AN: Continuing from the previous chapter. I wasn't ready to let Sean go without one more chapter. But he will be back later in the story.
Hotch got off the elevator and entered the glass doors of the BAU later than usual on Monday morning after dropping Sean off at the airport for his early morning flight back to NYC. Despite it being Monday and arriving later than usual, even the promise of a meeting with Strauss that afternoon could diminish his upbeat mood. And why was an upcoming meeting with Strauss not stressing him out as it had previously when he knew she was still trying to find a way to get him out of the BAU? Well, for the life of him he couldn't think of any issues Strauss could have with him or his team right now.
His paperwork was up to date.
He was on target with the team's budget.
There had been no issues since their last meeting with cases or consults.
He had been working with Derek and Emily on team leadership skills with Derek having even led a couple of cases in the field.
Derek and Garcia hadn't been referred for a sexual harassment seminar in at least 4 months, a record for the two of them since he took over as Unit Chief. He didn't even want to let his thoughts go as to why there was less sexual tension between the two. Nope, not going to think about it.
The team's pranks had mostly been focused on Dave and given the animosity between Dave and Strauss and how annoyed Dave had been with the pranks Strauss had witnessed, Hotch didn't see her discouraging them.
Furthermore, though he wouldn't address the subject with the team, Hotch anticipated that Strauss wouldn't mention the pranks at all as no one had unintentionally become involved recently.
Except Emily.
Just the previous week, as the team had been waiting to hear back about a potential case Spencer had taken a break from his work and gotten into his supplies for Physics Magic. Having seen Spencer setting up the supplies, Dave had asked him what he was doing as he also was trying to distract himself from work.
As he had done with other members of the team previously, Spencer explained it to a point and then had Dave turn while he did the final prep. After Dave turned back around, the film canister flew through the air and unexpectedly hit Emily on the forehead once again as she walked back into the bullpen. The bullpen had become very quiet as the team watched Emily first look around confused and then angry as she realized what had just happened.
Luckily he had been able to intervene with an update on the case to distract them before there was any bloodshed. That bloodshed in the bullpen would definitely be an issue which Strauss would have sanctioned him. So at least for now he could not think of any issues where Strauss would have a substantive complaint on his job performance or about his team.
As he entered his office and turned on the lights, he was pleased to not see any surprises. No visitors. No large piles of paperwork. There were some files in his to-do box but nothing new and he had been fairly sure when he reviewed those items on Friday that he could have it done in a couple of hours.
After working for a while, his thoughts went back to the weekend. He hadn't realized until the weekend how much the visit from Sean had been just what he needed. It had been a long time since he had laughed that much, having forgotten how much fun his younger brother could be.
####
When they had arrived home from the bar on Friday night, both Hotch and Sean had quickly excused themselves to go to bed both citing the late hour and a long week. When he had woken up on Saturday morning Hotch was surprised to find that Sean was already awake and in his kitchen making breakfast.
Later that morning Hotch would learn that Sean had stopped at the store to buy the food on his way back to the apartment after his run. This fact hadn't surprised Hotch at all given that he didn't remember there being any food at all in his refrigerator let alone anything that would have created the great breakfast Sean prepared for the two of them.
As they ate breakfast, Hotch shared his plans of taking Jack to the zoo that day. As he offered Sean an out for it as he was getting ready to leave, Sean broke out with a grin and chuckled. He walked out the door and down to the car with an amused Hotch behind him.
In the car on the way to the zoo, Jack and Sean had bonded over their mutual love of giraffes. When they arrived, they headed for the giraffes first. There and at all of the other enclosures they visited, Sean used the information the zookeepers had posted about the animals to make up stories about each of the animals in the exhibit. Stories that fascinated Jack and held his attention until they stopped for lunch. Sean had also taken as many candid pictures as he could of Hotch and Jack for a special project he was planning for his brother that he would work on once he was back in NYC.
Sensing Jack was ready for a change whether he was ready to admit it or not, after lunch Hotch suggested checking out the indoor exhibits. When they arrived at the building that had aquariums, Jack very excitedly approached the tank that had the clown fish like in one of his favorite movies, Finding Nemo.
Over the next few minutes as they looked at the tanks, Sean and Jack bonded over their shared love of Finding Nemo and started to call each other "dude" in true Crush fashion. The drive back to his apartment later that afternoon had been an adventure. Sean, who Jack was now calling Uncle Dude, had started referring to Hotch as Marlon. Jack, who Sean was now calling Little Dude, giggling about this from the back seat telling his father to "avoid the jellies, man" as Hotch navigated through traffic.
By the time they arrived back at Hotch's apartment, Jack had been starting to drift off to sleep. Given the time, Hotch didn't want him to nap now as it would be difficult to get him back to sleep for the night at any reasonable time. As they walked away from the car with Hotch carrying a cranky Jack, Sean mentioned that he had prepped dinner that morning and would have it ready in 20-30 minutes.
When they arrived in the apartment, Hotch took Jack into the living room while Sean headed to the kitchen. As promised, 25 minutes later Sean announced that dinner was ready for the Hotchner men. Jack's mood improved after eating though from experience Hotch knew that it would be short lived given their busy day. Just as he had gotten his son through his bath he became cranky again. After getting through the rest of his bedtime routine, Jack had fallen asleep within the first couple of pages of his bedtime book.
Hotch and Sean spent the next few hours catching up on their respective lives staying up later than they had intended. Late enough that they both felt it when Jack woke them both up early the next morning.
After another Sean prepared breakfast the decision was made much to Jack's excitement to spend some time at the local park. Hours later they returned to the apartment after a fun time to give Jack a nap before dinner.
While Jack was sleeping, Hotch was in the kitchen helping Sean. As they talked Sean shared that he had done some research on kid friendly recipes once Hotch had mentioned what Jack liked and didn't like. He had been pleasantly surprised to see his nephew enjoy the food and promised to leave a few of the recipes for his brother to try when Jack was at his place.
While they were cooking, Sean asked about all of the containers in Hotch's freezer. It was then that he shared Emily's approach of preparing meals. Hotch threw a towel at Sean when he teased his brother of trying to infringe on his career. Hotch then reminded Sean that he had been profiling the night a couple of nights earlier after they left the bar.
Before Sean could answer, Jack walked into the kitchen with sleep tousled hair having just woken up from his nap. Jack nodded when offered a snack. As he finished, he answered enthusiastically when Sean asked if he wanted to help cook dinner.
An hour later when Emily arrived at the apartment she witnessed the most adorable scene as she and Hotch walked into the kitchen of Jack wearing a kid sized apron and chef's hat while helping Sean cook. After exchanging greetings, Sean lightheartedly kicked Hotch and Emily out of the kitchen stating he only needed one assistant tonight.
As they relaxed in the living room, Hotch was pleased that Emily had agreed to come to dinner tonight. He was aware that having dinner with his son and brother was a meaningful step in their budding relationship that still hadn't been completely defined. Both Jack and Sean were important people in his life and he hoped everything went well tonight. And as he observed her the significance of who she was having dinner with wasn't lost on Emily either as he could feel the nervous energy coming off of her.
It wasn't long before Sean invited them to the table for dinner, high fiving 'Little Dude' as Jack climbed into his seat at the table between Hotch and Sean. As they sat down Hotch mentioned the reference to Emily who was relieved that she had actually seen Finding Nemo.
They kept the conversation light as they talked about Jack's other favorite movies and books. As the conversation progressed Emily was grateful that she had done extensive research on kid friendly topics when she was preparing for her training to become a child interview expert because otherwise she would have been lost in the conversation. Jack was excited that she knew his favorite book and had watched some of his favorite movies. He was even more impressed that she had a favorite dinosaur and super hero even if they weren't the same as his.
Noticing her lingering nervousness, Sean mentioned his earlier observation about the freezer containers to Emily. In response Emily stated similar reasons as she had to Dave and Hotch months earlier. Sean nodded as she explained why she started and asked her questions from a chef's perspective of her batch cooking. As they talked, Emily relaxed and asked Sean for his thoughts. They quickly brought Hotch into the conversation as Sean made suggestions on what dishes freeze well. When it was mentioned all of the places Emily had lived growing up, Sean took the opportunity to quiz her on the cuisines knowing that he wanted to do some traveling as part of his culinary training.
As they finished dinner, the tension was now gone in Emily however was rising in Hotch. Dinner being done meant that it was time to take Jack back to Haley. Jack's increasing yawns signaled to Hotch that it was time to go so Haley could pick him up and he could go to bed.
As they finished up Emily insisted on helping clean up, refusing to accept that Sean should do all the cleaning up after having cooked a wonderful meal for them. With that decided, Hotch helped Jack wash up after they walked away from the table. Hotch did a last look at Jack's room and bag to assure that he had everything he needed before getting their coats.
Back in the living room, Sean and Emily came out of the kitchen to say goodbye to Jack. Sean told Jack to keep being a great "little dude" and he'd call soon when he was visiting his dad. With the uncertainty in his upcoming schedule Sean didn't know when he'd be able to come visit again and didn't want to disappoint his nephew. Assuring Hotch that they would be OK until he got back, Hotch left with Jack to drop him off at the transfer center while Sean and Emily returned to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.
When Hotch returned to the apartment, he could still feel the ache of having had to hug Jack and tell him goodbye. While intellectually he knew that he was supposed to have dinner with Jack in a couple of days he also knew that would only happen if they didn't get called away on a case. This was by far the hardest part of the visitation schedule.
As he opened the door to his apartment he thought, 'at least tonight he wasn't coming back to an empty apartment'. As he walked in though he was momentarily worried that it was quiet and wondering what had happened to Sean and Emily. The lights were still on except for his now spotless kitchen which was empty.
He had only taken a couple of steps when he heard Sean laugh. The sound surprised him and a wave of anger washed over him. What were they doing in his apartment? Just as quickly, he shook his head. He trusted Sean and he trusted Emily with his life. They weren't Haley.
As he stepped further into the living room out of the corner of his eye, he saw them sitting on the floor in front of one of his bookshelves. As he moved closer, he recognized the cover of the book they were reading and groaned.
Of course.
Vonnegut.
Hotch had forgotten that years earlier it was Vonnegut that Sean and Morgan had bonded over. Given that Emily was an even bigger fan of the works of this particular author than Morgan, it wasn't surprising that Sean was also bonding with her on this topic. Sean had discovered Vonnegut in high school and could easily rival Emily on his knowledge of his works.
He watched them for a couple of minutes before clearing his throat which got their attention. As they stood up, Sean exclaimed, "Marlon, you have been holding out on me. Why didn't you tell me your girlfriend liked the best author in the world. Clearly you need to work on finding out important information."
"Marlon?" Emily questioned amusingly.
"Dad fish from Finding Nemo. Jack and I were the turtles. Marlon just seemed right for Aaron here." Sean explained.
"Oh I know where you got it." Emily responded while looking deep in thought with a glint in her eye.
"It doesn't leave this room Emily." Hotch stated.
Emily laughed before answering, "yes I can see why you wouldn't want Garcia to find out about this."
Hotch shook his head before stating, "or Derek. Or Dave. Or any of them actually."
Noticing the slight irritation and knowing that their relationship would only work if they could separate certain aspects of their personal lives from the team, Emily nodded, "OK, OK I won't say anything."
Sean laughed at the interaction though was relieved that Emily was respecting Aaron's boundaries. However, he wasn't done teasing his brother so he pivoted back to books he and Emily were reading before Aaron had arrived, "but seriously Aaron if I had known about Vonnegut I would have tried harder when I hit on her at the bar."
Noticing the exasperation crossing Hotch's face Emily stepped closer to him as she replied, "that's sweet but I'm sorry to say Sean that still wouldn't have gotten you anywhere with me."
Sean crossed his arms and answered with mock annoyance, "yeah yeah I know. You prefer my big bro. That's OK. We can just talk Vonnegut when we visit each other. Marlon here isn't an enthusiastic participant in discussions of his books."
Emily nodded at the understanding, "yes I'm aware and yes we can certainly talk about the books. Derek and I try but it's not as often as we'd like."
"OK now that we've got that figured out what do you want to do tonight?" Hotch asked ready to get away from the topics of Vonnegut and Finding Nemo.
####
On the way to the airport, Sean was more relaxed than when he had arrived. From the outing with Aaron's team, Sean could see that Aaron had support around him. Especially important after the divorce. Looking over at his brother he broke the silence when he said, "I like her Aaron. For you. Emily has made it very clear that I have no chance with her."
Emily's return into Aaron's personal life particularly so soon after his divorce had been finalized had been the deciding factor that had him planning the trip now to Virginia. He had wanted to come and check Emily out for himself.
Then months later Aaron had called him about what Emily's parents had done to break them up and that she had been just as in the dark about it until recently as he was.
He had pieced together the significance of who Emily was during phone calls with Aaron. He had been surprised first when Aaron had mentioned she had joined his team. He recalled that they had been involved years earlier. He didn't know the whole story of how they parted other than Aaron mentioning months earlier that her parents had been involved. But what he did know was that the breakup hurt his brother deeply. As he heard they were getting closer again, he wanted to meet her. While his opportunity to really see them together had been limited, what he had witnessed had given him hope for this relationship.
The rekindling of a past relationship had seemed similar to what Aaron and Haley had done for years. To be honest Sean had never really liked Haley. She seemed to have a very specific idea of what she wanted which was understandable. Where the issues for them arose was Haley always wanted to put her wants above what Aaron wanted/needed.
Many times over the years instead of being open to making compromises as a couple Haley had used threats of breaking up to get Aaron to agree with what she wanted. Sometimes he had given in while other times they had broken up. Then several times as Aaron would be trying to move on Sean would find out he and Haley were back together. The divorce hadn't been a surprise to Sean nor had the reason. He just wished his brother hadn't experienced the pain. So he had come to check out the new woman in his life.
But Sean saw something different with Emily. From his phone conversations with Aaron to seeing them together, he could see the chemistry between them as well as the affection. He didn't know the specifics of what had happened with he parents and their breakup other than there was a huge misunderstanding. Now he was just hoping that they knew what they were doing and could make things work. And he may or may not have also gotten a few candid shots of them as well. His brother deserved to be happy.
Hotch nodded "thanks that means a lot." By the end of the weekend it was clear to him that Sean and Emily were going to be thick as thieves in challenging his sanity. While he didn't need Sean permission to date, it was a relief to have his support of his relationship with Emily. Part of him wondered if he should have listened to Sean's reservations when he got engaged to Haley.
Sean was quiet for a minute before adding, "I mean I'm just glad we weren't playing strip poker last night or you would have been very cold."
"You weren't doing much better Sean." Hotch answered.
Sean laughed, "yeah I know. It would have been nice if you had happened to mention when we agreed to poker that she was that good."
Hotch nodded, "the only ones who can beat her are Dave and Spencer. For full disclosure you probably don't want to play chess with her either. She even beat Gideon twice on a plane ride home and he was somewhat put out by it."
Sean laughed, "I bet. Well I will tell you it is going to take some time to get over losing all my mini marshmallows and goldfish."
Hotch laughed, "Emily did leave them all in the kitchen. You could have packed some for the trip home."
"That just seems wrong. Just glad Emily said no to money." Sean added as they reached the departure area at the airport.
####
Hotch sighed as he turned back to his paperwork until there was a beep on his phone. Taking it out he saw it was a message from Sean
Landed. Thanks for a fun weekend. Give little dude a hug for me. Sean
While he was looking at his phone he missed the figure with blond hair entering the bullpen, making a beeline for his office. He doesn't look up from his phone until he hears the knock on his door.
His good mood immediately evaporates when he sees her face as she steps into his office and hears the first five words as she hands him the file.
Hotch, we have a case.
Opening the file, he immediately sees that this is a case they need to take. Dead teens. Recently given birth yet no signs of the babies.
Looking back at her, he nods and responds, "gather the team". He watches as she nods and walks back out the door. He shakes his head as he walks toward the conference room considering that that quickly the trajectory of his day has changed. But that was life in the BAU.
AN: Thanks for reading. I have the next chapter started and it will focus on the episode Cradle to Grave. After that will be the chapter that focuses around the episode The Crossing. If you have read my story While Mom and Dad Were Away parts of the chapter will be very familiar however only parts as I'm rewriting a lot of it.