Chapter 5- Returning Home

"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all." - Emily Dickinson

Hotch's POV

That was the fastest case we have ever closed. The team drank at a local bar to celebrate.

"Hey, why aren't you drinking?" Gwen asked me, as she sat down with something clear in her hands.

"I could ask you the same thing, you are drinking club soda," I pointed out. Gwen just grinned.

"I have a bad history with alcohol. One of my bunkmates came back to the ship one night late, and she was drunk off her ass. I was reading, and she puked all over my book, and me. The next morning she was hung over, and as an officer, I had the responsibility to make her run drills. That was the punishment on our ship, each ship has a different set of punishments," Gwen explained. I almost fell out of my seat. She was giggling, when Reid joined us. He had a black russian in hand.

"What number drink is that for you?" I asked the young genius.

"This is my first, but I really like this drink. Thanks Gwen," Reid answered. Gwen laughed. It made sense that Reid liked that drink. It had vodka and coffee liquor, poured over ice, in an old fashioned glass.

"I thought you would like that drink," Gwen responded. Reid smiled at her. A thought crossed my mind, Reid was the same age at Sean, and only three years older than Gwen. He seems so much older then my little brother, and basically my surrogate sister.

"So after we get home, gun range and training room. Morgan probably wants to spar with Gwen, and I want to see what she can do with a gun," I told my two youngest. "Also, I will talk to Rossi about having a team and family get together. I want Gwen to meet Jack and Henry, the BAU children."

"I would love to meet my godson!" Gwen squealed. Haley and I had agreed that the first person I saved should be the one that gets Jack if anything happens to us. I let Gwen know in the mail, but she was overseas at the time.

"You will also get to meet my godson, Henry!" Reid exclaimed. Reid loved introducing people to Henry. He loved the boy. Infact, there was a rumor that Reid is Henry's father, anf JJ never told anyone any different. She told me that Henry was Will's, but I was the only one she told. Henry adored Reid, but then again, so did Jack. Jack called Reid, 'Uncle Spence', which is what Henry calls our young expert. The team was like a big huge family, and I was seen as the dad. It kinda made no sense but that is how this team worked the best.

"BAU Team, back to the hotel, we have an early plane ride," I told my team. The team walked out, and walked down to the hotel where we were staying. Everyone on the team had to double up, or in the girl's case, triple up. Reid and Morgan shared a room, Dave and I shared one, and JJ, Alex and Gwen stayed in the same room.

Guinevere's POV

The girls and I settled into our room. There were two beds. Alex and JJ slept on one, and I on the other. "So what should we do?" Alex asked.

"We should just talk more about ourselves," I suggested, both Alex and JJ nodded.

"I will start, I am Alex Blake. I am a linguistics professor at Georgetown, and I have been in the FBI for twenty years," Alex told me. I smiled.

"I am JJ, I used to be the media liaison for the BAU, before I got transferred to the State Department. After Emily 'died' I rejoined the BAU as a profiler. I am also the mom of a five year old boy, named Henry, he is the light of my life," JJ informed me.

"I am Gwen White. I joined the Navy at age eighteen, and became a Navy doctor. When I was discharged, I was offered a job with NCIS, but I chose the FBI," I told the girls. They smiled at me.

"Now, what can you girls tell me about Reid, and Hotch. They seem to be very close?" I asked. JJ smirked.

"Spence has a huge crush on Hotch. He has since about a year after he joined the Bureau. Hotch has a small crush on Reid as well," JJ gossiped.

I smiled. After the death of Haley, Aaron deserved to be happy. "So what would be the best way to get them together?" I asked. JJ just smiled at me.

"Probably make Hotch jealous, and it shouldn't be too hard, Hotch is an alpha male. We just have to show him what he is missing. When we go to the training room, we can flirt with Reid, and you, Gwen should be the one to talk to Aaron, and make it seem like you like Spencer. Reid hasn't noticed anyone besides Hotch and Maeve in years," Blake told me.

"When we spar, I will talk with Aaron, after all, he sees me like a sister, and in all honesty, he is my big brother. When I was in high school, I got bullied and mentioned it in passing in a letter. The day after he got the letter, he showed up at my house, and he spent the whole day talking me out of suicide, and he drove me around in rual North Carolina. Also, I never got bullied again, I think he made a call to my high school, and abused his position," I reminisced. "That was probably one of my favorite days, before the Navy."

Aaron had suggested that day that I could go to school and join the FBI. That is why, in addition to going to Med school, I got other degrees, to try to get the appropriate degrees to become a profiler. I am so happy Aaron suggested that I do this, I have found a fellow genius, a hopefully new sparring partner, a brother, and a kinda father figure.

As a high schooler, I dated one guy, who had spread rumors about me, and that is why I was bullied. Alex was a sore loser, and once he saw my scars, even after two years of dating, he dumped me. Besides my family, and my unit in the Navy, the people in the BAU were some of the first people to not pay attention to my scars, or my title. They liked me for me. With that thought, I fell asleep, with a smile on my face.

Time Skip

Hotch's POV

We boarded the plane at nine O'clock the next morning, and the girls looked like they had bonded last night. They sat down in the spots that they had taken on our way here, but they were all smiling, laughing, and making fun of Derek. "You know, I am sure Morgan is sad he didn't get to kick any doors down," JJ commented, and Reid snorted.

"Leave Morgan alone, he is just sad he didn't get any phone numbers while on this case," Gwen jokes. Morgan just shook his head and rolled his eyes. I smiled, this was my family.

"Hey Hotch are you okay?" Reid asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked the second youngest, and the man I had a crush on.

"I thought I saw a smile on your face, but it could have been a figment of my imagination," Reid teased me.

"It was a figment of your imagination," I replied sarcastically. It was nice that my team felt comfortable enough to tease me as much as they tease each other. As long as Strauss didn't see how casual the team was with each other. Blake, Reid, Morgan, and JJ were like siblings, Garcia like the crazy aunt, Dave like the crazy uncle, and Gwen was beginning to fit into the sibling category for the team. I have got to admit, sometimes I am like their fathers. I think for Morgan, I am a father figure, but Gideon was Reid's father figure. It must have hurt Reid a lot when Gideon left, because he left in the same way Reid's real father left him.

"Yeah sure it was," Gwen teased, and knocked into my shoulder. I smiled, and knocked into her shoulder.

"Is it really going to be like this the whole plane ride?" Dave asked.

"YES!" The whole team replied.