Author's Note: THIS, is a BRAND new chapter! It didn't exist in either of the previous versions of the story. I'm super excited to say that, because it means that it IS possible for my brain to create new content in this world. Fair warning though, the chapter is not long, but remember, like in Girl, sometimes we just popped in to cover a moment of their day.

This is that.

Beltway Anxieties

"What's the flight number again?"

"5714."

"And the terminal?"

"United."

"Did the flight leave on time?"

"Yes, sweetheart."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sweetheart," Hotch responded patiently, "he texted me just before they took off." His gaze then flicked across the front seat to see Emily nervously wringing her hands.

He bit his lip.

They were on their way up to BWI to pick up Sean at the airport. And for reasons that were just starting to become clear to Hotch, even though it was his brother, Emily was the one who was most stressed about this pickup.

She'd been fidgeting since they'd left the house.

With her jaw twitching, for the third time since they'd started this drive, Emily looked worriedly down at her watch.

"I think we're going to be late," she murmured tightly.

They absolutely should have left earlier. And they would have left earlier if she hadn't fallen asleep on the couch while Hotch was in the shower. So basically if they were late, it was her fault.

Great.

Hearing the tension in Emily's voice, Hotch felt a wave of empathy wash over him. So even though he needed to keep his eyes on the road . . . rush hour traffic on the Beltway was unforgiving . . . he did spare his girl one more quick glance before he reached over to grasp one of the hands twisting in her lap. Then he squeezed.

"Emily," he said softly, "it's okay. Really. We have plenty of time."

"But Aaron . . ."

"But nothing," he continued with a shake of his head, "we won't be late. And even if we are, that's okay too. My brother's a big boy, he can sit by himself in the airport for five minutes."

For a moment there was silence before Hotch continued softly.

"Besides, we both know that the time isn't what has you so nervous. You're worried that Sean's going to treat you differently now that he knows you're sick."

Even though Hotch had known how anxious she was on this point . . . at least as it related to telling the team . . . it hadn't occurred to him until she'd started freaking out in the car, that her anxiety would extend to Sean as well.

Emily's eyes were glistening at she looked back at Hotch in surprise.

"How did you know?"

His lip quirked up faintly.

"I'm a master profiler."

A tear slid down Emily's face as her fingers tightened around Hotch's.

"I just want things to be like they were the last time we were all together. At the party," her voice started to catch and she cleared it, "we had such a good time that night."

So many of their good days were darkened by the shadows of their work. But that night wasn't one of them. And her memories, her associations, of her time and really her total relationship with Sean, were fun and lighthearted. The party, their phone calls, their emails, trading pictures and funny stories about Hotch . . . it was a bubble world. But now Sean was coming here. Coming into their world.

To their cancer world.

And their cancer world was not fun or lighthearted. And she hated that she had to darken that relationship with Sean. That she couldn't keep just this one happy thing back in the bubble.

"Emily," Hotch cleared his throat, "I'm not going to pretend that things aren't going to be different with this gathering than the last one, but I really don't think that's going to be because of the cancer," he squeezed her hand, "I think it's because now we're a family." He shot another quick glance across the seat to see her watching him closely, "all of us together. So I don't see the differences from then to now as being anything to worry about, or fear. I think it's actually going to make everything even better than it was before."

"Right."

Emily's voice was hoarse, and clearly she didn't completely agree with his assessment.

So Hotch sighed.

"Okay," he took a breath, "then how about this? Just think about the big picture. It's only three days. And for the entirety of those three days, you and Sean are going to exchange embarrassing stories about me, while he makes a ton of delicious meals that neither of us will be able to replicate. And you'll both take lots of pictures of me that I won't allow you to show anyone in the office. Then tomorrow night we're going to not get drunk on our bottle of sparkling white grape juice that you've decided is an acceptable nonalcoholic substitute to toast the new year. Basically, we're going to have a nice, fun, laugh filled, long weekend during which time, as you would say, your cancer can quote, 'go screw'.

Once he was finished, Hotch's gaze again bounced across the car to see Emily staring at him.

Her expression had brightened considerably.

"Feel better now?"

"Yes," she sniffled and picked up their joined hands to press a kiss to his knuckles, "I feel much better. Thank you." Then she settled back into her seat with his fingers still clutched between her own.

Again they were both quiet for a minute, but that time Emily broke the silence with a breathy sigh.

"Now I can't wait to see what kind of food he's going to make me."

"Yeah," Hotch let out a snort as he hit the left turn signal, "yeah, I thought that one would get you."

A/N 2: Again, not super long. But it had always bothered me that on the last version, which was supposed to be the 'fleshed out' version, I had some stuff going in real life so my brain wasn't able to really work in much for holiday chapters, and there were undercurrents like this one that I would have liked to cover. So now if I bring mention of Sean back into this story later, (perhaps in another new chapter) there's a bit more context to his place in this part of their world. Again, keeping in mind here that my original blueprint Sean didn't even exist, let alone have any established relationship with Emily. So now we have proper in-laws :)