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Aaron shook his head fondly as he looked at the video with the attached message from Emily. Emily had elected to stay home for this case due to both Jack and Nicole coming down with colds and both being clingy and refusing to leave her side for a moment. Before he even opened the video, the two word message told him what he needed to know.
I win!
Aaron glanced at the police precinct, he was the only one in the conference room. Reid and Morgan were returning from the crime scene, JJ was in an interview room with the latest victim’s father and Rossi was at the morgue. He tapped the screen and waited for the video to load. He smiled warmly at the sight of his daughter, giggling and squirming on her playmat with Emily whose soft laughter could be heard on the other side of the camera.
“Come on Baby, say it again for Daddy so he knows Mommy’s your favourite,” Emily’s teasing voice said as Nicole babbled and reached for the phone. Aaron’s smile widened as Nicole’s little lips moved and her babbling turned into a clear coherent string of words. Her first words.
“Mmmm. Mama. Mama. Mamamamama,” Nicole babbled cheerfully as the camera jostled around slightly. He could tell that Emily had scooped her into her arms and the camera turned so that both of them were on the screen. Emily peppered her daughter’s cheek with kisses as they smiled at the camera. As always, Nicole was the absolute spitting image of Emily.
“Who’s your favourite?” Emily asked again as Nicole beamed a wide, drooly grin at the camera.
“MAMA! Mamamama!” Nicole chattered joyfully as the video ended. Aaron wiped his damp eyes as he felt a strange, bittersweet relief. Although he was upset to have missed hearing Nicole’s first words in person, he was pleased that Emily had managed to be there for it. Especially as her first word was ‘Mama’ and not ‘Dada’ as he had hoped and insisted that it would be. All those evenings spent coaching her to say ‘Dada’ while he played with her, changed her nappy and rocked her back to sleep at night had been for nothing.
Then again, maybe next time the baby’s first word would be ‘Dada’. Maybe.