Halie squeezed the older woman's hand harder than she had a minute ago when she saw all the men and women piling on board, their luggage going above their heads and butts into their seats. "Emily?"

Emily looked down to the younger brunette and gave a small smile when she saw her husband fixing the young girl's buckle. "What is it, sweetie?" She watched as Halie's eyes widened when another person would come on board. Then another. And another. "Honey what's the matter?"

Halie shook her head and moved slightly in her seat between both older brunettes. "I don't wanna be here."

"Sweetie we're going to Virginia, and to get there we need to fly. It's too far to drive and Aaron gets sick on very long car rides." She brushed the little girl's bangs back and gave a small kiss right between her brown eyes. "It's a very short trip, baby. Nothing's gonna happen."

Hotch laid a hand on Halie's small shoulder and waited for the girl to turn her small eyes to him. "Halie, have you ever been on a plane before?"

The small girl shook her head, her hand still squeezing Emily's.

"Well the thing that's cool about planes is that once they get off the ground and into the air, it's like you're a bird. A butterfly. You feel so peaceful, and so lifted that you're safe and away in your own little world. You can do anything you want, and no one can take that away from you. You're all the way up there between the clouds, feeling as if a huge burden was just lifted from your shoulders. It's freeing."

Emily bit her lip as her husband smiled to the younger girl next to him.

"Halie, do you see the ground right out there?" Hotch waited for Halie to nod. "In five minutes, we'll be way up over it, not giving a da-"

"Aaron!"

Hotch shook his head and smiled. "Give a dang about anything else. It's just you and the clouds."

Halie studied the older man's face for a second before looking back to Emily. "He's really nice, Emily. He should be with us more."

Emily let out a laugh and looked up to see her husband smiling wide at her and Halie. "Trust me kiddo, he's gonna be with us for a long time."

Ten minutes later they were soaring through the air, Emily's hand lying softly on Halie's knee as she read over a new case file and Hotch's eyes staring out the window next to him. Halie's eyes were always cast on Emily's face, watching as her entire expression stayed the same. Her eyes only glided along the words of the page that were bolded, her teeth gnawing at her lip when she came to a sentence and read it over and over again. "Emmy?"

Emily looked up from her file and smiled to the girl with wide eyes. "What is it, sweetie?"

"Why do you read so much?"

The older brunette chuckled and shook her head, closing the file and tucking it safely underneath her seat. "Part of my job, sweetheart. We have to read and write as much as we travel. Sometimes more, and trust me when I say that's a lot."

"Am I gonna be your only kid?"

Emily shook her head again before taking a coloring book out of her go-bag and setting it in front of Halie. "You're actually going to be Aaron and I's fourth."

Halie's eyes widened, a blue crayon clenched between her fingers. "Fourth?"

"Yup. We have three other little munchkins just like you. The eldest's name is Jack and he's eight years old. And then we have twins who are only three, and their names are Peyton and Aubrey." She smiled soft before brushing a curl from her eye. "So you'll be right in the middle of our little group of children. But, I promise you they are very nice and very sweet. You'll get along just great."

Halie's eyes widened as she felt her seat move under her, watching as everyone else including both Hotchner's that surrounded her buckle their seatbelts. Her eyes began to water as Hotch reached over and buckled her belt again and she quickly grabbed onto his arm, dropping the crayon to the floor. "Mr. Hotch I'm scared! Why are we shaking?"

Hotch shushed the little girl, petting her hair softly before laying a kiss to her nose. "Relax Halie. It's called turbulence, and the plane only does it for a short time, if ever. Honey we're going to be perfectly fine. Emily and I go through it all the time."

Halie nodded slowly before lifting Hotch's arm and snuggling into his side, pushing the armrest up so she could get comfier. "Thanks Mr. Hotch."

Hotch looked up from the little girl to his wife, seeing a smile in her eyes as she looked at the two. "You're welcome, sweetheart."

…

A/N - Should I continue?