A/N: Here is chapter 12, I'm sorry it took me a bit longer to finish it, but my exams have started. Anyway this is the last chapter (only an epilogue is coming up) I hope you'll like it, and as always let me know if you do.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own them… sadly…

Previously

"Aaa, the welcome home in the police station!" a mischievous smile appeared on his face and Emily had no doubt that he probably was remembering every detail about her welcome home in the NYPD station.

"You better get your mind out of the gutter Hotchner!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Chapter 12

The week passed fast, although Aaron was in strict bed-rest for the whole week, he was grumpy and really wanted to go back home as soon as possible. Dr. Altman walked in the room and found him sitting on the bed fully dressed

"What are you gonna sneak out of here?" she asked smiling

"If you don't let me." He answered, he was pulling his jacket on slowly not wanting to disturb his stitches, last thing he needed was to be forced to stay in this god damned hospital any longer.

"Where's your wife?" the doctor moved closer to Hotch and held his jacket helping him put it on.

"She went to sign some papers so I'll get the heck out of here."

"Wow, you really hate hospitals." She said, a bright smile crossed her face. "Ok, ok stop glaring" she said looking at the soft glare Hotch was giving her "A piece of advice, you aren't the first federal agent I've dealt with, you'll go home today, and you'll stop taking your medication because you think you don't need them and because you feel invincible, you'll miss your painkillers and ditch the cane, you'll ignore mine and Dr. Torres' advices on staying on bed rest and in result you'll make yourself worse. I've seen it; you have a wife and a son, and if I am correct a baby on the way." She saw the shock on Hotch's face, "I am correct, well, you need to follow what I and Dr. Torres told you to a t. you need your painkillers, pain management is just as important at healing, you'll use your cane, try not put too much pressure on your knee, you let your body heal in its own time. You are 51 years old, you are not some 20 years old boy that gets hurt one day and the next goes back to running marathons, you need time, don't make it worse, because as entertaining as watching you groan, and roll your eyes is I don't want to see you back here. Alright sleeper?" Hotch rolled his eyes "If you stop calling me sleeper." A smile creased her lips, "Sure, why not. Get better" she said shaking his hand. Hotch watched her leaving the room shaking his head, this hospital visit was so different, an experience on its own.

"Hey," he turned to see Emily standing on the doorstep, "Hey." He said, Emily walked to his side and sat down on the bed, "See you found your go bag." She said, a hand run down his back, over the soft cotton of his shirt.

"Yeah, can we go home?" he asks, leaning towards her.

"Sure, but just so you know Pen has set up a welcome home party." Hotch groaned again causing Emily to laugh "Why are you laughing?"

"In all the years I know you nearly ten, I've never had you for the type that groans and rolls his eyes, but here you are proving me wrong Scarlett O'Hara."

"Well look at this room! I thought I could get away from the party!" Emily looked around, Pen had once again overdone herself, and the room was filled with balloons and flowers all over and of course a giant teddy bear. Emily had to admit that she loved it, he was four feet tall, with fluffy dark fur, he wore a white shirt, a red tie and a fake FBI ID card. "Well you have to admit that Bear Hotch is cute!" Emily raised the bear from the chair Penelope had left him and carried him to Hotch "There you can carry him." Hotch glared at her "Take that thing from me." Emily laughed at his face "Just be glad she didn't get you the six feet tall one."

"Oh. My. God. Penelope!" Emily saw her friend walking towards her, she was carried five or six Tupperware containers filled with different foods she made for Hotch, on her right hand, she had around twelve balloons tied around her left wrist and a huge bouquet of sunflowers on her left hand. Derek was walking behind her, his head hung low as he was carrying a huge teddy bear. "Is he for Aaron?" Emily asked showing the black bear, "Yeah, he's Bear Hotch! I wanted to buy the six feet tall one but I couldn't carry him. So I bought him, I bought him his shirt and tie and made him a fake FBI ID card."

"I told her Hotch will hate this thing but she wouldn't listen to me!" Derek said, he was struggling to carry the bear and was really tempted to just drop it on the floor and drag it by the tie. "He won't! Boss man will love him! I mean look at him, he is Hotch in bear form!" Emily smiled at her friend's over-excitement. "Oh Pen, he will hate it, he hates all forms of attention." Penelope's face fell "He almost died, he better accept all forms of attention and accept them gracefully."

"He will."

"Six feet?" he looked terrified and Emily had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at him. "Yeah, she wanted to get you a six feet tall version of Bear Hotch."

"That's not his name!" Emily shrugged "Look at his ID it says that his name is Bear Hotch" she follows his eyes while they land on the bear and smiled while the realization hits him "She won't let me give it to the kids will she?"

XXXX

Matt, Will, Anderson and Dave were sitting on the couch in Hotch's living room watching Spencer and Derek bicker outside the kitchen over who got them kicked out. Savannah comes out of the room to see the two of them still fighting "Seriously guys? You both got yourselves kicked out of the kitchen, and if you don't leave Penelope will come after you with a kitchen knife!"

A car was heard parking outside and Dave got up from the couch, "Guys I think Aaron and Emily are here!" Jack peaked from his room "Are they here?" he asks

"Yeah" Spencer answers. The boy smiles and comes out of his room, Henry and Kai following him.

They all stood waiting on the door, listening to Aaron and Emily talk (bicker) on the other side of it

"Surprise!" they all yelled as soon as Emily and Hotch entered the room.

"Hey guys" Emily said happily, Hotch was smiling while still holding the teddy bear in his hand "Hey." He tried to sneak out of the party, maybe hide in his bedroom for as long as he can but he felt a pair of arms around him stopping him. Looking to his right he sees Penelope's head on his shoulders, he turns and properly wraps his arms around the younger woman remembering the panic and tears in her eyes when she first visited him in the hospital.

Hotch had just awoken, his whole body hurt, the painkillers started to wear off and the full gravity of his situation started to hit him. He heard the team before Emily opened the door and let them in, he heard their voices, they were talking about something but couldn't hear what. And then he saw them, Emily opened the door, Penelope was the first who walked in, at first sight there was nothing different with her than normally, she wore a bright orange and blue dress, high blue heels, a big orange flower on the left side of her head and blue glasses, when he noticed her eyes though he saw the huge difference, her eyes were red and, swollen and glassy filled with tears. Tears she didn't shed. She walked slowly to his side and stood next to his bed, he saw her running her eyes up and down, checking him again and again, trying to figure out if he was alright.

"Penelope?" her eyes focused on his, he could see the tears ready to fall, he could see her fear and worry, he had seen it before if he was being honest. "I'm alright." He says, a smile crosses her lips and her hand grips his right hand tightly. "Wild Horses sir, wild horses!"

"Penelope." The sound of her name made Garcia to take a step back and look at him "Are you alright?" she asks with her voice steady but soft.

"Wild horses Penelope. Wild horses remember?"

XXXX

They ate, drank and joked all together sitting in the living room of Hotch and Emily's apartment, Aaron kept looking at the door, the events of the last two weeks kept replaying in his head again and again, was there something, anything he could have done to have avoided everything that happened? That was the question that tormented him.

"Did you found who was involved in the frame up?" he asked, everyone in the room stopped talking, the kids had long ago went to bed, he knew that they couldn't have heard him, he didn't want that, but he was also tired of the rest of them tiptoeing around him on the subject.

"We aren't sure on who exactly is in on it." Matt said, "You heard about John." Hotch nodded, he had heard about the death of the director by his friend Bern, the matter was still too fresh in his mind. "Well we do know that Stafford contacted Cochran sometime before his arrest. And there is suspicion that they contacted each other after his arrest as well. We haven't found out who was the one who physically put the bomb there, but we have found out that, either Stafford or Cochran had contacted Rawdon who gave them the idea of building a bomb and framing you." Matt finished and looked down, Hotch had noticed that his boss didn't look at him during the whole time once, something was eating him, and that wasn't the profiler in him talking but rather the friend.

"Matt, you're hiding something from me." Matt shut his eyes and turned his head towards the window. "John was killed in Bern's car. The bomb was meant to kill Bern and not John. John was sick in the last few months, the matter stayed strictly 'in house' meaning that none of the Section Chiefs knew a thing; the only ones who knew were the two deputies. Bern and Stafford, the investigation on you, it was signed by Stafford." Hotch drew a sharp breath in, he knew that Roger Stafford never liked him, and the feelings were frankly mutual, but he always believed that out of sheer devotion to the BAU and only he wouldn't face any problems from him. The actual realization that the man down the hall, the man who he had shared a desk in the old BAU bullpen in that cramped god awful bunker they used to occupy was out to kill his best friend and wanted him gone from the FBI so badly that he was willing to sent him in jail for the rest of his life and destroy his life completely was defiantly a punch in the gut.

"What… what actions have been… you know." He still had difficulty comprehending everything Matt had told him.

"So far, nothing, so far only Seaton is suspended and pending an investigation on his actions but we can't move any further. Right now, you and the rest of your team is in stand down, Bern's orders to take some time off. As soon as you guys are back at work… we'll see." Matt said

"Yeah on that…" JJ started, Matt looked at her, his eyes pleading, he knew what she was about to say, that probably they didn't want to come back, or maybe that she wouldn't come back, he saw his nightmare coming to life in front of him.

"Jen." Her name a plea that fell from his lips. "We need to talk with Jack and Henry, personally I'm not willing to do a job that makes my child uncomfortable, and you know as well as the rest of us that if Hotch doesn't come back, the rest of us won't be back either."

"No, JJ, no. what I'll do shouldn't affect you guys." Hotch protested, he knew that his team would follow him to hell and back, but he didn't want that. JJ, Reid, Dave, Tara and Penelope were the best agents (and technical analyst) he had met.

"Frankly Hotch, I don't think that this team can operate without you. A couple of days we had to work a case without you and we almost tear each other apart. We were at each other's throats. Dave snapped right and left, JJ was ready to rip Dave's head from his shoulders with her bare hands, Spencer wasn't able to concentrate on one thing for more than few minutes at best, Dave pulled a gun on Matt and started a shouting match with Anderson, we all thought Anderson was conspiring behind our backs with Matt when both were only trying to help us, hell none of us was able to even make a ten and a seven year old to talk to us. Our section chief was on the verge of exhaustion and we only figured it out when he literally collapsed in front of us. I think that none of us, you included, ever understood just how dependent we became on specific dynamics between the team." Tara stopped; she looked around her, all the different reactions to her outburst. She knew she said just what the rest had been thinking since the whole mess had started, but the revelations had defiantly stunned Hotch who hadn't heard or had known just how tense everyone was. "It's your team, members might come and go but you are the leader of the team. You are consistently there; since you took the job you only left your post for less than six months, six months in eleven years. Things in the team, people come and go, but the one thing that never changed is that you are the boss. This team… we can't work under another Unit Chief, it won't be right, something will be lacking, and whoever that person is we'll always compare him or her to you and no matter how good they are they'll always lack in something. They'll never be good enough. Any way any of us can work in the FBI if you're not there is if we are the leaders, if we are the bosses and defiantly not in the BAU… because if we stay there, even as the boss, we'll always consider ourselves as seat holders never truly embarking the role of the boss never really evolving and moving on, always stuck in a bubble. So JJ is right, if you aren't coming back, I don't see anyone else coming back either." Hotch bit his lip, he knew that his team was loyal but he never saw himself as irreplaceable, he knew he knew that to the government and the bureau was expendable and one day he will be replaced with the younger and improved "model". To realize that to his team he was irreplaceable was as powerful as a punch in the gut. Although he had to admit it was one of the best feeling punches he had ever received.

"I told you man, on the flight back from Milwaukee, you had told me at the beginning of the case that we'll get a new Unit Chief and he might not be such a drill sergeant. Remember what I had told you? I told you that we might not want a new unit chief because we already had one. Apparently you didn't hear me then, so I'll tell you again, we don't want or need a new unit chief because we already have one and he's a pretty damn great one. And yes he is a drill sergeant sometimes and a bit of a pain but that doesn't make him and less great at what he does. Because we are a family and no matter what we stand by each other and love each other with everything, all their traits good and bad. We don't want someone who is less of a drill sergeant; we don't want someone new, or old. We want you, drill sergeant extraordinaire and SSA Hard Ass. We don't want or need a new Unit chief because we already have one and he's a pretty damn good one too. Did that went through you thick scull or do I have to say it again?" Hotch nodded no closed his eyes, he took a couple of deep breaths, "Message clear" he said smiling slightly at them. Derek nodded pleased and leaned back on the couch taking a sip from his bear, Emily laced her fingers in his and leaned pressing a soft kiss on his cheek, he turned his head and kissed her lips, the small smile stuck on his lips although the tears were building up in his eyes, everyone had noticed but chose not to mention them, to his great relieve.

"Anyway I'll probably be coming back anyway, maybe not right away, I'll defiantly need a couple of months to make sure my knee is alright, last thing I need is to get back in the hospital and have another surgery. Have enough scars already don't really need anymore." He said, Emily smiled, the shocked faces of the rest of the team at the realization that Aaron was joking was defiantly priceless.

"Did you just make a joke?" Katie asked shocked, "Matt he made a joke, Hotch frankly I had no idea you could." He rolled his eyes at his old teammate "Yeah it better stay inside the room, I have an image to uphold in the bureau." Everyone started laughing at the stern face Hotch put on, his mask not great though since he slipped and joined them soon after.

"Jokes aside cocoa butter does wonders with scarring." Kate said, she got up and walked to her bag, left on the desk next to the door. She took a small jar "Here, apply it after cleaning the wound. Trust me, wonders." Hotch took the jar from her hands, his left eyebrow raising "Thanks" he said, leaving it on the table in front of him. Kate placed a hand on his good shoulder "Can't have you find any more reasons to stay hidden behind those damn suits of yours." She said smiling widely

"What?" he asked, his voice rising, Emily sitting next to him was biting her lips trying not to burst out laughing "I'll choose not to comment on that."

XXXX

It was a little after ten when the team had left with promises that they'll be back soon to see how he was doing, Aaron, although he hated all the attention and the fussing, he smiled and (as he had promised Emily) thanked them and told them to come back anytime. Frankly, as much as he loved them and missed them, he was glad they had left, he had missed the solitude, the privacy of being in his own house behind closed doors, and he wasn't going to deny it but having Emily there was a great bonus as well.

"Aaron do you need any help?" he looked up and stared at his reflection on the mirror. He looked much better now than he did when he came home, after taking a shower and shaving he started to look like his normal self again, he really thanked the gods that he was able to use his right hand as well because otherwise showering, washing his hair and shaving would have been a really awkward moment.

"All set." He said walking out of the bathroom, Emily was sitting on the bed, she already had changed wearing his old FBI Academy t-shirt, it was long enough that almost reached her knees, moments like this always struck him just how small she really was. Used seeing her in heels, walking in the room and owning it, always in control, always strong and able to protect herself he often forgot that she was 5'8'' and 127 pounds and not 6'2'' and 175 pounds like him. Realizing just how smaller she is and still how she carried herself as if she was bigger than him always took his breath away.

"What are you staring?" she asked, he realized that she had gotten up from the bed and had walked just a couple of feet away from him. "I missed you." He closed the distance between them, cupping her face and leaning his head towards her, he touched his forehead to hers, felling her soft skin on his. "I missed you too." she whispered, he had closed his eyes just breathing in the soft scent of vanilla that always follows her skin when he felt her lips on his cheek, at first and then his lips. He missed kissing her; he missed feeling her close to him, holding her. It was insane how much he missed her.

"Don't leave me." He whispered it was a moment of weakness, something that he'll only admit in the dead of the night and never again, they both knew that as soon as the sun rises next morning his admission of weakness will be gone too. Not because he won't feel it or anything else simply because they both had to wear their masks in the light of the day and act the way they need to. They couldn't be weak in the light of day, not when they had probably the weight of the world hanging from their shoulders.

"I'm not going anywhere." She whispered, her answer was soft, audible only to him, an admission of need only for his ears although they were the only ones in the room.

He gave her another short kiss on the lips and they both pulled apart.

"Ready for bed?" she asked.

"Yeah, let's go." He hugged her shoulders closer and walked slowly to the bed with her glad that the day was finally over.

XXXX

Aaron woke up to the sound of the phone, he fought to ignore it and go back to sleep but couldn't, years and years in the BAU almost programmed him to not be able to ignore a phone call.

"Prentiss." He heard Emily whispering from the other side of the room and he opened his eyes, she was standing by the window few steps away from the bed, she was whispering to the phone and Aaron didn't really have the ability to understand what she was saying just yet.

"Fine, thanks Clyde." She hanged up the phone and turned to see him awake trying to sit on the bed and failing miserable

"Sorry to wake you." Emily walked to the bed and sat down pulling Aaron gently to her side and stopping him from trying to get up and therefore injuring himself any further. "Clyde called my stuff will be here from London in about three to four days." she said smiling. Aaron had buried his face on her shoulder but smiled hearing the happiness in her voice, "Good. You know we need to set up the nursery right?" he said, Emily bit her lip nervously, remembering a talk she had with Jack a couple of nights ago. "Yeah about that… maybe we should get a new place, probably a home, one with yard. It'll be good with the baby and Jack will have more space to run and play." He looked at her curiously, if he was being honest he had thought about getting a house, before he had even known about the baby but he wasn't sure she would like that, her admission that she does want a house, with the yard and all had him worrying about what really might be going on.

"Em, you know I'd love that, but I thought you liked living in a condo, what changed?" she diverted her eyes for a while looking around at their bedroom.

"Look, I told you something back, after Foyet's attack" she saw him ready to say something and placed her index finger on his lips silencing him "Listen please, I talked with Jack couple nights ago and he told me that he didn't feel safe coming back here, although the door was replaced and the alarm was working and everything. People tent to associate places, sounds, smells with unpleasant events that happen to them. It happened to you after Foyet, you couldn't sleep in your old apartment remember? We had to move into mine, and then when you moved back you suffered from insomnia. Happened to Jack as well, he didn't knew why but he became claustrophobic although he doesn't remember the details about how his mom died he still remembers the small space he was when he heard the loud bangs from downstairs. It's the same here, he steps in the living room and he immediately flashes back to seeing his dad on his knees and on gunpoint, by the people he was supposed to trust. Because that's what we all taught him, to trust the authorities, this time it wasn't a bad guy that threatened you, it was the people that were supposed to help you, protect you, your people in a sense. Didn't you find it weird that the whole time we've been here with the team he only stayed in the living room for less than fifteen minutes and then he went back to his room?" she looked at him and saw the wheels in his brain turning, she knew he had noticed the signs, not only in Jack if he was being honest, because he himself had shown those signs as well. Those weren't signs any father wanted to see in their child.

"I know, maybe we should start looking." He knew that she was going to ask him if he had the same signs, flashbacks, he knew. He closed his eyes and buried his head on her shoulder.

"What about you?" she ask, she knows what he'll say; he'll say he's fine although he clearly is not. "Don't you dare tell me you're fine Aaron, if you were you wouldn't have been looking at the front door that much."

He signed and raised his head looking straight into her eyes, it was a fight of wills, the first to look away would lose, they always did that, always trying to sneak away from confrontation, it tore them apart before, when Foyet was after him, or Doyle was after her. They wouldn't talk to each other and almost lost each other, Emily wasn't willing to do it again.

Aaron looked down and closed his eyes, his good hand rose to his face rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"I'm dealing, not fine, defiantly not but I'm dealing Em. Isn't that good enough?" Emily recognized his defensive tone immediately

"It's more than good enough baby. It's great, but you don't have to deal with it alone." She places her hand on his chin raising his head, looking straight into his eyes, "I am here." He closed his eyes again but this time he leaned closer to her.

"I know."

XXXX

Matt walked into his office, everything was the same, just like it was when he left it last time, the blankets still dropped on the couch, the purple fluffy robe Penelope had bought him (or snuggie as she had called it) on the floor where it was dropped, his chair pushed back touching the bookcase from when JJ pushed it to get him away from the desk, his tie still on the chair in front of the desk where he had ditched it. His jacket still dropped over the back of the same chair. Most things where the same, of course there were the dust and the shattered glass from the explosion, he was glad that they had at least fixed the window. Not that he would mind the fresh air filling the room, it still held the same suffocating atmosphere it had the last day he was there.

"Wow this place is a mess!" he turned and watched Elle standing at the door, "Yeah, it is." The smile on her face dropped when he heard his voice, she felt that something was bothering him and could suspect what that was as well.

"You ok?" she asked walking inside. Matt looked around the room, trying to avoid her eyes at all costs, he freaking hated profilers. "Take a seat." He said showing the chairs in front of his desk, he walked to his own chair pulling it closer to the desk, he sat down straighten his spine trying to sit as straight as he could.

"Have you considered my offer?" he asked, trying to divert the conversation elsewhere.

"Oh no, no mister you can't pull that trick on me! I lived in the same house as Jason Gideon those tricks don't work on me. Spill what's bothering you?" she asked, Matt took a deep breath looking at her with a small half smile on his lips.

"You got me. Well I've been getting pressure from above to either get the BAU Alpha back immediately or move on with the formation of the second Alpha team as soon as possible."

"So you need my answer immediately." Matt nodded, a sad look on his face, "I do, I know I told you that you can take as much time as you want but the DOJ is pressing on the matter, I don't think that even the director can stop them. They want the BAU back in business and they want it now." Elle nodded at him, "I understand, but I need to talk to Hotch first. Can you give me a day?"

"You have twelve hours, I'm sorry."

XXXX

Emily's head was spinning, she wanted to get Aaron to open up to her, she knew that it wasn't easy and apparently it lead to an explosion worse than she had guessed.

"I see the door and I'm waiting for it to burst open." He told her, she looked at him; his eyes were starring at the closed door of their bedroom "I can't look at it. It's not as bad as it was with Foyet but it's bad, it's the same."

"It's P.T.S.D. its normal Aaron, it happens, you aren't invincible. What you went through in your own home was traumatizing. Maybe talking to someone isn't bad." She said a small smile on his lips appeared "I am talking to someone" he says with the smile apparent on his voice too.

"I'm not talking about me Aaron, I can't help you with everything, I can hear and offer advice but that's all." His face hardened and she could see his jaw clenching.

"I don't need a psychiatrist." He said forcibly.

"Psychologist and you might do, Aaron it's not just what happened this time, you didn't talk to anyone after what happened with Foyet or Peter Lewis either, all those are bottling up!" he got up from the bed limping to the window.

"You didn't talk to anyone after Doyle either." He said with his voice cold.

"Yeah, and look how well that served me. It took me years to deal with the fact that I lost my baby, I almost lost my husband and I had to run to the other side of the ocean to outrun my issues." He had his back on her, looking out the window; she could see though that his head was lowered. "Aaron, we both went through some tough shit in the last years and if that's gonna make you feel better we can both talk to a doctor. Hell Jack probably needs to talk to someone too." he turned around looking at her, Emily still sitting on the bed, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen him that angry, or closed off, or both.

"It's none of your business." He says, his voice lower than before, Emily froze on her spot on the bed.

"What? It's none of my business? Why because I'm not his mother? Trust me I know that! That doesn't make me love him any less or care about him any less. I can't believe you just said that." Emily kept her voice low with difficulty, their old habit at screaming at each other was bubbling under the surface for both; she could see the veins popping on Aaron's forehead. "What am I doing here then Aaron? Why am I here if the wellbeing of my family is none of my business, what is my business here? Please enlighten me!" he stayed silent on his spot by the window, not looking at her. "Emily." Her name left his lips softly.

"No don't…" Emily got up from the bed and walked to the closet. "I'm going to change and go for a walk, you think about it." She took a pair of pants and a t-shirt and walked to the bathroom leaving Aaron alone in the bedroom.

"What is bothering you my dear?" Emily turned her head sharply and looked at an elderly woman standing in front of her. Her white hair were pulled back from her face in a tight bun in the base of her head, her hazel eyes filled with concern.

"Excuse me?" the woman smiled widely at the younger woman. "Something must be bothering you. Can I sit?" she asks showing the seat next to her on the bench she was sitting for the last half an hour.

"Please do." The woman sat down and looked at her, the smile still on her lips "Man problems dear?" Emily chuckled at that

"Husband problems actually."

"Aha, well aren't they problems all the time." She said. Emily laughed at the woman's comment.

"Yeah well my husband does cause quite a few." She said sarcastically.

"He sounds like my second husband, my Mike. Married twenty years, he drives me crazy at least twice a day each day." A small laugh left her lips. "How long are you married?" Emily played with her rings, "Well typically, it's been a little over seven years. Technically we've been together for three and a half, we've had some problems."

"What couple doesn't? The actual question is the today's problem is it bad enough for you to be hiding out here and not being at home and trying to work it out with your husband? Has he done something that bad that you can't forgive him?" Emily sat there silent wondering what was it that bothered her that much, she knew that when Aaron was angry or even confronted with things that he didn't want to hear he tended to lash out and say things he doesn't mean, or even want to say. It had happened in the past and they had brushed it off, what was that different this time?

"He has a son from his first marriage, he is ten, and I've known him since he was two and a half. He hit it off right away, ever since the first time he laid eyes on me I was Emmy, six years ago his mother, my husband's ex wife died, I never wanted to replace her, never tried either. That doesn't mean that I would love that boy any more if he was biologically mine." Emily stopped and took a deep breath.

"We had a fight today, I told him that maybe we should talk to a doctor, all of us, because in the last years we've been through a lot, but his answer was that it is none of my business. I know that most likely he didn't mean it, my husband; he has a habit of saying things he doesn't mean when he is angry or even comforted with things he doesn't want to. We both do actually; we'll get mad and scream things at each other that we'll regret in an hour. I don't know why it bothered me that much this time to be honest."

"Maybe because he insinuated that you weren't a good mother?" Emily turned to the older woman looking at her with shock overcoming her face.

"Excuse me?"

"You are pregnant"

"How?" the woman smile and pointed at her stomach, "We've been here for almost an hour and you haven't taken you hand from your stomach. So as I was saying you are pregnant, his words hurt more because you two are going to have a child together this time, it hurts that he doesn't trust you with the well being of his son, although you always treated him like your own." Emily opened her mouth but closed it right away, the woman's words were twirling in her mind, she had to admit that she was right, "I guess you are right." Emily whispered.

"Well in that case I think you need to go home and figure out if your husband meant what he said or not. And if he is as thickhead as mine, he'll probably need some time to see that he was wrong as well, so how about we let him stew for a while and go to the café across the street? Their muffins are to die for." Emily smiled at the woman and accepted her offer, she left home that hastily that she didn't even had time to grab something to eat.

She got up taking the older woman's hand "Emily."

"Patty"

XXXX

"Where is Emmy?" Aaron turned and saw Jack standing on the doorstep. He placed the cup of coffee on the counter and closed his eyes "You two fought?"

"What?" Aaron looked at Jack, the boy walked in the kitchen taking his cereal from one cupboard and a bowl from the other placing them on the table, "Emmy isn't here, you are, she left without coming to wake me so you two probably fought." Aaron was shocked; they had tried to keep their voices low. Aaron limped to the table and sat down next to his son "We had an argument and Emily went for a walk. You need help with that?" Aaron asked watching Jack take the milk out of the fridge and purring some in his bowl "Nah, I'm good dad; I'm not a baby anymore." The boy sat across from Aaron who was staring at him in shock, his baby was growing and indeed he wasn't a baby anymore.

"You need to apologize to her." Jack was looking at him over his spoon, Aaron's shock and bafflement was growing by each passing moment "What?"

"When Emmy comes back you need to apologize, I don't want her to go away again, so you have to do whatever it takes so she and the baby stay here."

"You know about…"

"Sure, sooner than you." Jack gave him a half smile Aaron tried but couldn't manage to stop the smile on his face.

"I will. Emily and I were talking about moving out of here, maybe to a house with a yard. What do you think?" Jack left the spoon back in the bowl and looked at his father, "Sure, that sounds good." Aaron looked at his son throwing stolen glances on the door. "Is there anything else you want to tell me? You know I am here." A short look of uncertainty crossed the boy's eyes and Aaron wished he didn't saw it.

"I think I want to see Dr. Cooper again." Aaron nodded remembering what Emily had told him not so long ago. Dr. Cooper was the psychologist Jack was seeing after Haley's death and although he hadn't been in his office for years now, over four, the two of them had kept in touch. "I can call him and set up an appointment." Aaron said, his guilt was growing, especially when he saw the smile on Jack's face.

"Thanks, now call Emmy and apologize, before she changes her mind and buys a plane ticket to god knows where." The boy got up from the chair picking up his empty bowl and spoon placing them in the sink and putting away his cereal and the milk before he disappeared from the kitchen leaving his father back and star struck.

XXXX

"Speak of the devil!" Emily said mentioning the phone in her bag while turning away from Patty she took it out and saw at Aaron's picture and name appeared on the screen, "Well answer him!" Emily smiled and picked up the phone "Prentiss."

"Em, it's Aaron, I'm sorry… you were right, where are you?"

"Out, I told you I would go for a walk." Emily saw Patty giving her the thumbs up from the bench across the table.

"Are you coming home?"

"Later, yeah."

"Jack woke up and was looking for you. I get that you are angry at me and you have every right to be, what I told you was wrong and I didn't mean it."

"Then why say it. Why say it at all?"

"I don't know, I seriously don't know. All I do know is that you are right when you said that we all need to talk to a professional and you were right that just talking to each other isn't enough. I… I talked to Jack and asked him about moving out of the condo and to a house and he said yes. He also told me that he wanted to see Dr. Cooper again and I set up an appointment for him. I did all I could think of but that's all I can do alone. Please I need you to come home." Emily heard the pleading in his voice and the lines on her forehead smoothed over.

"I'm at 2100 S Washington Boulevard on a café with a friend; I'll be back home in an hour. We'll talk then." She head a sign of relieve from the other side, he was trying to suppress it without success.

"Alright, I love you." Emily smiled to his words; she knew that they had put the last fight somewhat behind them, not completely but they were clearly working towards it.

"I love you too." Emily said before she hanged up the phone.

"So? I heard some declarations." Emily smiled at the expression on the older woman's face, she had a big smile on her face and her right eyebrow rose.

"He apologized, told me that he didn't mean it and he did follow my advises on Jack, before asking me to come home and telling me he loves me." Emily face mirrored the triumphant expression on Patty's face.

"See darling I told you he is the same as my husband, you both took some time and thought things over and he called and apologized."

"Yeah, I don't even know why he fights with me I'm always right after all." The two women busted out laughing after Emily's comment, for the younger woman this was a sobering moment, this was the feeling that a girl should have while talking with her mother.

"Well it was great talking to you, but right now I have to go to my son's, that boy always gets in trouble. He got hurt again and didn't call me!" Emily's eyebrows rose, "Wow, that sounds like my husband, he gets in trouble a lot and never calls his mother either, once I had to call her myself, I spoke to her husband, it's funny, we're married seven years and I never once met his mom." Patty chuckled "What a coincidence, my boy is married here and a few years and I never met his wife either. What are the chances in that?" the smile fell from Emily's face slowly "One in a million. I'm sorry but what is your son's name?"

XXXX

Aaron was sitting in his office looking on line for homes around the area, so far he had found a couple he did like a lot, most of them though were out of Arlington, a couple in Dale City and one in Southbridge, he had to admit that the close proximity to work was very tempting.

He heard Emily's key's on the door and slowly got up from the desk walking to the door, she walked in, a paper bag with groceries in her hands.

"Em." He said smiling.

"Hey baby, we've got visitors." She said, Aaron's smile froze on his face and slowly fell from his lips.

"Mom!"

"Oh, it's Aaron." Patty had a smile on her face which fell when she saw the color draining from Emily's face.

"Oh, his last name?" Emily asked, she kept saying to herself to keep it together, something that she had admitted wasn't easy to do.

"Hotchner. He's an FBI agent. Dear are you alright?" Patty put her hand on Emily's arm, the younger woman raised her head and looked straight into the hazel eyes of the older woman, how could she have missed it? She had the same eyes as Aaron, and the longer she observed the woman the most she looked like Aaron, they had the same eyes and the same cheekbones.

"Well I'm Emily; I'm your son's wife."

"Mom!" Aaron looked at the two women shocked, he felt as if the earth left from beneath his legs. "What are you doing here?" he limped slowly over to her, hugging her as close as he could.

"Well I finally met your wife which you've been hiding out from me for seven years! I found out I'm going to be a grandma again and I learned that you've been acting like a jerk." Aaron turned to Emily who was biting her lip trying not to laugh at the sight of her bad-ass FBI husband getting scolded by his mother. "The friend?" he asked, Emily nodded finally giving in and laughing at him.

"Well in my defense I didn't know she is your mom till it was too late. But by the way I like her." Emily leaned forward and kissed his cheek turning around and walking to Jack's room. Aaron turned back and looked at his mother who was still standing with her hands on her waist.

"I'm in for an ear bashing?" Aaron asked, trying to fake his best innocent look.

"Oh yeah and a real big one!"

XXXX

"Hey baby." Emily walked in the room to see Jack sitting on his desk, he had a couple of his books around him and his pencils were scattered around them.

"Emmy!" he jumped from the chair and almost run to her hugging her round the waist. "I thought you were going to go back in London, because dad did something stupid." Emily laughed, kneeling down to reach his eye level.

"I told you I am not leaving, no matter how stupid your father acts from times to times. I went for a walk and then I got someone you missed a lot over." The boy in front of her looked puzzled at her.

"Who?" he asked.

"Well grandma Patty is here!" she said, the boy's face broke into a huge smile and he moved away from her arms, "Is she here?" he asked,

"Yeah, she's in the living room." She said, the boy's face lightened and he turned around running out of the room and into the living room.

"Grandma!" he ran to the older woman and the boy wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Oh my little baby isn't a baby anymore! You're almost as tall as your father now!" the older woman led the boy in the couch and sat down making small talk with him, Emily walked behind Aaron and wrapped her arms around his waist, "You already ditched the cane I see." She whispered on his shoulder.

"Only slightly, I still use it from the bedroom to the living room or office, but I thought I could do without it till here." He said turning around. Emily's mind flashed back to last night when they stood in the exact same position just a few feet away from where they were standing right now.

"We need to talk, and now I think it's the right time." She said taking his right hand in hers.

"You are right; Mom, Emily and I will be in the bedroom for a while, if you need anything just call." Aaron said, his mother dismissed him with a sign and he clutched Emily's hand tighter while trying to walk to the bedroom the best he could without groaning out in pain.

XXXX

Elle walked in the bullpen for the first time after the bomb went off, the windows were all replaced although the cleaning crew hadn't cleaned the room yet, she walked in the room feeling the glass shatter under her feet. When she left she promised herself she never will come back that she'll stay as far away as possible from this place and never look back. And she did, for a long time she did, she had built a life away from Quantico, away from the FBI, away from the BAU, right now though she couldn't imagine leaving them again. If Jason was here he would say that it was part of their winning personality, she on the other hand, things it's just part of being a family.

She walked up the catwalk to the office Jason used to occupy, Dave had changed a lot, the walls were now in a darker color, the desk was on the opposite side of the room than it used to be and was also tidier, much, much tidier. She turned to leave when a picture on the bookcase grabbed her attention. It was Jason and Dave, they were much younger standing in front of a car Dave was wearing a three piece suit, perfectly ironed, not a hair out of place while Jason was standing next to him in his baggy pants, and light brown jacket he still owned, a dark brown sweater and a red shirt. The two of them couldn't look any more different if they tried.

"It's taken in 1978, we were driving home from a case, I think in North Carolina, we were hungry and stopped at a roadside bed and breakfast. I had just bought my first camera; cost me more than my own house. It was a Konica C35, the owner offered to take out picture." Elle turned and saw Dave leaning on the doorstep.

"I'm sorry to intrude I just…" Dave walked in the room smiling softly. He walked to the woman and placed his hands on her shoulder softly.

"I know, Jason had sent me a letter, I only got it after his…" Dave closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, the subject even after a year and a half was still not something he felt at ease discussing. "You know. If he only had called, we might have had a beer, anyway he told me about you and about a baby you were going to adopt. If it's possible, I'd like to meet him." She saw the tears in his eyes, Elle had no idea what Jason had written on the letter for his friend, she knew though that he never stopped thinking about them.

"Sure, I'd love that. His name was at first Oliver, but after what happened I changed it." Elle reached for her phone from her pocket "Here, Gideon David Greenaway. Jason wanted him to have both our last names but the adoption came through a week after his death, so I thought that I could change his name, after all it was the agreement, I chose first name he'll chose middle name." she looked up and saw a couple of tears falling freely from Dave's eyes. "This is the second time he named a kid of his after me." He said softly. "Stephen?" Elle asked puzzled "My name is David Stephen Rossi. His full name was Jason James Gideon, my wife Caroline and his wife Marge were pregnant at the same time so we agreed, he'll give to his kid my middle name and I'll give my kid his middle name. So we did… so we did." Elle smiled and put the phone back in her pocket, "Sweet story, you know he wanted you to be his godfather. I want that too."

"I'd be honored kiddo." Dave leaned forward and hugged her closely.

"Good, if you don't have something better would you like to meet him?"

XXXX

"I'm sorry for everything." Aaron had apologized for the third or fourth time, Emily wasn't sure, "Aaron again, it's ok. I told you that. It's okay, we're okay, next time you are mad though don't take it out on me and my insecurities. We're profilers, we both know how to hurt each other the most because we can tell the others insecurities and fears. It took me a long time to get where I am, a long time and every time we fight and you say something like that I fall right back to the place I was when I first came back after Doyle. I can't afford to do so." Aaron nodded and walked to her side, he wrapped his arms around her the best he could without whelping out in pain, he had to admit that ditching the painkillers this morning was defiantly not a good idea.

Emily heard his labored breathing and took a step back, "Did you took your painkillers?" she asked him, Aaron saw the look on her face and swallowed with difficulty, "Not yet, pain wasn't that bad before, I will now though." She rolled her eyes helping him to the bed "Don't move an inch!" she warned him and he nodded, he still hadn't lost his mind to move.

Emily returned not long ago to find him a already asleep on the bed over the blankets, he had turned to his side and was hugging Bear Hotch who was sitting previously on her side on the bed. She smiled at the picture in front of her, she left the pills on his bedside table, kissed his cheek and left the room, but not before taking a couple of picture for future references (BLACKMAIL!)

A/N: I can't believe that this story is coming to an end. I loved every minute I spent writing it, the sequel will be coming sometime in mid July after I finish with my exams. Please let me know what you are thinking!

Sneak Peak…

Hotch woke up feeling the sun on his face, there was a weight on his hand and he smiled remembering that he wasn't sleeping alone anymore. He opened his eyes watching Emily sleep next to him peacefully. It was amazing how things changed since he was released from the hospital. His mother left after a couple of days, not before giving him a huge ear bash for his behavior and making him promise that he will call her more often that twice a year or so. His name was cleared and Matt told him that he is welcomed to return to the BAU wherever he saw fit.