A Hotchner Christmas
For Aaron Hotchner, this was it. This was the first Christmas without his ex-wife Haley. Sure they had been divorced for a few years, but her untimely death at the hands of The Reaper still did not set well with Hotch. He and Haley had spent 20 years together, and had one wonderful son, Jack, together. Although their marriage had ended because Hotch was unable to give up his career—no, his life's calling—at the BAU, a part of Hotch would always love Haley. She had only been gone about a month now, but for Hotch this was all so new. He had become the sole caretaker for Jack. Of course Jessica, Haley's sister, would help out whenever she could, but in a sense, Hotch was all that Jack had left, and he was sure not going to let his son down.
So there it was about 7pm on Christmas Eve. The tree and decorations had been up for about two weeks. The gifts were all wrapped and placed under the tree. Everything was seemingly done, yet it seemed like something was missing. Hotch and Jack sat on the couch watching old home movies of Haley and Jack. Although it pained Hotch to do it, he did it because it was important that Jack remember his mother and the woman she was. She was the woman who had bottled up so much courage and love that she gave her own life to save the life of her son. It was then that Hotch had begun to chew over his last promise to Haley.
While they were married, it seemed as if Hotch had always broken his promises to Haley. He was not there to see Jack's first steps. He was not there for Jack's first hair cut. He was not able to leave the BAU. If there was anything that Hotch was going to do, he would at least honor Haley's last wish: teach Jack how to love. But how could he? The woman that he had loved was brutally murdered, and although it was not his doing, he still felt the blame. He had let someone take everything from him, and for what? How could he teach Jack to love when such awful things could happen and change things forever? Looking at their home movies, it was clear that the only capable of teaching Jack to love was Haley.
The doorbell rang and brought Hotch out of this pensive state. For Christmas Eve, this was rather late. Surely, everyone would be home with their families, and he really was not expecting anyone.
"Who is it?" asked Hotch.
"It's me," came a soft response from the other side of the door.
Hotch opened the door to see none other than Emily Prentiss standing there holding an armful of presents and a mug appearing to be full of hot chocolate. He was floored. Well, not really. Emily had been there for Hotch since New York, and she had been there for him and Jack even more so since Haley's death. She was always checking in on him and making sure everything was okay. Had it not been for her, he may have let it consume him. She had been one of his biggest supports. They had formed a special friendship.
"What are you doing here at this hour? Don't you have plans with your family?" asked Hotch.
"Uh, you do remember who my family is, right?" Emily chuckled. "Of course, we don't have any plans. My parents aren't even stateside, but I thought you boys could use some company…" Emily's voice had started to trail off because she thought maybe this was an intrusion, but Hotch immediately picked up on her line of thought.
"Come in," said Hotch as took some of the items out of her hand. They carried all of the gifts over to the tree.
"Miss Em'ly," said Jack as he ran up to greet her.
"Oh my gosh, look at you, Jack. You are getting so big. You've grown so much since the last time I've seen you." Emily began tickling Jack, and it wasn't long until he was in the floor begging for mercy.
"Daddy!" screamed Jack with pleading puppy dog eyes. "Help!" Hotch let out a slight grin as he went over to give Emily her payback. Hotch quickly got the drop on her, and before she knew it, she was the one who was begging for mercy. They soon called a truce.
"What are you doing here, Miss Em'ly?" asked Jack.
"Well, I was sitting at home all alone, and I thought I would come over here to see what you boys were doing," she responded. "And, I remembered how much you love my homemade hot chocolate." Jack's little face lit up when he realized that she had brought hot chocolate. Emily would do almost anything to see that face. Although Jack was still sweet and maintained his child-like innocence, he had changed since Haley's death. Of course, it was a normal part of grieving, but it was such a shame that a child like Jack would have to go through pain like that.
"I'll go get some mugs for us," added Hotch. He quickly left for the kitchen. As soon as he had gone for the kitchen, Jack had set up and went into serious mode. He had a question that needed Emily's answer.
"Miss Em'ly?"
"Yes, Jack."
"Will Santa know where to deliver my mommy's gift?" Hotch stopped dead in his tracks as he was getting ready to re-enter the living room. He couldn't deal with this. Not now. Maybe not ever.
"Well, you know, Santa knows a lot of things. He always knows where to find people no matter where they are. He knows your mommy has gone to be in a better place where she can always watch over you, and he will make sure that she gets her gift." Emily could feel her eyes beginning to water as she stroked Jack's hair. She cared for Jack. He was such a sweet child.
"Okay thank you, Miss Em'ly," answered Jack. Just then, Hotch had re-entered the room with the mugs. He was thankful that Emily had been there to answer Jack's question. He was a strong man, but lately this strength had been hard to come by, and well, it had always amazed him how well Emily was with children even though she did not have any of her own.
Emily poured each of them a mug of hot chocolate. They finished watching the home movie they were watching before Emily's arrival. Then, they plopped Santa Clause into the DVD player. By the end of the movie, Jack was lying in Emily's lap fast asleep, and Emily was closer to Hotch than he had remembered also asleep. Hotch had looked over at the two, and he realized he was capable of love. He could teach Jack to love. He loved Emily Prentiss.