Author's Note: Kay, just a random little one-shot about Hotch, Emily, and their daughter Sam, who's four. And the return of Gideon! Enjoy!
"The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout again."
The giggles of a young girl sounded from Aaron Hotchner's cell phone as he sat at his desk in the BAU, finishing up the last of the paperwork from his team's last case.
"Thanks, Daddy."
"You're very welcome, sweetheart."
"G'night, Daddy."
"Good night, Samantha. Do you think I could talk to Mom?"
"Sure." Aaron heard a shuffling noise, then Emily's voice over the phone. "Hey Aaron."
"Hey. Is she in bed yet?"
"Yeah. I just tucked her in."
"What about Jack?"
"Still doing his homework. He really doesn't like math."
Aaron chuckled. "Alright. I'll be home in a bit. Just have to finish up this paperwork."
Emily sighed over the phone. "You work too hard. See you in a little while."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
Aaron then hung up the phone and began to gather his scattered paperwork when a familiar voice interrupted him.
"I never knew you sang to Jack. Then again, isn't he a little old for that? Almost nine, right?"
Aaron looked up. Standing in the doorway of his office stood Jason Gideon.
"N-no," Aaron stuttered, very much surprised to see the older man. They hadn't spoken in years. "It was my daughter, Samantha. She's four. It's great to see you," he said, standing as Gideon approached his desk. The two shook hands and sat back down.
"But wait, I thought Haley was-"
"She is. You watched the news."
"You beat a man to death with you bare hands, Aaron, how could I not?"
Aaron nodded his head, a knot forming in his stomach.
Gideon was the first to speak again. "Well, who's the child's mother, then?"
Aaron picked up two picture frames on his desk that were turned towards him and handed them to Gideon. One was of him and Emily's wedding day, with her in a white dress, him in a tux, and Jack and an infant Samantha between them. The other was a more current photo of them, taken last year at the beach.
Gideon looked slightly surprised at both photos. "Well I sure did miss a lot.'' Then he smiled. "But I'm happy for you, Aaron. Emily is a great woman and Samantha is beautiful."
"Thanks, Gideon. That means a lot."
"You're very welcome."
About an hour later, the two of them were still in his office, laughing and exchanging stories and memories, when Aaron's phone rang. He checked his caller ID to see it was Emily.
"Shit," he muttered, suddenly remembering just how long ago he should've been home. He pressed the talk button. "Hello?"
"Where the hell are you Aaron? I've been trying to reach you fro the past twenty minutes!"
"Sorry, Em. I got a visitor in the office, and-"
"Put her on speaker," Gideon requested, cutting him off.
Aaron complied, giving him a strange look. Gideon was the first to speak. "Good evening, Agent Prentiss."
"G-Gideon? Is that you?"
"Yes, it is. And, pardon me, is it Agent Hotchner now? I can see how that would create confusion."
"Technically, it is, and it would, so I still go by Prentiss at work, but...wow. Where've you been?"
"Around. So how is the rest of the team? JJ? Morgan, and Reid?"
"Uh, they're good. Reid got married and he has two little girls now. Andrea and Joanna. JJ did too, she has two sons, named Henry and Mason. Morgan has a little boy with Garcia, named Watson, and another on the way. And I assume you know who Sam is?"
"You assume correctly." Gideon smiled and shook his head. "So no one had the courtesy to send me a wedding invitation?"
"Well, it might be a bit difficult, considering you disappeared long before any of us were even thinking of marriage."
"You have a point. So, I'm guessing you would like your husband back?"
"Yes, actually, that would be nice, because, I'm horrible at math, and Jack needs help with his homework."
In the background, Aaron heard his son call out. "Hey Em, what's twelve times eighteen?"
"Use a calculator, hon," she yelled back.
"I don't have one!"
"Well, work it out!"
"I forgot how!"
Emily sighed. "Hurry home, please, Aaron. I have to go. And Gideon, fell free to come have dinner with us any time."
"How about tomorrow night?"
"Sounds great. Good luck with that math, Emily."
"Thanks, I'll need it. See you later."
And on that note, she hung up.
Aaron stood. "Well, I realy should get going. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Sounds like a plan." Gideon stood as well and left Aaron's office, leaving him to gather his things.
The next night, Emily went to trun off the TV in her home when Sam and Jack began to complain.
"Emily, c'mon! It was just getting to the good part, with the robots and Tony Stark and-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you've seen that movie, what five times now? Go get ready for dinner. We have a guest."
This got the full attention of her children.
"Really?"
"Who is it, Mommy?"
Emily smiled. "Jack, you might remember him. His name is Jason Gideon. He used to be on the team, but he left when you were very young. Your father used to talk about him a lot. Reid too. Now, go wash your hands. And when you're done, could you set the table for me?"
"What'r we having?" Jack asked as he and his sister headed for the bathroom.
"Meatloaf."
Not bothering to answer, the two children slipped into the bathroom to ready themselves for dinner while Emily put finishing touches on the meal. As she slipped on oven mitts and opened up the oven to remove the meatloaf, she felt someone wrap a strong arm around her waist and recognized her husband's familiar scent. She could feel his breath on her neck.
"Even after five years, I can't get used to the sight of you so domestic. But it's still hot."
Emily turned her head to place a kiss on Aaron's lips. She broke free from his arms and moved, meatloaf still in hand, across the kitchen. She spoke as she went. "Well, don't get too used to the whole housewife thing. I still carry a gun," she replied evenly, placing the meatloaf on he counter and turning to face her husband. "And I don't miss."
"Oh, I believe you."
She heard a knock on the door. Instead of going to answer it, which she left to Aaron. Instead, she removed the oven mitts and walked into the dining room, only to find that the table was bare and unset. She furrowed her brow. "Jack, Sammy, if you don't set the table, you don't get silverware!" she yelled to her still out-of-sight children.
Jack's head appeared in the doorway to the hallway. "Cool! We get to eat with our faces."
"No, I lied, you don't. We have a guest, and you are most definitely not eating with your faces. Now, get in here and set the table!"
"Okay, okay," Jack surrendered, putting his hands into the air and entering the room fully. He paused halfway across the room. "Wait, how many people do we have?"
"Five, honey. You, me, dad, Sam, and Jason, our guest."
"Oh. Alright." He dashed out of the room into the kitchen. Sam wasn't far behind him. She, though, was in tears. Her dark hair stuck up in clumps. There was a pink substance stuck in it. "Mommy!" she wailed. "Jack put gum in my hair!"
Emily rushed to her young daughter and swept her up. She headed back to the bathroom, yelling for Jack along the way. Emily entered the bathroom and settled the Sam on the sink's counter just as Jack appeared. She turned to face him, her eyes angry.
"Did you really put gum in your sister's hair?" she asked.
"She was-"
"I really don't want to hear it. No TV for a week. Now go get me the peanut butter, will you?"
Jack sighed, grumbling, and left. He returned with a jar of peanut butter. "Em, do you really have to-"
"Yes. Go let your father know that Sam and I are going to be awhile and to start dinner without us."
Jack scowled and darted out of the bathroom to deliver his surrogate mother's message.
"Uh, okay, Jack. Emily did let you know that you're grounded, correct?"
"Dad! Em only said no TV for a week!"
"Yes, and that will be included in the grounding. Now, go to your room. I'll call you down when the pizza's here."
"Pizza? I thought we were having meatloaf."
"It's probaby getting cold. Now go."
Jason had watched the whole conversation between father and son. He had been there when Hotch's then-wife had brought Jack into the BAU as a little baby, and he was here now as Hotch dealed with his nine-year-old son.
Aaron cast a glance at Gideon after his son begrudgingly headed upstairs to his bedroom. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable. I'm going to go talk to Emily. She's bound to be a little frustrated. I've got to-"
"Go on. I'll stick around. And Aaron," he added to the younger man as he left. "No matter how hectic it seems now, it's worth it. Trust me."
Aaron smiled and nodded. "I know. Thanks, though." And without another word, he left.
Gideon stood up from the couch and made his way to the mantle, which was ridden with framed photos and other things of sentimental value. One of the pictures, he noticed, was of Emily. She was in a hospital bed, garbed in a gown. There was a child in her arms, wrapped up in a pink blanket. There were wisps of dark hair on the child's head. Her eyes were closed, while Emily's eyes were focused on her, not the camera. She had that look that only new mothers had when they looked at their baby for the first time. Gideon smiled. It was a good look on her.
From inside the hallway, he could hear the voices of the couple who were hosting him. "What about dinner? Is that ruined, too?" Emily was asking.
"I had to throw it away. It got cold while you were taking care of the kids. Cold meatloaf isn't the best dinner."
"Oh, my god. Aaron, this is a disaster. Jack put gum in Sam's hair, you had to throw out the meatloaf, and now I can't find my purse anywhere."
"What do you need your purse for?"
"Aaron, my purse is my lifeline. Practically everything important and valuable I own is in there. I'm useless without it."
"No, Emily. You aren't. Look, I've got everything under control. I sent Jack to his room, I'm about to order a pizza, and if you want to, you can go and get something to drink with Gideon while I give Sammy a bath to get the peanut butter out of her hair. Okay?"
By now Gideon had leaned over and could see the couple, who were standing just inside the doorway. Emily had her arms crossed and Aaron was bracing her shoulders with his large hands. He saw her nod, and they dispersed, Aaron turning to walk towards the bathroom and Emily coming into the living room. Gideon turned back to the photographs on the mantle.
"Is this you with Samantha?" he asked, picking up the picture that had caught his attention earlier. She smiled and nodded.
"That was right after she was born. It was...well, it was damn tough, that's for sure. You want something to drink? All we really have is water and orange juice because we ran out of milk this morning and I won't let Aaron keep alcohol in the house."
Gideon chuckled. "Water's fine, thanks."
She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later she returned with two glasses of ice water. She handed one to Gideon and sat on the couch, Gideon sitting down perpendicular to her in an armchair.
"So I'm guessing you heard about our little...situation," she stated.
"Yes, Jack put gum in Sam's hair, the meatloaf got cold and Aaron had to throw it away, now Sam needs a bath to get the peanut butter out of her hair, just regular chaos."
Emily laughed. "Regular chaos. Yeah, that just about sums it up. Sorry about this whole mess, really. This was not what I was going for."
"Oh, no, it's fine. Not your fault at all. That's simply life with kids."
"Amen."
"So, tell me about Reid. How'd he end up?"
"Well...Do you remember that girl, the one from Hollywood whose friend turned into her stalker and killed those people that were like her competition? Her name was Lila Archer. I wasn't on that case, I hadn't joined the team yet, but you were. The rest of the team told me about it."
"Yes, I remember that case. Reid seemed rather infatuated with the girl."
"Yeah, well, he married her. Now they have two kids. Two little girls." Then she chuckled. "You should have seen him during the first pregnancy. I swear, if he wasn't fretting over Lila, he was grinning like an idiot the entire time. It was so disgustingly cute."
Gideon smiled. He had always been close to the young agent and he was glad that Reid had found happiness. "I should go and say hi. I'd like to meet his family."
"Oh, I could give you his number. Here, hold on." She grabbed a notebook from the coffee table, flipped it open and wrote down the number, then tore out the paper and handed it to Gideon. He thanked her and folded it up, putting it in his pocket.
"Odd how just a few years can change so much."
"Yeah, a lot can happen in so little time. Crazy, huh? I mean, I went from a single woman in her thirties working for law enforcement to a wife and mother in all of six years."
"Exactly, exactly."
As Gideon said that, Sam came bouncing in, her hair sopping wet and sticking to her face, wearing a frilly light blue nightgown. "Mommy, Mommy!" she cried as she pulled herself into Emily's lap with a grin.
"Yes, Angel?" Emily asked as she wrapped her arms around the small child.
"Daddy put me in my PJs. Does that mean I halfta go to bed soon?"
"No, Sweetheart, you have to eat dinner first."
"And then dessert," the little girl piped up.
"And then bedtime."
Then Sam noticed Gideon across the room. "Are you Mr. Gideon?" she asked. "Mommy and Daddy told us about you."
"Yes. But Jason's just fine."
"Okay, Jason. You're having dinner with us, right? Daddy told me you were gonna have dinner with us. But no meatloaf, pizza. Daddy said he ruined the meatloaf because he let it sit too long. Do you like pepperoni? I like pepperoni. It's my favorite. What's yours?"
"I'd have to say pepperoni."
Sam gasped. "Me too!" she shrieked with delight.
"Oh, alright, no screaming in Mommy's ear," Emily winced.
"Sorry Mommy!" Sam pecked Emily on the cheek then lept off her lap, padding out of the room.
"She's adorable," Gideon smiled.
"Yeah, more like a little ball of crazy if you ask me," Emily snorted.
"Well, of course you would say that, you're her mother," a voice said from the doorway. Aaron strode inside and walked around the couch, kissing Emily on the head as he went, and sat down at her side. His arm slid around her waist and she placed a hand on his knee.
"Did you order the pizza?" she asked him.
"Yeah. Half cheese, half pepperoni."
"Good." She pecked him on the lips and stood and left the room.
"She's a great mother," Gideon commented once she'd left/
"Oh, I know. Trust me, I know," Aaron confirmed.
Author's Note: Wow. Soooooper long. Hehe, anyways, R&R. Hopefully this will be the first of many team/family-centric oneshots. Thanks for reading!