The case had been a hard one that involved murdered kids and the whole BAU team was exhausted as they sat on the jet for the hour long trip back home to Quantico. Hotch and J.J, being the only parents on the team, had been hit the hardest. Before they had even gotten off the jet, Hotch had told everyone to go straight home and take the next 2 days off as stand down. They could all complete the paperwork when they returned, rested and refreshed. Whilst J.J had been able to go straight home to her son, Hotch knew Jack, his 8 year old son, was staying at his Aunt Jessica's. Since it was past 8pm when they got home Hotch didn't want to have to move his son who would by now be in his pyjamas. Instead he called Jessica.
"Hi, Jess, its me Aaron."
"Hey Aaron. You still on the case?"
"Actually we just landed back in Quantico."
She could tell that Aaron had been hit hard by the case they had been working just from the sound of his voice.
"Jack's here. You wanna speak to him?"
"Actually I really need to see him. I know he'd be in his pyjamas by now so I don't want to move him at this time of night but I really need to see him and hold him…So I was wondering if I could come and stay at your place?"
"Sure. You never have to ask that question. You are always more than welcome."
"I should be there in about a half hour. We're all going straight home instead of back to the BAU and we've all been given 2 days stand down to recover from this case. The directors even willing to wait til we go back to work for us to get the paperwork done. I should be there in time to tuck him in."
"Okay. No problem Aaron. See you soon. I'll tell Jack the good news."
"And Jess? Thanks."
He hung up the phone and drove straight to his sister in law's house. Since his wife Haley's murder 4 years ago, her sister, Jack's Aunt Jessica, had been so good in taking care of his son whenever he had to go away on a case, even if was at the last minute. It didn't matter how long the case lasted for either. She loved Jack as her own and even kept Jack to the same routine Aaron had built for him to help give him some stability whilst living at both his dad's apartment and his Aunt Jessica's house. Somehow Jack had amazed everyone, but especially his Aunt and his dad, by becoming a smart, sociable outgoing kid who loved activities like soccer and othe sports and was one of the smartest kids in his 3rd grade class. He couldn't believe his son even complained occasionally that his homework was too easy for him! Everyone on the BAU team had become Jack's extended little family of Aunts and Uncles and he loved them all but he still loved his dad and Aunt Jessica the best.
Even though Haley and he had been divorced before she was murdered, Jessica and Aaron had become close like brother and sister. Jessica was so great with Jack and so supportive of Aaron's job, it amazed him. She was also so kind in letting him sleep in at her house when he returned late from a case or just needed someone else to talk to. In fact, nowadays, he reckoned he had spent more nights at Jessica's house in the last few months than he had at his own apartment. Jack had his own room at his Aunt's house and Jessica always seemed to have the guest bedroom ready for Aaron, even when he called at the last second. He stayed there so often that she had insisted he leave some clothes there to wear when he came over. He even left a razor there to shave with. She had even kindly given him his own key to her house so he could use it if he needed to. Aaron had long ago provided Jessica with a key and his alarm code so she could go into his apartment if Jack needed anything she didn't have.
He pulled up outside Jessica's at around 8.30. Taking his go bag from the car, he got out, locked the car and walked to the front door. Jessica was waiting by the open front door for him. She could see the worries on his face and knew the case must have been a bad one. He was still in his suit but his tie was pulled down and his top shirt button was undone. He looked exhausted like he hadn't slept in days.
"Hey come on in….Jack, your dad's here!"
Jack came running down the stairs in his Captain America pyjamas. "DADDY! YOUR HOME!"
Hotch dropped his bag and knelt down, holding his arms wide open. Jack threw himself at his dad and Aaron pulled Jack into him hugging him as tightly as he could.
"Hey buddy! I missed you so much…."
"I missed you too dad! Aunt Jess says you're staying here tonight. Is that right?"
"Yeah. I really needed to hold you but as its almost your bedtime, she's letting me sleep in the guest room so I can be near you tonight."
"Did you catch the bad guy daddy?"
"Yeah we did." Jessica heard the sadness and lack of enthusiasm in Aaron's voice as he said this.
"Case that bad Aaron?"
"Yeah the worst. I'll tell you about it after I tuck this little guy in."
"Will you read me a story?"
"Of course I will buddy."
"Jack why don't you go and choose a book whilst I get your dad a cup of coffee. He looks like he needs one…."
"Okay."
Aaron let go of his son and Jack ran up the stairs. He stood up and, after slipping off his shoes, followed Jessica into her kitchen where she stood making him a coffee.
"The case must have been bad for the director to give you guys 2 days stand down just to recover…"
"Yeah. It involved murdered kids so it was the worst kind of case we can get…."
"No wonder you needed to hold Jack. Aaron listen, you really look like this case has hit you harder than most cases do, so, whilst your on stand down, I insist you spend the 2 days here. That way you and Jack can be together and you can talk to me if you feel you want to. Give me any dirty clothes from your go bag and I'll do some laundry so you have clean clothes."
"Thanks Jessica. I really appreciate it."
"Don't mention it. You look like you could do with spending a couple of nights here with both your son and an adult to talk to." He stood sipping his mug of hot coffee. Jack appeared at the kitchen door.
"Dad I got a book. Will you come read it to me?"
"Tell you what buddy why don't you go brush your teeth and use the bathroom whilst I finish my coffee, then I'll be right up. Okay?"
"Okay dad!" Jack ran back towards the stairs and Aaron drank his coffee whilst Jack was in the bathroom. Once he finished the coffee, Jessica took the mug from him silently and took it to the sink to wash whilst Aaron turned to go towards the stairs.
"Jess?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks again for letting me stay for a couple of nights."
"No problem Aaron. Now go read and spend time with your son. I'll be down here if you need to talk."
Aaron took his bag upstairs and left it in the guest room. Jack was just coming out of the bathroom when Aaron dropped his bag on the guest bed. He took off his suit jacket and tie and left them on the bed.
He went into Jack's room where his son was already sitting up in bed waiting. He knelt by the bed as he son lay down and read him the story book. Jack was already asleep before Aaron had finished so he put the book on the floor and stood up. He kissed his son on the head. "Goodnight buddy. I love you so much"
He pulled the covers over his boy and quietly left the room, turning off the light and turning on the nightlight, shutting the door behind him.
He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. After using the bathroom, he stood washing his hands. As he did so, he looked into the mirror and saw the lines of worry on his face. After flushing the toilet, making sure to put the seat back down as a courtesy to Jessica, he left the bathroom and went downstairs. Aaron was so stressed that he didn't realise he had forgotten to zip back up his fly and walked into the kitchen to make himself another cup of coffee. After making the coffee he took it into the lounge where he found Jessica sitting on the sofa with her feet up on the coffee table.
"He asleep?"
"Yeah."
"Come sit down Aaron and take the weight off your feet." She patted the empty sofa space on her right.
He sat down with his coffee in hand and put his feet up on the coffee table, not noticing his open trouser fly. Jessica had been flipping through T.V channels on the T.V in front of them with the remote in her hand. She finally found something half decent to watch and sat forwards to put the remote on the coffee table. That's when she noticed that her brother in law's trouser fly was wide open! She put the remote on the table and sat back. She tried to sound as casual as she could as she spoke.
"Er…you may want to adjust your trousers Aaron. I think you may have forgotten something when you used the bathroom upstairs….."
Confused Aaron looked down at his trousers to see what she was on about. It was only then that he noticed his fly was wide open! He jumped up, put his coffee on the table and turned his back to her as he zipped up his fly. He couldn't believe he had appeared in front of his sister in law and sat down next to her with his trouser fly wide open!
After checking everything was properly done up, he sat back down, highly embarrassed.
"Sorry. I must have forgotten to check….." Aaron's face was red with embarrassment as he picked his mug up again and went back to sitting back with his feet on the coffee table.
"No worries. You've been stressed out with your case and you've only just gotten back. At least it was only me that saw it. At least none of your team is around to have seen it. You didn't read Jack his story with the fly undone did you?"
"No, I..er…used the bathroom after he fell asleep and before I came downstairs."
For the couple of hours or so they sat in more or less silence watching T.V until they both started to nod off in front of the TV.
"I might turn in…."
"So will I…."
"Thanks again for this Jessica."
"Anytime Aaron. Sweet dreams! Just leave any dirty clothes in the laundry hamper in the room and I'll do some laundry in the morning."
Before going upstairs Aaron filled a glass with water and took it upstairs with him. He put the glass of water on his nightstand and hung his jacket on the hook at the back of the door. Opening one of the drawers in the room he found a pair of clean pyjama trousers and a clean t-shirt. He closed the door, took off his shirt, and undershirt and pulled on the clean t-shirt. Then emptied the pockets of his trousers, putting his keys, wallet, cell phone, watch, etc. on the nightstand. Then he took off his trousers, socks and underpants and pulled on the pyjama trousers. He found his toothbrush in his bag and went across to Jessica's bathroom where he brushed his teeth and used the bathroom before returning to the bedroom. All the clothes in his go bag were dirty and so he emptied the bag into the laundry hamper, adding the clothes and tie he had been wearing that day, intending to do his own laundry instead of giving work to Jessica. Luckily he kept enough clean clothes and underpants at Jessica's to wear for the next couple of days but he needed to do his laundry while he had 2 days stand down just in case they had to go away on a case as soon as they had gotten back to the BAU. After putting the bag on the floor and putting his cell phone on charge beside his bed, he drained the glass of water and then he closed the door, turned off the light and climbed into the bed and instantly fell asleep, forgetting to set his alarm.
When Jessica came up after locking up and turning all the lights off downstairs, she quietly opened the door and popped her head round to check Aaron was okay. She saw him in bed in the deepest sleep he had probably had in days.