Carliee @eobangingwhen - Tumblr Blog

Succour

It's Father's Day and Emily helps Jack buy Aaron a gift, changing everything between them forever.

-x-

Hi friends!

Seeing as I wrote a Mother's Day fic it only felt right do to one for Father's Day too. I'm gifting this to @eobangingwhen, because she sent me a prompt for Father's Day that was EXACTLY what I was already thinking of writing!! Great minds think alike and all that.

This was meant to just be fluff, but it's me so some hurt/comfort snuck in. I am who I am haha

I just wanted to take a moment to say if this day is difficult for you I'm holding space for you, and hope that you are looking after yourself as best as you can <3

-x-

Words: 4.4k

Warnings: Very brief, non descriptive, references to infertility

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

She never saw it coming.

Whilst Aaron’s initial distrust of her when she joined the team faded over time, disappearing completely when she attempted to quit instead of giving him up to Strauss, she never thought they’d get to the place where she considered him her best friend.

Over time, events brought them closer. Emily looked after him as much as he would let her in the fallout of his attack from Foyet, driving him to and from appointments during his recovery, and then to and from work when he returned. She’d done whatever he needed after Haley died, helping him and Jack through that first difficult holiday season, spending Christmas with them as Aaron did his very best to make it as normal as possible for his young son.

She knew he attempted to do the same for her, to help her, when she started to pull back from him and everyone once she knew Ian was after her. She hadn’t let him, Ian’s knowledge of him, of Jack, enough to paralyse her into keeping quiet. The last thing she wanted was for them to get hurt because of her. They had already been through too much.

She had vague memories of Aaron visiting her in the hospital, still wearing his suit from her funeral. She’d still been in a lot of pain, enough medication in her system to make everything a little hazy, but she remembered him holding her hand, how he’d kissed her still bruised cheek as he told her he’d bring her home.

After Paris, she wasn’t sure where she stood with him. She’d spent months thinking about what could have been, well aware that before that fateful call from Sean that they’d been walking towards something more than friendship.

It was no secret that she had feelings for him. JJ and Penelope mocked her for it enough on girls' nights whenever she called him Aaron, the use of his first name something she had become used to during the time she spent with him and Jack. But she was at the stage now, where she didn’t want to risk her friendship with him for anything that could destroy it.

Somewhere along the way she’d fallen in love with her best friend, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to do anything about it.

They’d fallen back into familiar patterns not too long after she came home. The day after she’d admitted to him that she was having a bad day he had shown up at her doorstep with Jack in tow, matching wide smiles on their faces as they asked her if she wanted to go to the zoo with them. She’d of course said yes, and found herself spending most, if not all, of her spare time with them. She even spent time with Jack by herself, the 6-year-old always keen to see her, if Aaron was caught up in meetings he couldn’t avoid.

It’s how she finds herself with him at the mall on a busy Saturday the weekend before Father’s Day. Jack had sat next to her on the couch in Aaron’s apartment just a few days prior, whilst Aaron cooked dinner for them all, and stage whispered that he needed help getting a gift. She’d responded in kind, unsure how Aaron hadn’t heard them since they were talking louder than their usual speaking voices, and promised to take him to the mall when she’d already agreed to babysit anyway.

There’s a moment when she regrets it. Crowds of people everywhere enough to make her offer to take the young boy to his favourite diner instead before simply ordering something for Aaron online. But then Jack slips his hand into hers and squeezes, looking up at her with the smile he shares with his father, and she knows there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.

“Remember what I said, Jack?” She says, squeezing his hand back as they start walking deeper into the mall.

“Hold your hand the whole time, and if a stranger tries to talk to me tell them you and Daddy work for the FBI.”

She chuckles, nodding as she agrees, “Exactly.”

She still thought of Katie Jacobs every time she came to the mall, the thought of what that little girl had gone through enough to make her furious even after all this time. It makes her hold Jack’s hand even tighter, fierce love and protectiveness for the little boy overtaking her in a way she can’t control.

“So,” she says, shaking her head to rid herself of the memories, not wanting them to stain her one on one time with Jack, “Did you think about what you want to get Daddy for Father’s Day?”

Jack sighs, and shrugs when she looks down at him, “I don’t know.”

Emily smiles as she comes to a stop, making sure they aren’t in the way of anyone walking as she crouches down to his level, “Well let's think, what are his favourite things?”

Jack creases his brow as he thinks about it, once again looking just like Aaron in a way that makes her stomach flip, “He likes running. And when we go for breakfast,” he says, looking back at her, “And he likes spending time with you.”

She bites the inside of her cheek in an attempt to hide her smile, the innocent words from the little boy enough to warm her from the inside out.

“I like spending time with him too,” she says, reaching out and running her fingers through Jack’s hair, “Well, how about on Father’s Day I’ll bring over breakfast from that place you both like and then that’s breakfast sorted.”

“And time with you.”

Emily clears her throat, sure her cheeks must be bright red with how much they were burning, “Right, and time with me,” she replies, “But you still want to get him a gift, right?” She asks, waiting for him to nod in response, “Ok, so what’s your favourite thing about him?”

There is a moment of silence as he looks deep in thought again, “He smells nice.”

She has to actually clench her jaw to stop herself from agreeing, the mere thought of Aaron’s cologne making her skin fizz.

She nods, smiling at Jack, “He told me he needs new cologne,” she says, recalling an off-hand comment Aaron had made to her a few days ago, “So that’s perfect.”

She’s about to stand up straight when Jack tugs at her sleeve with one hand and then digs into his pocket with the other, pulling out five $1 bills and one $5, holding it out to her.

“What’s this, sweetie?” She asks, tilting her head curiously.

“My allowance, I saved it,” he says, “Will it be enough?”

She’s sure her heart will burst, somehow falling even more in love with this little boy every time she spoke to him, and she curls her hand around his fist holding the money.

“How about, I buy this for Daddy,” she says, knowing that had been her plan all along, “And you use this to get one of those pretzels you like in the food court?”

He furrows his brow as he considers it, but then he nods, “I’ll get you a pretzel too, Emily.”

She hides a smile at his seriousness, never wanting him to think she was making fun of him, wanting his kindness and his view of the world to remain as long as possible. She knows she’ll talk him out of buying them snacks later, not wanting him to use his allowance on her, even if it went as far as two pretzels. She nods and stands up, reaching out for his hand again before they start to walk towards the store that sold the cologne they needed to purchase.

“That sounds perfect Jack.”

___

Aaron stretches as he walks out of his ensuite bathroom, wincing at the slight pull in his neck as he does so.

He sighs as he looks at the date on the alarm clock on his nightstand.

Father’s Day.

It had never been a day he held with any particular goodwill. Growing up he hadn’t had a father he thought was worth celebrating. He’d simply buy a card he’d barely read and get Shaun to sign it alongside his name, ticking a box for another year.

It was only when he became a father himself that it changed. That first year, when Jack was less than a year old, Haley had made a big deal out of it. A card that she’d printed Jack’s tiny palm onto with paint and presents and balloons decorating their kitchen, mirroring what Aaron had done for Mother’s Day just a couple of months prior. Even after the divorce, he and Haley made a point of still getting something from Jack for the other on the respective days. Taking their time to go to the mall to buy something they knew the other would appreciate.

It was something he’d missed since Haley died. The reminder in his calendar to go shopping for Mother’s Day that first year a shock when it came around, the grief almost fresh again as it hit him all at once. Jessica kept up the tradition from Haley’s side, but through no fault of her own, it was less personal. Gifts that had meaning turning into ‘world’s best dad’ mugs from the card store.

As he opens his bedroom door, ready to face the day, any thought of what the day would look like is interrupted as he hears hushed voices from the kitchen. One of them is Jack’s, his excitement making his attempt at whispering almost louder than his own voice, and the other is Emily’s.

His confusion propels him down the hallway to the kitchen, a smile breaking out across his face as he walks in on the two of them unpacking a big box of takeout from what looked like Jack’s favourite diner.

“What is all of this?” He asks, drawing Jack’s attention towards him, although the smile on Emily’s face lets him know she knew he was there the moment he walked into the room.

“Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!” Jack exclaims as he barrels towards him, his embrace fierce as he wraps his arms around his waist.

“Thanks, buddy,” he replies, chuckling as he hugs his son back.

“Emily brought breakfast over,” he says, and both of them turn back to her, a wide smile on her face as she looks at them together.

“I used my key,” Emily explains, answering his unasked question, “I was just about to take this to the dining table for us to eat and send Jack in to wake you up.”

“Well,” he says, smiling at her, “No need to do that,” he stares at her for a moment, gratefulness for her doing this, for surprising him like this despite the fact they spoke on the phone last night, mixing in with the feelings he had for her that he already held back on a daily basis. He clears his throat and looks down at Jack, “Why don’t you help Emily get this all to the table and I’ll make some coffee.”

“Already done,” Emily says, nodding towards the coffee machine, “Help yourself…sleepyhead.”

He chuckles and shakes his head at her as he walks towards his coffee machine, “This is the one time you’ve been awake before me in the entire time we’ve known each other.”

“I know,” she replies, holding in a gasp as he slips past her, his hands on her hips briefly as he squeezes through the small space in his kitchen, “But I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth.”

They stare at each other for a moment, their eyes meeting, and she has to bite her lower lip to stop herself from saying something she might later regret. She clears her throat and picks up the plates of pancakes and bacon.

“Come on sweetie,” she says, directing her attention back to Jack, “We should eat this before it gets cold.”

They eat breakfast together as if they were a family, their tradition of going to the diner together transferring easily to his home like it was something they did all the time. After they’ve eaten and cleaned up, Emily tries to make an exit, explaining that it was a day for Aaron and Jack to spend together. They insist that she stays, something that doesn’t take a lot of convincing, and she ends up spending the whole day with them. She watches as Aaron opens his gift, his eyes lighting up as he briefly looks at her before he thanks Jack, before they head to the park and then the aquarium, and then for dinner. The day ends exactly where it had started - in Aaron’s apartment. She sits on his couch, a glass of wine in hand, as he puts Jack to bed, their hushed conversation travelling down the hallway from Jack’s bedroom.

In moments like this, she allowed herself to think about what it would be like if this was her reality all of the time. If she was an official part of this family, finally able to love Aaron and Jack in the way she craved. She sighs as she takes a sip of her wine, letting the taste of it wash those thoughts away.

She didn’t want to risk this, the friendship she had with both of them, for anything. Not when she’d already had to watch it slip away due to her decision-making once before.

“He is out like a light,” Aaron says as he walks towards her, smiling as he joins her on the couch.

“He had a fun day,” she replies, smiling as she thinks about all of the facts he’d told her about the sharks when they were at the aquarium, “Did you?”

Aaron smiles as he nods at her, the honesty only she could draw out of him overwhelming, “The best Father’s Day I’ve had in a long time,” he says, not missing how she blushes slightly, a tinge of pink on her cheeks that he once thought he’d never see again, “Thank you.”

“For what?” She asks, taking a sip of her wine as she looks at him intently.

“For breakfast,” he replies, smiling at her, “For the cologne,” his smile deepens as she blushes even harder, “Jack told me all about your trip to the mall as I was putting him to bed.”

She chuckles, placing her glass of wine down, “He asked me to help out, how was I supposed to say no,” she replies, shifting so she was slightly closer to him, her legs folded up between them, “Besides, you deserve it and more.” He chuckles humourlessly and shakes his head, and it makes her frown. She reaches out for him and places her hand on his arm, squeezing tightly, “I mean it, Aaron. You’re an incredible father. Jack is so lucky to have you.”

There were days when he believed it. When he’d see how Jack would look at him, nothing short of love and hero worship in his eyes, and he’d know he must be doing something right. That despite his own shitty excuse for a father he’d broken the cycle. Other times he couldn’t break past his own guilt, the thought that he’d cost his son his mother enough to make him think no matter how good a father he was it would never be enough.

“My own dad was…” he starts, drifting off as he shakes his head, knowing he doesn’t need to say anything further. They’d talked about it before, exchanging stories from their childhoods on a night not too dissimilar to this, telling each other the darkest parts they’d never told anyone else. “I’ve always been so worried I’d turn into him.”

“You’re nothing like him,” she says, squeezing his arm again, “I get feeling like that, but you’re nothing like him,” she repeats. “I always worried if I ended up having kids I’d turn out like my mom,” she says, shrugging one of her shoulders, “I guess I’ll probably never find out now.”

He frowns at the thought of it, at the mere idea that she’d never get a chance to do something she so clearly wanted, something she’d be good at.

“You’ll be a fantastic mother, Em,” he says, sounding so sure it makes her heart clench in her chest, treacherous hope almost crushing it, “Just look at what you’re like with Jack.”

She smiles sadly, looking down at her lap, “Well, he’s an incredibly easy kid to love,” she says, blowing out a slow breath, “I don’t know,” she says, clearing her throat in a failed attempt to hide it’s wavering, “I can’t help but think I’ve missed my chance.”

“Em-”

“I’m 41 this year Aaron,” she says, her eyes still fixed in her lap as she shakes her head, “And even if I met someone tomorrow who loved me enough to have kids with me it’s not that simple.”

Realisation dawns on him, threatening to choke him as he feels anger climb up his throat, “Oh sweet…Em, did Doyle…” he drifts off, grateful when she shakes her head, relief flooding through him that he knows is more than just one friend caring about another.

“It’s not impossible,” she says, flashing her eyes up to his, “It just won’t necessarily be easy,” she says, “And what exactly do you say? ‘Oh yeah, by the way, you know that massive scar on my abdomen? My ex, who happens to be an international terrorist, stabbed me with a table leg and it might make having kids difficult,’” She chuckles and looks up at him when he does too, his gaze comforting as their eyes meet, “I guess it’s just one of those things. Maybe I was destined to be the cool aunt,” her smile shakes as she looks at him and then she clears her throat, “Anyway, today is meant to be about you.”

For the briefest of moments, he considers letting it go. Considers letting her bury this conversation as deeply as she clearly wants, her own needs and desires always at the bottom of her priority list. But he knows this is it, that they were once again at the crossroads they’d been at so many times before. A moment that could push them both over the line of friendship and more that they’d been walking for longer than either of them would admit.

A moment he won’t let pass him by.

He hooks his finger under her chin and makes her look at him, her breath catching in her throat at how close they now were.

“Anyone would be lucky to be with you, Em.”

She swallows thickly, her breath catching in her chest as she opens her mouth, escaping in a huff that dances across his cheek.

“Aaron-”

“My son loves you,” he says, cutting her off, “And not because you’re a cool aunt, but because you love him too. Because you make him feel safe and heard and everything he’s been missing a part of since Haley died.” A sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh escapes her as she nods, “And, unless I should quit my job as the Unit Chief of the best profiling unit in the country, I’m fairly sure you love me too.”

She closes her eyes before she nods again, close enough to him that her forehead knocks gently against his, “Yes. I do.”

The silence that follows last only seconds, but it feels like a lifetime to her, “I love you too, Emily,” he says, and her eyes snap open, “I’m in love with you and I don’t want to spend any more time pretending that I’m not.”

She searches his eyes for anything that will tell her he doesn’t mean it, that he’s not just saying this because of what she’s unintentionally shared with him this evening, but before she can ask him, before she can even open her mouth, he’s talking again.

“And this isn’t some desire to save you or to make you feel better. It’s because I love you and it would be the honour of my life to be able to prove that to you every single day if you’d let me.”

This time, it’s him who worries about the silence, the slightly dumbfounded look on her face that gives way to laughter as she shakes her head and wipes tears from her cheeks.

“Fucking hell, Aaron,” she says, his name catching on a laugh in her throat, “If you ever want a career change you should think about writing greetings cards,” she says, her heart beating wildly in her chest, “That beats some of the stuff I read when I was helping Jack pick you a card,” she smiles at him, cupping his cheek as her smile wavers, “I’m in love with you too,” she says, watching the relief flood through him, “But-”

“No buts,” he says, cutting her off as he shifts impossibly closer, her legs slipping over his lap, “Not this time.”

She sighs, “Aaron, it isn’t that simple. There’s Jack-”

“Who we have already established loves you-”

“The team,” she carries on as if he hadn’t spoken, “We’ve both been through so much.”

“So maybe we both deserve to be happy.”

She stares at him again, her fight against this, against what she’d wanted for months, for years, fading as he stares back.

“It won’t be easy,” she says, her thumb stroking over his cheek.

“Nothing involving you ever is,” he replies, laughing when her mouth drops open in outrage, any sadness that had been lingering in the room extinguished, “But it’s always worth it.”

She shakes her head at him before resting her forehead briefly against his cheek, “Ok.”

“Ok?” He asks, his hand on the back of her head as she pulls back to look at him, his fingers tangling in her hair.

Her answer is a smile he only sees for a moment before she leans in to kiss him, everything other than the two of them fading away as they lose themselves in each other.

___

Two Year Later

Aaron yawns as he flips the pancakes in front of him, his exhaustion bone-deep as he adds them to pile on the plate to his left. He hears a familiar thundering of feet on the stairs, wincing as he hopes Jack hasn’t woken up everyone else in the house when there had been very little sleep for anyone the night before.

“Happy Father’s Day, Dad!” Jack shouts as he runs into the kitchen, slipping along the hardwood floors in his socks.

“Thanks, Jack,” he replies, accepting the hug from the 8-year-old who helps himself to a pancake from the pile as Aaron raises an eyebrow at him, “We’ve got to wait for Emily.”

“I’m right here,” she says, appearing in view, looking as exhausted as he did with a tiny bundle held against her chest, “Someone couldn’t wait to wish her Daddy a Happy Father’s Day.”

Aaron smiles as he turns off the stove before he walks over, kissing his wife quickly before he turns his attention to the baby in her arms, her wide, dark eyes looking up at her father as if she wasn’t the reason her parents had barely slept the night before.

“Is that right, Abigail?” He asks, gently pulling her into his arms, “You wanted to say Happy Father’s Day?”

“Abby is two weeks old, Daddy,” Jack says, “She can’t speak.”

Emily chuckles and pulls Jack into a hug, kissing the top of his head, “You’re right, Jack,” she says, winking at her husband over his head as if she hadn’t been the first to say it, “Why don’t you start taking the food to the dining room and we’ll be right there.”

Jack nods and picks up the plate of pancakes, walking more carefully than he had been when he walked into the kitchen.

Emily looks at Aaron and feels the familiar swoop in her stomach that she always felt when she saw him with their daughter. The newborn was tiny, but looked impossibly smaller in his arms, his hand the same size as Abigal’s back. She walks over and rests her head on the shoulder opposite to the one he was holding their little girl against.

“Sorry you had to make your own Father’s Day breakfast,” she says, yawning again.

“It’s ok,” he says, turning his head to kiss her forehead, “You were up more than I was in the night,” he adds, smiling as the thinks of one of the times they had both been awake and she’d given him the card she’d made for him from Abigal, her tiny hand print emblazoned on the inside, “Plus, I think we all know it’s best you don’t cook.”

She playfully narrows her eyes at him and pulls away, “Don’t be mean to me on our anniversary.”

He chuckles and leans forward to kiss her, “Our anniversary is in three days, sweetheart,” he says, kissing her again, “Father’s Day was on the 19th two years ago.”

She rolls her eyes at him, hating that she knows he’s right, “Ok, so don’t be mean to me when I still have stitches from giving birth to your daughter.”

He clears his throat, his laughter fading when he realises he can’t argue with that, “Of course, sweetheart.” Abigal starts to cry, shifting in Aaron’s embrace, “That’s her hungry cry.”

She smiles as he takes Abigal back from him, shushing her as she presses a kiss to the top of her head, “It’s incredibly attractive to me that you know that,” she turns and heads towards the living room, “I’ll feed her and then be in, make sure Jack doesn’t eat all the pancakes.”

“I’ll save some for you.”

She takes a moment to smile at him, shifting side to side to soothe their daughter. It was sometimes still overwhelming to think this was her life sometimes, that she’d pushed past her fear to allow herself what she’d always wanted. All in a way she could have never seen coming.

“What?” He asks, his eyebrow raised curiously.

She shakes her head, smiling at him, “Nothing,” she says, knowing he’d get it out of her later, that he felt the same awe she did, “Happy Father’s Day, honey.”

-x-

Tag list:

@ssa-sparks, @lukeclvez, @lyds102, @glockleveledatyourcrotch, @hotchnissenthusiast, @danadeservesadrink, @ssamorganhotchner, @emilyprentissisgod, @notagentprentiss, @freesiasandfics, @emilyshotchniss, @thecharmingart, @paulitalblond, @hancydrewfan, @camille093, @whitecrossgirl, @moonlight-2-6, @rawr-jess, @florenceremingtonthethird, @jareauswife, @ms-black-a, @beebeelank, @aubreyprc, @zipzapboingg, @psychopath-at-heart, @criminalmindsgonewrong, @fionaloover, @kinqslcys, @prentissinred, @ccmattis-22, @denvivale317, @thrindis, @hotchsguccitie, @cmfouatslota77, @alexblakegf, @aliensaurusrex, @prentissxhotch, @emobabeyy, @victoiregranger, @stormyweatherth, @wanderingdreamer009, @ssablackbird, @luhwithah, @lex13cm, @prentiss-theorem, @dont-emily-me, @mrs-ssa-hotch, @jocyycreation, @itsmytimetoodream, @hotchnissgroupie, @controversialpooh, @capsshinyshield, @canuck-eh

Join my tag list here!

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Carliee