Emily was getting ready for her appointment when she heard her phone ding. She set down the straightener and headed toward the dresser. She picked up the phone and glanced at the message. It was from Aaron.
"Good morning, I just wanted to confirm that your appointment was this morning at 730?"
She replied "Yes, Ill be there shortly. "
"Sounds good meet you there."
"Yes. See you there."
He was making an effort to be there for her and she was happy about. Some part of her knew that it wouldn't last though. She didn't want to doubt him but her gut told her differently.
She sat down her phone and finished up her hair in the bathroom. When she finally finished up, she walked into her daughter's room and tried getting her up for school.
"Natalia honey. it's time to get up."
"Mommy?"
"Yes it's me baby. You need to get up now." she rubbed Natalia's back.
"Mommy I dont feel very well."
"you dont?" Emily then placed her hand on her daughters forhead.
"I think you have a fever baby."
"I feel sick mommy."
"I know baby. You're going to stay home today. Okay? I'll call Marissa and let her know."
"Mommy can you stay with me?"
"I have a doctor's appointment today, but Im going to see if I could come home after. Okay? Just sleep for now. "
"Okay Mommy." she said as she shut her eyes again.
Emily placed gently kiss on her daughter's forehead and quietly walked out. Emily sent a quick text to Marissa and waited for her to arrive so that she could leave.
Emily opened the door when she heard a soft knock.
"Thank You Marissa. She's still asleep upstairs. There is Tylenol in the cabinet upstairs. She can take some in a little bit. Im going to try and come home after my appointment. "
"Yeah, no problem Em. Go, i got it from here."
"Thank you so much."
"You are very welcome." she said with a smile.
When Emily arrived at the doctors office, she looked around and spotted Aaron sitting down in the corner of the room. She signed in with the front desk and then sat in the seat next to him.
"Thank you for being here."
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else Emily. " He looked up and smiled at her
"Aaron, I've been thinking and I want to make this work for him or her. I don't mean like a relationship or anything but I want to have a heathy co- parenting relationship for our kid. Now, I know that i may seem annoying but i need to know that this is what you want and that you want to be apart of this child's life. I just want to know now so i don't have to figure it out later down the line."
"Emily, I know things in the beginning were rough. This turned my life all the way around and i didn't give myself time to think about this. I just didn't give this a chance. But now that I've thought about it, I want to be apart of your lives. I love my son and I would love for him to have a sibling. This may not have been the way that i would have wanted to welcome a new baby but nonetheless, I want this. "
She smiled at him, she was about to say something when she heard her name being called. She stood and motioned for him to follow her. Going through this process, brought back memories of when she did this with Natalia and Levi. She missed him, but Emily chooses to believe that he wanted this to happen for her. Everything happens for a reason.
When Emily got into the exam room, she followed the nurses instructions. Aaron excused himself out of the room so she can change into the paper gown that she was handed.
Emily quickly changed and asked him to come back in the room with her.
Emily was sitting on the exam chair when the doctor came in.
"Well Good Morning Emily. "
"Good morning Dr. Grayson, this is my friend Aaron and he also happens to be the baby's father."
"Nice to meet you Aaron. is this your first?" The doctor asked
"No this is the second for the both of us." Aaron said
"Ahh I see. Okay let's get started. So you're about 10 weeks now right?"
"Yes. "
"Okay. I want you to slide down to the edge of this seat and then prop your feet onto these bars here. Okay?"
Emily nodded and did as he asked. Aaron stood up and stood by Emily's head. He grabbed her hand and held it. She didn't mind it, she knew that tension was running high between the both of them and they needed some comfort from each other.
"Okay. Let's get started. "
The doctor then preformed an internal ultrasound, and then motioned for the parents to look up at the screen. Then they saw it, their baby was the size of a prune. A tear ran down Emily's face. This always made her emotional, but always happy tears.
"There is your baby guys. Everything looks as where it should be for ten weeks. Now let's listen to a heartbeat."
The room felt silent until a rapid whoosh sound filled the room. More tears ran down Emily's face.
"I'm assuming those are happy tears" the doctor asked as her finished the ultrasound.
"Yes." Emily said as Aaron was running his hand on the top of her head.
She sat up and the doctor gave her some time to get dressed and to gather herself.
Aaron again stepped out into the hallway. The doctor handed him photos while he was waiting for Emily to get dressed. He starred at the photos in amazement, This was their baby. His and Emily's. He knew that this baby was going to be beautiful because Emily is beautiful. He came back into the room when Emily had popped her head out. He handed her those photos and watched her smile big.
"Our baby." she said
"Yes, Our baby." he said as they both walked out and headed back their cars.
While they were walking out, Emily could not stop starring at the photos. She had the biggest smile on her face.
"The baby's changed so much since the last ultrasound. It's crazy."
"I bet. Im sorry I missed the last one Em. But I promise to be there for the rest of them"
"Thank You, I appreciate that." She was cut off by her cell phone ringing. She looked at the caller ID and noticed that it was Marissa. She quickly picked up and turned around so that she was not facing Hotch. When she finally hung up the phone, she turned towards him.
"Everything Okay?"
"No. Natalia's really sick right now and is asking for me. Is it okay that I be with her?"
"Yeah sure Em. I know what that is like. Go be with your daughter. "
"Thank you so much"
"Yeah no problem. We don't have a case that I know of yet, so it should be a easy day."
"Thanks Again." she then got into her car and pulled out. She tried to get home as fast as she could to be with her daughter. She knew that when Natalia got sick, all she wanted was Emily and Emily was not going to deny that. It was very rare that she got to snuggle with her daughter and she was going to take up every last chance that she got.
As Natalia's head laid on Emily's lap, Emily could not stop looking at the photos from earlier in the day. She knew that she wasn't in the best of situations but she was creating another life and she couldn't be happier about it.