"Boys, I'm sure you remember your distant uncle, Aaron Hotchner. He's been looking forward to seeing you for awhile now. Uncle Aaron, you know Harold and Hugo. Harold is dressed in blue and Hugo is dressed in green."
"It's a pleasure to see you boys again," Hotch told the twins quietly making sure to not make any sudden movements until the two boys had relaxed.
"It's nice to see you again," Harold finally said relaxing and shaking Hotch's hand Hugo following suit.
"Are you boys looking forward to living here in America?" asked Hotch gently.
The twins looked at each other and then Hugo said, "Kind of and then kind of not."
"We're looking forward to going to school here since the witches and wizards at home are home taught for the most part until they reach 11. Mama told us that it is different here and they actually have a school for younger magical children to prepare them for Hogwarts..." Hugo said.
"But we are going to miss seeing our friends every day, even if we can go back and forth anytime we want thanks to the Portkey."
"And you don't know anything about this man that your mother is going to marry," Hotch suggested shrewdly.
"That too," Harold admitted shooting a quick apologetic look at his mother. "Sorry mama, but it's true."
"It's alright, as I suspect I would feel the same if I was in your place," Hermione told them both her voice warm and understanding.
"Well, let me reassure you boys that Spencer is one of the most compassionate, warmhearted and nice men you will ever meet. I know him quite well as we work together and have for the last three years. He has been looking forward to meeting you quite eagerly and he already thinks of you as part of his family, even though the three of you have yet to meet," Hotch told them with a smile. "I know you are nervous about meeting your mom's fiancé and you have every right to be, but try at least to give him a chance for your mother's sake."
"We will," Hugo promised.
"We were going to anyway," Harold added, "since we both know that mom is a pretty good judge of character and it's only right that we give him a chance."
"Well, you are certainly more reasonable and mature then some children that are the same age," Hotch said with a twitch of his lips in what was a repressed smile.
"They take after me in that way," Hermione told her uncle with a smile. "I was always very mature for my age, but then unlike Harold and Hugo, I didn't have any good friends as you know, so I was always by myself, except for my parents or other adults. Since I always hung around with adults that was how I acted so I was always more a mini adult then a child. Of course, unlike me they also are much more relaxed and know how to have fun, even if unlike most children their age they actually enjoy learning."
"Did you know that we are going to get a brother or sister in a few months time?" asked Hugo and Hermione winced because she hadn't told anyone outside of her sons, Molly and of course Spencer, but then she couldn't really blame Hugo for blurting out the information since she hadn't told him to keep it a secret and she should have, even though it wasn't like her uncle wouldn't be able to figure out the months between the wedding and the birth and then know that she had been pregnant before she and Spencer had tied the knot.
"You are?" asked Hotch looking startled as he had never figured that Spencer was the type to get a woman pregnant until after he was married.
"I am," Hermione confirmed. "It was a mutual decision. Spencer and I decided that since we were going to get married in just a month or so that we would just let nature take it's course and not actually wait until after we had officially tied the knot, so we didn't bother to use any protection and I guess I caught immediately the first time the two of us made love or possibly sometime soon after that, but I figure it was sometime within the first couple of days as we kind of went at it like rabbits once Spencer had proposed."
Hotch's lips twitched at that, although he could definitely understand where both his niece and soon to be nephew-in-law were coming from, although he had never imagined that there was a wildcat inside the quiet, intelligent man that was his subordinate. Hotch supposed that Reid was just one of those people that needed to find the right woman for him and he was happy that his niece had been the one to bring the brilliant man that he had come to respect and admire out of his shell.
"Well, congratulations then and I am looking forward to meeting him or her," Hotch said.
"I'm hoping for a little girl actually since I already have two boys," Hermione said.
"And what does Reid want? A boy or a girl?" asked Hotch.
"He actually doesn't care so long as he or she is healthy and we are planning on having at least one more after this so I will get a second chance if I don't get my wish this time around," said Hermione.
The two continued to chat for a few minutes and then Hugo complained, "I'm hungry."
"Hugo, there's no reason to be rude," Hermione gently admonished her son.
"But we're hungry," Harold echoed his twin, causing Hotch's lips to twitch for the two of them reminded him so much of his son Jack who was staying at a friend's house for the night.
"It's alright, they are both growing boys and boys their age always seem to be hungry," Hotch said. "I remember well my own childhood and how I could eat a big meal and then be hungry again just a couple hours later."
"They also have Weasley blood and every male I've ever met from that family seems to be able to eat way more than they should be able to. I've seen my friend Ron eat thirds and even fourths when we were going to Hogwarts and I often wondered where he could possibly put it. You saw how Fred and George ate when you visited the Burrow that time and that is true for the rest of the family as well."
"Yes, I remember how much all the Weasleys I met ate," Hotch agreed.
Hotch kept his expression normal, as he didn't want to upset Hermione, but really all he wanted to do as go and beat Ronald Weasley bloody for not taking responsibility for the lives he had created, because he hadn't used protection. Hotch sincerely hoped he never met this Ron Weasley or the two of them would be having words and Ron would not like what he had to say on the subject. He had been taught from an early age to accept responsibility for his mistakes and Hotch was sure that Ron's parents had tried to teach him the same thing, and it hadn't taken.
"So when do we get to meet this Spencer?" asked Harold.
"Soon," Hermione promised her sons. "He should be back from visiting his mother in Las Vegas tomorrow and you will get to meet him then."
"Well, since these two are hungry and it's nearly dinnertime anyway, why don't I order some pizza?" Hotch suggested.
"All right, but I'll pay," Hermione agreed.
"No, I've got it," Hotch said his tone brooking no argument.
Hermione sighed and gave in for she knew that tone of voice and it meant that her uncle would not let her win the argument and so it was just better to give in instead of arguing about it for the next 15 minutes.
"All right then," Hermione agreed resignedly.
~~~Spencer and Hermione~~~
"So man, ready to go get married?" asked Morgan who had been asked to be Reid's best man.
The two men were off in a little ante type room of the church and Reid had been ordered to stay there until it was time for the ceremony as he wasn't allowed the see the bride before the wedding, which both Hermione and Reid thought was a stupid custom and weren't going to bother with it as they didn't want to be separated for even one night, but Garcia had insisted that they had to follow the custom and you couldn't really deny the technical analyst, well, not unless you wanted her to cause you considerable trouble by using her computers to do something like erase your bank account. It was far easier and less trouble just to go along.
"More than ready," Reid assured his friend feeling so happy that he could just burst. He had never been so happy in his entire life as he loved Hermione so much and he was also already very fond of her sons who like him loved to learn. He had already promised them a trip to the largest museum in Washington as soon as he had a free weekend and both boys were looking forward to it, with commendable eagerness. Also, Reid had had to get used to magic and seeing it used on a normal basis for Hermione used it to clean with, including washing the dishes and a lot of other things besides, made it easier to accept. It really was amazing the things that his soon to be wife could do with her wand. Reid had also met her adopted brother where he had been warned that if he hurt Hermione there wouldn't be enough left of him to identify and once Harry had been assured that Reid had no intention of ever hurting the woman who was his sister he had become perfectly friendly and told Reid that he was welcome to visit him and his family at Potter Manor whenever Hermione and the twins came to visit.
Reid was still reeling from the fact that Hermione had informed him that thanks to her adoption into the Potter family they now had plenty of money to do whatever the hell they wanted, even if it was in the form of wizarding Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Reid had been informed that it was easy enough to turn wizarding money into regular American dollars when they needed it, and Spencer thought of it like exchanging American dollars for foreign money like the euros that were used in most European countries as it was basically the same concept, so it made that particular aspect of the wizarding world easier to accept.
"I'm very happy for you, and Hermione and I'm glad that you didn't let that big brain of yours get in the way of following your heart," Morgan told Reid.
"I nearly did, but thanks to you and the other's on the team I didn't. I suppose I should thank you for convincing me to ask Hermione out on a date, because I had convinced myself that I had misread the signals that Hermione was giving me. I told myself that there was no way that such a beautiful and brilliant woman would ever be interested in someone as clumsy, socially awkward or as plain as I believed myself to be."
"Well, I'm happy you listened to us then," Morgan grinned at him. "You really are a lucky man to have a someone just as intelligent as you are fall in love with you."
"I am," Spencer agreed with a goofy grin, as he thought of the woman that would be his wife in just a few minutes.
"And those boys of hers are so adorable," Morgan added.
"And also just as intelligent as their mother and so far haven't seemed to inherit their father's stupidity," Spencer added, "No, I've never met him, but he couldn't have been very intelligent if he was willing to leave Hermione and also not accept responsibility for the lives he created or at the very least he was very immature."
"Well, you're lucky that he didn't or you wouldn't be getting married now and probably never would have met at all," Morgan suggested.
"Yes, I am really lucky, although you know I don't usually believe in such things," Reid said.
Morgan glanced at his watch and said, "It is nearly time for the ceremony to begin so someone should be coming to get us in about five minutes."
"I am more than ready," Spencer said eagerly causing Morgan to chuckle for had never seen the man he considered a brother so excited or so happy for that matter and he was genuinely glad for him and for Hotch's niece.
"So are you hoping for a boy or girl when Hermione gives birth? And by the way I'm surprised you didn't bother to use any protection since I thought for sure that you would want to at least be married before getting Hermione pregnant."
"It was a mutual decision," Spencer assured Morgan. "Neither one of us saw the point of waiting until after we had tied the knot since Hermione wouldn't be showing before the wedding and the only reason I told you and the other's on the team is because you are whom I consider family and knew that none of you would think it was wrong to get the woman I was going to marry pregnant. Besides, even if I hadn't told you it wouldn't have taken any of you any time at all to work out the timing and realize that Hermione must have gotten pregnant before the ceremony, so it was just better to get it out in the open. As for what Hermione and I are hoping for when she is far enough along to be able to tell, well I told her that to me so long as the baby is healthy I didn't care one way or the other and I meant that, but she is hoping for a girl and I can certainly see where she is coming from since she already has twin boys."
"And are you going to have anymore after this?" asked Morgan.
"We were planning on at least one more after this in three or four years of course, as Hermione is plenty young enough to wait that long. The two of us decided together on two children, but have only shelved the discussion not closed it, which ought to tell you that we might decide to have a third at some future date."
"She could even have twins again," Morgan joked.
"Unlikely, since she did tell me that the father of her sons had twins in his family and in fact, has two identical twin brothers so it is very likely that twins come just from his side of the family and not hers, but I admit it is still possible and she might even have twins in her family that she doesn't know about. If she gets pregnant after she turns 35 she is at least twice as likely to have twins as more women just have multiples after they pass that milestone and it has been speculated that woman ovulate more the older they get and are therefore releasing more than one egg at a time, but that is still years away so it doesn't really concern us at the moment as she is only 27."
"So has it happened in the past that a woman had more than one set of twins in her lifetime?" asked Morgan genuinely curious in this case.
"Oh, yes," Reid said. "There have been 8 sets of twins born to the same family although not one right after the other of course, although that sometimes happens too. There was a family a few decades ago that had 30 children and 8 of those births were twins, all fraternal."
"Thirty children? Are you serious?" Morgan sputtered in astonishment. "What woman agrees to gave so many children even if eight of the pregnancies were twins? That means the woman must have been pregnant 22 times."
"Her name was Galina and she was Russian and just seemed to be especially fertile, back in the early 20th century. Of course, it's possible she also ate or drank a lot of things that can cause twinning and hyperovulation, like eating a great deal of yams for example or drinking a lot of milk as both have been scientifically proven to be two of the things that can cause a woman to have multiples, even if there is no history of twins, triplets or more in their families."
"What about fertility drugs," Morgan suggested.
"No," Reid said with a shake of his head, "this was back in the very early 20th century before such things were available. I know some women use fertility drugs now, because they have trouble getting pregnant naturally and that twins and other multiples are often the result, but these were born naturally. The first artificial hormones weren't created until the late 1940's and early 1950's and the first successful test tube baby that was born live wasn't born until the 1970's and her name was Louise Brown. Actually, the estrogen that woman produce that make pregnancy possible wasn't even discovered until 1923 and the testosterone that men produce wasn't discovered until 1935. Both estrogen and testosterone are the building blocks that were used in the first artificial fertility drug, because both are essential to getting a woman pregnant."
"Wow! That's really fascinating, but now let's just concentrate on you getting married to the woman you love," Morgan suggested.
Reid looked at his friend with a little smile that reached all the way to his eyes and Morgan knew that this was Reid's way of telling him that he was extremely happy and he could hardly blame him for that. Hermione Granger had brought about a lot of changes in his friend, all positive, although they weren't to noticeable unless you knew Spencer Reid well and he was happy that his friend had found someone who accepted him for the brilliant, kind, clumsy man he was.
There was a knock on the door and both men looked at each other and knew immediately it was time and so Morgan opened the door to find Hotch on the other side. Both exited the small room closing to door behind them and then with Hotch leading the way went to stand in their places, waiting for the wedding music to begin and for the bride to start her walk down the aisle.
~~~Spencer and Hermione~~~