The Long, Lonely Road Ahead

The following events take place after Hotch’s divorce but prior to JJ’s giving birth.

Yes, I know it’s a Mary Sue in some ways, but it was fun to write, so I’m throwing it out there for you to read and see what you think.

The Long, Lonely Road Ahead

Chapter Eleven

We had a marvellous afternoon together in bed, loving each other for several hours before it was time for me to go back to Pen’s for dinner.
“Did you want to join us?” I asked him as we got dressed in his bedroom. “I mean, unless you’ve got other plans…”
“I don’t know how Garcia would perceive that,” he said, pulling on a t-shirt. “She might be uncomfortable with me there.”
“I can always ask,” I said, pulling out my new cell phone.
“I don’t want her to feel she has to say yes,” he said, closing his hand over mine and effectively stopping me from making the call. “I’ll be fine for tonight. Don’t worry about me.”
“Well…”
“I mean it. Don’t worry about me. There’s a game on tonight. I was intending to watch the game, maybe make a steak… I would have done that before we met.”
“I get it. Well, if you decide you’ve had enough of that kind of thing, give me a call,” I said, pulling on my sweater. We headed downstairs, where I slid on my boots and grabbed my purse.
“I’ll see you tomorrow though,” he said and I nodded in confirmation.
“I’ll just check with Pen to see if she’s planned anything. I’m pretty sure that I’m all yours, though,” I told him. He kissed me and I kissed him back; we kissed in the hallway for a bit, his hands entwined in my hair. When we broke away from each other, I smiled. “It’s so nice just to kiss sometimes.”
“Mmm, yes,” he agreed, grabbing his wallet and keys from the table near the door. He shrugged into his jacket and we headed to the car. It was snowing again, fairly hard this time, but the temperature was a bit warmer. The sun was just beginning to go down and the world glowed with light.

He dropped me off and I let myself inside to find Pen cooking up a storm.
“What’s all this?” I asked her. She grinned.
“Turns out a number of the people I care about have nowhere to go this Christmas,” she said, opening the oven and basting her turkey. “So called up a few of them, and they’re coming over for dinner tonight. You asked Hotch, right?”
“Uh…”
“Oh god Terra. Please tell me you asked Hotch to come for Christmas dinner? You’re not going to leave him at his house by himself, eating a TV dinner and drinking beer in front of the TV on this most festive night of the year!” She stood, hands on hips and glowered at me. “Phone. Now.”
“I did ask him… but if you’re having other people over, then that might make him feel a bit less awkward about the whole thing.”
“Isn’t he sweet?” she gushed. “Tell him Emily, Rossi, and Reid are all coming over too.” I pulled out my phone to make the call, just as her phone rang. “Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?” I took my phone into the other room and dialled Aaron.
“Pen’s having dinner here with some of your team,” I told him when he answered. “She wants to invite you over for turkey and pie.”
“She’s invited other members of the team?”
“She says David, Emily, and Spencer are coming over in a couple of hours. So you can come too and it won’t be weird.”
“Well,” he said and I could almost hear him thinking. “I suppose that would be okay.”
“Good. I’ll see you at 7,” I told him, just as Pen hung up her phone in the other room.
“Kevin’s on his way here,” she said, a gleam in her eye. “My boyfriend? His family’s driving him crazy, so he’s driving down from Washington and should be here in about an hour, he said.”
“Great! I’m looking forward to meeting him!” I enthused.
“And Hotch? He’s coming, right?” she asked.
“Yes. He’s coming too.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “Now, you know I don’t really cook, but what can I do to help?”

She put me to work decorating the table for dinner with the decorations she’d bought for the occasion. I watched her whirl around the kitchen making turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (with marshmallows), vegetables, gravy… the whole nine yards. It was damn impressive. She’d made a pumpkin pie too, which was sitting, cooling, on the window ledge, just like it was 1940.
“How did you learn to cook? You weren’t at home long enough to learn, were you?” I asked her and she laughed.
“Maybe not, but a girl can learn,” she told me. “More glitter on the centrepiece. It’s amazing how many great recipes are online.”
“You’re a hacker chick, not a homemaker,” I said. “You shouldn’t know how to do any of this.”
“Well, what about you?”
“What about me?”
“You’ve had the opportunity to learn to cook. Why haven’t you?” she accused and I shrugged.
“I just don’t care about it. I mean, put food in front of me, I’ll eat it. And I know if it’s good or bad food. But I don’t care enough about it to want to deal with preparing it,” I said, re-centring the flower arrangement that now had more glitter on it. “At home I mostly eat frozen stuff and cereal or peanut butter. You know that.”
“I was hoping you’d changed,” she sighed. “And what about Hotch? What if you guys end up married and he expects you to cook for him?”
“You’re such a romantic!” I laughed. “Give me a break. I’ve been seeing him for what? Three days. I’m not marrying him. And besides,” I told her, giving her a smirk, “I told him already that I prefer sex to food.”
“You didn’t!”
“I did. Gotta be honest about some things, eh?” She giggled and I slid another napkin into a reindeer napkin ring.
“And how’s that working out for you?”
“So far, so good,” I said and she nearly choked she was laughing so hard.
“You saucy thing, you. Hey, when you’re finished there, we need some more lights. There’s another box of multi-coloured Christmas lights next to the tree. Put them up over the table there,” she said, indicating a row of nails embedded in the wood above the makeshift dining room table.

We puttered around for the next hour or so, until Kevin showed up, and then he had to open Pen’s present to him, and she had to open his to her. They were pretty cute together, I must admit. Pen continued to cook and left us to get to know each other while she worked.

“So, Kevin, you’re a hacker boy, eh?”
“Um, sure, yes. I work with computers, just like Penelope,” he said, taking a gulp of his beer.
“But she’s better than you,” I said.
“Terra!” Pen admonished from the kitchen.
“She is, yes,” he said, eyebrow cocked. “Why?”
“Just standing up for my little cousin,” I said.
“Little cousin? How much older are you?”
“Kevin!” Pen admonished from the kitchen. She poked her head around the corner. “You two play nice!”
“I’m 35,” I told him and his eyebrows shot up further. “So I’m… like…”
“Terra! Don’t you dare!” Pen shouted.
“Older than her, anyway,” I finished lamely.
“You don’t look 35.”
“What does 35 look like anyway?”
“Older? I don’t know.”
“Hey, Pen? Hold old is Aaron, anyway?” I called to her. She came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands.
“Oh, you should ask him that,” she said with a grin.
“I just want a ballpark,” I said.
“He’s mid-forties, I think,” she said and I blinked.
“Really? He doesn’t look it.”
“Then you’re perfect for each other,” she said, beaming. “Come help me put out the snacks, you two.”