May 9th, 2009
Delaware, Ohio

Aaron Hotchner pulled into the long driveway of the 3 floor, victorian style home. It had been awhile since he'd been here last. He studied it, remembering.
At the beginning of the driveway was a black steel gate, about 8 feet high. The driveway itself was slightly slanted. It was curvy, but smooth, and it was surrounded by the large front yard, which was complete with an 18-foot tree with a tire swing, and the grass was green, fresh, and healthy. The driveway led up to the beautiful, one-of-a-kind home. It had 3 floors, but only clearly reavealed two. The third was only seen with small windows at the very top of the house. The main entrance, to the main floor, of course, was blocked on pavement. There were 4 steps leading to the door, and a front porch. It wasn't large, but it was big enough. The house was built at a bunch of different angles, and shapes of triangles, squares, and cylinders, and had a countless number of windows at every angle. The roof was a light gray that matched the snow white colour of the tiled house, and the red brick chimney.
"This", Aaron thought, opinionated, "Is by far one of the best houses in the state of Ohio". He checked his watch. "10:00 am. Just in time".
The house belonged to James Benson and his family of 5. James was a very successful rich and famous lawyer with 3 kids and a wife, who once went to college and worked with Aaron, before he was promoted to the BAU. James was a second promoted worker, but he turned down the profiling job to be able to come home to his family every night. Unlike Hotch - and he knew it - Benson was not as much of a workaholic.

Aaron grabbed the small box from the passanger seat. It was wrapped with light purple wrapping paper, and topped with a bright pink bow. Aaron thought it was tacky, but she was a kid. With her bubbly personality, she'd make fun out of it. Nervous, yet excited, Aaron stepped out of his car with the gift and walked up the 4 steps. The front porch held a rocking chair, and a light pink two-wheel bike with a small basket on the front. There were books on a small, white wicker endtable beside the rocking chair, and a variety of different magazines that ranged from House&Home to TeenMagazine and Elite, as well as a few sports magazines, music magazines, and the daily newspaper, which looked like it had already been read this morning. The entrance door was double wide, and wood. They were heavy and darker than the pillars that held up the top balcony, but didn't clash. The pillars were smaller white pillars, that looked like replicas of the ones that you saw on the White House. On each side of the door were wide opaque windows, from which you couldn't see in or out, but you could still manage to see sillouhettes and shadows of someone standing on the other side. On each of the doors was a horseshoe knocker, but they were never used, and on the right side of the doors was a doorbell plastered into the white pavement wall. Aaron pushed the button, and it rang. The sound almost reminded him of church bells chiming.
From inside, the family of five were still decorating. There were hellium balloons hanging from every rim and every bar on the staircase, hanging from every wall. There were streamers floating down from every corner of the ceiling, floating there like little rainbow raindrops that failed to hit the floor. They sparkled in the lightstream, and they made everyone smile at the house of magic colours.
Rekaiah, practically prancing, ran into the entrance room and answered the door. Looking up at Aaron, she smiled.
"Hey kiddo!" Aaron smiled an enthusiastic, rare smile. One of those smiles that proved he was human. One of those smiles that his team never saw.
"Aaron!" She nearly jumped into his arms as she gave him a big hug. Aaron laughed a little, and the smile was stained on his face.
Rekaiah Benson was the oldest daughter and middle child of Julia and Jamison Benson. A petit brunette, who today was wearing a light pink quarter sleeved pullover shirt, overtop of a navy blue, white polka-dotted tanktop, and white denim kapri pants. She had her semi-short hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she wore very mild makeup, a light coat of lipgloss, and braces.
"How are you?" He asked, happily.
"I'm doing awesome, thank you! Come in!..." Aaron walked inside and hung up his jacket on the coat hanger on the left side of the door.
Today, he went almost simple. He wore light blue denim jeans and a white and red pinstriped button up dress shirt, that he did not tuck into his pants, but rolled up the sleeves.
"We have alot to catch up on! You haven't been here since, like, Christmas?"
"Six months ago, yeah. What is it today? May... 9th?"
Rekaiah knew where he was going with this. She smiled big again. "Yeah"
"Aw, you're too big for this trick. But I loved that you played along." She giggled at his comment. "This is for you." He handed her the wrapped present that he pulled from the car.
"Oh, Aaron you didn't have to get me anything"
"Happy birthday"
"Thanks." Still clinging on to the small box, Rekaiah led him into the family room. "Come on, everyone is in here" Aaron followed her. Once in the family room, Rekaiah placed the small box on an endtable, along with a few other larger boxes. "Daddy," She said sweetly, "Aaron's here"
"Aaron!"
"James!"
"How's it going, man?" For a lawyer, he sure didn't talk like one. He was mature and polite, but not too proper.
Jamison Benson was 40 years old. He was as tall as Aaron, with a full head of chestnut brown hair, a clean shaven face, and dark green eyes. His face, a little fuller than Aaron's, showed signs of high cheekbones, and a bright smile. It wasn't hard to see where Rekaiah got her looks from. She was a beautiful young girl, who took after her father, and looked more like him than anyone else.
They shook hands, which eventually turned into a friendly man hug.
"Jules!"
Julia was the mother. A vibrant, 37 year old dark-redhead with light eyes. She smiled at Aaron as he greeted her with a peck on the cheek and a short-lived hug. "Hello Aaron".
"Where are the other two?" Aaron asked, happy still.
"Kestlyn! Trayven!" Rekaiah yelled from the beam on the staircase.
"Hey, Riki! Do not yell. Go and look for them" James calmy scolded.
"Alright" Sighing, Rekaiah ran up the stairs to her sibling's bedrooms.
"She's getting so big." Aaron contemplated. And for a moment, Julia and James joined in.
"Tell me about it. I remember being pregnant with her, and giving birth this very day 15 years ago." "That premature birth scared us to death." James' sentance described why Rekaiah was so small for her age - she weighed in at 109 pounds, and was just under five feet, at only 4'10. His comment was also something that if, Rekaiah had heard, she would roll her eyes at. She never thought that it was a big deal, but her parents begged to differ. "I remember, I was there... So, Trayven, he's 17 now. Graduates this year, right?"
"That's right. And after graduation he's off to Julliard."
"Julliard, wow. Nice school..." Aaron was not surprised. All of the children were gifted. Trayven played guitar and sang. He was into music. Kestlyn was a dancer with passion, and had serious potential for a career in performing arts, and Rekaiah was a writer. A good one. But everyone thought that she was going to follow in her father's footsteps.
"And Kestlyn, she's 11?" He continued.
"Our baby." Julia spoke gently and quietly.
"I still can't believe Riki is 15 today."
"She have a boyfriend yet?" Aaron asked, half jokingly.
"She'd better not" James joked. Aaron laughed. "Ah, there they come now"
Prancing down the stairs, first came Kestlyn, Rekaiah following, and Trayven as the caboose.
"Hey Hotch!" Kestlyn sang, giving him a hug.
"Hey sweetheart!... Trayven!" Trayven smiled, and shook Aaron's hand.
Trayven stood tall at about 5 foot 9. He had dyed black hair, bangs slicked to one side, and big dark blue eyes. His sence of style was one that stood out, wearing a long-sleeved black and white, horizontially striped sweatshirt, and baggy dark blue jeans. On his feet were white canvas shoes, plastered with pictures of black skulls and guitars. "Strange mix", Aaron thought, "yet interesting". He wore bangle bracelets on his left wrist, he noticed, as he shook his hand. He had a perfect smile, and small dimples in his cheeks. Handsome young man.
Kestlyn was the typical 11 year old girl. She wore a long black t-shirt that reached below her waist, with small multi-neon-coloured hearts on the front, with which she wore a jean skirt that ended just above her knees, that flaired at the bottom about 3 inches up. Her red-brownish hair was in pig-tails, tied with little ribbons. They floated on either side of her head, just above her ears, and dangled just below her shoulders. Kestlyn too had dark blue eyes.
"Aaron," Rekaiah asked, politely, "If you don't mind me asking, how long are you planning on staying in Ohio?"
"Well I have the weekend, but I have to be back in D.C by Sunday night. I just thought that since I was in Delaware, I'd drop in and say hi. And of course, to wish you a happy birthday" They exchanged smiles.
"Well, Aaron. We have a spare bedroom, if you'd like you could stay with us for a few days" Julia graciously offered. Aaron accepted.

For the rest of the day, it was all about Rekaiah. Today was her day. They watched her open her presents, and it made Aaron feel delighted that she loved the gold necklace that he bought her the day before. The gold necklace that his team had teased him about, thinking that he was buying it for a girlfriend. She had put it on after giving him another big hug and never took it off. Trayven wrote her a beautiful song that made her cry, and topped it with a big loving hug and a kiss on the head, and Kestlyn bought her a bracelet, which coinsidently, matched Aaron's necklace. From her parents, a digital camera and a new iPod. She started snapping pictures immediately, and begged for music but was told to wait. Then there was a large dinner - some of the best food Aaron had tasted in a long time. It was food that reminded him of the family get-togethers when he was still with Haley, and tasted far better than Kraft Dinner and microwaved lunches. There was an icecream cake from DairyQueen with candles, and party hats that made everyone laugh. Kestlyn especially, when Aaron shrunk back into child-mode and was being silly with it, pretending that it was his nose and making funny noises, putting it on the corner of his head and making funny faces. Stuff that made him feel like he was 10 years old again. When it was all over, Aaron realized that he hadn't had so much fun and felt so much love in a really long time, and he realized how much he missed it, and how good it felt.
For the last few hours of the night, there was visiting infront of the gas fireplace. They talked breifly about Aaron's divorce, and they asked about Jack - who was growing up so fast but doing well. They talked about work and school and life, and books and movies they recently saw. Then the kids were all finally sent to bed around 10:30, and eventually Julia, James, and Aaron decided to call it a night, too.

As Aaron lay in his bed in the slightly high-maintenence guest bedroom, he couldn't help but study the family. He compared them to the family of the case he had finished less than 40 hours ago, and he compared them to his own. He envied them. He envied James for being so close to his wife and his children. Aaron loved Jack, but maybe he took their relationship for granted? He tried, and he knew that he was a good father, but would Jack ever look up to him the way Kaia looked up to James? He thought about why Julia and James were such great parents. Their children were well brought up - They didn't curse, they dressed appropriately, they were polite and had extreme table manners. The girls were beautiful, and Trayven was a very good looking boy. Was it the private prep school that trained them on etiquite? Was it James' job? Was it because he was a lawyer that these kids knew so well? Whatever it was, he was too exhausted from the case and from driving, that he fell asleep with unanswered questions bubbling in his head. He closed his eyes, and without realization, he drifted away.

The two-day visit Aaron and the Benson family had cherished had gone by too fast. It was Sunday, and he had to catch a midday flight back to DC. They said their goodbyes, and Aaron got in the car and drove away.
That was the last that he had heard from them for three weeks.