The next Christmas chapter for you now and this is dedicated to ilovetvalot who read my story in one sitting!... enjoy!
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"For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home." – W.J. Ronald Tucker
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The team sat in the living room talking quietly for a while before Emily clearing her throat caused them all to turn their heads to face her.
"Looks like the excitement of Santa coming has gotten too much for someone." She whispered, motioning to her and Hotch's lap, where Jack lay spread out between them sound asleep, his head resting on Emily's shoulder and his feet dangling of the edge of Hotch's lap.
"Yea looks lak Henry can't wait either." Will agreed, as he pointed to JJ's lap, where the young boy was sound asleep.
"I'll put him to bed now." JJ whispered as she stood up and walked towards the stairs.
"Do you want me to take Jack?" Hotch asked, as Emily went to move Jack more securely in her arms so she could follow JJ's lead.
"No... It's fine, you stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Emily whispered, as she stood and gave Hotch a quick kiss, before following JJ to the room Jack and Henry were sharing.
"She's good with him, isn't she." Rossi commented quietly as he watched Emily leave the room.
"She most defiantly is." Hotch agreed, not taking his eyes off her as she left.
"You going to do something about it?" Rossi asked.
"I live with her don't I." Hotch replied, easily keeping a neutral face, even though he wanted to smile at what Rossi was saying.
"That's not what I meant Aaron, and you know it." Rossi replied, sounding slightly annoyed.
"I know... but don't worry, I know what I'm doing when it comes to Emily." Hotch replied mysteriously, but saying no more on the matter.
The entire room rolled their eyes at Hotch's apparent lack of commitment but said no more, as Emily and JJ walked back down the stairs, both sitting down beside their other halves and curling into their side.
~.~.~.~.~
"I say we all hit the hay now." Rossi spoke up after another hour of talking and laughing, as he stifled a yawn.
"But we haven't opened our presents to each other yet!" Garcia exclaimed, referring to the secret Santa they'd agreed to do... but had cheated anyway by making sure that all couples got each other, and Henry and Jack got each other... leaving Morgan and Rossi both at odds as to what to buy each other as gifts.
"How about we open Santa's presents tomorrow morning, and then after dinner we open our secret Santa present's." Reid said to the room.
"Sounds good to me." Morgan agreed. "And I'm beat now as well." He added, as he to held back his own yawn.
"Mhm, I need bed." Austin agreed, before yawning and snuggling in closer to Reid's side.
"Yea I agree with Dave, and I think Em does as well." Hotch added quietly, as he motioned to his left, where Emily was lying with her knees under his legs, her arm around his waist and her head resting on the crook of his neck, breathing slowly and evenly, indicating that the sandman had already hit her.
The team nodded in agreement and each got up slowly, Hotch lifting Emily gently into his arms so as he wouldn't wake her, and he carried her carefully towards their room, which was across the hall from Jack and Henrys room.
"Wha- what time's it?" Emily murmured softly, once Hotch placed her on the bed gently, and had begun pulling of her boots and socks.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you... and it's a quarter past twelve." Hotch whispered, as he pulled down her jeans gently and replaced them with a pair of her favourite baby blue pyjama bottoms, which had cartoon penguins running down the legs.
"It's ok I was only half sleeping anyway." Emily replied, as she lifted herself of the bed a little so Hotch could replace her crimson woollen jumper with her pyjama top, which was also pale blue and decorated in penguins. "And happy Christmas by the way Aaron." She added softly when she realised the time.
"Happy Christmas Emily." Hotch replied, before placing a hand on either side of her head and leaning down and capturing her lips lovingly.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"DADDY, EMMY WAKE UPPPP!" Jack screamed, as he jumped up and down on the two adults at half five the next morning.
"What the fu- dge?" Emily murmured, not used to the wakeup call, as she didn't have a hyper four ear old living with her this time last year, due to the fact that Jack had spent last Christmas with his mum.
"Welcome to Christmas morning with a child darling... get used to it." Hotch laughed, as he was already awake and alert.
"I knew my life was too good to be true." Emily mumbled as she sat up in the bed slowly, rubbing her eyes quickly to un-blur her vision.
"Daddy, Emmy, stop talking! Santa's been here, it's Christmas day!" Jack explained impatiently, still jumping on the bed.
"Ok, ok, buddy we're coming." Hotch laughed as he got out of bed and groped around in the semi darkness for a pair or sweats and a t-shirt.
Emily also clambered out of bed slowly, and slipped a pair of slippers on her cold feet before throwing a t-shirt at Hotch, and scooping Jack into her arms to stop him from jumping.
The three made their way down to the sitting room where the tree was situated, making sure to wake everyone else on their way down... because as Emily had put it, if they needed to be awake at this ridiculous hour, then so did the rest of the family.
"Do you think he came?" Jack whispered to the group of adults... most of which were still sleeping, just in a standing position... behind him, as they all stood outside the living room door.
"I'm sure he did buddy." Hotch replied, thankful that him, Emily, JJ and Will had gotten up at three to put out Jack and Henrys presents.
That was all the encouragement Jack needed, before he pushed the door open slowly and peaked in at the two small piles of gifts that lay under the tree, a pile for Henry and a pile for him.
Jack immediately rushed over to his pile and began unwrapping items, which were wrapped in Super Man paper... Henrys being wrapped in duck paper, as they were his favourite thing, or word anyway, at the moment.
Most of the things Jack got were only small, like toy cars and colouring books, as the rule was Santa brought one big present and one medium one if you were extra good, along with some small things. Jacks big present was of course the mini BMX style bike that he'd been pointing at in every toy catalogue or toy store window he seen, and his medium present... because he sure as hell deserved it this year... was a remote control Batman car, with sounds and everything.
"This is so cool!" Jack exclaimed as he stares at his new toys in awe. "Santa is the best ever." He added.
"He sure is buddy." Look at all this cool stuff!" Hotch exclaimed as he sat down at his son's side.
"You know Jack, I used to do a bit of BMXing when I was a kid, if you want we can go out later and I'll show you some tricks." Morgan told the boy. "Don't worry nothing to dangerous." He added, when he noticed the looks Hotch and Emily were sending him.
"Cool, thanks Uncle Derek." Jack squealed, running and throwing himself around Morgan's legs in a tight hug.
"What did my favourite godson get?" Garcia asked JJ happily.
"I don't think he really cares what he got." JJ laughed, pointing to her son who was crawling around in a sea of duck wrapping paper giggling excitedly.
"Glad to know little Henry has his priorities straight." Rossi laughed as he looked at the untouched presents that included rattles, stuffed toys and a car that you could sit in and be pushed around.
"Henry can have my paper as well." Jack spoke up when he noticed the enjoyment Henry was getting from the ripped up duck paper.
"No buddy, its ok, I'm pretty sure it'll be hard enough to get this paper of Henry without the little guy screaming the house down, you can keep your paper." JJ told him with a comforting smile, as she and Will set about pulling scraps of paper away from their son without him noticing.
Jocks mouth formed an "o" and he simply shrugged his shoulder at his Aunts words, before turning and heading back to his toy car, which Hotch was trying to put batteries in... Unsuccessfully.
"Hotch they're the wrong size... you need the smaller ones." Reid told him, pointing out the obvious.
"Reid, I may not have three PhD's but I did realise that when these ones didn't fit." Hotch snapped, rolling his eyes in frustration.
"It's ok Reid, he's just not used to being awake this long without coffee." Emily told the young genius when she noticed the shocked look on his face, at the fact that he'd been snapped at by Hotch.
"Well lucky for you, we have that and more." Austin spoke up, as she walked from the kitchen into the living room, carrying a tray with ten cups of steaming coffee on it and a glass and beaker of milk for Jack and Henry, closely followed by Kevin, Morgan and Garcia, who were each carrying trays with plates of bacon, eggs, beans, sausage, and two slices of toast for everyone.
"How was there even this much food in my fridge?" Rossi enquired, as he was handed his plate and his cup of coffee.
"You do realise we brought a lot more than just the stuff for Christmas dinner over with us?" JJ replied, laughing at the confused look on Rossi's face.
"Yea, as women, we like to be prepared... and since we plan on staying far longer than you want us to, we thought we'd at least stock up your fridge." Emily added, as she took her plate, Hotch's plate, and Jacks plate from Kevin and set about cutting up Jacks food for him, as Hotch was still trying to work out the car batteries.
"I knew this was a bad idea." Rossi murmured bitterly, causing the team to laugh.
"Aw come on... a holiday with great family, great company and me... what more could a man want." Garcia asked happily as she finished handing out the plates and sat down beside Henry, trying to entice him away from the wrapping paper with a stuffed toy.
"Pease and quiet." Rossi replied sarcastically.
"Oh come on Rossi... with a house this size you could sit at one end and we could sit at the other and you'd never see us again." Morgan joked.
"I might just do that." Rossi replied, eying up the long corridor that lead away from the living room thoughtfully, and causing the team to laugh again.
The room then fell into silence for a moment, each person being happy to tuck into their food, as Henry threw his new duck teddy around the room and crawled after it, the new duck having immediately drawn his attention away from the cartoon ducks on the paper.
"Reid!" Hotch snapped again after a moment, causing the whole room to turn and stare at the duo, both of whom were still sitting on the floor beside Jacks new car, as Jack himself was happy to eat his breakfast and colour in a picture while he waited.
"Sorry Hotch, but I'm just pointing out that it would make more sen..." The young genius started hastily.
"Reid, this is a remote control car, not a NASA rocket, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out." Hotch replied, trying to keep his voice even.
"You two having fun?" Emily smirked, from her place on the couch.
"Oh yea, a blast." Hotch replied sarcastically, shooting Emily a glare, before returning his attention to the car... that was meant to be suitable for children to use!
"Spencer, how about you leave Hotch alone and come and have some breakfast." Austin soothed, knowing only too well that no matter how much someone loved Reid... and she did love him... his intelligence could become annoying at times.
"No it's ok... I'm not really hungry." Reid replied, only looking up briefly.
"Spencer Matthew Reid come over here right now and eat this... you're skin and bone as it is." Austin commanded in a voice that, if he'd been paying attention to the conversation, would have impressed Hotch.
"You got owned there man." Morgan laughed, stopping quickly when he noted the glare he was getting from each of the women.
"Ha! Got it!" Hotch exclaimed after a moment, smiling smugly, first at the car in his hand, and then at Reid.
The team couldn't help but laugh at the sour look on Reid's face, because he hadn't been able to help out, and they also broke into a round of sarcastic applause at Hotch's achievement.
"Oh ha, ha." Hotch replied before turning to his son. "Hey buddy I got your car working... do you want to give it a whirl?" Hotch asked Jack happily.
"Maybe latter daddy... I'm colouring this right now." The boy replied without even looking up from the picture of an octopus that he was half ways finished with.
The team exploded with laughter, as Hotch gave his son an "are you fricking serious!" look, before standing up and walking over to sit beside Emily in a huff.
"My son's been spending too much time with you." Hotch mumbled to Emily once the laughter had died down.
Rather than reply to this, Emily simply snorted with laughter and leaned in closer to Hotch, kissing his shoulder before lying down against it.
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There, one more chapter to go and we're out of the Christmas season. Oh and the duck obsession Henry has is the same obsession I had when I was his age... I've seen pictures! Tell me what you thought. =)