Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the songs that are mentioned in

This chapter is dedicated to "boerwina" "McMackenzie" and "nataliebianca" and thanks to all of you for your opinions. :)

**

"Jack, stop moving." Hotch scolded as he tried to get his son ready for the ball, which he thought he was too young to attend. Emily didn't agree and she gave Hotch an earful when he almost called a sitter.

"I hate ties; they make me feel like I'm dying. It's a noose." Jack whined.

"A noose?" Hotch laughed.

"Yes." Jack said, stomping his foot. "You already made me take a bath. I don't need any more torture you racist." Hotch laughed even more.

"I think you mean sadist Jack."

"What's the difference?" Jack asked.

"I'll explain later, just promise you won't call anyone a racist or sadist again." Hotch pleaded.

"If you don't make me wear a tie, I won't call anyone a racist or...what was the other word?"

"Sadist." Hotch said.

"Right. I won't call anyone those things if you don't put a tie on me."

"You're blackmailing me?" Hotch asked, barely able to fathom what was going on. Riley joked that Jack had the attitude of a 13 year old girl, since he had grown up with a sister and no brothers. Hotch wanted to laugh, but he could tell that Jack was trying very hard to be serious.

"Yes I am." Jack said.

"Alright, no neck tie." Hotch said, throwing his arms up in surrender.

"Good choice." Jack said, and Hotch laughed.

"I guess you're pretty much ready."

"I'm not Riley, I am a quick get-readyer." Jack pointed out.

"I'm not sure that's a word."

"Yeah it is. I made it up right now. All words have to be made up by someone." Jack reasoned, and Hotch was surprised at how logical that sounded. "Hey daddy?"

"Yes buddy?"

"I'm glad we come to your house now. I miss you all the time." He sighed.

"I'm sorry Jack." Hotch said, embracing his son.

"It's okay daddy. You just have to let us come over more, or I'll be mad at you again."

"You were mad at me?" Hotch asked.

"Yes!" He exclaimed. "Eric is okay, but he's not my daddy. I like seeing my own daddy."

"Jack, I am so sorry."

"Mommy says that actions are louder than words. I think she means that you have to do stuff and not just say it or it's a lie. You have to promise to see me more." Jack scolded.

"I promise, with all my heart, that I will see you and your sister more often." Hotch said.

"Okay! Good. I guess I'll wear the noose to the ball." Jack said with a big smile.

"You will?" Hotch exclaimed.

"Yeah. The babes like ties." Jack pointed out, making Hotch laugh.

"Good man." He said, embracing his son again.

**

They arrived at the ball at 6:00. It was going until late, but since they had Jack with them, Hotch decided that they would have to leave before it ended. Neither Aaron nor Emily knew what the money from the charity ball was going to, but Riley looked it up ahead of time. It was apparently for a new children's hospital. From the team, they were the last to arrive at the beautifully decorated hall. As he promised, Morgan met up with Riley and escorted her onto the dance floor. Hotch, Reid and Rossi offered to get the girls drinks, so they were left to chat alone for a bit.

"Where's Will?" Garcia asked JJ.

"Henry's sick and Will offered to stay with him. Strauss said I had to come to the ball no matter what." She said, rolling her eyes.

"You both look beautiful by the way." Emily said.

"Well thank you, so do you." Garcia said, and JJ agreed.

"Riley looks nice too." JJ said, pointing her out. She was dancing to a fast song with Morgan, and they were both laughing.

"That girl has too much hair." Emily said. "We both needed to use the blow dryer and the flat iron. She took so long. She has more hair than most people."

"It's nice though." JJ said.

"Mhm." Emily nodded.

"I wonder what they're talking about." Garcia said.

**

"I can't believe you actually went along with my date joke." Riley said to Morgan.

"Hey, I've had worse dates little lady." Morgan laughed. Riley actually had a bit of a motive for asking Derek to the ball. She'd talked to both Derek and Penelope. She figured out that their innocent flirtations meant more, and she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Do you know who looks nice tonight?" She asked, and Morgan shook his head. "Penelope."

"Yeah, my baby girl always looks nice." Derek said, staring at Garcia. He realized what he was doing, and he snapped his attention back to Riley.

"You know you love her." Riley pointed out.

"It's...complicated." Morgan said hesitantly.

"That's the adult word that means 'too scared to try.'" Riley said.

"Who told you that?" He laughed.

"Don't change the subject." She hissed. "Do you like her?"

"...Yes. A lot. But she has Kevin."

"They broke up." Riley said.

"When?" He asked, surprised.

"I don't know. She told us about it when we were shopping. Derek, you know she likes you. Ask her to dance."

"But then I'll lose my date with you." He laughed.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll get over it. Now go. Ask her out, I have to go get Reid a date." Riley said, scurrying off. Morgan thought too himself for a while after Riley ran off. He had feeling for Garcia, but it really was complicated. But why did it have to be? He thought.

"Oh, what the hell." He said to himself, walking over to Garcia.

**

"Dr. Reid, I have someone you should meet." Riley said once she met up with Spencer, Hotch and Rossi, who seemed to have forgotten about the girls and began chatting by themselves.

"You've found me a date?" He asked, jokingly. He found out she was telling the truth when Riley gently shoved a petit blond girl towards him.

"This is Catherine Banks. She works in Counter Terrorism with Kevin. She likes Star Treck; she reads classic literature and speaks three languages. She's considered a genius, like you, but she only has a photographic memory. She's your age, and super nice." Riley said in one breath.

"Hi." Catherine laughed, taking Reid's hand in hers. It was obvious to everyone around that Reid was mesmerized by the woman.

"Maybe we should leave them to get closer?" Rossi suggested. Hotch and Riley agreed and they finally decided to meet up with the girls that they promised drinks to almost 30 minutes ago.

**

The evening was a success from a fundraising standpoint. A good amount of money was made, and all of the guests had a good time. At about 8:00, all of the speeches and things like that were out of the way, and they had the rest of the night to dance.

"I can't believe it." Emily whispered in Hotch's ear as they danced to the slow song that was playing.

"What?" He asked.

"Morgan just came right over, and professed his love for Garcia. Said it was time for them to really have a relationship. She nearly died." Emily laughed, and she pointed the two of them out to Hotch. They were dancing closely and Garcia rested her head on Morgan's shoulder.

"Well, look at Reid." Hotch said, pointing him out to Emily. Apparently Reid had taken a liking to Catherine and vice versa. They too were dancing closely, but they were chatting, where as Garcia and Morgan were not.

"That was Riley's doing. Come to think of it, Riley must have convinced Morgan to ask Garcia out." Emily realized.

"She's a meddler." Hotch laughed.

"Good thing she is. It looks like her interference made their night." Emily said, pointing out the two couples Riley made. "She's good fun."

"I took a day off in two weeks to see her dance in a competition." Hotch said happily.

"That's fantastic!"

"Yeah, Jack has a hockey game that morning too, so I'm seeing both." Hotch said.

"And I'm coming too." Emily said.

"If you want. I mean, if you don't really know what this is..." He laughed and she stepped on his foot.

"Am I ever going to live that down?" She asked.

"I don't know, that was mean."

"I said I was sorry." She pleaded.

"I know, I'm just bothering you." He laughed and Emily kicked him.

"What the hell?!" He yelped. Emily laughed hysterically. "That actually hurt!"

"Sorry!" She said, laughing even harder.

"Look at you, no remorse at all." He said, rubbing his knee.

"That's not true. I didn't point when I laughed." Emily said.

"That's not a sign of remorse, that's a sign of dumb ass." He said and Emily laughed.

"You love me." Emily said. Hotch became more serious.

"I do. With all of my heart."

"I love you too." She said.

"Move in with me." Hotch said. This was more of a command, less of a request.

"What?" She asked, caught off guard.

"You practically live with me already, can't we make it official?"

"Yes!" She said, jumping into his arms and kissing him.

"Not to ruin the moment." Riley said, cutting them off. "But Jack fell asleep at our table."

"We'd better go." Emily laughed.

"I'll get sleeping beauty." Hotch said. He quickly ran over to Jack, and they watched him pick Jack up.

"So, I take it I cut in at a bad time?" Riley asked.

"No. Your dad and I were just talking."

"You're going to move in?" Riley asked.

"You heard?" Emily asked.

"No. Common sense." Riley shrugged. "It's cool. I like you."

"Thanks Riley." Emily said with a smile. "You're a good kid."

"SHUSH! Don't tell anyone!" Riley said, sounding offended. Emily laughed and so did Riley.

"Alright, I won't, but we'd better go." Emily said.

"I guess we must, but before we do, take a look." She said, pointing to the dance floor.

"What?"

"Notice anything?" Riley asked. Emily looked over and watched Reid kiss Catherine.

"Wow. Good match making." Emily said. "You knew Reid needed a girl like her."

"What are you talking about? Oh! Reid and Catherine. Yeah, that was a good call."

"Wait, what were you talking about?" Emily asked, totally confused.

"I was referring to the fact that Morgan and Garcia left together about two minutes ago." She laughed.

"Oh!" Emily laughed. "Well, that was a long time coming."

"Figured." Riley said.

"Let's go before your father gets paranoid." Emily said.

"Right behind you." Riley said. They'd all had a great time. The night was amazing, but for some reason, Riley began to feel nauseous as they were leaving.

A/N: Alright, I'm want to get you all involved again, so here's my new idea. I am going to do both the illness and the trip, but at different times. I want to know what kind of vacation would be better. I was either going to do a road trip to a specific (undecided at the moment) location, or a camping trip. Any suggestions are appreciated. Please Review :D