AuthorNote: For those of you that missed my short story the broken hearts club, I spent all of November working on NaNoWriMo writing a novel length piece that is a Hotchniss story that hopefully I will start editing and uploading soon. However, it took my focus away from this for a hot minute lol. I'm back though and hopefully am back to stay with publishing regular updates.
Emily's POV
"You think you can bring home a new little niece of mine and not have anything for her and expect me not to do anything?!" Penelope's voice bounces off the walls with her excitement. "You all had you flight back here and I took that time to read my chocolate thunder's texts and shop for things you need for my goddaughter!" That's when I notice the shopping bags for the first time.
"Garci-"
"Don't Garci me just yet. It's just the basics to get you going. Some clothes and such. Also Tanya Malholtra reached out to me to get your address. She's sending a "fair bit", according to her, of Melissa's stuff so she has some of the things she knows. Clothing, some furniture, things like that. I don't know how soon it will get here so this way you can get started on routines and things."
"This is too much PG-"
"Nope I refuse to hear that. She's one of my godchildren and I get to spoil them how I please. Especially since there are things for N&N as well in there. And I expect all the cuties to be at the barbeque next weekend! Anyway, I should get going, but you look to be in good hands here so I'll see you later, ok?"
"Sounds good PG." As quick as she appeared Penelope was back out the door.
"You work with some amazing people," Sarah mentions, sipping her tea as I shut the door behind Penelope.
"Yeah, I got pretty lucky with this group." A knock on the door pulls me back to the door before I get even ten steps away. "You forget something Pen?" I ask while opening the door. To my surprise it wasn't Penelope waiting on the other side though- it was Aaron and a baby carrier. "Aaron?"
"Hey. Can I come in?" I open the door up and let them in.
"Yeah come in. You remember Sarah."
"Hi Aaron."
"Hello Sarah. You volunteered to stay and help?" Sarah nods. Aaron must have remembered all of the times I mentioned how great of a nanny I had.
"Three under four. Didn't want Emily to be by herself on the first night."
"I can stay and help. You've been here the past few days while we've been on our case."
"Are you two sure you want to tackle four under four?" Sarah asks us glancing at Jack.
"We can manage I'm sure." Aaron says calmly.
"It's ok Sarah. I think as long as the twins stay on their schedule we will be fine."
"Ok, well I'm just a phone call away if you need it."
"Thank you Sarah. Also I was given the next two weeks to adjust to having Melissa join my family so how about I call you in a day or two to officially meet Melissa?"
"Sounds wonderful." Sarah lets herself out and for a moment Aaron and I just look at each other. The pull towards each other is there, but there is something else in the air too. Aaron must have felt it too because he decides to break the silence first.
"Hey." He says with a small smile.
"Hey."
"So four under four. We really won't get too much sleep tonight." He says softly.
"Just don't tell Morgan or he'll tease me that we celebrated me gaining a daughter too hard." I wait for a chuckle that never comes. I want to figure out what's going on in Aaron's head but the mother in me also wants to get Jack out of his carrier.
"So the twins can share a crib so Jack can get out of the carrier."
"You sure?"
"They shared my womb for nine months, one night together isn't that bad. Plus there are nights that co-sleeping is the only way to get them down." I look at the quiet boy who's gazing around. "The twins have been down for 35 minutes at this point, so I can move Nathan in with Natalia and it shouldn't be a problem. Does Jack need a bottle or change before he goes down?"
"No Laura fed and changed him. I thought he'd fall asleep on the way but he didn't."
"Well you wanna bring him along and you can put him down after I move Nathan?"
"Sure." Aaron unhooks Jack and scoops him into his arms. "Hey there bud. Trying to stay awake so you can explore the new place? You'll have time to explore later. Sleep buddy." He kisses the top of Jack's head and I realize just how sweet seeing Aaron in the role of Jack's dad is- the soft smiles and gentle movements; it's so caring and different from cool, calm, and collected Agent Hotchner. Aaron follows behind me to the nursery and while he sits down in the chair where I first realized I love him and he rocks his son, I scoop up my son and just hold him close for a moment.
"Je t'aime Nathan." I whisper as I place a kiss into his hair. As gently as I picked him up I lay him down next to Natalia. Instinctively their hands grasp each other's hands and they sleep like they did as infants- one hand grasped in each others, one thumb stuck in their mouth. I snap a quick photo on my phone of them so I can send it to Garcia, knowing that she will love to see the twins at their cutest. Then I take a moment to just watch my twins. They've grown so much in the short time I've been with my team, and knowing their birthday is coming up makes me realize just how far we've come the three of us. I lose track of how long I'm in my thoughts while watching mes petite enfants, because next thing I know I feel Aaron's arm wrap around my waist, and I know that behind me Jack is already asleep.
"Did they sleep like that as infants?" I nod.
"I thought for sure I was crazy for raising twins on my own, but I would lay them down to sleep in the bassinet together and they would hold hands while they slept and I known as long as I could show them love then it didn't matter how crazy our day to day was." A soft smile appears on my face at the mention of those days and how far away they seem now. "We've managed to get all four kids down, let's go sit for two minutes before one of them wakes up." I suggest, knowing that as soon as we leave this oasis, I'll have to figure out what's on Aaron's mind. His arm might be around my waist, but his mind seems miles away. He seemed fine before he talked with Strauss- crap. That has to be it. Strauss had to have said something.
"Sure, that sounds good." Aaron's tight smile appears instead of the soft one I love, as if he's trying to cover whatever emotions he's truly feeling.
"Do you want coffee or tea or something?" He shakes his head.
"I might have had a cup driving home," a smirk appears on his face and suddenly the man I love is back. "I knew we wouldn't sleep much."
"If there weren't four kids here, I would take that to mean something completely different," I say winking at Aaron.
"Well also your newly adopted daughter is probably asleep in your bed I'm guessing, so that's not even an option right now." Aaron teases back, which calms my nerves ever so slightly. I pick up my tea from the coffee table and take a sip before replying to him.
"I do have a guest room still. We do need to practice being quiet around four kids and around the team." I wiggle my eyebrows and suddenly Aaron's lips are on mine.
"Not tonight." He says in between kisses. After breaking off from our kiss he continues, "Not that I don't want you, but I think Melissa's had enough trauma for now."
"Plus there's something you need to talk to me about isn't there?" I ask, no longer wanting to draw it out. Aaron nods, but looks almost like a child who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Aaron, it's ok. Whatever it is, we can work past it. Or if it's that you don't want to be with someone who has three kids, I would understan-" Aaron's lips are on mine once again and I'm a little lost on what this kiss is for.
"Em, Emily, it's never going to be that. I love you. I love that you are a mom. And I love your kids just like I love you. Melissa is already included in that. It's just something that Strauss said and said I needed to talk with you about."
"Ok." Had Strauss told Aaron about Ian?
"Strauss wanted to talk with me about your "lack of judgement when it comes to children connected to cases"and whether or not it played a part in the decision of bringing Melissa here instead of putting her into foster care. When I said I didn't understand she brought up the examples of Melissa, the case in Milwaukee and then Natalia and Nathan. She went on to say from the number of times I had called you Emily during the conversation told her that we had grown closer over the past months, but she went on to ask if you had told me about how you met the twins' father and the "accident that led to their creation." I honestly didn't know what to say since the only thing I knew was you left before you knew you were pregnant with the twins. She then went on to say that you and I should really discuss where your "focus lies when dealing with children. Being a mother is one thing, but bringing home stray puppies case after case will make the BAU look like the pound" before going on to threaten firing you if I didn't talk to you about it." Any other man, wouldn't have been able to meet my eyes after what he just explained, but Aaron wasn't any other man. He looks calmly at me while I sit trying to comprehend everything that Aaron had just told me. "Emily I'm not going to ask you to share with me anything before your time at the BAU because that's your life and when you want me to know things you'll tell me hopefully. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, but Em, I need to know that I don't have to worry that you'll become attached to too many of our cases." As he talked I could sense a little jealousy behind his words. Did he think I would become attached to someone else?
"Aaron, I don't get attached to many cases. You've seen this. Yes, I met him through a case but it wasn't because I got too attached. Strauss thinks I was too attached because I refused to abort my children."
"What?!" Aaron's eyebrows knit together.
"I was part of a task force called JTF-12. We were profiling international terrorists, but we did one thing differently than our profiling- infiltration. Our last case was a former I.R.A. Captain named Ian Doyle. I went undercover posing as a weapons dealer and was supposed to find out as much as I could about Doyle to capture him, but while playing to role I had to pretend to be his lover." I could see Aaron trying not to be jealous of a terrorist." I never loved him, but I had to pretend like I was falling in love with him so that I could find out the right information to bring him down. However I pretending went too well and I ended up pregnant. I didn't find out that I was pregnant until after Doyle had already been captured and I had returned to the States. Strauss had already hired me, but since I was already far enough into my pregnancy that she decided that I would join the BAU after Nathan and Natalia were born. But she still can't accept the fact that I would want to keep the children that should have been born to Ian Doyle and Lauren Reynolds." I pause for a moment thinking of the relationship that Declain and Ian had had and shuddered at the idea of Ian being near Nathan or Natalia. "But she didn't understand that even though I never truly loved Ian, I was already in love with Nathan and Natalia, even though they weren't born yet. And that's the reason she doesn't like the idea of me getting attached to a case, because she thinks that's what happened with Doyle." I shudder before mentioning the thing that angers me the most about the situation with my children. "Everytime that Strauss mentions Nathan and Natalia, it's always saying that they were an accident or an abomination or something along those lines. But I try to think of them as solely mine, and because of that they're an unplanned miracle."
"Emily, I love you." Aaron says before kissing me again. His reaction throws me slightly, but as I love the feeling of his lips on mine, I let myself fall into the kiss for a few moments, before pulling back.
"You don't have anything to ask?" I am shocked to not hear at least some sort of question out of the questioning mind of the man I love.
"If that's all you want to share, I'll take it. I trust you Em, so I'm grateful that you'll share any of it with me. Plus I love Nathan and Natalia so I agree with you that they are unplanned miracles, not any of the false statements from Strauss." I'm about to reply when Natalia's cries come from the nursery.
"Let me grab Natalia and I'll be back. She's normally ready for a bottle, by now."
"I'll get the bottle ready, how much does she normally eat at this point?"
"There's pre-filled bottles in the fridge, it just needs to be warmed." I say before going to get my daughter. Having someone to help out in the role of second parent, even if only for one night was a good feeling. I never planned on having someone to help me with nightly feeds or changes. I knew handling twins, or now a toddler and twins was something that I would do by myself. But having Aaron by my side makes me start to imagine a day when he and I could possible do night time feedings and changes for some dark eyed, dark haired babies that we planned on having. I imagine that as I scoop Natalia into my arms. Somehow the boys both stay asleep, so I take Natalia into the other room as I run a hand up and down her back and let her cry on my shoulder.
"Here." Aaron is waiting for me when I walk into the living room with the now warmed bottle. I sit down on the couch and Natalia reaches for the bottle, her tears subsiding when she sees liquid food. Aaron sits down next to us as I make sure my daughter gets her food. "She's beautiful Emily."
"Thank you Aaron. Do you hear that Natalia? Aaron thinks you're beautiful."
"No more uncle Aaron?" He asks, noting that I took off the name that he had the first time the twins met him.
"It would be weird to explain that their mom is dating their uncle when they get to school age don't you think?"
"Four years from now you think we'll still be dating?" The wind gets knocked out of me as he sounds so doubvious of our relationship lasting. "Em, breathe. I didn't mean that in a bad way. I more meant, you don't think in four years I won't have convinced you to marry me?" Aaron pulls me in closer to him and I can't say much as I process what he just told me. Aaron Hotchner, my boyfriend of a week, wants to marry me? Even though I have three kids and he has one, he thinks we're destined to be? "What are you thinking?" His hand moves to run through my hair as he asks. "Too soon for marriage talk?" I shake my head knowing he's in this for the long run too.
"No, I was just thinking about you and what you said. I love you and I'm glad you feel the same way about this relationship."
"I love you, your kids, and everything that I get when I date you." Aaron kisses the top of my head. I don't know how I ended up with the perfect man.