Henry leaned back against his mother and smothered his yawn with his hand, just as his parents had taught him.
He was tired.
"Mom," he whispered, tugging on the hem of her dress to get the blond to bend down to his level. Turning his head, the five year old yawned again. "When are we going home?"
JJ smiled and fixed a few of her son's stray hairs. "Not just yet."
The blue eyed boy groaned as quietly as he could, knowing that he shouldn't disturb the other adults around him. "But moooom!"
JJ set her hands to her son's shoulders and forced herself not to laugh, meeting the eyes of the groom at their altar on the edge of the cliff they all stood on and giving him a small smile.
Hotch nodded to his friend, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he waited for his fiancé to finally make her way down their grassy aisle. They were not religious people, and so to have a wedding in a church made no sense. They wanted to say their vows somewhere that meant the world to both of them, and they'd decided on the edge of the cliff where they had shared their first kiss when he was still working for her mother.
"You have the ring?"
Rossi's froze.
Morgan laughed, slapping the Italian's arm with the back of his hand. "I'm just kidding, man."
Turning, the elder of the two agents gave a swift punch to the muscular man's arm and grinned, watching him immediately bending over and holding the sore spot. "Sorry," he said quietly, hearing the violins start to play. "Just kidding."
His eyes looking down the small aisle between his friends and family and watched as his beautiful brunette fiancé walked up the steps of the cliff and let her father fix the train of her dress. Their eyes met, his left hand squeezing his right to make sure he wasn't dreaming, and they smiled.
"Aren't thinking about running off now, are you sweetheart?"
Emily smiled gently up to her father, letting him link their arms. "Not a chance," she chuckled, seeing her mother in one of the front rows and giving the best smile she could.
Father and daughter walked down the aisle as slowly as they could, Emily afraid her heels, the most expensive pair her friends could find and forced her to buy, would step on her dress and make her trip. She could feel every eye on her, her strapless lace mermaid dress glowing underneath the light of the moon.
The last thing she wanted was to fall flat on her face.
Once they made their way to the altar, Emily's eyes met those of her fiancé.
"I love you," he mouthed.
Blushing, the ambassador's daughter let her arm untangle from her father's. "Thank you, daddy," she grinned, turning her head so his kiss landed against her cheek.
Hotch walked a few feet to the pair and shook his fiancé's father's hand, their grins matching before he took Emily's hand in his.
The priest watched the couple walk back to him with their eyes never parting. "What a special night this is," the son of God said smiling. He opened his bible to a saved page and looked from brunette to brunette. "Shall we begin?"
Emily turned to face the older man as the priest read a small passage from Corinthians and felt as his fingers entangled with hers. She had been waiting years to find the right man to be able to take her vows with, and unbeknownst to her she had known who he was all along.
"May we have the rings?"
Both heads turned to see Jack making his way down the aisle with a small pillow in his hand, the rings sparkling as he got closer and closer to the altar. Once at the foot of the altar, Jack looked to both brunettes and grit his teeth. "Roooooaar!"
Emily along with the rest of the wedding guests couldn't contain their laughter as Hotch knelt to the ground, taking the rings from the pillow. "What are you doing?" he laughed, running a hand over his son's head.
"Daddy, I'm the ring bear."
Hotch grinned at the young boy and pressed a kiss to his forehead before standing and handing the right ring to Emily.
"Now," the priest started softly, looking to either brunette before him. "Aaron, if you will repeat after me. I Aaron Samuel."
His eyes met those of the younger woman who stood before him, and he took her hand. "I Aaron Samuel."
"Take you, Emily Rose."
"Take you," he whispered, "Emily Rose."
Emily could feel her throat close as the tears started to sting in the back of her eyes, and she let him squeeze her ring finger as he held her free hand.
"To have an to hold until death parts us," the Unit Chief repeated. Glancing down, he slid the diamond encrusted band onto the same finger that held that beautiful diamond engagement ring. "I love you."
The first time stepmother smiled through her tears and as she said her vows, her voice growing softer with every word until the ring was slipped onto Hotch's finger. "I love you," she grinned, laughing as he smiled that smile he had when he was extremely pleased with himself.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife."
Henry's eyes opened, his mouth pulled back as he grimaced at the kiss. "Stop it," he whispered to himself, hitting his mother's legs when he heard Jack laughing from the row across from him. "Make it stop."