Iron Man, a criminal minds fanfic

Author's Note: Just a short story to promote the Profiler Choice Awards. Check out the info at the end!

Iron Man

"Aaron!" Emily shouted.

"What?" he replied, hurrying out of the bathroom, his toothbrush still hanging in his mouth.

Emily stomped her foot and pointed at the German Shepherd cowering by the door. "Se did it again! Se peed on my grandmother's chair!"

Hotch suppressed an eye roll that desperately wanted to come out. They had gotten the German Shepherd, a female named Zoey, a month ago as a present for Jack. Well, present was a bit too generous. She was really a way to butter him up for the news that he was going to be a big brother soon. Unfortunately, while Jack and Zoey got along like two peas in a pod, Emily and Zoey had had a difficult courtship.

"I'll clean it up. Just give me a minute." He turned and headed for the bathroom once again with Emily hot on his heels.

"We can't keep going through this," she said. "Every day, she pees on that chair. She's going to ruin it! We have to get rid of her!"

Hotch opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by Jack shouting, "No! I love Zoey! You can leave instead! I hate you!"

"Jack!" Hotch yelled, but Jack fled. He glanced back at Emily, who was standing there stunned, tears welling up in her eyes. He was torn between chasing after his son and comforting his wife. "Emily-"

"I'll go talk to him. I'm the one that upset him," she told Hotch firmly before sweeping out of the bathroom.

Hotch finished brushing his teeth and dressing. He had yet to hear a word from Jack's room, though he supposed that no more yelling was a good sign. Nervous, he took up pacing the hallway. He was outside of Jack's room when the door opened, surprising him.

Hotch glanced anxiously between his son and his wife. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Emily sighed.

"Yeah, Dad, we made a deal," Jack added.

Hotch's apprehension grew. "What kind of deal?"

Jack smiled. "Emily is going to let us keep Zoey and I'm going take her outside first thing every morning since that's when she tends to pee on the chair."

"That sounds like a good deal. And did you apologize to Emily for your words?"

"I did," Jack promised.

Hotch turned to Emily, curious by her silence. Her face had paled and she refused to meet her eye. "Was there anything else to the deal?"

Emily cringed and Hotch knew his suspicions were correct. "Emily, do you want to tell me what the other part of this deal was?"

"Not... really," she countered.

Hotch bit back a sigh. "What did he talk you into?"

Jack protested, "I didn't talk her into anything! She offered!"

"What did she offer?" he asked, a bit more forcefully.

"She," Jack gulped at the tension between the two adults. "She promised me that I could name the baby."

Hotch's jaw dropped. "You want?"

Emily held up her hands. "I said he could pick out the middle name, that's all! I thought it would be a sweet story."

"Oh, yeah, real sweet," Hotch muttered, shaking his head. He was already trying to formulate a plan out of this one. "Jack, tell Emily what your favorite name is?"

"Iron Man," Jack announced, proudly.

In retrospect, Hotch thought to himself as he scrubbed the chair later, he really should have seen that smack coming.

END

NOMINATIONS HAVE STARTED FOR PROFILER'S CHOICE CRIMINAL MINDS FANFIC AWARDS! Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for the annual Profiler's Choice CM Awards on! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on, and let your voice be heard. Please check out the nomination ballot and rules at the ProfilerChoiceAwards2013 Forum. All rules and information are on the forum. Nominations are due October 31st. All entries with ten or more categories filled out are eligible to win one of two Amazon gift cards!