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The front door opens and in walks Aaron, looking tense. You reach for him immediately, searching his face before wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. He holds you tightly, sighing deeply as he relaxes into you. After a minute, he pulls away and presses a soft kiss to your lips, thumbs tracing your jaw as you pull him closer.
“You okay?” You whisper against his lips.
“Mhm.”
“Sure?”
“I am now,” he nods, kissing you again. “Now that I’m with you.”
You can’t help but laugh at that. “Don’t get all corny, Mister.”
He pulls back and laughs along with you, already seeming brighter, as he grabs his go-bag and moves toward the living room, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way you love. “I thought you liked corny.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”
Aaron rolls his eyes at that, throwing you a fond look. “Right. Well, when’s the next time you have work?”
“I have a few days off, I’m back on Monday next week.”
“Me too.”
You raise your eyebrows at him, a smile tugging at your lips. “Aaron Hotchner… are you saying you’re taking a few days off? What’s the special occasion?”
He shrugs. “Just wanted to spend some time with you.”
“Yeah? And are you sure it doesn’t have to do with your birthday coming up soon?”
“No, of course not,” he replies, biting back a smile at being caught.
“You’re actually taking time off?"
Aaron walks toward you and wraps his arms around your waist, tugging you closer and pressing a gentle kiss against your lips. “I am.” He gives you another kiss. “I figured I’d treat myself.”
“And how are you gonna treat yourself?”
“I already told you,” he smiles, pressing his lips against yours once more before pulling you into a hug. “Gonna spend my time with you.” His lips find your temple. “And only you.”
Your heart soars.
***
On the morning of Aaron’s birthday, you intentionally wake up earlier than him to sneak out of bed. It proves harder than you thought it would, having to crawl out from under his warm weight slowly so as to not disturb him, but once you’re standing, you smile down at him. His cheeks are slightly flushed and his lips are pressed together in a small smile, a rare but welcome occurrence.
He looks peaceful.
Forcing yourself to move so that you don’t stand there all day watching him, you make your way to the kitchen to make him a surprise breakfast. Half an hour later, you smile to yourself with pride at the array of food you’ve made. There’s bacon, eggs, sausages, a slice of toast made to the perfect standard, coffee, and some orange juice.
You take a quick picture before grabbing the tray, ready to take it to Aaron in bed when an arm slinks around your waist and a firm body presses against your back. Aaron presses a kiss just below your ear and hums, squeezing you gently. "Something smells nice."
"You were supposed to still be in bed,” you whine, sagging against him.
He chuckles against your skin and presses another tired kiss to your cheek. "I'm sorry, honey. Did I ruin your surprise?"
“Yes,” you reply, placing the tray back on the kitchen table and turning around to wrap your arms around his neck. “You did, actually.”
"I did, huh?"
"Mhm. Happy birthday, by the way."
He smiles at you before kissing you softly. "Thank you. And I promise I didn't look at what you made, I can go back to bed if you want me to."
"You better."
Aaron chuckles and presses one last kiss to your nose before turning and walking back to the bedroom. “I was never here.”
“Right,” you say with a smile, rolling your eyes.
You wait for a few moments before picking up his food and taking it to him, laughing at the sight of him sprawled out on the bed as if in a deep sleep. At the sound of you coming in, he slowly pushes himself up, looking around in confusion and faking a yawn. He reaches up to rub at his eyes, stretching dramatically before sitting up against the headboard. “What’s going on?”
“You’re not gonna believe this,” you start, a smile tugging at your lips as you sit beside him on the edge of the bed and hand him the tray, “but I made you breakfast in bed.”
“Wow,” he replies, grinning like he just won a million bucks. “I never expected this.”
You roll your eyes and lean forward to give him a kiss on the forehead. “That’s the point of a surprise, sweetheart.”
“Right, yeah.”
“So, what do you wanna do today?”
He chews thoughtfully on some egg white. “Spend it in bed?”
You raise an eyebrow, smirking at him. “Oh, yeah?”
“Not like that,” he chuckles, looking down at his food to choose what to pick next. Then it dawns on him and he looks up at you with a cheeky flustered smile. “Well, yeah, definitely like that, but then we can cuddle afterwards.”
“Wow, Aaron, you’re such a gentleman.”
“Aren’t I just?”
***
You wake up later that day, feeling Aaron's warm arms completely wrapped around you, his soft peaceful breaths tickling your neck. Smiling, you press a soft kiss to the top of his head and pull him closer. He shuffles in your arms and lets out a relaxed sigh, pressing his lips against your collarbone.
"Mornin'," he mumbles, voice thick with sleep.
"Mornin', sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"
He grins against your neck. "Mhm. You definitely put me to sleep."
"Was I that bad?" You joke.
He lifts up with a laugh and presses his lips against you, kissing you with so much love you feel like you might melt. "Never."
You kiss him back before pulling away, nuzzling your nose against his. "So, birthday boy, what d'ya wanna do the rest of the day?"
"Can we have a lazy day?"
"Of course," you smile, giving him a kiss. "Lazy day for the birthday boy, that sounds nice. But are you sure you don't wanna go out and get some food or anything? No museum trip or walk in the park?"
"Hm, no," he mumbles, shaking his head and dropping his face into the crook of your neck with a sigh. "I'm always busy; just wanna be here ."
You card your hand through his soft hair. "Then we'll stay here. That sound good?"
"Mhm."
"Good."
For the next few hours, you're in and out of consciousness, comfortably and safely wrapped up in each other's arms. Finally, though, after you’ve spent most of the day in bed, you're able to convince Aaron to get up when your stomach growls loudly.
"What should we eat?" He asks, sitting up against the headboard and looking adorable with his messy hair and sleepy expression.
"Could make lasagne, pasta bake, chicken and noodles, maybe even a curry? What do you fancy?"
"Hm," he thinks, his hand running over your bare skin sweetly. "Can we order in?"
"Sure," you smile, pressing your lips to his cheek and grabbing your phone. "Anything in particular?"
"Pizza," he answers immediately, making you laugh. "I haven't had pizza in ages."
"Didn't you say you had pizza last week at work that was really bad?"
"Okay, fine, I haven't had good pizza in ages."
"Then let’s buy you the best pizza there is, honey.”
After much consideration, you decide to buy two large pizzas, one with your favourite toppings and one with Aaron's favourite toppings so that you can share and have enough for the next day when Jack gets home, as well as fries and drinks.
Once the food is ordered, you put your phone down and open your bedside drawer for Aaron's present. He watches you with a raised eyebrow, eyes softening when you pull out a small box. "Honey, you didn't have to get me anything."
"I know." You shuffle around so you're sitting facing him before you give him the box. "But I wanted to. Open it."
He huffs out a laugh and takes the box from you, carefully unwrapping it and staring down at it for a few seconds. For a moment, your stomach drops, thinking he doesn't like it, but then he bites his lip to hide back a smile and you can see him tear up ever so slightly. “I love it.”
“I figured you’d prefer it as a necklace, that way you can wear it at work and it doesn’t get caught on your gun. I mean, I know you could wear it on your hand if you want, but it’s just a promise ring, and I figured that–”
“Honey.”
“I suppose you can wear it however you want and–”
“Hey,” he laughs, taking your face in his large hands and stopping you from rambling on. “I love it as it is. Thank you.” He picks up the ring and turns it over in his fingers, pausing when he finds that it’s been engraved inside with ‘We’re always with you, love Y/N and Jack’ . That’s when he begins to tear up, pulling you in for a bone-crushing hug. “Thank you, thank you thank you.” He presses a kiss to your lips. “I love it so much. Thank you.”
“Do you want me to put it on you?”
“Please,” he replies, kissing you again.
You take the necklace from his hand and move so that you’re mostly behind him, gently putting it on and pressing a kiss to his temple. “There you go, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” he replies, turning to hold your face softly in his hand and running his thumb over your cheek. “Truly.”
You press a kiss to his nose and laugh before jumping out of bed. “C’mon, let’s go get comfortable on the couch!”
The two of you make your way to the living room, carrying your blankets and pillows and picking out the comfiest sweaters you own so that you can wrap yourselves up. You stick on a movie you're sure Aaron's seen a million times, focusing mostly on his cute face as he watches with complete focus. His head is on your chest and he softly runs his fingers under the hem of your sweater, huffing out a laugh occasionally at the screen.
The doorbell rings and Aaron groans, pushing himself away from you. Before he can stand up properly, you beat him to it, gently pushing him by the shoulder so that he falls back onto the couch with a laugh. “I was just gonna get the door!”
“Nuh-uh! Birthday boy deserves to rest and relax, I’ll get the door.”
He rolls his eyes but pulls the blankets back over him anyway, getting comfortable. “It’s just a door, sweetheart.”
“And I shall be the one to open it,” you laugh, wiggling your eyebrows at him before making your way to the front door. Instead of it being the delivery guy you were expecting, in front of you stands Jack, already in a pair of pyjamas, and Jessica. “Wh–”
Jessica shushes you, unable to hold back her smile as Jack jumps in barely-contained excitement. "He got home early and he wants to surprise his dad," she whispers.
"This will definitely be a surprise," you whisper back, “he’s expecting pizza.” Jack bounces into your arms and you wrap yourself around him as Jessica closes the door behind her. "He's gonna be so happy."
"Honey?" Aaron calls from the living room. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah!" You call back, stifling a giggle as you walk back into the living room. "It wasn't the pizza guy, it was someone else."
"Oh, who was it?" You open your mouth to reply but you’re not given the chance to as Jack races into the room with a loud cheer, launching himself at his dad. Aaron immediately breaks out into a huge grin and catches Jack mid-air, pulling him in for a tight hug. "Jack! What are you doing here, buddy?"
"I wanted to surprise you, Daddy!"
Jessica walks in and smiles at the sight. "He really did. He couldn't stop laughing all the way here."
"You knew about this?" Aaron asks Jessica with a laugh.
"Of course I did," she rolls her eyes, bumping her shoulder against yours as if to say is he being serious? "You didn't expect him to wander over here on his own from a whole ‘nother city, did you?"
"No, I suppose not," Aaron chuckles, still hugging Jack as if his life depends on it. "I am so glad to see you, bud. You've just made my day so much better."
"Hey!"
"You know I didn’t mean it like that, sweetheart," he says with a loving smile before looking over at Jessica. "Thank you for bringing him over, I really appreciate it."
"It's no problem," she smiles, walking over to the couch and leaning down to give him a hug. "Happy birthday, Aaron. Here." She presses a kiss to his temple and hands him a bag.
"You didn't have to get me anything–"
"I know," she smirks. "But I did, so enjoy it! I have to go, though, so I'll see you soon, yeah?"
"Bye!" Jack replies, jumping up to give her a hug. "Love you!"
"Love you too, Jack. Take care of your dad, yeah?"
"Always!"
"Thanks, Jessica."
Jessica walks out of the room and you follow her out to the front door. "Thank you for bringing him," you say, giving her a hug. "I know Aaron really appreciated that."
"Of course," she smiles. “See ya.”
You nod and open the door for her, jumping when there's a man already standing there with his hand ready to knock. "Pizza for Aaron?"
"Oh, right, yes," you laugh, taking it from his hands and thanking him as he leaves. "Jess, do you wanna knick a slice before you head out?"
She thinks for a second before shrugging. "Sure, why not."
After she takes her slice and gives you another quick hug, you close the door and make your way to your boys who are cuddling on the couch. You smile at them, feeling a sense of belonging as you sit beside Jack and he immediately jumps to sit between you and Aaron so his shoulders are pressed against both of yours.
As you eat the pizza and watch the movie, you lean over and press a soft kiss on Aaron’s lips. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
“Thank you,” he mumbles, unable to wipe the smile off his face as he snuggles closer to you and Jack. “This has been the best one yet.”
Eventually, the three of you fall asleep cuddled up on the couch, warm and full and happier than ever.