Disclaimer: I do not own anything Criminal Minds related. Characters are merely borrowed and will be put back later. ;)
Fair and Foul
Chapter Twenty One- Father and Son
"The son said, 'God, help me to be the man my father is'.
The father pleaded, 'God, help me to be the man my sons wants me to be'."
When she woke up, it was dull in the room and she could hear the world getting ready for work outside. She wanted to stay where she was, casually and calmly curled around his body, her hand splayed across his chest as he slept fitfully. Watching him sleep was like watching a baby; he was so calm, so quiet, so entirely devoid of stress and anger that she found it impossibly unbearable to wake him; he deserved the peace.
She reluctantly- very reluctantly- pulled herself from the warm corner of the bed and clambered out, walking to the window and pulling apart the curtains to watch the people outside. She could see a young woman with a baby in her arms and she could see an elderly couple walking toward the local shop. She had seen them before from right this spot; her favourite window in the house.
She sighed happily and listened to the bed sheets rustle behind her as Aaron made himself more comfortable. She had to go home soon, none of her clothes were in this house- she thought to herself that it might be sensible to leave some here at some stage- and so would have to return home alone to find some. She watched the street as a young boy ran into the quiet road to pull his dog back by the collar, giving out to him- futilely- for wandering into the street on his own. Just a like a mother would say to her child, she noted to herself.
And before she could think anything through properly, there were arms fixed around her waist. Aaron balanced his chin on her shoulder and watched the world outside with her for a few moments before he kissed the ticklish area beneath her ear and whispered a quiet "Good morning..." She smiled to herself and replied with a small "Mmm."
His hands wandered to the buttons of the shirt he had lent her the night before and he slowly, tantalisingly, agonisingly slowly, opened each button she had tied. It took him more than half a minute to finish the job, but as soon as he was done, he kissed her neck, desire rushing through him. He had seen her at the window and realised just how stunning she was; and she was his for the taking, so he'd slipped out of bed as quickly as he could to get closer to her.
His hands pulled the shirt open and ran across her hips above her panties. Her skin was soft and warm, and when the sun shone in the window, the ivory colour enticed him all the more. He moved his hands to her stomach, where his fingers carefully traced the still red scar dragging its ugly face across her perfect figure.
She had been self conscious about it, the first time they had had sex after the stitches came out- but he had kissed it, pressed his lips to it and caressed it cautiously, before telling her that it had brought them together – and so it was more beautiful than she might think.
Emily thought about that moment as she watched his hands trace the pattern across her skin. It had been a genuinely wonderful thing to tell her and had put her at ease about something so crude and angry. She allowed him to continue, thinking again that Haley had been mental to walk out on him. There was so much compassion, so much passion and kindness in him; how could she let him out of her life?
Aaron slipped his hands over her (perfect) breasts, pushing the shirt from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. One of her hands reached from her side to behind her, where she pushed her fingers through his hair, dragging him close to her for a long and tender kiss. He happily returned his main attentions to her body, returning one arm to her breasts and running the other hand across the front of her upper thigh, settling between her legs and pressing against her every few seconds- each time made her moan ever so slightly, and he was more than pleased to continue.
She turned to face him and casually kissed his bare chest and shoulder, smiling at him when he looked at her, elated. He snaked his arms around her torso and lifted her from the floor. She fixed her legs around his waist and fixed her arms around his neck and head, forcing him into a deep and passionate kiss, pressing her tongue against his in a battle of wills.
He turned them around and took the two steps to the bed as quickly as he could, pushing her down and climbing on top to kiss her body, as much of it as he could kiss, in just a few moments. She giggled at certain times and he found that his knowledge of what she liked and disliked had gone up hugely. He could make her giggle, groan, cry out or gasp at will- and he was more than aware that she could do the exact same to him with no trouble at all.
And yet, it never got boring.
Just as his hands spread out at her head and he lowered himself to her to kiss her lips once more- the phone rang. He moaned and looked down at her.
"That might be Haley," she said matter-of-factly. "Oh God!" he exclaimed and reached for the phone next to the bed, clambering off of her and picking it up breathlessly. "Hello?"
As the conversation went on- and she gathered that it was going well, Emily tuned out and crawled towards him again. As he settled on the bed and lay down, she wrapped her body around him and pressed herself against him, making him catch his breath on the phone. She smiled to herself and listened to the end of the conversation.
"Yes. No, I can get there this morning, absolutely."
Haley replied on the other end.
"I will. And Haley... thanks," he said, before he hung up.
"You will what?" Emily asked softly.
"I will thank you for helping us. The three of us," he said sincerely, moving his body to face her and stretching an arm over her back, stroking her gently.
"I'm going to pick him up and bring him to day care every morning before I go to work. I'll call him each night. And I'll see him every Sunday I'm available."
"That sounds fantastic," she said, relishing the happy smile on his face.
"I know," he said, "but it means we have to wait to continue this..."
"That's fine," she said, "Go get your son."
Half reluctantly, he got up and wandered to the shower. She got out of bed and picked the shirt up, tying it across her before she wandered to the kitchen for breakfast before going home. When he stumbled into the room twenty minutes later, she was at the kitchen counter, a bowl of cereal in her hands and a cup of tea in front of her. He ran to her, kissed her softly on the lips and took a spoonful of her cereal before saying, "I'll see you at work."
And then he was gone.
Emily was amazed by how much he had changed now. He was casual about her, leaving her in the house, eating with her, sleeping with her and generally enjoying having her around. They had tiny tiffs from time to time- about things like the different newspapers they read and where the remote control was and who would wash the dishes- but they always ended up giggling and kissing like teenagers.
She had to admit that a settled life had never seemed on the cards for her. But now it at least seemed feasible. If someone had told her two months ago that it would be with Aaron Hotchner, she probably would have laughed rudely and taken it as a joke.
Sighing, she rinsed her cup and bowl and wandered to find her clothes from the night before so that she could go home and prepare for work.
***
"Daaaaaddddd!" came the happy cry of two and a half year old Jack as he struggled to free himself of his mother's grasp. When she let him go, he ran to his father, happy as could be to see Dad again. Aaron laughed and picked him up, groaning jokingly at the added weight and swinging his son through the air, a smile across his face.
"Okay little man, I'm going to talk you to day care, sound good?"
"Every day, Dad?" asked Jack solemnly. "Every day I can possibly take you, yes," he said. That seemed to appease Jack, who smiled at fixed his arms around Aaron's neck, hugging him tightly. Aaron smiled and nodded at Haley, who waved and nodded in return, a small smile on her face at seeing Jack so happy. And then Aaron strapped Jack into the car and jumped into the driver's seat, pulling away from the house and toward the day care centre.
"Dad, dad!" Jack called from the backseat.
"Yeah Jack?" Aaron said patiently, delighted to hear the word Dad again after what felt like forever.
"Tuck!" Jack cried out, and Aaron smiled as a big yellow truck drove past them. Jack squealed and happily pointed at it, "Tuck, tuck!!"
Aaron chatted to his son the entire way to day care, laughing at the funny things he said and feeling a well of emotion when halfway through the drive Jack yelled "Daaaad!" and when Aaron replied, "Yes Jack?", his wonderfully tactful son said, "I love yooo!" with a loud giggle.
"I love you too kiddo," he replied, a mix of emotions playing in his head.
When they arrived at the centre, he stepped out of the car and pulled Jack- and his satchel- from the seat, carrying him in his arms to the door, swinging him around making airplane noises and adoring every moment he spent with his boy.
The door jumped open just as Aaron approached it and Angela, one of the carers, came out with a smile. "I've not seen you in a bit," she said, "Jack draws pictures for you every day. I assume you've seen them?"
"Yeah," he said smiling, "Haley passes them on to me." Jack was fixed around his neck and he stroked his back. "Hey, we're here," he said cheerfully, knowing that since he was suffering separation anxiety already, it was likely that jack was too, "You ready?"
"Yes.." Jack said, half sadly. He was a bright kid- and on more than one occasion, had been let down by his father.
"Jack," Aaron said, putting him on the ground and bending down in front of him, "I will phone you tonight, okay?" he said, "And I'll read you a story on the phone. And on Sunday, I'll bring you home and we can play in your room, okay?"
"Okay!" Jack said excitedly, hugging his father once more and rushing out a quick "I love you Dad!" before running inside with Angela.
"I love you too," Aaron said, and turned his back on the door, pulling his sunglasses on and preparing for another day at work.
***
Emily arrived ten minutes late. It wasn't her fault, the traffic was brutal and she'd spilled coffee on her shirt. She was lucky that her overnight bag had been in her car, because otherwise she would have had to wear it all day. As soon as she arrived she dropped her stuff at her desk, sighed at Morgan, smiled at Reid, said hi to Rossi and asked JJ about Henry. She did it all very quickly, feeling stressed about being late and sore from the burning coffee.
Hotch stepped from his office. "Emily, can I talk to you, for a second?" he said. He had taken to calling her by her first name at work; he did it with Dave too, so nobody had taken any notice.
"Uhh, sure," she said, grabbing the shirt from her bag and trotting to his office.
"How'd this morning go?" she said when she arrived.
"It was great," he said quietly, "Really great. Listen, I-"
"Is this about my being late?" she said, flinching slightly.
"No. It was eleven minutes, nothing major , it's fine," he said.
Trust him to have noticed exactly how late she had been. She rolled her eyes and he knew why, but he ignored it. She pushed her hands against her shirt, sighing at it, and looked at him.
"So what's wrong?" she asked, mildly concerned.
"I told Jack that I would bring him home on Sunday. Will you come too?" he asked her.
She glanced at him for a second, and then smiled, "Why not? I'll be there."
"Thank you," he said, "And what happened to you?"
"Spilled coffee all over myself," she said, "In the car. I'm gonna get changed."
"Hold on," he said quietly, reaching out and grabbing her hand, pulling her close to him. "Let me help..."
She felt like hitting him; they had nearly been caught by Morgan the last time they had done something like this in the office and the jokes she had heard about it afterwards had been awful- but she just couldn't resist. They seemed to return to the pattern of the morning as he stripped the shirt from her, kissing her arms, shoulders, neck and mouth happily.
She pulled the other shirt from the table and shrugged it over her arms and across her back as he nibbled on her lip, getting distracted more than once and kissing him back attentively.
It took five minutes to change her shirt; they team would have jokes to make about that. She sighed and pulled away. "I'm late," she said, "I have work to do."
He smiled at her and left her pull away. "And one more thing," he said to her before she left.
"Yeah?" she said, folding the discarded shirt up, not looking at him.
"When you come over on Sunday... Bring a change of clothes so you can stay over properly," he said. "You can be there when I drop Jack off on Monday."
She smiled at him and nodded. "I'd be happy to," she said quietly, and left the office, still slightly flushed from her sojourn inside.
She was immediately met by Morgan. "Ooh, someone's red. Someone's red!" he catcalled mockingly.
She glared at him and then broke into a smile. "At least I'm getting some," she said.
And he stopped laughing. "Burn," he said before shaking his head and smiling again.
She smirked and took her seat, dignity intact.