Hotch's hands held tight onto the brunette woman's, his eyes glued to her as he watched the younger woman try to formulate what to say. "Emily, what is it? What's going on?"
She let out a laugh. "I've really missed you," she breathed.
"Emily, what is it? You're scaring me."
Emily paused before shaking her head at him, her fingers dancing along the older man's calloused ones. "I have to tell you something, but I need you to stay calm when I tell you."
His brow furrowed.
"I need you to remember that I wasn't able to contact anyone back home, not even you, and that's why you're only finding out now."
Hotch shook his head. "What is it? Emily, are you sick?"
The ebony haired woman bit so hard into her bottom lip she thought it would bleed. "You remember when we had to say goodbye?" she squeaked, her voice betraying the strength she wanted so badly to portray.
Hearing the wobbling of the beautiful woman's voice, Hotch was forced to avert his eyes from hers. "Of course I do." It was the hardest day of his life.
"When I got to France, I was feeling really sick. I thought it was just because of my anxiety and fright, you know how that's happened to me before. But then I went to the doctor."
"Are you sick?"
Emily looked up to the ceiling and tried to blink her tears away. "I was pregnant.
Hotch's eyes bugged, his hands tightening around the younger woman's. "Pregnant?"
"I'm so sorry," she hiccupped, seeing the confusion in the Unit Chief's eyes. "I couldn't tell you. I would have been risking both of our lives."
"And the baby's."
Emily let out a breath. "Yeah."
Hotch let himself stay quiet for a moment, allowing himself to process the information. "So, did you have it?"
"Them."
He looked up at the correction.
Emily's watering eyes connected with his, and she nodded. "Twins."
Hotch felt his heart stop. He had two other children. "We had twins?"
"Please don't hate me."
Hotch shook his head. "You have them?" he questioned. "You protected them?"
"Of course I did," the brunette mother said defensively, her eyes hard. "They're my babies, Aaron. Of course I protected them."
He took in a breath, looking the woman he had loved right in those big brown eyes. "Do they know about me?"
Emily let out a small chuckle, happily nodding her head to the older man. "Their last name is Hotchner," she nodded. "They're so excited to meet you."
"Are they here? I want to meet them."
"Right in the lobby," she nodded. "Their names are Marcus Matthew and Alisanne Rose. They're four."
Hotch cleared his throat, standing from his seat. "Can we see them?"
Emily smiled, leading the older man out of his own office with a hand on his arm.
"Emily?"
The brown eyed woman turned at the trembling voice, her eyes widening when she saw her friends standing together on the catwalk. "Hi," she breathed, smiling as best she could to the family she had left behind. "Long time no see."
Garcia ran past her boss and took her friend into a bear hug, letting JJ squeeze into the mix once she pressed a big kiss to her friend's cheek. "I missed you so much," she laughed happily, pulling back to see the brunette more clearly. "You look gorgeous!"
"Thanks," Emily grinned, letting the blondes walk to the side so she could see the genius standing before her. "I missed you, Reid."
He slowly nodded, walking into the older woman's arms without a word.
"Princess," the darker man laughed, opening his arms up wide and hugging his friends tight to his chest. "Damn baby girl, look at that long hair you've got."
"Had a long time to grow it," Emily shrugged.
Dave practically shoved Morgan to the side, hearing laughter in his ears as he took the younger woman into a hug. "Bella mia," he grinned, pressing a kiss to each of the agent's cheeks. "Look at how beautiful you are."
The younger woman blushed underneath the older man's gaze, her cheeks hurting from smiling. "Thank you." She quickly cleared her throat and stood as straight as she could, reaching for Hotch's hand. "I promise to come back and talk to you all, but Aaron and I need to go somewhere."
Garcia gave the older woman a wink.
"No!" the mother of two laughed, pointing accusingly to the technical genius before her. "Not for that." She bid a quick goodbye to the teary eyed members of the BAU as she walked with her ex toward the elevators, waiting patiently by his side as the elevator approached their floor.
He glanced over to the smaller figure beside him, his fists clenching as Emily's hand wrapped itself around his upper arm.
"You good?" she asked softly, brown eyes flickering up toward his as the elevator doors opened.
"I want to see them."
Emily held back her smile when she saw the anticipation in his eyes, remembering how Jack used to get so excited when he was ready to open presents or go somewhere new. "They're going to love you," the mother whispered with a smile. "I promise."
Hotch let his eyes connect with hers. "What do they know about me?"
"They know their daddy saves lives, he flies around like a superhero and catches the bad guys, and that he goes by the name King Aaron."
The brunette let out a small chuckle. "I'm a superhero and a king?"
Emily rolled her eyes. "Each kid wanted to hear something different," she laughed. "But both know you have another child, and they know all about what we went through; our relationship, why mommy had to move."
"You told them that?"
Emily bit her lip, leading the older man out of the elevator. "I skipped a lot of details, but I never lied to them."
"Mommy?"
Hotch looked up at the small voice, seeing a pair of dark haired children climbing out of an unfamiliar man's lap and walking toward them, their tiny hands clasping one another's.
"Alisanne , Marc , tu te souviens quand maman vous a parlé de papa?" Alisanne, Marc, do you remember when mommy told you about daddy?
The brown eyed girl looked up to the older man by his mother's side, tugging on his pant leg until he was down at their level. "Are you our daddy?" she asked, her voice bringing tears to Hotch's eyes.
And he nodded.
