As Emily picks up a sleepy Athena from her car seat, Luke holds the door open. Trudging up the stairs, Emily decides to let Athena sleep in her room. Athena wakes up, realizing it's night time, her favorite time of day. "Can we do the bubbles for bath time?"
Emily nods and they walk into the bathroom, giving Athena a bath and changing into her favorite pair of pink polka dot pajamas, something her Uncle Spence got her.
They walk downstairs to see Spencer in the kitchen, Athena runs towards him, giving him a big hug. Everyone digs into the Chinese food he brought over. Athena isn't a picky child so she finishes the food on her plate. "Mommy can me and Uncle Spencer play?"
"Mhm. Remember you just ate? So be careful honey," Emily says. She looks over to Spencer. "If she throws up, you're cleaning it."
Spencer smiles and he picks up Athena, giving her tickles as they walk up the stairs. "Be careful!"
Luke, Tara, and Elle look at Emily, waiting for her to say something. "Um. Let's talk tomorrow?"
They nod and Emily walks up the stairs. She passes by Athena's room, listening to small giggles. She smiles and walks into her own room, heading to the bathroom.
Turning to the shower, Emily turns on the water to warm. She takes off her clothes and gets in. The water runs down her hair and her back, washing herself.
She looks at her bruises. And her hand. The hand that Aaron Hotchner held today. After a couple years, she never would've thought that they would meet again. And Athena. He knows about Athena.
Holding her hand onto her other hand, Emily leans on the tiled wall, sinking down till she reaches the ground. Bursting into small sobs, she held her hand over her heart.
Not knowing how long she's been inside the shower, a knock occurs. Emily doesn't answer. Minutes later, the door opens. Elle walks in.
Instead of talking, she gets into the shower, fully clothed. Elle begins to wash Emily's hair, and later her body. She makes sure to be gentle as she sees the bruises and cuts on her body. They get out of the shower and Emily wraps herself in a towel.
Elle moisturizes her with a scented lotion. They walk to her bed before Elle walks into her closet, grabbing the same design of pajamas Athena has on tonight. Elle helps Emily by putting it on. After, Emily gets under the covers, facing the balcony, looking out.
Looking back before she walks out, Elle sighs. She walks into her room and takes a shower, changing into her pajamas. As she walks out her room, she spots Spencer holding a tired Athena. "I'm about to bring her into Emily's room."
"Not tonight Spence. She's...um going through things," Elle whispers, covering Athena's ears. "About what happened today?"
He nods. "So Athena sleeps in her room tonight?"
Elle shakes her head. "Give her to me."
Spencer passes Athena to Elle. "Athena, let's have a sleepover in my room tonight!"
She perks her head up. "Yay!"
"Spence, can you get Emily some water? I'll just put this little one to sleep," Elle asks.
"Got it. I'll try talking to her," Spencer agrees.
He walks downstairs to see Luke and Tara going at each other's head. "Shut up."
"It's true," Tara replies.
Luke takes a sip of his drink. "There are actual sexual positions that produce ugly babies?"
"Yes, it's been proven," Tara chuckles.
"By who?" Luke asks.
"Your mom," Tara snaps back, taking a sip of her wine.
Luke gasps. "Alright then."
Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, Spencer walks back up the stairs, laughing at what Tara said. He knocks on Emily's door. No answer. He walks in anyways, finding her in the corner hugging a picture frame, sobbing.
He walks over to her and passes her a water bottle. She takes it and drinks from it. "You wanna talk about it?"
Emily's silent. "Remember how small Athena was? And now look at her, at her age, she's basically a genius."
Spencer agrees. "Like a mini me."
Emily chuckles. "Like her dad. He's an amazing profiler and it seems like she wants to be that someday. The only stories she wants me to tell her are case stories."
"Em, do you want Athena to know about Hotch? He's gonna want to see her and she's gonna know," Spencer asks. "Has she asked? About her dad?"
Looking back, Athena hasn't asked about her father. She has 5 parental figures. Luke Alvez, Tara Lewis, Spencer Reid, Elle Greenaway, and Emily Prentiss. These people made her feel loved, and Athena knows that. She was a happy baby and a happy kid.
"Earth to Emily?" Spencer touches her arm and she winced. She realizes she's being talked to.
"I'll be right back," he says, walking out of the room. Spencer walks downstairs and grabs a bowl of ice and a cloth. He dashes back up to Emily's room.
He finds her on the bed. Spencer begins to treat her bruises by icing it. "How bad does it hurt?"
Emily sighs. "A lot. I was in so much pain when I carried Athena and when we were at the BAU. But she couldn't see me like that, nor the BAU team."
"You shouldn't be embarrassed," Spencer explains. "They know you've been through a lot."
Emily adjusts her position so she can lay down comfortably. "I'm not embarrassed. It's just not the way I wanted to see them. Maybe we could've crossed paths or something but Athena telling them that I was kidnapped? I have this feeling of guilt built up inside of me because of that. She didn't have to worry about me. It's not something she should worry about."
Spencer squeezes the cloth to get rid of the water in the damp cloth. "They were bound to know. And Athena did a great job. She remembered to hide in the closet until one of us came for her. You know I was there with her, me and Kate at the BAU."
"It's this guilt," Emily whispers. "My daughter was in that closet for how long? She was in the house alone. A 3 year old, Reid."
Suddenly, Emily's breaths begin to come quicker. She grabs onto Spencer's hand. "Deep breaths Em, you're having a small attack."
Spencer rubs her back as she focuses on her breathing. "It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. You know why you feel this way? It's because you're a mother, and mothers will always be protective."
"It's been over 3 years and I can't get over the fact that she's real. My daughter is a tiny genius, and so brave," she says, leaning onto Spencer's shoulder. "Thank you. For always being there for me. For Athena. For us."
Spencer looks down at her. "Of course. You're the person who helped me become who I am today. I would most likely be on Dilaudid still, but I'm clean. Without the letter, I would be dead."
Emily gives him a small hug and lays back down on the bed. Spencer eventually leaves the room a couple minutes after she fell asleep.
A creak occurs but Emily doesn't open her eyes.
Arms wrap around her.
And she falls back asleep.
-
The sun finally shines through the window.
It's too early for this. Where's the damn clouds? Rain would be so nice right now.
Turning onto her right side, a stuffed panda hits her in the face.
That wasn't there before.
Emily removes the panda to see a face, Athena's face. "Hi Mommy."
She giggles as Emily gives her panda Neo back. "When did you come in?"
"I woke up in the night and I came here, Uncle Spence doesn't close the door right," Athena whispers. "Are you okay Mommy?"
Emily nods. "Of course, especially since you're here with me. What do you want to do today?"
Athena sits up. "Can we stay in bed and tell stories?"
Looking at the clock, it was only 9 in the morning. "I'll tell you one story and then we'll go eat breakfast."
Neo's little hands clap as Athena guides his hands to do the motions. "Neo wants you to tell a story about Uncle Spence's work."
Uh oh.
"Are you sure? You don't want me to tell you about one of my cases?"
Athena shakes her head. "The... B E U?"
Emily chuckles. "BAU, sweetie. Okay then...let Mommy think for a second."
"Ah. Are you ready?"
Athena snuggles into Emily's arms as she plays with Neo. "When Mommy went to work at the BAU, she took Auntie Elle's job. I was a stranger to most of them, especially one of the older guys who used to work there."
"Then we all became friends but people came and left throughout my time there," Emily explains softly. "Remember the two girls yesterday? They were my best friends before I met Elle. And the bald man, he was my other best friend. And the one with grey hair, he was like the dad for the group."
Athena looks up at Emily. "Mommy, what's a dad?"
Shit. I didn't think this question was coming any time soon.
Elle then bursts into the room. "Oh thank God. I didn't realize Athena came in here?"
"Hehe, sorry. Come sit next to us! Mommy's telling us stories," Athena piped. "What's a dad?"
Elle snickers as she gets under the covers with Emily and Athena, she lays her head down. "Well... a dad's a guy who plays with their kids and spends a lot of time with them?"
"Is Uncle Spence and Uncle Luke my dad?" Athen asks.
"No, baby. They're your Uncles, but they kind of act like your dad, ever since you were born," Elle butts in.
Athena nods but Emily knows she's still confused. "Where's my dad?"
Elle and Emily make eye contact. "Well..."
The day came. The question came. Emily hasn't lied to her daughter ever and she doesn't want to start. Ever since Athena has been born, Emily's been an honest person and her world revolves around Athena.
"I'm going to be honest with you. No lying remember?" Emily says. "Do you remember the guy in the suit? He's tall and he has a deep voice?"
Athena nods. "Hot?"
Elle chuckles. "Hotch."
"That's your daddy, baby. But he didn't know about you because I went to London," Emily explains.
"But why?" Athena asks.
Emily sighs and gives her a kiss on the head. "I'll tell you when you're older but for now, let's go eat!"
Getting up, Athena gets carried down the stairs by Emily. "I smell pancakes?"
Walking into the kitchen, Tara and Luke are already up, preparing breakfast. "Hi Athena!"
She gets put down and she runs into Tara's arms, giving her a big hug. Luke then picks her up and she helps flip the pancakes. "Look Mommy I did it!"
"Good job, baby!" Emily says.
Emily, Elle, and Tara gather around the dining table. "Guess what Tara, Em told Athena about Hotch?"
Tara's eyes grow big. "Oh shit, congrats Em! What are you gonna do now?"
Emily didn't know what to do. Was she going to call Hotch? After all, she was free to do things she couldn't really do.
"I don't know. Maybe later. We're finally allowed to be out. I want to take her to see the water and to go shopping," Emily says. "All Aaron needs to know for now is that he has a daughter."
The phone rings. Luke picks it up. "Hey Walker, I'm putting you on speaker."
"Emily Prentiss, hope you and your daughter are doing well. And that goes for everyone there too,"
Walker says. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be there. The jet was used for another case. And the wife wants me here."
Emily swallowed her food. "It's okay Walker. We're doing good here. Just glad that we're out of danger."
"That's good. What are your plans now? You're still registered to work here at Interpol," Walker explains.
She stands up and gets the phone from Luke, walking into the hallway. She takes it off of speaker. "I'm not sure. Um... Athena knows who her dad is. And he knows too. I'm still thinking."
Walker sighs. "Prentiss, take the time you need. But I can't keep your spot for long. We have so many agents from around the world who want to work for Interpol. Let me know by the end of the year. It's September now."
My birthday's next month. And November's Athena's birthday. We have time right?
"Mhm. Thanks Walker," Emily replies and she ends the call.
She walks back to see Athena, Tara, Elle, and Luke with flour on their face. "Guys?"
Luke sighs. "Athena started it."
"No, Mommy. He's lying, he started it. Uncle Luke, lying is bad like Mommy said," Athena states.
Emily can't help but laugh. "You all look silly."
"Let's get Mommy!" Luke says.
Athena grabs a good amount of flour as Luke puts her down from the white island that's right in the middle of their big kitchen. "We're gonna get your Mommy!"
Tara and Elle grab the container of flour and they chase after Athena. Emily runs away but fails till Luke throws flour on her. In the end, everyone's covered in flour.
"So... who's going to clean this up?" Tara asks.
The house phone rings and Emily walks towards it. "You are, after breakfast. I'm giving Athena a bath."
She picks up the phone. "Hello?"
A feminine voice replies. "Hey Emily. It's Kate. I got your house number from Spencer. Um...I wanted to ask if you're going to talk to Hotch about you know.... Athena."
"What do you mean?" Emily asks. "Kate, I don't mean to be rude but why are you asking?"
Kate sighs over the phone. "Hotch is being moody. And we all can tell. We think it's about you and Athena. We don't know when we're getting a new case but he's gonna be pissed and I'm — we're not trying to deal with that."
Emily walks to the hallway, she sees Athena eating her pancakes. "I don't know."
"Can you at least tell him that you're willing to talk to him? I love you Em and your baby girl, and I totally understand if you don't want to though," Kate says.
She knew that she didn't want her friends to go through Hotch's anger. She was the one he was mad at, not them. "I'll stop by the BAU today."
Kate sighs in relief. "Thank you, I'm guessing you might bring Athena by?"
"Yeah," Emily decides. "I'll see you later."
Ending the call, she puts the phone back in its place and she walks to the kitchen. She sits down next to Athena. "Let's finish eating and we're going to explore Virginia."
Luke cuts in. "I'll be your driver ladies."
Emily agrees. "And that leaves you two, cleaning up this mess."
"Aw, come on. We wanted to come to," Tara complains. "That's no fair."
Emily eyes Tara, realizing that she was talking about something else. "Auntie Tara can come next time, we have to stop by somewhere but we'll bring them back a present."
Athena smiles with pancakes in her mouth. "Can I pick it out?"
"Of course, sweetie. Now let's hurry up eating so we can go!" Emily smiles.
-
After an hour and a half of getting ready, Athena finally gets put in her car seat. She rarely got to be in the car but when she did, it was her most favorite thing to do. Looking at the different scenery and watching all the people she sees interact.
Emily leans next to Luke as they drive off. "Let's stop by the BAU."
Luke looks at her. "You sure?"
"Mhm. I need to talk to Aaron," Emily whispers.
"You want me to come in with you ?" Luke asks.
Emily shakes her head. "We'll be good, we won't be long but I'll be taking Athena with me. I'm sure Kate and Spencer wants to see her."
Luke agrees and within the hour, they arrive at the BAU. Emily takes a sleepy Athena out of her car seat and carries her in. "I'll call you when we're done. Maybe you can go around and find yourself a girl since we're not hiding anymore."
"Wow, I don't need a girl for your information, I have you guys as family," Luke calls out.
Emily gets a pass for her and Athena and they head up to the BAU floor. Walking in, Emily sees JJ and Rossi. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I know Hotch is being an ass to you guys," Emily whispers. "It's because of me and I'm here to talk to him."
Rossi looks at Emily. "Kate told you huh?"
Emily nods. She looks around the room. Everything is so high tech now. Every desk has a computer, something Spencer wouldn't like as he likes reviewing cases with an actual file in his hand.
"Um... do you want us to watch her?" JJ stutters. Emily can tell that she's trying to clear the air and not make it awkward after what happened a couple years ago.
"I was actually looking for Kate or Spence," Emily spoke. "Spence's her favorite person."
Footsteps walk up to them. "Emily what are you guys doing here?"
She turns around and she sees Spencer and Kate, holding coffee. "Here to talk to Hotch. Can you take her for a couple minutes?"
Spencer passes his coffee to Kate and carries a sleepy Athena. "It's Uncle Spence, Mommy will be right back."
Rossi points to Hotch's office door and Emily walks up to it.
"Hi Athena, I'm JJ. I really like your jacket, you look so warm," JJ tries to make small talk.
Athena gives a small smile. "Mommy said I have to stay warm because it's cold."
Emily looks back at Athena before knocking. "Come in."
She walks in and she sees Hotch seated at his desk. "Emily? What are you doing here?"
Emily closes the door. "I heard you're being a real ass to everyone. And I'm here to say that don't direct your anger towards them. Your anger is towards me and only me."
Hotch fixes his file and then closes it. "I'm not angry. I'm upset that you kept my daughter from me. She's my daughter too."
"I didn't find out I was pregnant until the night before. I thought I was being delusional after crying for hours," Emily says. "I left Virginia and I took another test. Elle confirmed by looking at the test."
He looks at her, listening to her side. "I had a fragile pregnancy. I thought I was going to lose her. Life was going good till I got word that Gideon died and we came here. I found out that Elle worked with the unsub and I couldn't take it anymore. I bled out and I was taken into surgery."
"That's when we decided to fake our deaths and for over 3 years, we lived life right out of the state," Emily continues. "We lived happily till I was kidnapped. You guys found me."
Hotch sighs. "You shouldn't have gone through that alone."
Emily looks up at him. "I didn't. I had Elle and the team back at Interpol supporting me. I was never alone. The last time I felt alone was when you said you regret loving me. And that my best friends were on your fucking side."
He couldn't say anything. Hotch said it. "I went after you. When we read the letters, Strauss told us that your flight was about to leave. We all went. We saw you in the window in the jet. I yelled after you. But then it took off."
"You what?" Emily whispers.
"I said that because I was angry, at the fact that you didn't tell me. I wouldn't have let you leave unless I would've known that you were pregnant," Hotch replied. "I — I couldn't bare to see myself with another woman."
Emily knew where this was going. "So Athena. She knows that you're her dad. But what do you want to do about it?"
"Can I have time with her? Or at least talk to her? I want to make things right," Hotch gulped.
She could tell that he was nervous. Did she make him nervous?
Emily nods. "I can do that, but I'm staying in here."
Opening the door, Spencer looks at her and she motions for him to bring Athena. He holds Athena's hand as they walk up the stairs and she runs into Emily's arms. "Hi baby."
She closes the door. "Athena, remember what I told you this morning? This is Aaron Hotchner, your dad."
Athena hides behind Emily's leg. Aaron gets up and walks beside his desk, crouching down. "Hi Athena."
"Hi," Athena whispers. "Mommy?"
Hotch couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was in awe. She was beautiful, his daughter. He took in the presence of Athena as she was the perfect example of Prentiss and Hotch's child, facial features and everything.
Emily looks down. "It's okay Sweetie."
Athena unlatches from Emily's leg and slowly walks toward Hotch. He begins to tear up as Emily does too. She touches his face, wiping a tear away. "Don't cry."
She suddenly hugs him and he hugs her back. Emily continues to tear up quietly. "Daddy?"
"Yes, I'm your Daddy," Hotch whispers. "You're my daughter."
"Where have you been?" Athena asks. "I thought Uncle Spence and Uncle Luke were my dads."
Hotch smiles. "I—"
Emily interrupts. "Athena, remember Mommy will tell you why when you're more grown up?"
She nods. And for 10 minutes, Athena explains her favorite foods, her favorite color, her favorite everything. Hotch does the same.
"I think it's time to go Athena, Uncle Luke is waiting for us," Emily says, checking her phone. "We're going to explore right?"
Athena jumps up and down in her seat. Emily takes her hand and they walk out. "Say thank you to your dad."
"Thank you Daddy, I'll see you soon," Athena gushed, before running up to him and giving him a hug.
Emily opens the door and Athena walks out first. "Emily?"
She turns around and looks at Hotch. "What are your plans now?"
"I'm not sure yet. The Chief at Interpol wants me to tell him my decision by the end of the year," Emily says.
"Don't take her away from me, I lost 3 years with her," Hotch says. "Jack misses you, we all miss you."
That last sentence stops Emily in her tracks. She didn't think they would all miss her after the shit they put her through. "Tell Jack I miss him too, and that I'm sorry for leaving him."
Emily walks down the stairs and she bids her goodbyes. Athena gives Spencer a big hug and they leave, as Hotch watches them.
He closes the door and gets back to work. Rossi then enters. "How was it?"
"She called me her dad," Hotch smiles. "I've always wanted a girl. I just can't believe that Emily kept her away from me for 3 years."
Rossi sighs and takes a seat. "You can't get mad at her for that. What you said hurt her, even if it was a couple years ago."
Hotch stops smiling. "It seems like she forgot about what she wrote in the letter. She said she loved me and she always will. But our encounter didn't seem like that."
"Well... do you love her?" Rossi asks.
Hotch knew the answer to this.
"Of course."
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Author's Note:
i actually love writing long chapters! hope everything's going good for everyone!