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Chapter 29
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Hotch arrived at Liam's birthday party with Jack in his arms, the one year old clutching a gift wrapped box in his hands. The door flew open before Hotch had the chance to ring the bell.
"Mr. Hotchner, Jack, Hi," Declan answered the door, and welcomed them inside.
"It's a dinosaur party!" Declan told them as he ushered them into the house.
There were some balloons and streamers in the living room. Louise popped her head out of the kitchen to say hello, and Hotch joined her as Jack squirmed to get down.
Hotch placed Jack on the floor, and Declan offered up his hand to the small boy. Jack grabbed his hand, but with the large present, he tipped to the side. Hotch corrected Jack's stance as Declan grabbed the present.
"Come on, Jack. I'll show you where the present goes."
Declan and Hotch led Jack to the gift table, then Declan grabbed Jack's hand again as they walked around.
"Jack, wanna be a dinosaur?" Declan asked him.
"Ya!"
Hotch helped Declan put the T-Rex foam hat on Jack's head, tightening the strap so the hat wouldn't fall off. Prentiss came downstairs with Liam; he was already wearing his hat.
"Roar!" Liam yelled at Declan and Jack. The boys roared back at him.
Liam roared again, "Look Jack Jack, Imma T-Rex like you. Hi Mr. Hotch. I'm three today!"
"Hello Liam. Happy birthday."
"Rawr, grrawar." He started as Declan and Jack joined in. The youngest one clapping his hands.
Prentiss ushered them outside, "Can you boys go see what Spencer is doing?"
Jack tried to follow the older boys, darting past Hotch, but Prentiss caught him before he left the room, and flipped him upside down.
"Hello Mr. Jack!" Prentiss tickled him while he giggled, and thumped his feet against her chest.
She looked over her shoulder as she headed into the kitchen, "Come on, Hotch. I need some liquid courage before I look in the backyard."
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Louise met them with two bottles of beer. Handing them to Hotch, she took Jack from Prentiss, "Are you a wee little dino?"
Prentiss took a beer from him, and took a long sip, "No amount of alcohol will help. Louise, what's left?"
"Shall we set the table? Then we can tackle the volcano fixings."
"Rawr," Jack said as he pulled on Louise's shirt.
Laughing, Prentiss said to Hotch, "I think he's looking for the boys. Want to head out?"
Hotch took Jack, and headed through the kitchen to the backyard. The yard had not been divided when the brownstone was converted into two units. The large yard had a concrete patio area, with a majority of the space dedicated to a green lawn with shrubbery and trees around the border.
He found Reid giving instructions to the older boys, while he hung a giant pterodactyl from a clear fishing line. Declan ran off and grabbed a bag of sand from the side of the house, as Liam headed to the patio to separate buckets and shovels.
"Hey Reid!"
"Hotch, I am glad you are here. Can you give me a hand? Setting up the pulley system is a two person job."
"Down, Dada, down." Hotch put Jack down and he ran over to Declan. Liam joined them with a handful of shovels, and the three boys shoveled the sand from the bag and into the square sandbox.
For the next thirty minutes, Reid directed Hotch as they set up what would only be described as an elaborate zip line for a dinosaur shaped pinata.
"Okay, boys, everyone inside while Hotch and I finish everything." Reid told them.
Hotch followed the boys and made sure Jack made it inside where Louise picked him up. Returning to the backyard, he was put in charge of setting up a nest with large eggs, and hiding several dinosaur toys throughout the yard as Reid buried a dinosaur skeleton in the sand box.
A few minutes later, he joined Reid at the sandbox. Hotch watched as the young genius methodically laid out each bone. "You're really enjoying this."
"I do! We involved the boys in the planning, and we just made their ideas happen. Although, I am disappointed that Emily didn't allow us to set up a tar pit."
Hotch smiled at his excitement. Reid placed the final bone, and began spreading sand lightly over the skeleton. Hotch went to the side of the house to grab the remaining bags of sand.
The back door opened, and Morgan stepped out with another man. Morgan took over Hotch's duties as the two men exchanged pleasantries.
"Professor, it's nice to see you again."
Professor William Prentiss, Prentiss' father, looked the same as the last time Hotch had seen him, over fifteen years prior. The literature professor stood an inch or so shorter than Hotch with salt and pepper hair, and deeply set laugh lines around his mouth and eyes.
"Agent Hotchner, I heard you were running the BAU. I couldn't believe it when Em told me you were her boss. Small world, eh?" They shook hands and Hotch turned, gesturing to Reid.
"Professor, this is Dr. Spencer..." Hotch started to say but he was interrupted.
"You can call me William." He said to Hotch, "And I know Spencer quite well."
The professor stepped forward and grabbed a bag of sand, joining the group.
Reid leveled, and smoothed, the top of the sand before stepping back, speaking curtly, "William."
William threw his head back and laughed, startling Morgan and Hotch, "Come on, Spencer. It was just a joke."
Exchanging looks, the two senior agents turned back to Reid. He ignored them, and began picking up the empty plastic bags. He stomped off to the trash can set up near the door, shoving the bags in, and going inside the house.
"What did you do? I have never gotten him that riled up." Morgan exclaimed.
Biting his lip to keep from laughing out loud, William shook his head.
The back door opened, Prentiss walked out with Declan. The boy ran to William who enveloped him into a hug.
"Declan, can you please put the brushes in the buckets?" She handed a bag of paint brushes to him before turning to her father, "Again, Dad? You need to apologize."
William ducked his head a bit, and Prentiss pushed him towards the door. She turned to Morgan and Hotch, "Weclome to my family."
"Princess, what did your dad do?"
Shaking her head, Prentiss sat down in a patio chair and laughed, "My dad is a literature professor, so people often ask him for book recommendations. He amuses himself by recommending books that will irritate the person the most, like The Da Vinci Code to hard core Catholics."
Hotch chuckled as he sat down, "What did he recommend to Reid?"
"Twilight series; he even gave him all four books."
Morgan started laughing, his hand slapping the table, "Aw man, sparkly vampires."
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A/N: My favorite portrayal of Emily's Dad is in the Sienna27 Girl Universe stories, he's a badass CIA agent. Hope you like my jokester professor.
Big Thanks to Natzinoo for being a great friend and Beta.
