The Hotchner Household

Chapter 11: Another Kind of Exhausted.

Emily walked quietly out of the nursery trying not to make a single noise; it had taken her literally over three hours to get Isaac to sleep. It was almost six o'clock in the evening, and she was exhausted. She had not slept all night…scratch that, she had not slept well in almost two months. Emily had forgotten how difficult it was to have a newborn baby in the house. All her children were old enough to take care of themselves, even Alex at five years old was independent enough to take a shower on her own and go to bed and do other things without Emily's assistance. But now, things were quite different, Emily had discovered she was pregnant, and while the doctor believed because of her age there were a lot of risks and potential complications with her and the baby, and there was also the strong possibility of her having a child with Downs Syndrome, the couple decided to go ahead and keep their baby and love the child the same way they loved any of their other children.

So, the Hotchner couple began the journey and continued the pregnancy, and their lives had been turned upside down; life became more stressful and hectic and before they knew it, Emily ended up having an emergency C-section, putting her and her baby's life at risk. Thankfully, Emily and the baby made it through the surgery and their family couldn't be happier to have their new family member in their arms, safe and healthy. Isaac Aaron Hotchner was born December 25th at 12.04 am, weighing 7.8 pounds and 22 inches long. A very healthy and big baby for his situation, while the doctors had feared he would have Downs Syndrome, they found to their surprise, that Isaac had not developed the illness completely, and he was perfectly healthy, although, he would have some learning difficulties and a more difficult childhood. They mentioned he could be autistic, or have other illnesses while growing up, but for now, the Hotchners just had to take care of their child and give him a loving and safe home, so a few days later, Emily was released with her beautiful baby boy and their journey began.

Aaron had taken a paternity leave at work for two weeks to help Emily with the transition and to be with her and the kids. Unfortunately, time passed so quickly and before they knew it, two months had gone by and Aaron was back at work traveling a lot for the past month.

He was in Pennsylvania on a case, and Emily was home alone with three kids; usually her kids were awesome, and they helped her with whatever was needed at the house. Jack had been amazing help for her since he was old enough to drive, so he had been responsible for driving Isabella and Alex to school and picking them up after classes when Aaron was out of town. Emily was feeling a lot better now after the C-section, and she was driving and doing normal activities, but with a two month old now at home, she had enough on her hands that Jack's help was greatly appreciated. Isabella, of course, was being the good kid she always was, helping Emily with simple tasks like cleaning around the house and even helping with dinner and watching Isaac so Emily could make dinner, shower and other errands. The only one that was having a hard time accepting the new member of the family was Alexandra and while Emily had talked to her a hundred times, Alex was still struggling and acting out. Emily had really tried to understand her daughter's behavior because she was used to being the little one of the family…the spoiled one…and now she felt like the baby had taken her place in her mommy's and daddy's heart, and no matter how many times Emily and Aaron told her that was not the case, Alex still felt left behind. The doctors told Emily that it was normal for siblings to react that way when a new baby was brought home, and that Alex would get used to the baby and would learn to love and protect him. Emily really hoped that was the truth because it was making her loose her head with a two month old at home and a five-year-old throwing tantrums every day.

She quietly walked out of the nursery and headed downstairs. Emily was so tired she could hardly walk; she had literally gotten no sleep the night before since she was up all night with Isaac crying. Normally, Isaac was a calm and good baby; in fact, he hardly ever cried, and he normally slept a lot during the night and even during the day, except for his normal feeding times every three hours or so. But, other than that, he spent most of the time sleeping. However, he had gotten his shots the day before, and baby Isaac did not like that at all and had been very cranky since then, making it very difficult for his mother to keep her sanity. She headed downstairs to make dinner…Aaron was supposed to be home tonight and she couldn't be happier…she adored all of her kids, but they were starting to get on her nerves, especially Alex, and she was sure she would be close to having a nervous breakdown soon if she didn't get a break.

She was not sure if it was the lack of sleep combined with the fact that she was no longer working and she spent every single second of her time at home, and that drove her crazy…she had worked all her life, and she was having a very difficult time adapting to her new routine. Or, maybe it was the fact that in the last couple of months, she had hardly had any time alone with her husband, between Isaac's birth and Aaron going away on cases again (something she was very angry about), she had hardly had any time to sit down and talk to her best friend. Let alone to have intimacy; of course, they had not had sex since the baby was born, hell, they had not had sex since she was about seven months pregnant, not because she didn't want to because she was dying to be with him, but because she was having complications with the pregnancy and a lot of pain, so their intimacy was put aside for a while, then, after the birth of Isaac, her body had to recover from the brutality of giving birth and the C-section, and then quarantine, and after that, Aaron was gone for another case, so as horny as she was and as anxious as she was to be with her husband, it simply had to wait.

Emily walked into the living room where her five-year-old was watching television lost in the screen, although Emily had ordered her to go upstairs and do homework at least three times. The five-year-old was having none of that…Emily sighed and stopped in front of Alex trying not to lose her cool.

"Alex, I thought I asked you to go upstairs and do your homework?" Emily said in a serious voice. The little girl turned to her mother giving her the best puppy dog eyes look she had.

"But, mommy, just five more minutes, please." She cried.

"It's almost six in the afternoon, Alex, you still have to shower and have dinner. I need you upstairs doing homework now!" Emily said, more firmly.

"See, you don't love me anymore, you just love the baby!" Her daughter spat, stomping her foot on the floor.

"Enough, Alexandra…upstairs now!" Emily raised her voice tiredly, as she watched the five-year-old run upstairs crying and saying something about wanting to live in a different house. Emily closed her eyes and tried to breathe…she really needed Aaron home. She turned off the television and headed to the kitchen to make dinner.

An hour after dinner was ready, Emily really tried to make an effort, as tired as she was, to make a nice dinner for her family. She made Aaron's favorite meat lasagna and a garden salad. After dinner was ready, she cleaned the kitchen and proceeded to the living room since her house looked like a tornado had passed through it. Around eight o'clock, dinner was ready and the house was spotless, with all the children showered and homework finished. Now, she was just waiting for them to finish getting their stuff ready for school tomorrow and come have dinner. She made herself a cup of tea and decided to sit down in the living room for five minutes, taking a break, because it would take her kids at least fifteen minutes to come back downstairs. She's thinking she may be able to take a quick cat nap…she closed her eyes for five seconds and tried to relax. She had not been still for two seconds before the wailing from the baby monitor make her jump letting her know Isaac was awake again. She huffed angrily and got up from her comfortable position and headed upstairs to get her son. She walked into the nursery and picked up her crying baby trying to shush him tenderly.

"Come on, Isaac, you have to sleep for more than two hours…mommy is really tired and you must be, too…we've been up since yesterday." Emily said, rocking her son to stop the wailing, but she was not being very successful.

It was then that she heard the door opening and her husband walking into the house.

"Hello everyone, I'm home." He called happily. She heard the kids running downstairs to greet their dad while she changed Isaac's diaper.

"Oh boy, you got mommy a very nice present, didn't you…it's all over your clothes…I think you might need a shower, don't you?" She said sweetly, trying to stop her baby from going into another round of crying.

"Emily, baby, I'm home." Her husband called from the living room.

"Upstairs." She said, while she walked to the bathroom with the baby in her arms to fill his tub.

Aaron went straight to his son's room and walked in…he heard the water running in the bathroom then headed there. He walked in and watched his wife sitting in the closed toilet with their son in her arms, while she watched as the baby tub filled with warm water. From the look on her face, he could tell she was exhausted, he could see that the black bags were more than evident, and if he didn't know her better, he would say she was about to cry.

"Hello, beautiful." He said, walking toward her and leaning down to press a kiss on her lips; Emily didn't fail to notice him scrunching up his nose.

"It's not me, it's your son…he pooped all over the place." She said, annoyed and a lot more rudely than she had intended. Aaron laughed and leaned down to kiss his son as well.

"Are you being bad for mommy?" He asked, with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh, you have no idea…him and all your kids." Emily said, sounding like a whining teenager.

"What can I do to help you…let me help…do you want me to give him a shower?" Aaron asked tenderly.

"No, dinner is ready, can you make sure your other kids and you eat? I'll take care of him." Emily said, with a pout on her face. Aaron nodded and gave her another kiss before he headed downstairs to take care of feeding the big kids.

After Emily bathed Isaac, she took care of changing and breastfeeding him, then headed downstairs with the baby in her arms to get a bite or two herself. After dinner, they ordered the kids to go to bed; surprisingly, Isaac had fallen asleep in his mother's arms. The couple together put the baby back in the crib, then took care of getting the older children to sleep. Alex was still upset and hurt with Emily and refused to let Emily tuck her in and even asked her to leave the room and let her dad tuck her in for the night, something that almost left Emily in tears. She decided to let Aaron fix the situation and she headed to take a shower. She was not only exhausted, but she was smelly and overwhelmed between the lack of sleep and the new baby, and she was not paying attention to her other kids, and now her daughter was really resenting her for it and that truly broke her heart. She really wished she could split herself into twenty pieces and take care of everything at once. She had forgotten how exhausting it was to have a new baby in the house.

She came out of the shower and put her robe on; she lazily attempted to dry her hair and put on her night cream. She watched her reflection in the mirror realizing she looked like crap, and the dark circles beneath her eyes were so prominent she looked like a panda. She was done with her face cream when Aaron walked into the bathroom.

"Everyone is in bed and fast sleep." He said happily, looking at his wife.

"That's good, thanks for all your help tonight." She said tiredly, looking away.

"Of course, are you okay, baby?" He asked, knowing all of her facial expressions and walking closer to her.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just…" But her eyes filled with tears, and she was unable to utter anymore words. Aaron pulled her into his arms and hugged her really tightly to him.

"Hey, what's going on, sweetheart?" He asked, tenderly wiping her eyes and holding her face in his hands.

"Nothing, I'm just tired, I think, and emotional; Isaac has been crying nonstop since yesterday, and your daughter hates me…and... and..." She cried.

"Sweetheart, Alex doesn't hate you, she's just jealous, and she's a kid, she doesn't mean what she says." He said tenderly, holding her in his arms.

"I know, but I want to be there for her, and it's been so hard the last few days. Isaac has been so cranky after the shots, and I'm really trying…and…and…" But, she shook with her own tears, and Aaron pulled her closer to him again and held her until he felt her begin to calm down.

"Shhh, everything is fine, you just need some sleep. I'm here now, my love, everything is going to be fine." He said, rubbing circles on her back as her sobs subsided. She totally felt like an idiot crying for nothing…damn, stupid hormones.

He finally pulled away some, but he still held her in his arms, kissing her lips softly.

"I really missed you." She said in a whisper.

"I really missed you, too, baby." He said, kissing her lips again and letting the kiss turn passionate. God, it felt so good to kiss her like this. It had been months since he had been allowed to touch his wife, something he was sure was a cruel and unusual kind of punishment. Their kisses intensified, and he felt her whimper into his mouth making him smile.

"I think I know what you need, honey." He said, picking her up and carrying her to the bed. He spread her robe open and started trailing wet kisses on her neck and collarbone, then down to her breast, making Emily moan at the contact of his lips on her warm skin.

"Aaron." She whispered, gently running her hands through his short hair. He smiled and unbuttoned his shirt spreading it open and tossing it on the floor. He was hard as a rock already…they had not made love in four months, and he was about to have an anxiety attack soon if he did not ravage his wife.

They kept kissing while Emily's hands moved to undo his belt and pull down his pants to his ankles. Thankfully, the door was locked and all the kids were in their respective rooms and sleeping, even the smallest member of the family, and while Aaron was sure that would only last for a few hours, it would be enough to do to his wife all the sinful things he wanted to do. He quickly stepped out of his shoes and removed his pants along with his boxers.

He joined his wife in bed and they both got comfortable beneath the covers, his mouth assaulting her fiercely, while his hands stroked her breasts and roamed all over her gorgeous body. God, he was lucky, even after the birth of their third child, she hardly had any fat left, and her figure was still breathtaking.

He kept kissing down her body through her navel and down between her thighs until he reached her hot, wet center, smelling her juices that were coming from center. Spreading her legs, he got comfortable between her thighs and started licking at her slit, making her moan a little more loudly than she had intended, but she couldn't stop herself…it had been so long, and she was burning inside. He kept licking at her slit, running his tongue up and down, then he added a finger inside her and adding pressure to her clit, causing her to buck and arch against him. He added a second finger and sped up his movements inside her as he pulled her bundle of nerves into his mouth biting gently and sending her over the edge, screaming his name softly and arching her back as her first orgasm hit her. After he drank all of her juices, he returned to her again kissing up her entire body again until he was face to face with her again.

Their lips met again in a very hot and passionate kiss, Emily frantically grabbed his hard member and placed him at her entrance, begging him to make love to her. He slid inside her in a rough thrust causing her to moan loudly.

"Oh God, Aaron." She screamed when he filled her and wrapped her legs around his waist as he started thrusting in and out of her.

"Oh baby, you feel so good…so damn good." Aaron grunted in her ear. He sped up his thrusts inside his wife as he watched her climax a second time.

His rough and calloused shooting fingers moved in between her thighs stroking her clit as he sped his thrusts even more almost slamming into her. He felt surges building from his groin and it felt like his entire body was going to explode into Emily when he let himself go, if he could even hold himself back it had been so long since he had made love with Emily.

"Oh God, Aaron, I'm going to come again." Emily screamed in his ear.

"Come for me, sweetheart, that's it, come for me." Aaron, too, felt his orgasms build up and they both shared a very intense orgasm. A few minutes later, he laid there inside her as their erratic breathing evened out. He kept trailing wet kisses along her neck and her jaw. Then he captured her mouth in a sweet passionate kiss.

"I love you, sweetheart." He whispered tenderly. Emily smiled and kissed him back.

"I love you, too." He slowly pulled out of her and brought her into his arms as they both rested on the mattress.

"I really missed you, you know." Emily pouted, after a long pause.

"I missed you, too, sweetie, but I'm home and there won't be anymore traveling, I promise you. From now on, I'll be home every day by six to help you with the kids." He promised.

"You know I can always go back to work and you can stay here with the kids." Emily teased, Aaron laughed kissing her nose.

"You know. I think we have amazing kids, and Isaac is just wow! He is getting so big." Aaron said, with a huge grin on his face.

"That he is, he eats so much is insane he is already using size for a six month old." Emily said, getting comfortable in her husband's arms.

"Thank you, baby, for giving us such amazing and beautiful kids, I'm the luckiest man on earth." He leaned down and kissed her again. Emily kissed him back lazily, smiling, feeling sleep overtaking take her.

She was so exhausted, it was insane, but this was a different kind of exhausted it was like being a little buzzed after a few glasses of wine, a good kind of exhausted. After an amazing session of lovemaking kind of exhausted. Aaron saw her sleeping face, and it was clear to him that she was fighting sleep.

"Go to sleep, baby, I'm here now and everything is all better." Aaron said, kissing her forehead. Emily smiled softly and closed her eyes snuggling closer to her husband contently, he felt so good; she felt her body start to drift off to a peaceful slumber, she was almost there when the crying form the monitor brought her back from her peaceful place.

She grunted and cried annoyingly against her husband chest, this couldn't be happening. Not now when she was about to finally get some decent sleep, she huffed angrily and she was about to get up from the bed when Aaron gently pushed her back against the pillows.

"It's okay, go back to sleep, I got him." He said softly, sitting in the bed as Emily opened her eyes tiredly.

"Are you sure, I can get him, Aaron, it's okay." She said, with sleepy eyes.

"Shh, go back to sleep, he is my son, too, and I had hardly spent time with him, sleep, baby it's okay, I'm home now, you can relax and rest." He said, sweetly kissing her lips and watching her close her eyes again.

He put on his boxers and grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt and headed out of the room. Emily was already out like a light, and he sighed, he knew for her to fall asleep that fast she must ne exhausted. He promised he would take care of the baby all night and get up early in the morning to make breakfast for her and surprise her in bed before she woke up.

He walked into the nursery slowly and leaned down the crib where his son was emitting soft cries. The minute he saw his father he stop his crying and smiled widely at Aaron.

"Hello, my beautiful boy, aren't you planning on sleeping tonight? You know you wore mommy out." He said, picking him up, with the baby smiling at him, and he brought his fist into his mouth as his dad rocked him in his arms.

"You have to be nicer to mommy and be good for her...she works too hard and she loves you and your siblings so much…but mommy needs to rest, too, so she can keep being our super hero." He spoke to Isaac while he sucked on his fist

"Are you hungry, is that why you're eating your own hand." Aaron teased holding his beautiful baby boy and rocking him gently smiling at him, as the boy gurgled and smiled back.

"Lets go downstairs to make you a bottle of formula…I am afraid mommy's bubbies are closed for the night." He said, walking out of the room with the baby in his arms.

Emily heard the entire one-sided conversation through the monitor and couldn't help the big grin that spread across her face; she had the best husband in the world, and she couldn't be luckier that he was home. She peacefully fell back sleep knowing she was not alone anymore and everything would be all right.