Archive of Our Own ^beta

Aaron is woken up by his phone ringing, the sharp sound tearing him out of sleep. He groans, his usual ability to snap awake stolen by being a parent of a newborn, the long nights so much rougher on him than he remembers it being when Jack was small.

He blindly reaches out for his phone where it is charging on his nightstand and answers it just before it rings out.

“Hotchner.”

“Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you so early,” Penelope’s voice comes down the line, and his eyes finally focus on the alarm clock, the time, 4.30am, almost mocking him, “I know that delicious little boy of yours is-”

“Garcia.” He interrupts, knowing if she got onto the topic of his six week old son then they’d never get to the reason she called. He clears his throat when he hears how rough his own voice sounds, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” she says refocusing on the task at hand, “there is a hostage situation unfolding at George Washington University Hospital. They want us to attend.”

He sits up in bed, registering for the first time that his wife wasn’t next to him, that the bassinet on her side of the bed is empty too.

“A hostage situation in a hospital?” He asks, standing up and heading over to the closet, getting out a suit.

The situation immediately makes him feel tense, and he knows it’s because the hospital in question was where his youngest son was born only six weeks ago. Oscar’s birth had been terrifying and almost a month earlier than anticipated. Aaron could still remember the abject fear he’d felt, and kept hidden from Emily, as he held her hand as she had a c-section.

“Apparently the guy just walked in, shot the security guard and is now holding several members of staff hostage.”

He clenches his teeth as he thinks about it, all the innocent people involved. “Ok, tell the team we’ll meet there. You should be there with us too, in case you can help the security teams.”

“Aye aye captain,” she says, sounding far too awake for the time of day, “see you shortly.”

“Thanks, Garcia.” He says, getting ready to hang up before he hears her say his name. “Yes?”

“Give Emily and my little godson a kiss from me.”

Aaron can’t help the smile that crosses his face at that. “Of course.”

He sighs as he hangs up and he gets ready quickly, wanting to spend a small bit of stolen time with his wife before he leaves for the day, knowing he’d need the comfort she always brought him to get through it.

He checks in on Jack on his way past his room, the young boy fast asleep, his arms curled around an alpaca stuffed animal that Emily had bought him, automatically replacing any favourites he’d had previously. He always insisted he was too grown up for cuddly toys these days, but they would always inevitably find him hugging one in his sleep.

Aaron closes the door to his eldests room and walks down the stairs, knowing where he would find his wife.

Oscar was not a good sleeper, waking every couple of hours at most. Aaron had taken the 2am shift, wanting to give Emily as much sleep as possible. He had brought the baby downstairs like he always did, knowing the infant would cry if he was near Emily but not in her arms, and sat on the couch until he settled, the 24 hour news on quietly in the background.

Aaron smiles when he makes it to the living room, Emily sitting exactly where he knew he would find her. She’s in the armchair by the window, her favourite place to sit with the baby, her head leant back as she nurses, her eyes closed. The only evidence that she was awake was the hand she had under Oscar that was slowly moving back and forth over his sleepsuit covered back.

“You’re staring.” She says without moving, and it makes him jump, unaware that she had even noticed him entering the room. She lifts her head and opens her eyes, her tiredness evident from across the room, she smiles sleepily at him. “You’re up early even for you.”

“Pen called, we’ve got an urgent case.” He crosses the room and sits on the arm of the chair she’s in and kisses the top of her head, smiling as he looks down at their son. “It’s only in DC, so we’re not flying anywhere.”

He sees the relief on her face before she covers it, a flash of something that she felt the need to hide from him. He’d only been on one case out of state since Oscar was born. It had lasted four days, nothing by BAU standards, and it had been hard on both of them. So used to spending all of their time together that the time apart was strange.

“What’s the urgency?” She asks, readjusting Oscar and her shirt as he finishes feeding, resting him against her shoulder as her hand rubs circles on his back.

“Someone is holding up a hospital. Walked in with a gun, shot the one overnight security guard.” He says softly, purposely leaving out some details. “He’s holding the staff hostage.”

She frowns, her nose scrunching as she looks up at him. “Who the hell holds up a hospital?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out.” He says, leaning down to kiss her. Stamping a quick follow up kiss to her lips as they pull away. “I’ll keep you up to date. Jessica will be here to take Jack to school at the usual time.”

“Ok.” She says, smiling at him as he stands, making his way back out of the living room. “Be safe. I love you.”

“Love you too, Em.”
___

Emily settles Oscar into the bouncer chair as soon as Jack leaves for school, smiling as she waves him and Jessica off for the day. She’s intent on getting the kitchen into some kind of order, dishes from breakfast still all over the place, when the baby starts crying, protesting being put down for any length of time.

“Oh I know sweet boy,” Emily says, gently lifting the baby into her arms, smiling when he immediately calms down when he’s against her chest, “Mommy is so mean for putting you down for a whole minute.”

She presses a kiss against the top of his head and smiles, heading down the stairs and towards the couch, gently settling herself down without disturbing Oscar too much. She reaches for the remote and turns the television on, rolling her eyes when she sees the news. She rarely watched it unless she had to, the darkness of her job meaning she tried to avoid it when she wasn’t working. Opting to watch lighter things instead, distracting herself from the horrors of the world that she was all too familiar with. Aaron, on the other hand, watched it whenever he could. She could picture him up with Oscar in the middle of the night, soothing him as he watched the 24 hour news.

She’s about to change the channel when she spots JJ on the tv, standing behind the news anchor, speaking to a uniformed officer and she realises that this must be the case Aaron was called away on not even an hour ago.

Emily can’t help but shake her head as she realises it was the very same hospital she had given birth to Oscar in only 6 weeks before, knowing that Aaron would have very specifically left that detail out when telling her as he was leaving.

“Oh look, it’s the team.” She says out loud, as if Oscar could respond, and she puts the remote back down. “Let’s see if we can spot Daddy.”

She smiles when she sees Aaron, a serious look on his face as he inaudibly leads the scene in the background, frowning as Dave updates him on something. She missed being out there with them, a sense of guilt building in her chest as she realises they are one person down because she wasn’t there, but then Oscar sighs against her, his little fists tangling in the neckline of her shirt, and the feeling dissipates immediately.

Right now, there was nowhere she would rather be.

Emily watches idly as the continuous coverage carries on, JJ updating the press with ease, her skills from her previous role as Media Liaison still ever present. She can’t help but seek out Aaron again, wondering what he was doing, when she spots him.

She freezes, her eyes fixed on the screen as she watches her husband, her stupid, self sacrificing husband, walk past the barricades and directly into the hospital. He disappears from view, his bulletproof vest, the only protection he has, the last thing she sees.

“What the fuck is he doing?” She exclaims, her son protesting slightly as she unintentionally tightens her grip on him. “Sorry, baby.” She says, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as she readjusts her hold on him. She reaches into her pocket and grabs her cellphone, unlocking it and looking for a familiar contact. “Let’s call Uncle Dave, see what's going on.”

She presses his number, eyes fixed on the tv screen, the team all still in full view. She watches as Dave digs his phone out of his pocket. He stares at his phone for a moment before pressing a button, the ringing tone in her ear immediately switching to voicemail.

“He hung up on me.” She says, outraged, any anger she would usually feel blocked out by the panic and dread flooding through her system. For a moment she isn’t sure what to do, having to blow out a breath, shaky as it leaves her lungs, fear filling them immediately, making it hard to breathe. “Ok,” she stutters out, standing up, “we’ll go down there ourselves, huh?” She runs her hand up and down the baby’s back, using his slight weight against her chest as something to keep her grounded. “Go find out why Daddy is being such an idiot.”

She was going to make sure he was ok.

Then she was going to kill him.
___

She ignores the pull in her abdomen as she gets out of the car, the scar low on her belly still sore if she moved too sharply. She opens the back door of the car, grabbing the baby carrier and putting it on securely before putting Oscar in it, picking up the baby bag she’d haphazardly thrown together before they left the house.

Emily does her best to ignore that this was the very same parking lot she’d been in only 6 weeks ago, smiling at Aaron as he checked that the car seat Oscar was sleeping in was secure, again, before he helped her into the back of the car herself. She hadn’t wanted her son to leave her sight for a moment, so she sat next to him, his fist wrapped around her finger as Aaron drove slowly away from the hospital.
She takes in a shaky breath as she walks away from her car and towards the barriers set up blocking off the part of the parking lot taken over by the police. The barricade is lined by press and worried family members, the news coverage making them come down to the hospital, a reaction she can’t blame them for because it had been her own. She makes it to the front, Oscar against her chest successfully parting the crowd, all of them aware of the tiny baby despite their own concern.

She tries to get past the barrier but a uniformed officer spots her before she can and walks over to her quickly.

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to stay on that side of the barrier.”

“I’m FBI,” she says, her hand automatically coming up to press into Oscar’s back as the man talking to her raises an eyebrow, “my team is here, the Behavioural Analysis Unit.”

“Do you have any ID?” He asks, clearly not believing her.

Emily curses under her breath, realising in that moment that whilst she had ensured to bring diapers and wipes she’d forgotten her badge.

“No, but-” she cuts herself off as she sees Derek nearby, “Derek!” She shouts, and she successfully gains his attention.

He frowns at her, his eyebrows creasing as he all but storms over, his hands on his hips as he comes to a stop on the other side of the barrier.

“Em, what are you doing here?” He asks, his eyes flitting between her face and Oscar.

“I was watching the news,” she says, swallowing against the lump in her throat, “I saw Aaron go in.”

Derek stares at her for a second before he nods, turning to the police office. “She’s with me.”

The officer nods reluctantly but moves the barrier so she can get past, and she gives him a tight smile as a thank you, ignoring the protests of the other family members gathered, complaining that she was allowed through and they weren’t.

“You should have just stayed home.” Derek says as they walk towards the working area that had been set up, tents up over pop up tables, police and FBI agents all over the place.

“How could I after I watched my husband walk into a hostage situation.” She exclaims, putting her hand on Derek’s arm and stopping him from walking. “Why did he go in?”

Derek looks at her, his lips set in a grim line. “The guy said he’d carry on shooting hostages until the person in charge went in to talk to him.” He stops, staring at her as if he is unsure if he should continue, but he takes a deep breath and does it anyway. “And to prove his point he shot a nurse.”

Emily doesn’t react beyond looking down at her son, the baby looking up at her through wide eyes.

“Emily?”

Derek and Emily turn to see Dave and JJ walking towards them, concerned looks on both of their faces.

“What are you doing here?” Dave asks, his hands on his hips, a disapproving look on his face.

“I was watching the news and saw Aaron walk into the hospital.” She glares at Dave. “And someone screened my call, so I decided to come down here.”

Dave grimaces. “You saw that, huh?”

“There’s a tv crew about 15 feet behind us, Dave.” She deadpans.

JJ puts a hand on Emily’s arm, drawing her attention towards her. “Em, should you even be driving yet?”

“It’s fine, they said 6 weeks.” She says, her denial obvious to her own ears, and JJ looks disbelievingly at her. “My follow up appointment is in two days, it’s fine.”

“Em-”

“Can someone please just tell me what’s going on?” She asks, sounding more desperate than she meant to. “I watched my husband walk into a hostage situation and I want to know why.”

She watches as they have a silent discussion, her friends all looking at each other before JJ nods, turning back to look at her.

“Let’s go sit down,” JJ says, carrying on before Emily can interrupt, “we’ll go sit with Pen, and I’ll explain everything.”

Emily sighs and nods, and allows herself to be guided by JJ to the temporary command centre. Penelope, and Spencer who is there reviewing CCTV footage with her, are just as surprised to see Emily. Forcing her to sit down as she once again explained why she was there, forced to relive the moment again.

“Will someone please just tell me what’s going on?” She says, shushing as Oscar fusses, seemingly noticing his mother’s tension.

JJ takes a seat next to her. “The unsub is a man called David Gamble. His wife died here two weeks ago, and based on conversations we have had with his family, and what he has said so far, he holds the staff responsible.”

“So this is revenge?” Emily asks, anxiety flooding her body. “Why has he taken hostages? Why not just kill the doctors involved?”

“He wants someone to admit that they made an error.” Spencer explains. “His end game is likely suicide by cop, but he insisted that Hotch went in unarmed.” He grunts, and Emily spots Penelope hitting him in the arm.

The mention of Aaron makes her take a deep breath. They’d been through this time and time again, watching each other go to the brink and back, never able to shake off the feeling this could be the time their luck ran out. It always made her think of when Foyet had hurt him, how she’d known in her gut something was wrong. A feeling she now knew had been love burning her from the inside out as she stared at the bloodstain on his apartment floor.

She can’t lose him now. Now with their tiny son who would have no memory of him strapped to her chest, Jack at school with no idea that his life could possibly change dramatically once again. She thinks of their home, how Aaron was in every corner of it just like her heart.

Emily can’t help the tears that escape her lash line, her hand firmly against her baby’s back, the infant still grousing against his mothers chest. She huffs out a breath, angrily wiping away her own tears. Her frustration at herself clear.

“I don't know what’s wrong with me.” She says, sniffing in a vain attempt to make her voice sound normal, like she doesn’t feel like she’s fraying at the edges. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to sit back and watch him do something like this. Usually I can hold it together,” she presses a kiss to the top of her son’s head, “but I just feel so helpless. And I hate it.”

“Em this is completely different,” JJ says, taking a seat next to her and putting her hand on her knee, “you’re not here as Agent Prentiss, a member of Hotch’s team. You’re here as Aaron’s wife. And you had a baby 6 weeks ago. ” She squeezes Emily’s knee, trying to comfort her the best she can. “Give yourself a break.”

Emily nods, and opens her mouth to reply, but she’s cut off by the sound of a single gunshot from the hospital entrance.
___

The seconds that pass afterwards feel like a lifetime, her head spinning as she stands, JJ’s hand at her arm keeping her balanced. Her senses dull, her vision blurring and the sound around her briefly fading out as she is aware of Derek running over to them, barking out instructions to Penelope about getting eyes on the inside of the hospital, finding out where the shot came from.

Emily is snapped back into reality when Oscar cries against her, the sound of the shot scaring him, loud against his small ears. She immediately focuses on him, her hand against his back and her lips against the top of his head, shushing him as she whispers softly, her voice often the only thing that could calm him down.

It doesn’t work. If anything his cries somehow get louder, as if her fear was seeping into him.

“JJ.” She gets out, her voice choked as she turns to her friend.

“We’re figuring it out, Em.” JJ says reassuringly, her hand running up and down Emily’s arm.

“He doesn’t have a gun.” Emily replies, finally tearing her eyes off of the entrance to the hospital and looking at her friend. “What if…” She trails off, not able to finish her sentence, holding her son tighter to her chest.

“Princess,” Derek places a hand on her back, firm and comforting, “he’ll be ok. It’s Hotch.”

“We’ve got movement out front.” Someone shouts from behind them, a man she doesn’t recognise wearing a SWAT uniform approaching the team, flanked by his team. They all turn towards the entrance, the team also drawing their guns and Emily takes a step to follow them, only to be stopped by a hand on her arm.

“Emily, no.” Penelope says, her eyes fixed on Oscar, and Emily blows out a shaky breath, nodding as she waits with her friend, linking their hands together so she could draw support from her.

She doesn’t take her eyes off of the doors, relief flooding her system so quickly when she sees Aaron standing there with his hands up, the staff who had clearly been held hostage alongside him on either side. Penelope’s grip on her arm tightens and Emily wonders if it had really been that obvious how close she had been to collapse.

“Stand down,” the SWAT leader shouts and everyone lowers their weapons.

Aaron walks away, making it to Dave’s side, and she watches as the older man says something she cannot hear to her husband. She knows it’s something to do with her when Aaron looks immediately in her direction, confusion spreading across his face. He walks over quickly, and as he gets closer she sees a cut on his head, it looks fresh, his skin torn open above his left eyebrow.

“Emily?” He asks, frowning at her as if he hadn’t just miraculously walked out of a hostage situation, like he didn’t have blood dripping from his forehead, narrowing missing his own eye. He puts a hand on each of her shoulders and looks at her. “What are you doing here?”

“What were you thinking?” She says, wrapping her arms around him, careful of their son in between them. She pulls back and hits his vest with the back of her hand. “You’re so fucking stupid.” She hugs him again, and this time he hugs her back, not paying attention to the team around them, the way they were being watched. “I love you. You fucking idiot.”

“Did someone call you?” He says as he finally looks at the team sternly, as if one look from him alone would break them into admittance.

“I saw it on TV.” She replies, pulling back, the tears in her eyes hurting him more than the injury to his head ever could.“I saw you just…walk in there.”

“So you came down here? With our 6 week old baby?”

“You’d better not be implying I’m the one who has done something stupid today, Aaron. Or I might shoot you myself.” She seethes, glaring at him until her eyes move up to his forehead, the sight of his torn skin making her lungs seize. “What happened?”

“He hit me with his gun before I managed to get it away from him.” He answers, he doesn’t tell her the rest, how it was a near thing. Nothing more than what felt like luck that the bullet had hit the man who entered the hospital with the intent to hurt as many people as possible instead of him.

“We need to get you looked at.” Emily says, stepping back from him completely. Now she knew he was ok, had felt his warmth beneath her hands, the anger was back. Fury that he would needlessly endanger himself like that when they had children at home.

When he had her at home.

“Em.”

“Don’t even think about arguing with me.” She turns to Dave, pointedly ignoring the slightly amused look on his face. “Can we go here, or do we need to go somewhere else because of the lockdown?”

“They are turning patients away,” he replies, smiling wryly, “but I’m sure they’ll make an exception for the hero of the hour.”

“Can it, Dave.” Aaron says, knowing anything his friend said would ultimately just piss off Emily even more.

“Great.” She says, as if her husband hadn’t spoken as she turns back to him. “Come on then.”

“E-”

“Aaron, I swear to God-”

“I’ll go, I promise.” He assures her, wincing internally as she stops him from touching her, taking a small step back from him as she places the hand he was going to grab on Oscar’s back. “I was just going to say we probably need a ride home. My head hurts too much, and you never should have driven here in the first place.”

She looks like she’s going to argue, her eyes still full of fire and anger, but her abdomen hurts, and her back from wearing Oscar in the carrier for so long, so she nods. A short sharp agreement that he is grateful for.

“Come find me when you’re done.” JJ offers, a kind smile on her face. “I’ll drive you home.”

Emily walks towards the barricade in front of the hospital entrance without another word, Aaron follows quickly after, knowing the combination of her fury and the baby still strapped to her chest was going to get her whatever she wanted.
___

Oscar falls asleep in his car seat on the way home, his normal morning nap missed because of everything that had happened.

Emily wordlessly enters the house, walking up the stairs to put their baby to bed and Aaron watches her go, only turning to say goodbye to JJ when his wife is no longer in the room.

“Thanks, JJ.”

“No problem, Hotch.” She flashes a quick smile at him. “Good luck.” She leaves their house, Derek already parked up outside, having followed them there, ready to take her back to the scene to finish everything up.

Aaron waits in silence until he can hear Emily walk back downstairs, still giving him the silent treatment as she joins him in the living room, standing opposite him with her arms crossed. She places the baby monitor down on the table before looking at him, as if she was waiting for him to make the first move. He reaches out for her but she shakes him off, taking a step backwards to put a bit of space between them.

Her arms are tight across her chest, fingers digging into her own triceps as she tries to maintain her cool, blowing out a steady breath as her eyes meet Aaron’s.

“What were you thinking?” She whispers, her words quiet but firm. Her anger coming through in the quiet syllables, more formidable than he had ever seen her.

“I was doing my job.” He replies softly, but it ignites something in her, making her scoff at him as she shakes her head.

“You were being reckless.” She exclaims, keeping her voice as quiet as she could, very aware of the sleeping baby upstairs.

“It was a measured risk.”

“Measured?” She shouts, clearing her throat as she hears her voice shake. “Aaron - you went in there unarmed.”

“I did what I had to do to protect civilians. You used to understand that.” He says, her annoyance at him causing something to burn in his belly, frustration he knew she didn’t deserve that he was trying to keep inside.

“What I understand is that you could have left two little boys without a father today, and one of them wouldn’t have remembered you at all.” She sees the moment her words have registered, the sternness on his face cracking, Aaron peeking out from underneath Hotch, and it makes her stop. He takes a slight step back as if she had physically hurt him, sadness that only she could see or cause spreading throughout his expression. The anger dissipates quicker than it had risen, and she sighs. “I watched you walk in there through your own choice, Aaron.” Tears press at the back of her eyes and she hates it, her lack of control over her own emotions still so frustrating to her. “Did you even think about us?”

“I never think about anything else.” He says, louder than he means to, wincing afterwards as they both pause to see if he has woken up Oscar. After a couple of moments of silence, no cries filtering down the stairs or through the monitor, he sighs. “You’re all I think about.”

“Then why did you do it?” She asks, voice cracking, all anger gone and replaced with devastation instead.

Aaron closes the gap between them and she doesn’t back away this time, leaning into his embrace as he gathers her into his arms instead of shaking him off. She wraps her arms tightly around him, the material of his suit jacket clenched in her fists. He feels her shudder against him and he knows she’s upset about more than she's saying.

They’ve done this countless times before, watched each other come back from the brink, both before they became them and since. She knows he did the right thing, that he ultimately had no choice, and that in the same situation she would have done it too, but it’s different now. And she hates it.

“Em, love.” He tries to pull back but she won’t let him, her forehead against his chest so he can’t make her look up. “Talk to me.”

He feels her sigh against him, her breath warm through his shirt, her hands briefly clenching even tighter on his jacket at his back.

“I can’t do this without you.” She says, her voice quieter than he’d heard it in a long time. She finally looks up at him and the smile she forces wavers, her bottom lip quivering in a way that makes him reach out to sooth it, his thumb against her skin. “But one day I might have to, and today reminded me of that.”

“Em-”

“I know you can’t guarantee anything, Aaron.” She interrupts, her hands moving to grasp at the lapels of his jacket. “I know our jobs are hard, and dangerous. We’ve both got the scars to prove it. I would have done the same thing today if I was the agent in charge.” She swallows against the lump in her throat. “That’s why something needs to change.”

Aaron smiles sadly at her and guides her to sit down on the couch, not letting go of her as they both settle down. He holds her hand tightly, linking their fingers together in a way he knows she loves just as much as he does.

“What are you thinking?” He asks gently, already sure that he knows the answer. The conversation that they had both been putting off since two lines appeared on a pregnancy test one Saturday morning.

“I think I should leave the BAU.” She replies, staring at him as if waiting for a reaction, something beyond the way he just continued to look at her, nothing but encouragement on his face. “I’ll still go back to work, but I’ll transfer.” She smiles wryly at him. “Finally get an actual desk job.”

“Sweetheart, are you sure? You love your job.” He asks as he returns her smile tentatively, already knowing the answer, relief he wasn’t necessarily expecting flooding through him.

“But I love our family more.” She replies, tears shining in her eyes again. “We can’t both put ourselves in danger like that anymore. Jack’s already lost one parent, and Oscar,” the name of her baby lodges in her throat and gets stuck in a sob, “he’s so young, Aaron. We need to do the right thing for them.”

“I could transfer.” He says, maintaining eye contact with her.

Emily rolls her eyes at that, the first bit of lightness in the air appearing for the first time since the early hours of the morning when he’d found her sitting with the baby.

“And what? Leave Dave in command?” She asks, smiling, reaching out and cupping his cheek in her hand. “And let the lunatic be in charge of the asylum?”

Aaron laughs and she leans forward to kiss him. The sound always filled her with happiness, so sharply different to the seriousness he often portrayed. It felt like something just for her, for their family. He pulls away and leans his forehead against hers.

“You are the BAU Aaron, I’ll find something different.” She stamps a kiss against his lips again. “You just promise me you’ll always do your best to come back home to us, ok?”

“I promise.” He replies, pulling her into a hug, his hand rubbing up and down her back.

“Good. Otherwise I’d have to bring you back to life just to kill you myself.”

Crying cuts through the room and Emily huffs out a laugh against him before sitting back, smiling at her husband. She doesn’t miss how he winces at the sound, the white bandage against his head from where he’d been pistol whipped still making her stomach clench with fear.

“I think your son is hungry.” She says, standing up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll go feed him, you rest. I’ll be back in a bit.”

He grabs her hand as she goes to walk away, making her stop and look at him, her eyebrow quirked as Oscar still screams in the background.

“I love you, Em. You and the boys. More than a job or anything else. You know that right?”

“Just how hard did that guy hit you?” She quips, a smirk on her face as she runs a finger over the edge of the bandage on his head.

“Em.”

“Honey,” she leans down and palms his neck, her thumb against his jawline, “I know. I know you do.” She kisses him quickly before trying to pull away, his hand still gently grasping her arm, making her laugh. “I love you too. Now, let me go feed him, and then I’ll bring him down, and he can help me keep you awake to keep an eye on your concussion.”

He lets go of her and watches as she leaves the room. “How exactly is he going to do that?”

“Have you met your son?” She calls back over her shoulder as she walks away, not even looking back at him. “It’s his personal mission to make sure we never sleep again.”

Aaron smiles to himself as he hears her walk up the stairs, faster than he’d like given she’s still only 6 weeks out from major surgery, and he hears the door to their bedroom open.

“Oh sweet boy, you’re ok.”

Her voice comes over the baby monitor still on the table next to him, and he sits and listens to his wife speak to his youngest son, her gentle words washing over him and calming him in a way he knew worked on his children. Her mere presence a balm, soothing his past whilst paving the way for his future, their future together. They were strong apart, what life had thrown at them meant they’d not had a choice, but they were stronger together

“Daddy thinks I don’t know he’s listening,” he hears her say, a teasing tone to her voice, and his smile widens, “so we’ll have to save our gossiping about him for later, ok?”

Everything felt possible with her by his side.