THERE'S A BOY

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"Mommy?"

Emily looked up at sixteen-year-old AJ almost in alarm. Mommy was a name that was reserved almost solely for bad moments and when her children were ill. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"

AJ moved slowly into the dining room where Emily had managed to spread almost all of her paperwork across the wooden surface of the table. "Can I talk to you?"

It was long past bedtime on a school night, but AJ looked so vulnerable and almost scared that Emily couldn't say no. "Of course, honey. What's wrong?"

"Not wrong, really..." AJ replied, taking a seat. "Just... Mommy, there's a boy."

The juxtaposition of her sixteen-year-old saying 'Mommy' and talking about a boy wasn't lost on her. "Okay..." This wasn't the first time AJ had talked about a boy. It had only been two summers ago her daughter had gotten involved with Cristofer Forrester, the eldest son of a man Emily had run in the political circles with when she was a child. And Emily had thrown a fit when she'd discovered they couldn't really be classified as only friends. Nevertheless, after a thorough fight with her daughter and a calming conversation with JJ and Penelope – Aaron would have probably burst an artery had he found out – Emily and AJ had been able to have a rational conversation about it. As such, Emily was still the parent more comfortable with her daughter dating than Aaron.

"This is... I don't know. This is different," AJ said.

Emily leaned back in her chair. "Different how?"

"Everything is different," AJ said in exasperation. "I just... I can't explain it."

Emily chuckled. "Yes you can. You're just nervous about it."

AJ was the daughter Emily was closest to, though the elder Hotchner felt it was due to her daughter's age and not much else. Emily and Aaron had raised their children to be honest, almost to a fault.

"I don't know what to do, Mom," AJ said with a sigh.

"Honey, you're talking in abstract circles. Come on. I'll make you some tea," Emily coaxed.

"The chocolate kind?" AJ asked, scrambling to follow her mother.

The elder brunette laughed. "On one condition," she proposed.

"Name it."

"How does he make you feel different?"

AJ hoisted herself up on the counter as Emily put the kettle on. "You know the butterflies?"

Emily grinned. Of course she knew about the butterflies. She still got them after sixteen years of marriage to her husband. "I do."

"Mom!" AJ exclaimed. "Gross!"

Her mother laughed. "What about the butterflies?"

"They're different," AJ replied. "They're... More butterfly-y. And it's all the time. When I think about him, when I see him..."

Emily grinned. "Oh honey." Her attention shifted as the kettle whistled. "Tell me about him."

AJ pulled two mugs from the cupboard above her. "His name is Mike. Well, Michael. Santoianni. He um... Mommy, he's one of Gabi's friends."

Emily didn't wince, didn't hesitate or pause in pouring the water into the mug with her tea bag, but her brain clicked. Her daughter really liked this boy and while Emily had absolutely no problem with her daughter dating an older boy – not only was it not AJ's first older boy, but Emily didn't recognize the name so there was an extremely slim chance his family was in her political circle – Aaron had a hard time absorbing the fact that AJ was starting to date, let alone dating someone older than herself. And Emily wasn't sure their own rather large age difference was going to be any help as a supporting argument.

"Mom?"

Emily hadn't realized she'd been silent. "Annie, you know I have absolutely no problem with you dating and I have absolutely no problem with age differences."

"So long as they're not a politician," AJ nodded. "Daddy's going to flip."

"Honey, are you dating Mike?" Emily stirred her tea slowly, absently dunking her tea bag as she stirred.

AJ sighed. "No. But Gabi says he likes me too."

"Are you going to ask him out?"

"I don't know," AJ replied, looking into her hot chocolate. "I'm not... I can't."

"Why not? You like him."

"It's not that easy!" AJ exclaimed. "He's older! And Gabi's friend! And he... Gabi's just being nice."

"By telling you Mike likes you? Sweetheart, you've known Gabi since the day you were born."

"What if he doesn't?" AJ asked. "What if Gabi's wrong?"

"Is that a big problem?"

"We hang out every day! He's part of our usual group of friends. It's going to make things so awkward."

Emily nodded, sipping at her tea and hissing when it was still much too warm. "And what if Gabi's right?"

"I don't know if the risk is worth it," the sixteen-year-old almost whispered.

"Oh, Annie." Emily knew she and Aaron were introverted people, sharing little and they had both grown up protecting themselves. She'd hoped it was something that they wouldn't pass on to their children. It seemed that they hadn't been so lucky. Emily made a mental note to talk to Aaron about it.

"Sometimes the risk is worth it, sweetheart," she told her daughter. "The reward can be worth it."

"Is that what happened with you and Daddy?"

Emily chuckled. "Your Daddy and I were in a different situation. We weren't in school and there were rules that said we couldn't date. It was a very big risk."

"But it paid off," AJ said.

"Of course it did," Emily agreed. "I love your father and there are days I'm not sure what I'd do without him."

"The bad days?"

"The bad days," Emily agreed with a smile. "Does Mike make the bad days better?"

AJ nodded. "And he can tell when it's a bad day."

Even Derek had once said that AJ was almost harder to read than her mother, so Emily knew what kind of admission that was. "I think the risk is well worth it," she said. "You have to put yourself out there, honey. And you're going to get hurt sometimes, but you're a strong girl and I think you can handle it."

AJ hugged her mother. "Thanks Mom."

"Always sweetheart," Emily replied, kissing her daughter's head. "Always."

"I'm going to take this upstairs, okay?" AJ asked, lifting her mug.

"So long as you remember to bring it down in the morning," Emily agreed.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Emily watched her daughter leave the room, listening carefully for the squeak of the second-from-the-top stair. Then she smiled indulgently. "How much did you hear?"

Aaron stepped into the kitchen, not bothering to ask how she'd known he was there. She'd long ago explained some type of radar when it came to his presence. And he swore she had eyes in the back of her head. She caught things that her children did that he didn't see coming. "You're letting her date?"

"I'm letting her make her own decisions," Emily said patiently. AJ growing up had been a thorn in her father's side since it had hit him that his little baby girl was no longer six.

"She's sixteen!"

"Exactly, Aaron," she replied, still sitting calmly with her tea. "Which means in twenty-four months, less, she'll be going away to college and then what are you going to do?"

The ensuing silence spoke volumes and it made Emily grin. "I still don't have to like it."

"No," she agreed. "But you have to tolerate it."

"He's a year older than her."

Emily rolled her eyes. It was obvious he was grasping at straws. "Yeah, and my father was very not impressed with our much bigger age difference and we've been married for seventeen years."

"Emily-"

"Nuh uh, Mister Hotchner. If you can let your son date, you can let AJ date."

"Jack's older."

"Aaron, you're being irrational," Emily said, laughing. She stood. "Jack was seventeen when he brought his first girl home and the poor thing was utterly terrified. Annie is scared to date because she doesn't want anyone to get hurt."

Aaron sighed, wrapping his arms around her as she did the same. "She's still young."

"She's not going to marry the boy, Aaron. She's not even going to consider sleeping with him. This is a harmless part of her growing up." She put her hand over his mouth when he opened it to respond. "They're not even dating. You have nothing to worry about."

His mouth was a hard line as she pulled her hand away, but he didn't bother to argue.

"Good. Now let's go upstairs and go to bed. I've been working too long and there is blood spattered across the back of my eyelids. I need a snuggle."

His smile came out, his entire demeanour lighting at the possibility of time with his wife. "Then who am I to argue with a beautiful woman like you?"

"A silly, silly man," she replied, kissing him briefly. "And don't you forget it."

"I reserve the right to come back to the topic of AJ dating."

"I reserve the right to veto you bringing up AJ dating," she replied with a playful smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Bed, woman. I'm going to erase that blood from your eyelids."

She squealed and laughed as he swept her up in his arms. "It sounds heavenly."

The next day, Emily picked up an overly excited AJ at the Garcia-Morgan household. The sixteen-year-old all but tossed her backpack into the back seat before jumping in the front. Emily arched an eyebrow in question as her daughter turned to look at her.

AJ sighed happily. "He said yes."

Emily grinned as she pulled out of the driveway. The smile on AJ's face was going to be worth any fallout from Aaron. "Of course he did."

AJ's eyes were almost fearful as she turned to her mother again. "Don't tell Daddy."

Emily laughed.

This is probably my favourite chapter. I'm totally a Daddy's girl, but my Mom is the person I go to with everything. I loved writing it.

Now, I'm going to try this again. I totally understand how this can be confusing, so I'm going to include birthmonths and years here with each kid. I may start writing the characters involved and their ages at the beginning.

Now, the kiddies in order:
Jack Hotchner (calculations say somewhere around January 2005)
Gabi Morgan (August 2011)
Anna-Joy Hotchner (January 2013)
Kate Hotchner (April 2015)
Calleigh Reid (September 2015)
Nate Reid (May 2017)
Chris Morgan (February 2017)
Seth Hotchner (December 2017)
Eric Reid (February 2019-ish)