Chapter 12

As expected Aaron woke up the next day and was happy to find that he was 16 now, he quickly found something to wear and went to have a shower. It felt so good to know that he was nearly back to normal; he couldn't wait to get back to work and get his normal life back. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by Spencer's shouting and bashing on the door.

"Come on Hotch! Other people want to have a shower too you know!"

Reluctantly he got out of the shower and quickly got dressed before heading downstairs, the first thing he did was to make himself a coffee.

"That's soooo good" he murmured to himself as he took a sip. Aaron decided that he should make breakfast for everyone as a thank you for taking care of him. He got everything out of the fridge and started cooking just as JJ entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, breakfast will be ready soon" he greeted her

"Smells good, do you want a hand?" she asked making herself a coffee

"No thanks I can handle it, it's to say thank you to everyone for looking after me" he explained

"Yeah all those cuddles were rough" she laughed "I don't know how I survived!"

One by one the others made their way into the kitchen and helped themselves to coffee while he Aaron finished making breakfast.

"I was thinking today, because you are older now we could all go and have a few rounds of paintball?" Morgan suggested

"That sounds great!" agreed Prentiss

"So, boys versus girls?" Rossi said after they arrived and were getting ready to start

"I don't think that's fair" started Prentiss "there are more of you and Penelope hasn't had any experience shooting a gun, so I hardly think that would be a fair fight! Sorry Pen" she said to Garcia

"That's ok, I probably will suck at this but the point is just to have fun!" she smiled "I'm sure my chocolate thunder will join our team and help me out" she said smiling at Morgan

"You know what baby girl, we'll give you our best marksman to help you out, go on Aaron, mommy needs you" he laughed pushing Hotch towards the girls

"Fine Morgan, I'll join the girls team but don't cry when you lose!" he replied confidently

They all ran off and took up defensive positions around the paintball course, while they all tried to shoot each other. After a few minutes Hoth hit Morgan first, "ha-ha told you that you would lose!" he shouted. After about 20 mins it came down to a shoot out between Hotch and Spencer.

"You can take him pretty boy!" shouted Morgan. Finally Hotch shot Spencers leg while he was diving for cover.

"Hey Morgan, was that fun for you?" Hotch asked

"Laugh it up Hotch but that was only round one" Morgan replied

"Bring it on!" Aaron shouted as he ran off through the course.

After a few hours and several rounds of paintball, which the girls had won the majority of, it was time to go and have lunch.

"Losers are paying for lunch" Garcia declared

"Fine" agreed Rossi "but next time Morgan is going to the girl's team"

"Hey it's not my fault that Aaron is still the best shot" Morgan said defensively

They finally agreed to eat at a small cafe and as they sat down a young waitress approached their table and handed them all menus.

"Hi I'm Aimee, I'll be your waitress today, can I start you off with some drinks while you look over the menu?" she said happily

"I think we will all need coffee to start with" Rossi answered

"Ok I'll be right back" she smiled as she went to get the coffee. A few minutes later she returned with their drinks, "Have you decided what you would like to eat yet?"

"I'll have a burger and fries" Said Rossi

"I'll have the same" said Morgan

"I'll have the chicken salad" ordered JJ

"I'll have a toasted chicken sandwich" said Prentiss

"Oh that sounds good I'll have one of those too" said Garcia

"I'll also have a burger and fries" said Reid

"Ok and what would you like?"Aimee said smiling at Hotch

"I'll have a burger and fries too thanks" Aaron answered smiling at her. Aimee blushed and wrote down his order before walking away.

"Oh we have a young lady killer" teased Morgan leaning over to ruffle Aaron hair

"I think she's a bit young for me Morgan" he replied quietly

"Not today she not" he laughed

When Aimee returned with the food she kept looking at Hotch who was trying not to notice but ended up looking at her and smiled again before they both turned bright red and Aaron turned his attention to the food in front of him.

"What's wrong Hotch, she's cute" Prentiss teased.

When they had finished their lunch and stood up to leave, Aimee approached Hotch. "Hey my shift is over and I was wondering if you wanted to get a coffee with me?" she asked quietly

"Ummmm..." he started as he tried to think of a polite way to say no

"It's ok with me if you want to go honey" Emily said coming to stand next to him and making it impossible for him to say no

"Yeah ok" he said to Aimee "that would be nice". Aaron turned to Emily so his back was to Aimee and gave her a glare. "Mum, can I borrow some money?"

"Sure honey" she replied getting out her purse and handing some cash to him "just call me when you are done and I'll come and pick you up, ok" she said as she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Have fun!" she said as she turned her back to him and ushered the rest of the team out the door.

As soon as they were outside and out of earshot they all started laughing. "He's going to kill you, you know"JJ laughed

"I know but that was too good an opportunity to pass up" she replied laughing

Aaron turned back to Aimee as the team walked out, "they all seem nice" Aimee observed

"Yeah they're great when they are not embarrassing me" he smiled

"So are they all your family" she asked as they sat down at a smaller table

"Kind of" started Aaron "Emily is my mum and the others all work with her, the team is like a family"

"That's cool, so is your dad part of the team too?"

"No, my parents are divorced" Aaron said thinking quickly, "I live with my dad and I'm just here visiting my mum while she had a bit of time off work"

"Oh ok, so do you want to have coffee here or go somewhere else?" Aimee asked

"Here is fine", Aaron started "how long have you worked here?" he asked politely trying to think of what teenagers talked about

"Only a couple of months now, but I'm enjoying it, I like meeting new people" she smiled

"Do you have a job?" she asked Aaron

"No not at the moment, I'm just concentrating on school" he replied

"That's cool, what do you want to do when you finish school?" she inquired

'I'm not sure; I'll probably join the FBI like my mother. What about you?"

"Wow! The FBI? That would be exciting! I was thinking that I might try acting or if that doesn't work out maybe ill become a vet or a teacher" she laughed "I'm really not sure yet"

They soon finished their coffee and Aaron paid the bill and was preparing to say goodbye.

"Well this has been really nice but I should probably go..." he started

"Oh ok, if you have to go that's fine but I was thinking that we could go and see a movie or something?" she asked shyly

Aaron didn't really want to lead her on knowing that he would be back to normal soon but he also couldn't think of a believable reason to say no, "let me call my mom and make sure she doesn't mind if I'm out a bit longer" he said hoping that Emily would give him an excuse to say no.

"Prentiss" Emily answered when her phone rang

"Hi mom" Aaron said trying to sound happy

"Hi honey, do you want me to come and get you?" she said as she put the phone on speaker so they could all hear the conversation.

"well Aimee just asked if I wanted to see a movie but I just wanted to check if that's ok with you?" he started "I know that you might already have made plans for us to spend time together tonight" he hoped that Emily would pick up his subtle hint

"No honey, no plans, you go and enjoy the movie and ill pick you up after ok?" Emily said smirking into the phone

"Ok thanks mom" Aaron said trying to sound happy then he lowered his voice to a whisper, 'I hate you" was all he said and then he hung up.

Emily was laughing when she hung up the phone, "my son hates me" she said acting upset then burst out laughing

"He is really going to kill you now" JJ laughed

"Yeah maybe but he needs to have a bit of fun, Hotch never has any fun, it's all work, work, work" Emily replied.

Emily's phone rang again a few hours later, "Prentiss" she answered automatically

"Hey mom, it's me, can you please come and pick me up?" Aaron asked

"Sure honey I'll be there soon" she replied. "Can I come with you to pick him up?"Asked Garcia as Emily hung up the phone

"Sure, let's go" said Emily.

As Emily pulled up outside the movie theatre she spotted Aaron and Aimee waiting for them.

"Do you need a ride home too Aimee?" she asked

"Yeah that would be great thank you" Aimee answered as she and Hotch climbed into the car.

"I'm Aaron's mom, Emily" Prentiss said introducing herself

"And I'm his aunt Penelope" said Garcia brightly

When they pulled up at Aimee's house the ladies said their goodbyes, "it was nice to meet you Aimee, Aaron walk her to the door"

"Ok I'll be right back" he said getting out of the car

The girls watched as they walked up to the door and said goodbye. Aimee leaned in like she was going to kiss him but Aaron got in first and kissed her on the cheek then quickly headed back to the car.

"awww, so cute!" Garcia exclaimed "such a gentleman" Prentiss laughed

"I hate you both!" Aaron aaron said glaring at them. They just laughed as Aaron pouted in the backseat silently the rest of the way.

As soon as they walked into the mansion they all started asking questions,

"How did the date go champ?" Morgan laughed

"Did you have fun?" asked JJ

"Did she kiss you?" teased Rossi

"It was fine" Aaron said as he glared at them all but the team just laughed.

"She tried to kiss him when he walked her to the door but she only got a peck on the cheek" laughed Garcia

"You do realise that I hate you all and in a few days we will be back at work, and I'll be back in charge? Say hello to working every weekend until further notice!" and with that he marched out of the room to the sound of his teams laughter and and went upstairs and slammed his bedroom door shut behind him.

"It was so cute" Garcia started "it will be worth the extra work he gives us"

Aaron stayed in his room that night, he didn't feel like any more teasing from the team, he couldn't believe that they had forced him to go on that date, poor Aimee would probably be expecting him to call her or add her on facebook or something.

Just as Aaron was starting to fall asleep he heard a faint knock on the door, "come in" he said sleepily

"Did I wake you?" Reid asked as he walked in

"No" Aaron answered

"Oh good, I just wanted to make sure that you were ok? And to see if you were hungry or needed anything?" Said Reid

"No I'm fine thanks" Aaron replied rolling over with his back to Spencer.

"Ok then, goodnight" Reid said as he headed back out the door.

"Good night Reid, thanks for checking up on me" Hotch yawned as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.