When Nothing Goes as Planned

Week 11

Emily laid her bag under her desk and was surprised to see that she had arrived before Hotch even though she had to stop and pick something up for Garcia as she had promised her she would. Emily looked up at Hotch's office again to make sure that he really was not there, but like the first time she looked she was not able to see him. His desk chair was empty and the lamp was not lit. He could be sitting on his couch, but Emily could not come up with any reason for why he would do that.

Emily did not know if she should be worried that he was not there. Hotch was not the type of person who would miss work without a good reason. She sighed and looked around the quiet bullpen. Morgan and Reid are not at their desks, which meant they were still doing the briefing. Emily wondered if that was where Hotch was, but she did not remember seeing his car in the parking garage either. Emily laid her phone in her pocket and walked up the stairs to the conference room.

/

Across town Hotch was parking his car in the small parking lot in front of Jack's school. He could see children playing outside on the monkey bars, but he could not see Jack there. Hotch got out of the car and looked from one side of the playground to the other. For a moment he thought he had found Jack, but the boy on the steps of the slide, wearing the same shirt as Jack, was not his son. "Why do all the kids have to wear the same things?" Hotch mumbled to himself and made a note to go buy Jack some new clothes.

If Jack was not on the playground, then maybe he had been allowed to stay in the classroom during the break, so Hotch made his way through the groups of playing children and walked into the school. As he walked down the hall Hotch saw that Jack's jacket was still on its hanger and that his shoes stood neatly under the bench. Hotch wondered way Jack was not outside playing like the others, seeing that he loved to be outside. Well at least he did at home. Hotch opened the door to the classroom and saw Jack sitting next to Miss Locke by her desk. Before Hotch even had a chance to do or say anything, Jack was out of his seat and had his arms around Hotch's legs pressing his face against Hotch's tights.

"Did you see the baby? When can I see the baby? Why couldn't I see the baby today too?" Jack asked looking up at his dad.

Before Hotch got a chance to answer, Emilia Locke asked, "Who's having a baby?"

"Daddy and Miss Emily," Jack said excited.

Hotch could see the look of total surprise on her face. He guessed that that was not what she had expected to hear. Maybe she had thought that Jessica was the one who was pregnant. Hotch felt bad that he had not thought to tell Emilia about the baby. She had been such a big help to him with Jack after Haley had died and she had been one of the only people Jack had been willing to talk to about what had happened. So not telling her about this was a big mistake, but she just smiled and fished a couple of piece of papers out of the top desk drawer. "I guess that explains why Jack has been drawing a pregnant woman with dark hair for the last couple of weeks."

Jack let go of Hotch's legs and showed one of them to him. He pointed to the woman in his drawing. "That's Emily," he said with a smile and then pointed to her stomach, "and in there is the baby. I'm going to be the baby's big brother."

"That's right," Hotch said and knelt down, so he was on Jack's level. "Do you want to see something?"

Jack nodded. "What is it?"

"This," Hotch said holding out the sonogram picture for Jack to see.

Jack looked confused at it. "Why are you showing me a picture of two peanuts?"

"Those aren't peanuts," Hotch said with a smile, "that is what the babies in Emily tummy looks like right now."

"So there are two peanuts?"

"Not peanuts, babies."

"But the babies look like-" Jack stopped mid-sentence. "Am I going to be a big brother to two babies?"

"Yes you are."

Jack sighed. "Then my drawings aren't right." He leant over the desk and shoveled through the pile papers and then handed his dad two. "Look!" He pointed to the drawings. "Now these aren't right!"

Hotch looked over the figures on the drawings. One was of him, Emily, Jack and a little girl in a pink dress. The other was the same, but instead of a little girl there was a little boy. Hotch smiled. Jack had drawn what his family was going to look like. He gave the pictures back to Jack. "You can just draw another baby on both of them. There is lots of room for one more."

Jack shrugged his shoulders and gathered all of his drawings. "Can you give them to Emily?"

Hotch nodded and took them from Jack's hands. "Do you want this?" he asked holding the sonogram picture out for Jack to take, hoping to bring a smile back on his face.

Jack nodded and when he looked down at the picture of that was going to be his little brothers, sisters or both he smiled. "I'll show it to my friends. I think they'll like the peanuts."

Hotch shock his head and did not even bother with commenting on the fact that Jack was still calling the fetus' peanuts. "I have to get back to work now, buddy," he said ruffling Jack's hair.

"Okay daddy." Jack waved as he walked away and without even looking back at Hotch he sat down by his little desk with his eyes fixed on the sonogram picture.

/

The first thing that had been said when Emily sat a foot in the conference room was that all baby talk had to wait till after the briefing. Emily could see how hard it was for Garcia not to say anything and for JJ to concentrate on the cases at hand. No one was asking for their help at the moment, only a few consults were requested, making the briefing end shortly after Emily had entered the room.

Seeing that Garcia was just about to burst, Rossi said, "You can ask now."

"Did you get a sonogram picture of the BAU baby for me too to put in my office?" Garcia asked Emily hopefully.

"Of course I did," Emily said with a big grin. "It's in my bag under my desk."

"Then let's go get it," Garcia said sounding as excited as a little child on Christmas morning and she more or less ran out of the conference room. They others followed quickly after her and as they walked out the door Emily hooked arms with JJ. "I got one for you too," she said and saw a big smile appear on the blonde woman's face. "You thought I was only getting one for Garcia? You're going to be an aunt too." Emily had almost said 'the babies' aunt', but she wanted the fact that she was having twins to be a surprise.

As JJ and Emily walked down the stairs, Hotch walked out of the elevator carrying his bag in one hand and Jack's drawings for Emily in the other. Emily waved at him with a big smile on her face and then laid a finger over her lips and a hand on her stomach, telling him not to say anything about the babies. He nodded and smiled back at her, but then he froze and all color disappeared from his face as he watched Emily tumble down the stairs.

JJ had tried to reach out and catch her, but it had all happened too suddenly and in a matter of five seconds. Emily went from standing at the top of the stairs to be at the button flat on her back lying too still. Hotch let go of the things in his hands and ran to her side as quickly as he could. "Emily? Emily, open your eyes," Hotch begged as he sat there at her side surrounded by Jack's drawings of the family he was going to have.