October 4th, 2013 - 4 days old

"What are you doing down here? It's 3 AM, come back to bed."

Beth glanced up and saw Hotch had come downstairs to the living room. She gestured to the nursing baby with a nod of her head.

"Luna's been cluster feeding all night so I decided to come down here so you could get some rest."

Hotch plopped himself down on the couch next to her and stroked the baby's soft foot as she ate.

"I don't want rest. Okay that's a lie, I do want rest. But more than that I want my fiancee and my daughter in my room with me. If you're not sleeping I shouldn't be either."

Beth just chuckled and sleepily rested her head on Hotch's shoulder. "One of us should be coherent, for poor Jack's sake."

"Meh, Jack is pretty much self sufficient. He can make toast for breakfast and easy mac for lunch. Seriously Beth, you don't need to come downstairs to feed the baby."

"I know I know. She just wouldn't settle unless she was nursing and there isn't much you can do to help that. So I figured you might as well get some sleep."

"Well she looks settled now, so why don't we try and put her in her bassinet and get some rest."

Beth glanced down and the babe was fast asleep. She could feel the warm breath against her breast and hoped that after eating for the better part of 3 hours Luna would finally let them sleep. Hotch eased the baby off of her nursing pillow and into his arms while Beth dutifully applied the lanolin to her sore nipples. So far postpartum was more than she had bargained for.

"Come on, let's get some rest." Hotch held out his free hand to her so she took it and stood from the couch.

"Will you just give me a hug for a second?" Beth asked, feeling particularly vulnerable in her sleep deprived haze.

Hotch pulled her in against his chest and wrapped his free arm tight around her shoulders. He held Luna against his side with his other arm and felt Beth bury her face into his neck. He twisted his head to kiss her cheek. He realized that in the chaos of welcoming a newborn he had shown his fiancée very little affection. Usually there were goodnight kisses, good morning kisses, hello kisses, goodbye kisses but with no sleep schedule and very little leaving of the house he hadn't simply kissed her just because. He slowly ran his fingertips over her shoulder blades and after a few moments Beth pulled away and sighed.

"I love you," she told him.

Hotch smiled and leaned in to kiss her gently. "I love you too. Let's go to bed."

They went upstairs and Hotch cautiously laid the babe down in her bassinet on Beth's side of the bed.

"Grace and Roger want to take Jack on Sunday to celebrate his birthday a day early, with your mom here maybe she can watch Lou for a couple hours so we can take a nap."

"Don't even tempt me with such forbidden words like nap." Beth chuckled as she laid down in bed. "What are we going to do for Jack for his birthday? It kinda snuck up on us."

"I'm not sure, but we don't have to figure it out right this second. Let's go to sleep."

Hotch laid down on the bed next to her and the two of them were asleep within minutes.

"Jack we gotta go, dude!" Hotch yelled to his son from the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm coming, I just have to brush my teeth!" The boy yelled back.

"I made sure my mom has your number so she can call you - you know how she is with airports. You'll probably have to meet her in baggage claim, I don't think she'd be able to find her way to your car."

Hotch and Jack were picking Beth's mom Rosie up from the airport. She was coming to stay with them for a week to meet her new granddaughter and help around the house.

"It'll be fine, we're more than happy to meet her inside. Do you want me to pick up anything for lunch on our way back?"

"Yes, please. We never did get that Indian food."

"Sounds delicious," Hotch smiled at her.

Jack made his way downstairs and made his way over to the couch where Beth was sitting with Luna.

"She's eating again?!" He asked her. "I feel like she's always eating!"

"You and me both, kid." Beth agreed with him. "Thanks for going with your dad to pick up Grandma Rosie, love you."

"Love you too, mom." Jack leaned over and kissed Beth's cheek and then patted the baby's head. "Bye, Lulu. Love you too."

Hotch smiled at the interaction before leaning over the back of the couch to kiss the same cheek that Jack did. "Bye, babe. Bye, Luna."

"Say bye, Luna!" Beth reached down and waved the newborns hand goodbye. The door shut and Beth felt a strange sense of relief.

Postpartum was overwhelming to say the least, and she hadn't had a moment to herself since it all started. Her milk came in yesterday and she felt constantly engorged despite nursing for what seemed like 12 hours a day. Her stitches were sore and she had to be mindful when sitting down. Her stomach was deflated but still soft and not her own. She took a few deep breaths to center herself and noticed that the baby had stopped eating and was asleep in her arms.

"Shhh you're okay sweet girl, you're okay." She gingerly placed her in the swing, a baby shower gift from the team that had so far been a godsend.

Beth just stared at the baby. Her baby. In awe of what her and Aaron had created together. Now that she was here it seemed ridiculous that they had never considered babies in the first place. She couldn't tell who she looked like. She had gobs of dark hair - but she could have gotten that from either of them. Her blue eyes looked like Beth's but all babies were born with blue eyes, right? They could change. She had long fingers and toes and perfectly squishy cheeks. Beth wasn't certain who she looked like, but she was certain that she was perfect.

She laid back down on the couch and turned on The Office, Hotch couldn't stand it so she could only watch it when he was gone. It was her favorite episode, the dinner party with Michael and Jan, but she was asleep before the theme song even played.

Beth awoke when the smell of spicy curry filled her nostrils.

"Hey, we're home. Your mom's here." Hotch was crouched down next to the couch, his face near hers.

Beth nodded still in a daze from her nap. "You're home already?" She glanced over to Luna who was still napping in her swing.

"It's been almost two hours." Hotch told her.

"Wow, that was a good nap apparently. Where's mom?"

"Jack is helping her carry her bags to the guest room."

Hotch helped Beth off the couch and right on cue Jack and Rosie came down the stairs.

"Bethy!" It is so good to see you!" Rosie pulled her into a fierce hug and Beth happily hugged her back despite the sore boobs.

"It's so good to see you too, mom. I've missed you!"

"Lemme see that sweet girl of yours, I've just been dying with only photos and FaceTime for the last four days!"

Beth gestured to the swing and Rosie immediately awed over her new granddaughter.

"Well she's just perfect, isn't she?"

Beth and Aaron both nodded in agreement. "She's probably going to want to nurse again soon but you can hold her if you want?" Beth asked her.

"Yes, please! Not sure if I can figure out how to stop this contraption though. Aaron, would you be so kind?"

"Of course." Hotch turned off the Mamaroo swing and unbuckled his daughter. He swooped her up next to his face to kiss her several times on her cheek before handing her over to her grandma.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest baby there ever was?! Come snuggle with Grandma Rosie, we're going to be good friends." Rosie sat on the couch next to Beth. "How are you feeling? Are you doing okay?" She asked her daughter.

"Come on Jack, let's get some fresh air for a bit and let your mom and Grandma Rosie talk."

Outside Hotch and Jack kicked around the soccer ball. Fall was settling in and the cool air felt good as they ran around the backyard.

"What do you want to do to celebrate your birthday, buddy?"

Jack just shrugged his shoulders and shot the ball past Hotch and into the goal.

"Seriously buddy, there's got to be something you want to do to celebrate. Let's think of some fun things we could do."

Hotch sat down on the grass and patted for Jack to sit down next to him. Jack sat and played with the grass.

"I like it when we go camping together. Just you and me."

"Ahh" Hotch understood why he was hesitant to bring it up. "I think you know why we can't go camping this year buddy - but I really like it when we do that too. Maybe next year?"

"Yeah, maybe." Jack replied. Still playing with the grass.

"Well your grandparents are excited to spend time with you tomorrow. I know your grandma wanted to make cupcakes with you to take into school for your birthday.

"Can I go to my room and read, dad?"

Hotch felt defeated. "Sure, bud. Hey Jack… you know I love you, right?"

"I know, dad."

Hotch remained in the grass and watched his son walk back inside and up to his bedroom.

—-

Hotch laid in bed with Luna sleeping against his bare chest. Every night he did skin to skin with her as Beth would shower and get ready for bed. He loved their bonding time and was grateful he had decided to take four weeks off from work. He already dreaded leaving her.

"I'm worried about Jack." He said to Beth who was changing into her pajamas.

"I know he's been a little distant since we brought Luna home but that's pretty normal, right?"

"I guess, every year we take a camping trip to celebrate his birthday. He knows why we can't go this year, he's just taking it harder than I expected. He's usually so easy going I didn't think missing one year would be such a big deal to him."

"I know Jack loves me. And I know Jack loves Luna. But Aaron he's had a lot of big changes these past couple months just like we have. He's used to having you all to himself, and now he has to share you with me and a new baby. I think it's more than fair if that gets to him every once in a while."

Hotch stroked the soft skin of his daughters back and smoothed the hair on top of her head.

"You're right, I'm just not sure what I can do about it right now. I mean we can't go camping. I'm not willing to leave you and Lulu overnight right now."

Beth climbed into bed next to Hotch. "Well I appreciate that but I think I have an idea? What if we set up the tent in the backyard. We could get a projector and have an outdoor movie night, then you and Jack can sleep in the tent and Luna and I will sleep in the house. Not quite the same as camping but hopefully he'll still like it."

"That still means I'm away from you and Lou for a night."

"You'll just be right outside, Aaron. If I really need you I can come and get you. I think it's a good compromise."

"I do think he'd like it, and the outdoor movie night seems awesome. You're a good mom, you know that?"

Beth smiled and leaned over to kiss Hotch on the lips softly. "Now give me that baby so I can feed her and we can go to sleep."

Hotch reluctantly pulled the baby off his chest and handed her to Beth who was slowly getting the hang of getting her latched on.

"Mom said she'd be happy to watch Luna for a bit tomorrow so we can catch a nap in the afternoon while Jack's at Grace and Rogers."

"She's a good woman, I'm glad she's able to be here with you."

"Me too," Beth chuckled. "But she's also very Southern."

Hotch looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"She may or may not have implied that if I don't get my body back and start putting out again within a reasonable time frame you might get a wandering eye."

"Oh good lord, is that really what she thinks about me?"

"Less about you and more about me, babe. It's the woman's job to keep her man happy, don't you know? She also doesn't love the fact that we're living together and procreating out of wedlock. She thinks we should go to the courthouse sooner rather than later to rectify that situation. But overall, she has been really helpful with cooking and cleaning so I'll look past the passive aggressive comments."

"Well as soon as you're up for it we can head to the courthouse," Hotch winked at her.

"I do like the idea of a small wedding. Something low-key and calm. And I've always wanted to get married outside, maybe this spring?"

"That sounds perfect. I love you."

Hotch leaned over and kissed her as she nursed their baby.

"I love you too," Beth responded.