Disclaimer: Still d'own CM and Captain America.
Author's note: This is the longest chapter so far. For God's sake, notice the small things! They might have some hidden meaning!
Could it be? Could it really be? Was it true? It looked like it! It did! It was true! It moved! They were moving!
"Are you done eating?"
"Yeth. Thankth for dinner." Jack pushed his plate away.
"Now wait a minute there, young fellow!" Annie pointed at the plate. "You see the green little trees right there?" Jack nodded. He had been trying NOT to notice the broccoli the entire meal but had failed.
"They're healthy and make small boys grow big and strong. And where I come from we eat up, or...!" She let the line trail off and Jack gave her a scared look.
"Or what?"
"Or we have to eat them for breakfast the next morning!" Jack gasped and quickly stuffed his mouth with the broccoli. "Do they really taste that bad?"
Jack looked at her. He looked thoughtful. He chewed and swallowed. And then he shook his head.
"And don't you think your father will be proud when we tell him you ate ALL the broccoli without me having to scold you."
"But you don't scold people."
"I can if I have to and they deserve it. But I don't like to do it. So I'm glad you did it this fast." She stood and took his plate to the kitchen.
"What time is it Jack?"
"I dunno."
"Look at the clock." She heard the shuffling of feet as she let the water run and washed the plates superficially.
"Ummm, the small hand pointth at 7 and the long hand pointth at 4."
"And what does that mean?"
"That I'm not going to bed yet!"
"That's right, it's bathing time!" She turned and saw the shocked look on Jack's face.
"But I showered with Daddy yethterday!"
"What do you want to do before going to bed then?"
"Play a game!"
"Find one and I'll clean up."
"OK!"
The boy left Annie in the kitchen. She blushed as she washed the plates from their dinner. The leftovers she put on a plate for Jack's father. Mr. Hotchner. Aaron. She blushed again. She took a deep breath and forced herself to think about Jack and not showers as she joined him in the living room.
"So what are we going to play?"
Hotch parked the car in front of his relatively new home. He saw lights in the windows and rushed inside. Of course nothing was going to or had happened while he had been stuck in traffic. He just had to SEE that he was right. He had worked too many cases where everything seemed alright. He pushed the thought away. He missed his son and now he was going to see him.
He opened the door.
"Jack?"
"In here Daddy!" Hotch heard the boy answer from the living room. He hung up his jacket and dropped his briefcase and the stack of paper on the floor.
He was alright. He sat with the nursery teacher on the couch in his pajamas and smiled at his dad when he walked in to them. Then he flew into his father's arms to get a hug.
"Welcome home Daddy!" Hotch smiled and lifted his son as he hugged him tightly.
"What a welcome! Hi there Buddy. And hello Ms. Adams." He said and smiled an awkward smile to the young strange woman on his couch.
"Welcome home Mr. Jack's Dad. And please call me Annie." She rose and smiled to him. "Jack has eaten dinner, played a game, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and tidied up after a short pillow fight. All in all your son is ready to go to sleep."
"Thank you so much Ms. Adams – Annie. And please call me Hotch." He put Jack down. "If you say goodbye to Annie and then get ready in bed I'll come ready a story to you."
Jack smiled to his dad and turned to Annie.
"Goodbye Annie. Thank you for dinner and playing."
"Sleep tight Jack. And I would happily do it again!" Se looked at him and recognized the look in his eyes. "Hug?" She knelt down and embraced the boy. His arms closed round her neck as he whispered, "You are my favorite girl-person Annie."
"Thank you Jack!" Annie said as she rose and smiled. "Now sweet dreams and I'll see you tomorrow."
As Jack rushed to settle in his bedroom Annie turned to face Hotch. "And then I will be going."
"I'll show you out."
Annie took her jacket from a hanger.
"I can't thank you enough. I was completely stuck just outside my office."
"It's not a problem – Jack is an amazing boy. But he misses you." She closed her jacket and looked at Hotch seriously. "He's afraid of people dying. I just thought you should know that."
Hotch felt as if Foyet had just stabbed him right in his heart. "He is?"
"It's not uncommon for kids, but death has been closer to Jack than to most of his friends. He's afraid of losing you every time you travel for your job."
Hotch felt his heart break stronger and clearer than anything he had felt for years. And she saw that.
"Just tell him that nothing is going to happen." She put a reassuring hand on his arm and squeezed it with a small smile. "Nothing bad happens that Captain America can't handle and since you're cooler than him it should be no problem."
"Should I..." Hotch couldn't end the sentence knowing how that might affect his and Jack's life.
"No, you shouldn't. He would hate himself for making you do that when he gets old enough to understand. But... Please try to smile more. For your own sake too!" She put her hand on the doorknob the other still resting on his arm. "You look like you carry the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. And though they are broad and masculine they're not that broad." Her grip on his arm loosened and her hand glided hesitantly down his arm before letting completely go.
"There's some leftover dinner in the fridge." she opened the door and entered the hallway.
"Wait you should... as a thank you," Hotch called after her as he came to his senses.
She turned and frowned at him. "Don't even think about it! This was a favor for a friend! Call me if you need help another time, I would happily help you out too." and with those words she opened the front door and left him alone in the dark hallway.
He had put Jack safely to bed, reading an extraordinarily long story. Then he grabbed the paperwork and his briefcase and put it on the table. She had left a note on the plate in the fridge.
Eat your broccoli – even your son does that. And remember, call me!
It had a phone number.
Wow – that turned out gloomy!