They're reorganising the bookcases in the living room – tidying away some of Jack's picture books and replacing them with the chapter books he's starting to read by himself, finally ditching spare copies from merging their book collections – when Emily glances out of the window and groans. "That's my mother's car."
He turns, looks, and shrugs. "Well, we can take a break from -"
"I thought she was out of the country," she mutters, shoving books into the bookcase with unnecessary force.
"Emily -" he begins.
She glares at him, and then Jack comes in, arms full of books he's been keeping by his bed. Emily grabs him, scoops him up and he giggles as his books scatter around them. "Quick, hide behind the sofa!" she says, ducking under Hotch's arm and diving into the space behind the sofa, pulling blankets over them. Jack collapses in giggles. "We're hiding," she whispers dramatically.
There's a knock at the door, and Jack catches on quickly. "Who are we hiding from?" he replies in a stage whisper.
She widens her eyes and presses a finger to her lips. He puts his hand over his mouth to muffle his giggling, and nods.
When Hotch comes back to the living room with the ambassador (that's what Emily calls her when she's not happy with her and it's stuck), there are two pairs of feet sticking out from under a blanket behind the sofa. He glances sideways awkwardly, because he's only met the woman a handful of times and has no idea whether she'll find this entertaining or annoying. For a while it seems like she hasn't made up her mind – she just stares. Then she takes a seat, smiles and says, "If Emily and Jack aren't home right now, I can wait. I have all day."
Thirty minutes later, Emily stands in the kitchen making coffee, listening to her mother and Jack talking about books and school and games. It sounds completely foreign to her – there's a smile in her mother's voice, she sounds relaxed, like she's actually enjoying herself. She stirs the coffee absently, and feels Hotch's hands slip around her waist. "Hey," he says, his voice low and soft by her ear. "You okay?"
She nods. "It's just weird."
"What do you remember about your mother?" he asks, turning her around by the shoulders. "When you were a kid, I mean."
She tucks herself against him, arms around him, and he holds her tight. There's a sadness in the way she clings to him. Through the wall, Jack is talking about his friends at school, and the ambassador asks questions in all the right places, real curiosity in her voice. Emily sighs. "Not this," she says eventually.