The Little Things – 21

Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews :]

I noticed I get more reviews when the chapter is more than 2,000 words, the past 3 have been less than that and I'm sorry, but guess what? This is more than 2,000 words:]

I am SO sorry it took so long to update! I didn't even realize, weekends are hectic and I usually can't post :/

I hope you like it!

PLEASE review!

"We gotta go, we gotta go." Emily rushed Avery out of the house the next morning. "If I miss my flight I'm gonna be in huge trouble."

"Mom..." Avery said as she looked at Emily, with a bag in her hand and a back pack on. "It's 10. Your flight's at 1." she said, Emily straightened up.

"Well I said I'd drop you off around 10:30... and I like to get there early..." Emily told her. "Whatever, It doesn't matter. Let's go." Emily said as she put her bag over her shoulder and walked over to the door, arming her security system before opening the door. "You locked your window, right sweetie?"

"Yes, mom, come on!" Avery said as she walked into the hall, Emily rolled her eyes and followed her out the door, locking it before walking out to the car.

"So you have to go to the bathroom?"Emily asked as she looked in the rear-view mirror as she pulled onto Hotch's road, Avery was moving around in her seat, she looked at her and laughed.

"No! I'm excited!" she said as she sat back regularly and looked at Emily. "Is Jack nice?" she asked. "I'm sure he is," she continued before Emily could answer. "My dad seems really nice and I'm sure Jack is too, then..."

"You're right," Emily told her. "Jack is very nice." she said, Avery smiled as Emily pulled into the driveway, punching in the code for the gate he gave her the combination the other day so she wouldn't have to call him.

"Wow, this place is awesome." Avery said with a smile and a nod as Emily stopped the car. Avery un buckled her seat belt and jumped out of the car after opening the door.

"Grab your stuff." Emily reminded her before getting out, Avery grabbed her bag and put it on her back and grabbed her other bag.

"Can you take this one for me please?" Avery asked as she held it out, Emily raised her eyebrows, but grabbed it anyway and headed for the door with her close behind. Emily rang the door bell and looked over at Avery. "Wanna know what would look awesome there?" she asked as she pointed to an empty spot in the dirt that didn't have any bushes there, like it did next to it.

"What?" Emily asked with a small laugh.

"Pink and purple flowers." she said with a smile, Emily smiled.

"There's pink flowers over there." she said as she pointed over to the gate, where there were pink flowers, Avery smiled.

"Can I pick one?"

"Not now, but you can ask your dad later." Emily said as the door opened, she smiled at him. "Hey Hotch." she said with a smile, Hotch smiled back.

"Good morning you too." he said as he looked at Avery. "Come in," he said as he let the two in, Avery smiled and looked around at his house, which was much bigger and nicer then Emily's.

"That couch looks really comfy..." Avery said with a smile and a nod as she looked at Emily, then Hotch, Emily rolled her eyes and Hotch smiled.

"Do you wanna go sit on it?" he asked, Avery nodded.

"Thank you very much." she said as she walked over.

"The remote is on the coffee table." Hotch said as she disappeared into the living room. He looked back over to Emily, who smiled at him. "What time is your flight?"

"1, I have a few minutes before I need to leave though," she answered.

"And you have a ride and everything?" he asked, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, and thanks again for doing this.." she said.

"Don't thank me, it's my pleasure." he told her with a smile. Emily smiled and looked down at her feet. Jack walked into the kitchen without realizing Emily was there, he paused and looked at the two of them. Emily looked up at him.

"What's up Jack?" Hotch asked.

"I just wanted to say hi.." he improvised as he looked at Emily, he didn't want to be like 'I'm getting a drink. Bye!' or else Hotch would yell at him later about it.

"Hey Jack, It's nice to see you again..."

"You too." Jack smiled as he went for the fridge, Hotch glanced at Emily, then back to Jack.

"Hey, Jack, Emily actually wanted to talk to you about something," he offered, Emily widened her eyes at him, she wasn't ready to talk to him, but she understood that if Hotch hadn't mentioned it she probably would never get the chance to.

"About what?" Jack asked as he poured himself some orange juice. He knew what it probably was about. His state of mind wasn't as stubborn or angry as it was before. Emily was nice, and he actually liked her, even more then he liked his mom sometimes; even though he was young when he knew both of them. From what he remembered, she seemed more understanding then his mom did, about anything.

"Well, you see Jack.." Emily began as she glanced at Hotch, who nodded at her and walked away, to see how Avery was doing. "You obviously know about Avery now.. I wanted to tell you that I felt horrible after I left, I was thinking about you and how it would effect you mainly because of what happened to your mom. And I know you looked up to me and that was so wrong of me to do. But I did, and I'm sorry if I upset you in anyway, and I hope you can still think of me the same way you did before I left... even though you were young." Emily said, her thoughts were all jumbled and she got them out the best way she could. "Do you get what I'm saying?" she eventually asked as he turned around to face her.

"Yes, I do, Emily." he said with a nod, the tone of his voice made Emily seem hesitant. "And thanks... I have to admit, I was pissed when my dad told me you left and I just had.. misconceptions I guess, but I understand it more than I did before. I guess my ignorance just got in the way..." Jack said with a shrug as he took a sip of his orange juice, Emily nodded.

"Thanks Jack..." she said with a smile. "And I just wanna let you know, you can come to me for anything, especially when you're too scared to go to your dad about it." Emily said as she glanced over at Hotch, who was walking in, Jack smiled at her and Emily smiled at Hotch with a small laugh.

"I don't think I like the sound of that," Hotch said with a chuckle.

"Well, I'd better get going.." Emily said. "Call JJ if you need anything, you have her numbers right?" Hotch nodded. "She needs vitamins every morning, just remind her and she'll take them herself, she's also slightly allergic to peanuts.."

"Slightly?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, if she has it just give her some Benadryl." she said with a shrug.

"So no peanut butter and Jelly?" Hotch asked with a smile, Emily chuckled.

"No." she laughed. "This is her bag also..." Emily said, Hotch grabbed it from her. "I'm just gonna say bye to her.." she said before walking over to the living room to see Avery and Jack talking. "I'm leaving Ave," she said, Avery looked up.

"Kay mom, I'll miss you." she said as she gave her a hug, Emily smiled and hugged her back.

"Call me if you need anything." she told her as she stood back up. "See you guys later."

"Have fun on your conference." he said as she walked back in. "Do you want some coffee to-go?"

"No, I'm fine." Emily said. "Thanks again.."

"You're welcome.." he gave in, he otherwise would have argued with her, telling her it's not something she should thank him for, mainly because he offered.

"See you in a few days, call me if you need anything." she said, Hotch nodded. "Bye." she said as she walked out of the house and out to her car. Hotch smiled to himself and walked over to the living room to see what Jack and Avery were doing.

"Cool! You're birthday is a week and 3 days after mine!" Avery exclaimed after asking Jack when his birthday was, which was April 13th. Jack smiled. "How old are you gonna be? I'm gonna be 11.." Jack chuckled.

"I'm gonna be 17," he answered, Avery nodded.

"You're old." she said with a small laugh.

"Do you know how old m- our dad is?" Jack corrected himself and asked her.

"How old?" Avery asked with a smile.

"45."

"Wow... now that's old."

"I'm right here you too." Hotch finally spoke up as he walked over to them, Avery looked at Jack and laughed. "45 isn't that old either."

"My mom says she's 30."

"Well, you're mom lied." Hotch said, Avery laughed.

"I know, she's turning 40." Avery said. "She's old, too."

"Everyone's old to you, In 6 years you'll be 17 and you wont think 17's so old." Jack told her, Avery nodded.

"You're still old." Avery told him, they all started laughing.

"So it's Sunday, do you guys have anything you wanna do in mind?" Hotch asked.

"What can we do?" Avery asked, Hotch shrugged.

"Whatever you want."

"Go to Disney World!" Avery exclaimed, joking of course.

"Something a little closer."

"But only by a minute right?" Avery asked with a smile.

"Only by a minute." Hotch said with a smile, Avery smiled and looked at Jack.

"What do you usually do on Sunday's?" Jack glanced over at Hotch.

"I usually study..." he answered, Avery scrunched her nose.

"Okay," she said as she looked at Hotch. "So what can we do?"

x x x

"When do you go back to school?" Hotch asked Avery as they were driving back from the zoo, Jack didn't mind going to the zoo, he was happy to see how excited Avery had been about it, the last time she went to the zoo she was 5 and that was with Emily, JJ and Henry. They just didn't get around to going to the zoo more.

"We have off tomorrow, but we have to go back Tuesday." Avery answered with a nod, Hotch nodded.

"I have work, but Jack will pick you up from school, all right?" he asked, Avery nodded.

"Thanks for taking me to the zoo.. I had a blast." Avery said with a smile, Hotch smiled.

"I'm glad you had fun." he said with a smile.

x x x

"Hold on for a second." Emily said as she dropped her phone in the bin and anything else she had that was metal or shouldn't go through the metal detector. She then grabbed her stuff again and put the phone to her ear.

"Are you seriously talking on the phone and going through security?" JJ asked. "Aren't you not even allowed to be on the phone? Doesn't it mess up with the machines or something?"

"That's a myth, ask Reid." Emily said as she walked to the waiting room for her gate. "Besides, I just left my badge out next to it and they didn't say anything."

"I wouldn't either if I were a security guard and an FBI agent was there." JJ said.

"Did you think about what I said?" Emily asked.

"About what?" JJ asked.

"About you and Spencer..." she said as she sat down, JJ sighed.

"Yes..."

"And?" Emily asked.

"And I'm starting to hate the answer..." JJ said, Emily nodded.

"So I was right?" Emily asked.

"Yeah..." JJ confessed with a sigh.