Emily dropped the cookie pan that held the sweets she knew she was going to burn the moment she'd put them in the oven. Her feet took her through the kitchen and up the stairs, almost running at the sound of her daughters. "Girls!"

The mother of three laid eyes on the thirteen year old almost banging down their upstairs bathroom door. "Mallory Grace!" She walked up to her youngest and pulled her away from the door. "Do you want to take the door of the hinges?"

"Liz won't get out," the dark haired girl growled, running back at the door with full force.

"Get away, four eyes!"

Mallory fought against her mother's hands that pulled back at her shoulders. "I'm wearing my contacts, you freak!" Her fists banged at the wood of the door, hearing the blow dryer turn on on the other side.

Emily sighed, pulling her daughter back to her chest. "Enough."

"I have a date, I have to get ready!"

The mother of three felt her eyes bug. Spinning her thirteen year old around in her arms, she frowned. "You have a date?"

Scoffing, Mallory shrugged out of her mother's hold. "Study date, but still." She turned and slammed her hands against the shared bathroom door, hearing her sister laughing from the other side. "Get out!"

Emily was quick to pull her daughter back and knock on the door herself. "Elizabeth, open this door."

The door swung open, the caramel eyes of the middle Hotchner child staring at those of her mother. "I only have twenty minutes to meet Danielle and Sydney at the mall and I can't get ready with Gracie bothering me." Fighting off her little sister's hands, the fourteen year old narrowed her eyes. "If I give you five bucks will you leave me alone?"

Mallory made a face. "I have my own money, spaz."

Elizabeth pointed the hair dryer at the younger girl when she charged for her. "Get out!"

Emily sighed, stepping in between the two girls and fighting them both off. "If you two can't share, you're both grounded." She hardened her eyes on both of her girls. "No mall, and no study date."

Stepping out of his bedroom down the hall, the eldest of the Hotchner clan glared at the three. "Do you realize my SATs are in three days? Can you two do this another time?"

Elizabeth jerked the hair dryer toward the younger girl when their mother finally let her step inside. "Stay on your side," she growled, using her elbow to shove the thirteen year old when she reached over the sink for her hairbrush.

Emily ran a hand over her forehead, making her way down the hall. "Sweetie," she smiled, "how's your studying going?"

Jack glared. "I'm barely able to look up my vocab words without hearing them screaming at each other," the sixteen year old complained. "Can you move them down to the basement? We'll all be happy then."

The mother of three shared a grin with her eldest. "How about a break?" She reached toward the sixteen year old and brushed his bangs away from his eyes. "I made cookies."

"Did you burn them?"

Emily frowned. "Maybe."

He closed the door in her face.

The forty-eight year old rolled her eyes before making her way back downstairs, taking the pan and sliding the blackened cookies into the trashcan. Scraping off the crumbs that stuck to the silver metal, Emily put the pan into the sink.

"Anyone home?"

Emily turned just in time to see her husband coming into the kitchen. "Hey." Her soft smile was caught by his lips before he went back toward his office to put his briefcase away. "How was your conference?"

The older man shook his head. "I've seen the day where Strauss finally caved."

Emily couldn't hide the grin on her face. "No way."

"Director Braxton told her that if she were to continue the misuse of funds and sending our team out immediately after fatalities," Gideon had come back for one case and ended up shot by their Unsub - "that she would be disbarred." Walking back into the kitchen, Hotch stole one of the brownies his mother had brought over the night before off the counter. "She'll be investigated and watched every day at the office until they see she's fit, or she'll be removed."

The brunette woman laughed, letting her husband give her a congratulatory kiss.

"How are the girls?"

Just then, the sound of the second story bathroom door being slammed shut was heard, Mallory back to banging on the wood. Looking up to the older man, Emily arched her brow. "That's been going on for a half an hour."

Hotch made a face before dropping his brownie and storming up the steps. "Girls!"

Emily sighed, her eyes darting from the staircase to the front door. "Look who it is," she grinned, watching their lab fit himself through the doggy door. "You ready for lunch?"

The black lab rushed over to the kitchen, waiting patiently for the mother of three to fill his bowl.

Squatting down to the ground, Emily let the seven year old lab lick her face. "You're my favorite," she whispered to the dog with a smile, picking a few leaves out of his fur before standing back up to face her girls being pulled down the stairs.

"Daddy stop!"

Emily eyed the two girls. "What happened now?"

Mallory looked at her mother, her eyes red.

"What happened?" The brunette woman took her youngest daughter to the kitchen table and sat her down. "Where are your contacts?"

"Liz blew at me with the hair dryer," she whined, eyes tearing. "I think when I rolled my eyes, the rolled back."

Emily grimaced, seeing the bottoms of her daughter's contacts sticking out from underneath her top lashes. "We have to go to the doctor," she sighed, helping Mallory stand.

"Mom!" Elizabeth yelled, yanking her arm from her father's grasp, "she called me a bitch!"

The older woman's jaw dropped.

"She said it first!"

"Enough," Hotch's stern voice boomed. "You're both grounded."

Elizabeth's brown eyes shot open. "That's so not fair! I have to go to the mall."

"More like have to see your hook up," Mallory said, sticking out her tongue as her mother ushered her toward the door.

Emily put herself behind her thirteen year old and almost pushed her all the way out of the house. "You two can fight when we get back and your contacts aren't trying to race to your brain," she said strongly, beeping the car doors open as she closed the front door behind them.

Elizabeth stomped her foot. "Dad, I need to go!"

"Yeah?" The BAU Unit Chief walked over to the closet and took out the vacuum. "Who's going to drive you?"

The fourteen year old held a hand to her hip as names raced through her mind. Eyes lighting up, her hand shot from her hip and gestured to the staircase. "Jack."

"Jack's studying."

Elizabeth frowned. "So?"

Hotch sent his oldest daughter a smile. "How about instead of going to the mall and wasting the money I gave you on makeup, you vacuum the house?"

The fourteen year old glared at the older man.

"Or you can take after your brother and go study," he shrugged. "Either way, you don't leave this house." Turning his back to the fourteen year old, the father of three took the brownie back into his hand and smiled as he took a bite, hearing his daughter stomp her way back up the steps.