AN: I have also uploaded Chapter 30 today.
This is the end. Thanks to everyone who has supported me as I wrote this story. I mentioned a few chapters ago about possibly writing the sequel I have in mind for this story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
EPILOGUE
The team was heading back to Quantico after helping to solve a case in Chicago. A series of weather related delays had them taking off much later than expected.
About an hour out, JJ came up to where Hotch and Dave were sitting to join them. She, like Hotch, had already changed into a t-shirt, athletic pants and sneakers so they could leave for the soccer fields as soon as they landed.
"I hate that we are going to be late for soccer practice. Was Emily OK with covering for us?" JJ asked nervously. She had played soccer for years however this would be her first experience coaching and hated she was going to be late for one of the first practices.
Hotch nodded as he said, "I talked to her again right before we took off to give her an ETA. She asked who was going to teach her to play soccer."
The three all laughed knowing that soccer wasn't Emily's sport of choice before JJ said, "that doesn't sound promising."
Hotch shrugged as they couldn't do much about when they were going to get there at this point and while she was unsure, Hotch knew that Emily would put the effort in until he and JJ arrived. In an attempt to reassure JJ, he said, "well, I hope with the kids being 3 and 4 years olds she should be OK. She was at practice with us a couple of times and I gave her some ideas of activities they could try until we arrive."
"We'll see when get there." JJ replied before looking out the window of the plane.
####
When Hotch and JJ arrived at the fields, they quickly looked over at the field their team was assigned to and laughed at what they saw. Emily was there with the boys' team but she was not alone. She was wearing Caitlin on her front and Natalie on her back. Emily had not mentioned to him about bringing the girls and she had been apprehensive enough that he expected that she would have had them stay with their nanny but obviously that wasn't the case.
Surprising even herself, Emily had the attention of all the kids as she had then gently kicking the balls between partners when all the sudden she felt Natalie bouncing up and down while hitting her back saying, "dada, dada". She turned to see Hotch and JJ walking quickly up to her with Dave and Spencer a few steps behind.
With the kids working on the activity, she stepped away to meet them. JJ came over and gently kissed a sleeping Caitlin on the head.
As soon as Hotch reached them, he carefully loosened the straps on the baby carrier before lifting Natalie out. As he did, he said to her, "be nice to Mommy" as in her excitement, she had moved from hitting Emily to pulling her long ponytail. After giving her a hug and kiss, he passed her onto Dave who was now standing next to Emily.
Excusing themselves, Hotch and JJ turned their attention to their soccer team while Emily, Dave and Spencer walked over to the stands a short distance away.
As they sat down, Spencer asked, "how are party plans?"
From a discussion at dinner before the team went on this last case, Emily's to-do list for the week had included a lot of last minute errands to prepare for the party to celebrate Natalie and Caitlin's first birthday as well as Aaron's 35th birthday on Saturday.
Emily laughed before saying, "I think we're set at this point. JJ and I talked before you left on this last case about what we both wanted. Then while you were gone, I ordered the cakes and balloons. We both went shopping for decorations a couple of weeks ago. I think the only things left are to decorate and pick everything up on Saturday."
"Is Aaron ready to share his birthday?" Dave asked with a glint of humor at Emily's mention of decorations. He had sitting next to Aaron when JJ and Emily had arrived at the house after shopping for the party and had not missed the look he had given the bags of multicolored unicorn items that they had purchased for the joint party.
Emily smiled and nodded as she answered enthusiastically, "yeah, I actually think he is very excited about it. Initially, it really didn't registered with us after everything that was happening that she had been born on his birthday. It wasn't until we were filling out the birth certificate paperwork that we noticed."
"Maybe that what took her so long to come." Spencer said, clearly remembering how frustrated Emily had been the previous year when her due date came and went with no sign that Natalie was going to make her appearance anytime soon.
JJ and Emily had finally gotten to the point where they could laugh about Natalie and Caitlin's shared birthday. They had been due a month apart. But then Emily had gone past her due date and was only days away from being induced when she went into labor and gave birth a couple of hours after arriving at the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. JJ, as she did with Henry, went into labor three weeks early and had given birth just 7 ½ hours after Emily.
Emily huffed before saying, "you mean other than being stubborn. It wouldn't surprise me. She does loves her daddy."
"So does Aaron get a smash cake too?" Dave asked with a smirk.
Emily chuckled at him before shaking her head as she said, "no, just the girls. His cake is what the rest of us can eat, though you can see if your granddaughter will share hers with you if you'd rather."
"Do you have anything else planned for his birthday other than a unicorn party?" Dave said with a smile as he had been teasing Hotch all week about what color unicorn hat he was going to wear.
Emily looked at him and answered, "yes," before pausing with a mischievous expression on her face before she continued, "do you really want to know?"
Spencer turned bright red as he mumbled, "I think I'm going to go over there with Natalie," as he took Natalie from Dave and walked away.
Dave watched them walk away and then he turned back to Emily, chastising her, "did you have to say that? You know it freaks him out when you talk about your and Aaron's sex life." He had whispered the last part given their current location.
Emily had found the change in Dave's attitude on certain topics amusing since he discovered he was her father. This was one of them. There had been several times early in her and Hotch's relationship that Dave had caught them in an inopportune situation. Each time he had cleared his throat, made a smartass comment and told them to carry on before he walked away. That was until a few weeks ago when they were at Dave's house. While talking after dinner, Dave had pulled Aaron aside and told him he would kick his ass if he ever found him in a compromising position with his daughter again.
Emily openly laughed at him before saying quietly, "don't blame me because the two of you have dirty minds. I didn't say anything about sex." And she hadn't. Neither needed to know of the plans she had for the two of them after the kids went to bed on Aaron's birthday or of the new lingerie items she had just happened to have purchased while they were away this week.
Dave cocked his head looking at her before asking, "really, then what were you talking about?" as he cross his arms in front of him.
Emily smiled back at as she replied, "I got tickets for us to go to a Nationals game on Sunday."
Dave raised his eyebrow at her as he asked, "and why wouldn't you tell me that?"
"I was going to surprise you with a ticket to see them beat the Cubs." Emily replied noticing Dave's eyes widen as she spoke. She had planned for her and Aaron to go with the kids but when she looked at the schedule and saw that they were playing the Cubs that weekend, she bought the fifth ticket hoping that Dave wouldn't have plans.
He shook his head at her just as Jack and Henry reach them, effectively ending their conversation. The noise and activity suddenly woke Caitlin who started crying as she rubbed her eyes.
Emily unlatched the carrier and lifted her goddaughter out before rubbing her back as Caitlin rested her head on Emily's shoulder. Her head shot up when she heard her mom's voice when JJ said, "hey Em, how did you end up here with all four kids?" Seeing her daughter turn and hold her arms out, JJ took Caitlin before kissing her forehead as she waited for Emily's answer.
Emily took both baby carriers completely off as she said, "I forgot when Aaron called that I had told Sarah last week that she could leave early today. When I called and asked if she could meet me here with the boys, she reminded me." She sighed before continuing, "and as you know Lily has an evening class on Thursdays. And Will is working second shift today. I didn't want to disappoint Jack and Henry so I just sucked it up. Before she left Sarah helped me get situated with the carriers since both girls had fallen asleep in the car."
The group slowly walked along the path to the parking lot. When they arrived at the cars, Dave said to Emily as he handed Natalie to Hotch, "on the jet, we talked about having dinner at my house tonight. Are you up for it?"
Emily nodded as she said, "sure that sounds great." before turning and reorganizing the backseat of the car. Dave and Hotch looked at each other, both having caught on that something was bothering her
Hotch put his hand on her shoulder and waited until she turned to face him before he said quietly, "what's wrong Em?"
She sighed and shook her head before sadly replying, "I guess Derek isn't coming."
Realizing what the issue was, Dave shook his head and said, "no, he is. He was picking up Garcia and meeting us at my house after they make a stop at the store. They may even get there before us." When Emily looked over to her husband surprised, he also nodded his head.
Things had been better between Derek and Emily however there were still some trust issues which this was a prime example. They had been working out in the gym together and had started having lunch about once a week when they were in the office. Their friendship still was not where it had been or where either of them wanted to be though it had been improving over the last couple of months. Derek knew that he had deeply hurt Emily and that he need to put the actions behind the words if he wanted her to ever trust him again.
"OK, great." Emily said as they got in the car to head to Dave's.
####
Once everyone arrived at Dave's, Emily pulled Spencer aside.
Diana had been recovering at a nearby hospital since she had been transferred after the incident at the sanatorium so she would be close to Spencer. A couple of weeks earlier, her doctor had talked with Spencer about options for her when it came time for her to leave the hospital.
The sanatorium in Las Vegas was no longer an option. Diana had grown anxious anytime it or what happened that day was brought up.
Even if that wasn't a concern it was only set up to care for the mental health needs of its residents where now Diana needed multiple daily therapies as she recovered from her stroke along with a different level of care.
Spencer had been given a list of facilities nationwide which could offer the care she now needed. A few checks by Garcia had eliminated several and other were taken off the list because of concerns with security.
Of the options left, there were a couple close by. Emily had offered to toured them for a first run while the team was away. She shared with Spencer what she had found and the answers to the specific questions he had.
Fortunately, the closest one appeared to be the best option for what Diana needed and what Spencer wanted for her. Emily smiled and agreed that was her assessment as well. She handed him an appointment card with a day and time for a tour for him already set up for the following week. What Emily hadn't told him yet was about the bank account she had set up for Spencer to use for her care.
The previous month she had received the final long awaited decisions and control of the estates that now she considered tainted. With everything she had learned in the last few months, she did not want anything from Sebastian Prentiss.
Their lawyers had referred her and Hotch to an attorney who specialized in finance and accountant to help them navigate liquidating the Prentiss estate. Her plan at that point was to donate most of it to charities that helped victims and families of those involved with child abduction and human trafficking as well as ones helping adults find their birth parents and last but not least several that provided support and services to military families.
She had spoken in depth with Aaron and Dave about her plans and then they discussed in depth various charities that did work in the areas where Emily want the money to go. To her it felt right with all of the pain and manipulation that Sebastian Prentiss' action brought, that the proceeds of his estate should go to victims in the areas where she and Dave were hurt the most.
She hadn't been as upset with her grandfather's estate though still bristled at how the will was written. As far as she could tell, he had known nothing of the illegality of her adoption. She kept a couple of properties he had left her. The one that was the most special to her was his house in France. She couldn't wait until the kids were a little older and they could all go visit. Part of the money from his estate was divided into accounts for Jack and Natalie's education.
Emily was hoping that Spencer would not fight her about the money. She had spoken to Aaron and Dave about it. Dave was also depositing money into the account. Diana and Spencer were not seen as victims as her and Dave were and thus had not received the same compensation. However they felt that Diana and Spencer were victims as well because of William Reid's actions back then and again with the bold attempt to kill Diana a couple of months earlier.
All of them knew how much Spencer loved his mom and wanted the best for her. Even with explaining that William's rage had come because the US Attorney's investigation not their inquiries, they still felt somewhat responsible for what had happened. They wanted to make sure Spencer had the resources to give Diana what he wanted.
####
As Dave watch everyone mill around outside after dinner, he considered all of the changes that had occurred in his life over the last few months.
He had never expected to learn what had happened to his Sophia. After hitting the roadblock with Emma's mom and stepfather, he had been at a loss. His contact once he joined the FBI had only given him a little more. He had mourned the loss and the unknown for years.
Then a set of unlikely circumstances landed right in front of him as he found out she wasn't lost to him forever but had been in his life for three years. She shared his career path as an FBI profiler. He had been her mentor and friend as well as colleague for most of that time. There was an additional sense of pride that what she had achieved had all been because of her efforts. No one could say she got where she was because of his position.
Personally they had also become close. He knew her secrets and had still stood by her. He had hosted her wedding at his house and even given her away. He had been the first one from the team to hold her daughter, his granddaughter after she was born.
And now he felt like the pieces of his life were coming together with more focus. And as they had gotten to know each other better on a different level, he finally found that the giant gaping hole was finally healing.
His biggest regret was that Emma wasn't here to share with him the amazing person their daughter had become. As he thought about Emma, he walked over to the shelves in the family room to where he was now displaying Emma's snow globes. They didn't match the rest of the decor of the room but he didn't care. He would change the rest of the decor before he would get rid of the snow globes.
He had found them in one of the boxes that arrived for him and Emily from Mr Keeler. An accompanying letter from his lawyer informed them that he had passed away five days after their visit. The boxes turned out to be treasure troves as her brother, Nathan had packed everything of hers into them before storing. Having been familiar with most of it, he had explained as many items as he could to Emily as well as pointing out the people he knew in the photo albums.
Emily had taken a few items as well. She had immediately been drawn to the crib blanket and baby clothes that had been chosen for her. She kept most of Emma's books noticing that they had similar tastes in classical literature. But the most meaningful find was the baby book Emma had started for her.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Emily standing next to him.
She looked at him questioningly and asked, "are you OK, Dad?"
Dave put arm around her, still feeling the same thrill every time she called him that. He nodded as he said, "yeah, just thinking. About all the things we've learned over the last few months."
"And?" Emily asked.
"I'm so glad I found you." he answered before turning them and walking back to the group.