A/N: As always, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. This is a shorter chapter that's all Emily and Hannah.
Chapter 40
"If I lived with you, what would my curfew be?" Hannah asked randomly. She had picked at her chicken stir fry before abandoning her chopsticks and was now looking up at her birth mother with an innocently interested expression.
They were having dinner at Emily's – Asian from one of Emily's go-to restaurants for delivery. They were eating in the living room, with the TV on in the background. Night at the Museum was on cable. Hannah had been waiting until commercial to bring it up.
It was the first time she had seen her birth mother since Steve talked to her about where she would live if anything happened to him.
At first, the young teenager was worried because she didn't understand why her dad was talking to her about what would happen to her if he died. It was a major freak-out moment for her. Her dad wasn't going to die, was he?
Hannah couldn't help but remember what had to be one of the worst days of her life – the day her parents told her that her adoptive mom had cancer. That was where her mind went, and it felt for one horrible minute there like that could be happening all over again with her dad. She immediately asked her dad if he had cancer, looking like she might burst into tears at any moment.
Steve was quick to reassure her that he wasn't sick. Hannah wasn't totally convinced and was still worrying unnecessarily as he explained to her that if he didn't change his will, then, right now, she would live with her grandma if anything were to happen to him. That was why it was important to have the conversation in case anything did happen.
The teenager was very surprised by that, and utterly bewildered in a way that was almost comical to her dad, the lawyer.
Hannah just did not understand why she would ever live with her grandma instead of her birth mother. That was dumb. If she couldn't live with her dad, it only made sense that she would live with Emily. The woman was the only other person besides her dad who was actually her parent. Why did it even matter that Emily was her birth mother? The way Hannah saw it, Emily was still her parent. Her grandma wasn't, and neither was her aunt. The law, Hannah decided then, was stupid. Hannah didn't understand why they needed a legal document saying that she would live with her mom. She would never have thought that there was anyone else she would live with.
Although she didn't think it would ever really happen, and she didn't actually want anything to happen to her dad, now that he had put the idea of it in her head, Hannah started thinking about what it would be like if she lived with Emily.
Hannah decided it couldn't hurt to start feeling Emily out on that. And what better way to do that than to try to negotiate her curfew? If there was only one thing Hannah could change, it would be her ridiculously early curfew.
Emily knew what Hannah was doing and gave her a knowing, if somewhat amused, look, as if to say nice try, kid before answering with, "The same as it is now." With a small smirk playing at her lips, Emily used her chopsticks to bring another bite of her stir fry to her mouth.
That was not the answer Hannah wanted. She thought they could at least talk about it. Her face fell. Sad eyes and a perfect pout made the fourteen year old look pitiful. "No one else has an 11:00 curfew," she complained morosely. It was the same argument she always used with her dad, but it never worked with him. Maybe it would work with Emily. Hannah could only hope.
"No one? Really?" Emily questioned her melodramatic daughter with heavy skepticism.
"It's true!" Hannah insisted. She blew out her breath in a big huff and took in how unconvinced Emily looked by that argument. Hannah needed to re-think her strategy. "What was your curfew when you were in high school?" She asked her birth mother curiously.
"I…didn't have anyone waiting for me to get home," Emily said before looking at her child with a mixture of tenderness and seriousness. "You do. You have your dad. And you have me."
Hannah blushed and looked down. "You guys don't actually have to wait up for me, you know."
"I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know that you made it home okay," Emily told her fourteen year old.
Hannah sighed in a defeated manner before moving on to one of the other things she was wondering about. "Does Sergio like dogs?" She scooped the cat in question up off the floor, where he'd been lying under the coffee table, and cuddled him against her chest. "Do you, Serge? Do you?" She asked the cat in a syrupy sweet voice that was reserved for animals and babies.
Instantly understanding what Hannah's concern was, Emily's expression softened. "If you ever came to live with me, you could bring Alex," she assured her daughter.
"And then he and Sergio can be friends," Hannah said with a look of relief, smiling down at the black cat before setting him gently on the ground, where he stretched and then wandered off in the direction of the kitchen.
"They can," Emily agreed even though she wasn't sure if Sergio would play nice with a dog. They didn't need to worry about that right now though. They would cross that bridge if they ever came to it. Worst case, Penelope could take Sergio.
"What if-" Hannah's voice broke off. Seeing the expectant look on Emily's face, Hannah mumbled, "Never mind."
"What if what?" Emily asked in a way that made it clear she wasn't going to drop it.
"Oh, look, the movie's back on," Hannah pointed out in a pretty transparent attempt to re-direct Emily's attention to the TV.
"You've seen it before," Emily said dismissively, tuning out Ben Stiller's on-screen antics and keeping her gaze intent on her kid. "What if what, Hannah?"
"It's just…" Hannah let her voice trail off again. With a nervous glance at Emily, Hannah finally blurted out, "What if you and Hotch get married?"
Emily blinked in confusion and set her chopsticks down, giving her daughter her full attention. "What does that have to do with you living with me?"
"If you and Hotch get married, you would live together," Hannah stated the obvious, looking uncomfortable.
"I thought you liked Hotch," Emily said, giving the girl a questioning look.
"No- I do," Hannah assured her birth mother hastily, getting flustered as she wondered how to explain what she was worried about. "But he probably doesn't think I'd be moving in with you guys."
Emily smiled sadly in understanding of what Hannah was really asking. Would Hotch want Hannah to come live with them? Would they have room for her?
They were sitting next to each other on the couch, close enough for Emily to wrap her arm around her daughter's shoulders and pull the girl in to her side, holding her as close as she could without the fourteen year old physically being on her lap. Hannah was a little too old for that. She was nearly as tall as Emily.
"Hotch knows I would take you if something happened to your dad," Emily told the girl, earning a look of surprise from her. "If he wasn't okay with that, then I wouldn't be seeing him."
"You wouldn't?" Hannah said in a surprised tone, not really expecting her birth mother to make relationship decisions based on her. She looked so earnest, so…uncertain in a way that tugged on Emily's heartstrings.
"Nope," Emily said, giving the girl a gentle squeeze. When Hannah cuddled into her side, Emily smiled down at the top of her head. "He knows how much you mean to me. And he understands. He has Jack," Emily reminded Hannah. "Jack's mom died when he was a little boy. Hotch raised him on his own. He left the BAU a few years ago because he wanted to be a full-time parent to Jack." Emily wasn't going to get into Scratch stalking Jack. Hannah already had nightmares about Emily getting hurt or dying. Telling Hannah about another psychopath stalking a member of the BAU team and his son would only add to Hannah's fears about Emily's job. Emily just wanted Hannah to know what kind of guy – what kind of dad - Hotch was. That was why Emily was even telling her any of this. "He's a good guy."
"I know," Hannah said, really agreeing and not just saying that.
She had talked to Hotch a little when Emily was in the hospital recovering from being stabbed, and Hotch and Jack had brought dinner over one of the nights that Hannah stayed with Emily while her grandma was in the hospital.
Hannah liked Hotch and Jack, but Hotch didn't really know Hannah, not like Emily knew Jack anyway. Jack seemed to know Emily really well…like, Emily went to his soccer games with Hotch, helped him with his Spanish homework, and knew the name of the girl that Jack had a crush on. Hannah wasn't jealous exactly. Really, she wasn't. It was just weird to see, and it made her realize that Emily had this whole life with Hotch and Jack that Hannah wasn't a part of. Hannah wasn't sure where – or how - she would fit into that.
"Do you really?" Emily asked, carefully scrutinizing her teenager for any sign that anything was still bothering her.
Hannah nodded, her head bobbing up and down in a way that made her hair fall into her face. Emily used her hand to brush the hair back out of Hannah's face and smooth it down.
"Can I be a bridesmaid when you get married?" Hannah asked with a hopeful look.
"Who said anything about us getting married?" Emily asked with a dry chuckle, shaking her head. Honestly, some of the stuff Hannah came up with… How did she go from wondering if she could still live with Emily if Emily married Hotch to wedding plans for the nonexistent wedding? Emily thought Hotch might have something to say about that. Seeing the lingering question in Hannah's eyes, Emily answered the question even though there was no wedding. "If I get married, you will be in the wedding party. But, honey, Hotch and I haven't been together for that long. We haven't even talked about marriage or moving in yet."
"You haven't?" Hannah questioned in a surprised tone.
"Hannah, we've only been together for three months," Emily said exasperatedly.
"You know, your team is betting on when you'll get engaged," Hannah informed her birth mother. "And they are profilers."
Emily stared at her kid incredulously. "They are? How do you know?"
"Penelope," Hannah answered with a shrug. "She asked me if I wanted in."
Of course it was Penelope. Emily hadn't planned to tell the team about Hotch until she felt like they were more established as a couple, but, somehow, Penelope found out and spilled the beans right after Valentine's Day. Emily still didn't know how the tech analyst found out, and Penelope refused to divulge her secrets.
Rossi wasn't surprised. It was almost like he already knew.
JJ understood why Emily didn't want everyone to know. It wasn't like she told the team about Will when she started dating him. No. She didn't say anything, but they all figured it out anyway. Between Penelope Garcia and the team of profilers, it was impossible to keep a relationship under wraps. JJ sympathized with Emily, but that didn't stop her from gossiping excitedly.
Reid had just wanted to know if that meant that Hotch would come next time they got together outside of work. He missed Hotch.
If Luke and Matt had an opinion, they kept it to themselves. Tara did, too, for the most part, but she wasn't above joining in the water cooler talk or office gossip.
Emily should have known there would be an office pool.
"Well, did you?" Emily asked. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of her daughter betting on her relationship with Hotch.
Hannah scoffed lightly. "No. Again, they're profilers," she said dryly. "I'm not betting against them. Not on something like this. I have other things I would rather spend my allowance on than a bet I have no chance of winning."
