Everything Happens for a Reason

Christmas Miracle

A lot can happen in a year and a half.
Christmas time was upon them and the Hotchners were getting ready to have dinner. It was Christmas Eve and Emily invited the whole team over. Eleven year old Jack was showing his little sister of three years how to set the table, while their mother cooked in the kitchen.
"Aaron, do you mind going to check on Timothy?" Emily asked with a smile when her husband walked in.
"I was about to go wake him up," Hotch replied and made his way upstairs.
The seven month old was awake when Aaron arrived, but he wasn't crying yet. The boy was simply admiring the ceiling.
"Hey buddy, are you ready for dinner?" Aaron asked and picked up the baby. He walked downstairs to find Jack reading with Christine and Emily was walking out of the kitchen.
"How's my baby boy?" she asked as she took the child from him.
"Hungry," Aaron replied.
Emily carried Timothy into the kitchen and put him in his high chair.
Then she walked over to the fridge and got out his food. Christine walked into the kitchen and said,
"Can I help you feed Timothy?"
"Yeah, why don't you pick out a bib for him," Emily replied.
Christine nodded and brought over a blue bib.
Prentiss sat down and Christine was in the chair next to her. Emily pulled Timothy's high chair over to them and began feeding the baby.

A hour later, guests began showing up and Emily had everything prepared perfectly for dinner.
Hotch had Christine in his arms and he went to answer the door.
Penelope was the first to arrive.
"Come in," Hotch said with a smile and opened the door.
"Timothy!" Garcia shrieked and took the baby right out of Hotch's arms.
Morgan and Reid were behind her.
After them was JJ and her crew, and then Rossi.
Once everyone was settled in the living room, Aaron walked back into the kitchen to get his wife. She wasn't in there, so he decided to check their room.
Prentiss was sitting on the bed on the phone, crying.
"Em?" he asked softly.
She put her hand up to stop him. He literally froze in his footsteps and gave her a worried look.
"Yeah, I understand," she replied to the person on the phone and sniffled.
Hotch took another step closer and said,
"What's wrong?"
She ignored him and kept listening to what the person on the phone was saying. Finally, about two minutes later, she said,
"Thank you again for telling me, I'll let him know...okay, bye."
Right as she hung up the phone, her husband was right next to her.
"Emily," he said softly.
She looked over to him, put two hands on either side of his face and kissed him. It was a deep kiss, filled with love and passion.
When she pulled back, Hotch tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on and why you're crying?" he asked.
"It's about Karl Arnold," Emily said.
Instantly, Aaron started to get defensive.
"Timothy isn't his, if he thinks he is, he's wrong. We took the DNA test, I'm his father-"
"No, it's not that," Prentiss said and shook her head.
"Then what is it?"
"He's dead."
Aaron was shocked.
"Really?"
"He started a fight in the cafeteria with some guys and I guess he didn't know that they had knives. They killed him," Emily informed him.
Hotch just hugged her.
"It's finally over" he whispered to her.
"He's gone," she confirmed.
Emily leaned her head in the crook of his neck and sighed. He wrapped an arm around her and leaned his head on hers.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Hotch said.
The door creaked open slowly and then in walked Christine.
She ran over to her parents and jumped on her father's lap.
"Why are you sad, Mommy?" she asked with a worried look.
"I'm not sad, I'm happy," Emily told her.
"But you're crying," the child argued.
"They're happy tears," Aaron said.
"Oh," the girl said and then moved over to sit on her mother's lap. Hotch still had a hand behind Emily and he started to rub her back.
"What are you doing up here?" Emily asked.
"Looking for you," Christine told her.
Prentiss smiled and then looked over at Aaron.
"I love you," he whispered in her ear.
"I love you too," she said back.
"I love you three!" Christine chirped.
That made both of her parents smile. Then, Hotch stood up and scooped his little girl in his arms.
"Let go back down to the dinner party," he said. Emily got up and followed those two down the stairs.

Dinner was a success and as usual, the team stayed after to hang out in the living room after until dessert.
Morgan and Garcia were playing with the kids, and Reid, Rossi and Hotch were talking. Emily was in the kitchen with JJ.
Prentiss took out the dessert she made and smiled to herself as she thought about how happy she was.
"What's up with you?" JJ asked.
Emily gave her a look.
"Oh my God, are you pregnant again?" Jennifer asked with wide eyes.
"What?! No. It's nothing," Prentiss said and walked out with the food.
After setting the plate down, she walked over to her husband and said,
"I think we should tell people about Arnold."
"Me too," Hotch agreed.
Once everyone got their dessert and settled down, Aaron and Emily stood up.
"Excuse me, can I have your attention?" Hotch asked.
The room went silent.
"Emily and I have some big news-"
"Baby number three?!" Penelope shrieked.
"Oh my god, you are just popping them out," Morgan added.
"No, I'm not pregnant. Why is everyone saying that? Did I gain weight?" She turned and asked. Her husband put an arm around her and smiled.
"No, but you two are always going at each other so-" Derek started to say but stopped when he realized their three year old daughter was on his lap listening to him.
Emily glared at him and he instantly stopped talking.
"It's Arnold," Hotch started with.
"Karl Arnold?" Reid needed to clarify.
But brunettes nodded.
"He died," Emily said and couldn't even suppress her smile.
"Oh my God, that must feel like such a relief," JJ said and got up to hug her friends.
"It is," Prentiss said and smiled.
"Who's Arnold?" Christine asked with a confused look.
Emily looked over at Aaron.
"He's a bad guy that harmed all of us, but now he's gone so he can't hurt us any more," Aaron said.
Emily looked at her daughter to see if she understood.
Then she walked over and picked her up.
"He's no one you need to worry about ever again," she explained.
"Okay," Christine said with a smile.
Emily loved the fact that her daughter was so pure and so innocent. Christine didn't understand how cruel the world was and it broke her mother's heart to know that someday they would have to tell her about how she was kidnapped when she was two and how she witnessed the assault and rape that they inflicted on her mother while she was there.
Instead of reliving that horrible memory, Prentiss put on a smile and kissed her child's head.
"I love you," she whispered to the girl.
"I love you too, Mommy," Christine said and tucked her head in Emily's shoulder.

Later that night, after all the guests left and all the kids were tucked into bed and sleeping, Aaron and his wife decided to celebrate the fact that Arnold was gone. Hotch and Emily started off with a few glasses of wine and somehow made their way to the bedroom. After a few rounds of passionate sex, the couple decided to call it a night.
Emily was laying on Aaron, and her hand was intertwined with his.
"How are you doing?" he asked her out of the blue.
"What do you mean?" she asked back softly.
"Arnold put you...well all of us through hell. He affected each one of us in a way, and now he's just gone."
"I'm relieved and glad he can't hurt us or anyone else. What we went through....well no one else should have to experience that," Prentiss said.
Hotch ran his hand over her bare back and said,
"I agree, he got what he deserved. Now, we just have to somehow move on."
"What's going to happen when Christine grows up? We have to tell her what happened, right?" Prentiss wondered.
"Sweetheart, let's not worry about that until she's older," Aaron told her.
"Oh my God, what about when she starts dating?" Emily asked, just to get under Aaron's skin.
"No, she's not allowed to."
"Obviously not now, but-"
"There are no buts. She's isn't going to be doing the dating thing until she's in like college," Hotch said.
Emily smiled to herself.
"You're a great dad. A little overprotective, but we'll work on that," she said and leaned up to kiss him.

That night neither parent could stop thinking about their children's further and what was in store for them and how they could handle possible situations. The future was unpredictable and inevitable, and since both parents were a little bit of a control freak, it scared them.