"Mom, Dad, Aunt Alex is here and she has Uncle James with her!" Paige sang out. It was a Saturday afternoon near the end of Hotch's paternity leave, and Laurel had just gotten baby Sophia fed and put back into her bassinette.

"Quiet!" Jack shouted. "The baby is sleeping!"

"Quiet both of you," Hotch instructed as he headed towards the front door to greet their guests.

"Alex, James," Hotch greeted the couple as he opened the door. "How good to see you."

"I hope you don't mind us just dropping by like this," Blake replied. "James is in town for the weekend and he wanted to check out the newest arrival. Plus," she held up the wrapped package she was holding, "We come bearing gifts"

"Of course not," Hotch assured them. "Come on in. James, it is good to see you again. Are you in town for long?"

"Just the weekend," the professor confirmed as the couple followed Hotch back to the family room. "I wanted to come down before the semester starts getting hectic."

"Hello you two!" Laurel greeted the two visitors. "How nice of you to drop by." She began to stand up from the couch where she had been relaxing.

"Stay," James raised his hand to gesture. "You don't need to get up for us."

"You're probably exhausted," Blake sympathized a she handed the gaily wrapped gift to Laurel.

"Oh, I've had some good help," Laurel nodded towards Jack and Paige. "And, their father has been pretty helpful, too." She smiled widely at Hotch.

"Thanks A Lot!" Hotch laughed. "If you will excuse me, I'll go get the star of this show so you can fuss over her."

"And, while he is doing that, why don't you both sit down and tell me what you have been doing?" Laurel suggested. "As you can imagine, I haven't been getting out much and I'm having to live vicariously."

"First, I have something for these two," James pulled two wrapped packages out of his pockets.

"For us?" Jack questioned.

"Not for Sophia?" Paige asked. "She's the baby."

"Actually, I was thinking," James told them as he handed over the packages. "You two just became an older brother and an older sister. And, I think that is worth celebrating, too!"

"Thank You, Uncle James!" the two chorused.

Jack's gift was a keyring with a soccer ball dangling from it. "Rumor has it that a driver's license is in your near future," James smiled at him. "And I thought you should be ready."

"YES!" Jack fist pumped.

Paige, meanwhile, had unwrapped a pair of colorfuly decorated skate guards. "Look Mom!" she called out holding them up for everyone to see.

"Pretty!" Laurel commented. "James, where did you find those? I have never seen anything like them."

"At the skate shop in the university's ice arena," James explained. "Apparently a student from the Art Department decided to decorate several pairs and see if there was a market for them."

"Let me get my skates," Paige declared as she rushed out of the room.

"Here she is," Hotch announced as he brought Sophia into the family room. He walked over to hand her to Laurel.

Here, let me take her," James volunteered, holding out his arms. "You can trust me, I'm a doctor."

"It seems I've heard that one before," Laurel remarked dryly.

"Besides," James glanced over at his wife. "Alex would like to talk with you."

"My study?" Hotch offered as he began leading the way out of the room.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"She's leaving, isn't she?" Laurel asked James quietly.

"We've decided that it's time," was his response. "We want to be – "

"James and I want to be a couple again," Blake was explaining to Hotch as they sat in his study. "Aaron, I've been watching you with Laurel and the kids over the past several years. And, you seem to be getting so much happier with your life as time goes by. Now, I'm not saying that I want three kids, but I am ready to have my own family unit, starting with James, and maybe a dog, and then we'll see where it goes from there."

"So, I have no one to blame but myself," Hotch observed as he gave her one of his rare smiles.

"And," he continued. "You are right, Alex. I am happy – More so than I have ever been in my entire life. And, I can't deny you the right to try for that happiness for yourself and James. You do know that we'll miss you – Don't you?"

"I won't be that far away," Blake smiled at him. "I'm only going to Boston. That's not that far. And, I plan on doing consulting for the Boston office as well as the New York one. So, if you need me, just call."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

That evening, as he came out of the bathroom, Hotch stopped to stand in the doorway and watch Laurel as she was nursing Sophia. Suddenly, he was aware of a shift in his perception of the scene in front of him and a corresponding reaction from his body. Oh No – This wasn't supposed to be happening. Watching his wife breastfeeding their baby was not supposed to be a turn-on. Yet, he couldn't deny it – He was unquestionably getting hard.

Laurel closed her top and put Sophia over her shoulder to burp her. Looking over at Hotch, she smiled. "You seem to have developed a little bit of a problem," she observed archly. "If you want to wait your turn here, I'll see what I can do to handle it."

"But we aren't supposed to – It's not time yet – You – You can't – " Hotch stuttered.

"I didn't say that was what I had in mind," Laurel told him as she gently put Sophia down in her bassinette.

"What?" Hotch asked.

"Why don't you come over here and join me on the bed," Laurel smiled at him as she ran her tongue enticingly over her lips. "Let's see what I can come up with."

"But what about you?" Hotch was wasting no time in joining her. "You can't - "

"You can owe me one," Laurel told him as she helped him loosen his pajama bottoms. "And you can be sure that I intend to collect – With interest – When the time comes."

"Now," she purred as she bent over him. "This looks awfully big for my little mouth."