"Dis dummy bear tottim tamdy," Lily giggled, causing Emily to look down instead of at her father.
The two were talking after Emily had spoken with JJ to let her know what was going on with their little peanut and what they should tell the kids. Until they had a clear answer, the only thing they were going to tell them was Lily had to get some medicine and stitches to help heal her boo-boo.
The nitrous oxide the doctor administered, laughing gas, is similar to anesthesia and when you come out of it, things can get a bit silly, especially for little ones. That included the dreams patients experience while under, the things they say while waking up, and for the first few hours they are awake. For Lily, this meant combining two of her favorite sweet treats.
"No way, the gummy bears are made of cotton candy," Emily said, playing along because she could tell Lily was still in and out of sleep.
"Me doe-doe," Lily continued, squeezing her turtle closer to her chest which, in return also captured Emily's hand in the process. Then she started giggling again, "We bownce high on da tawmtowine togedah, dummy bear. With doe-doe an me too."
Emily and Gerald watched as Lily's little body moved a bit in the hospital bed as if she was attempting to bounce, not fully of course as she was still mostly asleep but dang was it cute. Between Emily soothingly rubbing circles on Lily's cheek and singing the Italian lullaby she's sang since the day her little peanut was born, the jumping bean fell back to sleep. "Laughing gas," Gerald commented.
"You'd be surprised, these kids dream about the wildest things without any help," Emily said, thinking back to the latest one from Oliver. He was flying a plane through a lightening pineapple storm to get to some made up superhero who was going to save the world from galactose who was going to steal all the ice cream. And then adding Jen into the mix, my goodness, it was something else in the Prentiss household.
"Emily, I know we're not going to talk about it," Gerald began. Once JJ had called and the women spoke, it became clear to him they weren't going to speak about all the times his daughter had been injured on the job but it didn't stop him from worrying. Gerald knew this was once again completely backwards, it was all he knew how to do going forwards though. "I just want you to know I'm sorry I wasn't there for you any and all times like this," he said, pointing to the hospital bed. Even though Lily was the patient, Emily too was lying in the bed with her daughter and had been since they arrived.
"I know, dad," Emily said sincerely.
He had apologized so many times over the past few years for everything and he really meant it too. While her mother had done the same, Emily didn't trust it the way she did with her father because she was just a figure head growing up. Emily never saw her as a mother, she was just there to bark orders and tell her what she was doing wrong with her life. Her father though, when he was there he was always sincere and a man Emily cherished. He was also a man Emily forgave and wanted back in her life more than anything.
"You know dad, I wasn't alone," Emily added to help ease some of the pain he felt. "When Lily was born, Fiona was with me," she said, as that was the first time she was in the hospital since they parted ways way back when. "And then you know Jen, she refused to leave my side no matter how small of an injury. The team had to practically drag her out kicking and screaming," Emily continued with a laugh.
Gerald smiled at that. He did know that about Jennifer, she was fiercely protective over Emily and the kids which was an amazing trait to have when it came to family. Gerald was happy to hear the team thrown into the mix because he also knew how loyal they were to one another, they looked out for each other's wellbeing, and were always willing to lend a helping hand.
Emily took Gerald's hand as he was once again sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with them and gave it a little squeeze, "Dad, you're here with us now. That means the world to me. We both know mom would be pacing back and forth talking about how stuffy the room is and that would drive me up a wall, and Jen needs to be home with the kids. It's better her parents stay to help with everyone too, but I need you here with me. I do. You've let me feel my emotions."
Gerald looked up from Lily and into Emily's eyes at that last part with a sad smile. He was so lost in thought about that exact thing earlier and blamed his wife for forcing their daughter to have an on and off switch—Gerald was so relieved and happy to hear Emily let out her emotions. Not that he wanted her to be sad, but he just wanted her to feel comfortable letting them out, not holding them in.
"Oh, Emily," Gerald said, cupping her cheek with his hand. "You can always let yourself feel your emotions with me, pumpkin. I'm your father, that's what I'm here for."
Before Emily could respond, the doctor walked in and gave them the news they had been waiting for.
"I am so sorry," JJ apologized.
The twins were still a screaming mess at home no matter what the adults tried. Typically a bath worked like a charm and while it worked for a bit, JJ took on a splash war that ended in a change of clothes for her and fresh pjs for the twins. Almost. Brynley had on her pjs, Brooks just had on his diaper, refusing anything more.
The two were running around, stealing the kids arts and craft materials they were using for Lily's cards and squealing when the kids got a bit frustrated by it and chased after them. "Brynley, can I please have that back? I was using it. Look, you can have this one instead," Amelia tempted, holding out a purple crayon in hopes of getting back the sparkle pen.
"It's really okay," Hayley assured, bouncing Harper who was almost asleep in her arms.
JJ was so concerned she would throw off Harper's bedtime because the twins were screaming their heads off however, now it was more playful screaming than upset which was better. The estate was huge though and Hayley could get Harper to sleep anywhere. She was an easy-going little one and because she was so used to napping at the boys soccer practices where whistles were constantly blown, there were boys screaming to pass the ball, and other random noises, the twins didn't affect her at all.
"She's nearly out," Hotch added, then scooped Brooks up before he could run out of the room with a sharpie in hand. Thankfully they couldn't get the caps off because that would end very badly for the poor house. "Brooks buddy, you seem to be the ringleader in this mess tonight, don't you?"
Brooks smiled and squealed at his uncle causing the kids to laugh as Hotch picked up the white crayon knowing nobody would need it as they were using white paper and switched Brooks sharpie out for it. "No-no!" Brooks said, shaking his head.
"Yes, buddy. This crayon is much better than the sharpie," Hotch said with a nod.
"No dar-dar," Brooks continued. Dar-dar was the twin's way of saying uncle Aaron; they were trying, and that's all that matters.
"Brooks, this is a magic crayon," he said in a fun voice to tempt the baby. "Look, you can draw super-secret messages to anyone you want." Hotch then demonstrated by writing on a sheet of white paper knowing Brooks would then want to do the same. Boom, magic.
One down, he thought to himself then looked up at Hayley who nodded at him realizing two were down. That left him looking for Brynley who was now snuggled up in Allen's arms which made three down. The wild two had been tamed, and the sleepy one was out. Now they would wait to hear how Lily was doing and…
"Hey babe, how is she?" JJ said, answering her phone causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look at her in anticipation.
"Damn!" Morgan said, looking at the bodies.
The team was at the Greenburg residence standing above the bodies of Sanders and Shelly, now deceased. It was clear Sanders had been tortured, they both had ligature marks around their wrists and ankles as they were still tied to the chairs. From what the team could tell, Stratton had faced them together, most likely made Shelly watch him torture Sanders, maybe even kill him before killing her; they wouldn't know that until they had time of death though.
Stratton had also carved a message into their arms; Sanders' arms had the words MURDERER and CENSURE. Shelly's arms had the words LIAR and WEAK.
Stratton was still so angry after killing his parents he tipped their chairs over then sloppily threw a note knowing the team would find it once they arrived at the scene. Reid was fixated on two of the carvings, they already knew about the murders and the word liar made perfect sense but the use of the word weak and censure was a bit unclear.
Reid would have to look into that more because to him it seemed as if Shelly was just as much a part of everything that happened so calling her weak didn't quite fit. And from the research they had done on Sander's past, he was an okay politician. There weren't any truly great ones, politics were politics, they are bound to get messy. But censure is a word not often used so Stratton is either far more off his rocker than they thought, or he knows something they don't.
"What does the note say?" Matt asked.
"Wait a minute," Rossi said, stopping Tara from reading the note. "Let's think about everything for a second before we read it. So far, everything this guy has done revolved around getting our attention while signaling out Emily and Hotch. Can we all agree on that?" he asked, and everyone nodded.
Rossi was right. Stratton clearly wanted the attention of the BAU team by taking the pictures of everyone on the team knowing 'targeting them' would put the team on high alert especially when involving the teams children. Knowing Emily from childhood also sent off alerts because of Baylor however, it wasn't clear whether the two were aware of the others plans.
Nobody on the team believed in coincidences, but Baylor was now gone so searching for evidence of his involvement wasn't necessarily important anymore. They were keeping it in mind of course, they just had other things on their mind.
"Garcia," Rossi said once she finished her greeting. "What did you find?"
"He was right, sir," Garcia answered.
"Thanks Garcia." And with that, he hung up the phone and looked at the team who was circled around waiting for him to continue as Rossi was the one to stop Tara from reading the note in the first place.
"I'm Stratton," Rossi continued. He often put himself in the killers shoes or had conversations with them in his head to solve the case, it was common for all members of the team so they understood what he was doing. "I have no sense of self after discovering my biological parents are dead, murdered by my adoptive parents who raised me. When thinking back on my childhood, a memory stuck out—"
"Emily," Luke interrupted. This concept was new to him, he didn't know the person doing the serial killer role play wasn't looking for help, Rossi didn't mind though.
"Exactly. And then my memories continued, stopping again when they landed on Aaron. I linked them together because I saw what nobody else did. I must have found something, a journal, a document, hell maybe I was told by someone and because of it, I knew my parents were related to one another. I projected that onto Emily and Aaron even though I knew it wasn't true, that's why I also wrote the family tree."
Morgan covered his mouth, Luke put his hand over his face, Matt and Tara both made a face when Rossi said what he did—Garcia had clearly confirmed what Luke had suggested. He didn't want to believe it himself, it was just a thought really because this guy seemed really out there to him, but now they knew it to be true. Michele and Jacob were related, whether Sanders and Shelly knew that or not was unknown, either way they were all disgusted.
"So he tortures the parents that raised him, but what is he going to do to the brother," Rossi asked, switching back to himself. "What's he gearing up to? It seems like anything he does going forward would be his secret, right? His notes so far have targeted Emily's secret, which we know. But what else could he possibly be keeping from us, and the other question would be, is he working with anyone?"
That left the team with a lot to think about and they hadn't even read the next note yet. It seemed as if he was truly done with Emily and Hotch, but they didn't know what else he actually wanted. The team knew their top priority was getting to Samuel Greenburg right away because if anything, Stratton would be targeting him next.
"Cellulitis. She's happily dreaming of cotton candy gummy bears," Emily assured her wife, running her fingers through Lily's hair.
"Oh gosh, Em. Things could have been so much worse," JJ said, happy she went into the other room so she could speak freely. "I wish I was there with you; I can't believe this happened from a simple trip and fall."
"Everything is going to be okay, Jen. Lily has been out the entire time, I promise. The only thing you've missed is my dad and I talking about ballroom dance lessons and cobblestone pathways," Emily said.
"Umm, okay?" JJ said, filing that away because she wanted to know more about it later. "Will you be coming home tonight, or does she have to stay?"
"We're just waiting for the IV antibiotics to finish then we should be able to come home," Emily answered, then looked at her watch. "It will most likely be past Oakley's bedtime but—"
"Yeah, she can stay up," JJ agreed. "Brynley's down for the night, Brooks is fighting sleep but Hotch is working on it," JJ said with a laugh. Hotch was confident he could get the little guy down and she wasn't going to fight him on it.
"Dis blwoo dummy bear wanna pway too!" Lily said suddenly, surprising Emily, Gerald and JJ who heard it through the phone. Poor doe-doe went flying in the process towards Gerald who happened to catch it before the turtle hit him in the face.
"Yeah bug, the blue one can play too. Shh, shh, shh, everyone can play together," Emily soothed as Gerald tucked the stuffy back under his granddaughters arm. "Jen, I'll call you when we are on our way home. I love you."
"I love you too, Em."
JJ smiled as she hung up the phone. Even though what they were dealing with was extremely scary, hearing any sweet dream was very special to her. Whether it was during the dream itself, or in the morning while eating breakfast, JJ loved the kid's imaginations; sometimes she wondered if that's why hers went so wild at night too because her own dreams were crazy.
"Can we stay up…please momma?" Amelia asked, batting her long eyelashes.
"You can, but…" JJ said, holding up a finger to prevent the celebratory dance the kids were about to do. "You four need to shower and put your pjs on before doing anything else."
Oakley had already taken a bath when Harper took hers as it was a part of her normal schedule. The big kids had a different schedule and Oakley didn't think much of it, if anything, she was more focused on the fact Lily wasn't also taking a bath at the same time she was. Sandy pressed a kiss to the top of Oakley's head while JJ spoke to the big kids enjoying the extra snuggles.
Hayley and Hotch just nodded along. To be honest, when they were all together the parents often spoke for one another and that was fine with them. Like right now, JJ was including Jack with needing to shower and change into pjs and Hotch had a sleeping Brooks in his arms. "…our teeth," JJ finished, and Hotch realized he had spaced out for the rest of what JJ had said.
"But what if we maybe get hungry," Oliver asked.
JJ ran her hand through his shaggy hair and smiled, "If you get hungry we'll heat up some of your leftovers then you can brush your teeth again, buddy. Deal?"
"Deal!"
The adults watched the kids run off then JJ said, "Let me take this little bub from you."
Hotch shook out his arms after JJ took Brooks and smiled when Hayley sat down in his lap. He used to be very shy when it came to any sort of public displays of affection however, this was his family and the women were so free with one another it became second nature. Hotch had to admit he really loved to be able to cuddle with Hayley while being around family, he felt really lucky.
"Grandma, do you think Lily can still play with me?" Oakley asked, looking up at Sandy with hopeful eyes.
She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and smiled. "Oh honey, I'm sure Lily will be able to play with you in no time. She'll just need a bit of extra rest but I'm sure you and your siblings can think of plenty of games to play where Lily can stay in one spot."
"Hmm," Oakley said, tapping her chin with one finger. "We could probably think of lots, but I dunno any."
"You kids love freeze tag," Allen suggested. "What if you combined freeze tag with a new made-up game where Lily was home base?"
Oakley gasped and leaned forward towards her grandfather in excitement. "Yeah and umm, we could put lots of pillows around her so she doesn't get hurt too. Maybe we can make it sparkly like you gotta get to the button we make that only Lily has."
"Ooo, that sounds like so much fun," Allen smiled, winking at his wife.
"What do you mean you can't find him, Garcia?" Morgan asked.
"Samuel isn't at home, he doesn't have his phone on him and if he is in a car, it's not the one registered to him because that one is in his driveway," she answered.
"Okay, so he's either been taken by Stratton already, or he's working with him," Morgan said aloud for the teams benefit. "Work your magic, mama."
"Be safe my loves. Garcia out."
"Alright, what now?" Morgan questioned. The note Stratton left next to his dead parents didn't answer much, if anything it only left them with more questions. He was clearly a very angry, delusional man who took the word adoption and ran down a long and dark rabbit hole with it.
That once again brought the team back to the Prentiss family because they had such a wonderful relationship with the word adoption. The kids knew what it meant for the most part, and while Oakley didn't put together the fact she too was adopted she did understand one day it was just she and Lily, then Amelia came to play with them, then momma's tummy got big, then Oliver came to play with them, then the twins got here, then Clarke.
Play because she was still so young that to her, it wasn't gaining a new sibling or mommies adopting another child, it was getting someone else to always play with. The big kids understood what adoption meant though, and they also knew what it was like to feel unsafe, unloved, and neglected by the people who were supposed to care about them most. Emily and JJ had spoken with the kids separately and together regarding different feelings that may come up regarding being adopted.
The mothers taught them no feeling was right or wrong, whether it was about adoption or something completely different, all feelings were valid and they would work through them together. The only thing they requested was they talk about them. Emily and JJ didn't care who they went to, any adult was fine, a sibling was okay as well although the mothers would prefer an adult was involved as well just in case.
Every discussion they've ever had regarding adoption has been pretty positive for the most part. There's been the occasional, sometimes it's hard to explain my other mom or my dad, which is completely understandable but nothing like what Stratton is experiencing. He had this odd sense of love and hate because he clearly knew which of the Prentiss children were adopted however, clearly didn't want to cause them harm. He also hated Sanders and Shelly.
This is my true calling. No more hiding myself. They deserved what they got. Can you figure out what else we've done before it's too late? No more hints. See you soon, or not. S.G.
When Gerald swung open the door, he found all the kids gathered around patiently waiting to see their sister. Oakley was in JJ's arms with her card in hand, the other four were huddled together staying silent as instructed so they wouldn't disturb Lily. Emily had text JJ before they left the hospital and let her know Lily was in and out so when they pulled in, the mother had told the kids to keep their voices down just in case.
"Hi my babies," Emily whispered when she walked in.
Lily was wrapped up in her blanket with her turtle snuggled in there somewhere. She had woken up a bit in the car, then drifted back off to sleep; Emily wasn't sure if she'd sleep through the night or not because 5:30pm was far too early for bedtime. The big kids stood on their tiptoes to peek at their sister who was really bundled up in her blankie the way she liked it best: all around her face.
Emily kissed each of the kids and lowered herself so they could see Lily and give her a little hug and when she got to JJ and Oakley, Lily's hand shot out of her blanket nearly hitting Emily in the face. "Doe-doe safe you dummy bear," she said as her head lulled from one side to the other.
The kids laughed and Emily safely tucked the offending hand back into her blanket before letting Oakley hug her little sister. Once she did, Emily and JJ shared a chaste kiss, and they settled in the living room where Emily was shown all the artwork that was done since she had been gone.
"Wow, I'm sure Lily will love these," Emily smiled.
"I made her four, mommy cause' she," Oakley said, then paused to yawn. "…is four," finished.
"I see that, Oakie-bear," Emily said, thankful to JJ who was slowly rocking Oakley back and forth in her arms. She subtly moved around Lily's blanket in a way Oakley would see using the toddler as her excuse knowing she'd fight sleep so soon after her sister got home. "Oop, it looks like someone needs a bedtime song," she soothed, rubbing Lily's cheek to really sell it while winking at JJ who snuggled Oakley a bit closer.
Emily sang the Italian lullaby once again under the disguise of helping Lily get back to sleep and got not only Oakley down but Jack too. Hayley always told Emily it was a magic lullaby because it literally never failed. On nights Jack refused to go to sleep, Hayley played the lullaby Emily recorded in case of emergencies for her own children and Jack was out within the first two verses.
"Trading off children tonight," Hotch commented. He put Brooks to sleep, Emily put Jack to sleep, maybe Hayley would get the next, who knew.
"We're not musical chairs, Uncle Aaron. You can't just swap us out when another goes down," Clarke remarked with a laugh.
"Oh snap," JJ commented, reaching over to high five her daughter. Clarke was quick with her comebacks, and she was funny as hell. personally, take things personally and her sarcasm was truly on point.
"That's my girl," Emily smiled, not even realizing the tip of her tongue was between her teeth the same way Clarke's was. That was a mannerism Clarke had picked up from her mother unintentionally and while JJ found it incredibly sexy when Emily did it, she found it absolutely adorable when Clarke did it.
Hotch didn't even know what to say back to his niece, she got him, as usual, and they all knew it. "You left him speechless, pumpkin," Gerald laughed, wrapping an arm around Clarke.
"Uncle Aaron, it was just a joke," Amelia chimed in.
"He knows, sweetie," Hayley assured the little girl. Amelia was too sweet for her own good just like Oliver. Sometimes the sarcasm went over their heads and the long silences were mistaken for people maybe being a little upset.
"How is this little guy doing?" Sandy whispered to Elizabeth while the family continued their conversation.
"Almost asleep," Elizabeth answered.
She never put Emily to bed after the first six weeks of her life and while Elizabeth has many, many regrets, putting her daughter to sleep was one of the biggest. Elizabeth has been able to experience the joys of snuggling her grandchildren whether just because, before naptime, or a situations like this over the past years though and loved it. Granted, the hospital wasn't involved but cuddling as a family and chatting happened often and if the children fell asleep before bedtime, so be it.
Elizabeth continued to run her fingers through Oliver's uniquely cut hair. It wasn't like Jack's, a typical cut for a little boy. Oliver's hair was short on one side and long on the other and top so Emily could style it a very particular way just the way he liked it. They called it the Oliver cut and he couldn't wait until Brooks had enough hair to 'make it like his' because his sisters always 'got to have the same hair' too. The mothers and grandparents thought it was very adorable how excited he was about it to be honest.
Elizabeth couldn't describe the feeling of having one of her grandchild fall asleep in her arms, she could only imagine this was how you'd feel with your own child and why her daughter snuggles with her kids nearly every night. Emily was a newborn 34 years ago; Elizabeth just felt very lucky to be able to experience all these firsts with her grandchildren that she should have had with Emily as well.
"Are we still going to go on the boat tomorrow?" Clarke asked, capturing the grandmother's attention.
"We are," Emily answered.
"But what about Lily's knee?" Amelia questioned.
"The doctor gave me a super special band-aid to cover her boo-boo so she can still go swimming."
"I bet it doesn't have butterflies on it," Clarke said, knowing how important the band-aid situation was to her little sister.
"Oh, we will figure something out sweet girl. Don't you worry," Emily assured.
"Can we draw on it?" Amelia asked, not understanding if it was like a cast or not.
"No peanut, come here," Emily said to the girls. She saw Oliver was asleep lying against her mother meaning only Amelia and Clarke were awake which was fine because they had later bedtimes. Emily gently unwrapped Lily's blanket and showed the girls the wrap Dr. Robbins had put on her arm after taking out the IV because it was a similar material.
"See this," Emily said, revealing the pink bandage around the crease of Lily's elbow. "It's similar to a band-aid and keeps the water from getting to her boo-boo."
"But what happened to her arm, mommy?" Amelia questioned.
"That's where they gave her the medicine," Clarke answered, then realized Amelia was still a bit confused. It was okay because she had just learned about IV's tonight too from Uncle Aaron who she asked after her mom told them what was going on with Lily. He explained things to her that the little kids couldn't hear, but didn't tell her everything and the mothers appreciated him doing so. "Normally when mom gives us medicine, we feel better pretty soon after, right?"
"Sometimes we have to take it again even though we feel better but…yeah," Amelia nodded. And that was true, even if the kids did feel better, the mothers gave them another dose of medicine to fight off whatever was going on.
"Well for Lily, when mom gave her the medicine, she still didn't feel better. Mom knew that and brought her to the hospital because she knew the doctor could help her and give her a faster working medicine. The doctor put a small tube in Lily's arm and that's where the medicine went into her body so she'd feel better super-fast."
"Does she have a hole in her arm now?"
"No," Emily answered with a small smile. "I know this looks really scary because the bandage is very large, but I promise you'll barely be able to see where they poked Lily to give her the medicine."
"Oh, okay. I'm sure we could put a butterfly band-aid on top of the one you have for Lily's knee when we go swimming tomorrow," Amelia said, completely moving on from learning about IV's.
"Yes we can, sweet girl."
"Good job, honey," Sandy said to Clarke, wrapping an arm around her granddaughter when she sat down on the couch. "You made your sister feel much better, I'm proud of you."
"Thanks grandma. I didn't really do anything though," she said with a shrug. "Uncle Aaron told me about it earlier, I didn't know either. I mean, I kinda did but not really. I've never seen one."
Truth be told, Amelia had seen an IV before when JJ got shot however, she was far too distracted to even process it. That made complete sense to everyone; the kids had no business knowing hospital jargon, they were children.
"Clarke, it is something," Sandy pushed. "Amelia may have moved past it already, but she was very worried about what she didn't know. She's lucky to have a big sister who can teach her and ease her fears."
Clarke rested her head on Sandy's shoulder just as Hotch, JJ and Allen came back into the room. They had carried Oakley and the boys to bed then checked on the littles who were sleeping soundly. Amelia was now talking about the fact Lily's bandage was pink, a color Emily picked out as the toddler was asleep for most of the hospital stay while Clarke and her grandmothers spoke about tomorrow's activity.
"I can't wait to jump off the boat," Clarke smiled goofily.
"Off?" Elizabeth questioned.
"Yeah, like into the water," she motioned with her pointer finger and wrist by tipping it back towards her shoulder then away from her body.
"You are definitely your mother's daughter," Elizabeth commented.
"No jumping for you, Elizabeth?" Hotch teased.
"Oh, Aaron, don't be silly. A Prentiss woman doesn't jump."
"You do realize that you're totally outnumbered by your own standard grandma, right," Clarke stated. "I mean, even if you don't count five of us as women yet, you're still outnumbered because we have two moms."
Clarke realized her three littlest sisters weren't close to becoming women however, in this scenario, it was fair to say she and Amelia could count. Even if her grandmother was going based on technicality alone, Clarke still had her dead to rights.
"Clarke has you there, Lizzie," Gerald agreed.
"Looks like someone's going for a swim," Hotch added with a smile. If anything, since learning of the newfound relations between the family, everyone has become that much closer.
"Zip it, Aaron," Elizabeth joked, waving her hand in the air at him.
Hotch didn't understand today at all. It seemed like no matter whatever he did or said there was another member of the family right there to pick on or make fun of him. Whether it was about the artwork he helped Harper with, making his pasta incorrectly, not knowing how to walk on cobblestones, or just because, he was getting dumped on. Hotch tipped his head back and laughed, he couldn't win.
"We'll get her good tomorrow, son," Gerald assured him, patting him on the shoulder causing them both to smile.
