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“Oh my God.”
Penelope Garcia stared at Jack Hotchner in complete and utter surprise, her jaw dropped to the ground. “What did you say, little bossman?”
“That’s Daddy an’ that’s Mommy.” Jack repeated seriously, pointing at a picture on Garcia’s wall.
It was a photograph Garcia had captured at Rossi’s last Pasta Night, a picture of Aaron and Emily together, sitting on the couch. They weren’t sitting close, but Emily was laughing, red wine sloshing over her cup and falling onto Rossi’s leather couch, and Aaron barely noticed anything at all because he had been busy looking at Emily, the tiniest of smiles stretched across his face.
Since Jessica had been feeling ill, Aaron had brought Jack to the BAU office for the day. Luckily, there weren’t any cases, but meetings upon meetings that the rest of the team had to attend, so Garcia had begged Hotch for Jack duty.
Hence why the five-year old was sitting in Garcia’s office, legs swinging from his spot on top of her desk, a small troll figurine from her infinite things drawer in his hand. Garcia had been finishing reorganizing files on her computer when Jack had giggled happily at Garcia’s pinboard of photos, most of them of happy moments captured of the team amidst gruesome days with terrible people.
“That’s Daddy an’ Mommy, Auntie Penny.”
Garcia shook her head again. “Wait, wait, that’s your daddy, yes, but Emily? Our Emily? Ms. Emily? Your mommy?”
Jack grinned. “Yeah! She an’ Daddy had a sleepover and I woke up and they were making pancakes for me. Then Daddy asked if it’s okay that Emmy’s his girlfriend and I said yeah because I love Emmy,” He explained. His hand pointed at the photo again. “Mommy cried when I said that ‘cause she’s Daddy’s girlfriend now, I can call her mommy, ‘cause she does everything a mommy should do.”
Then, the boy’s nose wrinkled. “Oh, wait. I don’t think I was s’posed to say anything.”
The disbelief continued to weigh heavy within Garcia’s entire body, then a delicious idea creeped into her brain. “Oh? Well, of course, I’ll help you keep your secret. But I think that the rest of the team can help us, too.”
“Really?”
“Duh!” Garcia grinned at Jack. “C’mon, let’s go tell them right now.”
“How was your meeting with Strauss?”
“Don’t remind me.” Aaron grunted, his hand reaching out to accept Emily’s peace offering of coffee. His fingers purposely brushed against hers and they both shivered at the contact.
The relationship was still fairly new, slow to build after what happened with Foyet, Doyle, but it was serene . Happiness settled deep into their bones, days spent with secret exchanges to hide from the others, nights spent tangled with each other.
“Have you seen Jack yet?” Emily asks, walking close enough that their arms brushed, and Aaron smiled, his hand hovering behind her back.
“No. I figured we could get him together,” Aaron said. “You promised him ice cream.”
“Me?” Emily feigns shock. “I remember it was both of us.”
Aaron shook his head, a soft chuckle rumbling out of him. “Sweetheart, you and I both know that Jack has you wrapped around his finger,” He let out a real laugh as he held the door to the bullpen open for them. “Ever since you-”
The pair paused in their tracks at seeing the rest of the team gathered at Emily’s desk, Jack in the middle of them all. Morgan had a shit-eating grin on his face while JJ and Garcia both looked as if they were ready to burst right there and then. Rossi had a knowing smile on his face while Spencer was fiddling with his fingers, eyes shooting between Emily and Aaron.
“What’s happened? Are your meetings all done, or is something the mat-” Aaron was cut off by Jack, who squealed with delight at the sight of them. The little boy ran up to them, Aaron kneeling down to catch him, but instead was met with nothingness as Jack swerved to the side, his small arms wrapping around Emily.
“Mommy!”
Emily and Aaron both froze as the team burst out into various excitement.
“Garcia, you were right!”
“Pen, you owe me 25 bucks.”
“How did we not realize…”
“Actually, I believe you two,” Rossi piped up, waving his finger between his two friends. “Owe me 100 dollars.”
“You knew?” Garcia shrieked, glaring at Rossi.
“I caught them in Hotch’s kitchen while dropping off Jack from soccer. It was a bit traumatizing, but the 100 bucks I’m getting will make it all worthwhile.”
“Oh, gross.” JJ and Morgan said in usion.
“Wait, wait, how did the rest of them know? Dave, you didn’t tell them-” Emily was stopped by Jack, who wriggled sheepishly in her arms. She set him down, hands on her hips as she and Aaron stared down at him.
“I told Auntie Penny by ac’dent.”
Emily and Aaron glanced at each other and sighed.
“Oh, Jack.”