Years Later

James Aubrey stumbled through his front door in pitch black, blindly feeling for obstacles he knew would be in his sleep-deprived path to his bedroom. Luckily, his and Emma's room did not entail climbing the flight of stairs that he side-stepped just in time to avoid the painful jab to his upper thigh he'd unfortunately felt numerous times before this night. A few more steps and a door and he'd be horizontal on his pillow-topped mattress. Just thinking about lying down made him want to stop moving and sleep right in his spot, but he persisted, so close to his end goal.

He outstretched his left hand until he felt resistance, of the door variety, and slid his appendage down very carefully, as to not make noise. He made contact with the cool metal of the door handle, turning it slowly. He paused only when he noticed a glint on his ring finger, caused by the low light from under the door hitting his wedding band. Emma was either still awake or fell asleep with the lights on.

He soon saw it was the latter. As soon as he crossed the threshold and closed the door behind himself, his eyes landed on Emm, in her office chair, in front of the desk, face buried in crossed arms over an open laptop, completely knocked out. He felt awful as soon as he laid eyes on the scene, knowing the only reason it happened was Emma taking home some work so she could spend time with the kids while Aubrey went off and celebrated with Booth. He should've thought it through before agreeing to go rampaging around the city with Booth trying to find the best burger like a couple young kids instead of the grown men and fathers they were.

Aubrey silently removed his shoes before padding over to his snoozing wife and attempting to pick her up and move her to the bed. Halfway across the room he heard a muffled "Carl's tabletop" from the head on his shoulder.

Aubrey gingerly put Emma down and smiled as she sleepily opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm sorry?"

Emma gave him a tranquil grin before stepping around him to go back to her desk and laptop. "Close my laptop," she clarified as she did exactly that, "and tell me how dinner was."

Aubrey would never get over how lucky he was. Emma was probably tired to her wits end, and yet she still asked him how his day went, even though Aubrey felt he should be the one catching up with her day and repaying her for all the work she'd done, both at the FBI and at their home for their family. He knew however, if he ever voiced that to her she'd just dismiss it, replying that she knows he'd do the same and that marriage was about teamwork, not about keeping score. Aubrey cleared his throat as Emma made her way across the room to him, suddenly making him want her horizontal for a reason other than fatigue. Maybe vertical too.

She took his hand in hers and led them both to their bed. Once they were both situated under the covers, they curled up together, Emma using his shoulder as her headrest as she did practically every night, his right arm wrapping around her waist. "Why did we even bother getting the second pillow if you always just use me?" He didn't know why he suddenly said that, but he chalked it up to not being responsible for his choice of conversation due to his exhaustion and slight tipsiness.

Emma just chuckled and lifted her head to look at him. "I can move away if you want."

"No," Aubrey whined, "no. I don't want. I just can't believe we wasted that nine dollars getting the sack of fluff. We're never getting that back."

Emma's chuckle grew into a full laugh at his remark. "How drunk are you?"

Aubrey shook his head in a sedated manner. "Not at all...maybe a little buzzed. But honestly, we could've put that towards Rebecca's college fund. I'm sorry I wasn't here tonight to help put them to bed. How was it?"

Emma sighed heavily. "Fine, really. Tyler went down easier than expected, but I think that was just because he didn't have his father to rile him back up." They both gave a soft laugh at her ribbing of his bedtime rituals, which usually took four times as long and still required Emma's assistance.

Emma lowered her head back onto his shoulder as they both let out a deep relaxed breath. "So how was your night with Booth?"

Aubrey didn't have to look at her. He could feel her yawn against him, but he humored her conversation anyways. "Good. As of today, I officially make more money than you, so…" He paused when he heard her scoff, "I didn't say have. I said make." It wasn't an important part of his promotion to Senior Special Agent in the FBI, but they had jested about it before. "You should've seen Booth. He has more to drink than I did. I think he's happier about retiring than he wants to admit."

"Maybe it was to forget the fact that you got his office when he left." Emma teased before getting serious. "All I needed was you to come back home."

Aubrey felt adoration bubbling up within him. "I always will."

With nothing more, he craned her head towards his and kissed her before they both fell asleep.

A/N: Hey! Long time no see! It's been….years, I think. I've been meaning to wrap up this story for awhile, but it was hard to put the ideas in my head down on paper, and the usual excuses, what with school and….Netflix. Anyways, I'm gonna try to get back into writing other moments, both before and after this part of Aubrey and Emma's story, so if you have any moments you want to see in particular, both vague and specific, please leave a review, and I'll see what I can do! It's been a fun ride with y'all through this time, and I can't wait to hear from you guys! Love you all!