That night when Aaron arrived at Jessica's he had taken off his jacket and tie, undone his top shirt button and had sat down on the couch, intending to only sit for 5 minutes, only to fall asleep and had ended up staying that night at Jessica's house again. For the next 4 weeks, he never actually slept at his apartment once. Either he had been away on a case or had spent the night at Jessica's house. He had managed to pop by there to pick up post, pay bills, collect clothes and to make sure the place stayed clean enough but something had always happened to stop him staying the night. After a couple of bad cases, he had managed to arrange for J.J to have Jack for a night whilst he and Jessica had sex to relieve his stress and tensions.
It was only after 4 weeks had passed and he realised he and Jack had not stayed at his apartment once in over a month, that he decided to take action and arrange things for moving. Not telling Jack due to wanting to surprise him, He took a personal day and, with help from Jessica, Morgan and Dave, had managed to move all his and Jack's clothes, toys, DVD's and books over to Jessica's house, putting most boxes in her garage where she said he could store them until he unpacked. He'd had Morgan help him move his small desk over to Jessica's house and Rossi had come around later, having hired a moving van, and arranged to move all the furniture he didn't want that belonged to him over to his mansion, writing Aaron a big check afterwards. Just as he was going around the empty apartment checking he had left nothing behind, J.J and Blake turned up unexpectedly with cleaning supplies and a hoover and had given the whole place a thorough cleaning to ensure Hotch could get his full deposit back. They had only just finished when his landlord arrived to arrange transfer of the apartment out of Hotch's name. Whist Hotch signed a few papers, the landlord did a quick check to find everything in order and the place looking clean and empty and was happy to write Hotch a check for his full deposit. Hotch handed him the apartment key, done one more quick check round and left to drive back to Jessica's house, briefly stopping by a bank to pay in Dave's and the landlord's checks.
Once back at Jessica's house, he and Jess and Dave and Morgan had all unpacked the boxes and put everything away in bedrooms or bookshelves or cupboards. By the time 3pm came Aaron was busy unpacking.
"Hey Hotch do you want me to go pick up Jack for you man?"
"Sure. Text me when your close as I want to be waiting by the door to welcome and surprise him."
"Will do."
Morgan left to go pick up Jack whilst the 3 finished unpacking. At just before 4, Morgan had texted Hotch to say they were 5 minutes away. Aaron stood by the front door with Jessica and Dave standing behind him. They heard a key in the lock and the door opened. Jack saw his dad, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Dave standing there.
"Hi dad, what are you doing here before me?"
"We got a surprise for you Jackā¦" his aunt smiled at him.
Aaron held his arms open, smiled as big as he could and shouted "WELCOME HOME BUDDY!"
"Home? You mean we're living here forever?"
"Yes. I moved our stuff and gave up the apartment today. What do you think?"
"I think its AWESOME! Thanks dad! I love you!" Jack ran to his dad who bent down and gave his son the biggest hug he could.
"I love you too buddy!"
From that day on Aaron knew that he and Jack would be so much happier and settled and it was all due to one special sister in law! Hotch smiled!
