*Sigh* ok so I don't really know where I'm going to go with this chapter yet, but it is going to be bitter sweet, because they're reunited with Jack... but as you all know it isn't the happiest of circumstances.

By the way the quote I'm using for this chapter is the quote from the end of the episode, because it's a really good quote.

It's November 2009, Emily is 39 and Hotch is 44.
_

So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty." – Haniel Long.
_

Emily felt tears sting her eyes as she watched Hotch scoop Haley up into his arms. She so badly wanted to do the same to him and tell him that everything was going to be ok, but she knew that he needed time to take in what had happened, so instead she went in search of the second most important person in her life.

She slowly made her way back down the stairs, stopping briefly to talk to Dave, before making her way outside, and over to where JJ was entertaining Jack.

"Where's mommy, Aunty Jen?" The small boy asked JJ as Emily approached them, noticing tear in Jack's eyes. "Where's mommy and daddy?" He repeated as one tear escaped and rolled down his cheek.

"Daddy, will be here soon sweetheart." JJ managed to choke out, as she fought with all her might to hold back her own tears.

It was then that Emily reached the two and made her presence known by clearing her throat loudly, trying to get rid of the lump that had formed there upon overhearing Jack's cries for his mother.

"Emmy!" The young boy squealed as he ran away from JJ and let Emily scoop him up in her arms and hold him tight against her chest.

"Hey buddy, how's my little man?" Emily asked as tears finally ran down her cheeks as the small boy snuggled into her chest, burrowing his head against her shoulder where it belonged.

"I'm fine Emmy, but where's daddy?" The young boy asked sadly.

"He's inside buddy." Emily replied simply, trying to avoid telling the child any of the details, knowing only too well that from his hiding place he was probably still able to hear his mother being shot, and his father kill the man that killed her, and that was enough for any four year old to hear.

"Can we go see him?" Jack asked, already trying to wriggle his way free from Emily's arms.

"Not right now, he has some... stuff to do right now, but he'll be out soon." Emily replied, clinging on to Jack even tighter than before, the fear that he'd run in and see his mothers dead body to horrible an image for Emily to even contemplate.

"Can we go see mommy instead, she was sad when I left." Jack told Emily, remembering how sad his mom had been when she'd hugged him and told him that she loved him.

When Jack said this the breath hitched in Emily's throat and she fell to the ground gently, feeling unable to stand any longer, as her tears began falling faster, the thought that Jack had seen his mother so sad seconds before she died, being too much for her to bare.

"N-no buddy... we uh, we can't see mommy." Emily managed to choke out between sobs, deciding to leave it up to Hotch to tell Jack why he'd never see Haley again.

"But why?" Jack asked, tears starting to stream down his face again. "I want to see her." He wailed into Emily's shoulder.

"I know buddy, I know." She told him, rubbing his back soothingly.

Around them paramedics and police officers stopped and stared at the pair as they sat in the grass crying, each of them knowing that the sight of this woman comforting a young child who'd just lost his mother, would be a sight they'd never be able to forget.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Hotch walked back from his meeting with Strauss over to the conference room, where he knew Emily had taken Jack, so he could be around the rest of the team. Hotch hadn't really talked to his son since he'd been reunited with him again, and all he wanted to do now was hold him close to his chest and never let go.

The second Jack saw his father enter the room he ran to him, letting Hotch scoop him into his arms and hold him closely, like Emily had done earlier.

The team also got up and came to stand around the pair. This show of support caused Hotch to give them a small smile, because he knew no matter what happened they'd all be there for him and his son.

"Uh, can I talk to Jack for a second?" He asked them after a moment, wanting to get a moment alone with his son, but not wanting to hurt the team's feelings by kicking them out of the room.

"Of course you can Aaron, all you have to do is ask." Rossi told him, before they all filled out of the room slowly, each giving him a pat on the back or a hug, Emily giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before she to left, closing the door behind her.

"Where's mommy gone daddy?" Jack asked the second they were alone, not even giving Hotch a chance to think of what he was going to say.

Hotch sighed... he knew his son would pick up on the sorrow around him and he knew he had to tell his son the truth, he just so desperately wished that he didn't have to.

"Well buddy," Hotch started as he took Jack over to one of the seats in the room and sat him down on his knee. "A bad guy got your mommy and... uh, and she's living with the angels now." He told his son as he felt tears sting at his eyes.

"Will she come back?" Jack asked sadly as his bottom lip began to quiver.

"N-no buddy, she's not able to come back." Hotch told his son, his voice cracking as he spoke. "But you need to remember that she loved you very much, and she didn't want to go." He added.

"Then why did she?" Jack cried, as tears began to roll down his cheeks again.

"A..." Hotch started, intending to tell Jack about Foyet, but he couldn't... he couldn't bring himself to fill his son's innocent young mind with such evil, so he lied. "I don't know buddy, I really don't." He told him, vowing to tell Jack the truth when he was old enough to understand properly.

"I miss her!" Jack wailed; as the realisation hit him that he'd never see his mommy again.

"I know Jack, so do I." Hotch admitted sadly, as he pulled his son closer and gave him a tight hug, hoping that even for a moment, the hug would wash away his son's grief, but knowing that if life were that simple he wouldn't even be needing to have this conversation right now.

From down in to bullpen the team watched as Hotch and Jack talked, and each of them felt their eyes fill up when Jack began to cry. They each knew without speaking that the image of Hotch telling his son that his mommy was dead was an image they were never going to forget.

~.~.~.~.~.~

That night, after Jack had finally stopped crying and fallen asleep beside Hotch in the bed, Hotch lay staring blankly at the ceiling of his room, not quite knowing what to think or feel.

He knew that he was sad, inconsolable even, but it was bitter sweet, because he'd gotten his son back and defeated Foyet, he just despised the fact that Haley had needed to die for him to do so.

He sighed as he heard footsteps enter the room slowly and stop at the foot of the bed.

"Do you want me to sleep in Jack's room tonight?" Emily asked quietly when she seen Jack curled up against Hotch's side, not wanting to wake the sleeping child.

"No, I think I need you near me tonight." Hotch confessed quietly as he pulled down the bed sheets and waited as Emily climbed in on the other side of Jack.

Emily sighed as she climbed into the bed, knowing that no matter how much she wanted to help, this was something Hotch needed to deal with on his own, and if all she could do to help was lie beside him at night, then she would gladly do so.

"How you holding up?" She asked Hotch, as she reached one hand over Jacks head and ran her it through Hotch's hair soothingly.

"I've had better days." He told her sadly, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I wish it had ended differently." He added, his voice laced with regret.

"We all do Aaron." Emily told him. "But you have to focus on the positive at the moment, you got killed the man that haunted you, and you got Jack back." She reminded him reassuringly. "What more is there?"

"I know." Hotch sighed. "It's just easier said than done... I feel so guilty, it's my fault Jack will grow up without his mother and it's my fault he almost didn't grow up at all."

"Hotch none of this was your fault." Emily told him sternly. "You didn't ask Foyet to hold a grudge against you, you didn't ask him to kill Haley, you were doing your job, and sometimes this job sucks, but sometimes it doesn't... we just have to take the good with the bad."

"I just wish there was a book, or a guide, telling me what to do now." Hotch told her, feeling completely useless.

"Well there's not, but that's why I'm here... to help you through this, and Jack as well." Emily told him comfortingly.

"Thank you... you really have no idea how much your support and love means to me, especially now." Hotch told her.

"Well I'm just glad you're letting me help you at all." Emily told him truthfully.

The room then fell into silence as both Hotch and Emily turned to face each other, Jack being the only barrier between them, and they each placed one hand on the small boy, lacing their fingers through one another's, and Hotch reached up to lace his other fingers through the hand that Emily was running through his hair.

Both now comfortable, and content in the knowing that at least for tonight they could sleep safely, but also being well aware of the fact that the next couple of days and weeks wouldn't be easy, they fell asleep.
_

There! Gosh that was a sad chapter! I meant what I said at the end by the way, the next couple of weeks (or chapters anyway) won't be easy, for Emily and Hotch, or for me to write! Tell me that you thought. =)