"Are you certain this is a good idea, stellina?"
"When Aaron called to tell me that there was lingering tension between Doctor Reid and the women, I knew that he had the entirely right idea to have the team over here to bond. As long as they don't mind Elise and Catherine here, too."
Her beloved gave her a knowing look. "If any of them say anything, I know that it will be the last time they're invited to our home." She nodded a little. "All right, when will they start arriving?"
The doorbell ringing answered that question, and Erin pushed him in the direction of the front door while she went into the living room to collect Catherine. Elise was talking up a storm to Tabitha and she smiled at her girls as she lifted her youngest up in her arms. "Papa's friends are arriving. Do you want to join us now?"
"Can I be in the kitchen, too, Mama? Since I switched shifts with Ashlyn, I don't really have anything to do tonight, and my homework is finished."
"I suppose that wouldn't be a bad thing. And maybe that can help defuse a bit of the tension that's come up in the team." Tabitha smiled as she got to her feet and Elise bounced up and down as she followed them into the kitchen.
"No Karen or Bruce?" Aaron asked as he lifted Elise up into his arms, holding her tight.
"Bruce is on a date, and Karen is at her study group. So you just have the younger girls tonight." Erin smiled as she kissed Catherine's head before getting her settled in the high chair. "I think that David's opening a few bottles of red this evening, so I went ahead and told Jessica to keep Jack with her this evening, since I'd rather you be safe here."
"I doubt…"
"Aaron."
"Fine! I know when I'm beat. Are you going to open that offer up to the others, too?"
She shrugged as she helped David get everything set up for their little cooking lesson. "I might, depending on who drinks how much. Family looks after each other, after all."
"I don't know if we'll all be here. Reid was really hesitant to agree on this little lesson."
"Doctor Reid will be here, I have faith that he'll come to his senses. But you can't keep pushing him to just be all right with Emily's return from the supposed dead. Or the fact that you and Agent Jareau kept that truth from him. He's the youngest on the team, and from what I've read in his file, he's also had a lot of adult responsibility thrust upon him at a young age. That will affect how he bonds with people, and how deeply he trusts, and when it appears that that trust has been deeply broken, of course he's going to be hurt. Give him time. You were gracious enough to do that with me, after all."
Aaron looked a little mollified by that statement, giving her a small nod as he settled Elise down on the counter and kissed her cheek softly. "I suppose that we could do that, Erin." The doorbell rang again, and David gave her a small smile as he left the kitchen to answer it, which left her alone with Aaron. "I guess that I never saw how well you can profile our team."
"I've learned to pay attention to the words that aren't said and the looks that are given in secrecy. It was the only way that I could survive the BAU after what happened with Alex."
"You still haven't found a way to make amends with her yet?"
She shook her head slowly as she made her way over to Aaron's side, reaching out to stroke Elise's hair lightly as she took a few deep breaths. "I wish that I could, but she is as far away from me as Mars is from Earth."
He gave her a wry smile as he patted her shoulder softly. "There comes a point in life where we have to decide if continuously cutting ourselves open to bleed out all our unachievable desires is really such a good thing. Perhaps you might want to consider that when it comes to Alex, since you need to allow that scar tissue to build up."
"I think that I know you're right, but I still want to cling to that tiny sliver of hope. Perhaps you just need to keep speaking that truth in my heart?"
He nodded as Penelope came into the kitchen, a wide grin on her face. "Hey, you two! Derek and Emily are right behind me, but I wanted to scurry in and see my darling girls before we got down to brass tacks!" Tabitha giggled a little as she led Agent Morgan and Emily into the kitchen, a slight blush in her cheeks that told her one of the adults had perhaps been a little too flirty, and Erin felt her mama bear instincts kick in as Penelope dropped a soft kiss to Catherine's head before hugging Elise tightly.
"Mama, Derek tells the best jokes!"
"That's good to hear, darling. I just hope that they are appropriate jokes," she replied, staring into Morgan's face until he gave her a small nod in return. Raising her eyebrow a little, she turned her attention back to Aaron and Elise as the doorbell rang once more. "I hope that you're all ready to do some serious cooking tonight. David hasn't even taught me how to make proper pasta yet."
"Ah, stellina, all you ever had to do was ask," he replied as he led Jennifer into the kitchen, a wide grin on his lips. "Though I do like what you make for our family, too." Coming over to her side, he kissed her cheek softly before turning to the open bottles of wine and pouring out glasses for each of them. "Pasta is about pairing the right things together to make a perfect blending, which is sort of like our family. We are a perfect blending of very different parts. And sometimes, parts of the whole go missing, so we have to make due with the ingredients that we have on hand."
The doorbell rang one last time, and Erin smiled at Aaron, since she knew that her faith had been rewarded. "I will give you this one, Erin," he said, and her smile slipped into a smirk as she sipped at her wine.
When David had returned with Doctor Reid, she made certain to hand him his own glass of wine before turning her focus on her fiancé. It was so easy to sit back and watch him try to teach the team about the basics of good pasta, while slipping pieces of spaghetti to Catherine while he did so. Soon, it seemed like everyone was loosening up and relaxing, and Erin did her part by keeping the wine glasses full, running a mental tally of who had drank how much and how many they would have to plan on keeping overnight. Obviously Aaron, but it also looked like Penelope was a strong contender, too. That wouldn't be too bad, but it would be a tighter fit if any of the others decided to stay the night. But no matter what else happened that evening, she knew that they would somehow make it work.