A/N: I've fiddled a little with CM canon in this chapter. Writer's privilege.
Chapter 9
The kids snuggled into the living room to watch Robots, with Wilma and Mudgie. After the leftovers were stored, and the kitchen cleaned (and with Abbey's crew, that took about fifteen minutes), the adults retired to the pool area to sit around and chat. Dave sat with a scotch, firmly in hand. Matt and Hotch enjoyed another beer. Aaron nudged Matt with his elbow. "He knows where your scotch bottle is too?"
"Ya think? And he just makes himself right at home," Matt said, winking at Hotch. The rest around the pool laughed.
Dave looked at his protégés, and smiled at them with pride. "Where in the hell do the two of you put a beer after the way you just ate," Dave wondered. The two of them, along with Derek, were notorious among the team of being big eaters, yet never seeming to gain an ounce.
"It slides down through the cracks," Matt and Mac said at the same time. Matt pointed at Mac.
Reed smiled. "Dad or Da?"
"Da," Mac smiled. "The man was a true Irishman."
"Reed his favorite cow to milk was Betsy," Matt explained. "And there were many iterations of Betsy over the years. But bottom line, she was always the third to last cow to be milked."
Mac took up the story. "Da had a fridge in the milk house. After he got Betsy hooked up to the milking machine, he'd go into the milk house and grab a beer. By the time he got the last three milked and all of them fed, he had polished off four. Then one with dinner, and one after."
Matt laughed. "He always thought he was fooling Grandma that he only had two."
Mac laughed louder. "Fat chance on that." Matt just shook his head and laughed as well.
Reed looked at the two of them. "What happened to the farm?"
"Da came in one morning after milking the cows, doing the chores and gathering the eggs," Mac started. "He sat down in his chair for breakfast and had a fatal heart attack."
"I was in my fall semester, my plebe, or first year at the Academy," Matt said. "Your dad was oversees with the Marines."
"Grandma obviously couldn't handle the place," Mac continued. "Our dad and his brothers had made their own lives away from the farm. So they decided to sell everything. That was the last Thanksgiving we had there. Grandma moved to town into a Senior Housing project, shortly after that. She died in January of the next year."
Matt softly smiled. "The two of them could fight like cats and dogs. Good Irish they both were. But in the end, I think she just missed someone and wanted to be with him." All around the pool smiled at that.
Ashley looked at Matt. "You knew that farm?"
"Ash, I grew up and became a man on that farm." He recounted to the team the story he had told earlier in the week to Reed, Hotch and Dave, with Mac adding his own memories.
That got the group around the pool sharing memories of grandparents and holidays. Dave, being Italian, shared the most entertaining. Yet Reed, with his trained journalistic eye, watched a team just totally relax, very comfortable with each other.
As the memory fest was ending, Jack came out the sliding glass door and slid up to Matt, tugging on his t-shirt sleeve. "Uncle Matt," he whispered, "is it time?"
"How come they sent you?" Matt asked as he winked at Stella. She beamed.
"'Cause I'm the oldest," Jack answered honestly.
Matt looked at the boy he loved like his own sons, then his watch and showed it to him. "You tell me Jack. You kids got done eating at six. And since the way you all ate, you have to wait an hour before you can get back into the pool."
Jack looked at Matt's watch, with the hands, not digital, and raced to door. Before he got it shut, he was shouting. "Hey guys! It's time!" Hotch and Beth smiled proudly.
Within ten minutes, five kids were standing by the side of the pool. Since it was later in the evening, they didn't need sunscreen. They counted together. "One. Two. Three!" And they did a group cannonball into the pool sending up a huge splash.
Garcia, who had whipped out her camera when the kids came out, smiled brightly at the entire group. "Got it." Derek piled in with them and to their delight, so did Doc. Reed and Ashley joined them.
While they were all frolicking, Matt went into the garage and pulled the container of ice cream out of the freezer and took it into the house so it would soften a bit so they could serve it. Matt let them play for a while and then got out of his chair and went to the pool apron. "OK kids, it's time for baths." The kids responded with groans and moans. "If you want to stay in longer, that's fine. But then its bath time and then bedtime, which means no homemade ice cream."
Jack and Cam looked at each other. "That's enough for me," Jack smiled.
"Me too," Cam said as they high fived.
Colin was already climbing out of the pool. He looked at Hotch. "I'm not waiting for those guys."
"Wait for me Colin," Henry shouted.
As Matt turned from the pool, Mac looked at him. "FBI hostage negotiation tactics?"
Matt smiled. "And I learned from the best," he said, pointing at Dave.
Dave looked at him. "You use that to deal with kids?" Matt just pointed at the kids getting out of the pool.
Hotch looked at him. "Time to re-write the book old man." Dave just glared at him as Hotch, Matt and Mac laughed.
Stella looked at Abbey. "You spend some mother/daughter time. JJ and I will take care of the boys in you and Matt's tub." JJ smiled her acceptance of the deal.
"I'll help," Beth offered.
JJ smiled at her. "You're in." They helped get the boys in the house.
Abbey held out her hand to Casee. "Let's go," she smiled at her daughter.
As the kids were leaving, Emily looked at Matt. "The kids don't take a bath together anymore?"
Matt shook his head, smiling. "For over a year now."
Emily gave Matt her devilish smile. "It was Colin that noticed the difference wasn't it?" Matt just pointed to his nose as the rest laughed. Matt shook his head thinking about his youngest son.
A half hour later, the whole group was in the kitchen waiting their turn to get a piece of Fran's chocolate cake and the delicious goodness that was coming out of the tin canister. After Matt got some off the top to get the kids going, he and Mac were able to pull the paddle out, with ice cream still around the blades. Mac set it in a cake pan that Abbey had waiting. "Who gets that?" Mac asked.
Abbey said, "Just watch," as two dogs stood patiently by the rug going into the formal dining room. As she neared the rug, two tails wagged furiously. Mac just laughed as Abbey set the pan down for them. Ten minutes later, the dogs had the pan pushed across the entire dining room floor trying to get every morsel of the dairy delight.
Henry shoveled in his first spoonful of ice cream. "How is it buddy?" JJ asked. Henry just smiled at her and took another bite.
Reid, Garcia and Kevin took their first taste. "O.M.G." is all Kevin got out before he dived in for another bite.
"I'm surprised by the consistency," Doc noted. "I expected it to less dense."
Matt winked at Reed. "Translation: he expected it to be runnier." Reed gave him thumbs up for the explanation. "That's why they invented freezers Doc." Emily elbowed Reid as she took her own bite.
"Oh lordy have mercy," Derek said after his first bite.
"We sure didn't have anything like this down on the bayou," Will drawled.
JJ looked at her mother. "Just like at grandma and grandpa's." Sandy smiled.
"And Fran, this cake tastes just like grandma's," Mac complimented.
"It sure does," Matt added.
Ashley looked at Fran. "Is the icing homemade as well?"
"Yes, it is. I just followed Grandma Taylor's recipe: milk, butter, sugar and chocolate chips."
When the kids finished, they went into the great room to watch the rest of the movie, while the adults milled around the kitchen or went to sit in the screened in porch. The mosquitoes had taken over the pool area for the night. Aaron, Matt, Mac, and Morgan joined Dave in enjoying a bit of scotch.
Will joined them, but added a splash of club soda that Abbey found and some ice cubes. "Sorry big dogs," he drawled, "but this is how I was raised to enjoy good liquor." Dave just smiled and raised his glass in a salute as the guys sat or stood around the kitchen island. Kevin, Doc and Reed went with the Bailey's that Ashley brought.
Abbey, Stella, Emily, JJ, Garcia and Ashley also shared the Bailey's. Fran and Sandy enjoyed their cups of coffee, with a touch of Bailey's Matt coaxed them into.
Morgan gave Matt a ration of shit about not having a pool table. "You've got that sweet home theater downstairs and you couldn't find room in the re-model for a pool table?"
"Sorry Derek, not on my priority list. My wife and I have three kids to get into college. Someday, maybe, you'll understand that. And make your mom happy."
Dr. Reid smiled at Morgan. "You do know you are cornered with no way out. It's called 'checkmate'."
Morgan scowled at him. "Thanks Doc."
The party didn't break up until almost ten when the two youngest boys could hardly keep their eyes open any more, with Henry climbing into Sandy's lap to go lights out. Beth drove to get the Hotchner boys and Dave home.
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