Hotch finally finished his paperwork and managed to get home not too late. He parked his car and noticed that there was already someone there. That made him smile, a real smile. He walked through the door and was greeted by two hyper active boys, both blond.
"Daddy! You're home!"
"Uncle Aaron! Do you have candy?" Hotch got engulfed in hugs by those two little monsters. Before he could respond to either one of them, a fourth person appeared in the entryway.
"Henry! I already told you . No candy before diner." JJ sighed lightly at her son's and Jack's antics. "Come on, let him take his coat off, and breath."
Once Hotch was free of the boys, who had gone back to doing wahtever it was they were doing, he greeted JJ like he had wanted to since he saw her car. He gently put his arms around her waist, smiled sweetly at her, put down his head and kissed her passionately, but very softly and lovingly.
"Hey there, sweetheart." He said, their foreheads still touching, and their breaths melting together.
"Hi." She was about to kiss him, when a little voice made them turned heir heads.
"Ewww! That's gross."
Both adults smiled and looked at the 3 year-old-boy. His mother tried to reason him. "It's not gross, wait 'til you're a teenager."
"No, it's gross, and I'll never do it." He said firmly.
"Did you want something?" Hotch asked, seeing his own son emerging from the living-room.
"Uh, yeah. Jack and me, we're hungry. So, when do we eat?"
"Why don't you and Jack go set the table while I cook, so that uncle Aaron has time to change." Both boys nodded and went off.
Later that evening, Jack and Henry had already gone to bed, the two parents were cuddling on the couch, watching mindless TV when Hotch mentionned his morning encounter with a beautiful brunette.
"I'm pretty sure she hit on me."
"Really, so when it's a random stranger you know it's called flirting, but when it was me, it took you quite some time."
"On my defence, I was trying to keep my feelings hidden."
When it became clear he wasn't going to say anything else, JJ talked again. "So, what was her name."
"Um, Beth something. She gave me her card. Just give me a minute to think, I should remember it." His brows furrowed in concentration before his head snapped up, "Clemmons, it's Beth Clemmons."
"Clemmons you say. You sure?"
"Yeah, pretty much, why?"
"Because I have a cousin with that name. Brunette, brown eyes, smiling a lot?"
"Yes, that sounds about right. It is a small world."
"Yeah it is." JJ said, lost in thought. "I wonder how she's doing. What do you say about diner with her, sometime next week?"
"Sure, good idea, if we're not on a case."
"Great, I'll call her tomorrow."
The couple sat silent for a few minutes, before Hotch asked, "were you two close?"
"Yeah, like sisters. But when Rosaline committed suicide, my parents closed off from everyone, so we kinda lost contact. We talk on the phone from time to time, but I haven't seen her in a while."
The team got back from their case the friday the couple had planed their diner with Beth. It was supposed to be a family diner with Hotch, JJ and both their sons. JJ had mentioned the kids and her boyfriend but didn't named him, she wanted to see her face when she'd recognized him.
The group of four entered the restaurant and JJ almost immediately spotted Beth, she hadn't changed much since the last time she saw her. Her hair was a little longer and darker, but she still had the same smile and the same eyes. She lead her 'family' to the right table. The two young boys were excited to meet JJ' cousin, and they were happily babbling, which caught Beth's attention. The brunette turned around, saw the two blond boys. They were holding the hands of their respective parent. When they reached her table, she got up and hugged JJ tightly.
"Jayje, it's been so long, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine, I've got the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, and Jack over there is just as much perfect." JJ smiled while introducing her family. "This is Henry, my son, Jack, Aaron's son, and my boyfriend, Aaron Hotchner."
At this name, Beth took a closer look at Hotch. That's when she recognized him from the park. "Oh my, God, please tell me this isn't who I think it is."
"I'm afraid so. Nice to see you again Beth." Hotch said before turning his attention to his very agitated son. "Jack, don't run everywhere! Come back here."
"What a small world." The whole group sat down at the table and someone came to take their order.
Once everyone was settled, the two cousins set to catch up on each other's lives. At the end of their diner, they had talked about work, family - past and present – and they made plans to meet again, when their respective jobs would allow it. Beth fell in love with both young boys and found Hotch very nice.
For the next few months, they met again several times. Henry and Jack called her 'Aunt Beth', Hotch trained for his triathlon with her, and JJ and her could talk for hours. She hadn't met the team yet, but she was going to on the day of Hotch's race. That day arrived very quickly and the whole team plus the two BAU kids were at the finished lined, ready to cheere Hotch. That day was going to bring some changes inside the profilers' team. Indeed, the couple had agreed it was time they came clear about their relationship to their closest friends. What they hadn't planed was JJ being hangover due to a girls night and both boys to be all hyped on sugar, another Garcia's miracle. JJ was trying to keep an eye on her son while Rossi tokk care of Jack.
The first runners started arriving, everyone around them were cheering and the three ladies were begging for the world to stop yelling so loud. Not too long after the first finisher, Hotch appeared at the last turn and finished the race without slowing down. Once he crossed the line, he almost collapsed on the ground but, he stayed up, went to get something to drink and his medal. Jack runned to him, followed closely by Henry and the rest of the team. Hotch gave his son his medal.
"JJ! Hotch!" A voice behind them called. The whole team turned to see who it was.
"Beth, hi!" JJ said, a lot less loudly. She could still feel the after effects of her nigth out. The cousins hugged and Beth then hugged Hotch, congratulated him on his race. She felt two pairs of small hands on her waist, she looked down and greeted her two favorite boys.
"Guys, this is my cousin, Beth." JJ introduced her friends and co-workers to Beth.
"Uncle Aaron, I'm thursty." Henry told Hotch while his mother was doing the presentations.
"Yeah, and I'm hungry." Jack added, but he didn't asked his dad. He asked JJ. Which the profilers noticed.
When JJ and Hotch saw the looks on their friends faces, they glanced at each other and decided that at this moment, escaping was the smartest thing to do."Ok boys, come with us." The two parents left with their kids, leaving Beth to deal with the others.
"What the hell happened here?" Prentiss was the first one to ask.
"Beth, do you know anything about my Peaches and Boss-man?" Garcia asked the brunette.
"Uh, well, actually..." Beth was a little confused, she wasn't expecting to be the one that would deliver the news, and from the looks she was given, it looked like there was no way out of it.
"Come on, spill it out. Are they or are they not together?" Rossi prompted.
"I so totally knew it." Morgan exclaimed, very pleased with himself.
Reid was quick to report and break his momentary joy. "Technically, you didn't call anything. Besides, we don't know for sure, yet."
"Guys, stop talking, so that the poor girl can tell us." Garcia admonished.
"I think she would rather have us talking than us."
"Hush, Rossi."
Five pairs of eyes refocused on Beth, who wanted more than anything that her cousin, damn her, would come back and saved her from her very invading friends. Obviously, it wasn't going to happen soon, since she was doing everything she could not to look into their direction.
"Well, they are a couple." Best getting it done. "For almost a year."
"And she hide it from me? Oh, we're gonna have a talk." Garcia stomped towards the subject of the conversation, with everyone else on her tail. Morgan was collecting bills from Reid and Prentiss under the watchful eyes of David Rossi, who knew he should have bet, he would have won sooo much money. What amazed him was that no one saw it, sure they were suspecting, but they didn't know they were already together. At least now, Garcia wouldn't come to him anymore, asking for a little help in her attempts to get them together.
"Sunshine!" JJ frozed, not willing to face the warth of a pissed off Garcia that soon.
"Mama, why is Aunty Penny all red?" Henry asked with the perfect face of innocence.
"Is she?" JJ turned around slowly, and smiled, trying to calm her best friend down. "Penelope, I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything, but try to understand, we wanted it special, just for us."
Instead of what she expected, Garcia hugged her tightly, "I'm so happy for you. You're like, like, the perfect family."
"Congrats' man. I didn't know a thing." Rossi patted Hotch on the shoulder.
Beth appeared behind the couple, with a devious smile. "You little snicky love birds. If you ever feel the need to make another annoucement, do it yourselves."
Prentiss knelt in front of Henry and Jack. "How did you manage not to say anything to any of us?" She was pretty impresses by their secrecy.
"Mama told us it was our secret." Henry announced proudly.
"And we always keep our promises to Mom." Jack added, just as proud.
Both parents gasped, and JJ felt small tears forming in her eyes. "Did he? Did he just?" She couldn't even formulate her question. Hotch put his arms around her and kissed her temple.
"Yes, he just called you Mom."
AN/ That's it, hope you liked it. I'd love a review :P
