Letting the man who had been the most prominent father figure in her life lead her out of the precinct, Emily huffed, rolling her neck from side to side to get it to crack. "My God, I don't think I've ever been so stiff."

Dave laughed, leaning in and pressing a small kiss to the brunette mother's head. "Forget how stressful the job can be?"

"God no," she laughed. "The twins are more stressful that this. But I fell asleep on the plane, remember? I think I screwed up my neck."

The older man smiled at the memory. He had sat across from the two parents on the plane, witnessing Emily slowly falling asleep, her head falling onto her ex's shoulder. Hotch had spent a majority of the flight taking what he thought were stolen glances at the beautiful woman who ad used him as a pillow.

But Dave had seen the whole thing.

"So where are we headed for dinner?" the mother of two asked, hopping into the passenger seat of the car she was sharing with Dave and the pregnant blond on their team. She still couldn't believe JJ was getting ready to have her second child.

"I was thinking Mexican," the younger woman suggested. "Hey, have you called Castle?" Her friends had been texting the writer all day.

Emily held in her sigh. "Yeah, but we could only talk for a little bit. He has a deadline and doesn't need any distractions right now."

JJ hid her grimace at the choice of words. She wanted to win her bet against Morgan, but more-so she wanted her friend to be happy.

Emily gave a small shrug at the silence she was met with. "He gets busy, it happens. I knew what I'd be given if I ended up in a relationship with him."

"I know his work well," the author nodded, smiling gently to the mother of two sitting beside him. "A very good writer your boyfriend is."

Emily smiled. "He is, and it takes time to write like that. Well, it takes a couple of days running on no sleep," the ebony haired woman laughed. "He's the biggest procrastinator I know."

JJ leaned forward in her seat. "Has he ever based a character on you?"

The brown eyed woman laughed loudly at the question, nodding her head as they pulled into the restaurant's parking lot. "His latest series is about a woman on the run, trying to juggle her two kids while falling in love with a very handsome mystery writer."

Dave gave a snort. "Original."

Emily bit her lip, thinking about the older man who had made her life so much easier, and so filled with love.

"Are you coming, Frenchie?"

The brunette rolled her eyes at the older man and let him take her hand to help her from the car.

"Everyone ready?"

The brunette pair stood, wide eyed, watching as their pregnant friend practically bolted for the door of the restaurant before the other SUV even pulled into the parking lot. "I don't remember her being so crazy hungry with Henry," the mother of two laughed.

"Henry's a boy," the author nodded, walking along with the rest of his teammates toward the restaurant. "This time, JJ's pregnant with a baby girl."

Emily smiled, setting her purse down beside her genius friend in the booth. "Watch my purse? I need to run to the bathroom."

"Oh me too!"

Watching the two women wander off to the bathroom, Hotch's head shot up, hearing an aggressive throat clearing from beside him. "What?"

Rossi huffed. "Well what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Emily, man," Derek nodded, leaning his elbows on the table and grinning to his superior. "How is it having her back?"

Hotch gave a slow nod of the head, hesitating to give the group of men surrounding him an answer. How was he supposed to feel?

"Hello gentlemen," a young waitress smiled, flipping over her note pad to start taking their orders. "Will anybody else be joining you tonight?"

Reid nodded to the young lady. "Two women; they're in the bathroom."

"Well what can I get you all?"

Once everyone had ordered their drinks and meals, Hotch quickly held up a hand. "One of the women will have the three stuffed enchiladas," he smiled, wanting to make his ex happy when she walked back over to their table. "But there's no chili powder or anything in the sauce, right?"

The young girl shook her head. "We have two sauces; one with the powder and one without."

"Put on the one without, please. She's allergic to chili powder."

Dave smirked in Morgan's direction at the smile their superior was giving the waitress, both men catching the looks the parents would send to one another for the rest of that night.

Three hours later and JJ was rubbing her buttermilk lotion all over her pregnant stomach, her favorite pillow with an ice pack underneath it under her head as she got herself ready for bed. "So what was that at dinner?"

Emily frowned, looking to her friend in the reflection of the hotel's bathroom mirror. "What was what?"

"Those looks between you and our very stoic boss," the blond laughed. "You two barely even looked down at your food."

The mother of two shook her head as she brushed out her pin straight hair away from her face. "We were talking about the twins and their schooling," she answered. "They're headed into kindergarten next year and I'm not sure if I want them to go to a public or private school."

JJ pursed her lips. "Well what does he think?"

"He'd rather them in public school," the brunette nodded, walking back into the room and changing into her pajama shorts. "Castle and I were talking about it too, and he agrees on public school. I never went to one so I don't know how it'll turn out," Emily shrugged. "It's a lot to think about."

Hearing a knock at their door, Emily went to turn the knob and see who was there.

JJ looked up and smiled, seeing their boss practically run into the room with his hand locked onto her friend's.

Emily giggled when her ex sat her down on her hotel bed, putting the cellphone on speaker so they could both hear their children on the other end. "Hi babies!"

"Maman!"

The brunette couple shared a smile. "How are you acting for grandma?"

Marc yawned, letting his sister tug on his hand to try and wake him back up. "I tired, mommy."

"Daddy says we are getting a s'pise!"

Emily sent a questioning glance to the older man, seeing him shake his head before he clicked a button on the phone to get it to light back up. "Well daddy and I have to get to bed, and so do you two, ok? We'll call you once it's morning time."

Alisanne pressed a kiss to her grandmother's cheek as she motioned to get the phone back. "Ne pas avoir peur ce soir, maman."

The brunette woman bit her lip as they hung up the phone, seeing the look her ex was giving her. "I'm glad they're so comfortable with you," she grinned, squeezing the older man's hand.

"What did she say?" he questioned, wanting so much to smile back at the younger woman.

Emily gave a gentle shake of the head. "She just told me to not be scared tonight," the mother almost whispered, hating seeing the look Hotch was giving her. "I had a nightmare the other night and Alisanne came in when she heard me screaming."

Hotch was surprised at the confession and tightened his hold on the younger woman's hand. "You had a nightmare?"

"It doesn't matter that he's dead," she shrugged, forgetting all about her friend still lying just a few feet away. "Ian is always on my mind."

The Unit Chief watched as she got up and walked into the bathroom to get finish getting ready for bed, and he stood. "You tell me if anything happens with her," Hotch told the blond on the other bed, waiting until she gave him a firm nod before he walked back to his own room, his ex weighing on his mind.