"She's going to be okay, babe," JJ promised, watching Emily continue to run her fingers through Lily's hair while she slept.

The family had a very busy, long day of fun and after dinner, the kids had requested to play outside for a bit longer to which, the parents said yes. Suddenly they heard a piercing scream and Emily made it to her little peanut first who had a big boo-boo on her knee; and to make matters ten times worse for Lily, they had no more butterfly Band-Aids, just princesses.

"I know, she's tough," Emily agreed. "That was a big fall though, Jen. She scared herself more than anything."

JJ frowned stepping into her pj bottoms because it was true, Lily definitely scared, more like terrified herself, because she had such a running start she got the wind knocked out of her little self. Her siblings were quick to race over to her as well to offer hugs, Clarke and Oliver were fastest and got a wet towel for the blood and some ice while Amelia and Oakley held her hands as she snuggled in Emily's arms screaming.

Seeing your child in pain was the worst thing in the world and then when JJ came out with the first aid kit and told Lily they were out of butterfly band-aids, another round of tears started. It was a big mess, with good reason, because her poor little knee had a huge boo-boo; Emily knew if she didn't get some vitamin e on it within the next few days, she'd have a permanent scar.

Lily had asked to sleep with mommies tonight to which, they said absolutely. Right when JJ settled under the covers, they heard a knock on their door and the mothers made eye contact, "Guess who?" JJ asked.

"Oliver, maybe Amelia too," Emily answered then watched her wife get the door.

"Hi buddy, can't sleep?" JJ questioned, opening her arms for him to walk into. He had his panda and blanket clutched tightly in his arm and shook his head no as he cuddled into JJ and asked, "Is Lily gonna be okay?"

"She's going to be fine, Ollie," JJ smiled, kissing the top of his head as he peeked around to see his sister snuggled with his mom.

"Come snuggle up," Emily said, and Oliver didn't waste any time making his way into the bed, careful of his sister.

"Me and Jack asked Uncle Aaron to throw the rock super far away so it can hurt Lily anymore after you brought her inside…he said we can do it tomorrow so she can see too," Oliver told his moms when they were all settled in.

"That's very sweet, buddy. I'm sure she'll love that," Emily said, cupping his cheek gently.

"Are you gonna put the stuff you put on my boo-boos so it won't leave a mark?" he asked.

"I am. It's worked for yours really well, right? Except for this one," Emily pointed out when JJ helped her lift Oliver's arm so she could see the tiny mark on his elbow.

"Yeah, but it kinda looks like a soccer ball so it's okay mommy," Oliver said with a yawn. JJ wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers through his shaggy hair to help the little guy go back to sleep.

About twenty minutes later, there was a small knock on the door followed by the door opening revealing two more faces. Emily and JJ invited them in with welcome arms and in the middle of the night, the final sleepy one made her way into the bed sprawling out on top of her mom and big sister. Thank goodness the twins weren't mobile in their sleep yet or the mothers would end up sleeping on the floor with all these starfished little ones.

"Mommy," Clarke said, although to Emily it sounded like her daughter was more awake than asleep which put her on high alert. If she was overly embarrassed and whining, Emily heard the occasional mommy, same thing with overly scared or having a nightmare, and sometimes at night if she was very overly tired Emily and JJ both received I love you with their full moniker.

Emily held Lily's head in place on her chest so her little squirmer wouldn't cause any sudden movements to hurt her body anymore then looked at Clarke who, like herself, was trapped. Ahh, a mixture of a whine and I need help was the cause of Clarke's use of the moniker this morning.

Emily reached her left hand out carefully to tame Clarke's wild bed hair and smiled at her. "I'll help you, sweet girl."

"She's so heavy, what do you feed her?" Clarke whined.

"Oh, you've got jokes this morning. It looks like you only have an arm and part of a leg on you, I have the rest of her body, all of Lily, and some of your brother on me."

"Mommy, help me," Clarke said, refusing to admit how impressive it was that her mom could still breathe. Emily laughed and gently lifted Oakley's leg, then got her arm but not before she captured some of Clarke's blankie. "Why?" Clarke groaned.

"Hold on sweetie, I'll get it," Emily assured. This wasn't her first rodeo, not even her first time with multiple kids sleeping on her—she was a professional at navigating the human puzzle, even when it included her wife who was easily the hardest to move because she added a layer of sleep talking that Emily had to keep up with.

Clarke snuggled her pig stuffy she's had since she was a baby watching her mom get her blankie from Oakley. She knew going into high school this year meant she was getting old to have them, but she didn't care; her mom's said it was okay, they told Clarke about their own, and said when she was ready, she'd know it was time. Her friends Hannah and Claire have their own too which made Clarke feel a bit better about it, but having so many younger siblings did too because it was such a common occurrence in her house to see someone pass by walking around with their own. And while she didn't do that, she did still sleep with them each night and that was okay to her.

"Here you go, baby," Emily said with a smile, watching Clarke snuggle it immediately. She too snuggled her blanket against her face in a soothing manner the way Lily did and Emily could only imagine Clarke had done it since she was a baby like Lily has.

Clarke then looked at the clock and couldn't figure why she was standing next to the bed when her family was snuggled up all together in it. It wasn't exactly early, but it wasn't late either. She saw her mom had repositioned Oakley and then snuggled back in, wrapping her blanket around herself the way she preferred it to be and Emily ran her fingers through her hair until she fell back asleep.

The next time Emily woke up it was to crying and she soothed her little peanut right down in hopes of not waking the rest of the kids up, "Shh, shh, shh, you're okay Lily bug. Mommy's got you baby, mommy's right here." Emily rubbed her back soothingly and handed her doe-doe who had attempted to make a break for it when the mother had shifted Oakley a bit earlier.

"Ouchy mommy," she cried, bringing her knee up towards Emily the best she could.

"I know baby, you have a big boo-boo don't you. Mommy will get you some more Tylenol to help take the pain away, okay?" she said, snuggling Lily close.

At this point, Lily's head was against Emily's chest, her body was on top of her mother completely and she had no plans of going anywhere—Emily knew Lily was going to be a cuddly little girl today and that was totally fine by her. "An butfies too?" she asked hopefully, refusing to lift her head off of her mommy's chest while continuing to play with her necklace.

"Grandma and grandpa said they were going to the store this morning to see if they could find you some butterfly band-aids, bug," Emily answered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

The kids were very specific with their band-aids; whether they wanted a new tv show or movie, princesses, action figures, butterflies, neon colors, patterns, they had them all at home. The audacity that Emily didn't pack enough butterflies for their trip though, she didn't realize her travel first aid kit was so low on Lily's favorite. While the other kids were okay if their mom ran out of their favorites and accepted a different kind, Lily didn't take it well, especially with the biggest boo-boo she's ever had.

"Doe-doe too, mommy," Lily said, holding her turtle up in front of her mothers face.

"Oh of course, we can't forget about doe-doe," she agreed. The turtle already had a princess band-aid on one of her legs like Lily did, but they'd have to change it to a butterfly when grandma and grandpa hopefully came back with them.

"How is doe-doe feeling?" Amelia asked her sister sleepily, gently touching Lily's stuffy when she spoke.

"Doe-doe haf a boo-boo too, an ouchy wike me," Lily answered, snuggling into Emily further as she looked at her sister.

The siblings knew a lot of times with things like this, or things that were difficult for Lily to express if they asked about doe-doe, she found it easier to focus on and answer. When taking Tylenol, doe-doe was a huge help because Lily did not like to take it unless the turtle 'took it' at the same time.

"You wanna know a secret?" Amelia whispered, moving closer to Lily when she nodded. "Mommy always makes boo-boos feel better and you'll get even more snuggles until it's healed."

Lily's eyes went wide because even at four, she knew how many snuggles she already got. Mommy and momma never said no to snuggles, actually, nobody in their family said no to snuggles, she liked that lots. "Me snubble bub," she smiled.

"Yeah you are, Lil. You're the snuggle bug of the family," Amelia agreed.

In a nearby room down the hall, Hotch and Hayley also had a full bed. Well, full for them at least. Jack snuck in with them in the middle of the night which was rare but because he was sharing a room with Oliver and saw he was gone, he went in with his mom and dad. Harper came in around 5am which wasn't abnormal for her, especially on this vacation because it was a new place for her.

The Prentiss mothers weren't worried about the twins this morning because Sandy and Allen assured them the night before they'd get up with them. After some protest from Emily who didn't want them to have to worry about the babies on their vacation, she caved seeing how excited they were.

"Daddy," Jack said, tapping his shoulder. "Are you awake?" Hayley held back her smile knowing how deep of a sleeper her husband was however, she knew he was already awake this morning. "Daddy…"

Before Jack could say anything else, Hotch grabbed Jack and pulled the little boy into his arms smiling when he squealed a bit clearly not expecting his dad to be awake, nevermind grab him. Hotch started to tickle him and when his giggles became breathless and Harper was about to jump on the two of them, he stopped and caught the little munchkin before either took a limb to the stomach.

"Me daddy!" Harper squealed.

Hotch tickled Harper for a few minutes while Hayley snuggled Jack and when the bed was full of smiles, laughs and happy times, the parents knew it was time. Hotch, Hayley, Emily and JJ decided to tell their children separately because while the kids were thick as thieves, they also processed information a bit differently which was absolutely okay.

Also, more was going to change for the Hotchner family whereas, this wasn't truly going to affect the Prentiss kids as much because like Hotch had said to his wife, the kids are already cousins and already call the adults aunt and uncle. This morning the Hotchner's were going to go out for breakfast because while the estate had plenty of room to separate from one another, the kids were always looking to play and the adults wanted to avoid it for a little bit of time so they would focus.

Soon enough, the family of four was dressed, ready, and heading out just as Elizabeth and Gerald came back with three packs of butterfly band-aids. Woo, what a relief—Lily would be very happy. They would be meeting them at breakfast a bit later, but Hotch and Hayley thought it would be best it was just the four of them at first.

"So, Uncle Aaron is really your brother?" Clarke asked, breaking the silence after Emily and JJ explained everything to them. A kid version of course, they could see the wheels turning in Clarke's mind though, she was putting more together than the other kids were.

"Yes, he is," Emily answered with a nod.

"Wike Owwie an Bwooks," Lily added.

"Yeah bug, Ollie and Brooks are your brothers," she smiled.

"But more like Brooks and Brynley, right? Well, kind of…" Amelia asked.

She too understood adoption the way Oliver and Clarke did—she also knew how that first day in the Prentiss home she felt more love from her mom's than the one that gave birth to her, and because of that, adoption was just a word to her. At first she wished she grew in her mommy's tummy, but after lots of conversations, she realized that it didn't matter whose tummy she was in because it didn't make her moms love her any more or less. Amelia does like that she looks like her family though, but her moms said there's nothing wrong with that because it's natural to have those feelings. The point she was trying to make though was Brooks and Brynley were the only siblings who were truly related, something Clarke and Oliver also understood.

"What do mommy and I always tell all of you?" JJ asked them, picking Brooks up before he attempted to run off into the other room again. Her parents had tried to keep them occupied, but seeing their siblings together in a room they weren't allowed in only caused a ton of squealing and screaming.

"Love makes a family, not DNA," Clarke answered. She knew her sister gave the twins being related a bit of thought in the past, but to her, it didn't make a difference to her. She loved her siblings so much and would do anything for any of them. She also took pride in being the oldest and learned a lot from her friends who also had a few younger siblings each.

In fact, Claire's parents adopted her younger brother, which was something she could relate to. Clarke also helped Amelia realize they were just as much sisters as Brooks and Brynley were brother and sister. Amelia took her big sister's words to heart and knew how right she was—it was just one of the conversations they had that strengthened their already strong bond.

"That's right. And it's the truth. It doesn't matter some of you were carried in our tummies and some of you weren't, all of you are our babies. And just like our family, I didn't grow up with Uncle Aaron the same way you didn't all grow up together since birth, but he's a huge part of our family, right?"

"Right!" Oliver and Oakley answered.

Emily and JJ were unsure Oakley knew she was adopted, which was fine. If she didn't, they wouldn't push it. One day if she asked, they'd sit down and have that conversation with her. She was very young when she was adopted though and memories from that age aren't typically ones that stick with you. They have pictures from her adoption day around the home however, to her and anyone else it really just looks like another Prentiss party.

It wasn't a secret by any means, but the mothers were going to let Oakley come to them because anytime her name has been mentioned when they have another adoption party, she never says anything about it which leads the mothers to believe she has no recollection. Then again, she was only three.

"I always thought you two were related," Clarke unintentionally whispered.

"Me too," Amelia said to her.

"Oh gosh. They are definitely your children," Emily said to JJ with a laugh due to the conversations the blonde and Hayley have had for years now.

"What about grandma and grandpa?" Oliver asked. "Cause' you could kinda be related to Auntie Hayley then Jack and Harper could share them too?"

Oh, their sweet little boy. He always knew how to melt his mother's heart. Jack and Harper were already included in everything besides spectacular Saturdays with the grandparents and while that would change with Elizabeth and Gerald, JJ was almost certain her parents would be happy to include the Hotchner kids as well if they wanted that.

"Auntie Hayley and I are not related, honey. You know my brothers, your uncles," JJ said, not having it in her right now to mention Ros. "Grandma and grandpa already include Jack and Harper though. Remember before we left for vacation they got electric bikes too?" she said, pointing out the most recent thing they were included in.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," he answered with a giggle.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Emily asked. She wanted to make sure everyone understood what was going on, although with children their ages, something like this pretty much just rolled off their backs especially when they were already used to it.

At breakfast, it was clear everything was going over Harper's head while Jack took the information in. "But I already call her Auntie Emily," he said, furrowing his brow as he took another bite of French toast.

"I know honey," Hayley said, covering his hand with her own. "You know how you call Penelope and Tara auntie as well?"

"And auntie JJ," he added as Hayley wiped some syrup off his face.

"Yes, exactly. Well, that's because daddy's team has become so close, we treat them like family. But they are a little different than Auntie Jessica, do you know why?"

"Umm, cause' she's your sister like Harper's my sister," Jack answered. "But I thought we can be family with lots of people though…like people we pick cause' we love them so much…"

Hotch and Hayley smiled at one another. They loved how he remembered what they taught him when he was Lily's age and Hayley started staying the night at the Prentiss residence to take care of her while the women left on cases. It definitely threw Jack off a bit now which was understandable, all the children were accustomed to their not so normal, normal family that telling them years later they truly were family wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.

"You're so right, buddy," Hotch smiled. "We can be family with lots of people, and we are. What mommy and I are trying to explain is," he paused, trying to think of another way to get through to Jack. "Do you remember when you asked me about my daddy?"

"Mhm. You told me stories about him that your mommy told you," Jack answered with a smile.

Sophia's stories were surprisingly accurate as Elizabeth's public life made Gerald's easy to track although Hotch didn't know that because he was just a child. He didn't have any interest in looking for the man when he got older because he felt so fulfilled with the stories and didn't want to upset his mother by making her feel like he needed someone else in his life, so he didn't.

"She did. What I didn't know was, my dad is someone we already know and love," he said.

"Really, who?" Jack asked. He was so excited he failed to put together his aunts' father would also be his dad's father.

Hotch and Hayley had started their conversation by telling Jack about Emily as they saw her what felt like almost every single day between school drop-offs, Hayley bringing Oliver home from soccer, playdates, the Hotchner's coming over for dinner—whether with JJ and Hotch or without them if they were away on a case. Hotch had to admit, they did see Gerald a lot too though, far more than they saw Hayley's father, and adding a spectacular Saturday into the mix would make it even more. He was grateful as Gerald was great with the children, and Hotch truly did love the man before he told him who he really was.

"Auntie Emily's dad, Gerald, is also my dad," Hotch said, and watched the emotions play over on his sons face.

"Does that mean we're gonna move into a super big house too?" he asked, causing Hotch to nearly choke on his orange juice.

He expected a lot of different responses, that wasn't one of them. In fact, Hotch hadn't even considered the financial side of things and started to wonder if Gerald or Emily had. Not that money was the most important thing, he was just curious seeing as the Prentiss's had estates, villas and homes everywhere not to mention endless bank accounts. That was something he could think about at another time, right now he needed to make sure at least one of his children was okay with this new family dynamic that wasn't so new.

"Jack, do you understand what all of this means buddy?" Hotch questioned.

"Well, yeah. But it's not really different cause' Auntie Emily has been my aunt for like, ever and grandpa and grandma have always treated me like my cousins…" he answered with a shrug. "Do you like having a sister and dad?"

Hayley smiled at the question. Kids were so simple, her husband had stressed himself out about this conversation and had barely slept the night before just for Jack to be absolutely fine with it. You'd think they told him there weren't pancakes on the menu, only French toast with how well he handled the news.

"Yeah, Jack. I do like having a sister and a father," he answered, breathing a sigh of relief. Realizing his children were okay with things made him feel much better—granted, Harper didn't really understand but that was to be expected because she was still so young. She wouldn't remember a time where this wasn't the normal, things would be okay.

"I can help teach you what to do, I'm kinda good at it," Jack continued, then took a bite much too big of his French toast.

"Thanks buddy, I could use some help. This is all knew to me," Hotch smiled.

Once Jack finished chewing, he said, "At least Auntie Emily is a grown up, you can play some really good pranks on her. I'm sure me and Ollie can think of some good ones for you. But not grandpa unless he's at our house or Auntie Emily's cause' grandma would think it's too messy."

The adults laughed right as the grandparents showed up, causing Jack to gulp hoping his grandma didn't hear what he had just said. He wasn't actually scared, she looked far scarier than she was. In actuality, she could joke around too but she didn't really like messes.

"Care if we join you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Please," Hotch said, standing up to pull out her chair. "Un petit café for you Elizabeth, and what about you Gerald?"

"Daddy, you're supposed to call him dad," Jack whispered, causing the adults to laugh. This was still very new to them and the men understood it would take time—to be honest, Gerald wasn't sure if his new found son would ever call him dad, Hotch just needed a bit to digest everything.

"Honey, this is still new to daddy," Hayley explained to her son, passing Harper over to Gerald when the little one reached for him.

"It's okay, Jack," Gerald assured, standing Harper up on his lap. "You've had all of us in your life since you were a little boy, but your dad didn't. Think about it this way, you have played soccer since you were three, what if this year you were only allowed to play football? Do you think you'd pick it up right away?"

"No way, cause' you can't use your feet. I'd probably try and kick the ball but you're not allowed to do that," he laughed.

"So, do you think it's easy for your dad to call me something different after years of calling me by my name?"

"Oh…no cause' it's just like soccer and football. The names mean the same thing in certain places, but they aren't the same," Jack stated. He and Oliver couldn't get over that fact and while it wasn't exactly what Gerald was getting at, it helped Jack understand how hard it would be for his dad to call Gerald dad all of a sudden. "It's okay daddy, you can say it when you're ready."

"Thanks buddy."

"This makes no freakin' sense," Morgan stated. After getting permission from the newfound family, Rossi relayed to the team what was going on and shared the family tree Stratton had put together, but nobody could really figure it out.

"And how does this relate back to his note?" Tara added. "Garcia, are you sure there was no connection between Michele, Jacob and the Greenburg's?"

"Oh sugarplum, you know how much I hate digging up dirt on people who are trying to rest in peace," Garcia said, referring to the poor souls who were taken nearly 34 years ago. "I cannot find anything. According to my records, Shelly has a sister, Sandra who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Never married, lives a very low key life, bank manager, and has two cats. Sanders was an only child, trust fund baby…ick," she continued with an eye roll and fake gag.

Garcia didn't have anything against Emily being a trust fund baby, or her godbabies trust funds because they are family and duh, but the rest of them, total ick. They were typically spoiled brats who expected the world to revolve around them, and it didn't. Emily could have turned out like them, but she went the opposite way and dedicated her life to helping others, and saving a bunch of children who truly needed it.

"Like I said, makes no freakin' sense," Morgan repeated.

"What if we're looking at this the wrong way," Luke suggested.

"What are you thinking?" Rossi asked him.

"Look at the note, then look at the family tree," Luke said, pointing to the big screen so everyone could follow along with his thought. "We can't say what set him off in the first place, it's clear his own adoption plays a huge part in it, but there's something deeper here. We know gossip plays a huge role in most homes like these, so it's possible he overheard what Emily was going through…" he said, trailing off.

There was no reason he had to repeat it, they all knew she had an abortion, and they all knew it was forced. "I'm sure it was easy to piece together for him seeing as when you grow up that way, always moving around, one mention of Rome told him who it was."

Luke saw everyone nodding along, that was very possible, he was right. A lot of those children constantly moved around when their parents got stationed someplace knew, it wasn't uncommon—gossip among parents and staff was just a common and if the house wasn't full of siblings, it left the kids to sneak around and listen to whatever the grownups were talking about just for fun because there wasn't much else to do.

"I can't exactly piece together how Stratton added Hotch into this mess because it's a huge freakin' leap—" Luke continued, just to be interrupted.

"What if he hyper fixated on him when he worked for Elizabeth that summer, I'm not sayin' it makes sense because it was after everything with Em but this guy snapped when he found out about his own adoption, it's not like he's exactly lucid enough to remember a true timeline," Morgan suggested.

"Yeah, that could make sense," Luke agreed. "I was actually going back to Stratton's parents though. Garcia, you've looked for connections between the biological parents and the Greenburg's, can you check for and relation between Michele and Jacob?"

"Oh snap," Morgan said, tipping back in his chair. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind. "So, you think he realized his own parents were related and he projected that onto…holy shit."

"It would answer a lot of questions regarding this family tree," Reid pointed out. He hadn't been able to figure out why it was so specific yet so sporadic at the same time and while he was trying to diagnosis the man, the team was working on it from other angles.

"Could all of this be his sick and twisted way to help Emily and Hotch?" Tara questioned suddenly.

"How do you mean?" Rossi asked.

"Stratton's world turned upside down when he realized he was adopted by two essentially crazy people, and when he tried to find his sense of self, he couldn't because his biological parents were already dead. And while he got things wrong with his accusation, he was also correct by essentially reuniting a family together. If you take a step back and ignore the harm he caused, in his own twisted way, it seems like he just wanted to see a family put back together even if it wasn't his own like he was hoping for at the start," Tara explained.

"Uhh, guys I hate to break up this sweet little moment, if you can call it that…" Garcia chimed in. "But you might wanna rethink things when you get back from the crime scene."

"What crime scene, baby girl?" Morgan asked.

"Greenburg residence."