Undercover Family
I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story.
I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.
Chapter 9.
Early Saturday morning at about 7 am, Aaron wakes up feeling hot and his mouth is very painful. He calls out to momma, who is still sleeping and there is no answer. He calls louder and no answer. Once again he calls even louder and there is still no answer. At this time he is now standing in he is crib, tears streaming down his face because the pain in his mouth feels like the worst pain he has ever had. He gives in to the baby in him and screams and wails loudly. This wakes momma up, who jumps and goes to him.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"My mouth hurts and I'm hungry."
"Your mouth hurts? Well, let's see what the problem may be." She opens his mouth and looks but doesn't see anything wrong. She does notice that he is warm. She takes him out of the crib and walks to the changing table, when suddenly a thundering herd of feet is heard coming down the stairs. There are six anxious faces that appear at the door.
"Is everything okay, we thought we heard a baby cry?"
"More like scream. That wasn't you, was it Hotch?" Aaron just looks at them and doesn't say a word.
Momma explains, "He couldn't wake me up in the normal manner, so he went extreme."
"Is that it, he wanted attention, so he screamed, real mature Hotch, real mature."
Aaron wasn't really hearing a lot of what was being said, his mouth hurt and he wasn't feeling good, so he just put his head on momma's shoulder and put his thumb in his mouth. JJ is looking at him funny.
She says, "He looks funny, his eyes are kind of glassy and unfocused, is he okay?"
"He says his mouth hurts and he is slightly warm, I was just about to change him and take his temperature. Why don't you kids fix yourself some cereal and juice for breakfast? Penelope, would you warm up a bottle for Aaron." As the only real mother, JJ comes in and looks more closely at Aaron; she opens his mouth and proceeds to check his gums. We need to remember that even though the agents are still themselves, the illusions created are designed to represent that age they become. Everything that could happen to a person of that age can be experienced by the agent. It seems that Aaron is about to experience something common enough for a child of 15 months. It is called teething.
JJ notices a red and painful gum and says that is what is happening. Henry's been going through the same thing. Aaron protests at that, he has all his teeth. Mommy explains that only his adult self has all of his teeth, the illusionary self does not and so he will experience this. However, momma did not expect this to actually happen and was not prepared. She had nothing for him to teethe on or to help relieve the inflammation of the gums.
She proceeds to change Aaron and takes his temperature in the old-fashioned way through the rectum. It registered at 100.9; she prepares a small bottle of water and put some liquid pain reliever in the bottle. Sitting in the rocking chair, she proceeds to feed it to Aaron. Penelope brings in his morning bottle of warmed up milk, which momma feeds him after the water bottle.
The others finish their breakfast and get dressed.
"Penelope, would you go the Wal-Mart store and pick up something for Aaron to teethe on. Take the kids to the store and let them pick out a new toy for themselves as a reward for a successful first week as children. The grocery list is on the refrigerator door, Could you pick up the items at the supermarket next to the Wal-Mart? I would go myself, but I don't want to take Aaron out." When he finishes his bottle, she gives him a cool rag to suck on and rub against his sore gums. She tried to put him down, but he just wanted to be held.
It was at that time when they heard the sound of someone throwing up. They rushed into the dining room and Spencer pointed to the bathroom. Handing Aaron to Penelope, momma walks in the bathroom to see Emily bent over the toilet.
"Well at least you made it to the toilet, are you feeling okay sweetheart?"
"No, I don't feel very good, mommy."
"Can you tell where it hurts?"
"My tummy."
"Do you feel like throwing up some more?"
"No."
Momma picks her up and takes her to the bedroom.
"I am going to take your temperature." She places a thermometer under her arm and when it was finished, it read 101.6. She pulls out on of her long t-shirts places it on the girl. Putting some medicine in a glass of water, she gives it to Emily to drink. Emily drinks it down. Momma puts her into the bed and covers her up. She stays beside her until she falls back to sleep. Momma goes back to the other room and once again sees many pairs of anxious eyes.
"She has a tummy ache and we are going to let her sleep some more, probably getting woken up so abruptly upset her." The eyes look at Aaron, some with mild annoyance and others with some disgust. He reaches out to mommy, who takes him from Penelope's arms. "Penelope do you think that you can handle the rest at the store."
"Oh, I think they'll behave. Should I pick up something for those staying home?"
"Yes, you choose, but remember their ages."
"After this morning, I don't think any of us will forget the boss man's age?"
"Penelope, according to JJ, the boss man is teething; he has a fever and a sore mouth, with no pain tolerance. I expect some respect for him."
"He's teething, so that's why he is so clingy. I remember during one of Henry's teething bouts that he cried all the time and wouldn't let JJ put him down or nothing. It seemed nobody could comfort him like she could. I'm sorry Hotch." She pats him on the head and kisses him. "I'll bring you back something good."
"Don't forget something for him to teethe on."
Penelope and the others leave for the store. Momma walks into the kitchen and notices the breakfast dishes were not washed yet. She turns to put Aaron into the high chair and he refuses to get in the chair, he keeps his arms around her.
"Sweetheart, I would like to do the dishes and you need to sit here or I'll put you in your crib. Which would you prefer?" She moves his face from her shoulder where he had hidden it. It was wet with tears and all red. She decides to leave the dishes and gets a bottle of juice.
Going to the living room, she sits in the rocking chair and feeds him the bottle. After awhile the medicine he had been given begins to work and the pain lessens. His tears begin to dry up, finishing the bottle; momma just holds and rocks him. He soon falls asleep.
Momma is still holding him there in the rocking chair when the others come in a very short time later, with the groceries. They are only slightly noisy, but when Penelope sees momma with Aaron, she quickly quiets them down. She comes over to momma and looks down at the boss man lying in her arms.
"Would you like me to take him and put him in his crib?"
"Yes." She hands him over to her and Penelope takes him to his crib. Laying him down gently and placing the blanket over him. She then goes to check on Emily, who is still fast asleep. Momma goes into the kitchen and starts on the dishes that she left earlier. The kids are running around putting the groceries away. David and Derek look conspiratorially at each other as they each took out the baseball glove that they bought and snuck out the back door with a baseball. JJ sneaks out too by way of the front door. She decides to go for a bike ride and leaves a note on the table on the porch.
Spencer seems to find himself all alone, he doesn't want to be alone. He goes outside and sees the guys pitching the baseball to each other.
"Hey guys, can I play?"
"Do you have a baseball glove?"
"No"
"Then you can't play, go away and find somewhere else to play, we don't want you to get hurt if the ball goes astray."
"But I don't want to play alone."
"If you don't have a glove, you can't play."
"I'm going to tell mommy that you won't let me play with you."
"Go ahead you big baby."
"I'm not …" He gets mad and goes into the house. "Mommy, David and Derek won't let me play with them."
"What are they playing?"
"They are throwing a baseball at each other and catching it with baseball gloves."
"Do you have a glove so that you can play with them?"
"No, but I don't want to play alone, I want to do something with them. But they don't want to play with me." He says this sulkily.
"Well, they have the right to play alone. You need to find something to do for yourself. I am sure that you can keep yourself occupied. Why don't you find JJ, maybe she'll play with you?"
"I still would rather play ball with the guys." He goes to see if he can find JJ. She is nowhere to be found in the house. "Mommy, I can't find JJ."
"What do mean, you can't find JJ?"
"I looked all over the house and the yard, but I didn't see her anywhere."
"Okay, thanks Spencer, go play in the sandbox."
Whining, he says, "But I don't want to play alone." Momma looks sternly at him and he goes to the sandbox outside. He watches the guys throw the ball at each other and plays with the Tonka trucks in the sand.
Momma goes to the computer room and of course sees Penelope sitting there and she has her open a personal file and sees a grid style map with seven blips on it. Six of them are concentrated in one area and one seems to be moving away from the others.
Momma says, "Damn, Penelope, what you are looking at right now is the tracking device that is in each of your illusion devices. It appears that one of you is traveling away from us. I am going to take a portable locator and you keep track here. The boys are in the back, David and Derek are playing ball and Spencer is in the sandbox. Aaron and Emily are still sleeping. Could you finish fixing lunch while I go find JJ?"
"That's JJ, why would she not tell us where she was going or that she was going anywhere? That's not like JJ to not tell anybody."
"You can ask her when I get back with her."
Momma goes to the car with her locator and follows the road to where the blip says JJ was heading. She sees her riding the bike and does give a sigh of relief. Giving a slight push on the horn, JJ looks back and sees the car with momma. She stops cycling. Momma drives up and through the window asks, "You know you are not supposed to go places alone."
"I left a note on the table on the porch to say I was going cycling. I just needed some physical exercise. I am sorry if I worried you."
"No harm done, but I want you to head home now, maybe you and one of the others can go out together."
"Okay, I'll you back at home."
Meanwhile, Aaron wakes up, feeling hot and sore with a very full diaper. He cries out softly, because he doesn't the others to get mad at him for screaming again. Penelope is in the kitchen and doesn't hear him and she left the baby monitor in the computer room. He cries out louder. Spencer comes in and bounces around the kitchen asking if he can help Penelope. She still does not hear him. Emily wakes up and gets out of the bed to walk to the crib and asks, "Aaron, are you okay baby?" He looks at her with pain filled eyes that were tearing up. Emily says, "I'll go get somebody, you just calm down." He nods his head and puts his thumb in his mouth.
Emily goes out and checks the computer room and sees nobody. The living room and dining room has nobody in them. She goes to the kitchen and sees Penelope, "Hey Penelope, where's mommy?"
Penelope turns around, "Emily, what are you doing out of bed?"
"I'm looking for mommy; Aaron is awake and needs to be changed."
"Mommy had to go out for a few minutes, I take care of it. You go and get back into bed and I will be right in." She turns to Spencer and tells him to back outside and stay in the sandbox until he is called in for lunch. He doesn't want to, but goes outside. Penelope turns off the stove and goes to the bedroom where Emily has gotten back into bed and Aaron is standing up in his crib and biting on the rail. Smiling, she walks over to him, "hello boss man, I heard you need some help. She lifts him out and takes him to the changing table.
He begins to protest, "No, only momma does this."
"Momma isn't here right now and you need to be changed. I am sorry but I'm the only one who can do it right now." Let us remember, that although momma sees Aaron as the illusion of a 15 month old, Penelope sees him as his adult self, her boss. She is as uncomfortable doing this as he is uncomfortable in a full and dirty diaper and it needs to be changed. Penelope musters up the courage to change her boss's diaper. While she is doing this, momma comes home and walking in the door, she checks on the boys in the back, the empty kitchen and then goes to the bedroom.
"Oh, here you are."
Emily says, "Mommy." Walking over to her, she touches her forehead and asks her how she feels. "I am feeling better, but I'm hungry."
"You'll have lunch shortly." She walks over to the changing table and smiles. "You are doing fine there Penelope and Aaron, you are being a very brave boy letting your big sister change you. Would you like me to take over?" There is an overwhelming enthusiasm from both parties at this suggestion. Penelope moves out of the way.
"I'll go finish lunch. Did you get the problem solved?"
"The problem is solved. Penelope, heat a bottle and some chicken noodle soup for Emily."
"Will do."
After a few minutes, momma goes to the kitchen with Aaron in her arms. She checks on the lunch that Penelope is making.
"I'll call in the boys." Heading to the back porch, she calls out to the boys. "It is time to come in for lunch boys." David and Derek break off and come running in, Spencer climbs out of the sandbox and comes in. The boys go to the bathroom and wash their hands and then get some drinks out. They go to their seats in the dining room, where Penelope puts lunch of macaroni and cheese with hotdogs on the table. JJ walks in and goes to wash her hands. David asks where she has been. She answers that she has been around. Momma places Aaron into his high chair and places some food in front of him. He just looks at it. He's not sure he wants to eat it, his stomach says yes, but his sore mouth says no.
Momma takes a cup of soup with crackers and juice into Emily and helps her to eat something. She then takes her temperature again. It has gone down to 99.2, just over normal. She gives her a little more medicine and tucks her back into bed to rest some more. She heads back to the living room and sees that everyone has finished, except Aaron, who hasn't eaten anything. She goes into the kitchen and grabs a small jar of actual baby food. Back in the dining room, she sets herself by him and then proceeds to spoon the very soft food into his mouth. The food doesn't require him to chew, so it just goes into his tummy. He finishes off the entire jar. The rest of the family have finished eating themselves but couldn't seem to tear their eyes away from watching the boss man being fed like a baby and he seeming to enjoy it. It was a little disturbing to them.
After lunch, the kids help to clean up and momma cleans Spencer up and has him lay down on the couch to take a nap, usually he would be in the bed with Emily, but not while she is sick. David and JJ then take a bike ride together and Derek seems out of place. He is not sure what to do. Momma suggests maybe he could play a while on the computer. Penelope protests but gives in for her chocolate Adonis. They both actually go and play a few games together on the computer. Momma keeps Aaron in her arms and feeds him another bottle of water with medicine and then a bottle of cool juice. She continues to rock him in the chair until he finally falls asleep.