Thank you everybody! To all the lovely readers and wonderful reviewers! Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed this story!

And now to the last and final part...yes, it's a long one, didn't intend for it to be but, it did!

Enjoy!

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Criminal Minds

Meatball Hoagie and a Guide book to the Galaxy

Part 3

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When the team saw the same book, they broke out in raucous laughter!

Hotch and Emily exchanged reddened looks, she leaned over, "Now you know."

He nodded, "Yeah. I've always wanted to read this book too." He smiled, dimples deepen.

At this point, Jack began to fuss and yawned. He leaned over to Emily and tugged on her and held his hands out.

Hotch saw his gesture and began to unbuckle his high chair.

But Jack shook his head, and leaned over to Emily.

"Oh...you want to come over and sit with Emmi, huh?"

"Mmm mmmm" Jack cried out and he rubbed his eyes as he held his hands out to her.

"He's sleepy." Hotch said.

"I'll hold him," Emily offered as she was pulling him out of the high chair and he eagerly came to her and hugged her neck.

"You seem to have a touch with kids." Hotch observed.

Emily smiled, "I love children."

"You'll make a great mother." He agreed as he watched Jack had lay his head on her shoulder, thumb in his mouth as he slowly closed his eyes.

Emily was patting gently on his back while she watched the team, Hotch was mostly watching her with Jack.

"Okay, okay..." Garcia waved at them, "JJ is next, let's see who her secret er...gifter...whatever you call it," She waved her hands, "Just give it to him...her."

JJ stood up, "Well, it's not hard to guess as there's only two left without gifts," she handed Spencer her gift. "Here you go, Merry Christmas, Spence."

It was in a very large gift bag. When he opened his gift, it was leather satchel and buckle bag.

The team woo'ed and ahh'ed over it. "That is gorgeous, JJ!" Emily nodding at the gift.

She nodded, "Well, he has been eyeing on it for a while, I saw him gazing at it in a magazine, so I ordered it." She shrugged.

"Thanks, JJ." Reid looked up from the satchel bag he was lovingly touching it. "I really like it, I've always wanted one of this." He looked genuinely touched.

"Really?" JJ smiled. "Glad you like it."

He shook his head seriously, "No...I love it!" He smiled at her gratefully.

She held her drink to him and they shared at moment. He shyly returned the gesture.

Garcia held out a bag and said, "Well, and now to my Secret Santa; Jason Gideon who is the most difficult person to shop for!" She shook her head for emphasis. "I have to confess to Emily and JJ that when we went shopping today, I had gotten Gideon's gift already." JJ and Emily looked at each other in surprise but laughed. Garcia continued, "But I did enjoyed our outing, nonetheless. It's what makes our team all the more closer."

"Will you just hand me my gift?" Gideon held out his hand.

Garcia gave him a dark look, "But I'm not done, Gideon, this is a very special gift and I want everyone to know how much special it meant to me for you."

Gideon smiled, "Are you proposing to me, Penelope?"

Blushing and shocked, "Oh...no, I'm not! I'm just..."

The others began to jostle her, "Come on, Pen...give him his gift!" Hotch urged her.

"Quit stalling."

"Give it to him, mamma!"

Frowning and feeling hurt, she slowing leaned over and handed the large gift bag, "Fine, fine, you unfeeling people. Although I love you all, here you are, Gideon, Merry Christmas." She sat down.

JJ laughed as she reached over and gave Penelope a hug, "You're doing wonderful, you crazy woman."

"I'm so not appreciated."

"Oh yes, you are." JJ laughed as she squeezed her shoulders before she released her and looked over at Gideon.

He was unwrapping a rather large box, "Oh wow, this is lovely, Garcia." He held it up.

The team ooh'ed again; it was a dark blue knitted sweater.

"Did you make it yourself?" Gideon turned to her with admiration.

Garcia nodded as she wriggled her fingers, "These ten little fellas did the work." She smiled.

"I'm very touched, Penelope. I loved home-made sweaters the best." He smiled as he bunched it to himself, "And if I'm not mistaken, it's Alpaca?"

Garcia nodded enthusiastically, "Right on, Gideon, the softest."

He nodded, "This is wonderful, the best Christmas present, thank you."

"Actually, there is one more thing in the bag." She pointed.

Gideon raised his brow, "More?" As he dug into the bag and took a box out, "Oh, I'm not expecting this..."

She grinned, "Surprise!"

Jason nodded, "Fountain pen, you spot my weakness and favorite." He turned to her, "I'm truly touched, Penelope, thank you." He nodded at her gratefully.

"You're ever so welcome." She nodded and she took a deep breath. "Now, it's young Dr. Reid's turn." She waved a hand at him.

Reid stood up, "Um, being that, well, as you know, the only one who's missing the gift is Derek..."

Morgan leaned in, "Just give me the present, boy!" He held out his hand.

They laughed at him.

Reid turned red, "Yeah, er, right...not yet. I just want to thank everyone, especially Gideon for setting up this wonderful restaurant and Garcia for being a wonderful hostess and everyone here, right now; you're my team and my family." He looked at them individually and they were smiling back at him.

"And you're stalling, young man!" Derek teased him again. "My present...hand it over." He smiled widely. "Unless you've forgotten?"

Reid looked hurt, "Er...no...not at all, Derek, I have it with me, sort of."

Morgan frowned, "What do you mean sort of? Either you have it here or you don't."

"I have your present, Morgan. I just want to add..."

"Okay kid, I think we get the picture, I'm having a great time, and so is everyone." Morgan looked at everyone around the room, they nodded.

Reid's brows furrowed as he pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and handed to Morgan, "Merry Christmas, Derek." He then sat down.

The older agent gave Reid a slight odd look before he opened it, "This had better not be just a Christmas card, Reid."

It was a Christmas card and something else; a plane ticket to Chicago.

Morgan looked up, "What's this?"

Reid produced another plane ticket, and two more tickets to the Chicago Red Bulls and showed it to him, "We're going to see your favorite basketball team tomorrow." He shrugged nonchalantly.

In shock, Morgan was speechless as he looked around, in fact the whole group was speechless.

Soon Derek recovered, "Reid, these are floor seats, how in the world did you score them?"

"A friend of mine owes me a favor." He said softly. "Unless you'd like to take Jeannie to the game?" He looked at Derek's girlfriend.

Jeanne shook her head, "Oh no, I'm not into basketball, you boys knock yourselves off. I actually have another engagement to attend tomorrow." She smiled apologetically at Derek. "Have fun."

Morgan frowning, "Yeah...yeah, you're right, your brother's Christmas party." He turned to look at her.

Jeanne smiled and patted his hand, "Go, Derek. Enjoy the game with Reid. Trust me, the party will bore you. I might not even stay long anyways." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

Morgan nodded, and turned to Reid, "Well kid, shall we?" They began to stand up. He looked around them. "Everybody, this is the best Christmas party, and Penelope, you're the best hostess with the 'mostess'."He grinned as everyone laughed at his pun. "And Gideon, the food is great, I couldn't have asked for more." He raised his glass and toasted to Gideon, "To the host, and hostess of the best team."

The team stood up and together they toasted their glasses and as one they drank happily.

"Merry Christmas!" They uttered loudly.

As they moved to the lobby of the restaurant, Morgan ordered a cab for Jeannie and waved her goodnight as they waited or another for himself and Reid, who hugged the rest before they rushed out when it finally arrived, headed to the airport.

Gideon left, giving JJ and Garcia a ride as they lived in the northern district of the town.

Emily was walking with Hotch to the car still holding the slumbering Jack. Hotch had opened the back door to let her place the toddler into the car seat.

When she straighten from the within the back, she found Hotch standing close to her.

"Hotch, are you okay to drive home?" Emily asked worriedly as she looked up at him.

He continued to watch her for a moment before he nodded, "Yeah I'm fine." He gripped this door firmly, trapping her.

Unconvinced, "Maybe I should drive you back to your house, I can call a cab and take me back here." She suggested.

Hotch shook his head, "Prentiss, I'm fi..ne." He slurred.

Emily gave him the look, "That's it. Give me the keys." She held out her hand.

He huffed out a breath, and was about to shake his head when she quickly snatched the keys from his hand. "How did you do that?" He looked at his hand and saw it was empty. And looked at her, she was holding the keys and grinning. He frowned, "That's why no one likes you...much, Prentiss."

She shook her head, "Liar. Everyone likes me, no...everyone loves me."

He blew out an exasperated breath, "Not me, I'm your boss."

She tilted her head, "You're not making any sense."

He shook his head slightly as he lowered, "Emily, I don't think you understand..." Without another word, he closed the gap and kissed her.

Shocked, she responded as she closed her eyes. He tasted dessert with a hint of Scotch from earlier; she tried to inhale deeply, tasting more of him.

She reached up and touched his neck as he brought his arms around her and wrapped her close.

Just as suddenly as they embraced and kissed, they separated quickly.

"This is a...mistake." He licked his lips.

She nodded followed his movement, "Yes, yeah. It is." She looked away. "I'd better take you home." She began to walk but he grabbed her arm, she looked up, "Don't, Hotch."

"Emily, I'm sorry." He looked up and stared at her, "I want to tell you I've been in l..." just then his cell phone buzzed. Startling both of them as he released her arm quickly.

"Hotchner," he answered curtly. "Haley, yes I'm on my way home...Emily's driving, we'll be fine, we'll be there in half an hour. Bye." He placed his phone back into his pocket.

"We better get going." Emily nodded as she quickly walked away and moved to the driver side.

Hotch sighed and opened the passenger's door and climbed in.

Halfway near his home, Emily called for a cab.

Hotch watched her while she drove, "Say something."

She turned slightly to him, "What do you want me to say?"

He shrugged, "Anything, us. I mean, your boss just mauled you." He gave a crooked smile.

She shook her head, "You didn't maul me, Hotch. If you're worried about harassment, I'm not filing charges. And besides, it was reciprocated."

He was quiet before he spoke again, "Reciprocated?"

She nodded, "Yes, I liked it." She gave a one shoulder shrug. "I think you know what I mean."

He turned away from her to stare out the window for a while before he turned back to look at her again, "Wait a minute, you know?" He leaned closer to her, "What're you talking about?"

She leaned away from him, "Hotch, I'm driving," She pointed to the road before her. "And, just for the record, and not to sound cliché, we're profilers, remember?"

He raised his brow, "Yeah, we are. For how long?"

She shrugged again, "For a while."

"That's not an answer." He shook his head.

She smiled, "It is."

"That is the lamest answer, it's a standard cop out answer."

She sighed before she laughed, "Okay, okay, to be honest, it happened when we...you, Gideon, and I went to that conference in DC a month ago."

"Uh...what a coincedence." He muttered.

"What?"She turned to him quickly, "Wait a minute, you too?"

He stared ahead of him and took a deep breath before he finally nodded. "Yes."

She was silent, thinking. "Hotch, you're married, and you're my boss."

"I know, I'm well aware of it."

"I think we have to set some kind of parameter, a boundary."

He glanced at her before he nodded, "Agreed. We cannot do what we did earlier again."

She hesitated, "Agreed."

They had reached his house, she pulled up next to his SUV, and pressed the brake pedal.

"There's something I need to tell you..." She hesitated when Haley came out.

Hotch looked at her before he quickly climbed out of the passenger's seat and turned to the back seat and removed Jack out of the car seat.

Emily came out of the driver's side.

"Hi, Emily." Haley smiled at her, wrapping her rope tightly around her waist. "Thanks for bringing my boys home." She hugged her unexpectedly.

Emily was certainly not expecting the gesture and patted Haley's back awkwardly, "Oh, it's no problem, Mrs. Hotchner."

As they separated, Haley chuckled, "Please, call me Haley."

Hotch nodded at Haley, "I'll settle him to his room." He then left without looking back.

Emily nodded, "Okay, thanks Haley." She smiled.

"It's kinda strange, Aaron usually can hold his liquor." She watched him entering the house.

"Oh?" Emily gave her a puzzled look.

Haley nodded, "He usually has a one Scotch and drinks iced water the rest of the night, especially when he has Jack with him."

Emily frowned, "Huh, imagine that." She mumbled. "I guess he knew one of us would be able to drive him home."

Haley turned to face her and smiled, "Yes, that's it. Did you guys have a great time?"

Emily nodded, "Oh, we did, sorry we miss you."

Haley shrugged, "I just needed some alone time."

"Oh yeah, it's nice of Hotch to take Jack with him and let you have your own time."

Haley nodded, "Yes, it is. I rarely have that. Aaron's always so busy."

Emily felt bad for her, "Well, if you want, on weekends you wanted some mom time, call me and I'll be glad to take Jack out of your hands for the day."

Haley beamed, "Oh...I couldn't do that, you guys worked so hard through the week."

Emily shook her head, "It's no problem, Haley. I insists. I love kids, and I really don't mind keeping Jack at all, it will give you and Hotch some weekend date nights. Just think about it."

Haley nodded contemplatively, "I'll talk to Aaron. Thank you for the offer, Emily." They noticed Hotch coming out of the house, approaching them.

Haley smiled at Emily, "Well, good night Emily, and thank you for getting the boys home again. Bye." She left Hotch and Emily by themselves as she headed to the house and closed the door.

Hotch, "I'll stay till the cab arrives, Emily."

She shook her head, "There's no need, it's late, you go ahead and get some sleep."

He shook his head as well, "I'll feel better."

She shrugged, "Okay."

They stood side by side in silence but the back of their hands subtly touched; knuckles to knuckles, fingers to fingers. Emily felt her heart jumping out of her chest!

"Hotch, I don't know if I can do this parameter..." she whispered.

"Yes, you can, I can too. Just remember, we're profilers, the team will see through us."

She nodded and took a deep breath, "You're right, they can spot us. Parameter and boundary, oh hell, thick ones."

Hotch softly chuckled.

"It's not funny." Emily panicked. Just then it dawned on her...

"You fibbed!" She turned face him, her eyes were wide with shock.

"What're you talking about?"

"You were not and have never been in any shape or form drunk this entire evening at all." Her eyes were sparking anger.

His dimples deepening, "You assumed." He shrugged.

"You're lucky your wife's in the house."

"Our bedroom is on the other side, it faces the backyard." He watched her.

She frowned, "Why?"

"I just want to spend more time with you." He owed.

Stunned by his honesty, she could only replied, "Oh."

Before either one could say anymore, the cab arrived and stopped in front of them.

Emily sighed as she walked to it, "Good night, Hotch." She waved at him as she opened the door.

"Hey, Prentiss," he called out.

She looked at him, "Yeah?"

"You owe me a Meatball hoagie."

She frowned, "What?"

"You took over fifteen minutes to change Jack's diapers." He grinned.

"Are you serious?"

He nodded, "I'm looking forward to it at Frank's deli. Monday lunch?"

She shook her head, "A deal's a deal, Monday at Frank's. Goodnight Hotch, I had a great time at the party." She climbed into the back seat of the cab and closed the door.

"Good night, Prentiss, me too." He waved at her before he watched the cab drove off. "Parameters...seriously?" He shook his head and looked up and saw a shooting star pass by, "I need to hitch that ride to the Galaxy, Douglas...would have take that lovely someone with me now." He walked towards his house thinking of Emily as he grinned uncharacteristically.

…...

The End...and Merry Christmas!

.10th Muse.