Chapter Nineteen: The Ties That Bind
"It is a wise father that knows his own child." -William Shakespeare
The next morning, Beck, Amelia, and the boys flew back to New Orleans. Although Beck told her Will had apologized, judging by the way JJ was acting around Will, Tate knew they were still fighting. Well, that and the fact that Will had spent the night on the couch.
Will's truck pulled up to the curb and he threw the car in park. When Tate didn't get out immediately, Will looked over at her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"You and JJ are fighting," she stated, and Will sighed.
Will felt slightly guilty that Tate had to hear them fighting. Ok, more than slightly guilty. He'd had to listen to his parents argue on more than one occasion growing up, and he knew how much it messed with a kid.
"It's just…complicated, okay? I said some things I probably shouldn't have," Will told her.
"Yeah, I heard".
"Look, kiddo, we'll be fine okay? Don't worry about it," Will said.
"Okay," Tate replied to appease him. She opened the door and hopped out, reaching down onto the floor of the truck to grab her bag.
"Have a good day, kiddo. I love you," Will said to her as she shut the door.
JJ walked into the office that morning, not looking forward to seeing everyone. She knew there'd be questions about the previous night, and she wasn't exactly looking forward to them.
She entered the round-table room and was about to start the briefing when Emily spoke up.
"So, is everything okay?".
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" JJ asked dismissively.
"Because your mother-in-law basically chewed out your daughter before revealing that Will's brother isn't actually his brother," Derek said.
"First of all, she's not my mother-in-law. Second of all, Tate isn't exactly my daughter. Beck is still Will's brother, they have the same mother. And can we please talk about something else?" JJ snapped.
Thankfully, Hotch turned the discussion towards the case, and JJ breathed a sigh of relief. She just wanted to work and forget about everything going on at home.
The next month was a blur as JJ and Will prepared for the arrival of their twins. She and Will were no longer fighting and had long since made up. They'd both apologized to one another, after realizing they'd both been in the wrong. And Tate and Beck both seemed okay after Annie had verbally attacked the pair, so all was well in the LaMontagne family.
JJ's doctor had approved her to fly once again, as he didn't think it'd put the babies at risk, so she headed off with the team to Las Vegas.
Reid had been acting strange the whole trip, but she couldn't figure out why. She was relieved, however, when Rossi and Morgan offered to stay behind and keep an eye on him. The rest of the team flew home, and JJ began training Agent Todd, who would take over for her while she was on maternity leave.
Once JJ knew why Reid had been acting so strangely, she swore to herself she'd do whatever she could to help. After all, it couldn't exactly be easy investigating your father for the murder of your childhood best friend.
As she was explaining to Agent Todd how she chose which cases to send the team on, she felt a contraction but blamed it on Braxton-Hicks. And when they kept occurring throughout the morning, she ignored them in favor of helping Reid.
It wasn't until Garcia noticed that she finally caved and told someone. As Garcia tried to get her up, she argued with the woman.
"Reid needs us right now," JJ said.
Her best friend was in trouble, and she needed to help him. But Garcia being Garcia was a woman on a mission, and wasn't taking no for an answer. She marched JJ into the breakroom where Emily and Hotch were and loudly declared she was in labor.
By ignoring the contractions, JJ had somehow kept her panic away. But now that Garcia was taking control of the situation, she began to worry. By the end of the day, she'd have two sons. She and Will still had so many things to do. They had to pick out names, and the nursery wasn't finished yet. And Will, she needed to call Will, of course.
Hotch being Hotch stayed calm and collected, and ran down to the garage to get an SUV, while Emily and Garcia helped her to the elevator.
"I need to call Will," she told them.
"From the car, honey, breathe and walk. Breathe and walk," Garcia said.
Once they'd reached the car, Emily pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Will's number.
"Will, it's me. JJ's gone into labor. Yeah, no she's fine. Just meet us at the hospital," Emily said quickly before hanging up.
"He's on his way," she told JJ, who winced as another contraction hit.
They pulled up to a hospital and a nurse quickly settled JJ into a wheelchair.
Still in a panic, JJ looked around for Emily.
"Where's Will?" she asked.
"He's coming as quickly as he can, you just focus on the babies, okay?" Emily told her.
Ten minutes later, Will raced into JJ's hospital room.
"Hey, cher, I'm here," he said, giving her a kiss and taking her hand.
JJ squeezed his hand as another contraction hit.
Will had panicked on his way over, somehow thinking he wasn't going to make it in time, which Madeline told him was completely ridiculous, and that he'd have plenty of time to spare. She'd driven, as she hadn't trusted Will not to crash, which gave him time to text Beck and let him know his nephews were on the way.
"I hope you're happy with these two cause I'm never doing this again," she warned him as she hissed with pain.
And three short hours later, at 2:45 and 2:53 PM on the 4th of April, the LaMontagne twins were born.
Will held one in his arms, perched on the side of the bed, while JJ held the other. Will looked down at his firstborn son, wrapped in a blue blanket, looking so incredibly small. A six-pound eight-ounce bundle of perfection. There was nothing he wouldn't do for them.
"Hey, cher," Will said softly, and JJ looked up from their other boy.
"Yeah?".
"Thanks," he said, gently kissing her.
"Well, you do deserve some of the credit," JJ told him, lightly stroking their son's cheek.
"You did more of the work".
"How about I'll take 75% of the credit, and you can have 25%," JJ joked.
"Works for me," Will said.
Tate walked out of school with Ellie, Lucy, Carter, and Noah. Ben had a doctor's appointment, but the rest of them were hanging out during the afternoon. It was the two-week period between the end of winter sports and the start of the spring season, so they were taking advantage of the time they had where the majority of them were free.
Most of the kids, including Tate, walked home, which meant they didn't have to worry about getting a ride anywhere.
"So where do we wanna go?" Noah asked.
"I'm hungry," Carter announced.
"You're always hungry," the girls chorused in response.
"We could get ice cream," Tate suggested.
"It's practically still winter," Lucy pointed out.
"It's the New Englander in her. They eat ice cream all year round, even if it's below zero out," Carter quipped.
"That guy's staring at us," Tate heard Ellie say to Lucy.
"Who cares? He's hot," Lucy whispered back.
"Lucy, he's old enough to be your dad," Noah said, exasperated.
"He's not that old," Lucy argued.
Finally deciding to see what all the fuss was about, Tate turned to look at the man Ellie and Lucy were talking about.
"I'll be sure to tell my uncle you think he's hot, Lucy," Tate said, laughing, as she crossed the street to where Beck was standing. She could hear Lucy's protests behind her as Beck greeted her with a hug.
"What're they arguing about?" he asked her.
"Nothing, it's stupid. What are you doing here?".
"Well, I just thought you might like to meet your little brothers," Beck said grinning.
"JJ had the babies!?".
"Yup, and Amelia and I've been waiting twenty minutes for you so we could finally go see them," Beck complained.
"How rude of me to keep you waiting," Tate joked, as she slid in the back seat of Will's truck that Beck had picked up at the precinct since Will had gone to the hospital in a squad car.
Tate greeted Amelia as Beck pulled out onto the street, and soon they had arrived at the hospital.
They walked into JJ's room to find Hotch, Emily, and Garcia already there, cooing over the babies.
"Mind if we join the party?" Beck asked softly.
Emily had been holding one of the babies for a moment, and JJ held the other, which meant Will had his hands free to greet his brother with a hug.
Meanwhile, JJ waved Tate over to the bed.
"Sit down," she said, so Tate obliged and gently sat on the edge of the bed.
"Have you decided which one's which yet?" Tate asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Wanna hold one?".
Tate nodded, and Emily moved to put the baby she was holding in Tate's arms.
JJ knew the girl had younger foster siblings in her other homes, and it showed. She held the baby just the way she should and seemed comfortable with the baby.
Tate smiled down at the baby. She'd always liked babies, at least when she wasn't responsible for looking after them all the time. And she supposed these were her little brothers. It made her think of Theo, how he had probably held her when she was a baby, just like this.
Will glanced over from where he'd be talking to Beck and Amelia and smiled. Tate held one baby, while JJ held the other. His whole world was right here in this room.
"You wanna meet your nephews?" he asked his brother, who was grinning like a kid on Christmas.
JJ handed the baby over to Beck, and Amelia looked over his shoulder at the tiny boy.
Will couldn't help but smile at his brother. Will knew he and Amelia had been trying for another kid over the past few years, and had eventually given up. But Beck had always looked best with a kid in his arms, he was just naturally good with babies.
"You guys make some cute kids," she commented.
"Must be JJ's doing," Beck joked.
The boys were fraternal, so while they both had blue eyes, as most babies did, the one being held by Tate had blonde hair, whereas the one in Beck's arms had brown.
"So do we finally get to know our nephew's names or are they just gonna be baby A and baby B forever?" Beck asked.
"Well," Will said, glancing at JJ, who nodded, and smiled before continuing.
"The one Tate's holding is Baby B, that's Henry,".
"Aw, that's adorable," Amelia said, going over to get a better look at the small blonde.
"And um the one you're holding is Beckett," Will told his brother.
Beck froze for a moment, before looking at his brother.
"You're sure?" he choked out.
Will nodded, and wrapped an arm around his big brother's shoulders.
"Course we are. That's why we named Baby A Beckett, cause he's gonna be the best big brother," Will said.
When they'd found out they were having twins and needed a second name to go with Henry, Will immediately knew he wanted to name him after Beck. It had taken some thinking to come up with a nickname that wasn't Beck, but JJ had thought of Kit. It was a bit of a stretch, but they didn't mind.
JJ hadn't been surprised when Will had asked if they could name one after Beck. After all, Beck was his brother, his best friend, his protector. Will felt about Beck the way JJ had felt about Roz. So she'd quickly agreed, especially since Will had allowed her to pick the name Henry.
Beck smiled down at his nephew. He'd been feeling confused lately, slightly lost, after what his mother had revealed, but looking down into his namesake's big blue eyes, he knew. This was his family.
"We're gonna call him Kit for short," JJ told Beck and Amelia.
"It's wonderful," Amelia said.
"What are you doing for middle names?" Beck asked.
Will glanced over at Tate, slightly anxious. One namesake had gone well, so now it was time to see how the other went over.
"Well, we were thinking about doing William for one," JJ said, before looking over at Will to continue.
"And the other?" Tate spoke up.
"What would you think about us using Theodore?" Will asked the girl, looking at her to gauge her reaction.
She seemed stunned for a second, and didn't respond.
"Yeah, yeah I think that's perfect," she said quietly. JJ wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and drew her and the baby close.
Will had quietly suggested it one night when they were thinking of names. They had Henry, Beckett, and William, so all they had needed was another middle name. From what Tate and Grant had told him about Theo, he was a good man, and an even better brother. The type of brother he wanted his sons to be to one another.
JJ had agreed, so long as they asked Tate's permission, but she thought the name was fitting.
"You wanna pick which one's which?" JJ asked.
Tate thought about it for a moment, before looking at Kit in Beck's arms.
"Well, we might as well stick to the big brother theme".
"Henry William and Beckett Theodore it is," JJ said.
Looking around the room at her family, JJ finally felt at peace. Everything over the past few months had been so chaotic. First, Will had taken in Tate, and JJ had found out she was pregnant, which of course had come with the fear that Will would leave her. And then there'd been Will's accident, the move, and the fight with Annie.
But now, in this tiny little moment in time, everything was perfect.
Amelia, Beck, and Tate had gone to get some food for everyone, and Hotch, Emily, and Garcia had come back into the room to see the babies again.
After seeing the rare genuine smile on Hotch's face when he looked at the boys, JJ handed Kit over for him to hold, while she held Henry in her arms.
Spencer finally arrived, looking like he'd been through hell, which she supposed he had.
"What are their names?" Spence asked.
"This is Henry William and the one Hotch is holding is Beckett Theodore," JJ explained.
"You wanna hold him?" she asked Spencer, who looked flustered in response.
He tried to argue, but she put Henry in his arms anyway, showing him how to hold his head properly.
"We wanted to ask you all something," Will said, looking around the room at everyone.
Everyone looked up from the babies when he spoke, and glanced at JJ.
"We were wondering if you would all be willing to be godparents to the twins? Hotch and Emily for Kit and Garica and Spence for Henry," she asked them.
"Wow," was all Spencer could say.
"Are you sure?" Emily asked, and JJ and Will nodded.
"Then we'd be honored," Hotch said, smiling down at his godson.
"If anything ever happened to us, Beck and Amelia would take them in, but JJ wanted to make sure someone was around to get them into Yale," Will joked.
"You guys can do better than Yale," Spencer whispered to Henry.
Everyone laughed, happy to all be together for a joyous occasion. The time they spent together always had a hint of despair to it, since they were typically tracking down killers. But for once, there was a complete sense of joy.
"There is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some people come into your life to test you, some to teach you, some to use you, and some to bring out the very best in you, but everyone will teach you something about yourself." -John Geiger