X-mas fic
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A loud ringing of a church-bell woke Hotch from his sleep and he sat up in his bed. He realized someone was sitting right next to him and turned his head. Garcia sat and smiled her sweetest smile. She was dressed in bright red, low cut dress with white lining and her blond hair was in pigtails bound with red and white ribbons. On her feet she had white stockings and bright red shoes with a ridiculously high heal.
“Hello, boss-man,” she said happily and waved a gold glittering wand around with a golden star on top. The star hit him in the chin. “Oops, sorry!”
“Garcia, what are you doing here?”
Before he could blink, Garcia was standing at the foot of the bed. “What do you mean: ‘what am I doing here’? Gideon said he´d explained everything.” She seemed to ponder that thought for a moment. “But then again, Gideon has always been cryptic.”
She smiled at him sweetly again. “I´m the Ghost of Christmas Past,” she was almost jumping up and down with excitement.
“No you´re not. You are Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. You work for me,” Hotch said dryly.
“No, we take the form of a person you know to make you feel more comfortable. I like Penelope, she´s so bright and funny and full of Christmas-spirit. Unlike you, you dull thing.” She pinched his cheek, hard.
“Ow,” he mumbled and moved away.
“Oops, sorry!” She smiled, no apology showing on her face. “Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“To see past Christmases?” Her wand hit him in the chest this time.
Hotch´s hand flew to the spot where the point of the star had hit him. “Hey, be careful with that.”
“Oops, sorry!” Garcia smiled sweetly again. “Ready or not, here we go.” She waved her wand around, stardust trailing the path of the star and everything became dark around them.
The colors slowly appeared. The closer they came, the colors started to take form until they were standing in a kitchen. A dark haired woman and an equally dark haired boy, who looked about five years old, were standing over a plate of cookies carefully decorating them.
Hotch´s eyes grew wide as he recognized the woman. “Mom,” he whispered.
“Don´t worry, you can talk, they don´t hear or see us,” Garcia said loudly to prove her point. Hotch was mesmerized by the image in front of him.
”Can I have one, mom?” the boy asked, looking hopeful at the woman.
“Of course you can, sweetie,” the woman replied and stroked her hand through the boys dark hair.
The boy smiled grew bigger as he picked up a cookie and took a big bite. The woman laughed and bent forward and planted a kiss on the top of the boys head.
A door slammed behind them.
Hotch saw the boy tense at the sound and felt himself grow still with fear.
“Oops, time to go,” Garcia claimed and in the excitement her wand hit Hotch´s forehead. Hotch closed his eyes and grunted.
Opening his eyes again, they were at a different location. Hotch looked around and quickly recognized the place. They were in a bedroom with four beds. A small tree was in one corner decorated with old fashioned Christmas lights and ornaments. The window was decorated with paper snowflakes. Two boys around ten, one dark haired the other blond, were running around with pillows in their hands, laughter filled the room.
“Do you know where we are?” Garcia asked him.
“Yes, at my boarding school. Dad was punishing me for failing English and didn´t want to pay for my ticket home.”
The blond boy ran up on one of the beds and hit the dark haired one in the head with the pillow just as the dark haired boy hit the blond one´s feet. They fell laughing to the floor. As the laughter quieted down they both laid still.
Did you get any presents from home?” the blond boy asked quietly.
“Yeah, mom sent all my presents here,” the dark haired boy answered before turning his head and looking at the blond child. “Didn´t you get any?”
The blond kid looked away. “No,” he admitted quietly.
The dark haired kid looked back to the ceiling for a minute before getting to his feet. “Come on, you can have one of mine.”
“But… they are your presents,” the blond said confused.
“Mom sent me like five gifts. You can have the sweater, I´ll never wear it anyway,” the dark haired boy said with a grin and offered his hand to help the other up.
“Thank you, Aaron,” the kid whispered before they trailed through the door to find the presents.
“Too bad you aren´t that nice, anymore,” Garcia said and whacked him on the back of his head with her wand.
“Hey,” Hotch said and jumped away to away further ‘incidents’. “If you don´t stop it, I´ll take that wand away from you,” he threatened.
Garcia folded her arms and gave him a hard stare. “Make me,” she challenged. Hotch stood still not knowing what to do and Garcia puffed before waving the wand again, the scenery changed.
They were in an old apartment. A small Christmas tree was in one corner and an old woman was sitting in rocking chair, knitting. A dark haired teenager about fourteen sat on the floor by the coffee table and struggled to wrap in a present.
The front door slammed and the boy froze. A cheerful “Honey, I´m home,” sounded from the foyer and the boy visible relaxed and started his struggle with the paper again. His mother, with her very swollen belly, walked from the kitchen and met the man half way. They kissed and the woman smiled before turning back into the kitchen.
“Dad,” Hotch whispered and took a step forward in surprise.
The man drew in a deep breath and eyed the teenager. “Hey, Aaron, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Aaron turned his head and eyed the man with a hard stare. “What?” he spat out.
“In the bedroom, please?” The man said politely.
With a dramatic sigh, Aaron stood up and followed the man into one of three bedrooms in the apartment.
Hotch smiled as he remembered this very well. They followed the duo into the bedroom.
The man drew out a small red, velvet box from his pocket, opening it he showed the content to Aaron. It was a ring with a small diamond. Aaron looked skeptically at the man.
“Oooo, weeeeeee,” Garcia said and jumped up and down in excitement, her wand hitting Hotch´s shoulder, making him wince.
” I´d like to ask your permission to marry you mother,” the man said to Aaron.
“You don´t need my permission, you already knocked her up,” Aaron said harshly.
“Aaron,” the man said quietly and put his hand on Aaron´s shoulder. Aaron eyed the hand but let it be.
“I´m not your father and I´m not trying to be him, because you already have one and I know you love him.”
“I don´t love him, I hate him,” Aaron said with a raised voice and shook the hand away by taking a few steps back.
The man looked away before returning his gaze toward the boy again. “And that´s okay too.”
Silence filled the room for a few moments before the man spoke again.
“I love your mother very much and I want to give her everything I have. And weather you believe it or not, I love you too…”
“Awwww, that is so sweet,” Garcia squeaked in excitement.
”… because you are a part of her. I might not be able to give her all the money in the world but I promise you I´ll take as good care of her as I can… of all of you.”
Aaron´s jaw stiffened as he bit his molars together. “Do whatever you want.” Then he walked out of the room.
The man sighed, opened the box again and looked at the ring before snapping it closed.
“What happened?” Garcia turned and looked at him.
Hotch smiled a small smile. “He proposed on Christmas morning and kept every promise he made to me.”
“See, not all people are bad.” She smacked him in the stomach this time. Aaron double over and closed his eyes.
“Oops, sorry!”
When he opened his eyes again, the scenery had changed once again. Looking around Hotch recognized his home.
”Honey, did you get the ornaments from the attic?”
Hotch cringed as he realized what he was watching.
A younger looking Aaron Hotchner came into the living room holding two boxes marked ‘Ornaments’ and ‘X-mas’
“Yes, darling, I have them right here,” Aaron shouted back and set the boxes down by a huge pine tree.
Haley walked into the living room with a smile on her face. On her arm she carried baby Jack. She walked right up to Aaron and they shared a small kiss. Aaron bent down and opened one of the two boxes he´d carried down.
Hotch´s breath caught when he saw her. She was so beautiful and full of life.
Hotch walked up to her and tried to touch her but his hand went right through her. “Haley,” he whispered.
“She can´t hear you,” Garcia argued. Hotch shot her a hard glance before turning back to his ex wife. Everyone froze at the sound of phone ringing.
Aaron and Hotch, both looked at the cell on the coffee table.
“I want to leave now,” Hotch told Garcia.
“No, the best part is yet to come,” Garcia said cheerfully.
Aaron hung up the phone and turned toward Haley. “I´m sorry,” he whispered.
“No, Aaron, you aren´t even on duty,” Haley replied, her smile gone.
“No sleep for the wicket or the people who catch them.”
“They can handle whatever it is. Tell them to handle it on their own,” Haley begged.
“I can´t, I have to go. I´m sorry”
“No, it´s Jack first Christmas. Please!”
They watched Aaron hug the woman and then head out the door.
Hotch´s fingers curled into a fist as he watched his ex wife, swipe away a tear and cradle the child in her arms.
”It´s just you and me, baby. You and me,” she whispered.
“You meany,” Garcia said and hit him with her wand in the shoulder. “You could have gone back home to them, it was only a consult.”
“I know,” Hotch said in a low voice.
“But you chose to catch a serial killer,” Garcia spat.
“Yes,” Hotch said and turned to her, “We caught him, and he didn´t kill another child.”
“The other team would have caught him fine without your help. Was it worth this?” She asked and pointed at Haley rocking the baby.
Hotch refused to look at Haley, he gave Garcia his hardest glare. “I want to go home! Take me home!”
“As you wish,” Garcia said and waved her wand so stardust trailed behind.
He was standing in his bed, his fist clenched and his breath short. The room was dark and he sank down to his mattress. Good grief. What a nightmare, he thought as he swiped his hand over his brow. He drew in a few deep breaths, calming his nerves before settling under the covers.
***
Chapter 3