Part 17

"They're just adorable," JJ squealed, as she held one of Penelope's son.

All in all Penny had had two sons and three daughters and there was certainly no complaints coming from her mate Aaron Hotchner. The fact he adored his children from his mate was very obvious, but then, he been wanting children for a long time.

"I have to agree with you there," Alex said, as she cradled one of Penelope's daughters in her arms.

"It's not like I'm going to disagree with either of you," Aaron said with an enormous grin holding one of his daughters gently. "I think they're all just perfect. Of course, I've thought that since the minute they were born a couple weeks ago."

"You're their father, you're supposed to think that," Dave said smiling, as he cradled Aaron's second son in his arms.

"It won't be long until you have some more children of your own," Penelope offered.

"That's true and I can hardly wait," Dave grinned. "I love my other children you know that, but that doesn't mean that I'm not happy to be having some more."

"Anybody would be," Alex pointed out logically. "I'm carrying triplets, at least according to the doctor who did an ultrasound."

"Congratulations," Penelope told her friend and Dave.

"Thank you, both of us were very happy with the news," Dave said grinning.

"Anybody would be," JJ pointed out calmly.

"So what do your children think about this pregnancy?" Aaron asked.

"They're ecstatic," Dave said. "Even Spencer was very happy with the news."

"Why wouldn't he be?" Penelope asked a little puzzled.

"He was rather concerned that I was like the two omegas that tried to take advantage of Dave," Alex explained calmly. "That kind of thing happens just as often among our species as it does among the other two. Not every Alpha or omega for that matter are taught how to properly treat someone, especially their mate or if they are the lessons don't take or perhaps, they simply ignore them. Our species have just as many that don't know how to treat someone properly as everybody else does."

"Yeah, I did have some trouble as Aaron knows with two other Omegas. One tried her best to find my bank account number so she could steal my money and the other suggested that I ship my children off to boarding school or an orphanage, so that we could be by ourselves, as they were still quite young at the time. She actually believed that I would do what she wanted," Dave growled.

"Well, you certainly have had a lot of bad luck," JJ said grimacing.

"Well, my dating history isn't entirely bad, as I did date a lot of really nice, properly raised Omegas, including yourself, before I met Alex," Dave shrugged. "We just didn't click that's all and there's nothing wrong with that. Those omegas don't really matter anymore, because I found the one for me and I wasn't entirely sure I ever would after Caroline died."

"You were lucky, because a lot of our kind never even find one mate, much less two," Penelope suggested.

"I know I was," Dave said kissing Alex's cheek causing her to blush prettily. "So thank you for having the party where we met."

"You're quite welcome," Aaron said smiling. "I'm certainly glad that both of you found the happiness you deserve."

"So I thought Emily and Sean would be here?" JJ asked.

"They said they'd be by later," Penelope explained to her friend. She and JJ had connected immediately when they had met and had become instant friends. "They have their own family to look after. They need to be taken care of before they can come by and Aaron and I certainly understand that. They've already been by to see our newest additions and just like all of you fell in love with them instantly."

"Yes, they hired someone and they're looking for someone else, but still, I do understand that the children come first. They'll be by when they can to spend some time with our newest additions," Aaron said smiling tenderly down at the baby in his arms.

"So plan on having anymore?" Alex asked curiously.

"In two or three years," Penelope confirmed. "Both Aaron and I think that I'll probably have quints next time too and that will be more than enough for us, which is why we're going to wait so long."

"After, we do, if we do have this many again, then we've agreed that Penelope will have her ovaries removed and her tubes tied so she won't go into heat anymore," Aaron added. "Nine or ten will be more than enough for me and will certainly keep us busy for many years."

"Alex and I agreed to the same thing, although case she's going to get pregnant back to back because she's in her late 30s so we can really afford to wait too long," Dave said. "I know that females can get pregnant even into their late 40s and early 50s but the older you are the more of a strain on the body it is. This is why we both agreed for her to get pregnant twice back to back. We'll see how it goes both times before we see if we want anymore after that.

"Of course, we might decide to have more after I get pregnant twice, but that will have to be something we discuss before any decisions are made," Alex said.

"If we have triplets again then that will be more than enough for me, since I already have four grown children," Dave said smiling. He was of course, including Spencer in that count. "Of course, if Alex wants more after that then I'll be happy to support her."

"I think six will be more than enough for me to, but we'll see," Alex said smiling. "I'll be 40 in just a few months, so if we do decide to have anymore after the second time... it wouldn't be safe for me to wait too long to have them. The older you are the more dangerous giving birth is, although plenty of women come out of it just fine and this especially includes our kind, but still, I really don't want to be pregnant to late in my life."

"The doctor assures us that Alex is in good health and usually our kind don't have any trouble giving birth, but look at what happened to Caroline," Dave said.

"Sometimes the unexpected happens that's all," Alex told Dave soothingly.

She was well aware that his first mate's death would always effect him to some extent. It was hard on their kind to lose somebody that they loved deeply, much harder than it was on the other two species, for the most part anyway. This was especially true if that loss was their mate or one of their children. The fact, that Dave and Caroline hadn't been together more than three years before she had died had affected Dave deeply, because the two of them had spent hardly any time together.

"I know this already, as Spencer told me that the likelihood of it happening again are so minuscule that I don't need worry about it. What happened to Caroline was unfortunate, but it does happen even to our kind. However, I can't help but worry a little until after Alex has given birth," Dave said.

"I don't think any of us can blame you for that," JJ offered. "I'm never been mated, though that's not saying I wouldn't like to be, but if my mate died for whatever reason I know it would deeply affect me.

"What about I introduce you to my brother?" Penelope asked her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Grant isn't dating anyone right now, as he just broke up with someone. Who knows you might hit it off. As for Gabe he's in a rather serious relationship according to him."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind," JJ decided. "We could at least become friends out of this, even though they live in California."

"I'll introduce you when they come back," Penelope promised. "They're coming again for the holidays. They were happy to spend some time with their nieces and nephews right after they were born a couple weeks back, but they had to leave a few days ago. Daffy couldn't leave her modeling career for too long, though I certainly enjoyed having her and her family close by."

Aaron said nothing, but he knew that Daphne and his mate were well on their way to repairing their sibling bond, that Penelope's sister had nearly destroyed due to her strong alpha personality.

Both of them had made an effort to try to repair their relationship and they were well on their way, though Aaron was aware it would take time.

Still, at least they were trying and that was something. Aaron was well aware that Daphne's sincere apology had gone a long way to getting Penny to forgive her and also the couple of weeks spent together.

They were now some ground rules that Daffy had to abide by if she didn't want her newfound relationship with her sister to go back in the toilet and Aaron could see that she was trying her best. As for her brothers their relationship with his mate was much better too and they now knew that they needed to play a more active role in both Daphne's and Penelope's lives, which was something they should've done years ago. Aaron did understand though, that there was over a 10 year age difference, so it wasn't like he expected the brothers to be close to their sisters, at least not when they were young. He wouldn't be surprised at all if Daphne and Penny were an accident, when the condom broke during his mate's mother's heat and the two sisters were the result.

"My brothers just had other commitments," Penelope added. "Gabe's a doctor and you know how busy they can be if they are any good at their profession. As for Grant he owns a architectural company. I hope you don't mind dating someone whose older, because they're over 10 years older than I am. I believe that my sister and me were sort of an accident though my parents never said, so I don't know for sure, but I certainly can't see there being so much of an age difference between us if they had intended to have anymore."

"It's quite possible actually," Alex offered. "There's no way of knowing for sure that your parents never intended to have anymore, but on the other hand, our race usually have our children pretty close together and certainly not more than 10 years apart."

"I know, I had figured that out for myself and that's why I think Daphne and I were an accident, but I could be wrong, so there's no point of really discussing it," Penelope said calmly smiling. "I think it's about time that I feed these five though or they're going to be wailing."

"We'll take our leave then," Dave said.

"You're welcome back anytime," Aaron said and Dave nodded in appreciation.

"We'll be back," Dave promised Alex.

"It's good practice for when your own are born," JJ added with a twinkle in her blue eyes.

"Yes, it is," Penelope agreed smiling. "If you want to practice changing them you're welcome, as Aaron and I could always use the help considering there are five of them."

"And that would give Janice and Jessica a break," Aaron added.

Dave, Alex and JJ had already met the twin sisters who and had been hired to act as nannies and liked both of them immediately.

The three guests left after Jessica and Janice each took a baby so they could be taken back upstairs. Aaron took the third out of JJ's arms so that he held two of his children, one in each arm where he gently climbed the stairs to the nursery so that they could be put back in their cribs with Penelope following with the last of the children.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~

A year and a half later

The phone rang and Aaron picked it up.

"Hello?"

Aaron listened to the person on the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is Aaron Hotchner and a yes, Elizabeth Hotchner is my mother. What's this about?"

Aaron listened, as the voice on the other end told him why they had bothered to track him down.

"So she finally killed the old bastard, did she? Or at least that's what you think."

Aaron listened for a minute.

"So you're saying that my mother is going to go on trial for murder and you need me and Sean to be witnesses that our father was an abusive asshole," Aaron said into the phone. "I suppose it is my duty. Wouldn't want her to go to prison just because she murdered the bastard. I'll get a hold of Sean and we'll be there in a couple of days."

Aaron hung up the phone and sighed thinking that his happy life was about to be disrupted. He knew his duty though, as it had been mostly his father that had been abusive not his mother. From an adult perspective he understood that his mother had never done anything, mostly because he left her alone. That didn't mean that he and Sean didn't still resent the hell out of her though. Still, that didn't mean that she deserved to spend the rest of her life in prison for finally murdering the bastard. Aaron had no doubt that once he and Sean had left for college that they're father had started to be more abusive towards his wife and he couldn't blame her that she'd finally had killed him. He was only surprised it hadn't happened at least 10 years ago, but then he was well aware that everybody had a different threshold of what they could take before they snapped.

Really, he thought that both sets of his grandparents deserved to be in prison for the rest of their natural lives for forcing an arranged marriage on their children in the first place. Arranged marriages were never happy and while his father might have wanted it he knew his mother had been bullied until she had agreed. The best of arranged marriages the couple were indifferent to each other and at worst they were abusive like had happened between his parents. He and Sean had been so glad to get away from home and they had never returned once they had left for college.

They had moved far away on purpose knowing their father likely wouldn't bother to look for his sons, because to him they really didn't matter. All they were good for was to carry on the family name and for him to take out his frustration and anger on. They had been punished quite harshly for the slightest bit of mischief or perhaps, just because their father didn't know a better way to handle his feelings of anger and frustration. His father had genuinely believed that all the beatings would teach his sons to be is an emotionless and evil as he was, but it hadn't worked thank goodness, though it had certainly made his sons hate and resent him.

"So who was on the phone, honey?" Penelope asked, as she came out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to be gone for a few days, sweetie," Aaron said. "That was apparently my mom's lawyer on the phone she's been accused of murdering my father. Sean and I are needed as character witnesses. The lawyer doesn't believe that the charges are going to stick, because the whole neighborhood knew what kind of man he was, but still..."

"Still, you need to go to be a witness to your father's abuses, because nobody knows what goes on inside the home better then the children," Penelope finished.

"Exactly," Aaron agreed. "Now, I just have to convince Sean to join me and that won't be easy."

"He still hates your mother, because she never did anything to help you out when your dad was beating you to a pulp," Penelope supplied.

"Hates a little strong, but I admit we both strongly dislike her at the very latest," Aaron said. "As an adult I can understand why she never said anything to stop our father from punishing us for some fictitious wrong or even just for some minor mischief, but that doesn't mean that I don't at least resent the hell out of her."

"You have every right to," Penelope pointed out, as she snuggled into Aaron's arms. "Still, I can understand that while he was abusing you he was leaving her alone. It doesn't make it right, but it's also natural. Nobody likes to be beaten up on normal basis and your father is only lucky that one of his sons didn't kill him for being such an abusive asshole. Personally, I think he lived decades longer than he had any right to."

"Yeah, he probably did," Aaron said. "I'm going to miss you while I'm gone. My life has been so happy for the last few years that I really don't want to leave."

"Then why don't I come with you," Penelope calmly suggested. "I won't interfere in the trial or anything, but I'll be there when you need me."

"But what about the children," Aaron protested.

"Janice and Jessica can handle it," Penelope said. "I'm not saying that I won't miss them while we're gone, but you need me more than they do right now. I'm sure that there's no way Emily is going to let Sean go by himself. In fact, having Emily there might be the only way to get him to agree to come."

"That's a good point," Aaron said consideringly. He knew that Sean had been hurt worse then he had been when they were children, even though he had done his best to protect his little brother. Aaron knew his father hadn't appreciated the fact that Sean had been an Omega rather then another Alpha, so had saved his worst abuses for him.

"I'm sure Sean will see that no one deserves to go to prison the rest of their lives, just because your mother finally got up the guts to do something about your father's abuses. It's not like she could just leave, because I'm sure that your father would've hunted her down and made her come back home."

"Yeah, he would have," Aaron said with certainty. "If she had just run away and he had found her he probably would've beat her even worse until he almost killed her for leaving him in the first place. I doubt very much his basic personality has improved with age and in fact, it's more likely that he got worse, as he got older and the stresses of him being an attorney got the better of him."

"Some people just don't handle stress well, but instead of handling it in a healthy way he decides that the beating up on his family is the way to go," Penelope said shaking her head.

"Stress may have been part of his bad attitude that caused him to beat up on me and Sean when we were younger, but that's not the whole answer, love," Aaron told his mate gently, kissing her tenderly. "It might possibly be that my grandparents forced him to marry someone he didn't like or respect at least. They probably pounded the fact that it was his duty to marry and produce an heir until he just gave in. Maybe he thought it wouldn't be so bad or maybe he was already a bully and marrying someone he detested made him worse. I'm sure we'll never know though. However, even if all these things are true that doesn't excuse what he did to me and Sean or to mom either, as he treated her with disdain and occasionally outright hatred. From the perspective of years, I can't really blame her for not interfering when he was abusing us."

"So I'll start packing for both of us," Penelope offered.

"You do that, as I think it's a very good idea for you to come along," Aaron said looking more cheerful. "You can shop or whatever else you want to do while I'm dealing with this and then we can go out for lunch or dinner whenever I'm free."

"Sounds good," Penelope said. "I'll be happy to do some shopping with Emily while you and Sean are busy."

"I knew you wouldn't object to spending money," Aaron teased her.

Penelope just shrugged saying nothing.

"While you pack I'll contact Sean and let him know and then make hotel reservation," Aaron said.

"So how long do you think I need to pack for? Only a couple of days, or longer?" Penelope asked.

"Better make it for at least a week, just to be on the safe side," Aaron said. "We can always take our clothes by a laundrymat if we are there for longer then that and then only if they get stains of some kind on them."

"Alright," Penelope agreed. "I'm not looking forward to you or Sean having to confront the woman that gave birth to you since she did nothing when your father abused you."

"Neither am I and I know Sean will say the same. Father was often harder on him then on me, I believe because he wasn't an alpha," Aaron said looking rather melancholy, as he remembered. "There was only so much I could do to protect him."

"I'm sure Sean understands that," Penelope offered.

"He does, but it doesn't mean I don't feel guilty, for not being able to do more," Aaron said.

The two just stood there for a few minutes before they parted to go do what they needed to to get ready to be absent for the next few days.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~

A couple of days later

"Hello, mother," Aaron greeted the woman who had given birth to him.

Aaron kept his face expressionless as he looked at the woman who was his mother and he immediately noticed that she looked much older then the last time he had seen her, but since that had been when he and Sean had left for college it wasn't surprising that she had aged so much.

"Aaron," Elizabeth acknowledged. "Mr. Breen said that he had managed to locate you."

Mr. Arthur Breen was Elizabeth's lawyer.

"I'm surprised you bothered to come at all," Elizabeth added.

"As much as I might resent you that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you languish in prison for murdering the bastard. Personally, I think you should herald as a hero, as the world is a better place without him in it," Aaron said his expression neutral.

"I can't really blame you for your feelings," Elizabeth offered. "I'm glad you are here."

"It was my duty," Aaron told her.

Elizabeth knew that her oldest son was all about duty and his sense of honor and justice were the sole reason that he couldn't allow her to go to prison for murdering her husband. Aaron had been very right when he said that the world was a much better place without her husband in it.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't murder the bastard years ago," Aaron said.

"Believe me, I thought about it," Elizabeth sighed. "But you ought to know that your father was always wary of any such attempts and it was only recently he let down his guard enough for me to have a good chance of success. He thought he had broken my spirit and I wouldn't dare do anything that he didn't tell me to do."

Aaron said nothing and finally Elizabeth broke the tense silence. "Where is your brother? Couldn't he be bothered to come?"

"He's here, but it was a struggle to get him to come. He would be happy if he never had to think about the woman that did absolutely nothing for him when father was beating him so badly that he nearly died on several occasions," Aaron told her. "That he survived is more do to his hardy constitution then anything you or father did."

Elizabeth grimaced, because what Aaron had said was true. She had done absolutely nothing for her son after his father had nearly killed him. She had been to afraid to interfere as she knew her husband wouldn't like it. Sam had truly believed that he was making his sons stronger, so they could face anything life threw at them, but really, all he had done was make Aaron and Sean hate him with such passion that Elizabeth was surprised that neither had run away from home. Perhaps, her sons had known that Sam would have tracked them down and they would have been beaten even more severely then was normal. One of them might actually have died and she knew, she would have been devastated if that had occurred, though she was sure that neither Aaron or Sean would believe that if she said anything, as they were right she hadn't really been a parent to them, as she hadn't wanted to incur Sam's anger. She has failed her sons and she knew it

"Intellectually, I understand why you never stopped father from beating us, but that doesn't mean that the damage doesn't remain. Not just the physical scars either, but the mental and emotional ones. Both Sean and I have made good lives for ourselves and both of us are mated and have families of our own, families that you will never be allowed to meet. After you are cleared both of us will go back to Boston and I at least intend to never think of you again," Aaron told his mother bluntly. "I will never let you anywhere near your grandchildren and neither will Sean, but especially Emily."

Elizabeth knew that Emily had to be Sean's mate and that she would likely want to have a few words with her for what she'd not done to help her sons. The thought of never being able to meet her grandchildren devastated her, but she knew, it was more then deserved, since she had never bothered to defend the two children she'd had, even if that was several decades ago.

She couldn't really blame either of her children for wanting her to stay out of their lives.

"I can't really blame you for keeping your children away from me," Elizabeth admitted. "I can't blame you for your anger and resentment either, considering I did nothing to protect you or Sean as children."

"I'll send you photographs of all our children and send you new ones every year, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. As for Sean I probably won't even be able to convince him to do that much. You left some deep emotional wounds in his psyche, much deeper than the ones in mine, but then, he's an Omega and they're not as tough, for the most part, emotionally anyway. For a mother to not defend her children is an unpardonable sin in his eyes and while intellectually, I understand why you did what you did, that does not mean I don't carry some of the same wounds."

"I appreciate anything you willing to do. I know I don't deserve any consideration at all," said Elizabeth.

"You don't deserve to go to prison for however long they give you just because you killed a man that not only abused his sons while they were children, but his wife as well. I'm sure that once Sean and I left for college father started on you, because you were the only target left. I also understand why you did not run away, because you knew he would likely hunt you down no matter how well you thought you hid."

"I also didn't have any money to do something like that, as I only had what he gave me for the household," Elizabeth said. "If I gone to a shelter he would've found me in no time."

"And there weren't many of those so many decades ago," Aaron said in understanding. "The trial starts tomorrow and I will be there and so will Sean, but after you have been cleared we never expect to hear from you again. Of course, if you're ever in trouble you're free to contact me at least."

"I have no idea what I'm going to do now that you're Father's dead. It's not that I regret what I did, but I don't even know if he had a will or not."

"I'm sure Mr. Breen will know," Aaron said. "I know what father likely used the law firm that he worked for his legal needs, so I'll check with them. If he hasn't left you anything I'll make sure you're taken care of so you don't starve at least, but that's as far as I'm willing to go."

"That's very generous of you considering I did nothing for you as a child," Elizabeth said amazed that Aaron could be so compassionate too someone who had done nothing to protect him when he had been defenseless.

"As I said I understand your reasoning. That doesn't mean I forgive you, but it does mean I'm not going to let you starve at least," Aaron said. "I know very well that father likely would've beat you to a bloody pulp if you had dared interfere. I understood that, even back when I was a child. Now, I'll take my leave and Sean and I will see you with the trial tomorrow. The two of us are going to be pivotable witnesses. I'm actually glad he's dead. I for one will not be mourning his demise. I know it's my duty, but I'm not going to go to the funeral either, as I can only stretch duty so far and I know Sean will agree."

Elizabeth said nothing and Aaron took his leave, never looking back as he left her by herself.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~