Author's Note: I've been thinking about writing a collection of short stories that showed a more familial side of Emily and Hotch FOR A WHILE NOW. So, when I introduced Prentiss at the end of "Surprise," I realized that I had actually given myself the perfect chance! So, the story will be several chapters, each encompassing a new milestone (or just another random moment) in Emily, Hotch, Jack and Prentiss' lives. Hope you enjoy!
And the title of the story is a last minute decision, I couldn't really think of anything for a title, except for the fact that I'm the only one out of my sister's that is a 'daddy's girl.' I've been one since I was little, so that's where the title came from.
Disclaimer: If I owned Criminal Minds, Paget Brewster's last episode wouldn't have been "Hit and Run." (She would have stayed for season eight.) But I don't own Criminal Minds, and it was her decision to leave, and I support any choice Paget makes.
"Daughters are like flowers, they fill the world with beauty, and sometimes attract pests." ~Author Unknown
Hotch laid awake in bed watching Emily sleep, who is sleeping peacefully beside him. He knows he should try to go back to sleep; before he has to get up in four hours and go back to work after taking a week off after the birth of their daughter, but he loves watching his wife sleep. He went back to sleep fifteen minutes later, with his arms wrapped around Emily's waist. He woke to the sound of crying coming from the nightstand monitor, an hour later. Slowly, he got out of bed, so he didn't wake Emily. She was barely getting enough sleep before they had Prentiss, and now, especially since they bought their bundle of joy home.
Now the crying persisted.
He quietly made his way to the nursery. A soft smile touched his lips once his gaze landed on his newborn daughter lying in the basinet, a stuffed red teddy bear and a stuffed lavender seal situated nearby. He gathered his daughter into his arms and gently rocking her back and forth.
"Shhh, its okay, sweetheart. Daddy's here." He crooned softly. "Shhh…"
The crying died down a little, but Prentiss continued to fuss, in her father's arms.
Hotch ran his fingers through the small smattering of brown hair on her small head, while soothing her troubles away. "Daddy's got you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, sweetheart," he murmured, kissing her on the forehead. "You know your mom and your brother is asleep right now and you need to go to sleep, but you're not going to sleep, not until daddy walks around with you." He smiled softly, at her.
He quietly walked down to Jack's bedroom and opened the door a little. "Look, sweetheart, there's your brother, he's very protected of you already. If Mommy and Daddy would let him, he would move his bed into your room, so he can watch you at night time." Hotch said, smiling at his daughter. "Let's go see, Mommy! What do you think, sweetheart, should we go see Mommy?" he was answered by a shy smile on his newborn daughter's face. "Alright, then we will go see Mommy now."
Hotch walked down to his and Emily's bedroom, holding Prentiss in his arms. He leaned against the doorframe watching Emily sleep.
She looked like an angel.
Hotch smiled, as he looked down at his daughter. He couldn't help, but think back to a week ago, when Prentiss was born.
~.~.~
Hotch stood in front of the mirror, of the master bathroom, drying his-cleanly shaven-face. He walked out of the bathroom into his and Emily's bedroom. He smiled, when his gaze landed on his pregnant wife sleeping in their bed. He hated waking her up; she was barely getting enough sleep as it was. He decided that he will let her sleep another twenty minutes; hell their dinner reservation wasn't until another hour.
Hotch was tying his tie, when he heard Emily cry out in pain. Gasping, she woke up.
"Em? Are you okay?" he asked, concern etched in his features.
She breathed in deeply. "Yeah…Prentiss' just moving a lot…"
Watching as she winced again, he asked, "Are you sure? Because I don't think that's the first time today that you've looked in that much pain…" A thought hit him. "What if she's coming out now?"
"That's not possible; she's not due for another two weeks!"
"It is possible, and good luck negotiating with our daughter because I'm pretty sure she's dead set on getting out to celebrate your birthday with you." He said, putting his shoes on. "Come on, Em, we need to go to the hospital. You're going into labor."
After maybe illegally using the police sire as an excuse to break a few speed limits, quickly driving to the nearest hospital, and checking Emily into the emergency room, he had contacted Elizabeth, Jessica, who had Jack for the night and the team members, all of whom had said that they wanted to be there for the baby's birth, no matter how late…or early…in the day it was.
Hotch closed his eyes as Emily screamed again, squeezing his hand in a vice-like grip.
"Does anyone know if Hotch wore a suit and tie today?" Rossi asked.
"I don't know if he did." Morgan said.
"Let's hope for Hotch's sake that he didn't wear a suit and tie." Rossi said.
"Yeah, or Emily will probably choke him with his tie." Morgan commented.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Hotch kept talking to Emily, whispering encouragements into her ear.
"Come on, Em, one more push!"
Emily let out a scream then grabbing Hotch's tie. "Aaron," she cried. "That's what you said last time! Why don't you try pushing a baby out of your body?"
Hotch winced, trying to pry Emily's hand off his tie. "I know, I know. But Emily, sweetheart, you're doing great." He said softly. "Emily, do you mind doing me a favor? Can you let go of my tie?" he asked, a second later.
Emily took her grip off his tie. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, sweetheart." Hotch said, pressing a kiss onto her forehead, before rushing out of the delivery room.
"Has, mom had the baby yet?" Jack asked, seeing his dad come out of the delivery room.
"No, not yet buddy." Hotch answered, before rushing out into the visitors' lounge, where everyone else was waiting. "Here take this! She was chocking me with it earlier!" He said, while throwing his tie at Rossi, before rushing back into the delivery room.
Meanwhile, back inside the room, Hotch was right by Emily's side, whispering loving encouragements into her ear.
"Come on, Emily, push," the doctor said. "Just a little more…I see her head!"
Once again, an ear-splitting scream sounded in the small room. But this time, it wasn't Emily who made it.
The nurse took the newborn girl away to wash her off.
"Aaron, where is she taking her to?" Emily asked, worried and never taking her eyes off the nurse carrying her newborn daughter away.
"She's just going to clean her off. And then she will bring her right back to us. I promise." Hotch said, bringing Emily's hand up to his lips.
The nurse bought the newborn girl to her parents, cleaned and wrapped in a light pink blanket. The nurse smiled and placed the baby in her mother's waiting arms. "What would you like her name to be?"
"Prentiss Haley Elizabeth Garcia Rossi Morgan Reid Jareau Hotchner," the two profilers answered in unison, smiling as her small eyes looked towards the voices.
"You did an amazing job, Em." Hotch said, shocking up the beauty of the perfect moment.
"I couldn't have done it without you, by my side," she replied, looking down at their precious daughter and pressing a kiss to her small nose.
"Can I hold her?" he asked, never taking his eyes of the beautiful baby.
"Of course," she said, handing Prentiss to her father. Hotch quickly glanced at his wife and a slow smile spread across his face.
"What is it?" Emily murmured, looking at her husband's smile.
"Happy birthday, gorgeous." He whispered lovingly.
Emily looked as if she was about to cry. "What gift could be better than her?" she asked breathlessly, referring to their daughter and the beautiful mood surrounding them.
Hotch kissed Emily lightly on the lips and looked down at their child, still lying in his arms. "I don't think nothing could top this, Emily. Nothing at all."
He placed Prentiss back into her mother's arms.
"You, know you can hold her, as long as you want." Emily told him with a smile.
Hotch returned his wife's smile. "I know, but I think someone is eager to meet his sister."
"Jack?"
"Yeah." Hotch said, before walking out of the room and getting his son.
Hotch, walked right back into the room holding Jack's hand. He took him, right to Emily's bed, lifting Jack into his arms, and sitting him down next to Emily on the bed.
"Jack, meet your sister." Emily said, turning around, so he could get a better look at the sleeping baby in her arms.
"Awe…she's cute, she's the cutest baby in the world!" Jack exclaimed, leaning over and pressing a kiss onto his sister's forehead.
"You, know you were cute too, as a baby. I still think you're cute." Hotch told his son.
"Dad…" the six year old grimaced. "Only, girls are cute."
Emily couldn't help, but laugh as she and Hotch shared a significant glance. "You mean I can't think that you are cute, even though you're my own son?" Hotch asked, playfully.
"Yeah, because girls are only cute."
"Yeah, Aaron, only girls are cute." Emily teasingly interjected blowing him a kiss. "I think, Jack was a handsome baby. And he happens to be one of the most handsome guys; I've ever laid eyes on, next to his father."
"Thank you," both Jack and Hotch said in unison.
"You're both welcome," she said, as Prentiss tentatively reached out with her small arm. Emily smiled as she stretched out a finger to her beautiful daughter, and the newborn grabbed it, wrapping her small hand around the small portion of her mother.
"Welcome to the world, Prentiss." Jack whispered softly, to his sister.
"Yeah, welcome to the world, sweetheart," Hotch said softly, and neither he nor Emily could help, but think about how gorgeous their child was that they had created.
Together.
~.~.~
"Look, sweetheart, there's Mommy, but she's still asleep right now, so let's let her sleep," he whispered. "How about Daddy, tells you a story about a beautiful princess?" Hotch asked, lovely.
Prentiss looked up at her father, her gorgeous brown eyes wide open.
Walking back into the nursery, and taking a seat in the pale white rocking chair, with red butterflies painted onto it and gently rocking her. Hotch told her a story about a beautiful BAU princess.
"There was this beautiful young princess, with ivory skin, dark hair and the most gorgeous brown eyes, who moved around a lot when she was a child because of her mother's postings. She didn't have many friends because of mother's job always moving from country to country. So, one day she came to work for the BAU and made friends with the six members on the team, but the Unit Chief didn't trust her at first because the wicked witch of the BAU; put the beautiful princess on the Unit Chief's team to spy on him. Unfortunately, the beautiful princess refused to spy on the Unit Chief, for the wicked witch. The Unit Chief began to trust the beautiful princess, more and the beautiful princess became one of the Unit Chief's best friends in the BAU. Then one day something bad happen in the Unit Chief's life and the beautiful princess, was there to help; him and his little prince through the bad time. The beautiful princess and the Unit Chief, started to fall in love with each other during that time. The Unit Chief, fell more and more in love with the beautiful princess, every minute of every day, so he asked her to marry him one day and she said, yes to him. Soon after they got engaged the beautiful princess, and the Unit Chief found they were going to have a little princess of their own. On September fourth, the beautiful princess and the Unit Chief; finally got married and on October twelfth their beautiful little princess was born. The same day as the beautiful princess' birthday. And the beautiful princess and the Unit Chief; lived happy ever after with their little prince and princess." Rising out of the rocking chair, Hotch carried Prentiss over to her basinet and gently laid her down in the basinet. "I love you, sweetheart." He whispered, before walking out of the nursery.
~.~.~
"Jack, what do you want for breakfast?" Emily asked when he walked into the kitchen.
"Umm…just cereal." He answered.
"Are you sure because if you want French toast or something else I can make if for you?"
"That's okay mom, I just want cereal." Jack told his mom; his gaze meeting her's. "Is Prentiss still asleep?"
Checking the video monitor of her daughter's nursery. "Yeah, she's still asleep," she said, taking a seat in one of the chairs at the large cherry wood dining table. Seconds later, she heard crying coming from monitor, looking at the video monitor of Prentiss' nursery. Rising out of the chair, Emily went and cheeked on her daughter.
Emily gathered the crying baby into her arms. "Hey, sweetheart," she greeted, taking her over to the changing table. Laying Prentiss down on the changing table, Emily unsnapped the yellow and white little onesie and changing Prentiss' diaper and putting a clean one on her. Emily snapped the onesie back together; she picked her daughter off the changing table. "There is that better?"
The crying stop after, Emily had changed Prentiss.
Emily pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "You want to see Daddy, before he goes to work and your brother before he goes to school?"
Emily walked into her and Hotch's bedroom, with Prentiss in her arms, when Hotch was buttoning up his white dress shirt.
"Someone wants to see you."
Hotch smiled as Emily placed the child into his arms. "You wanted to see me, sweetheart?" he asked, kissing her small hand.
The newborn broke into what look like a shy smile.
His heart skipped a few beats as he watched his daughter. She was so magnificent, so perfect.
So…precious.
"I love you, sweetheart. I have to get ready for work, so you have to go back to your mom, unless Mommy wants to find a tie for Daddy to wear so I can spend time with you." He gave Emily a smile.
Emily went over to the dresser and opening up a drawer, pulling a silk red tie out and handing it to her husband.
"You are amazing." Hotch said, handing Prentiss over to her mother and tying his tie.
"So who's filling in for me, while I'm on maternity leave, since this little one couldn't wait for her actual due date?" Emily asked, while looking down at her daughter.
"Ashley Seaver?"
"Well, least you have someone nice to look at." Emily grinned, as she handing Prentiss back to her father.
Hotch, shook his head and said, "My eyes only belong to two women in my life."
"Do, Will and Kevin know that you like looking at their women?" she asked, with a small chuckle.
"Your Mommy is a goofball, but that's one of the things I love about her," Hotch whispered to his daughter. Looking up at Emily, he said, "My eyes belong to you and our daughter."
"Keep telling yourself that, Agent Hotchner." Emily teased, as she walked out of their bedroom.
"I'm going to get you for that." Hotch told her, as he took her hand into his.
Emily tossed him a wink. "Oh, really, now and when do you plan to get me for that little comment back there I said."
Hotch pulled her close to him. "Real soon, Mrs. Hotchner," he murmured against her lips.
"I can't wait Mr. Hotchner." She said, with a seductive smile.
He grinned. "Neither can I."
~.~.~
"Jack, look who's awake and she wants to see you." Emily said when she walked back into the kitchen with Hotch behind her carrying Prentiss in his arms.
"Is it Prentiss?" Jack asked, with a smile.
"Yeah."
"Can I hold, Daddy's little princess?" Jack asked, his mom.
Emily gave her son a small smile. "Yes, you can hold her, if your dad is willing to let his little princess go for right now." She said, with a small laugh looking at Hotch.
"I can let her go for right now because I have to feed Sergio." Hotch said, to his wife. Turning to Jack, he said, "Hey, buddy, I want you to come over to the sofa and then you can hold your sister." Jack followed his dad into the living room and sat down on the sofa, Hotch put Prentiss into Jack's arms. "Sergio, buddy." Hotch yelled, as he went over to Sergio's bowl and pulled some cat food into it.
Walking back into the living and looking at his son holding Prentiss in his arms, Hotch asked, "Jack, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah." Jack said, as he pressed a kiss on his sister's nose and handing her to his dad, and going over to Emily and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you, sweetheart. I will see you tonight." Hotch said, as he pressed a kiss to her small head and placing her into his wife's arms, and giving Emily a kiss before he and Jack walked out the door.
~.~.~
Hotch sat in his office looking down in the bullpen, when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in." he answered.
"Hey," Rossi said, when he walked in. "How's Emily and the baby?" he asked, when he took a seat.
"They're great." Hotch, replied back.
"And does Jack still like having a little sister?" Rossi asked.
Hotch, let out a small chuckle. "Oh, yeah and he's already protected of her. Just the other day our neighbors stop by to see Prentiss and he told them not to touched her if they're sick." He said.
"Well, he gets his protected mode from his dad." Rossi told the younger man sitting in front of him. "And look at it this way Aaron, when Prentiss starts dating Jack can help you scare the boys away."
Hotch sighed. "I don't want to think of my daughter dating right now."
"I don't think any father wants to see his daughter dating." Rossi said.
"Yeah, and I'm one of them." Hotch told him.
~.~.~
"Alright baby," Emily said, as she carried Prentiss into her nursery. "We have to go pick your brother up from school and then we will go see Daddy at work. Does that sound good to you?" she was answered by a small smile on her daughter's face. "Let's see what mommy can find for you to wear." Emily said, going over to her daughter's closet and pulling out a little pink dress.
Taking her daughter over to the changing table, putting a clean diaper on her. Emily slipped the little pink dress on her daughter, a pair of small white tights on her and a little pair of pink dress shoes. She then put a small pink headband with a large pink lily on the side of it onto her daughter's small head. Emily smiled, as she picked her up from the changing table.
Emily put her daughter into her car seat and strapped her in; she picked up the car seat and the diaper bag and carried them out to their car. She made sure her daughter's car seat was secured in the backseat of the car, before driving off.
~.~.~
Pulling up to her son's school. Jack got in the backseat of the car.
"How, was school today?" Emily asked, while Jack put his seatbelt on.
"Good." He answered, then turning his attention to his sister and waving at her.
Prentiss reached out to her brother and taking one of his fingers in her small hand.
~.~.~
Emily pulled in the parking lot of the BAU, turning the ignition off and pulling the keys out. She opened Jack's door, he stepped out of the vehicle and waiting, while she unstrapped Prentiss' car seat from the backseat of the car.
With her daughter sleeping in her car seat, with the car seat in her arms and the diaper bag, Emily and Jack walked into the building and got into the elevator, handed up to the sixth floor of the BAU.
Jack stepped out of the elevator first, then Emily with the car seat in her arms.
"Emily, what are you doing here?" The voice could only be the brightly dressed Penelope Garcia.
"We decided to stop by." Emily answered, while Garcia made her way over to them.
"Let me see, that beautiful baby." Garcia said.
Turning the car seat around, so Garcia can see the sleeping baby.
Garcia smile at the sleeping baby and whispered, "Is that the dress and the headband, I brought for her?"
Emily smiled and nodded her head yes.
"She's so cute." She said, as she opened the glass doors of the BAU.
"Thank you," Emily said, as she walked into the bullpen.
"Ladies and gentlemen, look who's here." Garcia announced.
Morgan, JJ, Rossi, Reid and Ashley turned around and smiled, when they saw Jack, Emily and Prentiss.
Emily put her daughter's car seat and diaper bag down on top of her desk, well at the moment it was Ashley's.
Everyone gathered around the desk, to look at the sleeping baby.
"Oh, Emily, she's so adorable!" Ashley said, looking at the sleeping baby.
"Thank you," Emily replied back. "Where's Aaron?" she asked a second later.
Turning around, Rossi answered her, "He's up in his office, with Strauss."
"Oh, okay." Emily said.
"Emily, may I hold her?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah." She answered.
Morgan unstrapped Prentiss from her car seat and gently picked her up, so he didn't wake her. He smiled at the sleeping baby in his arms and whispered, "I'll bet I'm your favorite uncle."
"What makes you think that you're Prentiss favorite uncle?" both Reid and Rossi asked, at once.
"Well, I took a bullet for her and Emily, and will I am obviously more handsome then, you two." Morgan explained.
Rossi and Reid rolled their eyes at Morgan.
"We will ask Emily, who she thinks Prentiss' favorite uncle is?" Reid said.
"Okay, fine and we should ask her who is more handsome." Morgan said.
"Emily, who do you think is Prentiss' favorite uncle is, between the three of us?" Reid asked her.
"All three of you." She answered.
"Well, who do you think is more handsome between the three of us?" Morgan asked. "We all know that you're going to choose me." He said, with a grin.
Emily thought real hard before answering, she didn't want to upset anyone. "Umm…my husband." She said, with a smile.
"Well, she got you there Morgan," Rossi told him. "Now hand, Prentiss over to me."
Morgan looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms, before handing her to Rossi, he whispered, "Your grandpa Rossi wants to hold you now."
"Ciao bellissima. Don't listen to your uncle Derek, I'm your uncle Dave not your grandpa." Rossi whispered to Prentiss, who was sleeping in his arms.
Strauss walked out of Hotch's office and down into the bullpen, and looked at the baby in Rossi's arms. "Well, she is absolutely beautiful." She said, to Emily before going to her office.
Hotch came down into the bullpen and stood next to Emily, and whispered, "You, know that you're suppose to be on maternity leave."
Emily turned to look at her husband and smiled. "I know, but I promise a certain little one that we will go see her dad at work."
Hotch dropped a kiss to the side of Emily's head, he murmured, "I'm glad Jack Prentiss and you stopped by."
They both watched as each team member passed Prentiss to each other.
"Oh, Emily, I forgot to tell you that the other day, my mom called and Henry was talking to her. He kept telling her about Prentiss, but he kept calling Prentiss his girlfriend." JJ said, as she placed the fully awaked baby into Hotch's arms.
"That is so, funny and sweet." Emily said smiling.
"I can't decide who, Prentiss looks like more." Garcia said, looking at Prentiss.
"She looks like her mother more." Hotch said, looking down at the baby in his arms.
Emily smiled. "Not exactly. She has your nose and the famous Hotchner dimples," she pointed out. "Which is going to be really hard to say no to her, when she gets older. I can't say no to Jack and you when you guys flash your dimples."
"Now, we know how you ended up with Prentiss." Rossi said, with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, Dave you better hope Aaron doesn't smile around you too much, or you will ended up pregnant." Emily teased him.
Rossi turned to look at his best friend. "Aaron, I don't want to end up pregnant, so don't smile too much around me." He jokingly said.
"I will try not to." Hotch joked.
"So, what are you guys dressing Prentiss up for Halloween?" Garcia asked.
"Pen, she will only be nineteen days old." Emily said.
"I know that, E, but you can still dress her up for Halloween, while Aaron and you take Jack out trick-or-treating." Garcia told her.
"We still have to get Jack a costume. So how about tonight we go and get costumes for Prentiss and Jack?" Hotch asked looking at his wife.
"Sounds good to me." Emily replied back.
"Good, because I need to get something." Hotch said, looking at his daughter.
"What do you have to get?" Emily asked.
"I can't tell you, Em, because it's a surprise for you." Hotch said, with a smile.
Emily smiled back. "I love surprises."
Hotch, chuckle. "I know you do."
"Agent Hotchner, here's the file you asked for early." Anderson said, handing the file to Hotch.
"Thank you, Agent Anderson." Hotch said.
"She has your eyes Agent Prentiss." Anderson said, looking at Prentiss.
"Thank you," Emily replied back. "Its Hotchner now." She informed him.
"I'm sorry about that." Anderson apologized.
"That's okay. I thought about going by my maiden name, when I come back to work, so no one will get confuse." Emily said.
"I'm fine, if you want to go by Prentiss, when you come back to work." Hotch told his wife.
"I think I will go by my maiden name, when I come back to work. We should head home now." Emily said.
"I will see you, when I get home." Hotch said, as he put Prentiss in her car seat and strapped her in, and handing the car seat and diaper bag to Emily.
Jack and Emily, with the car seat in her arms walked out of the BAU and went home.
Author's Note: Thoughts?