"You don't want to do this, Elliot!" Aaron said firmly as he drew his weapon, pointing it at the young man. It had been a surprise to zero in on an unsub of that age, but all the clues had fit together to make that the truth. And now that they were facing him down, Aaron knew that they had made the right call in naming him their suspect. The young man glared at him as he also raised his weapon, aiming at Aaron's chest as he shook his head.

"I rather think that I want to live on in infamy, Agent Hotchner. And getting killed by an FBI agent on live television will ensure that that happens," Elliot shot back, his finger starting to draw the trigger backwards. Aaron hesitated for only a moment, knowing that he needed to shoot the young man in order to protect himself, but not wanting to kill someone so young. That decision was taken away from him when a shot rang out from over his shoulder, and the young man was pushed backwards as a bright blossom of blood began to spread out across his shoulder.

"You weren't going to take the shot, Hotch, and Erin would have killed me if you hadn't returned home to her," Dave said as he came up to Aaron's side, resting his hand on his shoulder. "I know that you'll have to write an after action report on the shooting, but hopefully that can wait until after Vanessa is here."

The captain turned to look at Hotch, something akin to guilt in his expression. "Your wife is pregnant?"

Hotch nodded, even as Dave jumped in to speak once more. "She's been in labor since we arrived here. The medicine that her doctor hoped would hold off labor for a week or so didn't work, so their daughter could arrive at any minute."

Aaron gave his best friend a small frown before looking back at the captain. "Erin knew that this would be a possibility, since I have this job. While I would like to be there for Vanessa's birth, I know that my wife will need me more after she arrives, since she's early."

The man nodded as the others began to clean up the scene. "Still, I think that my team can handle it from here. Get home to your wife, in hopes that you can still make your daughter's birth." He reached out and shook Aaron's hand before shooing him over towards their vehicles. Aaron nodded and led his group there, climbing behind the wheel of the closest SUV, while Morgan got in the second one. It didn't take long for them to get underway, and while JJ called and coordinated with their pilot to meet them at the airfield in twenty minutes, the rest of the team packed up their bags and loaded them into the back of the vehicles.

By the time they arrived at the airfield, the pilot had the jet warmed up, ready for them. After all the luggage was aboard, they took off for home. Aaron knew that he should be a little bit personable, but he found all his attention drawn towards home and Erin. "Call home, Hotch. Even if you can't connect to Erin, you could at least talk to Georgia or Molly."

He looked over at Blake and gave her a small smile. "I suppose that I could do that." He pulled out his phone and connected to the jet's Wi-Fi so that he could make the call, scrolling through his recent call log until he came on Molly's name. It didn't take long to connect with her, and Aaron could feel himself relax from the moment he heard his stepdaughter's voice. "Aaron! When are you coming home?"

"We're actually in the air as we speak, Molls. How is your mom doing?"

She took a deep breath, and Aaron knew not to expect anything good. "She really wants you by her side. Georgia's with her right now, as her doctor is only allowing one visitor at a time, and I want the next two hours with her."

"That might just work out perfectly, Molly, because it should only take us two hours to fly home, and then twenty minutes for me to drive to the hospital. As long as one of you are with her until I get there, I know that you can help keep her calm. When you spell Georgia, please tell your mother how much I love here, and that I will be by her side as quickly as I possibly can. And let her know that they took the unsub in alive."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes. We see death so much in the course of our job that any time we can save a life, even if they're going to face stiff consequences, it's a wonderful thing. Do you want to keep talking to me until you switch places?"

There was a long pause before she answered, and Aaron wondered what she was considering. "I would, but I actually interrupted a phone call with my bestie to take this, and I'd like to get back to her?"

"That's fine, Molly. I'll see you all soon." He ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket before relaxing back into his seat. There had been something comforting about listening to Molly, since he knew that if things were truly bad, she would not have sounded as calm as she did. That was one of the things that he had gotten used to over the weeks that she had spent more time with them. Everything that was more than a slight inconvenience was blown to epic proportions, so her sounding so even was a good sign.

He listened to the conversations that were going on around him as he flipped through the pictures he had of Erin on his phone. The closer he came to home, the more anxious he was to be by her side, to comfort her as she brought their daughter into the world. The landing was quite smooth, and he was the first one to stand as soon as the pilot had opened the door for them. "Let us know the moment Vanessa is here!" Reid called out as he pulled his bag from the hold and jogged over to his car. He waved his hand in agreement before clambering behind the wheel and taking off for the hospital.

Somehow, he made it there much more quickly than he thought he would, and he pulled into the parking garage, finding a spot as close to the walkway as he could so that he would be able to get into the hospital all the more quickly. Though he was thrumming with anticipation, Aaron made certain to keep his steps measured and even, as he didn't want to be out of breath when he approached the information desk. There was one lone woman sitting behind the desk when he approached, and he gave her a warm smile as he approached. "I need to be directed to a room, please."

"Of course. Patient name?"

"Erin Hotchner. She should be on the maternity ward, as she's in labor with our daughter. I just returned home from business to this happy moment."

The woman grinned at him as she tapped away at her computer. "As confirmation that you know her, I need her date of birth."

Aaron nodded as he rattled off Erin's birthdate, hoping that he remembered the year correctly. That was always a sticking point for him, even with Haley, because that wasn't the important bit of information. From the way that the woman nodded, he knew that he spoken correctly, and soon she was handing him a slip of paper that had Erin's information written down. "Thank you," he replied as he took in the information and made his way through the maze of hallways and elevators until he was finally on the correct floor and ward. He paused and took a deep breath before he headed down to the room where Erin was supposed to be, knowing that he needed to appear calm so that she wouldn't face any additional stress by his appearance.

Squaring his shoulders, Aaron knocked softly on the door before entering, seeing that Molly was curled up on the edge of Erin's bed, her head resting on her mother's stomach as she quietly slept. "You're here," Erin whispered as she held out her hand to him. Aaron nodded as he crossed over to her side and took hold of her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Molly fell asleep about twenty minutes ago, and I don't want to wake her, but I'm only supposed to have one visitor at a time."

"That's what she said on the phone." Molly must have registered his voice, since she began to stir a little before fully sitting up and looking at him. "Hey."

"Finally, you're here," Molly replied a bit tartly before looking at her mother. "I'll head home and tell Georgia that Aaron's here with you now. You have to let us know exactly when Nessa is here."

Erin chuckled before touching her stomach as she let out a long breath. "It will be as soon as we can contact you all, I promise. I want a few moments alone with just her and me, holding her to my chest as I welcome her to the world. I did the same thing for all my babies, Molls." She reached out and stroked Molly's face before letting out a low groan. "And now, I think that it really is your time to go, darling girl. Thank you for sitting with me until Aaron got here."

"Of course, Mama." Molly met his eye, and he gave her a small nod before she hugged Erin and then left the room.

"So, I made it just in time?"

Erin nodded as she met his gaze, her eyes filling with tears. "Aaron…"

"Shh, Rin, I'm here now. And Vanessa is going to be perfect, just you wait and see." He leaned forward and began to stroke her hair tenderly as his other hand spread out on her stomach. It was a little weird to feel the way the contractions rippled across her bump, but he knew that was all part of the process. "Do you need me to get anything?"

"No, just hold my hand," she panted out as she bore down through the contraction. "I think that I still have another few hours until she's here, because I can remember this feeling from when I was giving birth to Molly. The drugs worked their hardest, but my body just finally gave out."

"We did our best to keep you calm, and even though my mother was completely awful last month, you handled that with such grace, that I know this will be nothing in comparison."

Erin laughed again at those words, squeezing his hand a little tighter as she let out a sigh. "I hope so. And I have you here now, that makes everything better. Did you catch the unsub?"

"Yes, but Dave had to shoot him in the end. We tried to take him down peacefully, but he decided that he didn't want that. Thankfully, he was only winged, and I'm hoping that we'll receive word that he's on the road to recovery so that he can stand trial for what he did." Erin nodded and grimaced as she adjusted how she was laying in the bed. "Do you need help?"

"No, I just need this labor to progress, even though I don't want her to be this early. I'm just so uncomfortable right now. Tell me a happy story to take my mind off this?" He nodded and began to regale her with a tale about Alex and Penelope, knowing that his wife would enjoy hearing about her good friends as he tried to distract her from her labor pains.