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Mother’s Day. Just two simple words, which stirs up a multitude of emotions for people. For some it can trigger feelings of grief, longing and loneliness. For others, anger and hate.
Aaron Hotchner dreaded that first Mother’s Day after Haley’s death. Of course, Jack’s teacher had been understanding and had allowed Jack to participate as much or as little as he wanted in the class activities. He would make a card for Haley and his aunt Jessica, who for the last 6 years had been the closest thing Jack had had to a mother.
Every year on Mother’s Day, Aaron would take Jack to visit Haley’s grave, where Jack would place the card he had made and a small bunch of flowers he had chosen by himself at the store, but daddy had paid for them. Aaron would let Jack talk to her about everything and anything. Afterwards, at home they would cuddle on the couch and watch the old home movies.
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Kez’ first real memory of Mother’s Day was when she was a teenager. It was the first year of her dad’s marriage to Caroline. She knew that Caroline was her legal guardian in case something happened to her dad. Though she had been a little older than Caroline’s own children, she had accepted Caroline’s place in her life.
Kez had spoken to her aunt Annika about something, making her aunt promise to keep it quiet for the time being. Annika had helped her with getting the paperwork required. So that first Mother’s Day after her dad and Caroline’s wedding, she had presented them with an envelope.
Caroline had opened it and pulled out an application for adoption.
“I want you to be my mum,” Kez had said.
Caroline had hugged her tightly as they both cried. That was the start of what would be one of Kez’ most meaningful relationships of her life. She finally had the mother that she had always wanted – someone who loved her unconditionally, who looked after her no matter what.
Then Kez became a mother by happenstance, twice. She had met SSA Valerie Illascas at the FBI’s Academy at USMC Quantico, during her training as an Intelligence Analyst. It had been a chance meeting. Kez had been in the hallway with another trainee, when they had been approached by a couple of the new agent trainees. The NATs were the classic college jock types – young men who thought they were ‘God’s gift to women’.
Valerie had been at Quantico for training as the NCVAC (or profiling) coordinator at the San Francisco Division. She had been on her way to the afternoon training session, when she had seen two NATs harassing two female employees in the hallway, outside one of the classrooms. She had approached the group and introduced herself as SSA Valerie Illascas, before asking if the girls were okay. She had looked at Kez, who wasn’t looking at all comfortable with the situation.
Quickly realising what had been going on, Valerie had taken Kez and the other young woman to the academy director’s office to file official complaints of harassment against the NATs. Since that day, Kez and Val had been firm friends though they would work in Division Offices on opposite coasts. Unfortunately, Val would become another causality of 9/11 when she was diagnosed with cancer that had been linked to her time at Freshkills in New York state, where she had helped with evidence recovery.
Kez had been named as the legal guardian of Val’s only child, Nicholas Illascas. She had just started her new job at the FBI’s Boston Division when Nick came to live with her. Then about three years later, Tyler had come to stay with her and Nick as an emergency foster placement. A 13-year-old left without a family because he had come out to his parents as gay and of his parents’ ‘religious’ views. The parents had waived their legal rights, effectively making the teenager an orphan. Kez had immediately petitioned to adopt Tyler, as she wanted to give him the family that he truly deserved.
The year that Nick graduated from high school as one of a small group of straight-A students was the year that Tyler gave her a card thanking her for becoming his mum.
Eighteen months later, she had become a mum for the third time. This time to a child of her own – Daniel Jacob Wijnbergen. She didn’t love her two older children any less. She loved all three of her boys the same. But Mother’s Day would always be special because of them.
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The next big change to Mother’s Day for Kez was the one a year into her relationship with Aaron.
Last Mother’s Day, Aaron and Kez had only been together just over 3 weeks. It had been overshadowed by Aaron having to have emergency surgery due to internal bleeding, because of tears in the scar tissue from when Foyet had stabbed him all those years ago. It was, and had been, a tough time for both him and Kez. Aaron was thankful that Jessica had been there for the first few days when he had left the hospital, but it was Kez who had been there for most of the 10 weeks of his medical leave, when she wasn’t out of town on a case with the team.
Kez’ parents had stepped in whenever Jessica or Kez couldn’t be there for him or Jack. With Jack’s maternal grandfather being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and having to go into a nursing home because Jessica could no longer care for him at home, Aaron had felt like Jack had been robbed of having a grandparent in his life. That was until Jurriaan and Caroline came into their lives.
It had happened when he and Jack had spent the weekend at Kez’ house, following the conversation that Jessica and Kez had had. Nick had stopped by after dinner with a scrapbook that he had helped Aaron put together for Jack, similar to one that Nick had. Nick had talked to Jack that night about how he, Nick, had lost his father when he wasn’t much older than Jack had been when Haley had died.
It was just after the team rescued Dineke, that Jurriaan and Aaron had talked about Aaron’s relationship with Kez. Aaron had assured Jurriaan that it was serious for both him and Kez. Jurriaan admitted that he and Caroline had enjoyed having Jack stay with them. Shortly after that conversation, Jurriaan had invited Aaron, Jack and Jessica to have Sunday lunch with him and Caroline.
Aaron could see where Kez had gotten her caring nature from. He had seen how she had interacted with witnesses like Lizette Castro in LA, or with victims and their families like the Olsens in San Diego – making sure they got the help they needed to get out of difficult living circumstances, or would later need. JJ had said that someone must have helped Kez when she had been in a similar position and that she was just paying it forward whenever she could.
Jack had asked Kez to go with him and Aaron to visit Haley’s grave. She had agreed, smiling as she ran her fingers through his hair.
It was Friday of the weekend before Mother’s Day. Aaron had managed to leave work early to collect the boys from school. Jack was unusually quiet on the way home, so Aaron decided not to push him to say what was wrong. Jack would talk to him in his own time.
It was just a few minutes after they had arrived home, when Jack had come to the home office Kez and Aaron shared.
“Do you think…” Jack started before drifting off, sounding unsure, his focus on his hands again.
Aaron turned to look at Jack who stood just inside the doorway.
“You can tell me anything, you know that,” Aaron said, as he watched Jack walk towards him.
Jack nodded. “Do you think Kez would mind if I made one for her?”
Aaron couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face.
“I think she would love that,” he told Jack, who sighed with relief. “It’s a great idea.”
Jack climbed up onto Aaron’s lap. At ten, he considered himself to be a ‘big boy’, but when he was feeling overwhelmed by his emotions, he would often revert back to such behaviours. Aaron hugged his son close. He was always surprised at how close Jack and Kez had gotten over the last year. If he couldn’t go to Aaron, he would seek Kez out instead.
“What made you think of doing that?” Aaron asked him.
“Danny was talking about what Mrs Wilson had planned for his class to do next week. Then after lunch, Miss Philipps was talking to us about what a mum does – that they look after you, make you feel better when we’re sick or sad, and that they make you feel safe. Kez does that for Nick and Danny. Okay, not so much for Nick as he can look after himself, but she is still his mum, so she will always be there for him.”
“That’s right,” Aaron agreed. “Even when a child is grown up and able to look after themselves, there are times when they need their mother to take care of them.”
“Miss Philipps said that Mother’s Day is to say thank you. I want to say thank you to Kez,” Jack said. “She’s like a mum to me.”
Aaron didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry, stuck in the middle of both responses. What he did know was how proud he was of Jack.
So when the day arrived, Kez woke to find herself alone in the bed. She buried her face in Aaron’s pillow, closing her eyes. She was just about falling asleep when the door opened. Aaron came in with a tray in his hands, followed by the boys.
Daniel and Jack climbed up onto the bed and snuggled up with Kez. Jack handed her an envelope on the front of which he had written her name, in his neat (or as neat for a 10-year-old) handwriting. Opening it she found a card that he had made for her. She hugged him tight, pressed a kiss to his head and thanked him for the beautiful card.
This Mother’s Day would always be a special one for both Aaron and Kez. It marked the beginning of them becoming a family.