Chapter 13 –

Garcia squealed in delight as JJ walked into the room carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and three empty glasses in the other.

"Oh yes come on ladies, the night has finally begun!"

"Garcia you do realise that it has just gone 6 o'clock?"

Emily looked at her friend but quickly saw that she was fighting a losing battle.

"And your point is Emily Elizabeth Prentiss? We've finished work for the day and the kids are safely stowed away, Kate and Henry aren't here are they?"

Emily laughed as JJ opened the bottle of wine and poured three large glasses.

"Don't worry Pen you're safe on that one, we dropped them both off at Hotch's earlier and we don't have to pick them up until 10am tomorrow."

Emily smiled as she looked at JJ as she finished speaking, it was true that they both needed this time away from Kate and Henry and to spend it together after the three women had spent so long apart.

"Ok ladies consider it my mission tonight to make sure that we have as much fun as possible, drink as much wine as humanly possible and..."

"Oh no more Garcia, please break us back in gently!"

JJ laughed as she handed her friend the glass of wine and looked over at Emily who nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes Garcia it's been a long time for JJ and I."

"Even more of a reason to go over the top, come on the men will be drooling over us tonight and don't even attempt to tell me that that won't be appealing to either of you!"

Garcia wriggled her eyebrows as JJ looked at Emily and shook her head, in contrast Emily took a long sip of wine and grinned at Garcia.

"It's true Jen, we've been away for too long, come on let's just go out and enjoy ourselves, forget about everything else ok?"

Garcia clapped her hands and jumped up and down as JJ shook her head once again before she emptied the glass of wine and slammed the empty glass onto the table.

"Ok I'm in, come on let's leave."

"Excellent ladies and I've got the perfect taxi driver waiting outside for us."

JJ looked at Garcia and then Emily before the two of them answered simultaneously.

"Morgan!"

"Yes, now come on we don't want to waste any more time!"

Garcia grabbed a hold of Emily and JJ and giggling the three of them left the house and walked towards the large pickup truck that was waiting with Morgan in the driving seat.

Hotch smiled as he sat down on the couch next to Kate, the room was as dark as they could make it as Henry and Jack sat on the floor with a large bowl of popcorn in between them as the film played loudly on the television, Kate brought her head up from her laptop as she felt Hotch sit down.

"Hey Kate, did you not want to watch the film?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders as Jack turned around and glared at them, Hotch quickly mouthed a 'sorry' to him before he grinned at Kate and whispered to her.

"I didn't realise Ice Age would be such a draw for them!"

"They're boys and it's got prehistoric creatures in it, of course it's their favourite film."

Kate whispered back as she moved her laptop, unintentionally revealing the screen to Hotch as he looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought that you were meant to be relaxing Kate, not checking out the local schools."

"I know but I thought it would help mom out, plus at least this way I can ensure that I don't end up anywhere too horrendous."

"Well you do make a good point, here show me and maybe if we both find a good one we can persuade Emily?"

"Thanks Aaron."

Kate smiled as she moved closer and handed the laptop to him, the two of them looking quietly at the school's website while Henry and Jack stayed engrossed in their movie.

Morgan laughed to himself as he stepped out of the pickup truck, it wasn't the first time that he had acted as a driver for the three women and he doubted that it would be the last, before he took JJ's keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door, making sure that it was going to stay open before he released the women from the back of his truck.

"Hey Garcia will you be careful with those hands!"

Morgan couldn't help but laugh as Garcia groped him unashamedly until finally he sat her down on the couch and prepared to unload the other two.

"Now just stay there Garcia I'll be back in a minute and keep your hands where I can see them please."

Morgan smiled as Garcia waved her hands at him before she collapsed on the couch, quickly he turned around and started to walk back out of the house but his hand quickly flew to his head as he saw Emily and JJ arm in arm walking kind of up the path.

"Hang on a minute ladies!"

Morgan ran towards the two of them as they veered off the path, heading straight towards the small soccer goal, luckily for Emily and JJ Morgan reached them just in time.

"Whoa there, careful I do not want a trip to the hospital at this time of night and then having to explain to Hotch how you broke your ankles!"

"We're ok Morgan stop worrying!"

"Hey Prentiss you know that I'm never going to stop worrying about you!"

Morgan shook his head as he took a hold of Emily's arm and gently steered her and JJ back onto the path and towards the house, depositing them on the couch next to Garcia who was already snoring loudly.

"Right then my work is done for the evening, have a good night's sleep and I'll see you later!"

Morgan laughed as JJ and Emily just waved at him before he made sure that the door was securely shut, only then did he think about driving off.

"Well for someone who was meant to be showing us a good time Garcia certainly knows how to finish things!"

JJ prodded her friend but the only response she elicited was an even louder grunt from the sleeping woman.

"I thought that we were the ones that were meant to fall asleep first especially considering how long it has been since either of us has been out!"

"Yeah well I may have changed the drinks orders a few times!"

"JJ that is so mean of you and so clever! Thanks!"

Emily and JJ both laughed before they stood up and nodded at each other, walking up the stairs and heading off to their respective bedrooms, knowing that in the morning Kate and Henry would return.

Kate sat on the couch and stared out of the window, Henry and Jack had long since gone to bed, sharing a bedroom but they had finally fallen asleep, Hotch had gone up a couple of hours earlier but Kate had volunteered to sleep on the couch, knowing full well that sleep in the strange house would not come easy to her. Kate did not want the shame of waking Jack or Hotch up with her nightmares and had decided early in the evening that the safest course of action would be to stay awake and watch the night sky, she was used to not getting much sleep and it was certainly preferable to being thrown back into the cabin with Mr Ainslie.