A/N:

Thank you to all the reviewers! I was over the moon that Ms. Stery, whose fics I love and who is an awesome author, reviewed! If you haven't read her stories 'Twenty Five' and 'Just Try', then read them. And o25bpk, you read my mind! =)

I forgot a disclaimer in the earlier chapter, so here's two to make up for it: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters. I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.

Some readers managed to convince me, so okay, I'm kind of half on the Rossi's-great-I-like-him wagon. Kind of.

They filed into the car silently, each lost in their own thoughts.

JJ wondered if she had made them think she was a baby by accepting the lolly, but after about three seconds, she abandoned those thoughts and focused on enjoying the ball of sugary goodness. Presently, she was extremely busy, trying not to get her fingers sticky.

Emily was fingering the belt around her waist, fuming because she didn't get the window seat.

Morgan had his head in his hands. He was imagining himself in the Bahamas.

Reid was running through statistics in his head: what percentage of kids stopped taking naps at what age, what percentage of kids liked vegetables, and so on. It hadn't occurred to him that the girls would have to live with one of the team members.

Of course, it had occurred to Hotch. He was thinking of how much trouble Jack was, and wondering how to sedate the girls without arousing any suspicions.

"Okay, this is bull," Morgan said suddenly. "We can't just avoid the topic forever. When we get on the plane, we decide who they stay with. I vote Rossi."

"Nonononononono!" JJ said, her eyes wide.

"Yes, baby girl- and I mean that literally now- you have to stay with someone."

"Nonononononono!"

"We can take care of ourselves," Emily said, trying to keep her voice calm. Really, all she wanted to do was what JJ was doing- hands over her ears, singing 'No no no no no no!'

"No, you can't. You're too short, and we're not letting two little kids carry guns. What if something happens? You need us to protect you," Morgan said.

Both girls scowled. "We can take care of ourselves!" Emily repeated, closer to a shout this time.

"You're just a child; you can't!"

"Can too!" Emily argued. Unintentionally making Morgan's point for him, Hotch thought.

"Can not!" And Morgan spoils it.

"Excuse me," Hotch interjected through the chorus of 'No's and the 'Can not! Can too!' argument that was steadily rising in volume. "I believe I am the team leader and unit chief, so it is up to me whether or not I allow my agents to carry a gun."

"Yeah, you tell him Hotch!" Prentiss cheered.

"No no no no no no no, no no no, no no no..." JJ sang to the tune of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'.

Hotch massaged his temple. "No guns. Not until you're returned to yourselves. And Morgan is right- we will have to make suitable living arrangements for you."

"No no no no no no no, no no no no no no..."

"I vote Hotch," Morgan said immediately. "He has a kid."

JJ had moved on to 'Old McDonald Had a Farm'. "No no no no no no no..."

"We will webcam with Rossi and Garcia and decide," Hotch replied through gritted teeth.

"No no no no no no no, EE-I-EE-I-O!"

"Jennifer Jareau," Hotch said, turning around from the wheel to look at her, "if you don't be quiet this instant, I..." He searched desperately for a threat. JJ waited patiently. "I'll do something," he finished unimpressively.

JJ studied him pensively for a few seconds. "You know, you should really look at the road when you drive. It's a rule."

"Aww..." Morgan cooed, "Isn't that just precious? A unit chief from the FBI is being taught driving laws by a liddle girl."

"Get. Out. Of the car. All of you. Now."

JJ looked out to see that they'd arrived at the jet. She climbed out, running to be the first one through the doors. Morgan caught up to her and held her back, his protective instincts taking over.

"Whoa there, little girl. Don't run or you'll trip."

"Don't care." She struggled to get out of his arms, which, of course, only made him hold on tighter.

"I meant, the pilot won't let you on the plane," he amended.

She shook her head. "Don't try that on me. I still have my knowledge, remember?" She tapped her head.

But you got the logic of a four year old, Morgan thought. "Of course I remember. But they made a new law while you were at the hospital. It was in the papers." Seeing her look sceptical, he added, "Really. It makes sense, right? Pilots don't want people with scraped knees pouring blood on their nice clean floors. So they made that rule that you can't run."

"But I ran. Will they let me on?"

"I'll talk to them for you. Now come on, they're all waiting for us." Saying this, he took her hand and led her to the plane. Score one for Morgan! He thought triumphantly.

His victorious mood dissipated rapidly as he saw JJ's face darken when they entered the jet.

Emily was sitting in a window seat, opposite Reid. Hotch was sitting across the aisle from them. JJ walked up to Emily and tapped her shoulder.

"Move, Emily. That's my seat."

"No it's not."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"IS TOO!"

By now, all three men were starting to get headaches.

Hotch motioned to Morgan to come over. "I had a thought..." he whispered, "Sedatives. 24/7 for the next three weeks."

Morgan grinned at the possibility.

Meanwhile, the fight had evolved from 'Is not!/Is too!' to 'Gimme-that-seat-or-I'll-punch-you!'

JJ was, Hotch could see, making empty threats. Emily, however, didn't see it like that, and decided to take matters into her own fists. She thumped JJ's arm and pushed her off the seat.

"Reid!" JJ cried, "Emily hit me!"

"Girls, behave, or I will ground you both," Reid said, not looking up from his book. He felt the stares and shrugged, finally tearing his attention away from the novel. "What? I always wanted to say that after JJ did."

Morgan stood up. "JJ, it's only a 350 mile journey. And there are plenty of other window seats."

"But I want this one! This one's my seat! And she knows it! Ask her!"

"Is that true, Emily?"

"No."

Morgan sighed. "Pipe down, you two. I mean it."

Emily smirked. "Or what? You'll spank us?"

Without missing a beat, he replied, "Yes. And you know I will, so you better shut those little chatterboxes and sleep." He grinned as she gulped.

"Score two for Morgan," he announced proudly as he slid into a seat across from Hotch. Truth be told, he was surprised that the single father hadn't stepped in to help.

Oh no...He thought as something clicked. Hotch hadn't...He wouldn't...

"This is exactly why you should have them. You're good with them," Hotch said as he called Garcia on the laptop.

"What? No! That's not fair, I-"

"What's not fair?" Garcia's voice came across the speakers. "And how are Em and JJ? You never called me back."

The team gathered around the laptop, causing Garcia to do a very theatrical and exaggerated double-take. "Woah. Is that...?"

"Yeah, that's them," said Morgan.

"What happened? Are they going to live? What if they die? I can't live without my girls!" She sniffled. "Please tell me they're going to be okay! Tell me they'll live, please tell me-"

Hotch cleared his throat. "Garcia, I recorded what the doctor said and sent it to you and Rossi. You know what happened."

"Right. I forgot. Anywho...here's Rossi."

"Good." Hotch threaded his fingers together. "We need to discuss living arrangements. And before we vote on names, can I just add that around twenty seconds ago, Morgan single-handedly stopped a full-blown physical fight. We should take that into consider-"

"-No we damn well won't take that into consideration!" Morgan leapt in. "He tricked me and that doesn't count! Plus he has a kid! Shouldn't that count for something?"

"Yes, it should count for negative points, because I can't deal with Jack and two more kids running around my-"

"Yes you can! You just do your whole drill sergeant thing and they sit in nice little lines!"

"Remind me again who the kids are?" Garcia asked, gesturing to JJ and Emily, who were interestedly watching the fight, but sitting like perfect little angels on their seats.

"Ahem," Rossi said pointedly. "I think we can all agree that Reid is out of the question. No offense intended, Reid, but I wouldn't trust you with a child."

"Yes," Hotch agreed, straightening his tie. "And Dave lives in a one-bedroom apartment. That leaves Garcia, Morgan and me."

"Not happening," Morgan said at once.

"Well, I don't know what to do, because I can't have three kids for three weeks! My babysitter will murder me," Hotch said helplessly.

Garcia looked thoughtful. "Well, I could take one or both of them sometimes...but only occasionally. My flat is being renovated, as you all know, but they're free to stay with me in my hotel room some nights."

"Okay." Morgan agreed reluctantly. "You wanna flip a coin for who gets who?" he suggested, looking at Hotch.

Hotch nodded. "Fine. And then after a week, we switch."

"Yo, Reid, toss us a coin!" Morgan deftly caught the quarter thrown at him and looked at Hotch. "Okay, so shall we say...heads I get Emily, tails I get JJ?"

"Flip it."

The coin spun in an arc in the air before being caught by Morgan, who showed it to Hotch. "Tails. Hey, JJ, you're rooming with big bro Derek!"

She made a face.

"Okay, well thanks, Garcia," Reid said as he shut the laptop. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted, so I'm going to sleep."

"Me too." Hotch loosened his tie.

"You hear that, girls?" Morgan asked, looking at them. "Time to catch some well-needed Zs, while I make some more entertaining names for you."

Emily, whose eyes kept drifting shut, sat up straighter at that. "Like what?"

"I don't know...I keep wanting to call you 'Shorty' and 'Puffin', 'cause you look like a baby puffin."

"No, don't...'m not a puffin..." Emily protested, as her eyes closed. She fought to keep them open. Morgan reached over JJ's curled-up form and stroked her eyelids closed.

"Keep 'em like that, shorty puffin. Look, shrimp's already asleep." As her eyes shut and sleep finally came, Morgan stretched out on his own seat.

Half an hour later, the plan landed smoothly at Quantico. Hotch, Reid and Morgan woke with a start, but the girls slept on. Hotch walked over to JJ and gently shook her, while Morgan did the same to Emily.

"Come on, time to get up."

Emily moaned and shook her head. "No. Don't wanna...five more minutes."

JJ simply refused to open her eyes. After a few minutes of trying, the two men exchanged glances.

"What are we going to do?" Morgan asked helplessly. "They won't wake up and we can't just leave them here...we'll have to wait for them to get up."

Reid approached them slowly. "Uh, guys? Not to point out the obvious, but JJ and Emily now weigh around 30 and 45 pounds..." If it was Emily, she would have added a 'duh'.

"We were just getting to that..." Hotch gave up on excuses. "Never mind. Since it's two in the morning, I suggest we take our respective temporary kid and go home."

"Sure, boss, whatever you say," Morgan answered, sccoping up JJ and heading out. Hotch picked up a sleepy Emily gently and followed with his laptop and bag.

"Reid?" Morgan called over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Could you get the girls' bags? And mine? You can give it to us tomorrow. Thanks!" And without waiting for an answer, he left, leaving Reid trying to carry two books and four bags down the stairs.

A/N: So, I've decided to keep the pairings pretty open here, and keep tallying the votes. So far, it's

Hotch/JJ and Morgan/Prentiss: 5

Hotch/Prentiss and Morgan/JJ: 5

Emily/Reid: 3

and Morgan/Garcia, Reid/JJ and Emily/JJ with one vote each.