Present Day
Hotch realized with a start that the next skater had already begun skating her program and, when he looked over, he thought he could see Paige's dress at the back of the waiting area. He took a deep breath and smiled fondly as he remembered the numerous changes he, his family, and his team had dealt with over the past several years.
Nine Years Previously
The next two years had gone fairly smoothly for his new family. Once Paige had settled at Fairfax Valley Ice Arena with Tovah as her coach, the next decision they had faced involved buying a house.
"Figure out how much you can afford to put towards a down payment," Laurel had told Hotch. "And, I will match it. I will also match whatever you feel is manageable for the monthly mortgage payment."
"I can't let you do that!" Hotch's alpha male ego was bruised. "I can provide for my – "
"Aaron – I'm not questioning that!" Laurel told him. "But, I have all those millions in the bank or in the funds or whatever they are, earning even more millions. Let's put them to work doing something useful – Like putting a roof over our heads."
Hotch had to agree she had a point. Their latest income tax return had featured figures that would have looked at home in the yearly budget of a small country. And, he strongly suspected, those numbers were only going to get bigger as the years went by. As promised, Rossi's accountant/money manager was very, very good, and Laurel and Allison's hotel venture was rapidly expanding.
He wasn't particularly surprised, therefore, several weeks later when upon returning home from an out of town trip, he was greeted by a smiling Laurel waving several sheets of paper at him.
"I have narrowed it down to four houses," she told him as she surrendered the sheets to him. "Read through these and see what you think. Eliminate any you see obvious problems with and then I will get with the realtor and make arrangements for us to walk through whatever is left. And, if you don't like any of them, just let me know and I'll keep looking!"
The first two houses Hotch read the specs on seemed reasonable, and he put the sheets to one side. However, when he picked up the sheet on the third house and looked at the address his hands began trembling and he quickly turned the sheet upside down on his desk. After taking several deep, calming breaths, he turned the sheet face upward again and, with his hands still shaking, reread it.
"These three are fine," he told Laurel an hour later as he handed her the sheets. "However, this one," he was trying not to tremble as he held up the sheet. "It is just a few houses down from where – Haley – and I – and where she - "
"That's okay," Laurel assured him as she took the sheet and tore it in half. "I had no idea or I never would have considered it to start with. Now, I understand you are on desk duty for the next day or so?"
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
The house they settled on featured a 'Mother-In-Law's Suite' over the garage.
"That is for Jessica," Laurel told Hotch when he asked why they needed it. "Mr. Brooks is getting worse and she is going to have to put him in a home soon. That is going to be one of the worst days of her life and I don't want her going home to an empty apartment afterwards. She belongs here with us. After what that woman has given up over the years, first helping with Haley and then with Jack and, finally, with her father, she deserves to know she has family and a place where she belongs. I don't care if she ever uses it or not, but that is going to be her space."
A week later when they walked Jessica through the house and up the stairs to show her the rooms and tell her that they were for her, she promptly burst into tears.
