Ok so Emily and Hotch are going to Jack's school today, and Peter's father is a person from Emily's past she'd really rather not run into.
_
"We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude." – Charles R. Swindoll.
_
Hotch and Emily both exited the SUV and made their way up the concrete steps to Jacks school silently, on their way to a meeting with the headmaster and Peter Cunningham's parents, as Hotch had called the school first thing that morning.
"I really wish we didn't have to do this." Hotch muttered, still angry at the fact that some kid was picking on Jack.
"Hey, at least we're not half ways across the country on some case... at least we can deal with it now instead of having to wait god only knows how long to get home and deal with it." Emily responded, trying to see the positive, even though she too was pissed off.
"Please, it's not like the team wouldn't have carried us back here on their backs if we were on a case... Did you not see the look on their faces when we told them why I wouldn't be in today?" Hotch asked her, shooting her a sideways glance as he pulled open the front door of the school.
"How could I have missed it?" Emily replied with a chuckle. "Morgan almost needed to be tied down to stop him from coming here, and Garcia looked like she was going to kill the Peter kid and anyone who got in her way."
"Exactly... so if today doesn't resolve things... we can just send in the backup." Hotch joked, before sobering up had heading towards the sectary's office.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"How about you go in to the headmaster and I'll wait here." Emily whispered, once the sectary had showed them to the small waiting space outside the office. "You should probably go in on your own because I'm not actually Jack's mother, plus I never really liked principal's offices... they always meant trouble for me." She added, when she saw the look on Hotch's face.
"Why doesn't that surprise me." Hotch teased, smiling briefly at Emily.
"Oh be quiet." Emily laughed back.
Just then a woman they presumed was Peter's mother walked down the hall and smiled at them, before taking the seat opposite them in the corridor. Neither profiler missed the fact that the sectary hadn't needed to show her where the office was.
"Not your first time here?" Emily asked politely, wanting to get as much information as she could on Peter's parents.
"Unfortunately it's not." The woman sighed. "I think my son takes after my ex husband." She added. "Yet despite that, he's always the one who comes in five minutes late when Peters in trouble and avoids the bad parent lecture." She added.
"Oh right." Emily replied, already assessing that the woman was actually quite nice, and seemed genuinely embarrassed and annoyed that her son was in trouble.
"And I'm sorry Peter's been harassing your son." The woman added. "I will make him apologise."
"Thank you." Hotch replied, smiling tightly at the woman before looking back at the door.
"Mr Hotchner, Mrs Cunningham, please come in." The principal called suddenly from the door, watching as both parents rose from their seats. "Oh, you must be Miss Prentiss... are you coming in?" The principal added when she saw Emily still sitting.
"Oh no, I'll stay here, wouldn't want to get in the way." Emily replied politely, a brief look of horror crossing her face at the prospect of entering a principal's office.
"Very well. Oh, Mrs Cunningham, where's your ex husband?" the headmaster asked again, as she looked around her, expecting a man to jump out from behind a filing cabinet.
"Oh Mick's running late... as usual." The woman sighed, shaking her head. "But it's ok, he text me telling us to start without him." She added, rolling her eyes at her ex husband's slackness.
With that, Hotch, Mrs Cunningham and the principal all disappeared into the office, leaving Emily out in the corridor on her own.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Hotch and Mrs Cunningham had been in the office a good five minutes, in which time Emily had begun looking through and answering her emails, when the sound of footsteps began echoing through the corridor and Emily looked up from her phone to see a man making his way towards her slowly, his walk somewhere near a saunter but not quite sophisticated enough.
Emily couldn't help but stare discretely from over the top of her phone, as she pretended to keep answering emails, and she couldn't help but feel like she recognised the man from somewhere.
It wasn't until he was a couple of meters away that Emily finally joined al the dots and realised who the man was... Mick Cunningham, one of her few ex boyfriends, the one who'd had a go at Hotch in the middle of the shop in Seattle fourteen years ago... maybe he'd forgotten her by now?
Emily bent her head again, returning to her phone, before she could find out if he did recognised her or not, and began kicking herself mentally for not realising who it was... when Mrs Cunningham had said her ex husband's name was Mick, she'd presumed they were already divorced, and that Cunningham was her maiden name... but obviously not!
Emily was about to get up and look for a bathroom... or anywhere that he could escape to... when a familiar voice shattered through her ears, causing her to grimace.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the lovely Emily Prentiss!" Mick said, feigning surprise as he took the seat beside her.
"Do I know you?" Emily questioned, as she looked up from her phone and pretended this was the first time she'd seen Mick.
"Aw, come on now Emily, don't be like that, it's me, Mick... but then you already knew that, you're just playing hard to get... again!" Mick replied cockily, shooting her a grin and revealing his once pearly white teeth, which had now gained a yellow tinge from years of smoking.
"Oh right, well I'm kind of busy right now." Emily replied coldly, not even looking up from her phone this time.
"So what are you doing here anyway... didn't peg you as the mommy type." Mick continued, completely ignoring Emily's request at privacy.
"Just shows how well you knew me then." Emily replied with a tight smile, trying her best not to glare at the man, who was slowly wearing away at her self-restraint.
"I know you're not married." Mick replied with a wink, as he motioned to Emily's hand, which only housed her engagement ring, and it wasn't exactly a traditional looking one... it couldn't be encase Strauss ever seen it.
"I guess you're half right." Emily sighed, looking down at her hand briefly.
"Ah, so does that mean I get half a chance with you again?" Mick inquired hopefully, arrogance seeping through every word he spoke.
"Ok really Mick, what kind of a man flirts with a woman outside the principal's office when their child is in trouble?" Emily snapped, finally looking up to meet Mick's eye and glaring.
Mick was about to reply when the office door opened once more and Hotch, Mrs Cunningham, the Principal, Jack and Peter all trooped out, Jack and Peter looking like best friends again.
Emily looked up to catch Hotch's eye and then motioned to Mick, waiting for Hotch's understanding nod of his head, before she returned her attention to Jack, who was now making his way over.
"Guess what Emmy!" Jack exclaimed happily once he reached Emily's feet, holding his arms out and letting Emily lift him up and plant him against her hip.
"What is it buddy?" Emily asked, smiling at the fact that Jack was also smiling.
"Me and Peter are friends again, and we're going to play with the trucks in the classroom now." Jack responded, looking as if this piece of knowledge was the most important thing anyone would ever know.
"Wow that sounds like fun!" Emily laughed. "How about you go back to class with Peter now then." She added, placing the squirming boy down and watching as he hugged Hotch goodbye and ran off to class with Peter.
Hotch and Emily then proceeded to their car, leaving Mick and his ex wife behind to talk some more with the principal, probably about Peters tendency to get in trouble.
"Who was that?" Hotch whispered once they reached the SUV, not wanting to speak up encase Mick, or anyone else came out of the school.
"Mick's an ex of mine... that guy from Seattle, the one who tried to pick a fight with you." Emily informed Hotch, all the while watching as Mick walked out of the school, bid a cold farewell to his wife, and watched her drive away. "And looks like he's not quite ready to go home yet." She added with a sigh as Mick began making his way towards them.
"Cute son you've got there Emily... it's a shame we're not still together, then maybe ours would be just as pretty." Mick commented with a smirk at Hotch.
"Shut up Mick." Emily hissed, knowing that talking about Jack as if he were Emily's son was probably not the best idea when around Hotch.
"Why? Afraid lover boy there will get jealous?" Mick laughed, again smirking a Hotch.
"I'm guessing you don't remember me then." Hotch asked Mick, resisting the urge to let the glare drop from his face and be replaced with and equally cocky grin.
Mick looked Hotch over once, twice, three times, before a spark of recognition was ignited in his eyes and he looked Hotch dead in the eye, looking almost nervous.
"Well if it isn't Emily's knight in shining armour." Mick teased. "Didn't have you pegged as the kind of girl who falls for the first guy that calls her pretty either Emily." Mick sneered, referring to the lack of self esteem that everyone knew Emily had... if you looked deep enough.
"Not only will I kick your ass if you ever say anything like that to Emily again... or anything at all for that matter... but I know a man who could send you into orbit with one punch." Hotch hissed, unleashing his alpha male side, and mentioning Morgan to double his threat.
"I'm shaking." Mick laughed, subconsciously taking a step back as he spoke however.
"You'll be doing a lot more than shaking is you ever come near Emily again." Hotch growled, maximising his one inch height advantage over the man, and turning his glare up to full blown "daggers of death" as the team called them.
Mick looked as if he were about to reply, but Emily cut in, stopping him just as he opened his mouth.
"Seriously Mick, just leave it ok... No one wants to fight, so please just go away." She pleaded, wedging herself between the two men slightly.
"I guess I'll see you around then Emily." Mick answered with a wink and yet another of his cocky grins, before walking back towards his car and glaring at Hotch the whole time.
"You ok?" Hotch asked soothingly once Mick had pulled out of the parking lot, placing his strong hands on Emily's shoulders.
"I'm fine... I'm perfectly fine." Emily responded sarcastically as she leaned into his touch, still being pissed off that Mick would be here of all places to meet after so many years. "I just want to go home now." She added with a sigh, knowing that Hotch had the full day off, so she could spend time with him.
"Well then darling, your wish is my command." Hotch responded, kissing Emily's forehead gently.
_
There, that's that chapter done, finally! I had writers block about half ways through this, but I think I'm over it, so YAY! As you may have already guessed the Mick story line will be revisited, but not for another couple of chapters. Tell me what you thought. =)