Hey, sorry it's been so long but uni has been so busy. I hope this has been worth the wait and I hope to speed up updates as I'm on spring break. Please please review! Idril x

25. Adjustment.

"We are all humiliated by the sudden discovery of a fact which has existed very comfortably and perhaps been staring at us in private while we have been making up our world entirely without it." ― George Eliot

Marley POV

Staring out my new kitchen window I watched Wyatt and Hotch unloading a rental van full of "our" stuff. It had been a turbulent few weeks since Wyatt had started swearing furiously down the phone, pulled out his gun and screamed that we stay away from the windows. Jack hadn't slept in his own bed since. After several hours we were given the all clear, although we were being put into special measures, or deep cover depending on who you asked. Apparently it was going to keep us safe. And Spence agreed so that was something. And I got to speak to him.

We'd spent the next two weeks being moved every few days, I don't think I ever wanted to see a middling east coast town again. The only place I ever wanted to live again was D.C. In our beautiful little apartment.

Now, however, they'd final considered it safe for us to finally come to a permanent vacation in, I kid you not, Bowling Green, Kentucky. It had raised a smile in Jack at any rate. They'd got us a nice suburban home, the kind that had neighbourhood barbeques and block parties in the summer, and snowball fights in winter. If I was honest, I quite like the house, it had a white picket fence and a wrap round porch with a freaking porch swing. It was a proper family home, I could imagine being happy here with Spencer. Unfortunately I was not here with my husband. I was here with a gun pressed to my head, and it didn't help to dwell on anything else.

I sat back on our new kitchen table, I could hear Jack playing in the other room with his action men. Glad he felt comfortable to leave my side for a few minutes. It was better than anywhere else we'd stayed. Running my hands over the glass of water I'd run I tried not to focus on the sickness trying desperately to worm its way up my throat. It was utterly pathetic but I hadn't felt well since Christmas. I hadn't felt so ill when I was Jonathon. An unfamiliar bell sounded throughout the house, making me jump. Our front door I guessed. Pushing the water away I stood up, ignoring the slight room spin as I did, I headed through the house to our front door. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting on the other side of it but it certainly wasn't a group of housewives holding plated food.

"Hi there, you must be the new neighbour. We're all so excited to meet you, this house has been vacant for an absolute age. I see you've got the men hard at work?" The first woman laughed, holding out a plate of cookies in my direction. I gave my best fake smile before politely taking the offering.

"Andrew, honey, come say hello to thee neighbours," I called out, waving with my free hand at Aaron while giving myself a mental pat on the back for remembering his new name. Got to love deep cover. "I'm…." Try not to cringe, try not to cringe. I forcibly reminded myself as I prepared to introduce myself. "Marlene. But most people shorten it."

"Well it's lovely to meet you, Marlene. I'm Shannon and this is Julia and Holly." I smiled, trying to play the part of sophisticated wife. Thankfully Aaron- Andrew- appeared next to me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I fought the urge to push it off.

"This is my husband, Andrew. Our son Jack is indoors." Aaron played the dutiful husband with ease, smiling and shaking all their hands. Then again he'd done this before with Haley. They cooed over the news we had a child and asked where we came from. It was Aaron-Andrew- who remembered to invite them in. I led the way into the kitchen, feeling like I was playing at house, like I did when I was a kid. On the way I checked in on Jack, he'd got the Legos out the box and was building some kind of fort. He looked up and smiled at me, he'd lost one of his front teeth and gave me a gappy smile.

"Jack, there's some of our new neighbours in the kitchen why don't you come say hello," I smiled down at him, praying he passed the first test. We'd made it as easy as we could for him, he could still call me Marley and he only ever addressed Aaron as Dad. It had to work. He nodded and silently followed me to the kitchen, his hand finding mine as we walked. I squeezed it back, finding solace in his sweaty grip. Aaron was unpacking the box continuing 'our' cups, offering coffee.

"Jack, these are some of our new neighbours." They got even more excited at being introduced to my blond haired boy, not that I could blame them. Aaron smiled over at me, it was the first time I'd seen a genuine smile in a while.

"It's nice to meet you," Jack smiled shyly at the neighbours before turning to me. "Mom, can I go take my legos upstairs?"

"Yes, honey," I stuttered, unable to meet Aaron's eyes. He wouldn't be happy about that. I turned back to our new neighbours, not wanting them to see how freaked out I was by Jack's announcement.

"So how long have you two been married?" Shannon asked, apparently missing my internal freak out that Jack had suddenly called me Mom.

"Only a year and a bit but we've been together almost six. Do you have husbands?" I asked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable as I pretended I'd been dating a man old enough to be my Father when I'd barely turned twenty. Being Aaron's wife rather than his Nanny did give me some privileges however and, thankfully, they made no comment about my sugar daddy. We made them some more small talk and we got invited to a dinner party next week, a pretty successful first meeting. Although it was hard to focus on anything other than my mind's recording of Jack calling me his Mom. Thankfully, our neighbours made a quick retreat so we could continue unpacking. As soon as I'd shut the door on them I turned to meet Aaron's anxious face.

"He must have got confused," I stuttered, heading up to find Jack, the sooner we sorted it the better. We'd let him choose which room he'd wanted and he'd chosen the back room that overlooked the tree house in the garden. We'd moved some of his stuff into the room and he'd made quick work of pulling his stuff out. He'd already started making a castle out of the spare boxes by the foot of his bed. He didn't look up when we entered, just kept building. Aaron took a seat on the bed and I sat back on the heels of my feet and pulled some legos out of a box. We fell into a pattern, placing blocks on after the other while Aaron watched. None of us spoke for a while.

"Jack," I practically whispered when the silence looked to be indefinite. "I know we have to pretend that I'm your Mom but that doesn't mean you have to call me Mom. You can still call me Marley."

"I want to call you Mom," He whispered back, so quietly I had to lean in to hear. I ran a hand through his hair, it had grown shaggy, needed a cut. He leaned into the touch. "Olivia at schools has two Moms so why can't I?"

I laughed at his logic but nodded, his features blurred by the water congealing in my eyes as I hugged him close, wrapping him up in my arms. He wrapped his arms around my back and hugged me back.

"Then I'm your Mom, kiddo," I promised him. I looked up, met Aaron's watery gaze and smiled, hoping he'd be alright with the situation. Hoping he wouldn't see it as me trying to take Haley's place. He nodded back. Not exactly ecstatic but, really, what was I expecting? I closed my eyes and settled my head back on Jack's, holding him close.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jack started school the next week. He was actually excited, seeing as he'd made a few friends with the neighbours' kids and they told him about the soccer club. It made me think about the soccer team back home, we'd been coaching it for four years now and while it had been the bane of my existence when I first started, I was going to miss my cold early Saturday mornings out in the park. Watching just wouldn't be the same.

It was also Aaron's first day of work. To keep up appearances the marshals had managed to get him a job working in the law offices in town. It was hardly the nail biting life he was used to but it was something nevertheless. I was insanely jealous of the two of them being able to leave the house, to go out and make this new life a little more bearable. It wasn't that I wasn't allowed to get a job, but that I needed one that would allow me to look after Jack. There was no way in hell I was leaving Jack with anyone else. Aaron was going to have to pry Jack from my grip to get him into the school. So I resigned myself to sorting out and unpacking until I found something suitable.

Being Jack's Mom came easy to me though, was the only thing that was natural in this strange new world. So when the Monday of his first day of school came round I got up early and made pancakes along with the best lunch I could muster. Aaron was already up, the man never needed more than a few hours and now he didn't have a high pressured job to keep him occupied he got up at dawn to go running. I'd always thought his job would kill him when perhaps really it would be the lack of it. We'd fallen into a routine and as I finished the third pancake the backdoor opened and Aaron appeared, dripping and breathless.

"I'll wake Jack," he offered as he headed through the kitchen. Things had been a little strained between us of late. Pretending to be married was taking a toll on our relationship. We even had to share a bedroom, the marshals said it was all to help us keep up appearances. If they were trying to create the quickest divorce they were on to something. Sure, we'd lived close to each other but I'd moved out eighteen months ago. I was used to being the boss of my own house, of living with a man I loved. Aaron was one of my closest friends but we could also rub each other up the wrong way; especially when we both set our minds on conflicting things. If I had to wake up to his snoring much longer I may just do the copy cat's work for him. I could hear the two of them murmuring upstairs and I smiled, Jack was taking everything in his stride and was the only thing keeping us going. Or at least from me making Aaron sleep on the couch. I mean that was a married thing to do, right? I'd once made Spence sleep on the couch after a particularly heated argument a few months before our wedding. Then, I'd woken up feeling guilty and tiptoed out to find him curled up watching Star Trek. We'd ended up curled up at 3am marathoning Star Trek. It was one way to end an argument.

"Hey Mom," Jack whispered as he entered the room. I still wasn't quite used to being called Mom by Jack, but each time he did it felt a little more familiar. A little more comfortable. I kissed his head as he settled at our new kitchen table beside the stack of pancakes I'd made him.

"Chocolate chip?" He asked hopefully.

"As if I'd make any other type," I rolled my eyes at his forgetfulness before sitting down beside him, pushing around my own pancake as my stomach did flips. I could hear the shower running upstairs, Aaron could have his when he came down. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah, but I still miss my old friends. And Spencer. And Auntie Jessica," he whispered.

"So do I baby. We'll see them soon," I promised him unfairly. "Do you remember where you went to school?"

"Maryland. I used to go to school in Maryland. That's where we used to live."

"Good boy," I smiled, feeling skeezy at forcing him to lie but what could I do? He didn't seem fazed though, only continued munching on his breakfast. Giving up on my breakfast I went to check his bag for the umpteenth time, the idea of letting Jack out of my sight for hours on end went against every maternal instinct in my body. Part of me wanted to start home schooling him, but I knew that would do more harm than good. He needed friends. Didn't mean I liked it though.

"Ready for school, buddy?" Aaron asked as he appeared in the doorway with towel dried hair sticking up in all directions. Jack grinned at his father as he finished the last of his pancakes. "Go brush your teeth then we'll get going."

I picked up the plates and left them in the sink, it would give me something to do when I got back. Although part of me wanted to curl up back in bed and try to feel better. Not that that was going to happen till I got home. I watched as Aaron straightened his hair before pulling on his suit jacket. I grabbed my coat, wrapping it around my shaking frame and grabbing Jack's backpack and heading towards the front door, Jack's heavy footfalls shook the house as the jumped down the stairs to join us.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The school was a little smaller than the one back home but it seemed sweet enough. Jack clung to my jacket as we headed through the playground to the brick building. I put a hand on his shoulder, allowing him to curl into me. Aaron led the way to the headteacher's office, I was just praying it would be quick; I hadn't had to lie to officials yet and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

The secretary waved us straight through and we were met by a tall, thin man in a cheap suit and quick eyes that flickered over all of us, drinking us in.

"Mr and Mrs Hutchinson, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mr Peterson." He shook our hands and bent down to smile at Jack. "I hope you have a great time at this school, Jack. We're so pleased to have you here."

Jack smiled shyly and wiggled in his seat. Mr Peterson pulled out a transcript I assumed was Jack's fake one.

"This is an impressive list of grades, young man," Jack grinned at the compliment. "Well we've set you up with a buddy who will show you around for today. I think he should be waiting in reception so why don't you go see him and have a good first day."

"Go on Jack, have a good day honey." I smiled at him, rubbing his arm as he stood up to leave.

"Bye Dad, Mom." He grabbed his bag and quickly headed off. We stayed a little longer, talking through his transcript and how we liked the area. It was easy enough; my lying skills were coming on in leaps and bounds.

As we left a few mothers, including some of our neighbours, were still milling around in the playground chatting and we were waved over. Aaron, the most antisocial of being, rolled his eyes at me as we headed over. It wasn't lost on me that he was the only man, the idea made me laugh.

"Hey, was Jack excited his first day?" Shannon asked, smiling much too brightly considering it was eight in the morning.

"Yeah I think so, a little nervous but that's to be expected."

"It's so nice to meet you," Another of the Mother's offered and I smiled and introduced us. Each time finding it a little easier to deal with the age difference of our pretend marriage. The group went back to the topic they'd been on before we'd arrived and I was about to excuse ourselves when the topic piqued my interest.

"She could be pregnant, I was always tired with James. And she's looked a little off for weeks." I hadn't thought about pregnancy in a long time, it was something I'd tidied away along with all my thoughts of Spencer. But now, now it made sense. The nausea, the tiredness, the bipolar mood swings. I'd put it down to the entire situation but it could be something else. I tried to quickly calculate when my last period was and it drew a blank. It certainly hadn't been while we'd been here and December had been such a blur with Christmas. November maybe? Oh God, how could I have been so stupid?

Spencer, I'm so sorry.