Chapter 14
Emily rustled a bit, slightly confused at the noise she heard. She had slept in enough hotel rooms to get used to different sounds in different settings. But this one was completely new. It didn't frighten her. It just merely intrigued her brain, her head pounding a bit from last night's festivities.
She propped one eye open to see daylight streaming into the great room, but was still hearing the sound, which then abruptly ended. Yet her trained profiler ears heard a door opening in the back of the house to the garage. On one of their trips home from cases, when the entire team talked together, trying to relax, Hotch had revealed that Jack was in charge of Beans or both the dogs with Mudg around on the weekends.
Emily figured out the sound and fell back to sleep with a smile.
After letting the dogs back in, feeding them, and giving them fresh water, Jack smiled. Uncle Dave stayed last night. The team must have had a good time he smiled. He toyed with the idea of crawling into bed with Uncle Dave, but in the end, Jack headed to his favorite spot on Saturday mornings.
He quietly slipped past Emily, sleeping soundly and peacefully on the couch in front of the fireplace and smiled.
Entering into his parent's bedroom, he went to Cait's side of the bed. Before he climbed in he checked her closely. She was wearing her tank top. Mom and dad didn't sleep with their p.j.'s off he smiled to himself. He pulled the covers back and climbed in, curling up next to Cait. She wrapped her arm around him, pulling him tight to her. Aaron snored away blissfully.
"Mom," he whispered, "how do you sleep with that?"
She kissed the back of his head. "You get used to it." She pulled him tighter to her. She had admitted to Aaron, as her sounding board, just like she was for him, that the Sandy Hook massacre had affected her more than she thought. They had a first grader. As she shivered in bed that night Aaron had held her close.
To Cait, following that tragedy, this time with Jack was a time to be treasured. She felt him quietly fall back to sleep wrapped in her arms and did so herself.
Emily awoke again but not to a sound. It was a smell. Coffee. She smiled and looked around. Mudg was making his stealthy path to Cait and Hotch's bedroom. She smiled again, thinking Rossi is up.
She relaxed and started to conk out again, waking to see Rossi throwing logs into the fireplace from the wood box. He was dressed in cotton lounge pants, socks and a Bureau sweatshirt. She looked at him. "You don't have to do that for me," she whispered.
Rossi looked at her. "Don't flatter yourself Princess. I'm feeling three weeks of kids getting killed," he whispered back. "And too much scotch last night. This is for me." He added the newspaper, a few more logs and got the fire going. He moved to the recliner and pulled off his sweatshirt revealing his Italian made cotton V-neck white undershirt, picked up the blanket he had dropped on the floor by the recliner, and stretched out, throwing the blanket over himself. Emily fell back to sleep.
Emily nearly jumped off the couch at the next sound that woke her. It was a Beans happy bark. That was followed by Cait and Aaron both shushing her as Jack continued to laugh uncontrollably. Emily smiled to herself. Sounds like a tickle fest to me. Dave, pushing the recliner into a sitting position, smiled at her.
He threw the blanket off and stood up. "Buy you a cup of coffee?" Emily pushed her comforter off and swung her legs to sit up on the couch, dressed in the same kind of pants and barefoot, with a long-sleeved t-shirt. It read I love my Honey Badger. Dave smiled as he pulled on his sweatshirt. It had to be a gift from Garcia.
She shook her head at him. "I've got to get the fuzz out of my mouth before I have a cup of coffee."
Dave pointed at her. "Sounds like a good plan. You can use the bath in the kitchen. I'll go bother the Hotchner's and check on Aaron's headache," he smiled. Emily reached for her go bag, first pulling out a pair of socks and then pulled out her toilet kit as Dave headed for the den, taking his blanket with him.
A minute later, Dave waltzed into Cait and Aaron's bedroom with Jack, lying between his parents still giggling. Beans was standing on their bed, while his trusty hunting partner was still prone but his strong tail happily beating on the mattress top. Seeing Dave, Mudg rose and jumped off. Dave gave him a dose of loves and looked at Hotch, lying in bed with his wife and son. The sight warmed his heart.
"How's the headache?" He smiled.
Aaron smiled back. "Not as bad as yours." Cait laughed as Dave glared at Aaron. Her husband laughed as well.
"Emily up," Cait asked.
"Yeah; we both concluded the coffee would taste better if we got the fuzz out of our mouths. She's using the one in the kitchen." He pointed to their bathroom. "I'm using yours." He kept walking.
Cait looked at Aaron and shook her head. "Maybe that move of him staying here for his recovery was a bad idea. He's just completely making himself at home; including using our bathroom."
Jack looked at her. "Mom, you had to take care of Uncle Dave," he said with his sad puppy dog eyes.
Aaron smiled. "Yeah, mom you did." Cait smiled and kissed Jack.
Jack looked at Aaron. "You know what dad?" Aaron looked at him. "You could get the fuzzies, whatever they are, out of your mouth too." Cait roared. Aaron rolled out of bed to join Dave.
Dave looked at Hotch in his boxers with a question as he walked into the bathroom. "My youngest son just told me to get rid of my fuzzies," he smiled. Dave finished up and smiled at Hotch in the mirror as he wiped his face with the hand towel Cait had by the sink he was using.
He walked out of the bathroom and approached the bed. "Give me the chappino Cait. You two can get some clothes on." Jack raced out of the covers, stepped over Cait with his arms open to Dave. He pulled his bud off the bed and cradled him in his arms. "Take your time. I'll get Jack his juice." Cait smiled at him as Dave walked out the bedroom.
Dave walked into the kitchen with Emily pouring herself a cup of coffee. He set his toilet kit down on the lunch counter and let Jack slide out of his arms to his feet. The kid was just getting too big for him to set down without hurting his back. Emily smiled at the sight and poured Dave a cup of coffee.
"Apple or orange juice chappino?"
"Apple please Uncle Dave. Hi Emily! You stayed too?" he smiled.
"Good morning Jack. Yes I did. Your mom and dad really take care of us team members" she smiled back.
"They're good like that," Jack observed, crawling up into Dave's chair at the lunch counter. Dave looked at Emily with a smile. Jack knew he would be sharing the chair with Uncle Dave. He wanted that, missing him almost as much as his dad the past three weeks. Dave and Emily shared a look, a head shake and a smile.
Dave moved to the cabinet with the glasses, pulled one out and set it on the kitchen island. He pulled the industrial size container of apple juice out of the fridge that Cait had in there, poured some for Jack, set the container down on the island and crossed to the lunch counter to give the glass to him. "Oohhh, I could use some of that action," Emily smiled.
Dave pointed to the cabinet he has just used. "Grab two," he smiled. Emily, taking a sip of her coffee, grabbed two and set them on the island. Dave poured as Cait came into the kitchen, making it three for three in the legs garment dressing, while wearing a Georgetown sweatshirt. She also sported socks.
She smiled at Emily. "Good morning. How did you sleep?"
Emily shook her head. "Like a log. Someone firing up the fireplace sure helped with the power nap sleep this morning." Cait smiled, as Emily grabbed coffee mugs and poured two more for Cait and Aaron. Cait reached into the fridge and added her usual dose of half and half to her coffee.
"Speaking of…" Dave said, taking a drink of his juice, setting it next to Jack and moved into the great room. He started to add logs to the fireplace when Aaron, in his own lounge pants, socks and sweatshirt that proclaimed his allegiance to the older boys' high school, helped Dave. They re-built a huge fire.
Cait looked at Jack. "Can you please do something for me?"
Jack smiled. "Anything mom."
"Go upstairs to your room and get some socks on. Those cold feet of yours when you crawled in bed with me nearly sent me into orbit. Again."
Jack gave Cait his devilish smile. "That's how I get you awake mom," he said, as he polished off his juice and raced for the steps. Cait just shook her head as Emily laughed. Dave smiled at Aaron as they both headed to kitchen.
Emily looked at Cait. "I know you are going to cook breakfast for us. Is there anything I can do, while not stepping on your toes in your kingdom of your kitchen?"
Cait smiled. "Sure. There's a half of cantaloupe in the fridge in a zip lock bag. Cut it in half and give it to the big dog." Emily looked at her. "We're all enjoying the greatness of Texas pink grapefruit around here. Mike was selling boxes as a fund raiser for school. Plus, we all just love them." Hotch getting the hint, headed for the garage fridge to get some more of the delicious delight. "But Dave can't have grapefruit with him taking Lipitor."
Emily smiled at her. "I read the article online." Cait reached into a cabinet and handed Emily a small plate as she pulled the cantaloupe out of the fridge. She looked at Cait and then around. Jack still wasn't back downstairs. "Cait this is the biggest ass fridge I've seen in my life."
Cait smiled. "We've got three growing boys in this home; we need it." Emily slid the cantaloupe to Dave as Jack slid into his lap. She took the spoon Cait handed her and gave it to Dave. She grabbed the quarter left, put it back in the plastic bag and stuck it back into the fridge.
He grabbed the spoon and looked at Jack. 'Wanna bite?" Aaron came in with two of grapefruits. Cait took them and started cutting them in half. Aaron grabbed four more small plates from the cupboard as Cait handed Emily the specifically made knife to cut them. Emily smiled and went to work.
Jack shook his head. "Yuck Uncle Dave," Jack said, turning up his nose. "You know I don't eat that." Dave smiled at the three of them in the kitchen, rubbing Jack's blonde hair, taking a bite.
"OK Jackster, you were first up. What's for breakfast?" Cait asked. Aaron took the first grapefruit half that Emily had cut, sprinkled some sugar on the top and handed it to his youngest son with a spoon.
Jack took a bite of the delicious fruit in front of him and pondered. He looked at Dave. "French toast and sausages?"
Dave smiled, kissing Jack's head as he handed Aaron the plate with the rind of his fully consumed cantaloupe. "Sounds good to me," he smiled. Aaron took it; put the rind in the garbage bin in the center island and the plate in the dishwasher.
Jack beamed at Cait. "That's the plan mom."
Emily looked at Cait. "You cook like this every Saturday morning? Just not at the cabin?"
Cait smiled at Emily as Aaron reached into the fridge. "I'm on sausage patrol mom." Cait just shook her head at Emily with a smile.
"Princess," Dave said. "Cait is about to start cooking. Get you b-u-t-t," he spelled, with Jack in his lap, "here," he said, pointing to the chair next to him. Emily gave him a look of question. Dave shook his head. "Get the h-e-double l out of Cait's kitchen." Aaron just smiled at her as Cait reached for her cookbook.
Looking at Hotch, grabbing a frying pan from the drawer under the range top to get the sausages going, Emily said, "Can I at least get a coffee refill?"
Aaron smiled. "Do it all around." Emily happily smiled refilling all the cups, even reaching into the fridge to get Cait the half and half carton. Cait added it to her mug and thanked Emily with a smile and then added a bit of the Hotchner glare.
"I'm going, I'm going," Emily said. She grabbed her plate of grapefruit and headed to sit next to Dave.
Emily asked Jack how school was going and he began to regal them all with tales of Kenyon, the class clown and recess walking fact machine. Dave and Emily bit back their laughter when Jack repeated the story about Kenyon catching his parents making out. A seven year's old take on the situation was quite interesting to say the least.
As Jack was about to start with another Kenyon adventure, Morgan plopped down in the chair next to Emily, unceremoniously put this elbows on the counter, his head in his hands and moaned.
Emily looked at Jack. "Excuse me Jack, but I've got to talk to Derek for a second." Jack nodded his head. She smiled and looked at Morgan. A memory of a Sunday morning at Dave's cabin a couple years back fueled her wicked smile. "I've got my service weapon in my car," she snarked.
Dave smiled broadly at the memory, while Cait and Aaron shared a smile with each other. It took Morgan a few seconds to process what Prentiss was saying. He lifted his head a bit and looked at her. "I know; paybacks are a ….." He got cut off by Cait, Hotch, Dave and Emily.
"What?"
"Um, Jack is sitting right next to me," Emily pointed.
Dave looked at Morgan. "Little trouble seeing this morning?" he said with a devilish smile.
Jack looked him. "Uncle Dave, what's wrong with Derek?"
Dave smiled. "Jack, you really don't want to know how bad Derek's fuzzies are." The group roared.
Derek put his head back in his hands and moaned again.
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A/N1: The industrial size container of apple juice is just my terminology of what you buy at the big warehouse grocery stores (food markets to the international group). You can't buy anything small there. But for a family the Hotchner's size, especially with three boys, you can save a lot of money buying at those stores.
A/N2: While I have given my Dutch Delight some teasing, I'm so glad she gave me this idea to add to this story. So she gets the first end of story shout out! Thank you HGRHfan35 with luvs and hugs.
As always, the next one is to the CM Rev gang, especially my brilliant, wicked and totally saucy Hotch sisters. A shout to all my Twitter pals for their love and support when I'm pulling my hair out writing. And last, but certainly not least, the OK educator and hxchick!
And just an FYI: my writing queue is huge. You'll be hearing from me soon.
*whispers* Check out Thn0715's daily one-shot series 365. It's amazing and awesome! And my girl has her mojo back!
*Knightly bow to Jedi Master* You rock woman; in more ways than one. ;)