He'd asked her out. The vice principal of her daughter's school asked her out on a date after telling her that her child was morbidly fascinated with serial killers. Emily had, of course, told him no. He, unlike Jason Collins, seemed to understand her reason—focusing on Cody's emotional well-being. Still, Emily was contemplative when she exited the VP's office.
Her humor returned when she saw Cody and Hotch having an intense discussion while seated in the hard plastic chairs by the secretary's desk. Cody was nodding vigorously, taking her conversation very seriously. Hotch was listening intently, completely focused on the little girl. He was good with her, and she suspected he was one hell of a father to little Jack—whom they'd get to meet that evening. She'd not realized it at first, the way she had with Morgan, but Hotch was one of those genuine good guys. She smiled at the pair. "Ready to go?"
"Mom! So am I in trouble?"
"No. But we do need to discuss your topic for Social Studies this weekend." Emily's lips twitched again. The trio walked out to the waiting car, and Emily could sense how vigilant Hotch became once they stepped into the outside. Emily listened with half an ear to Cody's excited chatter, her own eyes peeled for Collins.
They didn't see him.
The rest of the day went as the ones before had. Cody chose to stay in the bullpen under the watchful eyes of Morgan. Emily took it as the good sign it was. The little girl had never voluntarily stayed with a man other than in the VP's office with Hotch. So two men in less than an hour. It gave Emily hope.
After her class took the three o'clock break they moved to a larger lecture hall four rooms down the corridor. Hotch and Dave's classes were already waiting. The female cadets all quickly found seats, as did the small crowd of agents and staff who'd arrived to hear the conclusion of the three BAU members lectures. Today's topic was going to be profiling as a team. Morgan, Reid, JJ, and Garcia held seats in the second row. Smack dab in the middle was a little girl with dark brown French braids. Emily smiled at her and waved. She noticed the notebook opened and turned to a fresh page. What on earth was the little girl—and the rest of the team up to? As Dave began the lecture she decided she'd just have to wait and see.
The lecture went well, Dave was charismatic, Emily was humorous, and Hotch was informative. They worked well together and no one missed it. Once it was over, Emily took charge of dismissing everyone and answering any questions from the lingerers. Then Cody ran up. "Hi Mommy, let's go! We gotta hurry!"
"Alright, alright!" Emily laughed, as the last cadet left. He had been flirtatious, trying to charm the older woman. She'd humored him until the child interrupted. "Let's go to the bullpen and get our stuff!"
They and the rest of the team laughed at the little girl's squirming. They were all going to the carnival, and Emily half suspected Garcia of bribery and blackmail to accomplish it. She was just grateful.
The bullpen was almost empty, with just a few die-hard agents lingering. Five o'clock on Fridays usually cleared pretty quickly, with the exception of Hotch's team. Emily had no trouble seeing to her desk, and the dark-haired woman sitting on it.
Cody saw her, too. "Grandma Beth! You made it! I knew you would!"
Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss was dressed in casual clothing. Emily couldn't recall the last time she'd seen her mother wearing jeans. She had to admit, the clothes made her mother look considerably younger than her fifty-four years. Too young to be the mother of a thirty-six year old woman, that's for sure. But the Ambassador had been married young, the daughter of a wealthy businessman married off to the slightly older son of a business partner. It was only in her mid-twenties that Elizabeth had realized her own dreams. Emily had been slightly pushed aside, but she was long past that. Still, things had always been a little strained. But they were getting better, finally.
Cody ran to her grandmother and hugged her, her excitement visible for all to see.
"Of course, I made it! It's my first official Grandma Outing. Where else would I be?" The ambassador said in her slightly husky voice. "Now, tell me what all I've missed this week. Anything good happen?"
"Mom had to go to the principal's office today." Cody confided. "And Mr. Hotch came for dinner Wednesday, and Mr. Dave's coming tomorrow night. And next week we're inviting Aunt Penelope and Aunt JJ. And Ryan Collins' dad got mad about Mr. Hotch coming over and yelled at Ryan's dog. He came to our house. Mom was mad. I'm going to sign up for swimming, and dance, and probably softball tonight, but I don't know yet. Mom says we have to check the itinerary. And I picked my topic for Social Studies but Mom said we needed to talk about it. I'm not sure why, it's a good topic."
The ambassador nodded, though everyone could see she was struggling to keep up. Emily just laughed. "Slow down, Cody. The ambassador only has two ears."
The little girl took a deep breath, and scrunched up her face the way everyone had seen Emily do. "Grandma, you're still gonna be here for dinner tomorrow night, right? I'm making macaroni and cheese. Mr. Hotch liked it."
"Of course, and if you're mother is willing, I thought the three of us might check out the zoo in the morning."
"Could we?" Cody asked. "I do like the zoo. Especially the tigers. My dad took me once. When I was littler."
"Of course." Emily said.
Hotch listened to the little girl's words with a small smile on his face, amused by how she'd jumbled everything up into practically in one breath. It was good to see that childish excitement. Emily was definitely the best thing for the little girl. And Emily was more relaxed around her mother than ever before, too. Good changes were hitting the Prentiss family. Hopefully he and Jack could be one of them.
Speaking of Jack, he looked at his watch. Hayley was supposed to be bringing the little boy to the BAU. He'd drop him off after the carnival and on his way to Emily's place. He'd insisted on driving her and Cody. Just as a safety precaution. As if by magic, the elevator opened and revealed his ex-wife. His little boy walked at her side. "Daddy!"
Hotch moved forward instinctively, catching the little boy's mad dash across the bullpen. "Hey, it's Jack-jack Incredible!"
"I missed you, Daddy. I missed you!" The little arms wrapped around his neck and Hotch's eyes closed, squeezing him slightly. He wore a green polo, similar to the one Hotch had brought and changed into. Hotch's was red. His hair was nowhere near as dark as his father's, but it would be someday. The rest of him was all Aaron.
Hayley hadn't spoken, just handed him Jack's bag. The boy was still potty-training at age three and it would take a few more months at least before his body could handle it. Hotch knew his ex was feeling uncomfortable surrounded by Hotch's territory and his people. "Hayley. Thanks for meeting me here."
"He's excited." Was all she said. "What time will you have him home?"
"Around eleven. If he's asleep I'll just carry him in. The carnival starts at seven, but I'm sure it doesn't run too late." He looked at Emily for confirmation. She and Cody were obviously on the way to the restrooms to change into more casual wear. Emily nodded, a polite smile on her face as she looked at the three of them.
"Hours are from seven to ten-thirty. But I doubt we'll be staying that long. Cody usually wears down around ten, if not earlier."
"I didn't know you had a daughter, Agent Prentiss." Hayley said, after smiling politely at the woman she'd met a few times.
"Cody is in the process of being adopted. Her father was a relative who died recently." Emily said, being pulled slightly away from the group by the little girl tugging at her hand. "It was nice to see you again, but apparently, somebody's in a bit of a hurry."
"We'll be ready soon, Mr. Hotch! Maybe you and Mr. Dave better go get the car's ready!" Cody said, tugging more insistently.
"Jack, wave bye-bye to Mommy!" Hotch told the excited little boy who was making airplane noises near his daddy's ear. "Let's get this show on the road!"
He smiled at Emily, an expression his ex-wife didn't miss. Hotch saw her eyes narrow, and he raised a brow in her direction, almost daring her to comment. "Hayley, we'll see you later."
(Alright, Kavi, when I said you could go to the carnival with this chapter, I lied…my characters weren't quite ready to go yet…but the next one is the big whohaw!)