Chapter 42, February

Hotch looked at the alarm clock on his night stand. 4:14. Garcia had called. They had a case and he was dressing quietly, trying not to wake Kahlan or the boys. He grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door. The team met at the BAU, had their initial meeting, and was on the jet by five. They were headed to New Mexico to help stop a spree killer who had killed six and wounded fourteen as he shot up a local movie theater the night before. The cops had no leads, but an anonymous call to 911, threatened more shooting the next day, so they asked for the BAU's help.

Hotch sat in the back of the jet, looking over the files on his tablet. Most everyone else was trying to catch a few winks because they hadn't gotten home from Ohio until late the night before. Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose. He was getting a headache from too little sleep and too much stress. He picked up his briefcase and placed it on the table in front of him. He undid the clasps and opened it, looking for a pen that was normally in his suit pocket. When he looked in the briefcase he froze.

Rossi, ever vigilant of his friend, noticed the look on Hotch's face. He wasn't sure what Hotch was seeing, but he knew it was something Hotch didn't expect to find. When Hotch didn't move for a couple of seconds, Rossi got worried and got up to check on him.

As Rossi walked towards him, Hotch looked up at him. Rossi wasn't sure what was in his friend's eyes, but he thought it looked a little like terror. "What the hell, Hotch?" Rossi asked as he quickened his pace. Everyone else on the silent jet heard the concern in Rossi's voice and sat up, trying to figure out what was going on. They all noticed Hotch's face. He was looking at his opened briefcase again.

Rossi got to him and looked in the opened case and a wide smile formed on the older man's face. "Are you ok, Aaron?"

Hotch blinked several times and looked at Rossi like he had just realized the man was standing next to him.

"What?" Morgan asked for the rest of the team.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Hotch asked Rossi in a low voice.

"I don't know. She's your wife. What else could it mean?"

"What?" JJ asked as the team got up to find out what was going on.

Hotch gave a nervous chuckle and reached into the case. By the time they all joined him; he showed them what had been put in it.

In his hand, was a clear baby bottle. On the inside, facing out was a picture of a sonogram, showing the little life that was beginning to grow inside Kahlan.

"Oh my God, Hotch. That's awesome, man. Congrats!" Morgan told him as Hotch handed the bottle to JJ.

"Wow! You didn't know?" Blake asked him.

Hotch's voice had apparently left him again; all he did was shake his head.

"This is great, Hotch," JJ told him as she handed the bottle to Reid.

"I would say by the size, that you're about two months along. Are you going to call her?" Reid asked.

Hotch looked at his watch.

"Not this early. She needs her sleep," Rossi told him. "When was the last time you looked in there?"

Hotch furrowed his brows, thinking. A look of panic struck him. "Actually, I don't think I even opened on the last case."

"She could have hid that in there over a week and a half ago?" Blake asked in a tone that told Hotch he could be in some serious hot water.

"Shit!" Hotch said aloud. Everyone gave him a weird looked. Hotch hardly ever cussed in front of them unless he was referring to an unsub, but that was still rare.

"Calm down. If she was worried about it, she would have gotten you to open it. Besides, you don't know. She could have put that in there last night," Rossi assured him with pat on his shoulder.

"Garcia's gonna flip!" JJ told him as she went back to her seat. Blake gave Hotch back the bottle, and everyone went back to their seats still smiling for their boss. They all started discussing what the child might look and be like.

Rossi sat down across from Hotch and closed the briefcase so he could see his friend's face. Hotch still wore a look of shock. "Calm down, Aaron. It's not like this is your first rodeo."

Hotch shook his head, and finally a smile spread across his face. "No it's not, but I wasn't expecting this." He leaned in close to Rossi so no one else could hear him. "It's not like we're some young couple, Dave."

Rossi laughed. "Well, apparently your bodies disagree." He looked at Hotch with a serious look. "You are ok with this, right?"

"Oh yeah," Hotch told him with a goofy grin.

XXX

One month later Hotch and Kahlan were discussing the baby. "We can put the boys together, and give the baby Jack's room," Hotch suggested.

"And make them resent the baby before it's even here?"

"Well, what do you propose?"

"I say we find a bigger place. We find a place that will keep us all happy."

Hotch considered it. His house had seemed big enough in the beginning, but he had to admit it had started getting a little cramped. "Alright. You find a few you want to look at, and we'll look at them together. It's about time we have a house that's 'ours' and not mine," he told her with a kiss and got up to leave for work.

They ended up buying one three streets down from where they were living. They didn't want the boys to have to change schools, and they loved the neighborhood anyway. Hotch and Kahlan had their offices on the main floor, the boys had their own rooms in the finished basement, and they even had a guest bedroom up stairs where the master suit and baby's rooms were. Within a month, the team and Kahlan's family all got together and they were moved. They decided to paint the baby's room white and they used a lot of primary colors as accents.

Hotch was having trouble putting the crib together and Kahlan laughed at him for not wanting to read the instructions. "It has been a while since I put one of these together," he defended himself.

Kahlan was sitting in the rocker they had already put together. "I told you we should have got one already assembled."

"Yeah, well, then you wouldn't have had the opportunity to laugh at me," he told her as he knelt by her and put his hand on her belly. She really wasn't showing yet, but he just couldn't stop himself from touching her anymore.

XXX

Three months later Hotch was able to go to the doctor's appointment with Kahlan. "So do you want to know what it is?" the female doctor asked as she angled the sonogram probe a different way.

Kahlan looked at Hotch questioningly. Hotch just shrugged. "I don't care if you don't care."

"Sure," Kahlan told her.

The doctor angled the probe again. "Congratulations, looks like you're going to have a little girl," she told them with a smile as she pressed a few buttons on the machine and handed Hotch a new picture of his daughter.

He stared at the picture lovingly.

"Oh, the poor child," Kahlan said with a grin. Hotch gave her a puzzled look. "Oh please. I feel sorry for her already. I can see it now, she'll never find someone brave enough to date her with you as her father and Wyatt and Jack for big brothers."

Hotch laughed. "Well, she'll just have to wait until she's twenty five."

XXX

Four months later Hotch stood next to Kahlan's bed holding a beautiful little girl wrapped in a pink blanket. She had dark hair and blue eyes, but he thought they were the blue that would change, not the blue of Kahlan's eyes. Tears were escaping his eyes as he looked at her, and she didn't know it yet, but she already had her daddy wrapped around her little finger. The whole team and two of Kahlan's sisters were there.

"So what's her name," Kahlan's sister, Donna, asked.

Hotch looked to Kahlan. They had discussed names, but they hadn't actually decided on one. Kahlan smiled, though, she thought she knew which one Hotch had already decided on. She nodded and let him tell them. "Angelique Josette," Hotch told them with a smile. "Daddy's little angel," he added softly with a kiss to his daughters cheek.

Rossi came up to look at the baby over Hotch's shoulder. "You guys did good," he told him as he patted Hotch on the back.

"You want to hold your Goddaughter?" Kahlan asked Rossi.

His face was priceless, and Hotch gently laid the little bundle in Rossi arms as he teared up. He smiled down at sleeping child. "I think she's going to be more of a 'Joey' then an 'Angel'," Dave told them as he lost his heart to the child in his arms.

Hotch went over and put his arm around Kahlan. They smiled at Rossi, knowing that their daughter couldn't ask for a better Godfather.

"How can you tell that already?" Reid asked him as if he was missing something.

"I just do," Rossi told him proudly. "Isn't that right, Bella?" he asked the baby and pulled her close to give her a kiss.

"Ohhhh, my turn," Garcia said as she bounced up and down lightly.

They all laughed and everyone got his and her turn at holding the newest member of the BAU family. Kahlan pulled Hotch down and gave him a kiss. "We couldn't ask for a more perfect family," she told him as she turned and looked at all of the wonderful people in her room.

"Nope," was all Hotch said with a smile. My thoughts exactly!

The End – 'The Revenant' is the next story in the Hotch/Kahlan line. Go read it and enjoy!