AN: To address a question I've gotten- Hotch and Emily are not going to discover that that they are related. That isn't the direction I'm going with this story. There will be a change in a relationship but it won't be between the two of them.
For the chapter below, I'm adding a TW for emotional abuse and mentions about the past death of a child. Please be cautious with this chapter if these are triggers for you.
CHAPTER 6
Hotch closed the door to his bedroom and walked down the hall and back down the stairs, deciding to let Emily rest until the team started to arrive. It had been an emotional and stressful day for her with the funeral in the morning and the planned will reading turned surprises turned startling revelations in the afternoon. And based on how events unfolded at the lawyer's office, the stress of interacting with Emily's stepfather wasn't going to end today as they had been expecting.
Looking at the clock he realized that the team would be over in the next 15 minutes and they were bringing dinner. Will was stopping over at his and JJ's house to pick up all 4 kids before coming over.
In the lawyers' office after Emily had made their presence known things had gone from bad to worse.
####
2 hours earlier-
"What do you mean I wasn't their real daughter?" Emily asked. The 4 men quickly turned to see her standing in the open doorway of the office with Hotch standing right behind her glaring at the 4 men in front of them.
The firm's lawyers who earlier had slipped out of the room to avoid Hotch's wrath had just come face to face with him again. And he appeared angrier than he was earlier. Not that surprising depending on how much they had just heard.
"I'm sorry Mrs Hotchner but this is a private meeting." Mr Tate said sternly as he stood up and walked a couple of steps towards the door. Hotch seeing his movement moved up to standing next to Emily instead of behind her which halted Mr Tate's motion towards her.
"If this was a private meeting, why was door open so that anyone walking in the halls of this office could hear what was being said?" Emily replied back bitterly.
"Our staff knows not to eavesdrop, Mrs Hotchner." Mr Barton said as he stood up yet did not move.
"Mr Hotchner, Mrs Hotchner, as we have mentioned, this is a private meeting. My understanding is that the business you had with this office today has been completed. I'm going to ask you to leave or we'll have you escorted out." Mr Tate stated, resting his hands on his desk.
"We are not going anywhere until you answer my wife's question." Hotch replied while crossing his arm in front of him.
The three lawyers looked at each other uncertain how to proceed. Emily Hotchner was not suppose to overhear that conversation. All of them knew that she had been adopted from representing her father and conversation with her mother over the years. However, it wasn't known to them until now that she had no idea of this fact.
As Hotch and Emily looked on at the unspoken conversation and uncertain looks from the lawyers, it was hard to miss the smirk and the evil glint in the eye of Emily's stepfather. It was a glint that both of them knew well from their work having seen it many times from their suspects.
"So Emily dear it looks like the moment of truth has finally come. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be the one to burst your bubble," said Mr Sinclair as walk so he was standing about 6 feet in front of her. He stopped and crossed his arms in front of him as he stared at her.
"What did you mean by I wasn't their real daughter?" Emily asked again looking away from him and towards the firm's lawyers who were over in a corner of the room, still looking unsure about how they wanted to proceed. Hotch moved up and stood next to her his hand on the small of her back. Mr Donovan and Mr Anders had also moved into the room and shut the door behind them.
Mr Sinclair chuckled bitterly drawing Emily's attention back to him. "For someone suppose to be so smart, you haven't figured it out? The Prentiss' weren't your parents. Elizabeth never wanted you. You were just some unwanted baby that Sebastian Prentiss found and brought home."
Emily stood there in shock. Before long she was pulled out of her thought by Mr Barton. "Mrs Hotchner, it is true that you were adopted. Privately. But all the paperwork was in order so the Ambassador did agree to it at one point. Legally you are their daughter."
"No she didn't." Mr Sinclair shouted towards the lawyers, his face red.
Mr Barton said firmly, "Mr Sinclair, she did. Our firm did not handle the adoption however I personally saw the adoption papers. Elizabeth's signature was on them."
"Even in a private closed adoption there was an application process they both would have needed to contribute information towards. The paperwork would need to be signed off by the social worker who did the home visits and the judge who would issue the final decree." Mr Stevens said. Hotch and Emily both nodded at his words remembering how involved the process was when Emily adopted Jack.
"Quite honestly, Mr Sinclair, what you and Elizabeth say on this topic has little weight with us right now considering all the lies that have been brought to light today." Mr Barton continued.
"Lies. What in the hell are you talking about?" Mr Sinclair yelled
"Well, we can start with that Emily wasn't married when she unquestionably has been for over 2 years." groused Mr. Barton.
"Everything about how she is living her life." Mr Stevens said.
Mr Barton moved around the desk and looked directly at Mr Sinclair before saying, "What we have been fed for years that she never attended college past the first semester. And you want to know how we know that is a lie. Because she is a FBI agent and no one can even be accepted into the FBI academy without a Bachelor's degree. And given her age and department, I'd even venture a guess that she has at least one advanced degree as well." Emily let out a breath she had been holding and then nodded as Mr Barton spoke. Hotch was also nodding as she stood next to Emily.
Mr Sinclair narrowed his eyes at the lawyer before spitting out, "As far as we knew, she didn't attend college beyond that. She never asked for money after that semester."
"Yes you did know that I was an FBI agent. I never asked for money again because there were so many strings attached to it." Emily responded angrily.
Mr Barton returned his gaze to Mr Sinclair and he said firmly, "There never should have been strings attached to that money from anyone. The only restriction Sebastian placed on the college fund was that it be used for expenses related to your education."
Emily shook her head before saying, "I didn't know that. I didn't know my …. um… my father had left me a college fund until today. If I did, I wouldn't still be paying off loans." hesitating slightly when she said 'father'.
"Mrs Hotchner, if you provide us with the paperwork we will make sure the loans are taken care of." Mr Barton said.
Hotch turned his glare back to the men in front of him. "No, I think your firm has done enough concerning my wife's trust funds. We will take care of the loans."
Truth be told, he was furious particularly about the loans since they discovered that Emily had a college fund. In the time he had known Emily, he knew that making sure that she could keep up with the payments of her loans weighed heavily on her. It had been a factor in every milestone decision of their relationship from moving in together to whether they should get married to when to have a baby to Emily's decision to return from maternity leave earlier than Hotch wanted.
Now that she had access to her college fund, he was hoping that Emily would be agreeable to paying them off right away. Though Hotch also knew that Emily was proud that she had put herself through school without having to rely on her family. They would have to talk about it when it was just the two of them.
Mr Anders, who had been quietly observing until this point asked, "Mr Barton, where are the adoption papers now?" As the attorney for the Hotchners, he wanted to see the legal document for himself and Mr Barton had mentioned that he had seen them. From the interactions so far that day, he wasn't willing to take the word of Mr Barton that they were in order.
Mr Barton looked at him and shook his head. "I don't know. Sebastian showed them to me and then took them with him when he left that day. We can check his file to see if a copy was made at a later time but I did not make one that day." As he was speaking, he turned and looked at Mr Stevens and Mr Tate both of whom also shook their heads.
Mr Tate continued, "the Ambassador ask about them years ago when the trusts were being set up after his death. They weren't in the file then. She was annoyed and anxious to get access to them."
Mr Sinclair looked at him and yelled while waving his hands, "of course she was anxious to have them. The papers would have proved that she didn't agree to the adoption."
Emily looked at him in shock and started to play with her hands which were together in front of her. She shook her head before blurting out, "What? What do you mean?"
Mr Sinclair then narrowed his eyes while still looking at Emily and spat out at her. "Elizabeth never wanted you. She just wanted Zachary, her real child. But Sebastian never gave her a choice. He just came home with you one day like someone would with a puppy."
"Mr Sinclair, that's enough." Mr Barton stated loudly, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
Mr Sinclair glared at him and then broke eye contact as he started to pace on the opposite side of the room. Then he looked at Emily with a smug look on his face. He stopped as he continued. "No it's really not. Emily wanted to insert herself into our conversation. She asked what I meant. So she's going to hear it.
Only a small number of family and staff knew you were adopted. Sebastian made sure that it wasn't known publicly. They were just returning from an overseas posting so there were vey few questions when he arrived with a young infant at Thanksgiving. He just let people assume that you were born before they returned home.
Then he died and she was stuck with raising you. A child who defied her at every turn. She wanted to return you however without the proof that you were adopted, she was advised that it would adversely affect her diplomatic career that was just starting to get off the ground."
Emily gasped and her body stiffened when he mentioned the Ambassador had wanted to return her. However it did not surprise Emily that her mother had prioritized her diplomatic reputation. Without thinking, she just blurted out a question that had been in the back of her head for most of her life, "why did she hate me so much?"
She watch as Mr Sinclair's eyes narrowed and his jaw set before he said, "She loved Zachary very much and because of you, he died."
Emily looked at him in shock, not understanding how her brother's untimely death could be seen as having been her fault. "What are you talking about? I was only 3 when he died. I wasn't even in the car when the accident happened."
Mr Sinclair barked at her. "Exactly. You weren't there that day because you had a temper tantrum that morning…"
Emily interrupted and stated forcefully. "No, it wasn't a temper tantrum. I was sick. Sick enough that I was in the hospital when they had his funeral."
Even at 3, Emily remember that morning. She woke up not feeling well and was fussy at breakfast because her mother was rushing her. When her dad came in for breakfast and her mother reported Emily misbehavior, he had picked her up and carried her to her room. After putting her down, he chastised her and then stopped as he pushed her hair off her tear stained cheeks. He then walked out of the room and her nanny came in and help Emily back into bed after giving her medicine.
A short time later, he brother had come into her room and gave her one of his favorite stuffed animals, a bunny, to help her feel better. It was the last time she saw him.
Mr Sinclair stood straight up and continued, ignoring what Emily had just said, "you had had a temper tantrum that morning and Sebastian said you could stay home." He said, rolling his eyes, "When the driver went to pick him up from school, he placed Zachary in your seat. If you would have been there like you were suppose to be, he would have been on the opposite side of the car and would have been unharmed..."
As her stepfather was talking, Emily realized the dark path he was following as she interrupted now knowing why he had said it was her fault "... and I would have been killed instead."
Mr Sinclair looked her right in the eyes and with a evil glint in his eye gave a curt, "Exactly."
There were several gasps throughout the room as he said that. The tension quickly rose in the room. The firm attorneys keep looking at each other, not sure how to handle the current situation. They had represented the family for years but they were not at all comfortable with what Mr Sinclair just said.
Hotch could feel Emily leaning into him. When he broke his glare to Mr Sinclair, he looked down at her and she was just looking straight ahead. Deciding that they had heard enough, Hotch put her arm around Emily's shoulders and announced, "we're leaving." With that he turned Emily, who gave little resistance, around and they started to walk towards the door.
Mr Sinclair stepped towards them and yelled, "We're not done here yet, Fairfax."
Hotch turned and responded sharply, "Yes we are," before he continued walking out of the office with Emily, ignoring what Mr Sinclair was yelling at them.
As Mr Sinclair started to walk after them, the firm's lawyers moved to stand between him and the door, not letting him pass. Mr Anders and Mr Donovan, seeing that he temporarily couldn't follow walked after Hotch and Emily. Mr Anders picked the boxes they were taking home and carried it out to Hotch's car.
Hotch opened Emily door and after she was settled in her seat, he closed the door and walked over to where Mr Anders and Mr Donovan were standing at the trunk of the car. He thanked them from the box and placed it in the trunk. Before they could walk away he said firmly, "Evict him."
The two lawyers nodded. The three men shook hands and Hotch entered the car and the other 2 walked to their car.
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It was almost time for the team to arrive. Dave had sent him a message that they were leaving the office to head over.
He started to head towards the stairs, having promised Emily he would wake her when the team was on the way.
It had been the only thing she had said to him after they drove away from the lawyers' office. She was being unusually quiet and he hated it. There was so much that happened that he knew she needed time to process. To make sense of all the pieces that had been thrown at her today. However, he had come to expect that she would include him.
Over the course of their relationship, he thought he had broken through all of her walls. Generally, she had no problem expressing to him what she thought on a topic or how she was feeling, even if it was to vent. He had come to expect it. But now, he had no idea where her head was, what she was thinking. It was frustrating.
AN: Next chapter early next week.