The party was a success, everything worked out and everyone loved it. The kids had a blast, the parents really liked Aaron and I. It really took a lot of stress off of me, they had all been so welcoming and nice. I actually made a few new friends, which I didn't usually do. I only really liked talking to the team, I kind of blocked all my other friends out.
I stood in my kitchen, making Jack a grilled cheese as he sat at the table, playing with his action figures. I flipped the sandwich in the pan with a spatula, "Why don't you stay here more? I like it here more than I like daddy's" I glanced over at him, seeing he was already staring directly at me.
I shook my head, "I like staying with you guys, and I don't think dad would want to stay here" I admitted, and he frowned a little,
"That's silly, he should like it here. It's so big, my room here is so cool! It has a tv and a bunch of comics!" He reminded me, and I chuckled. I put the now finished grilled cheese onto a plate, grabbing his cup of juice as I walked closer to him.
"Maybe, if we get lucky, I can convince your dad to let us stay here more often" My house had two floors, plenty of bedrooms and enough room for if he ever decided he wanted to start a bigger family with me.
I really liked my house, but if he wanted to stay in the apartment, I wouldn't fight him. I know it would be hard for Jack, no matter how much he liked it here. Moving more than three times in the span of two years has to take a toll on a kid. "Where is daddy?" He asked me, and I sat down next to him.
"He had a meeting with the rest of the team, but he said I could stay home with you for a bit. I don't have to be in the office for another few hours" I smiled warmly, and he shot one right back at me.
Aaron walked into the meeting room, shutting the door behind him as he examined the team in front of him. Derek raised a brow, "Where's Gordon?" He asked, "And what's the emergency? Shouldn't the whole team be here?" Aaron almost basically ignored him, walking to the front of the room.
Everyone was watching him, trying to profile him. He wasn't breakable though, the man always looked like an angry statue.
Or at least, almost always. He accidentally let a smile show, "We don't have a case today, actually" He revealed, and everyone exchanged confused looks, "I need your help" He slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box, "I've got a plan, but I don't think it'll work without you guys" His smile was more noticeable now, and Penelope gasped.
"No way!" Emily almost yelled, and everyone quickly stood as they rushed towards him. He opened the box, revealing a smaller gold ring, just like Veronica had wanted. In the center was a small sapphire, and lined on either side was three smaller diamonds.
"I got a sapphire. Obviously, she doesn't know I bought it, but she always talks about how ever since she was a kid she wanted her birthstone on her engagement ring" He explained, "She said it also had something to do with being a Virgo? I don't... I don't really know, honestly" He admitted, and everyone started to laugh.
Spencer nodded, "That sounds like Ron" He ensured, and Rossi took the box to examine the jewelry closer.
"It's absolutely beautiful, she's going to love it" Ashley told him with a genuine smile on her face, and Derek instantly agreed.
"What's the plan, Hotch?" He asked, and so he started explaining it. And he went on for almost an hour describing his very thought out plan, until Spencer's phone started to ring.
Everyone went quiet and looked at him, and when he took his phone out of his pocket, his eyes went wide, "It's V" He exclaimed, and then he answered it, "Hi" He spoke, and then he put it on speaker.
"Hey, tell everyone I'll be in soon. Jack fell asleep while I was driving him to Jessica's, it took like ten minutes just to get him into her house without waking him up. Yeah, but anyway, I'm like... five minutes away?" Veronica started, and she didn't know that she was on speaker, so she said, "It was so funny, Jack found his way into the extra cake from yesterday before lunch today. Oh, but don't tell Aaron, he'll kill me for letting him actually eat it" Spencer's eyes went wide, and he almost dropped his phone trying to take her off of speaker.
"Veronica...!" Aaron scolded, and everyone could hear her yelp over the phone,
"Bye!" and then, she hung up. All of them looked at Aaron, who shook his head and rubbed the temples of his forehead.
He tried to hold back his laugh, "This girl is helpless"
Spencer then said, "You may be right, but you're the one marrying her "
I walked into the office, holding my cup of tea from the coffee shop down the street. I took a sip, pushing the glass doors to the bullpen open to see my colleagues doing their jobs. "Good afternoon, Gordon" people greeted me as I walked past all of them, me saying my hellos back.
I walked up the stairs and cracked my boyfriends office door open, seeing he was sitting there writing something down. I knocked on the doorframe, and he looked up at me. He smiled when he stood, and I fully opened the door. I entered a bit so no one could see us, "Hey" He let out, leaning down to peck my lips. I kissed him back,
"Hi" I whispered back with my own grin.
"We have a case, come on" He told me, and the two of us walked out of his office. We entered the meeting room, and everyone was already waiting for us. I wanted to roll my eyes as I stood next to Spencer, who was already holding his go bag.
I so didn't want to travel today. I just wanted to cuddle up with Aaron tonight and watch forensic files, maybe play some games with Jack before he went to bed. But no, we had to go track down a serial killer. "We're going to Massachusetts, "
At least I liked it there.
Spencer leaned down a little nonchalantly and whispered, "I like your outfit" I glanced down at myself to reveal I was wearing a brown sweater with a white turtle neck underneath tucked into a short brown skirt. I had on brown Mary Jane platforms, complimented with white crew lettuce socks.
"Thanks" I whispered back with a small smile.
"There were a series of killings in Barnstable County" This instantly caught my attention, and my smile quickly faded. That was the county my home town was in, "They think it's a serial killer" Garcia explained. I narrowed my eyes,
"Were there any murders in Chatham? Or Woods Hole?" I questioned, nervously. Woods Hole was almost right next to Chatham, it was where all three of my brothers lived. Emily examined a case file, and then she nodded.
"Yeah, Chatham. But the person was from out of state, it wasn't someone you would have known" She ensured, and I let out a small sigh of relief.
"Wheels up in ten" Aaron ordered, and then he walked out of the office. I picked up my go bag and rolled my eyes, following him.
This was going to be a long week.
000
We sat in the SUV, Derek driving with Spencer in the back seat and me in the passengers. I could basically feel the warmth from Spencer's breath on my neck, and when we stopped at a red light, I slowly turned my head to look at him.
Our faces were almost touching, "Hey, Spencer?"
"Hm?"
"Why the hell are you on top of me?" He had been like this the entire drive from the jet to my home town. I loved him, but I wasn't really enjoying someone breathing down my neck.
He backed away, and the light turned green. Derek let out a chuckle, "Sorry," Spencer apologized under his breath, and Derek started to drive once again.
"It's not just you, why is literally everyone acting so weird? Is there something I should know?" Derek shook his head,
"We weren't expecting to have a case today, Giggles. Especially because it's getting late, the sun is going to set soon" He pointed out, and I looked up. He was right, it was already five o'clock. I then examined the scene, seeing we were actually really close to my house.
I wanted to frown. I hadn't spoken to any of my family since the fight, which was almost half a year ago. My mom and I used to talk almost every day before that, I really missed her. But what happened really hurt me, I couldn't accept the fact that she didn't approve of Aaron and I being together.
I looked down at my phone, texting Aaron to ask where he had been. I didn't want to look back up, I didn't want to think about it.
After a few more minutes of silence, we started to slow down and he parked. I unbuckled my seatbelt with a sigh and started to get out of the car, until I realized where he had stopped. We were right outside of the gate of my childhood home, a place I wasn't expecting us to stop at.
I instantly got back into the car, slamming the door behind me as my eyes grew big, "What are we doing?" I asked them, and I finally looked to my left at Derek. He didn't answer me as both him and Spencer got out of the car, and suddenly my door opened. It was Spencer, who held his hand out for me to take. I shook my head, "What? No way, why are we here?" I tried getting an answer out of him, but he didn't speak.
I groaned and took his hand, getting out of the car. "Why are we here? Shouldn't we be, oh, I don't know, working on the case at hand?" I asked, still no response. "Guys, Aaron is going to kill us. He's probably expecting us at the station right now, I-"
"I should stop calling you giggles and start calling you talking tom. Would you just trust us?" Derek questioned, and I huffed. I really did not feel like fighting with my parents today. The gates were already open, like they were waiting for us, and we walked up the stone driveway. I started to make my way towards the grand door, but Spencer stopped me.
"You're going through the side" I raised a brow,
"Why?" He didn't answer, but I obeyed. Typically, when Spencer told me to do something, I listened. So I started walking towards the second gate that lead from the side of the house to the backyard, but I paused right in front of it.
I didn't know what was waiting for me on the other side of that gate, and I was praying it wasn't another fight with my parents. I was tired of fighting, I was so genuinely happy with my life. I didn't need this ruining it. I glanced back at my boys once more, and they both smiled warmly at me. Spencer shot me two thumbs up, "Go!" He insisted.
So I did. I hesitated but unlocked and opened the door, seeing only the side of the home. It was a stone walkway lined with pretty flowers, and it reminded me of the time Aaron and I hid back here during my get well party just to whisper completely sweet nothings.
I reached the back yard, and that's when I saw something I thought I wouldn't. My parents, holding one another as they waited there with happy smiles as they saw me. "Hi..." I started, nervously. I finally reached them, and then suddenly and unexpectedly, my mother hugged me. I yelped and froze for a moment, until I finally let loose, and I hugged her back.
"I'm really sorry, Veronica" She whispered into my ear, and when she let go of me, I could see her warm grin on her face. "I'm happy if you're happy, and you and Aaron look absolutely beautiful together" She admitted.
"Yeah, we really like him. He's great, you guys really love one another" My father agreed.
I was really taken back by the words coming from their mouths, and about being this excited to see me. I couldn't help but wonder why they were saying this immediately, but then my mother looked to her left. I followed on her movements, and that's when I spotted my boyfriend, staring out on the water.
The sunset was a pinky purple, it made my smile grow as I started to walk down the hill to reach him. At the bottom, he stood right in front of the dock, hands in his pocket with his back facing me. I put my hand on his arm, and he glanced back at me, grinning when our eyes met. He turned to face me, "Hey, can we talk?" He asked.
"Yeah, of course" I replied, trying to hide the fact that I was honestly a little nervous. He wasn't wearing his normal suit and tie, he was in a pair of tan pants and a brown half zip sweater, his hair wasn't as gelled as it was on the plane.
"You and I have been through a lot. Since the first day I saw you I knew you were something completely special, you made me happier than anyone ever has before" He started, and he stepped closer to me, "And I know we haven't had the most stable past. I know we've fought before and it got really hard but we always made up, and now we're here. And when I'm with you I'm the happiest man in the entire world, I want to spend every second of the rest of my life with you" He reached into his pocket,
"Romeo, what are you doing?" I asked, my heart was racing as he got down on one knee. My eyes started to wander as he pulled out a small blue box, opening it to reveal a small blue box, opening it to reveal the most beautiful ring I had ever laid my eyes on.
"Juliet, will you marry me?"
I let out a happy gasp as I nodded, and he slid the small yet beautiful ring on my left index finger. He stood and I jumped into his arms excitedly, pressing my lips onto his.
He held onto me and kissed me back, I could feel the smile on his face growing a million times wider as the kiss lasted longer and longer.
We then heard cheers from where my parents had been earlier, and when he set me down, we glanced over at them.
There stood the entire team along with my parents, all cheering and jumping up and down.
The two of us laughed as we looked at one another, and they all rushed down towards us.
We were instantly greeted with hugs, along with forehead and cheek kisses from a select few. And then I knew,
I knew I was marrying the love of my life soon, and me entire family was here to celebrate with us.