A/N: And finally, the epilogue. :) I hope you like it.

The team, Hotch noted with satisfaction, appeared to have bounced back from yesterday without problem. His words, although they had obviously hurt Garcia and Reid yesterday, now seemed to be forgotten.

He had apologized, of course, and Rossi's strict order to do so had only been a small part of the reason. What he had said had hurt his team members and although he felt that he had been punished quite sufficiently for it, that didn't mean he didn't have to make amends.

The easy acceptance of the apologies that both Garcia and Reid had given shouldn't really have come as a surprise, but he was still a bit bewildered. Garcia had cried, and still she forgave him after nothing more than a few, albeit very sincere, words. She had even given him cookies, though he couldn't help but think that that might have been for the pleasure of watching him blush as he tried to find a good way of explaining why he couldn't possibly accept them. In the end, he'd ended up accepting them, of course, but he had gotten Garcia's permission to share with the rest of the team as a peace offering.

Reid was worse. Because Hotch was supposed to protect the young man from people wanting to hurt him, to make sure that no-one took advantage of his vulnerability or made fun of him. And then he ended up hurting him himself. But Reid had forgiven him, of course, because it was in his nature just as much as it was in Garcia's and to be honest it had seemed he was more disturbed by the idea that Hotch had been spanked than that Hotch had been a jerk.

After assuring Reid that what he had said had been completely without deeper meaning than the need to lash out at something, he had given the man some cookies, which had been gleefully accepted, before taking Reid back to the bullpen, where all of the team seemed to be waiting for him; probably Rossi's doing. Because even though it was Reid and Garcia that had been immediately affected, Hotch owed an apology to the rest of the team as well and since Rossi wanted him to get back to his cabin as soon as possible this was easier than finding them one by one. Not that Hotch would have minded sticking around at the BAU a bit; as soon as he got back to Rossi's cabin he would be stuck there for at least the weekend, more or less grounded.

Fortunately, Rossi seemed prepared to go a bit easy on the "you go home as soon as you have apologized to everyone"-order, because after his sincere apology, the team, including Rossi, remained in the bullpen, joking and laughing which served as balm on Hotch's still raw emotions. Rossi was right; he might have messed up, but the team wasn't about to abandon him because of it. Nothing was out of the ordinary; Reid was sprouting statistics, Garcia and Morgan were flirting, Prentiss was her normal sarcastic self and JJ was trying to make everything run smoothly.

Suddenly, the idyllic little family meeting was interrupted, by no other than a very annoyed Erin Strauss.

"Agent Hotchner", she snapped, and Hotch straightened slightly, putting on his most polite and attentive face.

"Ma'am?" he asked and he didn't have to try to sound curious. Whereas it was well-known that Strauss didn't particularly care for Hotch's unit, she normally limited her dislike to obstructing bureaucracy, and her storming into the BAU bullpen was unheard of.

"I just got a call from assistant director Berkley", Strauss said, her voice icy. Hotch waited for her to continue, but when she didn't he politely prompted her.

"Yes?"

"He thinks", she continued, "that your team needs a vacation."

Hotch wanted to glance at Rossi, because he strongly suspected that it was the older man who had pulled some strings to get that call to happen, but he wasn't about to give Strauss any more ammunition.

"More specifically, one week of team building. In Maine. Somerset County, specifically."

Now Hotch was more or less certain this was all Rossi's doing. Leroy lived in Somerset since his retirement, and although Hotch wouldn't deny that there were some coincidences in the world this was far too much. Normally, Hotch would assure Strauss that they didn't need a vacation at all and that there must have been some sort of misunderstanding, but they really did need a vacation. Besides, if this was Rossi's doing he had no wish to challenge the man.

"That's very considerate of the AD", Hotch replied diplomatically instead, at which Strauss's lips tightened and she gave him a scathing look.

"You leave on Tuesday", she said curtly, before turning on her heel and exiting. Hotch waited until she was well away before turning to glare at Rossi with his eyebrows raised in silent question. Rossi, who had been watching Strauss's departure with a large grin, looked surprised when he caught the glare. He spread his hands in a show of innocence, but his smirk was far from it.

"Hey, don't look at me", he said. "I don't even know Berkley. Alex, on the other hand…"

Hotch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He should have guessed. Of course Leroy couldn't simply wait for their answer like normal people did; instead he had to make sure that they visited before the month was over.

"Who's "Alex?" Reid asked and as he looked at the team Hotch realized that that was the question pretty much all of them wanted to ask. He looked to Rossi, who shrugged.

"An old friend", he said, "He wants us to come and visit."

"You and Hotch?" Reid prompted, and Hotch could hear the uncertainty in his voice. Rossi rolled his eyes.

"No, all of us", he clarified and Reid opened his mouth slightly in surprise. Apparently he still had trouble believing that someone would want to meet him. He frowned.

"Why?"

Rossi hesitated for a moment, surveying the team thoughtfully. Hotch supposed that he was thinking up some sarcastic retort. It turned out, he wasn't.

"I guess he wants to get to know his family", he said, smirking, and before anyone had time to respond he turned around and left, heading for his office. It was definitely true, Hotch decided, that Rossi had a flair for the dramatic and he smiled slightly as the rest of the team directed looks of various levels of shock after the man. Rossi just didn't do sentimental expressions of affection.

"Okay…" Prentiss drawled out after a moment's silence and with this breaking the tension. Morgan chuckled and shook his head disbelievingly, JJ just shook his head and Garcia made some sort of cooing noise. Reid still looked mostly confused and after another moment of staring at the door to Rossi's office he turned to Hotch.

"Are we going?" he asked. Hotch shrugged with a smile.

"I don't really think we have a choice", he said, which only seemed to deepen the confusion on the faces of his team. Deciding to take a leaf out of his mentor's book, Hotch ignored the looks and made his own dramatic exit, heading for his office, smiling widely.

A/N2: Right now I'm working on a sequel (one-shot) to "Sharp Stick Called Truth", with more young!Hotch (because I can't resist it...), but I might get to writing a sequel to this later. :)

Thank you for reading and please review!