Thanks for the reviews, subscriptions and alerts. :)
Sorry that the chapters have been getting shorter and shorter, I don't intend for them to be like that, that is just how it works out. Anywho, there is about five more chapters left. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Let Me Ask You Something
Lunch time the next day was quite relaxing and Hotch had to smile to himself, happy for getting the day off. He sat in his living room, watching as Jack raced up and down the stairs suggesting films and pausing upstairs for twenty minutes at a time to play with a toy he had just found. He waited the extra twenty minutes to see what DVD his son had brought down this time, but Jack never came. A further ten minutes passed, and he decided to find his son. As he neared the bedroom, he heard the sounds of Jack pretending to be a car, and smiled slightly as he pushed the door open and looked down at his son. Jack looked back up to meet his eyes.
"Daddy, I'm bored. What are we going to do today?" He gave him a sad look.
"I don't know, Jack, why don't you tell me what you want to do." He gave him a reassuring smile.
"Can Em'ly come over?" His eyes lit up, and that triggered Hotch's memory. No time like the present.
"I'm not sure, Jack, but can I talk to you?" He sat on the racing car bed and Jack walked over and sat down on his lap.
"What did you want to talk about, Daddy?" Jack's eyes were filled with confusion.
"I need to know what you think about Emily." He said.
"What do you mean?" The small boy's eyebrows creased just like his fathers did in confusion.
"Do you like Emily?" He waited a minute.
"Yes!" Jack said, a big smile on his face.
"Would you mind if Daddy and Emily started dating?" Another confused look was passed to him from the boy. "Would you mind if Emily came over more often? Slept over more often? Moved in with us even?" He asked, gulping, hoping it was a yes.
"Hmmm…" Jack thought. "I would love that. I love Em'ly, she likes watching films with me and playing games with me!" He smiled happily. "And she has the baby now!" Hotch now looked confused, not knowing his son knew about the baby.
"Would you like to be like a big brother to Emily's baby?" He asked, not really liking the conversation, and feeling slightly awkward.
"Of course not, Daddy. I would show him all my toys and play with him and help you and Em'ly. It would be great!" He smiled.
"You know it might be a girl…" Jack nodded, sadly. "Girls can be fun too! Like Em'ly and Aunt JJ." He mimicked his son.
"I guess so." He nodded again.
"So would you mind if Emily became like a mommy to you? A step-mommy." Jack looked worried.
"Cin'rella had a step-mommy, she wasn't nice to her, she was mean and made her clean and…" He rambled on, listing off all the problems.
"But you like Em'ly and she loves you. So I'm sure she would not be like the mean Step-mommy in Cinderella." Jack thought for a moment.
"If she isn't mean like Cin'rella's step-mommy, then I would like Em'ly to be my step-mommy." He flashed him a big smile and Hotch had to give him one back.
"Good. How about I go downstairs and call Em'ly then? See if she can come over." Jack nodded happily, but then stopped.
"See if we can go to her's… please, please, please. She promised that I could go to the park by her's!" Hotch nodded.
"I will call her and see, alright." He pressed the call button as he left the room and began walking down the stairs to the kitchen, the phone ringing. Just as he got to the kitchen bench, he heard her answer.
"Hey." He could tell she was well rested.
"Hi, I have something to tell you." He paused.
"Well, go on then, don't leave me waiting…" She urged him on.
"No, can I come over to your's? Jack's been dying to see you and he said you promised him that you would take him to the park by yours…" He reminded her and Emily nodded.
"Yeah, sure! I'd love to see him." She smiled happily.
"Great, I will be over at around 1 then…" He told her.
"Yeah, see you then." Both hung up and Hotch raced to tell Jack the good news while Emily rushed upstairs to get showered and ready; her two favourite men were coming over in an hour! She felt her stomach butterfly, and then there was a kick and she had to smile to herself as she go to her bedroom.
An hour later, Emily happily opened the door to see an extremely excited Jack standing there, a huge smile on his face. She bent down and gave him a hug and Jack looked confused.
"Is the baby gotten bigger?" He asked, and Emily smiled.
"Yeah, the baby has got very big. And…" She whispered in his ear and his face lit up. "Now why don't you go and sit in the living room for a minute, I just have something else to do." Jack raced away, and Hotch stepped in. "Two seconds." He watched as she raced back up the stairs, and came down with her coat on and her bag in her hand. "Ready?" Jack's eagerness made him nod extremely fast and he shot up from the couch. "Good, come on then." She walked slowly down the stairs towards the car, Hotch helping her waddle down every step. "God, I'm like a penguin!" She groaned and Hotch could not help but laugh.
"The most beautiful penguin I know." He gave her a smile and helped her down the rest of the steps.
Her hands were tucked tight in her pockets as she rested her body against one of the oddest bench's in the park. She was half standing, when Hotch - who had just rescued Jack off of the climbing frame - returned and gave her a small smile. He came to stand next to her, also half standing as well, he crossed his arms over his chest. Neither said a word, Emily moving one hand to her stomach as the baby kicked again, she smiled slightly. Hotch, who had been watching Jack on the slide, saw her from the corner of his eye, and without turning to look at her, he asked:
"What's wrong?" He saw her move her hand in circles over her bump and now turned to face her.
"Nothing." She replied. Another silence fell between the two before Hotch finally spoke.
"I had a word with Jack…" Now she looked at him.
"And…" He could see her eyes sink slightly with hope.
"He said he would love for you to be his step-mother and he would love to be a big step-brother." Her smile just grew bigger and bigger. "So, I think I can finally do this." He pulled her in close and let their lips lock in a passionate, but not over the top, kiss.
"Ew!" Broke them apart and Emily laughed slightly seeing Jack's face.
"What's up?" She bent down (with difficulty) to his level, and saw him roll his eyes.
"You two are yucky." He pulled a tongue.
"Yeah, well you're yucky too!" She pulled a tongue back, but stopped her hand going to her stomach as she groaned with the baby's kick. Hotch quickly helped her to stand.
"No, really are you okay?" He asked, and now Jack looked concerned too.
"Yeah, the baby just likes to kick extra hard." She gave Hotch a smile.
"What, the baby's kicking?" He smiled and his hand immediately went to her stomach, before vastly pulling away. "Sorry."
"It's fine, Hotch." She took his hand and put it over the place where the baby was kicking and a second or so later he too smiled.
"That is a strong kick." He commented.
"What's going on?" Jack seemed to look worried, excited, confused.
"Come here." She waited until he was closer before putting his hand on the same spot and the second the baby kicked he moved his hand away with speed.
"What is that?" He looked scared.
"It's the baby saying hello." She smiled and Jack still looked unsure.
"Hi baby." He smiled widely waving back, and Emily had to laugh.
Both watched intently as Jack moved from one thing in the park to the next. Then around, again and again. Emily's hand was still carefully on her stomach and Hotch turned to look at her.
"So, what did your mother say?" He finally asked, and Emily had been dreading that question.
"Nothing good really. But I don't think she will be back for a while." Emily informed him.
"Why? What happened?" She now had his full attention. She took a deep breath wondering did he really need to know? She shook her head mentally, giving herself a mental slap on the wrist as well. Of course he needs to know, he's your boyfriend, he should know.
"She wasn't too happy that I was going to be a single mother and then we were shouting and she said some bad things that I don't want to get in to. Hotch gave her a sympathetic look.
"Just ignore her, she's a heartless cow." He informed her, as if she did not already know. "And you're not alone, you have me now, and even if you didn't, you have the whole team. We're here for you." She gave a nod and then looked back to Jack who was now on the roundabout.
"I know." She gave him a quick smile and went about sorting the compartments in her mind to get her past this, just like she always had and always will. Strangely, she was shook from her thoughts as an arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
"I love you." Hotch said, and kiss the top of her head.
"Love you too." She replied, but made no move to kiss him. She liked just sitting like this, it was perfect.