MAMA'S ALMA MATER

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AJ's first day of school had nothing on moving her into the dormitories of Yale University. It had been a toss-up between Yale and Dartmouth but AJ had not only preferred Yale on the whole, but it was closer to home than Dartmouth. And if Emily was seriously honest with herself, she preferred her first born closer to home. They'd been spoiled with Jack going to George Washington and they all knew it. Now, Emily's chest was growing tight as she watched her daughter's things be unloaded into a Yale dorm. AJ stood beside her, clutching her backpack. Emily knew what was in that bag. Despite AJ's foray into adulthood, her ratty puppy travelled everywhere with her. AJ glanced over and Emily saw her roll her eyes.

"Everything's going to be fine," she said.

Emily looked over at Aaron as her husband's eyebrow went up. Sometimes she wondered if her children remembered that reading behaviour had been one of her absolute favourite parts of her life. And it wasn't the first time she'd exploited that particular talent when it came to their children. "Of course it will," the mother agreed.

AJ shot her mother a glare. "You're humouring me," she accused.

"Of course not, sweetheart," Aaron jumped in as he loaded another young man up with AJ's things. "We're trying to figure out whether you're trying to convince us or yourself."

Emily rolled her eyes. Aaron could get away with so many things with AJ and calling her out had always been one of those things he'd been able to get away with, teenaged-attitude free. Emily had yet to be that lucky.

AJ mirrored her mother's eye roll, though adjusted her tight grip on her backpack. "I'm eighteen, exactly the age to leave the house."

Emily couldn't help her snort of amusement. "Honey, need I remind you Jack is twenty-six?"

"Jack's a different story," AJ said, waving her hand dismissively. "He'll move out soon, probably up to MIT so he can 'protect' Gabi." The words came complete with air quotes.

"You think so?" Emily asked, managing to keep a straight face. She was surprised that her daughter caught the underlying connection between her brother and her best friend.

AJ rolled her eyes. "They remind me of Aunt Pen and Uncle Derek."

This time Emily did start, looking at her daughter with surprised eyes.

AJ grinned and snorted in amusement. "She denies it, but I know it. And Jack would have asked her out a year ago if he wasn't absolutely petrified about what Dad and Uncle Derek would do if things didn't work out."

"Are you sure you want to go into business?" Aaron asked his daughter, laughter obvious in his voice.

"I'm not going into the FBI, Dad," AJ said, the tone of her voice implying that this was an old conversation.

"Everything's moved in."

Emily watched AJ smile at the young man who approached and made sure to wrap her arm around Aaron as he stepped forward, pressing the keyless remote for the car.

"Thanks," AJ said softly.

He paused, then held out a hand. "Kenneth. Ken."

"AJ," she responded, taking his hand.

"Short for?" he asked, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Um... Anna-Joy," she replied, sounding surprised at the question.

"Kenny! Come on, man. Stop flirting!"

Emily bit her lip against amusement as she watched the young man pull out his cell phone. She gripped her husband's arm tightly as she watched AJ shyly type her number into the phone, blushing profusely all the whole. Her little girl was starting college and it looked like she wasn't doing it half way.

Aaron groaned as the phone rang, his eyes reluctantly dragging open to look at the clock. 3am. Who the hell was calling at 3am?

"Good Lord, we've both been out of the BAU for years. These phone calls were supposed to stop," Emily growled from beside him, curling into his side.

"Hello?"

"Daddy?"

Aaron sat up quickly, dislodging Emily who flopped back onto the bed with an indignant squeak. "Princess, what happened? What's wrong?"

Emily sat up beside him, immediately alert.

AJ sniffled. "I want to come home."

Aaron was already pushing the covers off of his legs. "I can be there in five hours, sweetheart, hang in there."

Emily's hand both surprised him and stopped him. She held out her hand for the phone. He handed it over slowly. "Annie, honey?"

He still went about pulling track pants on and digging through his drawers for a t-shirt.

"Okay, okay. Slow down," Emily soothed. She waved him back to the bed as he pulled out a pair of socks. "Sweetheart, you've been there less than twenty-four hours. You can do this honey."

Aaron pulled on his socks and went to the closet for a sweatshirt.

"You're going to make new friends at Yale, Annie. Yes you are, you're a beautiful, intelligent, witty girl, but friends don't just appear over night," Emily said into the phone.

Aaron recognized the tone of Emily's voice well. It was the mothering tone that warmed his chest. She was such a fantastic mother and she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, even sleep dishevelled. He pulled the sweatshirt over her head.

"Annie, it's been one day," Emily repeated. "Tomorrow you're going to start orientation and in two weeks you're going to forget you even have a family because you will be having so much fun. And before you know it, it'll be Thanksgiving and Jack will be waiting outside your dorm after picking up Gabi from MIT."

Aaron watched a smile spread across Emily's face. He recognized the smile too.

"Yes, sweetheart, I'll tell him. Goodnight. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you too," she looked up at him as she hung up the phone. "Crisis averted, Captain Dad."

"Crisis averted?"

"Come back to bed, Aaron. Your daughter is fine and she says she loves you."

"Did you hear her, Emily? She's miserable," Aaron argued.

"She's an eighteen-year-old girl, facing upwards of a month away from home, the longest she has ever been away from her family. It's going to be a transition."

"She wants to come home."

He reluctantly sat on the bed where she patted the mattress. She straddled his lap, slipping her hands under both of his t-shirt and sweatshirt at the same time. "Did you know she considered George Washington?" she said, her voice almost clinical.

"Why didn't she go to GW? Jack loved it," Aaron said.

"Because I talked her out of it," she answered.

"Well why did you do that?" Aaron asked. "She could still be living at home."

"Because she didn't really want to go to GW," Emily answered. "She wanted Daddy's Dartmouth or Mommy's Yale. She wanted GW because it was close and that was it. I wasn't going to let her give up something like Yale or Dartmouth when I knew that was what she really wanted."

"I thought we weren't going to try and influence our children on what college to choose," he told her.

"Mmhmm, but this had nothing to do with influencing and everything to do with understanding our daughter," Emily replied, shifting again.

Then her thumbs were digging into the back of his neck and he had to find his brain power again. "Understanding our daughter? You're sending her away."

"She's eighteen," Emily replied with a laugh.

"She's still my baby girl."

"And she will always be your baby girl, Aaron, but she's also growing up. She's going to be fine at college. You can't go racing off every time she scrapes her knee," she replied, running her hands down his spine.

He leaned back, settling against the pillows and pulling her over him.

She hummed in response. "Normally, I find your saviour complex incredibly attractive."

"Normally?" he asked, kissing her forehead, down her temple and cheek.

"Not when you apply it to the irrationality of your children," she replied, pressing a kiss to his mouth.

"My children are not irrational," he argued kissing her as she slid off of his body and snuggling into his side.

"Go to sleep, Aaron. You daughter will be irrational again tomorrow, and I definitely need all of my mental capacity to deal with it."

"My children are not irrational."

"Sleep, Aaron."