Dinner For Two

XXX

Kelsi smiled as she looked up at her home. The front door opened to reveal Jack coming out.

"Kelsi!" He smiled as he jogged down the sidewalk.

"Jack!" Kelsi smiled as he grabbed her in a hug and spun her around in a circle.

"Hey squirt!" Jack returned the smile as he pulled away from the hug. "Hi Emily."

Emily smiled. "Hi Jack." She hugged him. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Jack nodded.

The front door opened to reveal Courtney running out, Sammy right behind her and Hotch following.

"Mom! Kelsi!" Courtney smiled.

Emily's eyes widened when she saw the cast on her daughter's arm. "Oh my God, Courtney!" She gently ran her hand along the cast. "What happened? Are you ok honey?"

Courtney nodded. "Yeah Mom. I'm alright."

"She fell off a horse and got a bump on her head." Hotch answered as he approached. "But she's fine … hi Emily."

Emily straightened. "Aaron." She greeted. "How … how are you?" He looked good. No, he looked great.

"I'm fine." Hotch nodded. "How about you?"

Emily nodded. "I'm fine too."

The twins looked at each other, this wasn't apart of the plan, but hey the parents are now face-to-face.

Hotch turned to the kids. "Jack. Go take your sisters inside. Emily, and I need to talk for a awhile."

Jack smirked. "Ok."

"Have fun."

"Take your time."

With that the twins, and Jack turned and walked back to the house, disappearing inside.

"Let me help you with your bags." Hotch offered.

"Actually, believe it or not, I still live here in Quantico." Emily replied.

Hotch raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah." She petted Sammy's head.

"Come in." Hotch gestured to the house.

XXX

The next day the twins, Jack, Ashley, and Megan were in the park. Spying on Hotch, and Emily as the two talked.

"We are so going to get caught." Ashley said.

"And if my Dad finds out I took his camera without permission I'll be so grounded." Megan added as she fumbled with the device that was in her hands.

"Will you two be quiet?" Kelsi huffed. "We can't hear anything."

"We do have to get closer." Megan said. "It's the only way for us to hear anything."

None of the kids noticed Rossi coming up behind them.

"Hear what?"

The five kids jumped startled and spun around to see Rossi. "It was Jack's idea!" Megan accused as she quickly hid her Dad's camera behind her back.

"Now you five wouldn't be ease-dropping, would you?" Rossi asked.

"Ease-dropping?" The twins asked in union.

"Us?" Megan asked.

Rossi folded his arms over his chest. "Just what are you five up too?" He asked in his most business tone.

The kids looked at each other.

"Whatever is that you're up too." Rossi continued. "Better count me in."

"You'll get into bigger trouble then us." Jack said.

Rossi shrugged. "I'll manage."

"Maybe you can help." Kelsi replied getting an idea.

Rossi grinned. "What do have planned?"

XXX

"Absolutely not." Emily said as Jennifer (JJ) Jareau-Reid held up a beautiful sparkly red dress.

"Oh come on." Penelope smiled as she fingered the dress. "You'll look great in it!"

"But I can't!" Emily protested. "I mean look at the price!"

Both Penelope, and JJ looked at the price tag. "So what?" Penelope asked. "Charge it."

Emily looked at the dress with a longing look. "It is beautiful."

"Try it on." Penelope encouraged with a smile. "Then if you like it charge it."

XXX

"Kel. I've had enough surprises for the summer." Hotch said. "Can you please tell me what we're doing in front of this restaurant?"

"Trust me Dad." Kelsi smiled as the two stood in front of a very nice restaurant. "You're going to love it."

"Sure, sure." Hotch grumbled, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket.

Courtney looked at her watch as she chewed on her lower lip.

Just then a taxi pulled up and the back door opened to reveal Courtney climbing out. "We're here!" She announced with a beaming smile.

Hotch watched as Emily climbed out of the taxi. "Emily … wow … you look wonderful."

Emily felt herself blush with almost a shy smile. "Thanks. So do you."

Jack came out of the building. "Everything's set." He smiled.

"Set?" Hotch asked surprised looking at his son. "What's 'set'?"

"The dinner." Jack quickly said. "The table is waiting."

Hotch nodded. "Ok. Well let's go."

"Oh, um there's one more surprise." Courtney said. "We … as in the three of us kids … aren't joining you."

Emily raised her eyebrows. "Your not?"

"Nope." Kelsi shook her head.

"Bye!" The twins said in union as they grabbed Jack ran off, the three disappearing around the corner.

XXX

Once Hotch, and Emily were at their table. Hotch was holding his glass of wine "Here's to."-

"Our daughters." Emily interrupted, holding up her own glass.

"Right." Hotch said, although that hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind. "To our daughters."

Their glasses clicked with a chime.

"You know." Emily began after taking a sip of her wine. "I've always seen you in Courtney. The way she always putting work, and after school activates."

"Really?" Hotch asked. "It's the same with Kelsi."

They were quiet for awhile until Hotch broke it. "They turned out great though, huh?"

Emily smiled. "Yeah … we've been lucky."

"What do you think we should do?" Hotch asked. "Now that they met we can't keep them apart."

"Well I could keep them for a year … and you can keep them for another year." Emily tried to answer.

"Em, they can't go to two different school's their whole lives." Hotch told her. "That's why we've came up with the solution that we've had."

Emily felt guilty as she turned her head away to look out the big window, before looking back at Hotch. "Really? I thought it was because we decided never to see each other again." She said in a quiet voice.

Hotch bit his lower lip. "Not me Em."

The steward returned with two bowls of soup and placed them in front of Emily, and Hotch. Hotch looked down at his place setting. "So, how come you never got married again?" He looked back up at her. "I always figured by now you'd be remarried with a new family."

Emily chewed on her lower lip and looked down. "When Courtney was six, I tried. But it always ended up with a one date … as soon as they'd find out about Courtney … they'd run."

Hotch looked down. "I'm sorry."

Emily shook her head. "Don't be." She looked at him. "I'm not … what about you?"

"The job demands to much." Hotch answered, he paused and it was once again quiet between them. "Em?"

"Yes?"

"I may never be alone with you again … what happened between us?" Hotch asked.

Emily tried to blink back her tears. "It was the job … I tried to hold it together with the job … but when Strauss accused me of being a mole again, and when she tried to get the team split again … I just lost it … I had to leave cause Strauss was pushing and pushing … So I left my badge and gun with Morgan and left."

"You left me too." Hotch said quietly.

"I couldn't stay any longer." Emily said softly, her voice broken. "So I packed my things, packed up Courtney. And left." A tear escaped. "You never came after me."

There was a long pause. "I didn't know I was supposed to." Hotch's expression was pained.

Emily whipped her tear away. "It … it really doesn't matter now. The past is dead and gone." She looked up at him. "Let's just put on a good face for the girls and get this show on the road."

Hotch looked crestfallen. "Yeah … let's get this show on the road."