Some Family Matters concludes today with this last chapter. This scene was my initial idea, how I started the story. I wanted an explanation for Hotch's uncharacteristic behaviour (breaking his word). What you've read so far came after this idea.

I'm not very good at coming up with titles, but I think you can see how the "family" applies to so many aspects and people in this story...

I could not find a good quote for this conclusion, but I did find a funny one, about family, of course.

Please let me know if you liked, or not, anything about this story, and where I made mistakes (I don't have a beta reader, I'm sure it shows, and my French gets in the way, too!). I appreciate any and all comments.

QUOTE:

"Probably the worst time in a person's life is when they have to kill a family member because they are the devil. But otherwise it's been a pretty good day."
- Emo Philips

[CONCLUSION]

Hotch heard a knock at the door. He quickly peered through the peephole and saw Garcia with an uncomfortable smile on her face.

"Jack! Aunt Penelope is here!" He unlocked the door, but before he could welcome her in, he had to step back with surprise as the rest of the team appeared one by one from the hallway, saluted or greeted him, and entered his apartment. Without a word, he looked again at Penelope, who was holding a nicely wrapped package and had still not made a move.

"Hi...," she hesitated. "I hope you don't mind, but I asked if anyone would like to come with me, and..."

"...We all said no," quipped Emily. "We did bring wine, and I think Reid got some finger food..." she added casually, to tease the young man carrying a large grocery bag full of chips, caramel popcorn, and other snack food.

"... and I have something for Jack, as promised over the phone," ended Garcia, suddenly becoming mobile and walking in.

Hotch, immediately suspicious, took only a second and guessed that Garcia did not want to face him alone; he was starting to worry about the 'gift for Jack' which was supposed to be simply 'a spur of the moment impulse', as Garcia had claimed earlier on.

Jack ran in, suddenly excited to see all his 'aunts' and 'uncles' show up unannounced. The thrill on his face was too precious, and Hotch could only smile with the others and play the gracious host.

Within minutes, everyone had a full glass of wine, bowls were filled with the content of three large bags of 'munchies', and Jack was, at last, opening the mysterious box which revealed some very innocuous content, to Hotch's relief.

"Wow!" Jack was quite intrigued by the packaged CD player and speakers, and the collection of CDs included in the box.

"It's a mini sound system so you can listen to music in your own room..." began Penelope.

"...And we contributed some CDs to start your collection," added Spencer.

"That's a great idea," commented Hotch. "I was planning to give him something like that eventually... Oh, look buddy, 'Peter and the Wolf'! That's a great story, told with musical instruments..."

"That was Emily's pick," commented David.

"Why don't I help you set it up in your room, Jack? If that's okay with your dad," Penelope looked up to Hotch who nodded his approval.

"I'll help you get this out of the package, Pen," offered Derek, as he picked up the box and headed for the boy's bedroom, preceded by Jack and Penelope.

The others settled in their seats and described enthusiastically to Hotch how they each had selected CDs for Jack. The idea of the sound system apparently was Garcia's, but everyone had decided to join in.

"Thank you, but you shouldn't have. I don't know why Penelope did not wait for his birthday," wondered Hutch.

"It's too far away, and she apparently could not wait," Emily revealed with laughter.

"How's the head?" asked Spencer, pointing to his own head.

"Fine, a few suture points took care of it," answered Hotch, while scratching at the wound and settling his hair over it.

"Don't worry about it, we can't see anything," Dave reassured him.

"Can you mix alcohol and medication?" inquired Ashley, pointing to Hotch's glass of wine and trying to give him a subtle hint that if he was on medication, he would better abstain from drinking.

"I'm not on medication, not even an aspirin..." he replied, saluting her with his glass and with a slight warning look: she was treading on personal territory. The young woman brushed it off with a happy nod; she was not trying to pry. David, on the other hand, had something nagging at him and he could no longer resist being nosy.

Relaxing back in his chair and using a pensive, soothing tone, he made eye contact with Hotch: "Jack is growing up so fast. You know, watching him change from a toddler to a young boy is bringing back some old memories from my own past? Maybe it's our Sunday morning soccer that's doing it... I thought my childhood was gone forever, but now I'm reminded of things that we did or said when my friends and I were his age; the good, the bad times... "

They all tried to imagine for a moment what Dave might have been like as a child – with more or less success – but the thought seemed to strike a nerve for Hotch who broke the silence:

"I know what you mean. Even my dreams, now, are..." but noticing the flicker of approval in Dave's eyes, he figured out too late that he had just taken the bait offered to him. Tipping his head, quite puzzled, he asked: "How did you know about the dreams?"

"I didn't, you just told us."

Dave was satisfied that he had guessed right. The short episode in the park had been a sample of what was currently troubling Hotch: dreams and memories of an abused childhood, triggered by watching his son approach the age he probably was when it had started for him.

Baffled, Hotch was staring at Dave, Spencer, Emily, Ashley, they all seemed to know about his dreams, which was impossible!

Derek strolled in from Jack's bedroom with a smile on his face and grabbed his glass, but feeling a chill in the room as he sat down, he threw inquisitive looks around.

Aaron sat up, suddenly concerned: "Have you been talking to Jack?"

"No, no, we have not!" they all protested with different degrees of embarrassment or reassurance, or in Derek's case, with a puzzled look. The team dearly hoped Dave had planned his next step.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night..."

The music coming from Jack's bedroom unexpectedly interrupted the group as they recognized Hotch's voice. With stunned or horrified looks on their faces, Emily gasped, Spencer gulped, and Ashley furtively looked away, as Dave wiped his brow, thinking: Oh, no, from bad to worse!

They all turned to Derek, who was the only one not looking surprised; he was busy intensely staring back at Hotch who was now glaring at him.

"You helped her make a recording of my singing?" Hotch was finally understanding what Penelope Garcia had been up to. At first, he thought Dave and the others were in on it – Garcia had to have received help to record this – but their reactions told of their ignorance, except for Derek's.

"...only waiting for this moment to arise..." Hotch suddenly got up, but Morgan also rose to intercept him. It had not been Morgan's favorite idea, but he wanted to stand for Penelope.

"She used government equipment for personal use," started Hotch, "during an official investigation, made a recording, in secret, without permission, and you... Why?"

He felt betrayed, looked confused, but mainly was curious, aiming to understand Morgan and Garcia's motivations. This was so out of character for them!

"She was still sore about what happened last fall... when you broke your promise to her..." Derek tried to explain.

"What promise? This is about revenge?" Hutch was flustered, he wasn't sure he remembered the events of the past year. So many bad things had happened over the last several months...

"No, it's not out of revenge. She said she wanted insurance, so you would not break your word to her again."

"Insurance? You mean leverage! Is this about that time we needed her acting talents to catch a serial killer? …And she was happy we went to see her on stage!" added Hotch, suddenly remembering the details of the controversial issue.

"That's not the point, Hotch," Derek replied. "She asked you to keep something private a secret..."

Dave got up: "May I say something?" he asked loudly to interrupt them.

Both men, surprised, turned to face him.

"We are all trying to keep our personal lives private and protect them from this job we do. It's a real struggle despite everyone's commitment to keep to ourselves and not to intrude into anyone else's business. The fine line between professional and private lives is hard to maintain for all of us, but you've always kept it very thin, Hotch." Dave walked closer to the two men. "The job kept invading your private life... and then George Foyet made it much too personal... and that fine line... just got erased completely!

"We all make mistakes with this, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, when the invisible line gets crossed... You're not always aware it's happened," Rossi concluded.

Hotch looked away for a moment and surmised that before he might consider disciplining the tech, he had to deal with his own past indiscretion. It's one thing to force yourself to give up your privacy for the job; it's another to force Garcia to do the same with her acting. He looked disappointed, but they guessed it was with himself, not with Derek or Penelope.

"I should have... I guess I'm long overdue for an apology," admitted Hotch.

"Apology accepted, but only if you'll accept mine," said Penelope, who had approached behind them quietly, at first listening with a worried expression on her face; she now looked more hopeful that her circumstances were improving, although her remorse was sincere.

"It was a mistake, I wanted to destroy it, the recording, but then I thought, 'Hey, it's good, why destroy it? Why not give it to someone who would really enjoy it?'... I thought it would be nice for a son to hear his father's voice while he's away." Penelope's pace kept accelerating: "So I made a copy, this is the only copy, there's no trace of anything, anywhere, I swear..."

"Penelope," Hotch stopped her, raising his hands as if to surrender, or to beg for a reprieve. He needed a moment to focus, regroup. A year ago... no, he had to go back further than that, much further. "I missed..." He interrupted himself again; he needed to start at the beginning.

"Hayley loved theatre," he started, "that's how we met; it's what we did together, we went to see plays, and I grew to love it almost as much as she did; it was something we shared..."

Penelope jaw dropped. She had not expected any clarification and even less an explanation that was so personal.

"...Until I joined the FBI and the BAU; then she had to go by herself, more and more often. And after Jack, we both were too busy... After the divorce, I did not want to risk running into her, so again, I stayed away..." Hotch took a longer pause. They guessed that he had not gone back after losing Hayley: it was too painful.

"But when I saw your posters, I realized how long it had been since I had seen a play," looking directly at her, apologetically, he added "and I made a promise I never should have made because I knew I could not keep it. I was already planning to go see your play, and later I figured I would bring the team with me...

"... In fact, I should thank you, Penelope," he then added lightly, "because I've since been taking Jack to children's plays and interactive plays... They're very well done and quite a lot of fun... and Jack loves it, of course!"

Penelope was pleased to find in Hotch a fellow theatre lover, but was too moved to say anything; she just answered with a smile.

At this point, they heard the thumping of little feet running down the hallway, and Jack burst in and jumped in his dad's arms, holding in his hands his new CD.

"I love it, daddy! I want to listen to it every night!" announced Jack, with a big smile on his face.

"Did you say thank you to Aunt Penelope, Jack?" reminded Hotch.

"Yes, he did," volunteered Penelope, but Jack turned to her, beaming, and thanked her again:

"Thank you, Aunt Penelope," and turning back to his dad, "Now you won't have to sing me lullabies..."

"Don't you like live singing, Jack?" teased Dave.

"No, the CD is better. There's music and people applauding" he declared.

Dave could only shake his head.

Hotch was amused, but then looked directly at his son: "I think it's time to prepare for bed, Jack. Say good night to everyone."

The group came closer to the boy and attempted to kiss or hug him as he was wishing each one a good night. Hotch, still carrying the boy, asked everyone to help themselves if they needed anything while he put Jack to bed.

"That was very smart of you to bring us with you, Pen," said Derek as he settled back in his seat, wine glass in hand.

"And to give a CD to Jack," added Spencer, grabbing a bowl of chips.

"Not just 'a' CD... 'THE' CD," commented Emily, with wide eyes. "That was a risky move..."

"Risky? What about Dave's move?" intervened Ashley.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" asked Derek, while Penelope, also curious, joined him and they both tried to catch up with the conversation, the wine, and the food.

"Something I'll finish with Hotch in private... if he ever brings up the topic again!" Dave answered, and the others, looking at each other, all agreed this was very unlikely.

"Baby, is it true?" asked Derek, "You only made one copy and destroyed the file?"

Penelope sighed. "Yes, it's true. I had a weak moment, I guess..."

"You're not the only one," said Spencer, mouth full of treats. Emotional roller coasters always stimulated a strong craving for junk food in the young man.

"You sound and look more like the Penelope I know, tonight..." hinted Derek to Penelope.

"You bet, lamb chop! I was exhausted! I slept all night, woke up and got breakfast this morning, then went back to sleep... It's all I did today!" she declared with a big satisfied smile.

"It sounds like what we all did, today," Prentiss laughed.

There was a quiet pause, yet, everyone felt comfortable.

"This is nice," remarked Ashley quietly while gazing at the red wine in her glass. It was not clear if she was talking about the wine, or...

"I agree," commented Emily, looking at their little group enjoying the end of the day. "We should invade Hotch's privacy more often," she suggested with an impish look.

They all grinned: We're game if you are...