee. Her lease on her apartment had ended two weeks ago, so she was staying with him until her big move to San Francisco. She had finished her last night at the hospital as a medical student just last night and he knew she was tired, so he thought the least he could do was bring her a light breakfast in bed. He knocked on her door.

"Wake up lazybones." Hotch said this as he set her food down on her nightstand and flipped on the overhead light. All he got was a muffled grunt from her as she buried her head under the pillow.

"Seriously Jane, you need to wake up. You have to be at graduation in less than three hours and I know you won't want to be rushed. Plus, I want to talk to you. " He still got no response from the lump under the blankets. "Jane, don't make me wake you like I did when you were a kid. I may be older now, but I can still flip a mattress with you in it." Hotch grinned as he threatened her with this, knowing it would get a response. She hated it when he woke her like that.

Hotch was right, his threat worked. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jane's head popped up from under her pillow. "God, I hate it when you threaten that…what time is it?" Jane had been at the hospital until the wee hours of the morning and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Hotch glanced at his watch. "It's nine and you have to be to the auditorium by noon. What time did you get in last night? I thought your last shift was supposed to be done before midnight since that is when you magically turned from a med student into a doctor." Hotch was asking this question only to be polite, he knew exactly what time she got home, 330am. He never slept until she was safely home, but he didn't want her to know this and think that he was keeping tabs on her.

"About 330am." Jane responded. "I was just about to leave at midnight when a bad accident came in to the ER. They were short staffed last night and I couldn't leave them like that." Jane had the same work ethic as her father. He only hoped that the same work ethic wouldn't keep her from having much of an outside life as it had for him.

"Oh my god, is that coffee? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Along with his work ethic, Jane had also inherited her father's addiction to coffee.

"Its coffee and a bagel, you need to eat something before graduation or else you will end up with a headache, and you don't want that today. " Hotch watched as his daughter sat up and slowly began eating. She might not have gotten much sleep, but she slept hard. Her short hair was sticking out in every direction and her blanket and sheet were all over the bed. He hoped she hadn't had nightmares, she hardly ever got them anymore and he didn't want them to return.

"Ymmmf smmmmf mmmmfffeee?" Jane said through a mouth full of bagel.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak bagel," Hotch said, reaching for the second cup of coffee. "How about chewing and swallowing and then speaking?" This was something that hadn't changed since she was a child. It was a habit that he had long since gotten used to, although it still unnerved him a bit, he was always afraid she was going to choke.

Jane smiled at him, chewed exaggeratedly and swallowed her large bite of bagel. "You said you wanted to talk to me?"

"I do, I have a graduation present for you."

Jane grinned, "Why am I a bit scared to see what this present is?"

Hotch looked confused, "Why would you be scared?"

Jane stared at him for a minute. "Well let's see. When I graduated from grade school, your present to me was self defense lessons with Derek so I could defend myself against any 'hormonal high school guys who may want to go farther with me than either one of us would be comfortable with.' "Jane paused, thinking back to those lessons. "When I graduated high school, your present was pepper spray so I could stay safe while walking around campus. When I graduated college, your present was a handgun, so I could protect myself in my new apartment." Jane paused again…she hadn't needed shooting lessons for that gift; her dad began taking her to the shooting range when she was fifteen. She was a pretty good shot if she did say so herself. "So I'm wondering, what will it be this time? Hand grenades? A rocket launcher?"

Hotch smiled at her. Sure, he didn't think he had been an over protective father, although Jane would disagree with him on that, but he needed to make sure his little girl could take care of herself. He had witnessed and a few times been on the receiving end of the worst of humanity and it gave him peace of mind to know that his daughter was in a better position to take care of herself than most of the victims he had seen.

"No weapons and nothing violent this time." Hotch said as he pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it from him and opened it and gave a little gasp.

"This was mom's, wasn't it? I remember her wearing it almost every day." Jane could feel her eyes getting wet as Hotch helped secure it around her neck.

"It was your mom's. I got it for her just after we were married. We were pretty poor, I was just starting out in the world of law, but it was your mother's birthday. I went in to this little jewelry shop and saw this necklace and I just knew it was meant for her. I got to talking with the old couple who owned the store, it turns out he made everything by hand and by the end of our talk; he decided to let me have it for half price. Your mother loved it and you're right, she wore it until the day she died."

Jane was openly crying at this point. She hadn't expected this. It had been a stressful few weeks, what with finals and finishing her clinical rotation, not to mention her big move looming in the next few days. "I don't miss her as much anymore, but I miss her today. I really wish she was here for this."

Hotch swallowed hard and pulled her into a hug. "She is here with us sweetie, she's looking down at you and she is proud, almost as proud as I am." He hugged her for a few minutes and then let her go and said, "Your mom wouldn't want us to be sad today. You have a lot of things to do before noon, so go do them. We'll leave for graduation at 1130am." She looked at him and smiled. Always the drill sergeant.

**********

Hotch was pulled out of his reverie by a voice announcing over the loudspeaker, "The graduation ceremony will begin in ten minutes. All graduates should be lined up and friends and family should begin taking their seats." Hotch looked at Dave, "I guess that's us." They both made their way over to chairs Emily was holding for them, the rest of the team was already seated.

"I don't want to know how you got nine tickets to this when all of the other graduates only got five, do I?" Hotch said to Dave as they were sitting down.

"Let's just say that someone owed me a favor and leave it at that, shall we?" Dave replied.

"God help you if my daughter finds out that you pulled in favors on her behalf, because no one else will." Hotch remembered the last time Dave used his contacts to help his daughter and shivered. He rarely saw Jane as mad as she was that day.

Emily leaned over Kevin and Garcia and asked Hotch, "So she chose emergency medicine as her specialty?"

"Yeah, I wanted her to do something safe like dermatology, or internal medicine, but she fell in love with the ER after her first clinical rotation. She told me she was addicted to the adrenaline rush the ER gave her."

Emily snorted, "I wonder where she gets that from?" The whole team smiled.

Hotch was about to agree with her when the opening notes from Pomp and Circumstance started playing. JJ, Will, Reid, Morgan and Dave all started taking pictures like insane people and kept taking pictures throughout the ceremony, but Hotch just sat back and watched the proceedings, and when they called "Dr. Jane Grace Hotchner, Summa Cum Laude," he thought his heart would burst with pride.

**********

Authors Note: This is my first attempt at writing a story, reviews are greatly appreciated. This is a totally alternate universe, though I may pull in various parts of the show. I see this story jumping around to various times in Jane and Hotch's lives, depending on how my muse hits me, but I will try and identify Jane's age at the beginning of each chapter. I will probably have a bulk of the story take place in her teen years, as those are good years for conflict/drama/events. The point of view might jump around as well. Since this is my first try at this and it's hard enough keeping the story straight in my head, I am not playing around much with the actual timeline. That is, the charecters other than Jane will not age or change much. If they did, Dave would be close to eighty in this scene, and I just can't picture that. Again, reviews are appreciated, as are ideas if you have anything you would like to see here.