Aaron finally decided on a date for the whole team to set off on the camping trip, and managed to arrange with the director for the whole team to be off on not only the whole week but also the two days before and two days after just in case. When he heard about the whole team week long camping trip, the director decided it was a great way for team bonding and so even put it in as work related which meant they'd be getting paid whilst they were on their camping vacation.
Three days before they were due to go, which happened to be a Tuesday, Aaron had everyone reassemble in the conference room so that they could go over more planning. Dave would go up the day before and take all the food and stuff that was going to be stored at the cabin, Morgan would drive him, Spencer and Blake and all their stuff plus all the tents up on the day. Hotch would drive him, Jack, Jessica plus all their stuff, and J.J would do the same with Will and Henry. To make life easier, they planned the whole week's meals in advance, who would hike back to the cabin to fetch the day's food supplies, who would be responsible for what etc. Dave announced that he had found a place far enough away from his cabin but close enough in case of problems and also for the person collecting the food from the cabin each day. The place he had found was next to a clean water stream that they could use for drinking water and washing up dishes and was also very close to the clean water lake, which they could use to bathe and swim in. To make the experience seem more back to nature for everyone, everyone was to leave their cell phones, laptops and I pads at home. Even Spencer had been told not to take any books and Morgan had been told to leave his Ipod at home, which he was not too pleased about. The cabin had a landline for emergency use if something happened. They had all been checking the weather forecasts and so far it looked to be a really nice week with warmer than normal nights.
Aaron and Dave made sure they went through every detail they could think of regarding safety issues, responsibilities, equipment, cooking rotas, cleaning dishes rotas, making sure everyone brought enough warm clothing to last them the whole week, that everyone had everything they needed and that they made sure they brought everything they would need, etc. Neither Aaron nor Dave wanted to leave anything to chance as, knowing their team, as well as 2 lively young boys, anything could go wrong at anytime at the drop of a hat.
Aaron and Dave decided everyone apart from Dave would meet up in the parking lot of the FBI building and go together.
Only when everything had been gone through and everyone knew who was doing what did he let them go, arranging to meet up in the parking lot on the Friday morning at 10am for the hour drive to Dave's cabin. Once there one car would transport stuff to the camping site and the other cars would be left at the cabin. The car transporting stuff would be the only car the 11 people had access to for the whole week.
Back at home Aaron packed plenty of warm clothes for both him and Jack that would easily last them the week. He also packed enough warmer weather clothes, sets of pyjamas, toiletries, towels and a couple of sets of swim suits for them both. Because everything camping wise was at her house, Jessica insisted both Hotchner boys spend Thursday night at hers and they could all go together the next morning. When they were at Jessica's on Thursday night they would sit Jack down and go over everything he needed to remember and needed to do whilst on the camping trip and warned if he disobeyed, played up or became too naughty then they would bring him straight home before the week was up.
Thursday afternoon came around sooner than Aaron could a worried Aaron could want. Even though everything both he and Dave could think about had been planned out he was still worried something would surely go wrong.
He'd packed up all of his and Jack's clothing, etc, that he'd packed the day before into his SUV and driven him and Jack over to Jessica's house where Jessica helped him pack all her stuff and all the camping equipment they'd brought into his SUV.
That evening they'd sat Jack down together and had their long camping week talk and made sure Jack understood everything they told him. Jack promised to be good and to do everything he was told. Aaron knew that Jack wanted this camping trip more than anyone else and if he knew there was a risk of him being bought home mid week due to disobedience or bad behaviour then he would at least try his best to behave and follow orders, which is the only thing Aaron could ask for him.
The boy was so excited it had been hard to get him to go to sleep but eventually tiredness overcame him and he fell asleep.
All 3 woke up early the next morning. Jessica because of excitement and her houseguests, Jack due to just plain excitement and eagerness and Aaron due to the fact he had barely slept with worry.
At 9.45, with the car packed and everyone having used a proper bathroom for the last time in a week, they climbed into Aaron's SUV and he drove them towards the FBI building to meet up with J.J and Morgan's SUV's. Jack had somehow pleaded his way into being allowed to change cars once they met up so that he could ride with Henry in J.J's car so once they all met up, Aaron helped make sure Jack was buckled securely into the back seat of J.J's fully packed SUV before he got back into his own SUV and, leading the way, drove towards Dave's cabin.
Whilst the team, Will, Jack and Jessica were all so excited, Aaron was dreading the next week. But like it or not, the BAU camping trip was about to begin….