FicWad

A Werewolf's Mate 2:
A Romantic Tale
Sean & JJ

“There is a serial killer in New York, crime fighters,” Garcia announced. The whole team was gathered around the table in what she had termed the round table room.
It was nearly 2 years later since Hotch had had to reveal that he was a werewolf to the team because he'd had to turn Morgan into one in order to save his life. Since that day though the team had been nothing but supportive and the same cohesive unit they had always been, although those that weren't werewolves worried about Morgan, Hotch and Reid a lot less than they had previously because they now knew that while they could be killed it was a lot harder to do so since they healed almost instantly or at least in a few hours from most wounds.
The job could be dangerous and while they would always worry some about each other that worry was lessened considerably for the three members of the team who were now werewolves.
Also Morgan and Garcia had been married for a year and six months and PG was now pregnant with their first two children and she was due to give birth any day now. The wedding had been quite lovely as David Rossi had had it in his backyard and paid for it financially, even though Morgan and Garcia had protested, which had done no good as Rossi had refused to give in to them saying he was more then happy to do it and he had plenty of money.
Garcia continued to give them the details while everybody studied the screen and also their file folders that had been placed in front of each of them.
Finally though the briefing was finished and Hotch nodded as Garcia sat down as she couldn't stand on her feet very long these days, well not without her back aching or her feet throbbing as she was eating for three now since she was carrying twins.
“So New York,” Spencer mused as he hadn't moved from where he was sitting beside Hotch.
“Yes, and if we have a little time I would like to introduce you to Sean, who knows about you of course, but he's never had a chance to meet you since we are always so busy.”
“I've been looking forward to meeting him,” Spencer admitted. “I'm surprised that we haven't taken the time to meet each other before now.”
“Well, Sean knows that mated couples need a great deal of time by themselves for at least the first year as it solidifies the bond and since we don't have as much free time as most mated couples he knew that introducing himself right after we had gotten together wasn't a good idea. Besides, Sean and I do tend to argue quite a bit and you probably would have attacked him if he had come and seen us right after you were turned into a werewolf.”
“The two of you arguing?” Spencer asked teasingly and Hotch actually laughed a little.
“Well, we are brothers and he's about six years younger than I am so I suppose it's understandable,” Hotch said. “We were never especially close as children and I think my parents actually liked it that way as they didn't think that siblings should be close friends and the large age difference helped with that. Sure I'll always be there if Sean needs me, but we fought like cats and dogs when we were younger and the last time I actually saw him was about seven or eight years ago. We've kept in touch over the years through emails and phone calls but we haven't actually seen each other in quite a long time.”
“That's sad,” Spencer said. “I'm sure if I've had a sibling I would have been extremely close to them and would have wanted to do more than just keep in contact once we were grown. I wouldn't have wanted to see them at least a few times a year, if we were working in different cities to check up on them to make sure they were doing well.”
“You grew up in a very different type of household then I did as you know,” Hotch told Spencer gently, “despite your father's abandonment and your mother being so ill. You grew up being loved by your mother at least and I guarantee you that neither Sean or myself were really loved by our parents at all as we were just a way to continue the family bloodline.”
“The proverbial heir and a spare,” Spencer said looking sad.
“Exactly and it's one reason I was so glad to leave home to go to college and I never went back except for very short visits and that was more out of a sense of family obligation then anything else. The only thing I was sorry for was to have to leave Sean behind, but I didn't really have any choice, even if we weren't close I still loved him. Our parents weren't exactly the nurturing types as you know, neither one of them,” Hotch said with a shrug. “I came to grips with my past and my family a long time ago, which is why I never go back to visit my mother anymore, not even for the holiday. I could've spent some of those holidays with Sean I suppose, but for awhile he didn't want anything to do with anybody in his family as he wanted to find his own way and it's only in the last few years that we've reestablished contact and gotten closer.”
Spencer nodded looking sad but then he rose from his chair and said, “I'm just going to go get my things and then it will be time to head to the plane.”
Everybody on the team kept a go bag packed and in the trunk of their car in case they had to leave in a hurry, which happened about every week in their job and sometimes they solve several cases in just a few days.
“I'll get yours as well from your office while I'm there,” Spencer said.
Hotch nodded his thanks and also rose from his chair heading for the door of the round table room.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“Sean, I would like you to meet my mate Dr. Spencer Reid,” Hotch introduced. It was several days later and the team was getting close to catching their current unsub, but they had to eat and since it was dinnertime and they had put in a long day already, interviewing witnesses, examining the current crime scene, and doing what they did best it had been decided that they would break for a meal and Sean had been invited along, so he could spend sometime with his brother and also get to know the team and his brother's mate.
“It's nice to meet you,” Reid said not extending his hand but giving the other man a smile and a wink. Reid didn't believe in shaking hands even though it was a normal social interaction, especially when meeting someone knew for the first time.
“Well, it's nice to finally meet you,” Sean said returning the smile not seeming to take offense that Reid had refused to shake hands. “Aaron has told me a lot about you in his emails.”
“Did he?” Reid said looking more amused then embarrassed, as he knew Hotch was discreet and wouldn't have told his brother anything to embarrassing or personal.
“Oh yes, he told me how you are a genius, with an IQ of 187 can read 20,000 words a minute and have a eidetic memory. Hes he told me how ever since you joined the team they have solve more cases then ever before,” Sean said looking a little disbelieving.
“It's all that obscure that information he knows,” Hotch said seeing his mate start to turn a little red with embarrassment. “Why don't we go meet the others,” Hotch added placing a hand on Reid's arm affectionately.
Sean noticed the gesture immediately and also the look of utter adoration that the younger man shot his brother and thought that they are definitely dopily in love and I'd never thought I'd see the day that my brother truly fell in love. Sean had known that his brother marrying Haley who it was clear wasn't his mate was a bad idea, but he and Aaron had never been close and he well knew that his brother would never listen to him and so he had kept his advice to himself.
The three of them were meeting the whole team at a very nice restaurant instead of some place like Denny's or Burger King. It really didn't happen too often that the whole team got to sit back and relax at some semi-nice place during a case as they were usually always eating on the go or while they were working.
“We have a private room,” Spencer explained to Sean who nodded.
“Besides, our party was so large that there was really no room for us out in the main restaurant,” Hotch added. “This place really isn't set up for large groups.”
“Why choose it then?” Sean asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Because we all wanted somewhere that we didn't normally eat when we were working a case,” Reid explained. “We usually live on food from places like McDonald's or Burger King and occasionally places like Denny's. We tend to eat on the go or while we're working as we don't normally take time to enjoy a leisurely meal.”
Sean winced at that, but nodded because it made sense. He knew his brother was a workaholic and didn't like to take long breaks while they were trying to catch the bad guy, not even necessary ones to refuel or sleep and since he was in charge of the team the rest of them had to go along with it as well. Of course, from what he knew they were all dedicated to catching the bad guys and therefore if that meant going without a meal or eating fast food then that's what they did until the bad guy was caught.
He was a chef so he very rarely ate fast food as he preferred to cook his own meals or at least eat at a decent restaurant and he didn't usually go to places like Burger King or other such places. He supposed the food is such places was good considering the time it took to cook it and the quality of it, and he knew a lot of people didn't have time to really enjoy a leisurely meal, but it went against his grain to eat out at such places unless absolutely necessary.
“Here we are,” Hotch said, as he pulled into a parking spot in front of where they were meeting the team for a nice dinner.
Hotch shut off the engine and the three of them exited the SUV Hotch making sure to lock the doors before he entered the restaurant holding the door open for his mate and his brother before following the two of them.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Sean blinked and blinked again as his eyes started to change to those of the wolf as the most enticing scent he had ever smelled hit his nostrils. The smell was fresh strawberries, with a hint of baby powder and sex.
Sean struggled to get control of himself, as his brother and his mate walked over to the people that were waiting. He followed, although his mind as well as his sense of smell was still reeling, as that scent was so enticing that he was having trouble not just attacking whoever it was emanating from.
Hotch who was paying no attention to his brother didn't notice Sean's distraction and neither did Reid as the two of them walked over to their teammates Sean following.
“Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my younger brother Sean. He's a chef here in New York. Sean this is my team, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, although you can call her JJ, Emily Prentiss, and Derek Morgan. The only member of our team that isn't here is our technical analyst Penelope Garcia Morgan, although you'll have to come to Virginia if you to want to meet her.”
“It's nice to meet you, Sean,” Rossi said shaking the man's hand which was returned.
“It's nice to meet you to, Agent Rossi,” Sean said politely.
“Please call me Dave, there's no need to be so formal,” Rossi told the younger man with a wink.
The scent of another werewolf hit his nostrils and Sean stiffened, but Hotch shot him a look that said 'I'll explain later.' His brother had never told him that there was another werewolf on the team, but then you did not talk about that kind of thing over email or an open phone line since neither was very secure.
The rest of the team shook hands with Sean and politely greeted him and Sean's nose informed him that Morgan was the werewolf he had been smelling a second ago. He and Morgan greeted each other politely and after that JJ came forward to shake his hand and Sean knew immediately that this was his mate.
He knew that a wolf found their mate due to their sense of smell, as just one person would smell irresistible to them and make them want to have sex with them immediately. He had never really expected to discover his mate, which wasn't to say that he hadn't dated quite frequently or had sex on a regular basis, for he was a man after all, but none of it had really meant anything to him, because he had subconsciously been searching for the one person that was meant for him. He remembered as a child how his parents had always preached to them about marrying someone from a good werewolf family and not worrying about finding your mate, but unlike his brother he was a romantic at heart and had always dreamed about finding the person that was meant for him, just never believed it would actually happen.
Once the introductions were over they all sat down at the long table that fit all of them with room left over. Sean for his part made sure to sit across from JJ, although he knew that her scent would drive him crazy. He had to find a way to introduce himself and ask her for a date, the only problem being was that she lived in Virginia and he lived here. He knew that since he had met Jennifer Jareau though that he wouldn't be able to live without her and so he made a very fast decision that he was going to have to move to Virginia just to be near her. He had been fiddling with the idea of starting his own restaurant for several years anyway, but he know he needed an investor or a partner as he knew he didn't have enough capital in order to do that by himself.
“So where do you work?” asked JJ as she tried not to blush at her boss's handsome brother. She hadn't been this attracted to a man since Will who had left her without a second thought with a young son to raise as he didn't believe that Henry was his and so refused to pay child support. She could have taken him to court, but had decided against it, which was more of her pride talking then anything else, well that and it would have been a lot of trouble and expense. She doubted very much that somebody as handsome as Sean Hotchner would be interested in a woman who already had a young son with another man. Besides, which, they lived in two totally different cities that were hundreds of miles apart which didn't make any sort of relationship very practical and she had already tried that with Will.
There were few men that would be willing to take on another man's child and treat them like their own and she loved her son to much to get involved with a man that would at the very least resent him and at worst abuse him.
“At the inclusive restaurant Buvette,” Sean said, as he gazed at JJ seeming unable to take his eyes off her.
Hotch who had noticed his brother's preoccupation shot a look at his mate who had also noticed that his mate's brother seemed to be very taken with their media liaison. The two of them guessed immediately what had happened and their eyes communicated their thoughts silently. 'What are the odds?'
The rest of the team also noticed, but just thought that Sean was attracted to JJ, which wasn't all that unusual since she was an attractive woman that was around his age and men as well as teenagers were attracted to her all the time. Of course, they all know that JJ was no easy mark and Sean was going to have to prove himself before JJ let him get near because she had a son to think of and she had been hurt recently in the past.
Of course, the fact that they lived in two different cities that were hundreds of miles apart was a problem too, but Hotch for one was confident that Sean at least would be willing to work that out and would move if he had to in order to be with his mate.
There's no way that JJ would rush and anything though because she would have to make sure that Sean was willing to accept Henry before she got involved since her son was the most important person in her life which was as it should be he knew, but didn't do much for her love life since most men went running away when they found out she already had a kid.
Hotch had faith and his brother though and knew that he loved children. He knew that Sean often volunteered at a shelter for battered women and children as a cook and considering where they had come from, well, that was a miracle as they parents weren't exactly the charitable type.
“So do you have a boyfriend back in Virginia?” asked Sean not exactly being subtle in his questioning. Hotch nearly chuckled at the question, but also realized that Sean was working on a short time constraint because once this unsub was caught they would be leaving and Sean had to work fast before that happened.
“Not at the moment no,” JJ admitted. “Will and I broke up over two years ago and that kind of soured me to get into another one right away. Besides, I'm always so busy I'm surprised I have time to breathe much less date a guy.”
“LaMontagne was a right bastard, leaving you in the lurch so you have to take care of Henry all by yourself,” Morgan snorted.
“Henry?” asked Sean.
“My son,” JJ said her face brightening as she thought about him. “He's not quite two.”
“The bastard refused to pay child support unless JJ agreed to a blood test and believes she cheated on him and then tried to pass off Henry as his. Like I said a right bastard,” Rossi said.
“They're right LaMontagne is a bastard,” Hotch agreed, “He apparently didn't know JJ as well as he thought he did if he really believed that she would cheat on him, get pregnant and then try to pass the baby off as his. All of us know that she would never do such a thing unless Henry was his biological son.”
“It was just a way for him to escape his responsibilities in paying child support,” Emily pointed out. “And what Garcia wanted to do to him well let's just say it's a good thing JJ talked her out of it.”
“Personally, I think we should have let Penelope loose,” Morgan said with a silly grin and Sean took that to mean that the two of them were married, then of course, the two of them did share the same last name, even if they mostly called her Garcia, which was definitely her maiden name.
“And what could she have done?” asked Sean confused unaware of Garcia's technical skills.
“Oh a lot,” Spencer snickered. “She's our technical analyst and trust me, you don't ever want to piss her off, because she knows how to hack into somebody's bank account for example and make their money disappear. She can do almost anything on a computer and is one of the best hackers in the world. Fair warning to you, you don't ever hurt her friends or you will regret it and she thinks of JJ and Emily like sisters.”
Spencer's tone was pleasant enough, but the steel underneath and the hard glint in his eyes made Sean gulp for he knew he was being warned to not hurt his friend or he would regret it.
“She knows how to cover her tracks to and she wouldn't be caught,” Hotch said with a little small playing on his lips, “although I'm glad that JJ managed to talk her down, because nothing I was saying was having any effect. She would be able to do that from her personal laptop so I shudder to think what she could do with the computers at the BAU which are top-of-the-line.”
The subject changed at that point deliberately as Rossi asked Sean how he like working at Buvette's.
“It's good,” Sean said with a shrug, “but I've been fiddling with the idea for a couple years of starting my own restaurant, but I would either need a partner or backing financially as I'm sure you all know that it takes a lot of capital to start up a business and New York isn't exactly inexpensive. I've been thinking of moving elsewhere actually for awhile, go somewhere where the startup cost of a business isn't quite so bad,” Sean said smoothly
Sean would never admit that the only reason he was thinking of leaving New York was so that he could be nearer to JJ as she didn't need to know as she would feel bad because he was leaving a place that had become his home for her.
“There are other cities that are a lot cheaper to live in then New York City since it is the financial capital of the world and therefore expensive to live in,” JJ said not getting her hopes up.
“Yes, that's why I was thinking if I want to starting my own restaurant I might want to start it somewhere that it isn't quite so expensive.”
“So what do you like to make?” Rossi asked with a raised eyebrow. “I'm something of a cook myself although I'm strictly an amateur compared to you, since I've never worked as a chef.”
Sean's face lit up and he and Rossi started discussing ingredients, the freshness of fruits and vegetables, recipes and everything in between.
The rest of the team started their own conversation and ate their dinners watching as one of their teammates and Hotch's brother chatted away about menus, Italian versus French food and a lot of other things.
The dinner ended on a pleasant note and Hotch ordered the team back to the hotel to get some sleep, for they had an unsub to catch and so would have to be up early in the morning.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“So you plan on coming here?” Hotch asked over the phone of his brother. It was several days later and they had returned from the case in New York just yesterday.
“What choice do I have?” Sean asked his voice unhappy, as he hadn't seen JJ after dinner that one night. “You know very well about wolves and their mates and that they can't live without them.”
“I am aware,” Hotch said entirely sympathetic, “but to uproot your life...”
“I'm willing to do it… for her,” Sean said. “I wasn't joking or being factious when I said I had been considering starting a restaurant of my own and I might as well do that in Virginia or Washington whichever one is cheaper.”
“Alright then,” Hotch said. “You can use the guestroom while you're here and that will at least save you the expense of a hotel. I'll give you the extra key, because I doubt you'll see either me or Spencer much, since we're always so busy at work.”
“Thanks, big brother, I appreciate it,” Sean said.
“So when will you be here?” asked Hotch.
“Well, I won't be there for a few weeks anyway as I don't what Jennifer to get scared or jittery that I'm stalking her. I need to give her some time you know, especially since I just saw her several days ago,” Sean said.
“There's not much that will scare JJ, but you're right you don't want to appear to be stalking her, as she is very aware of that kind of thing said she does work for the FBI and she could bring charges against you. So when you come you'll just be here to visit me, okay?”
“That's fine and that's what I'll say until we get to know each other anyway,” Sean agreed.
“So how long are you planning on staying for?”
“Forever since I've already quit my job,” Sean said, “although I will be going back and forth for awhile as I pack up all my stuff and put a lot if it into storage until I need it.”
“A word of advice,” Hotch told his brother. “When you get here and you meet her son make sure that you don't treat him as unwanted. JJ adores her son and she'll never agree to date you if you treat Henry as if he's an unwanted inconvenience.”
“I wouldn't do that anyway,” Sean said. “I'm very well aware that the two of them are a package deal as just the way JJ's face lit up when she talked about her son told me that.”
“Good,” Hotch said satisfied. “I'll see you when you get here. Make sure you call me when you know for sure when you're coming.”
“I will,” Sean promised. “Thank you for everything, Aaron.”
“You're welcome,” Hotch said. “You know all Spencer and I want is to see you and JJ happy and don't think I don't know that JJ is the one for you.”
“She is,” Sean said and Hotch could just imagine his brother blushing. “She is the most amazing woman I have ever known and yes, I'm aware that I only talked to her for an hour or so at dinner that one night, but I am eagerly anticipating learning everything I can about her.”
“You'll have to go slow,” Hotch warned his brother. “She's been hurt in the past and not just by Will LaMontagne Jr., although he is the worst offender.”
Sean growled at that and Hotch silently agreed that Will LaMontagne had a lot to answer for, although that wasn't up to him, Sean or any of the team, even if every single one of them felt differently.
“I'll see you in a few weeks,” Hotch said.
“Yeah, you will,” Sean agreed and Hotch could hear the smile in his voice as he hung up.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Sean Hotchner walked into the BAU on a Monday morning a month later and everybody looked up.
“Sean, what are you doing here?” asked Emily who was at her desk in surprise.
“Can't I come and see all of you?” Sean asked cheerfully with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Please,” Morgan snorted in disbelief. “You met us for what? A couple of hours one night a month ago? You wouldn't of come all this way just to see us.”
How little you know, Sean thought, but didn't voice. I would have been here a few hours after you got back from your case if I hadn't felt that would be rushing things and if I didn't want to appear to eager.
“He came to see JJ,” Emily commented studying Sean. “I'm sure you noticed the sexual attraction between the two of them that night at dinner.”
“Sure I did, but JJ lives here and he lives in New York so I don't see how a relationship between the two of them could possibly work, even if JJ was willing to take the chance after LaMontagne. She does have Henry to think of after all.”
“I came here to see my brother,” Sean said his tone dry with a raised eyebrow. “Is that illegal?”
Morgan actually blushed in embarrassment as they had been dissecting Sean's motives of just appearing in the BAU in Quantico right in front of him. Of course, they were profilers and it was kind of a hazard of the job, but it was still rude to do it when Sean was standing right there.
“Hotch's office is right up those stairs first door on the left,” Emily told him with a grin, which told Sean that she knew exactly why he had come to Quantico Virginia no matter how much he denied it.
Sean nodded at her and said, “Thank you,” refusing to confirm or deny what Emily thought she knew even if she was right and headed in the direction that Emily indicated.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“You're just lucky that we just got back from a case a couple of days ago and that we don't have another one currently,” Hotch told his brother who was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk. “The lull won't last long as it never does, so you'll have to work fast.”
“I've already started looking into moving out here and starting a restaurant of my own,” Sean replied calmly. “I've had a month to make arrangements after all. I've quit at Buvette's as I told you on the phone and am currently looking for an apartment.”
“Well, you can work fast I see,” Hotch said his lips twitching a little although he could certainly sympathize with the feeling. At least he and Spencer had lived in the same city and worked together so distance hadn't been a problem in their case, which he was grateful for.
“Of course, I can,” Sean told his brother with a raised eyebrow. “Every day without JJ has been torture and you well know it. At least you and Spencer worked together and so you saw him almost every day, but I haven't seen JJ in a month.”
Since he had just been thinking the same thing, Hotch nodded. His brother did look tired and worn, and Hotch finally noticed and figured he hadn't been sleeping well which wasn't really surprising as Sean wouldn't have been able to get JJ out of his mind and probably only slept when he was totally exhausted.
“You're right,” Hotch admitted with a little smile as he thought about the man he adored with every fiber of his being. “Even seeing Spencer almost every day, well, it was still extremely hard and not really enough, but it is bound to be harder on you simply because you have only spent like two hours in the presence of your mate and she doesn't even know it, but then again neither did Spencer, but at least I got to see him for days at a time, while you didn't have that option.”
Sean groaned as he thought about breaking the news to JJ that he was a werewolf. How would she react? With horror? Disbelief? Would she believe he was lying and never want to see him again? He couldn't bare the thought of that as he loved her already and wanted desperately for his Jennifer to accept him without going off the deep end. “I'm not looking forward to having to tell that werewolves are real and that they're nothing like in the books or the movies. What kind of sensible person believes in something that is so fantastic? Something like a man turning into a wolf or vice versa?”
“That's one thing you don't need to worry about,” Hotch told him his lips twitching as he tried to hold back a laugh at his brother's expression.
“What do you mean?” asked Sean confused.
“Well, remember when I told you I would tell you how Morgan got turned into a werewolf later?”
“Yeah, so?” asked Sean.
“Well the story goes like this,” Hotch began and started to tell his brother how the whole team had found out about werewolves. “And the unsub was a werewolf and leapt out of nowhere and tore Morgan's throat out before he could even think about defending himself. Giving him some of my blood in order to turn him into one of us was the only way to save his life and after that Spencer and I had to tell the team everything, because there was no way that they would have accepted anything except the truth and would have known if we were lying.”
“Geez, Aaron,” Sean said looking exasperated. “You know how important the secret is.”
“I do, but I trust every single one of them and would have told them a long time ago if not for the alpha's command,” Hotch said calmly. “I knew that they would continue to support me and Spencer to and they have. Really Sean the team is a family, we work so well together because we are that way. We look out for each other, and know when one of the team is having a problem in their personal life and get them to talk about it or just listen when they are ready to talk. Some of them like to keep stuff to themselves until it eats them up inside, but they need someone to vent to, someone that understands what they are going through and someone they trust absolutely. The whole team is ready to be there for whoever it is and just listens and when it is necessary offers a shoulder to cry on whether figuratively or literally. We all have our demons, as you can't do this job and not have a few and it helps to vent to someone who understands the work and won't think they are crazy for doing what we do. We see the worst humanity can do to each other and if you saw even a tenth of what we have, well you would have nightmares too, so be glad your a chef and didn't go into this kind of work. If you intend to court JJ, you'll learn soon enough that we are all very close and very protective of each other. Really we have to be, because of our jobs.”
“Alright,” Sean said holding his hands up in self-defense. “I was just surprised that's all.”
“I didn't mean to lecture you, but you'll become part of that family if you do marry JJ just as she and Henry are. We tend to spend a great deal of our free time together, usually at some bar, although occasionally we do dinner. So have you walked out the best approach?”
“Well, I thought that I'd ask her to dinner if you guys don't catch a case,” Sean said looking nervous. He couldn't afford to foul this up.
“Start out slow,” Hotch suggested. “Nothing fancy, not for a first date. Maybe suggest that you bring Henry along let her know that you accept not only her, but her son. Maybe spend a few hours with her and Henry in the park. The fastest way to undermine her defenses and show her that you have good intentions and don't resent her kid is to spend time with both of them. Offering to cook a meal for her and Henry, is also good. JJ is one of those people that doesn't go to a lot of fancy restaurants or needs big gestures of affection. She comes from a small town in Pennsylvania and you can imagine that she grew up without anything like that. She's a simple woman, with simple taste and doesn't go for the flashy or expensive.”
“I'll take all that into account,” Sean said, “thank you for the advice.”
“You're welcome, I want to see both you and JJ happy as I said earlier and JJ haven't been happy in quite awhile. Oh she's been happy on the surface, but if you know her well you can tell that she's lonely with only her son for company when she's home. She refuses to tell anyone what the problem is, but the whole team has picked up on it. Come to think of it she started to be unhappy around the time she broke up with Will, but in the last month it's only gotten worse. I don't believe that she has admitted it to herself yet, but I'm positive it's because of you and the fact that you are separated. Besides, she started being more miserable around the time that we got back to Quantico after that case where she met you and that is no coincidence.”
“Does that mean you think she has a crush on me?” asked Sean perking up a little looking happier.
“I would say that's a near certainty,” Hotch told him with a smirk. “I don't believe she's willing to admit it to herself quite yet, but if you going to be a permanent fixture…”
“Oh I intend to,” Sean said looking eager causing Hotch to chuckle, although he could certainly understand that eagerness.
“I know you do, and if you're hanging around all the time, well, let's just say that JJ has never been a stupid woman.”
“Thank you, Aaron, you've given me hope,” Sean told him, “and at least I don't have to worry about telling her that werewolves are real since you've already done that for me, so that's one big worry off my mind.”
“You're welcome. You're welcome to ask me if you need any advice, although don't let JJ know it was me.”
“I won't,” Sean promised. “If she's as intelligent as you think she is though I'm sure she'll guess.”
“Probably, but there is a difference between knowing something and having it confirmed,” Hotch said with a straight face. “There is such a thing as plausible deniability after all.”
Sean laughed knowing that his brother was actually joking with him.
“It'll be good to have you living so close by,” Hotch told his brother who grinned, “and if you're serious about starting that restaurant I think I might know someone who would be willing to invest or give out a no interest loan.”
“Who?” asked Sean looking intrigued.
“David Rossi,” Hotch said.
“One of your team?” asked Sean and surprise.
“Trust me, he can afford it and he's been expressing an interest over the last month in any case. He also writes books and he retired for something like 10 years before coming back to help out after Jason Gideon left. He's one of the original founders of the BAU. When people said that you couldn't profile serial killers he did it, along with Jason Gideon and Max Ryan. His books, well, let's just say they make a ton of money. He's already set money aside for Jack's college education, even though I protested and Henry's to because he thinks of them as family, like nephews. He doesn't have any family of his own none that are close anyway and therefore no wife or children to worry about.”
“I'm still surprised you let him get away with it,” Sean said looking flabbergasted.
Hotch shrugged and with a little smile said, “We argued about it, but Dave is a very stubborn man, but he's Italian, so I suppose that's a given, since most Italian are stubborn and the Rossis even more so. He pointed out correctly that he had a right to set up a college fund for whoever he liked and that me, the team, Jack and Henry were his family whether or not we were related by blood. He does have several sisters and brothers, but he's not close to any of them. We're his substitute family I suppose and he's a good man so I finally gave in. Besides, both Henry and Jack love their Uncle Dave, which is what they call him.”
“Yes, I did get the impression that the team considers themselves family,” Sean admitted.
“They are. We would never be able to do what we do as I said unless we put all our egos aside and worked together and we've been through so much together, so many dangerous situations that it brings it's own kind of closeness.”
“Well, I'm looking forward to getting to know your team better since you and JJ are so close to them,” Sean said with genuine warmth and a twitch of his lips.
“They are all looking forward to getting to know you too,” Hotch told him with a grin. “If you want to see JJ and maybe try to ask her out on a date her office is the third one down from mine on the left.”
“Thanks,” Sean said with a smile for his brother. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” Hotch told his brother sincerely with a smile. “Remember be gentle, compassionate and understanding. She's still hurting from her breakup with Will, even though she would never admit it so you will have to be very careful.”
“I will be,” Sean promised suddenly sounding angry and fierce. “If this Will LaMontagne ever comes around again, he's going to get an earful from me and probably my fist in his face. How dare he hurt, JJ? Yes, I'm aware I didn't know her at that time, but I have yet to understand how he could have just left refusing to even pay child support for Henry. I'm sure the only reason JJ didn't take him to court on it was that she didn't want to go through the hassle or spend the time it would have taken.”
“Not to mention the cost,” Hotch said and Sean nodded. “I'm sure JJ just figured it wasn't worth it in the end since she does make enough to support her and Henry on her salary.”
“That's not the point,” Sean growled.
“Believe me, I agree,” Hotch said looking just as upset as his brother, “as does everyone else on the team, but it's not our business no matter what we think.”
“I'll make sure that parasite comes nowhere near JJ ever again and I intend on making her forget about him entirely,” Sean said looking as angry as Hotch had ever seen him, but then again his brother was usually a pretty easygoing guy, well for the most part anyway, but he did have a temper just like he did, but it took a lot to make him lose it.
“Good luck, JJ deserves to be happy and she hasn't been for quite awhile as you know. Hopefully, you can fix that,” Hotch said.
“Oh I intend to,” Sean said looking determined.
“Be patient, because you have quite the battle ahead as JJ might not be willing to get into a relationship, even though it's two years since LaMontagne hurt her by leaving,” Hotch warned him.
“Don't worry, I have no intention of giving up, and I plan on winning not only the battle, but the war as Jennifer is mine, she just doesn't know it yet. I already know that she's attracted to me even without you having told me as I know very well the signs and I saw how she tried to avoid blushing while we were talking that night at dinner and I plan on capitalize on that as much as I can.”
“I wouldn't express that opinion in front of her or you could find yourself thrown out on your ear,” Hotch advised him. “JJ is very independent and if she feels like her independence is being threatened she'll react, trust me on that. She's used to looking after herself and has no use for a boyfriend or lover that tries to control her and I can't really blame her for that attitude.”
“I didn't mean it that way,” Sean said looking contrite.
“I know, but JJ won't, until she learns to trust you anyway, so I'd be very careful,” Hotch said and Sean nodded grateful for the advice. “You can't afford to mess this up for both yours and JJ's sakes.”
“Don't I know it,” said Sean.
With those words Sean headed out of his brother's office and Hotch silently wished him luck as he got back to the endless amount of paperwork that was strewn across his desk.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Sean knocked on JJ's office door politely a plan already forming in his head. The door was already open and when JJ looked up her eyes widened in astonishment and Sean almost grinned, but managed to contain himself and instead pretended not to notice, as a light blush immediately turned her cheeks and the back of her neck red.
“Sean! What are you doing here?”
“Am I not welcome to visit?” asked Sean with slow lazy grin that immediately caused a reaction in JJ's who suddenly felt all flushed and she knew that her blush had deepened to a deep red.
Sean strolled causally into his mate's office and took one of the chairs in front of her desk without waiting for an invitation, after making sure to shut the door behind him.
“Of course, you are, but it hasn't been that long since you saw all of us you know,” JJ said wondering why Sean had popped up just now, as it was only a month since that case in New York and they'd had dinner. Not that she wasn't happy to see him! Because she was! But the question was why was he here? He couldn't have come just to see her could he? “How long are you in town for?”
“Oh awhile,” Sean said vaguely deciding to take Aaron's advice and not mention that he had moved here permanently just yet. “I'm looking for a place to start a restaurant in this area. You could kind of call it a scouting trip.”
JJ's heart leaped with joy at that as it meant Sean would live close by. Whoah calm down, JJ told her heart silently. I'm sure he isn't interested in you as you have a kid remember. I'm sure he'll eventually marry someone that doesn't have a young child that isn't his. That's what JJ tried to tell herself anyway although the way Sean was looking at her told her that she was lying to herself.
“So where are you staying?” asked JJ causally after a moment.
“With my brother and Spencer for the moment,” Sean said. “I still have some loose ends to tie up in New York so I'll be traveling there and back by train quite a bit over the next few weeks, which is why it's a scouting trip.”
“Why are you looking to start a restaurant here? I can understand you not wanting to in New York since it is a very expensive city, but why here?” asked JJ.
“Well, it's closer to my brother, Spencer and my nephew for one thing,” Sean said with a shrug, not saying that it was also close to her as well. “The older you get the more important family becomes and it's cheaper to start up a business in this area then it is in New York.”
“Oh,” JJ said and felt a rush of disappointment, but tried her best to hide it. He had only decided to try to start a restaurant in Virginia because that was where his family lived. You should have known better than to get your hopes up that he was interested in you, her inner voice told her with a sneer. Who wants someone who already has a kid, a kid that isn't even his?
“Hey, as long as I'm here for awhile, why don't you and I go out somewhere for a nice dinner,” Sean suggested casually trying to hide the fact that he was very eager to spend time with her and get to know Henry because if he had his way both would be part of his family before to long. “You're welcome to bring Henry along as I'd love to meet him and we'll go somewhere child friendly.”
JJ brightened immediately and Sean was glad to see the sad, despondent expression fade from her face. “That would be great,” JJ said looking far happier now. “So long as we don't catch a case before the end of shift.”
I sincerely hope you don't as I've been without you for a month already and I would really like to spend some time with you, Sean thought to himself. He knew that this was one thing he was going to have to learn to accept and that was that his mate traveled a great deal for her job and he wouldn't try for the world to get her to change as that would ruin any chance he had of a relationship with her. Aaron had already warned him that she was independent, and if he tried to curb that independence he would lose her, because unlike him she was human and therefore wasn't bound to him like he was to her, besides, he didn't want a slave or someone who followed every word he uttered without taking her own initiative, like a lot of men would. He wanted her just like she was, someone who was independent, had her own work, hobbies and life, just like he did, but someone who made time for her husband and pups as well.
“Well, I'll let you get back to work, but I'll pick you up at seven unless that's to early,” Sean said.
“No, that should be fine as it'll give me a chance to pick up Henry from daycare and get home and get dressed.”
“No need to get dressed up for me, we're just going to go casual, somewhere where Henry will be comfortable,” Sean said and JJ gave him a smile surprised that Sean was willing to drag Henry along on what she thought of as a date.
“Are you sure you want me to bring Henry? He can be quite a handful, especially with strangers.”
“Sure, I love children and I need to get to know him if I'm going to be living here as I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time together.”
“Alright then,” JJ agreed with a smile that lit up her face, secretly thrilled at how things were turning out so far.
“I'll see you tonight,” Sean said, as he headed out of her office after giving her his cell number. “Make sure you text me if you have to go somewhere for a case.”
“I will,” JJ promised suddenly looking forward to end of shift so she could start getting ready for what she considered a date even if Henry was going to be there. Sean definitely earned some bonus points with her by offering to have Henry along when he really didn't have to. She truly hoped he had meant it when he said they'd probably be seeing a lot of each other and that he wanted to get to know her son as that might mean that he would be a permanent fixture in life. It was way too early to tell if this was going to turn into anything serious, JJ thought and so got back to work, although she sure did have a hard time concentrating as she thought of the man that she had developed a gigantic crush on.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“Greg, I'd like to introduce you to my brother Sean,” Hotch introduced. “Sean, this is Greg Raynor who's the Alpha of the pack in this area.”
“It's nice to meet you Sean,” Greg said shaking his hand. “Aaron never mentioned until recently that he had a brother.”
“It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Sean said returning the handshake firmly and doing the same for the Greg's mate Maggie.
“Why don't you come into the living room,” Greg offered and Sean and Aaron nodded and followed the leader of the local werewolf pack.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” Maggie offered being polite even though she didn't look in Aaron's direction as she still didn't believe that his mate was male. She might not have believed it or liked it, but Greg had made it perfectly clear that she had no right to be rude to Aaron and Spencer just because she didn't like them as a couple or believe they were mates because they were both men. He had pointed out that there were other same-sex couples and that Aaron and Spencer were not the only ones and Maggie had to admit that he was right. Still it offended her that the man she'd had a little crush on, despite the fact that she loved Greg with all her heart, was gay, well bisexual she supposed since he had been married not that that was any better in her opinion.
Greg had told her that she could at least be polite when she had to be in avoid them the rest of the time and that was what she had done. Luckily, for her Aaron was so busy with his job along with his mate that she very rarely saw them, really no more than a few times a year. She had used to like Aaron as a friend, but after he and Spencer had gotten together she had thrown that friendship right out the window, which didn't seem to bother Aaron at all more's the pity in her opinion.
“No, thank you,” Sean told her politely not smiling at her and in fact his expression was neutral in the extreme, blank she supposed it was called and Maggie took that to mean that Aaron had told his brother about her unjustified hatred of him and Spencer.
Once Maggie had left the room, Greg asked Sean. “So Aaron told me that you would like to join the pack. May I ask why?”
“Well,” Sean began to explain, “I'm a chef and I've been wanting to start a restaurant of my own for several years. I've been trying to get the capital to do that, but I decided that New York is way too expensive to start a new business, so I decided to move closer to my brother and his mate.”
“Aaron did tell me that you two were never close as children,” Greg said.
“That's true,” Sean admitted, “Our parents never encouraged us to be close. Both of them were rather cold and proper, I'm sure you know the type.”
“I do,” Greg agreed. “Old-fashioned and hidebound are the words you are looking for. Back several centuries ago was considered improper to show any type of emotion. even to your own children, especially in high-class families.”
“In any case, I was considering where I could move and have the money to start up my own place, although I had already figured out I'd need either a loan or a backer, when I met one of Aaron's team, Jennifer Jareau or JJ as she is affectionately known.”
Sean's sappy expression immediately clued Greg in to the major reason that the younger man wanted to move into the Virginia or Washington area and join his pack. Being close to his brother might've been part of the reason, but not the main one.
“Ah, so this Jennifer is your mate,” Greg said and Sean nodded his expression returning to normal.
“Yes, she is,” Sean said. “I never really expected to meet my mate and surprise, surprise, when my brother and his team come to New York for work and we have dinner while they are there...”
“Caught you by surprise?” Greg suggested dryly with humor glimmering in his eyes and Sean nodded.
“It sure did. I never really expected to meet my mate and figured I'd be single for the rest of my life and then out of the blue she drops into my lap.”
“So you're Jennifer isn't married?” asked Greg seriously as marriage could be something of a barrier to Sean getting together with his mate.
“No, she's not, but she does have an 2-year-old son named Henry. The father wanted nothing to do with his son and abandoned him and her.”
“That complicates things,” Greg noted and Sean nodded
“I've already warned, my brother about certain aspects of JJ's personality,” Aaron said speaking for the first time since the greeting at the front door. He had let his brother handle all the conversation until now and Sean was doing very well, he was being polite and telling Greg just enough details for him to be satisfied, but not revealing anything to personal.
“Yes, I hadn't thought of that,” Greg admitted. “You would know Jennifer much better than your brother since you do work with her.”
“Yes, that's very true,” Hotch agreed. “Jennifer is extremely loyal to those she loves, and the team is like a second family to her and to Henry. Spencer is Henry's godfather so if Sean and JJ do get together then not only will she be related to me through marriage, but also to Spencer as well also through marriage. She is also very good at what she does for the team so good in fact that the Pentagon has been trying to get her to transfer on her own free will, but she's been holding them off, by saying she doesn't want to do that she likes her job.”
“In any case,” Sean continued, “I can be a chef anywhere, but I wouldn't want JJ to move wherever I am, just to be with me if we do get together, especially when she loves her job so much and because the team is her family.”
The three of them continued to talk for a few minutes and then Greg said, “Well, I'd like to officially welcome you to the pack Sean and I hope you bring Jennifer with you next time you come so that I can meet her. I wish you luck in your pursuit of your mate and I'm hoping to hear that the two of you are together the next time we meet.”
“I'll try to bring her by sometime in the next few months,” Sean promised, “but she travels so much for work I don't know when that will be.”
“I'll be here,” Greg promised, “whenever you do manage to bring her by.”
With those parting words, the meeting was over and Aaron who hadn't said much at all got up from where he was sitting and Sean immediately followed him with Greg escorting them politely to the front door and then showing them out.
“Well, I thought that went rather well,” Sean said.
“Greg is a pretty easygoing guy,” Hotch admitted once the two of them were far enough from the house that they couldn't be overheard. “He has a very tight hand on the wolves of the pack in this area though, so don't underestimate him.”
“I won't,” Sean promised and the two brothers fell silent and walked to their car that was parked on the street in front of Greg's house.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“This is really nice, Sean,” JJ said looking around the elegant restaurant that Sean had made reservations at. The two of them had been officially dating about a month, as Sean had made it perfectly clear, although subtly on their first date that he was very interested in relationship with her and so far things were going excellently. This time, Henry hadn't been brought along and had in fact been left with his godmother Penelope for a few hours so that JJ didn't have to worry about paying a babysitter. Garcia adored her godson and in fact was always spoiling him by buying things for him, even when she disapproved.
JJ had made sure that Sean knew that she was aware of the whole werewolf mate thing and that she had no problem with it, which had made him relax and told her that his brother had already informed him that she and the rest of the team had been told, but she was glad to hear her say that she had no problem with it.
Their first date, the same day that Sean had come to see her at the BAU, had been everything she had hoped for even though Henry had been along. At first her son had been rather wary of Sean and definitely shy around him but had warmed up rather quickly. It helped, that Sean genuinely loved children, which kids could sense easily and JJ remembered it hadn't long before Henry was sitting in his lap instead of in his highchair and chattering away.
JJ had realized as that first date had progressed that she could easily fall in love with Sean, just from the way he was with her son, which was calm, loving, kind, tender and patient. Sean hadn't even made a big deal when Henry had gotten ketchup all over his nice shirt, which JJ knew wouldn't come out very easily and in fact she remembered he had just laughed and kissed her son on the head, instead of losing his temper.
That had been a month ago though and she had since realize that she was in love with Sean, genuinely in love because her feelings were so different from the one she had with Will, stronger for one thing and more pure. She had come to realize that she had lusted after Will certainly and maybe had had a small crush, but hadn't really loved him, because the things that she'd felt for Will didn't hold a candle to what she felt for Sean
That first date would always be special in her memory simply because Sean hadn't taken her to a fancy restaurant, but somewhere Henry would be comfortable. That he had invited her son along that first time, still amazed her, but also warmed her from the inside out. They had a lot of dates since then, when she wasn't gone out of town for work, and for some Henry had came along and others had been just the two of them.
The two of them hadn't made love yet, because JJ hadn't been about to just jump into bed with him until they got to know each other. She had always been cautious about relationships and doubly so ever since Henry had been born, although the two of them were heading in that direction she knew. She was surprised that Sean hadn't tried to push her into a physical relationship and in fact had been incredibly patient with her in that area, which was utterly astonishing to her as she knew that most men would have pushed for an intimate relationship after only one date, sometimes two or three, but the two of them had had at least six or seven dates in the last month and not once had Sean tried to push her into a sexual relationship. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, JJ knew as the two of them had been necking rather heavily over the last couple weeks, but Sean had always stopped himself from getting intimate and JJ took that to mean that he was waiting for her to indicate that she was ready for such a step and no matter how physically hard it was for him he was not going to push her into sex. She was incredibly grateful for his restraint as it also allowed her relax and just enjoy whatever time she spent with him with no expectations beyond getting to know each other.
“I thought the two of us deserved to go somewhere nice tonight,” Sean replied as he watched her with love naked in his blue eyes that were a slightly different shade from her own.
“Yes, it's good to break out of your normal routine every once in awhile,” JJ agreed, even as she took Sean's hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze, which made his entire face light up in happiness.
Sean was different from his brother as he was more easygoing and laidback, but they shared that same inner strength and core of goodness, which would never allow either one of them to push themselves on a woman before she was ready to be intimate. Well, in Hotch's case he was mated and therefore married, but he would never push himself on Spencer and force him to have sex if he wasn't in the mood for it, although she didn't imagine that happened to often, if at all, since the two were all lovey-dovey when they weren't working and just out for drinks or dinner with the team.
“Well, I thought somewhere nice would be appropriate since it is our one month anniversary,” Sean said with a boyish grin that made his blue eyes seem to sparkle in the low lighting of the restaurant.
“Yes, I suppose it is,” JJ mused not having realized it until Sean had spoken. The man never seemed to miss a trick, JJ thought with an inner grin. “I'm glad I didn't have to cancel on you at the last minute because of work.”
“If you had, I just would have made another reservation for us after you got back from whatever you had been in helping to catch the unsub,” Sean said.
JJ looked at him adoringly and thought that he was the most patient man she had ever known, well besides, those she worked with. Most men wouldn't have put up with her being gone for work so much or stand for having their planned dates put on hold and would have made more demands on her time then she had to give. Eventually if the relationship lasted the man would have demanded that she quit her job, and find something that had more reasonable hours, and JJ would have refused breaking up with him right then. Sean though was a different breed a lot like his brother in someways, meaning he was patient, kind, put up with her schedule, tender and loving and not just with her son either, but with her as well.
The two of them texted back-and-forth almost constantly when she was on a case, and occasionally talked if he wasn't busy at the restaurant, although really he was just now hiring employees, buying supplies that sort of thing and the place wasn't actually open for business yet, but would be within the next few months. JJ silently thanked David Rossi for his generous contribution to Sean's restaurant and knew that the other man was planning on paying Rossi back as soon as he'd gotten established and started to make money.
“Well, you're awfully accommodating,” JJ told him quite seriously.
“Why shouldn't I be?” asked Sean with a raised eyebrow. “It wouldn't really be fair of me if I got impatient, just because you had to travel for work now would it? Yes, I know that a lot of the male species would demand you spend more time with them, or that you change jobs so you could, but that's not really a relationship at all, as it's very one sided. One thing that Aaron and I definitely didn't learn from our parents, was that equality is important in any relationship. My parents were very unhappy after a few years of being married, but then they didn't believe in equality and thought that the man had a right to rule his wife anyway he wanted, including physical abuse. I learned all about equal relationships after I went away to college you know and I was smart enough to realize that if I tried to control whoever I finally married or was just dating, then the relationship wouldn't last very long whether or not we were mates. In order to have a good relationship both of us need to be happy and if one of us is miserable all the time because the other is trying to tell their partner what they can and can't do, like if they demand that they have to quit their job or something like that then it isn't really much of a relationship, is it?”
“Well you certainly are enlightened,” JJ told him with the teasing glint in her blue eyes, although it was also clear that she was happy with his response.
“Well, like Aaron I figured out a long time ago that trying to act like my father or my mother for that matter wasn't a good idea. Their idea of a good relationship is my father giving orders and my mother obeying without complaint or question.”
Sean shuddered at that, “I wouldn't say that my mother was abused or at least not physically, but she was often left to her own devices and my father often worked late and I assume they did this in order to avoid each other as much as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if my father had a sidepiece or even several before he died, although that's just a guess not a fact, but they did have the kind of relationship that would have made it almost necessary for both of them to cheat at some point and then pretend that they weren't aware of it. Sometimes I wonder how the two of them managed to have Aaron and I considering how cold and proper they were to each other as that kind of attitude doesn't exactly lead to an active sex life.”
“Well, if they had, then I never would have met you, because you never would have been born,” JJ said sobering at the thought.
“Well, that's true and I suppose neither one of them wanted to shame their families by not having an heir to carry on the family name,” Sean said never having thought of his parents marriage that way, but then again he tried to avoid thinking about either one of them at all and forget where he came from entirely. “I never thought of it that way until now, but my parents would think like that. Unlike my brother and Spencer they didn't marry because they were in love or because they were mates, but because it was the thing to do. Both their families probably pushed them into it, as they probably thought it would be a good match and almost certainly didn't care what either of them thought. It saddens me that there are still people in the world that disregard love as an inconvenience and would rather their son or daughter marry someone from a good bloodline and have children instead of being happy. That kind of attitude just leads to discontent and unhappiness.”
“Yes, it does,” JJ agreed soberly as she compared her happy childhood to Aaron's and Sean's rather unhappy one and thought that she was glad that her parents had actually loved each other and also their children.
“I was so glad to get away from home, go to college,” Sean said looking pensive. “I've never been back not since I left, well, not since my father died and his funeral, which was a very proper, solemn and stuffy occasion, but then again my mother never would have arranged anything less than that.”
JJ could tell that talking about his parents made Sean unhappy and uncomfortable so she changed the subject. “So how are the preparations for your restaurant going?”
“Great!” Sean exclaimed his entire face lighting up with enthusiasm. He began to tell her all he'd been doing in that area and JJ listened as he talked about hiring staff and buying equipment and thanks to David Rossi's generous loan they were going not going to be operating on a shoestring budget until they got a regular clientele.
“I'm sure your restaurant is going to be a great success,” JJ told Sean sincerely. “You're a great cook and anybody who doesn't think so is brain dead. You even got Henry to eat peas and I consider that a major accomplishment since I could never get him to do that.”
Sean had already cooked for her and Henry a couple of times and JJ was being very honest and sincere, when she told Sean that he was a very good cook and Sean perked up at the compliment, because he could tell that his mate meant what she had said, which made his day.
“Here, I got you a little something,” Sean said reaching into his pocket as the two of them were sharing dessert which was peach cobbler with ice cream, one of JJ's favorites.
“You didn't have to do that,” JJ protested, “especially since I didn't get you anything.”
“That's okay, I didn't expect you too,” Sean told her with a smile that lit up his face. “I just want you to know how special you are to me. You are my world, and without you I am incomplete, not to mention miserable and unhappy.”
JJ blushed, feeling a warm glow go through her, because she could tell that Sean just wasn't saying these things, but truly meant them. A lot of men would say sappy stuff like that, but wouldn't really mean what they were saying as they were just trying to flatter whatever woman they will with so that they would sleep with them.
Sean handed her a long thin box and JJ could immediately tell that it was some kind of jewelry probably a necklace or possibly a bracelet. JJ took it and opened it gasping at that what was inside. Laying on a velvet cushion was a thin gold bracelet, with horses every few inches. JJ had told Sean awhile back that she loved horses and had all her life, and even knew how to ride one although she hadn't done that in years because he didn't have time.
“Thank you, I love it,” JJ told Sean sincerely leaning over the table to give him a kiss on the lips, which was really no more than a peck, but neither one of them could risk having a major kissing session right here in the middle of the restaurant and if she had given him more then a quick peck that was exactly what would have happened.
JJ broke the kiss quickly, but her eyes promised a much better thank you once they were alone and Sean could see how happy his mate was with his gift as she almost glowed.
“I'm glad you like it,” Sean said with a happy smile. “When I saw this I thought it was perfect for you since you told me that you love horses.”
“I do love it,” JJ assured him squeezing his hand under the table.
“I'm glad,” Sean said. “You can thank me properly once we get back to your place,” he added with a mischievous grin.
“Oh? And you think you're going to be rewarded for giving me such a perfect present?” asked JJ coolly with a raised eyebrow, but with humor sparkling in the depths of her blue eyes.
Sean grinned cockily and said, “I know I will be.”
“Oh that sure of yourself are you?” asked JJ with a little small playing on her lips.
“I am,” Sean told her with another smile.
“Well, I have to admit you have every reason to be confident,” JJ said finally dropping her serious attitude.
“I know,” Sean said with a cocky grin, even as he affectionately squeezed her hand under the table.
JJ gave in and laughed heartily and she couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much in just a few hours or felt so lighthearted and she realized what a change Sean had bought to her life and to her son's.
“Well, I'm glad I amuse you,” Sean said laughter clear in his tone.
“Oh, you do, and trust me, that's not a bad thing as I don't remember having laughed so much in one evening in, well, ever actually. You make me happier than I have been in a long time,” JJ told him with a grin.
They ate in a comfortable, companionable silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company.
“I'm glad,” Sean told her quietly his amused tone vanishing and being replaced by a look on his face, one of intense desire, lust and love, which took JJ's breath away and made her desperately want him. Sean leaned over the table and kissed her cheek softly, his eyes and expression conveying all he felt for her, but couldn't express in words making JJ feel loved, appreciated, desired and wanted something that bastard Will had been good at destroying. Will had often made her feel less confident in her own abilities, or feel less beautiful or sexy and had taken every opportunity to tear down her self-confidence. She should have broken up with him much sooner than she had with him, but then if she had done that she might not have Henry who was the light of her life, well correction he had been until she had met Sean that is and now she had another reason to be happy as Sean made her feel sexy, desirable, appreciated and wanted and that had boosted her self confidence in herself a great deal. While Will had done his best to tear her down and make her doubt herself, Sean seemed determined to build up her confidence in her own abilities and didn't seem to want to take away her independence like Will had, which was a bonus as far as she was concerned a she wouldn't be fucked over twice by men.
The two of them finished their meals talking about everything except JJ's job as she wasn't in the mood to discuss it and the evening ended on a pleasant note.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Two months later

“Are you sure you're ready to take this step?” asked Sean seriously as he and JJ stood in her bedroom. “You are aware that once the two of us make love we will be together until death. There's no turning back once it's done, at least not for me, well, really there's no turning back even if we had never made love, but you know what I mean. We will be technically married in the werewolf community once we go through with this and bound together for the rest of our lives.”
“Yes, you've been very open with me, which I appreciate,” JJ assured him. “Some of the information you gave me I already knew from your brother and Spence, but some of it was new. The fact of the matter is though, I love you, so to answer your question, yes I'm ready. More than ready if you want to know the truth. I was aware, thanks to both you and Hotch that when a werewolf had met their mate there's no going back or finding someone else for them, so if I had turned you down… Well, let's not think about that it's too sad and morbid. In any case, I respect your honesty with me, as some men I know would've lied through their teeth or least hedged around the subject if they didn't want to reveal something and yet you didn't do that.”
“How could I do that do you?” asked Sean knowing exactly what JJ meant. “Or why would I, for that matter? I respect you too much to not be totally honest with you. Besides, outright lying or even leaving something out just because it's embarrassing or something private and personal is a good way to ruin a good and solid relationship in the long run because those kind of things tend to come out at some point. Yet I'm not naïve enough to think that all men are as honest or forthright like I am, but then all men don't have so much to lose or are not as truly and deeply in love like me. You will be the only woman for me, for the rest of my life and so I want nothing to mar our relationship or cause you not to trust me for some reason.”
“Good so long as we both keep that in mind, then we should have no problems,” JJ said, very pleased. “I'm not saying we will not argue sometimes, because no matter how much we love each other or how close you are, couples do argue sometimes, but then they make up and get on with their lives with a better understanding of each other.”
“Alright then,” Sean said, as he reverently begin to remove his mate's shirt pulling it over her head, when she raised her arms. The two of them had done some heavy petting in the last couple of months, but it hadn't gone past that, although it was about to.
“Do you have condoms?” asked JJ.
“I do,” Sean assured her.
“Make sure you use one, because I'm not ready to have anymore children, quite yet,” JJ said.
“But you are willing to have some?” asked Sean.
“Yes, but later,” JJ assured him. “I want to give Henry a bit more time to get used to the idea that you're going to be a permanent fixture in our lives, as we've only been dating a couple of months. He adores you, which is a big bonus in your favor, because I wouldn't get involved with anyone that my son didn't approve of. Children can often sense when somebody is up to no good or doesn't like them, so it's a good thing you don't fall into that category.”
“Well, it's a good thing that he likes me so much then, isn't it?” asked Sean with a lazy, cocky grin.
“Yes, it is,” JJ agreed kissing him passionately, which Sean responded to immediately and with equal passion.
“Raise your arms,” JJ told him with a coy smile causing Sean to immediately begin to sweat with anticipation as he know that his mate had plans for him, ones he was sure he would enjoy.
Sean obeyed JJ's command immediately and raised his arms and JJ pulled his T-shirt over his head and threw it in the hamper that was in the corner.
“No point of making a mess,” JJ said, as she began to unbuckle the very tight jeans he was wearing, which showcased his butt and long legs quite nicely and made her salivate and get wet down in her pussy. She had seen Sean's naked chest on more than one occasion in the couple of months they had been dating, but now she was going to be able to see him totally naked. Sean had a very nice chest in her humble opinion, the best she had ever seen actually, as it was broad, with a flat, well toned stomach, nipples that were a rosy pink and she knew from experience were extremely sensitive to her sucking on them with her mouth and covered in fine blonde hair. She really had a thing for Sean's chest, JJ could now admit, as it did things to her that made her just want to throw him down somewhere and kiss and lick all over that chest and then move down farther to his long legs and finally to his cock, which she would save for last. She had always loved the men she dated to have long legs, and Sean certainly fit that category even if he wasn't as tall as his brother Hotch. Aaron Hotchner was at least 6'3', while Sean was 3 inches shorter than he was, but still tall, broad shouldered, with a tapered waist and muscles in his arms and legs told JJ that Sean Hotchner worked out frequently. He would have had to in order to maintain that body, which would showcase in any red blooded American girl's wet dreams, if she had any interest in boys at all.
JJ admitted that she'd had dreams about what she could do with the fine body that Sean Hotchner possessed and had even daydreamed about him on numerous occasions, although she had wrenched her concentration back on track after a few minutes. Of course, as a red blooded all American girl she had also had dreams about what he could do to her body and she know that she was about to find out. She almost shivered in delight, because she was sure she would find it pleasurable on more than one level.
“Here let me help you with those,” Sean said once his jeans one on the floor at his feet along with his boxers. He was now totally naked while JJ was still mostly dressed, except for her shirt. “I don't think it's really fair that here I am as naked as the day I was born while you're almost fully dressed.”
“Well, we'll have correct that oversight, won't we?” asked JJ with a smile that managed to be loving and coy at the same time.
“We will indeed,” Sean agreed kissing JJ tenderly, even as he unhooked her bra with expert fingers from the back without even having to see to do it, which told JJ that he had done it many times in the past with other women. She couldn't really hold a grudge against him for having sex before her, even if none of those relationships had been serious as a man had needs after all just as women did and there had been no guarantee that he would ever meet his mate as he hadn't known if he ever would until it happened.
JJ allowed her bra to slide down her arms, then drop to the floor, but before that happened, Sean was unhooking the button of the jeans she was wearing and then pulling them past her hips so that they too would fall to the floor.
“Well, that's better,” Sean said his voice rough, as he was having trouble not just attacking his mate for to him she was the most beautiful woman in the world with her small perfect breasts that were the perfect size for her body and not overblown like some woman. Past JJ's breasts was a trim waist that led down to a flat stomach, which told him she either watched what she ate or she exercised regularly, maybe both, for there wasn't an ounce of fat on her body at all.
JJ had never been one of those women that had any doubt about her desirability, but the way Sean was looking at her caused the lust to spike even higher than it had been a few minutes previously.
The two of them looked at each other for a minute and both saw the lust, desire and love in the others blue eyes that caused both of them to let go of their inhibitions and almost attack each other. Sean being the one with more muscles pushed JJ over until she was on her back on the bed with him over her.
“I have one question for you right quick,” Sean said looking intent and serious.
“What's that?” asked JJ curiously even as her lust spiked to an all-time high. She had never felt like this for any other man she had had sex with, none of them. Oh, she had believed she was in love with Will, but she had never felt like she was feeling now. Her feelings for Sean were much deeper and truer then the ones she thought she'd had with Will and several other guys she had dated over the years.
JJ was curious what question Sean could possibly want to ask just when they were going to start exploring each other's bodies, but knew it must be important or Sean would never have voiced it at such a time.
“Do you want to be marked?” asked Sean.
“What do you mean by that,” JJ asked curiously not at all frightened by the way that Sean loomed over her.
“Well, us wolves often mark our mates in such a way that other wolves and sometimes even human who are especially sensitive or perceptive can tell that they have been claimed and therefore avoid any actions that can be conceived as them trying to steal a woman that already belongs to another. Werewolves especially, will avoid offending me, because I could legally rip them to shreds or at least beat them into a bloody pulp according to werewolf laws if they tried to go after you and claim you for their own even if they knew you were another wolf's mate. If I didn't claim you, according to our laws and traditions, another werewolf might try his best to take you from me as there are bad werewolves just like there are humans and some don't care if they make a play or take another wolf's mate. Some will figure that if you aren't marked that they have a right to try to get that person away from their mate. Such wolves who don't give a damn for our laws or traditions are soundly discouraged and often shunned, but that doesn't mean they don't pop up every once in awhile, just like serial killers do. I don't believe there are any in Virginia like that or at least that are part of the local pack and besides, I'll be there for any of them try anything, because you won't be going by yourself to pack lands. This means that none of the other wolves would dare try anything where I would be bound to hear about it much sooner and come after those responsible with a vengeance. However, I won't be there when you travel for work and if I mark you it will protect you from other wolves advances.”
“And marking me, will make those other werewolves back off?” asked JJ.
“Most of them, yeah,” Sean assured her. “There might be a few that are bold enough to try anyway, but I know you can defend yourself if that happens. It's true enough mates are sacred among our kind and there are rather stiff penalties for another wolf trying to steal another's mate, but that doesn't mean that some don't try if they take a liking to that person. When they do though and if the attempt is seen or reported or both, well let's just say that the wolf in question is usually thrown out of the pack depending of course, how great an offense it was and the age of the wolf in question. Sometimes though satisfaction is demanded from the victim or their mate or both and if that is the case, well it usually ends in death for the one accused, so long as there is proof that it occurred that is.”
“Well, you wolves are rather a vicious lot aren't you,” JJ said not seeming at all disturbed by what she was hearing, but then again she considered it a different culture in a way, one with it's own laws and rules for wrongs done. She assumed that it was done where no one outside the werewolf community could see and then the body was disposed in such a way afterwards that it would never be found, which meant that that person just disappeared off the face of the earth.
“We can be, but I'm sure you understand the reason our laws are so harsh when it come to another wolf trying to steal another's mate,” Sean said.
“That wolf could sometimes commit suicide and takes a few people with him sometimes like the one responsible,” JJ murmured.
“Only if the wolf's mate is killed, or damaged in such a that they don't want anything to do with their mate. In fact females in particular in the past have been known to commit suicide if they are raped by another whether that is another wolf or just a human, in the end the result is the same.”
“That is so sad,” JJ said.
“It is, but that is why our laws are so harsh,” Sean said
“I can certainly understand that and why death is sometimes necessary. I can't see a wolf doing well in prison since even werewolves are pack animals, so in a way it's more of a mercy to kill them, so they won't have to do it themselves and the crimes you describe is hard to prove in any case, unless the woman or a witness comes forward and a lot of them are to ashamed of being raped to do that.”
“Which is human nature, and werewolves are human as well as wolves,” Sean said already knowing that JJ would understand the werewolf packs stance on this issue even if she didn't approve because she believed that everybody deserved a trial by a journey of their peers, which he respected.
“What does this marking involved?” asked JJ changing the subject.
“Well,” Sean begin to explain beginning to look a little nervous, “it means I leave a permanent mark on you with my teeth somewhere that's visible and won't be covered by clothes. This mark is usually on the neck and won't be visible to the human eyes very easily, because it will just be a thin white scar once it heals and unless they look closely it won't be noticeable, but will be very visible to a werewolf's keener eyesight.”
“I thought werewolves use their senses of smell, so wood and I smell like you and wouldn't that make another wolf back off?”
“Well, that's true,” Sean admitted, “but that can be washed off and the more you shower the more my smell would fade until it was gone, so if we were parted for say a week my scent wouldn't be noticeable at all. There might possibly be a faint trace, but a wolf would have to be extremely close in order to smell it and there would be no guarantee that he would leave you alone, because we take human lovers all the time, well those that don't have mates and so that wolf would probably think that you had made love with one of us, but not that you were taken.”
JJ thought about it and then realized it made sense. Werewolves were more animals than human and had much stronger instincts, even in the wild, then humans did as well. It was kind of like telling a human that was making a play for somebody else's wife or husband and when the human in question saw what they thought of as their territory they would rush to defend what was theirs, which would be the equivalent of pissed outrage or to tell someone to fuck off they're mine! “Will you marking me hurt?” asked JJ a little tentatively.
“It will sting,” Sean told her truthfully, “but that will fade in just a few minutes and will cause you no permanent damage except to leave a place that will be sore for several days, but that will eventually scar over.”
“So if you mark me, that means that I am yours, until one of us dies or at least it's the visible reminder to others of your kind that I'm taken as the sex takes care of the we are each other's part.”
“More or less,” Sean agreed. “Very simply put, but essentially correct.”
“Will this mark affect me in anyway,” asked JJ
“Do you mean physically?” asked Sean and JJ nodded, “No, it's just a mark that let other's know that you are off limits as anything other then a friend.”
“It's kind of a caveman thing,” JJ teased him making Sean relax a little, for if JJ could tease him so mercilessly then she wasn't upset with what he had told her. “You know that they used to bump another male on the head if they tried to steal their mate.”
“I suppose so,” Sean agreed anxious to get started, but trying to be patient. He knew JJ was thinking about what he had told her and he tried to give her plenty of time in order to do that. He knew what he had told her wasn't commonly done among humans, in fact it was an outright strange request and he knew that. He didn't have to do the mating mark thing, if JJ was really against it, but he hadn't been lying when he said that it would give her a certain amount of protection from other werewolves trying to take her from him.
“Go ahead and do it. I'm not afraid of a little pain, I have been shot after all,” JJ told Sean finally making his expression light up so much that he could a illuminated the entire bedroom.
“You're sure?” asked Sean. “Once it's done, it can't be taken back. The mark will never disappear completely.”
“I'm sure,” JJ told him. “Once we have sex well technically we are married and you marking me, is just extension of that.”
“You're an unusual woman, Jennifer,” Sean told with great respect in his voice. “I've never known anyone quite like you.”
“Well, good, I wouldn't want to be to plain or boring,” JJ teased him, even as she ran a hand through his short blondish brown hair lovely.
“You could never be that in a million years,” Sean told her with great sincerity.
“Flatterer,” JJ told him with a small laugh, even as she kissed him heatedly.
“It's simple, honest, truth, not flattery,” Sean said, his blue eyes going gold like they did when he transformed into a wolf, his fangs descending.
Sean lowered his head until his nose was buried in her neck and JJ realized that he was inhaling her scent. He had never done that before, and she immediately guessed it was because he wouldn't have been able to stop attacking her if he had, taking her forcibly, instead of lovingly and tenderly, a wolf, a true wolf's strongest sense was their nose and this was also true of werewolves. She wasn't saying that they hadn't made out plenty, because they had, but he had always avoided the area of her neck because that was where her scent was the strongest.
“I love you so much,” Sean whispered his voice muffled as his nose and mouth were still buried in her neck. “I never imagined that I would find my mate at all, or if I did that they would be so accepting of the whole werewolf thing. I have known werewolves in the past that found their mate and then kill themselves and sometimes their other half as they often don't accept what they are told and tell the wolf in question that they never want to see them again.
“I feel sorry for those werewolves,” JJ said kissing Sean directly on the lips passionately, “but they are not us. I knew about werewolves beforehand thanks to your brother and Spencer, so I had time to accept that they existed, and that there weren't like in the books and the movies by the time I met you. It's quite possible, that I would've thrown you out on your ear if I hadn't known beforehand and had time to absorb it, so you can thank your brother, Spencer and also Morgan for nearly getting killed for my acceptance.”
“I'll be sure to do that,” Sean promised huskily and then got back to what he had been doing, which was very tenderly running one hand down her side, while at the same time licking a ring around on of JJ's very firm nipples before taking it into his mouth and gently sucking on it.
JJ, started to wither frantically beneath him and this pleased Sean no end, because he liked the fact that his mate was so responsive to his touch. Sean was determined to get to know her body so well, that he could make their lovemaking sessions last as long as he wanted them to or bring her to her satisfaction quickly depending on what they both wanted. He was determined to make it so pleasurable for her that she would want to have sex often as they were able between their schedules and eventually when their children were asleep or out of the house.
The thought of having pups by her thrilled him, although he was sure they wouldn't have any for a few years anyway and not until they were at least officially engaged, because he couldn't see Jennifer agreeing to have another pup until she was sure their relationship was going to last like she had with that bastard LaMontagne. He wanted nothing more than to erase Jennifer's fears that he was ever going to leave her, because he would have to be dead before that happened and he knew his mate was aware of that at least in her mind, but not deep in her heart. He couldn't really blame her for her secret doubts, even if she had never voiced them he know she had them for how could she not considering how much Will LaMontagne had hurt her not to long ago? That kind of abandonment left a permanent mark on a person, whether they knew it or not. He would take their relationship slow, like he had been doing since the beginning, as normally it didn't take him two months to get a woman to have sex with him, but he hadn't dared mess things up with JJ as he could lose her, not to mention Henry and that was not acceptable, so slow it would be, no matter how much the wolf in him begged him to get her pregnant as it wanted a few pups or to be rough doing sex, but he wouldn't do that either at least right now.
Sean switched his mouth to her other breast and trailed his tongue around the nipple before taking it in his mouth and sucking on it causing JJ to let out a scream of pleasure. The things Sean was doing to her with his mouth were sinful and erotic and she knew he had barely gotten started. She was sure he was very experienced when it came to having sex, but he seemed to be taking his time to make sure she enjoyed it and boy was she. She could already feel herself getting wet down in her pussy, and she know that Sean wasn't going to let her come too soon or himself either if she was any judge. A lot of men she knew wouldn't care about giving the woman they were with their release before finding their own or even caring if their partner got had a release at all, but Sean wasn't like that and she was very happy about that fact. Sean was the kind of man she could see herself settling down with, as he was intelligent, easygoing, kind, gentle, loved children and wasn't arrogant, well except in the fact that he was an excellent cook, which was understandable and perfectly acceptable.
Finally Sean seemed to be done with worshipping her breast, which were now feeling very tender and her nipples were plumped up, from all the attention they had been receiving and moved down to trail kissing on her stomach while moving one hand and giving the soft skin of her inner right thigh gentle strokes.
JJ's climax took her by surprise as the pressure had been building so slowly and Sean hadn't even entered her yet, but her body just exploded into a release so powerful that it took her several minutes to come down from it and then when she accidentally closed her legs, another less powerful climax took her causing her to pant and gasp for several more minutes.
“Whoah!” JJ panted still feeling out of breath from her very explosive, powerful climax, the most powerful one she had ever had actually and if it was this intense her and Sean's first time making love they would be fucking like rabbits on a regular basis.
“Yes, whoah!” Sean agreed with a smug, heartstopping grin.
JJ supposed that Sean had a right to be smug, because it hadn't taken him long at all to bring her to satisfaction and more than satisfaction and he hadn't, even had a release of his own yet.
“You are welcome to keep doing what you were doing,” JJ told him pulling his head down to give him a very tender, searing kiss on the lips her tongue demanding entrance to his mouth.
Sean opened his lips immediately and their tongues battled each other for dominance for several long pleasurable minutes before they finally separated in order to catch their breaths.
“I'm never had such an intense climax after just a few minutes or a second one less earthshattering, but still intense just because I closed my legs,” JJ told him. “I've never had such an intense climax, with my other sexual partners, period and let me tell you if they to be in that spectacular, we're going to be doing it a lot.”
“You know I was just thinking the same thing,” Sean told her with a rather smug smile. “I was just thinking that I was going to make it so pleasurable and satisfying for you that you would want to have sex all the time.”
“Well, you succeeded in your goal, and I know you weren't even half to trying. My body has never responded so quickly or powerfully for any of my other sexual partners,” JJ told him honestly.
“That's good to know,” Sean told her with a satisfied smirk, “and you were right just a second ago when you said I wasn't even half trying, so just imagine how powerful and intense it will be when I put a lot more effort into it.”
JJ's blue eyes rolled back in her head, as she thought about that and knew she was looking forward to it.
“I wonder if anybody has ever died from too much pleasure?” JJ asked rhetorically.
“I doubt it, but if they had what a way to go,” Sean grinned.
JJ just stared at him and Sean took that to mean that she was ready for the next round, which was a good thing considering that he hadn't reached his climax yet and his cock was a stiff and as hard as a diamond. It was even dribbling a steady stream of semen out of the tip, which was falling between JJ's legs and onto the sheets. His cock had never had this kind of reaction to any other woman he had been with sexually before now and Sean know that it was at least partially due to the fact that he and JJ were mates and therefore made for you each other.
For this round Sean started to lick, kiss and nip, JJ's inner left thigh right near her pussy, while JJ twined the fingers of one hand into his dirty blond hair, while the other left scratch marks on his upper back that healed almost instantly.
“Sean! Get on with it! More! I need your manhood inside me! Now!” JJ begged without shame, as the feelings in her belly were so intense and sharp that they were just on the edge of pain, but also so wonderful and pleasurable that she wanted to experience this feeling in her belly as often as humanly possible. The tingling in her vagina didn't help either
“It will be a pleasure,” Sean assured her with a grin, getting a condom from where he had left the pack on the bedside table and rolling it onto his cock, before plunging as deep into his mate, as he could go not even bothering to use his fingers to check because he could smell the scent of her arousal and that she was already plenty wet enough for him. This was a good thing because he knew he didn't have the will power to hold back his climax any longer and this was proved true when he immediately exploded inside JJ's body, without even having to thrust once, while at the same time Sean's fangs extended and he bit down just enough on the side of his mate's neck to leave a mark that would bleed for a few minutes, before stopping and would then start to scar after a few hours.
Meanwhile JJ's entire body seemed to spasm and shudder, partly from the stinging pain of the bite, but mostly from the pleasure that was racing through her as she exploded into her third earthshattering climax in just a few minutes.
“I love you,” Sean told JJ reverently kissing her gently on the lips.
“I love you too,” JJ assured him, returning the kiss a little tiredly, but also passionately.
“Good, because if you decided to leave me for some reason I would follow you and Henry to the ends of the earth and back again. You're mine now and you were the minute you agreed to let me put my mark on you and have sex with me.”
“I know what I was agreeing to,” JJ told him with a mischievous grin, “so don't worry so much, I'm not going anywhere ever, unless you're coming and Henry to of course. The two of you are the two most important people in my life for as much as I love Spence, Morgan and Hotch like brothers or Penelope and Emily like sisters, well they are not as important as the two of you.”
“Good,” Sean said satisfied, “are you ready for another round?” he added hopefully, giving her his best puppy dog look causing JJ to cave almost immediately, “Or do you want to get some sleep?”
“My you are insatiable aren't you?” asked JJ in mock surprise, although she was genuinely astonished that Sean still had the energy to even think about making love right now considering they'd been going at it like rabbits for a couple of hours already. Well, she knew she was just going to have to get used to that insatiability and she really didn't have a problem with that at all and since she didn't have to work tomorrow now was a good time to make love as much as they wanted since they could sleep in.
“I am,” Sean told without an ounce of shame in his voice or on his face, “at least when it comes to you anyway.”
“Well, that's good, because when it comes to you I can be just as insatiable I promise you,” JJ told him with a grin, even as she looked up and down his body with intense lust and desire in her blue eyes.
“That's perfectly okay with me,” Sean told her and since he now had her tacit permission he started making love to her again, which JJ wasn't about to object to since although she was physically tired she wasn't sleepy and besides, it felt wonderful to be so desired that Sean couldn't keep his hands to himself. She knew she was going to be stiff and sore tomorrow, because she hadn't been this sexually active since she was a teenager as life had just gotten busy, but that was okay since she didn't have to work in the morning.
There were no more words for quite sometime after that, just moans, groans, purrs and whimpers of pleasure.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

6 months later

Sean whistled cheerfully as he stirred a sauce along with a panful of chopped hamburger. It had been six months since he and Jennifer had been dating and what a six months it had been. She was away a lot, with her job and Sean knew that he would just have to accept that and not expect her to change for him because that would destroy their relationship faster than a wrecking ball. They had gotten so close in the last six months since they spent all their free time either alone together or with Henry who Sean had to admit was adorable and had taken to him after a few visits so that he became a familiar face. Things were going so well that he had decided it was time to propose and he just hoped that JJ truly loved him as much as he did her and said yes. He truly believed that she wanted to eventually get married as they had discussed everything in the last six months from marriage to having at least three more children, to moving into a bigger place together as a couple. His restaurant was getting off to a very good start thanks in large part to David Rossi who had agreed to loan him the funds. Sean hadn't wanted to accept charity and so arrangements had been made for him to be paid back, with no interest. It was more of a gentleman's agreement, which Rossi trusted him to do what he said and Sean had every intention of doing just that.
Sean stirred the hamburger again as he thought about the ring he had in his pocket and hopefully, Jennifer wouldn't be called out with the rest of the team whom he had gotten to know much better over the last six months. The team was truly a family just as his brother had told him and he had been threatened by Rossi that even if JJ was his mate he had better treat her right or he would regret it and he got the same warning from Morgan and everybody else on the team except his brother and brother-in-law, who knew he would.
That the team truly cared for JJ made Sean happy and he had assured all of them that he had no intention of mistreating her and they seemed to accept that until he proved he couldn't be trusted, which he never would.
Sean whistled as he continued to prepare dinner as JJ had called and said that she should be home by 5:30, which was only half an hour from now. Sean was now living with JJ and had moved out of his brother's spare room at their place and had been for the last three months. He looked after Henry, when JJ had to go away with the team, well either that or he called the babysitter if he had to work. The three of them had become a little family even though Sean was no relation to Henry at all. He felt like the boy's father though, because he was there when Henry needed him, like if he'd had a bad dream. Henry's father Will LaMontagne had given up any parental rights shortly after Henry was born and Sean thought that was the other man's loss. He and JJ had even talked about Henry taking on the Hotchner name by Sean legally adopting him, but JJ hadn't wanted to rush into anything she had wanted to make sure that the relationship was solid before they even considered it. He had told her long since that the two of them were mates just like Morgan and Garcia or his brother and Spencer. Jennifer had taken the news well Sean thought, remembering that conversation, much better than he had expected her to, but he supposed it helped that she had already known about werewolves and had accepted that such things existed.
“Sean? I'm home!” came to voice of JJ as Sean with his keen werewolf hearing heard the door unlock.
“In the kitchen, babe,” Sean called. “I'm cooking us a nice dinner.”
“So I can smell,” Jennifer said, as she came into the kitchen and gave him a hug and a heartfelt kiss.
“So where is Henry?” asked JJ
“He's staying with Morgan and Garcia tonight as I wanted it to be just the two of us,” Sean explained. “Penelope was happy to have him staying over for the night and she already has big plans for him.”
“I just bet she does,” JJ laughed glad to have some alone time with Sean as much as she adored her son.
The two of them chatted casually for a few minutes as Sean finished up cooking having turned down JJ's offer to help and it wasn't more than 10 minutes later when the food hit the table.
Sean tried to act normally as he ate his meal. He tried to work out what he wanted to say in his head while he kept up a conversation with the woman across from him. Actually the truth of the matter was that he had been trying to work out how to propose for weeks now and still he wasn't sure if he would be able to find the words. Normally he was a very confident individual, just like his brother, but right now his nerves were getting to him.
Finally dinner was over and Sean got up to clear the table turning down JJ's offer to help. “You just relax,” Sean told her with a gentle smile and a kiss on the cheek. “I've got this.”
“Well, what have I done to deserve this royal treatment,” JJ teased him.
“Oh, you just being you,” Sean told her with a smile. “I've been so happy these last few months and I hope you have to.”
JJ was taken aback for a few seconds and then replied softly, “I've never been this happy in my whole life and that includes when I was with Will. I love my son, but that whole relationship with him was just a mistake, even if something good came out of it.”
“So why did you date him in the first place?” asked Sean curiously.
“Well, he's a really nice guy,” JJ admitted, “being abusive is not one of his faults and at first he was really sweet, he paid attention to me and he didn't mind my job since he was a cop himself and worked a lot. He had nothing against women in professions such as the one I work in, which was a refreshing change and I'm not sure you realize how rare that kind of attitude is. However, I had been thinking about breaking up with him for sometime until I learned I was pregnant, because going up to New Orleans to see him or him coming down here when we had time off was becoming too much of a burden, but what clinched it for me was the fact that we had never talked about children and it turned out he didn't want any—ever. He said they were messy, noisy and a lot of other things I won't repeat. It turned out that at his core he was extremely lazy, selfish and didn't ever want a child to take away from his time with whatever woman he was married to. From what I know of his past he grew up with a very controlling grandmother who is head of his family back in New Orleans and he expected me to take all the responsibility if we did have a child, which I wouldn't do because it supposed to that both parents take care of whatever children they have. You know both do their part to raise a child so they grow up into decent citizens. I didn't know this about Will when we first started dating, but I learned because he wanted me to get an abortion and when I wouldn't he stuck around until after Henry was born, but then he decided that he was not interested at all in helping to raise him. As I said Will is incredibly lazy and selfish when he doesn't get his own way and he wanted to dump all the responsibility for raising Henry on me instead of sharing in the responsibilities of having a child brings. I wasn't about to give up my job to do that so I had to make other arrangements after Will was out of my life.”
Sean snarled at the mention of Will's name, which made JJ smile as she knew her boyfriend hated Will LaMontagne with a passion and wanted to hunt him down and rip him a new one and had since learned he had felt this way ever since his name had first been brought up at that dinner where they had first met, although Sean had down a good job of controlling his reaction at the time, but only because he hadn't wanted to scare her off. Hotch had talked him out of it that time she now knew, as he had pointed out that he could end up in prison and then he wouldn't be there for her, which had turned the tide. She had known from Hotch and Spencer that werewolves were incredibly protective of their mates and pups, but had not seen it first hand until after she and Sean had gotten together and Henry wasn't even his by blood and yet he was just as protective of him as he was of her. Now Sean just snarled whenever Will's name was mentioned and it always warmed her all the way down to her toes.
“You're right, that is incredibly selfish and lazy,” Sean said taking JJ into his arms. “Even though I know it hurt you when he left.”
“It did, but I believed at that time that I loved him and that he didn't love me in return did hurt. I truly thought my heart was broken in two, but my friends helped me see that he was just a selfish bastard who had given up the best thing in his lazy, pathetic life. I'm not saying it didn't still hurt, just not as much.” JJ was silent for awhile seeming lost in thought and Sean gave her her space even as he held in his arms in silent support. “You know what the ironic thing is though?”
“What?” asked Sean, tugging her body closer to him and kissing the top of her head which was just under his chin.
“My dented heart did not really began to heal until after I had met you. I was so miserable after we left New York after that dinner, even more lonely and sad then I had been in a long time. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't really plausible to have a relationship with you because we lived in two different cities that were hundreds of miles from each other and that I had already tried that with Will and it didn't work out.”
Sean snarled again at that just like he did every time LaMontagne's name was mentioned, which made JJ smile.
“Will, is my past, you're my present and future,” JJ told him turning around and giving him a very passionate to be continued later kind of kiss.
Once broke apart Sean said, “I'm glad you feel that way because…” Sean dropped to one knee and reached into his pocket and came up with a ring box. “I've been wanting to ask you for several weeks now...to marry me...to be my wife...and the mother of our children.”
JJ stood there with the hand covering her mouth stunned for she hadn't been expecting for Sean to just propose. She probably should have, she admitted as she knew very well that werewolves mated for life and because they'd had sex—on multiple occasions in the last four months, although she had made sure to not get pregnant—technically they were married already by werewolf laws anyway.
It took JJ what seemed a eternity to Sean to answer, but he knew it was probably no more than a minute at most, but a very long, stretched out minute. “Yes! Yes! Of course, I'll marry you! I love you so much!”
JJ using all her strength pulled Sean to his feet by his shirt and kissed him even more passionately then she had just a few minutes ago and he responded eagerly. The kiss, or really kisses seemed to last forever and by the time they broke apart they were out of breath and just stood there in the kitchen holding each other with their foreheads together.
“You seemed rather shocked when I proposed,” Sean told her quietly.
“You caught me by surprise,” JJ admitted. “I shouldn't have been so shocked I know, but I've had a lot on my mind recently.”
“Don't you always,” Sean teased her gently causing her to laugh and hug him.
“Yes, I do, although I try not to bring my work home with me to often,” JJ answered, “but there are some cases that affect you more than others. Some you solve and you forget about them, or at least mostly forget, but there are some that you can't forget, those with, children in particular. Whenever we have one of those whether it's a kidnapped child, who is found alive or one that's already been murdered affect all of us.”
“That's only because you all care,” Sean said. “I've never seen anyone as passionate about what they do as you and the team. You truly care about the people that you help and that's one thing that makes you so good at what you do, because you don't stop until you can give the grieving family some peace and catch the one that did it, even though it takes you away from your families.”
“I would also like to adopt Henry legally,” Sean added after a moment. “If you don't mind that is. I'll be the only father he really ever knew since he is still so young and he deserves that. He doesn't deserve an absentee father that doesn't even care enough to keep this parental rights. Besides, you know I love Henry as if he was my own.”
JJ thought about it then nodded in agreement. “You're right, Will doesn't deserve to get to know his son considering how he abandoned me and him when Henry was only a few months old and he adores you, which just proves my son is a good judge of character even as young as he is.”
“Alright, then I'll have my brother give me the name of someone who can draw up the proper paperwork as I'm sure he knows a person that can do that. He could probably even do it if he had to, although I know it's not his area of specialty since he was a federal prosecutor.”
“Will Hotch…” JJ began.
“I know you want to ask if my brother would mind if I adopted Henry into his family and you should know that he's very softhearted when it comes to children and he loves Henry so no he won't mind. I know he doesn't show it very often but he really is genuinely compassionate and I know he wanted to pummel LaMontagne into the ground for what he did to you and Henry, trust me on that.”
“You're right,” JJ admitted. “I do know him pretty well considering we've worked together for years, but still we don't really have a personal relationship outside the work arena or at least we didn't before you came into my life.”
“So when do you want to get married?” asked Sean.
“As soon as possible,” JJ said. “I'm not getting any younger and I need to get pregnant as soon as possible if we want at least three other children.”
Sean smiled widely and gave JJ a kiss on her forehead. “That is music to my ears and I will be more then happy to help you with that.”
“I just bet you are,” JJ teased her fiancé poking him in the stomach playfully. “Sex is all men ever think about.”
“Of course it is,” Sean teased her picking her up and swinging her around as he was so happy he could just burst causing her to squeal laughingly.
“Put me down,” JJ demanded. “I'm getting dizzy.”
Sean obliged, but kept his arms around her waist as soon as he put her feet on the ground.
“I don't think you need to worry about having time for a big family,” Sean said after a few minutes of silence.
“Oh? Why?” asked JJ.
“Because when it comes to having a child with one of us there's a good chance that you'll end up having more then one. Twins are the most common of course, but there's been ones who had quadruplets. It doesn't happen all the time and tends to happen more often between those that are truly mates and not between a wolf and some woman they marry just because they believe they are in love.”
“Like Hotch and Haley,” JJ murmured.
“Exactly and I never did like Haley by the way as I always thought that she only married Aaron because she knew he was going places with his career,” Sean said. “Of course, it also depends how fertile a couple is, and if the woman has trouble with a pregnancy, you know carrying the baby or babies to term.”
“And of course, there's also the vanishing twin syndrome,” JJ said.
“Yes, that happens with werewolves to,” Sean agreed. “Aaron and I knew a couple growing up that was supposed to have twins yet when they went to the doctor for a second ultrasound only one heartbeat could be heard and the Greens only had one daughter that time instead of the two they were expecting. I still remember how devastated they were, although the doctor assured them that the vanishing twin syndrome was perfectly normal and happened in anywhere from 20 to 30% of multiple pregnancies. All that meant was that she'd had a miscarriage and lost one of the babies while the other one remained healthy.”
“That's sad,” JJ said, “but it's also perfectly normal for some women are just able to carry multiple fetuses more easily than others.”
“It is sad, but it's also nature's way of getting rid of a baby yet this something wrong with it,” Sean said.
“A woman can also lose her baby if she's not careful and does too much while she's pregnant,” JJ said, “and there might not be anything wrong with the fetus at all.”
“That's true too,” Sean said looking sad since pups were sacred to werewolves.
“So if I do have twins the first time…” JJ paused to consider what she was thinking, “depending how tough it is on me, as I know carrying even one baby isn't for sissies, I might not consider having anymore after that, especially if the doctor recommends that I don't because of health issues.”
“I would never want you to have another child even if it's only one if it's too hard on your body and you have problems carrying them to term,” Sean assured her. “Some women just aren't suited to give birth and their health takes such a beating that they never have another even if they want to because if they tried again it could very well kill them.”
“I've known women like that in the past,” JJ agreed, “including my best friend from high school. We've kept in touch over the years and she has had one child with her husband, but her health took such a beating that the doctor ended up recommending that she shouldn't try to have another as it might very well kill her. I well remember she was so devastated, because she and her husband wanted at least one more and they weren't able to have one without risking her life. I don't think we need to worry about that with me though as I had no trouble bringing Henry to term and although the pregnancy wasn't exactly easy on me there were no problems outside the normal ones you experience with any baby.”
“Well, good,” Sean said pleased, “but every pregnancy is different so we'll still have to follow the doctor's advice and if he recommends we not have another then we won't as I won't risk your life. I can't bear to lose you now that I have found you, especially not in such a stupid way.”
“You sure seem to know a lot about pregnancies and giving birth,” JJ teased him in order to hide how touched she was at her new fiancé's words.
“You pick up things even if you don't want to,” Sean said with a shrug. “Women do tend to talk about such things whether there are male's present or not and I've heard a lot of women talk about this kind of thing in the restaurant I used to work at in New York. I would catch part of a conversation at one table and then the basic same subject at another, as I delivered their food or took a woman's orders and believe me, you hear it often enough, it sticks. Besides, there's all these movies that have women who are pregnant and who have girlfriends who want to know all about it.”
Sean rolled his eyes causing JJ to laugh, but she had to agree because there were a lot of movies like that particularly romantic comedies and he was also right that woman also tended to talk about childbirth, especially if one of them was pregnant at the time.
“So you said you wanted to have the wedding as soon as possible,” Sean asked changing the subject.
“Yes, if we can manage it sometime in the next three months or sooner. There won't be many people invited because our schedules are often so uncertain that it may have to be put on hold at the last minute. Yes, I can take off as I have plenty of vacation time saved up, but I want the whole team there from your brother to Henry's godfather Spence and also my mother.”
“So you don't want anything big and flashy?” Sean asked.
“No, something simple and tasteful will do, although PG will try to get me to change my mind about that. I'm sure Rossi won't mind if we have it in his backyard just like Morgan and Garcia did for theirs. Garcia would have gone way overboard if Morgan hadn't convinced her it was a bad idea simply because his schedule is so uncertain because of the job he does. If his schedule is uncertain so is the rest of the team's and there's no way that she would've gotten married without every single one of us there on the happiest day of her life. I wasn't one of those people that ever dreamed about having a big, flashy wedding although I suppose I might have when I was 10 or 11, but not now.”
“Then smaller it shall be,” Sean promised. “I have a few friends I want to invite from New York, but they can come down on the train the day the of and then go back the next day.”
The two of them started to discuss the details as they cleaned up the kitchen and once that was done headed upstairs to make love.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

JJ walked into the house that she and Sean had bought together a few months ago in a daze. The reason she was in such a daze was because she had just learned from her personal physician Dr. Holloway that she was pregnant. Oh, she had suspected, for some weeks that that was exactly her problem she had started throwing up at odd times a day and not just the morning having to rush to the restroom, although luckily, it hadn't affected her job yet. She had experience with pregnancy after all thanks to her son Henry, but she had wanted to go to Dr. Holloway to make sure before she had told Sean.
She and Sean had yet to tie the knot, although their wedding wasn't all that far away, only a couple of weeks and if she was pregnant now then she must have been at least a month to six weeks. She wasn't upset or angry at this development and in fact was happy for she had told Sean that he didn't have to use a condom anymore as she wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible even if that happened before the actual wedding. Sean had been more than happy to comply with that request and it looked like their effects over the last month had born fruit.
Dr. Holloway had examined her and also had her take a blood test to send to the lab, but he was experienced enough to tell her that she was indeed pregnant even without seeing that test confirmed, although he couldn't tell her how far along she was at the moment, although he did estimate at least a month to two.
JJ decided she was going to draw herself a relaxing bath, because Sean was still at work, as he had long hours just as she did, but then his restaurant was just getting off ground and JJ understood that, that would require long hours for awhile.
JJ was so happy that she could just burst, she couldn't believe that she was carrying Sean Hotchner's baby or babies and that she was excited and ecstatic about that fact. Of course, as much as they had sex every spare minute, without using protection she wasn't really surprised that she was pregnant because Dr. Holloway had told her beforehand that she was in perfect health and should have no trouble conceiving or giving birth, if she ever wanted another child. JJ did want another child, in fact several of them as she and Sean had discussed months back when she had realized that their relationship was serious.
JJ knew that she wasn't getting any younger and she was already 32 and so she needed to have any children she wanted sometime in the next seven or eight years or she would lose her opportunity as a woman only had so many reproductive years before she couldn't get pregnant anymore, not to mention giving birth wasn't exactly a walk in the park and the older you were the harder it was on a woman's body.
JJ laid back in the hot bath water and just relaxed. Her job did tend to be stressful and Sean wasn't here to give her a massage which she had discovered in the last few months he was exceptional at. Despite being a chef he had a strong body and magic hands that she loved to feel massaging her.
A baby, JJ mused, a son or a daughter with the man she adored. She had never thought she'd fall in love again, not after Will, but she was so glad she had been wrong about that. She had thought she loved Will, but really, it hadn't been love at all or at least not enough to last lifetime. She had lusted after him certainly, and believed he was the love of her life, but true love? No, that was something it definitely hadn't been. Her feeling's for Sean were so much deeper, so much truer, then they had ever been for Will and now that she thought about it her feeling for the father of her son paled in comparison to the ones's she held for Sean now.
JJ's thoughts were interrupted as she heard the front door open and the voice of her son and her fiancé. Sean had been supposed to to pick Henry up at daycare and apparently it was later then she had thought for here they were.
“Mommy?” Henry called.
“Bathroom, sweetie,” JJ called. “I'll be out in just a few minutes, alright?”
“Come on little man give your mom some peace alright?” JJ heard Sean tell Henry gently. “Why don't you join me in the kitchen and I'll fix you a snack, okay?”
“Brownies?” asked Henry hopefully.
“Only one before dinner,” Sean told Henry with a smile hefting the toddler into his strong arms and Henry immediately put his arms around his neck, “if I ruin your appetite your mommy will have my head on a platter.”
“Not to mention too much sweet stuff isn't good for you,” JJ said coming into the kitchen fully dressed playfully glaring at her fiancé even as she kissed his cheek and ruffled her son's hair.
Sean contrived look innocent, but failed miserably and burst out laughing at the expression on JJ's face.
“What's so funny, Mr.?” JJ teased him even as Sean put his free arm around her waist.
“You are,” Sean told her with a grin as he kissed her cheek looking totally unrepentant.
JJ tried to be strong, but couldn't help herself and finally lost the battle with her laughter
“Mommy?” Henry asked.
“What sweetie?” asked JJ as she kissed his cheek.
“When are you going to give me a brother or sister?” Henry asked innocently.
Sean sputtered in surprise at the question while JJ just stared at her son in shock. “What makes you ask that, Henry?” asked JJ.
“I heard some of the grown-ups talking in daycare,” Henry begin to explain confused why his parents were so shocked at the question. “One lady asked another when she was due and then asked if Misty was happy to be getting a brother or sister.”
Henry told them the rest he had overheard from memory although he mispronounced some of the words, which wasn't unusual considering he was only about 2 ½.
Both JJ's and Sean's lips twitched as Henry told them all that he had overheard and they knew that in his two and a half year old mind he had equated having a baby with happiness and while that was true that wasn't all there was to it.
“You have a good timing Henry,” JJ told him kissing his forehead. “I haven't had a chance to tell your daddy yet, but I'm pregnant.”
“You are?” asked Sean in joy and astonishment.
“I am, I just got back from my doctor's appointment before you and Henry got home and Dr. Holloway took blood in order to confirm she is sure that I am indeed pregnant as the symptoms I've been having the last few weeks, ones I should recognize, considering,” JJ said giving Henry a glance, a look Sean understood immediately. “You know the nausea, the vomiting, the cravings, being hungry all the time. Besides, although I didn't notice for a few weeks my period hasn't come like it should as it's usually as regular as clockwork.”
“So how far along are you?” asked Sean.
“The Dr. Holloway's not sure, but she guesses anywhere from a month to two,” JJ answered. “However I know that I'm at least six weeks along, because my menstrual cycle usually comes like clockwork towards the middle of the month and I didn't get one last month or this one, although it took me a few weeks to realize that I hadn't had one, since I am always so busy.”
“I'm going to cook us a fabulous dinner to celebrate and then we need to tell my brother and Spencer who will be very happy for us,” Sean said, giving Henry his brownie from the jar they were kept high on top of the fridge and far out of Henry's reach. “Maybe invite them out to dinner to tell them.”
“We need to tell the rest of the team to,” JJ reminded him and Sean nodded.
“We do,” Sean agreed as he had grown fond of the people that JJ worked closely with in the months since he had come to Quantico. “Perhaps invite them the whole team out to dinner, although they'll probably suspect something is up if we do it that way.”
“I'm sure they will,” JJ agreed, “none of them are stupid or they wouldn't be profilers.”
“Does that mean I'm going to get a brother or sister?” asked Henry interrupting their conversation.
“Yes it does, little man,” JJ told her son tickling his tummy causing him to giggle and squirm, “and you'll be a good big brother, won't you?”
“Yeah!” Henry cheered and then wiggled to be let down and Sean put him on his feet where he immediately ran off towards his room. “I'm going to be a big brother, I'm going to be a big brother,” Sean and JJ heard him chanting as he disappeared towards his bedroom.
“Well, he's happy,” Sean chuckled.
“Yes, he is, although his question about getting a sibling caught me by surprise,” JJ said.
“Me too,” Sean said, “but really we should have expected it. Children pick up on the emotions around them and it was only a matter of time before Henry asked whether he was going to get a sibling simply because we're so happy all the time and a child is the epitome of that happiness.”
“They also know how to eavesdrop on private conversations,” JJ said looking amused.
“That too, but he's too young to know any better as all he knows is he wants to be a big brother.”
“Well, he's going to get his wish,” JJ said rubbing her stomach lovingly. “I can't wait until he she is born.”
“Neither can I,” Sean said hugging JJ gently.
“So what do you want? A girl or a boy?” asked JJ
“Either is fine with me, but since we already have a son a girl would be nice,” Sean said instantly. “Boys tend to run in my family though so there's a good chance that's what we'll have and I'm not just talking about the fact me and my brother are boys, but the fact that the Hotchners have a long history of having males instead of females. There have been a few girls born into the Hotchner family line, but it is by far more populated by boys then girls. Of course, we also have a long history of not marrying for love, but just marrying a woman from a good werewolf family, at least on the Hotchner side. There's been very few Hotchners that have ever gone their own way and when they did they were disowned, so me and Aaron are something like rebels and although we haven't been thrown out of the family our mother isn't exactly pleased, especially with Aaron.”
“Well, hopefully, if we do have three, we will get at least one girl, although it'd be nice to have an even number of both, but you can't really control the sex of what you're going to have,” JJ said. “The sex of a fetus is really a crap shot as you have a 50% chance of getting what you want. So why isn't it your mother pleased with Hotch? I would think she'd be happy that her son is in a satisfying relationship and has finally found his mate.”
“I'm afraid that both parents, wanted us not to wait to find our mates. They wanted us to get married some girl from a good werewolf family and not bother to find the ones that were meant for us,” Sean explained his expression closed off for the most part with just a hint of sadness, anger and grief. “Growing up in our family was pure hell. Aaron and I had certain expectations set down for both of us and we were expected to toe the line. Aaron at first did what our parents wanted and married Haley even though she wasn't his mate, but once he met Spencer it was inevitable that their relationship would break up even if they truly believed they were in love. Really it was only a matter of time. After Aaron went off to college I was stuck at home with nobody to lean on for comfort, especially since I am about six years younger than he is. We were never close as children, really I believe our parents wanted it that way as they felt that even though we were brothers we shouldn't be too close to each other, which is why I think they had a so far apart so we wouldn't have that connection that siblings who are closer in age do. When we were growing up, you toed the line that they set out for you or there were consequences. We were never beaten or anything like that, but they made their displeasure known in other ways. You never really realize how weird your upbringing is until you grow up, get out on your own and get to know how other families were raised. I'm not even sure either one of our parents really loved us as I believe we were just seen as a way to carry on the family bloodline.”
“A heir and a spare,” JJ murmured unknowingly repeating what Spencer had said sometime ago when he and Hotch were having a similar conversation.
“Exactly, be glad you've never met my mother as she is a first class bitch and Aaron would agree with me if you asked him about it.”
“So if what you described about your parents is accurate, that means that they never will approve of your brother...”
“Being with another man?” asked Sean when JJ didn't continue. “Not in this lifetime and probably the next. They disapprove of a lot of things, and a couple of the same-sex is just one of their many hangups, well my mothers many hangups since my father passed away back when I was still a teenager. It doesn't really matter that Aaron and Spencer are mates and there was no way that once the two of them had met that Aaron would be able to resist being with him even if it took them three years to get together. If father was still alive he probably would've had a heart attack on the spot when he heard about it and as for my mother well her reaction was probably explosive to say the least when she heard. Luckily, for us neither Aaron or I give a damn what our mother thinks and both of us and were just glad to get away from home. I never intend on going back or introducing her to our children. I don't care if she ever finds out that she has more grandchildren then Jack.”
“It'll get back to her eventually,” JJ said and Sean nodded.
“You're right about that, but if she comes here demanding to see them well I plan on telling her to go the hell away and that I never want to see her again or have her anywhere near you or our children.”
“You don't believe that she would soften if she got to hold her grandchildren?” asked JJ and Sean shook his head vehemently.
“No, I believe that should be a thorn in our sides, constantly wanting to spend time with them, which in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but we would have to put up with snide little remarks. Remarks that were about everything she saw that she thought was wrong with you or with me or with our children or even with our clothes, or the house. She would make remarks like, 'oh dear you should stay home and look after the children, the job you're doing isn't fit for a woman to do' or something like 'You aren't fit to be a wife for my son, because you had a child out of wedlock.' Mother is one of those people that deeply believes that you shouldn't even think about sex until after you're married. She would also probably say something along the lines of 'your whore, having sex before you are married and having a child with another man is even worse.' It wouldn't matter that you had Henry long before we met she would consider it a sure sign that you weren't a proper mate for her precious son who was treated like crap by both his parents when he was growing up. Trust me, when I say mother will never change and that we don't want to expose Henry or any child we are lucky enough to have to her and her venom.”
“You're right, I don't want my son anywhere near her or any child we do have,” JJ agreed. “She sounds like a very unhappy person.
“Oh she is,” Sean said with a sad smile. “I put that down to the fact that she didn't really marry for love, as I'm sure her parents preached to her the same thing that she did to Aaron and I when we were children ourselves.”
“That makes sense,” JJ said with a nod, “a lot of people turn out the same as their parents so if they preach certain things over and over again then the child or children likely turn out the same, although not always of course. You and Hotch didn't after all.”
“We were lucky,” Sean admitted. “We were intelligent enough to realize that what our parents were trying to teach us was wrong at least when it concerned their view on certain things and this was especially true after both of us went off to college, although Aaron was already married and started in his career before I was even old enough to get away from home.”
“People like your parents should never procreate,” JJ said shaking her head. “Personally I think it's a miracle that both you and Hotch turned out decently. I can see one of you turning out okay, but both? Trust me, that's a miracle.”
“Maybe so,” Sean said with a shrug looking pensive and a little sad, “but if I never see my mother again it will be too soon and although my dad wasn't quite as bad as she is well, let's just say he wasn't exactly the nice, supportive type.”
“You have Henry and me now and a child on the way,” JJ soothed and Sean grinned and kissed his fiancée on the lips.
“So I do,” Sean agreed huskily, “you are my present and my future and I don't give a damn what mother thinks about it. In fact I stopped caring years ago what she thought about me because she's always so negative. A subtle, snide little insult here, a comment there. I don't think she ever complimented or said anything positive about me or Aaron when we were growing up. All she could do really was find fault. We didn't do this right, we needed to do better in school, we had to behave perfectly all the time even when we were just at home. She expected us to be robots with perfect manners never allowed to just be kids and have fun. We weren't allowed to run outside and get dirty and if we got our nice clothes messed up, well there was hell to pay. We would at least get a lecture about how our father worked so hard to provide for us and how we had disrespected him by ruining our clothes. I well remember thinking that she was being melodramatic because mostly it was just a few dirt stains that would wash out, although we did tear our pants once or twice by playing too roughly, but then again neither one of our parents allowed us to wear stuff that was appropriate to play outside in like jeans and T-shirts. We always wore perfectly pressed slacks and collared shirts as we weren't allowed to be casual or comfortable.”
“You're right, your mother sounds like right bitch and I was taught to not speak ill of the dead—but in this case I am willing to make an exception—your father a bastard.”
“Correct on both counts,” Sean assured her kissing the top of JJ's head affectionately. “My mother has only gotten worse since my father's death back when I was still a teenager. He was only 47 and had a heart attack.”
“I won't go so far as to say he deserved it…” JJ said and then trailed off.
“Nobody deserves to die that way, no matter how they live their lives especially at such a young age,” Sean finished JJ's sentence.
“Actually I was going to say that there are some people that are so evil they deserve much more than to have a heart attack at such a young age,” JJ said. “I have faced true evil on a regular basis as has everybody else on the team and some people deserve to die and not of natural causes.”
“Well…” Sean said blinking in surprise. “I never expected you to believe such a thing.”
“I probably wouldn't if I didn't confront evil, true evil as part of my job,” JJ told him with a smile. “There are some people that are so sick, that they kidnap children repeatedly rape them and then kill them. There are people that enjoy torturing a young woman just because they want to. I have seen bodies of children, women, men so mutilated it's hard to tell whether they are male or female. I have seen things that still give me nightmares even years later. There are a lot of evil people in the world that would just be better off dying, and some of them don't even have an excuse like a psychotic break, or a bad childhood in order to blame their actions on, so are just plain evil and were born that way. I'm not saying that your parents were as bad as some of the unsubs we have caught over my years with a BAU, but they certainly didn't treat you or Hotch with the love and affection that every child needs to grow up to be decent citizens. That you and Hotch turned out to be such good men, well, I do consider that a miracle as I said earlier. Of course, you weren't physically abused like a lot of the unsubs we put in prison, just neglected, and not really allowed to be children and I know that makes a difference, but still...”
“But such an upbringing often breeds the unsubs you catch,” Sean said.
“Exactly,” JJ said giving him a kiss directly on the lips.
The two of them worked on dinner in companionable silence having started on it while they were still talking, although it was a good thing they knew how to multitask, for during dinner preparations was one of the only times they could talk, without the chance of Henry interrupting as he knew to not get underfoot while the two of them were fixing a meal as it was possible that he could be hurt.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“So do you know if it's a girl or a boy?” asked Emily, JJ, as she and Garcia sat were with her for lunch in a coffee shop that was close to the BAU.
It was four months later and JJ was now almost 6 months along in her pregnancy and it showed. She had just had a doctor's appointment yesterday to determine the sex of the baby. JJ know she could've had it done much earlier than she'd had, but she had kept having to reschedule because of her whole workload as the team kept getting called on cases. Finally though they had just had a day at the office and Hotch had ordered her to go to her doctor's appointment saying that she needed to look after her health and he wanted her and his niece or nephew to be healthy. JJ was grateful to him because she had been dying to know the sex and so had Sean who had met with her at the doctor's office, having wanted to be with her for her appointment leaving the restaurant in the hands of the assistant chef for a couple of hours.
The wedding had been small, intimate and beautiful and JJ had even taken a couple weeks off for a honeymoon as had Sean from his restaurant and they had gone to Italy. All her and Sean's friends and family had been there, except for Sean's and Aaron's mother who had purposely not been invited so she couldn't spoil her son's big day with her negative and snide little comments and innuendos.
It had been a beautiful day, JJ remembered with a smile, with a small reception after the wedding ceremony which Rossi had also hosted on his front lawn and it had been absolutely perfect.
“That's what the doctor's appointment was for you know,” JJ teased her to girlfriends, “to learn the sex of the baby I'm carrying.”
“So?” Garcia almost begged brown eyes sparkling with excitement giving her friend her best puppy dog look making JJ immediately cave. Of course, Penelope Garcia loved children and had two of her own a set of twins a girl and a boy who were only about a year old.
“Alright fine, I'll tell you,” JJ said giving in to telling Penelope and Emily the sex of the single child she had in her stomach. “It's a boy,” JJ said patting her stomach lovingly.
“Oh! That's exactly what I expected!” Penelope squealed excitedly.
“Keep your voice down, people are starting to look at us funny,” Emily told her friend.
“Sorry,” Garcia said contritely.
“It's okay, we know how much you love children,” JJ teased her blonde headed friend gently.
“Isn't that the truth,” Emily mock groaned. “All we've heard about for the last few months are her and Morgan's twins.”
“Don't pretend you don't like hearing about every little thing they do,” Garcia mock scolded. “You love children and need to find yourself someone to settle down with and have a few.”
“I might need to settle down, but I haven't dated a guy yet that I would consider dating for more than a few months before breaking it off,” Emily said. “Guys with staying power aren't exactly thick on the ground, you know. They either want me to switch jobs so I'm home more or they complain because I make more money than they do, or they want me to wait on them hand and foot and consider me only good enough to keep house and as a vehicle to carry their children, which is why I'm not willing to settle down with any of the above.”
“I can't really blame you there,” JJ said and Garcia nodded. “Smart guys, that don't have egos bigger than their bodies that see woman as equals are hard to come by.”
“I refuse to be somebody's parlor maid and some guys see me as nothing, but a glorified housewife, somebody to clean house, have children, but remain barefoot and pregnant. If I got into serious relationship with somebody like that it would be my own fault since I should be able to tell what they are like after a few dates. Besides, I'd be bored out of my skull just playing house in no time and we all know it.”
“I would be bored too if I was just a glorified housewife,” Garcia agreed immediately and JJ nodded. “Some women just aren't suited for staying home all day, and doing things that a housewife does, going to the grocery store, cleaning, cooking that kind of thing.”
All three women shuddered as they thought about that
“Lucky for the two of us we found some outstanding guys that don't mind if we work long hours because they work long hours themselves,” JJ said.
“Now we just need to find somebody like Sean and Morgan for Emily here. Somebody that doesn't mind that she's out of town so much or works long hours in the office,” Garcia said.
“Good luck,” Emily snorted not looking very hopeful. “I hardly ever spend any time at home or so it seems because we're on the road so much. There are very few guys that are going to put up with the fact that I travel so much for work and they'll be sure I'm banging a male member of the team, even if I assure him that they're all happily married, well except for Rossi, which I don't bother to mention to whatever guy I'm dating except in very general terms.”
“My, my I had no idea you were so cynical,” Garcia said looking surprised.
“You can't have the job we do and not be cynical,” Emily told her friends.
“Well, I'm not surprised that you're kind of cynical when it comes to your work,” Garcia admitted, “but I had no idea you felt that way when it came to men.”
“If you have dated some of the scumbags I have you'd be cynical too,” Emily defended herself. “I didn't exactly have very good judgment when it came to men back when I was a teenager or even a woman in my early 20's. I was in my rebellious stage back then as I wanted to be anything, except what my mother wanted me to be. My taste has since improved, but good looking, genuinely nice guys, who don't have any serious hangups when it comes to women aren't exactly easy to come by.”
“To true,” JJ agreed having dated some men and boys like that when she had been younger and years before she had met Will or Sean.
“So have you and Sean discussed baby names?” asked Garcia intently as she ate a bite of her salad.
“We have,” JJ admitted, “I gave Sean the right to name his son so long as I approve of what he choose.”
“That's pretty generous of you,” Garcia said and Emily nodded.
“It might have been, but I had veto power if I didn't like what he picked,” JJ said. “Luckily, for me Sean has good taste in names and so he picked a dozen and we decided, which ones we wanted to use for first and middle names and are saving the others if we have another son in a few years.”
“So what name did Sean choose for your son?” asked Emily interested.
“Bradley for a first name, and Duncan for a middle,” JJ answered.
“So, Bradley Duncan Hotchner,” Emily said trying out the name.
“It has a nice ring to it,” Garcia decided.
“It does,” Emily agreed
“Thank you, thank you,” JJ said with a dramatic flair bowing just a little, although she couldn't bend too far because not only was she sitting at a booth she was also six months pregnant. “Both Sean and I wanted something relatively normal and not like some of these new designer names that parents think will be trendy. Bradley can be shortened to Brad you know or if we decide to call him by his middle name like some people do…” JJ shrugged as if it didn't really matter. “Also the name we picked out isn't a family name, which I am against using, as too many families use them instead of something original that has no relation to anyone in their family, so at least Sean and I are on the same page in that respect.”
“You don't like using a name from your family for your child?” asked Emily in surprise as she had never known this about her friend. “Why?”
“Well, I just like to pick something that has no relation to anybody that I know,” JJ explained, “and I'm not talking about the people that I've met in my line of work or that I'm just casual friends with but people I know well. There's nothing wrong with that practice of naming your baby after a family member, especially if they're deceased and you want to honor them that way, but that idea just isn't for me.”
“That's nothing wrong with that,” Garcia said, “although it is kind of a tradition in a lot of families to name a child after a relative, not always of course, just a lot of times.”
“Don't I know it, which is why some children, grow up with ridiculous names,” JJ laughed. “I once knew a boy named Beckett, although he went by Beck. He hated his name with a passion and he was planning to change it as soon as he was old enough. I couldn't really blame him for that one since it is good as a middle name or a surname, but not a first.”
“I agree that Beckett it really isn't a good first name,” Emily said, “but here's another one that I think is even worse. I once knew a boy named Indiana.”
“As in Indiana Jones? From those movies from the 80s?” JJ said who burst out laughing, Garcia also breaking into giggles. “You're right that's worse then Beckett. I will never name a son of mine after a state.”
“I might be into unusual names that aren't used very often, but I have to agree Indiana is just ridiculous and tells me whoever names their son that has no imagination,” Garcia said with a roll of her eyes. “What about the names Delaney, or Brooklyn, for girls?”
“If I do happen to have a daughter I would never in a million years curse my baby girl with either one,” JJ said. “Some baby names are just so stupid or silly.”
“So are you hoping to have a girl next time?” asked Garcia changing the subject.
“Yes, Sean and I would like at least one girl, but his family tends to run to sons and I'm not just talking about the fact that he doesn't have any sisters, but way back on his family tree it is heavily loaded with boys, with just a girl here and there.”
“The experts claim that you have a 50/50 chance of getting one of the other, but sometimes it seems that one family is just predisposed towards either boys or girls,” Emily said, “but I knew families like that when I was growing up in Europe because of my mother's job. “I knew one family very casually that were associates of my mother's that had like six daughters, varying ages, but no sons and they weren't the only ones.”
“Well, if all I can have is son's, then that's okay, although Sean and I would sincerely like a daughter to love,” JJ said. “I've always wanted a daughter to raise and spoil, even if I adore Henry and will love this baby just as much as I do him.”
“I think every women wants at least one daughter,” Garcia said. “If I get pregnant again it doesn't matter what I have because Derek and I already have one of each, but for others, who didn't have our luck well...”
“Are you planning on getting pregnant again?” asked Emily her attention sharpening as she looked at her blonde headed friend as this was the first she had heard about it.
“Eventually,” Garcia answered. “Derek told me awhile back that he always wanted a large family, even though he played the field for years.”
“You don't resent him for not seeing what was right in front of his nose?” asked JJ curiously.
“No, because what he went through as a child thanks to Carl Buford... well, I can certainly understand, why he didn't want to settle down for so long or why he refused to admit that he had serious feelings for me until months after he was turned into a werewolf.”
“You're far too forgiving Pen,” Emily told her friend. “Personally I would've given him a kick in the ass, for being such an idiot and for hurting you the way he did, even if it wasn't intentional.”
“I couldn't bear to kick his gorgeous butt,” Garcia giggled. “I love it and him way too much.”
“Pen,” Emily snarked, “that was way too much information. I did not need that image in my head, thank you.”
“Sorry I couldn't resist,” Garcia said giggling again not looking contrite at all.
“So when are you and Morgan going to try for another child?” asked JJ curiously.
“Not at least for another year since the twins are only a year old at this point,” Garcia said, “but more than likely two years since Derek and I are so busy and he's gone so much of the time.”
“I would think that two would be more than enough to handle considering your jobs,” Emily said. “Having a family and giving them the time and attention they need isn't exactly a walk in the park considering we all work very long hours.”
“I would agree if we didn't have some help,” Garcia said, “but as you know we hired someone to look after the twins when we aren't at home and she went through very thorough and stringent background check not only by the FBI, but by me, so technically she had two background checks and mine was even more thorough then the FBI's was as I didn't want anybody who had anything hidden in their past looking after mine and Derek's children. I will take absolutely no chances where the twins are concerned and if Derek and I do have anymore somewhere down the line that will include them as well.”
“I think that's smart,” JJ said looking approving, “especially with the job you and Morgan do, which means you have plenty of enemies that would just love a chance for a little payback.”
“Which was exactly my thinking,” Garcia said, “although I will amend that statement and say that it is mostly Derek that has the enemies since I work from behind the scenes.”
“I suppose that's true,” Emily admitted, taking a bite of her chicken sandwich.
“It is true,” JJ said. “Most of our unsubs don't even realize that she works with us if they know about her at all.”
The three of them continued to chat as they ate their lunch and all too soon it was time for them to get back to work.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

2 ½ months later

Sean groaned as his cell phone rang at 4:30 am. It was the middle of the night and his wife was gone with the team on a case. He had no idea who could be calling him so early in the morning as the work on setting up the restaurant didn't start for hours and his wife wasn't due to give birth for over two weeks. Sean had begged her to take some time off since she was so close to giving birth, but JJ had said she would be bored out of her skull sitting at home and since she sat down so much on her job, at least while they were in the office, Sean had given in, but only after he had extracted a promise from his older brother that he would keep Jennifer at the police station and not allow her to go out into the field until after she had returned from maternity leave if they had to go on a case.
Aaron didn't take insult from Sean's questions as he understood his brother's worry and had instead assured him that he would never put his nephew's life or that of his mother's in danger and Sean had accepted that promise knowing that his brother was to honorable to put a pregnant woman's life on the line, even if that woman hadn't been related to him. Sean knew that Aaron cared about all of the team, including his wife and had a long time before he came into the picture and so he had been as happy with the situation as he could possible be under the circumstances knowing that the whole team would look out for his Jennifer and make sure she didn't overdo.
Sean checked the display on his phone and answered it immediately when he saw it was Aaron for there was only one reason that his brother would be calling at 4:30 in the morning while he was out of town.
“What's wrong, Aaron? You wouldn't be calling me at 4:30 in the morning if it wasn't urgent and didn't have to do with Jennifer,” Sean said immediately, not even bothering to say hello.
“It's JJ,” Hotch answered simply.
“Is my wife okay?” asked Sean sounding extremely worried which Hotch could understand.
“JJ went into labor about an hour ago and she's been checked into the Alaska Regional Hospital,” Hotch explained.
“But she's not due for two weeks,” Sean said panic in his voice.
“Second babies are often early,” Hotch soothed his brother, “and it's only two weeks, trust me, the baby and JJ should be just fine. Besides, all the doctors do is estimate when a woman is due from when she remembers she had her last menstrual cycle and so they are often off by a few weeks. There's no need to worry about JJ, giving birth is a perfectly natural process.”
“I'll be there as soon as I can arrange for Penelope to take Henry for a few days,” Sean said.
“Good, because as much as I'd like to stay with her, the team has an unsub to catch and I need everybody's concentration on the case. I'll leave Emily with her until you get here, but then I need her back at the station. It's going to be hard to be a person short on this as it is, but we'll manage as we've been shorthanded before, when one of the team goes on vacation.”
“It'll be a few hours,” Sean warned.
“I know,” Hotch said calmly. “You have to pack an overnight bag, get a flight, get Garcia to look after Henry for a couple of days. I'll see you when you get here, I'm looking forward to meeting my newest nephew.”
“So am I,” Sean agreed wholeheartedly before hanging up the the phone and hurriedly getting out of bed calling the airport and getting a flight for in about four hours, and then finding his gym bag and stuffing several days worth of clothes, his toiletries and several other items into it, before calling Garcia and requesting that she look after Henry for a few days. Garcia who had been, expecting the call as she had been warned by Derek, said she would be ready for her godson when Sean dropped him off at her and Derek's house.
With everything he needed to completed Sean finished getting dressed, went to wake Henry and gently explained, as he was dressing him that his mother needed him, packed a bag for him, including his favorite stuffed giraffe and then headed out the door with Henry in his arms. He made sure the door was locked and the alarm set before he got into his car, put Henry into his car seat where the toddler promptly fell back asleep and headed for Morgan's and Garcia's place.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Sean walked into the Anchorage Regional Hospital more than 12 hours later absolutely exhausted, even though he had managed to sleep some on the flight. The flight from Virginia had been very long almost 8 hours and by the time he had gone through security, and rented a car that just added onto the time. Sean hadn't bothered to get a hotel room as he figured he could stay with Jennifer once she was out of the hospital and besides, he had no intention of leaving her room at all until she and their new son could come with him.
Sean was sure that he had missed the birth entirely, not that it could be helped, but he'd had every intention of being in the delivery room when his wife gave birth to their son, but it just hadn't been possible in this case. He sincerely hoped that Jennifer and his son were both healthy and he was about to find out either way, although if he lost either one it would destroy him, JJ especially. He didn't want to lose his son either, but losing him while it would devastate him and JJ too they would get over it eventually, but if he lost his mate now he wouldn't be able to live and that was the truth.
Think positive, Sean told himself as he approached the nurses station. “Can I help you, sir?” asked the nurse behind the counter.
“I'm looking for Jennifer Jareau's room,” Sean said. “She was brought in here over 12 hours ago because she'd gone into labor.”
“Are you a relative, sir?” asked the nurse.
“I'm her husband Sean Hotchner,” Sean said politely exhaustion clouding his eyes and etched into the lines of his face. “I just flew in from Virginia.”
“Ah yes, Agent Hotchner informed us that you should be arriving in a few hours,” the nurse said checking her logbook. “You can go right up your wife is in room 326.”
“Thank you,” Sean told her with a tired smile, which made him even more handsome, even if it was an exhausted one making the nurse wish that he wasn't married to the female FBI agent.
“Has my wife given birth? Or she still in labor?”
“She gave birth to a son several hours ago, Mr. Hotchner,” the nurse told him with a smile.
Sean nodded and said, “I figured that would be the case. This is her second child after all and second children are often faster then firstborns.”
The handsome Mr. Hotchner already had a child with his wife, the nurse sighed to herself unknowing that Henry was another man's kid, not that that made him any less Sean's son.
Sean headed for the elevator without a backwards glance quickening his pace, anxious to see that his wife was okay for himself and then head to the nursery and see his son.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Sean entered his wife's hospital room and some of his anxiousness slid away when he saw JJ laying on her back, looking relaxed and asleep. She looked, no more than 21 or 2 at most when she was sleeping so peacefully as the years just seemed to disappear from her face as the lines in it relaxed and nearly disappeared.
Sean walked over to the side of her bed and ran a hand gently through her blonde hair that was mussed as it had not been styled or combed, which was to be expected considering, but Sean she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Finally Sean looked up and saw Morgan in the uncomfortable hospital chair on the other side of the bed watching him.
“How is she?” asked Sean softly so as not to wake her up.
“She's fine,” Morgan assured him with a tired grin. “Just exhausted, which is to be expected and by the way your son is adorable.”
“Well, I haven't had a chance to see him yet as I same straight here, but I know you're right, even without having seen him,” Sean answered with a tired grin.
“You look exhausted,” Morgan said his tone sympathetic knowing that feeling very well.
“Well Aaron woke me up from a dead sleep after I had put in over 12 hours helping get supplies and other things for the restaurant so it can open in a few months. I always tend to work more when JJ is gone as it gives me something to keep me occupied so I don't miss her quite so much. Beside you try keeping up with a very energetic and active almost three year old and you'd be exhausted too.”
“I can't wait,” Morgan said with a tired grin of his own, “although the twins have a couple years to go before they reach that stage as they aren't even to the terrible twos yet.”
“You'll regret saying that if they are anywhere near as energetic is Henry is,” Sean said. “You know I adore him, but you can get tired just watching him run around.”
“So I hear you left Henry with my wife,” said Morgan.
“I did,” Sean said, “as I didn't think I would be able to get in contact with a babysitter since it was around 5 o'clock in the morning and she's a good backup for a few hours, but not for a couple of days. Besides, while JJ and I use a babysitter if we are only going to be gone for a few hours, like to dinner, we don't ever use one for an overnight stay unless they've had a very thorough background check.”
“That's very thorough and smart of you,” Morgan said approvingly.
“Well, I know very well that Jennifer, has enemies and so does my brother and I won't take chances with my family. If some criminal you've caught in the past learns that any of our children are related to two people that put them in prison of first place, well you never know if they'll go far enough to try to kidnap one of them.”
“Or it could be some family member that wants revenge,” Morgan said and Sean nodded.
“I know, that's why Jennifer and I always so careful who we let near our family, particularly Henry and the same will be true for Brad.”
“JJ will be sleeping a little longer as they gave her a sedative,” Morgan said. “Why don't you go up to the nursery to see Bradley,” Morgan suggested. “I'll stay here and watch her.”
“Thanks, I might just do that,” Sean said. “One thing though, if you're here does that mean you're unsub has been caught?”
“Yes,” Morgan answered. “Just an hour or so ago so I haven't been here long. We were pretty close to breaking the case wide open when JJ went into labor and we might have been distracted for a few hours, as we got her to the hospital, got her admitted and things like that, but after that we got back to work. We hated to leave, although Emily stayed until she was called to help with the capture of our suspect, but we still had a job to do, which I know you can understand.”
“I do, but then they wouldn't have let any of you in the delivery room anyway, will except maybe for Aaron since he is my brother and therefore related.”
“You're upset that you weren't there for her,” Morgan said seeing Sean's expression and reading his body language as easily as he could a book.
“I had planned on being with her,” Sean said, “Holding her hand, and encouraging her. That I couldn't be there…”
“Don't blame yourself you know how stubborn JJ is and how she wanted to continue working until the last minute, just like she did with Henry. She was lucky with Henry and went into labor after we were back home, but this time it just happened that we were so far away and in the middle of a case and that is not your fault, nor was it hers it's just how it came down.”
“You're right,” Sean admitted, “I still wanted to be there for her.”
“So next time you will be,” Morgan pointed out.
“I can hope,” Sean snorted. “I love her, so much and I really wanted to be in the delivery room with her, even if I know it didn't happen that way this time.”
“You just have to believe that you will be there next time, that is if you are planning on having anymore kids,” Morgan said
“We are, in a year or two as we wanted at least three. Of course, if we have more then that neither one of us will mind.”
“You have more then that and you're going to have to get a bigger place. I've been to your house remember and you only have have five bedrooms,” Morgan said
“So if we have twins they can share so long as they are the same sex of course, as the bedrooms are plenty big for that or we can build on if we have to, but I don't think we need to worry about that quite yet.”
“True enough,” Morgan said and then shooed Sean out of the room and told him to go see his son in the nursery.
Sean gave Morgan a tired grin, but obeyed the not so subtle hint and headed out of the room to go see his newborn son.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“You two did a good job on this one,” Hotch told his brother and sister-in-law as he held his nephew Bradley, “I think he looks just like you Sean.”
Baby Bradley had the exact same shade of blonde hair that Sean possessed and also the shape of his eyes, nose and mouth, but he had his mother's cheekbones and her chin.
“He does look a great deal like his father,” Spencer said, as he studied the baby held in his mate arms that was technically his nephew as well as Hotch's, “but I see some of JJ in him to.”
“I think he's a perfect blend of both of us,” JJ said putting in her two cents worth. “Henry is going to be very happy to have a baby brother, as he has been anticipating his birth for months now and he keeps asking us when is the baby going to be here.”
“And I hear a rumor that you want to try for a girl, sometime in the next couple years,” Spencer said looking between Sean and JJ. He liked Sean a great deal and thought he was a perfect match for JJ, which made sense really, since the two were mates, just like he and Aaron were. JJ was his honorary sister and she had been much happier ever since she and Sean had gotten together officially, so he never would have objected to their relationship, because it would've been pretty selfish of him. All he wanted for JJ was for her to be happy and so was with Sean and that was all that mattered. Really JJ deserved to be happy after what had happened with Will who was a no good, selfish, self-centered, lazy, son of a bitch and didn't deserve someone as nice, compassionate and intelligent as JJ and really deserved to be lonely for the rest of his life, because if he could dump someone like JJ, refusing to even pay child support for Henry then he didn't deserve a decent women and Spencer hoped sincerely that everything in his life turned to shit and if it did he had no one but himself to blame.
“What parents don't want at least one daughter?” Sean asked with a grin. “Of course, we'd like a girl, but if all we have is boys that's okay too.”
“It's about even chances really that you'll get to girl, simply because I know they run in JJ's family,” Spencer said.
“While boys run in ours,” Hotch added.
“I know, that's why I said it's about a 50/50 chance,” Spencer said.
“So will you and the rest of the team be heading back home in the morning?” asked JJ.
“We've been given permission to wait until you're out of the hospital,” Hotch told JJ and Sean. “If you don't mind you, Sean and Bradley can fly back with us and that will save you three plane tickets.”
“I'm actually going to get to fly on a government jet?” asked Sean with an excited grin.
Hotch rolled his eyes at his brother. “Is no different than flying normally.”
“I hate to disagree,” JJ said, “but I know from experience that commercial is crowded, noisy, and a lot of times you have somebody kicking the back of your seat.”
“Not to mention it's bloody cold a lot of the time depending on what airline you're flying,” Sean said.
“And the expense,” JJ added. “You have to pay now if you have more than one piece of luggage and a carry-on.”
“Alright, you're correct, flying on one of the government jet's is better as there is nobody kicking the back of your seat, it's not freezing cold, and you don't have somebody trying to hit on you whether you are married or not,” Hotch admitted.
“That's another disadvantage of flying commercial, especially coach,” Sean agreed. “Of course, I used to take the train when I lived in New York when I came up to visit you as it was cheaper and less crowded, but I still got hit on quite a bit. Even some people that wore wedding rings got hit on.”
“I'll protect you, honey,” JJ teased him as Hotch passed baby Bradley to his mate so he could hold him for a few minutes.
“That's appreciated, babe,” Sean told JJ with a wink causing Hotch to smirk and Spencer to cough to cover a laugh.
“So when are you going to be released from this place?” asked Spencer.
“Tomorrow,” JJ said. “The doctor wanted to keep me overnight just to make sure I was okay, which we all know is not unusual right after giving birth. Bradley is a very healthy baby with no problems according to the doctor and made a nine on his Apgar.”
“We'll fly out tomorrow then,” Hotch said. “Well either then or the next day depending on what time they release you, since it is a long flight.”
“I'll ask Emily to buy some basic baby things, for the long flight back,” JJ said. “Couple of bottles for milk, burp cloths, that kind of thing. She'll know what I'll need.”
“I'll send her your way then,” Hotch said, remembering the days when Jack had been so small, which were long gone and Jack was growing up way to fast, particularly since he didn't get to see his son to often.
“Thanks that would be appreciated,” JJ told him. “You need a lot of junk when you have a child, especially a newborn and the trip back isn't exactly very short.”
“You're welcome,” Hotch told JJ with her small smile, “and believe me I remember those days back when Jack was so tiny. You have to carry stuff for every little thing, even for a short outing.”
The four continued to chat for a few minutes until JJ started to yawn and Hotch and Spencer discreetly took their leave after that so that JJ could get some sleep as given birth wasn't exactly a walk in the park and would make anybody tired.
“We'll see you in the morning,” Hotch said. “We'll come by for a visit you before you're released.”
“Tell the others I'll see them tomorrow and that I'm fine,” JJ said and Hotch nodded.
“I will,” Hotch promised, kissing her on the forehead.
Spencer handed Brad to JJ who cuddled her son close to her kissing his tiny forehead as Hotch slapped his brother on the back and Spencer waved before the two of them headed out of the dreary hospital room to head back to the hotel to.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“This is nice, Sean,” JJ told her husband looking around at the five-star restaurant that Sean had made reservations for. Sean could have cooked at home, JJ knew, but even a chef deserved a night off and besides, they didn't get to go out too often thanks to her job that she was out of town quite a lot. Her mother, who was in town was looking after their two sons tonight and had told them that they needed time to themselves without being concerned about taking care of the kids and Sean and her had accepted the offer gratefully.
“I wanted to treat you tonight,” Sean told her with a boyish grin. “We don't get to go out anywhere too often not without at least one of the children tagging along and usually both of them.”
“Family time is precious,” JJ said and Sean nodded in agreement.
“Especially since you get far less of that then I do with your job,” Sean agreed. “I know what you do is important, but I can see why it's hell on love lives and families. Of course, I understand what you do and why you do it, but then a lot of spouses don't understand the time commitment that is required or the act that you might be called out in the middle of the night or have to break off a former engagement, which is why there are so many divorces when it comes not only to your job, but other jobs that take a spouse away from from their families.”
JJ didn't take offense just nodded. “Relationships, especially marriages take work and people get so caught up in their lives that they forget to take a step back and spend time with those they love. That's not going to happen to me and you though.”
“Nope,” Sean said with a slow easy grin. “I'm not really the jealous type, but only because I know you love me and that our relationship is solid. If I wasn't sure of your feelings then I would suspect every man you come in contact with as being your sidepiece, except my brother, Spencer and Morgan.”
“The thought of me having some type of sidepiece is so ridiculous I'm not even going to bother to reply,” JJ snorted, but then grinned knowing that in his own way Sean was telling her that he trusted her and knew their relationship was solid. “It's been known to happen that somebody that's married has somebody on the side, as I've known plenty of couples like that and not just suspects, but then this is a very messed up world live in and true love and loyalty to your spouse is a rare thing.”
“It's only rare because humans don't have a werewolf's genetics to 'know' when they have found the 'one', Human senses are weak and a lot of them are unsure when it comes to matters of the heart. A a lot of time they refuse to believe what their hearts or other senses are telling them,” Sean said and JJ nodded. “Humans might lust after someone until that wears off as lust doesn't last forever and you might even think you love them, but true, everlasting love…”
“Is an extremely rare commodity because us humans are complicated creatures and not like, werewolves who know the instant they meet their mate,” JJ said quietly enough that no one was going to hear what was being said unless they were standing in plain view only an inch or two from their table, especially not with all the noise of clinking glasses and silverware and quiet voices. “As you said your kind just knows immediately when you have found the person meant for you, but us humans don't have it so easy, if only because we are often unsure of ourselves in that area, which is unfortunate for us because I believe the world would be a better place if we trusted our feelings and our hearts and instead of doubting we had found 'the one for us.'”
The two of them chatted about general things after they had ordered their meals, but JJ was just waiting for a chance to tell Sean that she was pregnant again, even though their son wasn't even a year old. She had been taking the pill so she wouldn't get pregnant again quite so soon, but she was often distracted and busy and so she forgot occasionally and it must've happened one of those times she had gotten so busy that she hadn't taken her pill. Normally she took one every morning, but she had been called out in the middle of the night or extremely early morning more than once lately and it had more than likely happened doing one of those times, although she couldn't say for sure. All she'd known at that time was she hadn't had her menstrual for over two months, possibly three, but then they had been so busy at work solving case after case with little rest in between and then there was the paperwork, so was it any wonder if she had forgotten. When she had gone to see Dr. Holloway she had confirmed that she wasn't quite three month along as she was about ten weeks.
When this latest child was born she figured that their son would be around 17 maybe 18 months old at most. She hadn't really expected to get pregnant again so soon, but the doctor had told her that it was very possible to do since she had switched Bradley onto formula as soon as possible since she often wasn't home for days at a time, which meant the milk in her breasts had dried up faster since she wasn't nursing and her period had come back soon after.
Well, Sean and I will just have to live with it, JJ though resigned knowing that none of the team was going to be happy that she was pregnant again so soon as they had just gotten her back a few months ago from maternity leave.
It wasn't that they wouldn't be happy that she was going to have another baby they just didn't want to lose her while she was on maternity leave, which could be up to 12 weeks, in other words 3 solid months if all of it was used.
Despite leaving the team in the lurch for so long, JJ was happy about this baby as she wanted as many children with Sean, as they could afford them, even though they had only discussed having three along with Henry. Her husband's restaurant was doing quite well and although he worked long hours so did she, but he also made quite a bit of money and was making good progress at paying David Rossi's loan back.
JJ knew that she and Sean didn't have to worry about saving money for the children's college educations because Rossi had already taken care of that despite their protests and had set up trust funds that would each of their children to go to the college of their choice in case they didn't get a full scholarship without their permission.
The two of them were sharing dessert, when JJ decided it was time to break the good news. “Sean, I have something to tell you,” JJ began making Sean look up his expression worried. “Don't look so worried, it's nothing bad,” JJ teased him causing his expression to lighten a little. JJ plowed ahead before she lost her courage and continued, “I just wanted to tell you, that I went to the doctor today because I've been feeling nauseous and throwing up and all that and I figured I just had the flu, but...”
“It wasn't the flu?” asked Sean beginning to suspect he knew what his wife was trying to tell him.
“No, and I should have known right away just with the symptoms… but I wasn't expecting to be again quite so soon…”
“Pregnant?” asked Sean his expression lightening until he was grinning so broadly that it was almost blinding.
“Yes,” JJ told him sharing his grin.
“But Brad is only nine months old,” Sean said, “and we weren't planning to have another for at least another year.”
“These things happen, sometimes and as much as we make love when I'm home, I'm not really surprised that it has. I was on the pregnancy pill, but my schedule is so hectic and uncertain that I tend to forget sometimes and one of those times is bound to be when it happened.”
“How far along are you?” asked Sean.
“Dr. Holloway thinks about 10 weeks,” JJ said.
“That long?” asked Sean looking amazed.
“Yes, I didn't start feeling nauseous or throwing up until a couple weeks ago and I thought it was just some kind of flu or something similar that was being very persistent. The only reason I didn't think about the fact that I might be pregnant again was I really wasn't expecting it, not so soon after Bradley's birth and I didn't think about the fact that I had forgotten on a few occasions to take my pill or that I hadn't had my period in awhile.”
“Is it normal to not get morning sickness for so long?” asked Sean.
“I asked the same thing and was told that no two pregnancies are ever the same, not even for the same woman and since this is my third I must expect it to be different from my other two. I stopped breastfeeding Bradley before I got off maternity leave as you know and started using formula so that anybody could feed him since I'm gone so much. I hadn't realized that I had stopped having my period until I finally realized I might be pregnant, but then we've been flying to one city of another almost without a break in between and when I'm home we tend to fuck each other like a pair of rabbits, so is it any wonder I hadn't realized?”
Sean grinned when he thought about those times that the two of them had fucked like a pair of rabbits in heat. It was very unusual for his mate to use such crude language, although she did occasionally, but he understood what she meant as the too of them did tend to go at it once their two children were in bed for the night or with one of their friends for a few hours only because they didn't really get many opportunities to do that with both of them so busy and with two children that demanded their almost constant attention.
“When you're working you keep your mind on the job,” Sean said and JJ nodded. Sean was one of the rare few that understood her work and she was grateful for it for she had never been as happy, as she had in her life as she had with him. “We are going to have a another son or a daughter,” Sean added seeming to finally absorb the news, his grin once again blinding as it was so bright.
“Yes, we are, but the team's not going to be happy that I'm pregnant so soon after the last time, because they'll be shorthanded while I'm on maternity leave. I'm sure they thought they had at least another year before I was pregnant again.”
“They'll be happy for you, for us,” Sean predicted.
“For me and you to have another child sure, but not for the fact that I can be gone for up to three months once the baby is born.”
“They'll survive,” Sean said. “Just because you work a job that takes so much of your time, doesn't mean you shouldn't have a life outside of it.”
“I know, I know, I just hate to leave the team shorthanded for so long and especially after just I got back from maternity leave when I had Bradley less than a year ago,” JJ said.
“They will deal with it,” Sean told her simply.
“You're excited about this baby then?” asked JJ, already knowing he was, but asking anyway and Sean nodded enthusiastically.
“I'd like to have a large family with you, although if we have more than one more after this we're going to have to build on as you know.”
“They can share,” JJ said. “Henry and Bradley are pretty close in age and I don't know why they can't share a room if we get a full house. If we have twins of the same sex they can also share.”
“Well there's no point of worrying about it quite yet,” Sean said. “We'll see how many we have after this if any.”
“Oh we'll have at least one more after this if I have my way,” JJ said, “although preferably at least two or three years down the road.”
“I'm looking forward to it,” Sean told her with a grin leaning over to kiss his wife on the lips from where she was sitting beside him.
The two of them finished their dessert, before the ice cream melted, paid the check and then walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“You're pregnant again? So soon? That's terrific news even if it's a little surprising,” Emily told her friend and Garcia nodded.
“Well, I wasn't really expecting to be pregnant again so soon,” JJ admitted patting her stomach lovingly, “but our schedule is so often hectic that I forgot to take my pregnancy pill on a couple of occasions in the last few months and one of those times is when it had to happen.”
“But you would have to forget several days in a row in order for that to happen,” Garcia said. She too had been on the pill, but she was once again pregnant with a set of twins, which would probably be her last as four children were more then enough for her and Derek or so she claimed.
“Actually I went back and checked my prescription and I'm only taking the ones that have progesterone instead of the combination ones and I did a little research on the Internet. The articles I read told me that the one that has just progesterone in them is better if you're breastfeeding at the time, but if you forget one then it's possible to get pregnant again, and also you shouldn't have unprotected sex, in other words Sean would have needed to do use a condom for at least seven days after I started taking them in order to give the medicine time to have effect. I don't believe I forgot to ask Dr. Holloway what kind of pills they were, as I knew there were several different kinds that prevented pregnancy, but I remember I was a little distracted, as I had just got a call telling me that I needed to report to work as soon as possible as we had just caught a case. She prescribed those I believe because I was still breastfeeding at that time as I didn't want to get pregnant again right away and they were safer for somebody who's nursing then the one that also has estrogen, which would have been more effective and the ones you were talking about initially.”
“I have to admit it's really hard to go to a doctor's appointment or anything like that with our jobs,” Emily said sympathetically.
“I had only taken the morning off,” JJ said with a shrug. “you never know when you are going to catch a case at the BAU as one can come in at anytime. Next time I'll just take the whole day off and just fly up to meet you if the team have to leave before I get finished at the doctors. In any case, Hotch understood when I texted him and told him I was at the doctors and that I'd be in as soon as I was done. Besides, Sean reminded me recently that just because we have jobs where we travel a great deal for them and you can be called in at anytime doesn't mean we don't deserve a personal life. He told me that I need to stop feeling guilty for leaving the team shorthanded because I deserve a life outside the job.”
“Amen!” Emily and Garcia said at the same time in total agreement.
“I knew Sean was a smart man,” Garcia added, “but really that's a given because his older brother is certainly very intelligent.”
“Just because one brother is extremely intelligent doesn't mean the other one will be,” JJ objected, “although in this case I have to agree that both Hotchner brothers are very intelligent men, but that's not always the case, not even with twins. Anyway since I brought up the subject of twins how are yours doing PG?” asked JJ.
“Fine, although my black thunder god and I were really shocked when we learned it was twins two times in a row, but the doctor assured us that having twins twice even back to back is very possible and since I'm so big body wise it was more likely for me to have twins at all then a skinny woman. It has never been discovered why big breasted women like me are more likely to have multiples, just that it's a proven fact. I even read on the Internet where some women have had three sets of twins all back to back, although that's a rare event of course, unless you're doing the IVF treatment.”
“Well, since you said you won't have anymore after this I guess you don't have a chance to find out if you can have three sets of twins one right after the other,” Emily teased Garcia with a grin.
“No, Derek and I don't plan on having anymore after these two are born as we think four is plenty.”
“So do you know what sex they are yet?” asked Emily as Garcia was nearly 7 months pregnant at this point.
“Two boys, and the doctor believes nonidentical,” Garcia said, “Derek and I would've liked another boy and a girl, but it just didn't work out that way this time.”
“I'm really surprised you don't have at least one more girl,” JJ said, “since Morgan does have two sisters and he's the only boy in his family.”
“Well, I'm the only girl in mine as I have four older brothers,” Garcia said, “So I suppose we had a 50-50 chance either way.”
“You never told me that you had brothers, much less four of them,” Emily said, astonished and JJ to looked surprised for she hadn't known either that Garcia wasn't an only child.
Garcia shrugged, and said, “We aren't very close, especially after my parents died when I was 18 and they blamed me for their deaths. I haven't talked to any of them in years and have no idea where they are. Oh, I could find out easily enough, I just never bothered.”
“Shouldn't you try to patch things up?” JJ asked calmly. “We all grieve in different ways you know and they probably did not mean what they said at that time as it was probably just the grief coming out for the loss of your parents. Some people tend to lash out at easy targets and you were the youngest, so you would have been that target.”
“I don't know if I will be able to do that,” Garcia said quietly. “I'll think about it, but I won't promise anything, because what they said to me at that time hurt me, a lot. Yes, you're probably right they were just lashing out, but I was their baby sister and they shouldn't have lashed out at me whether or not I was an easy target.”
“No they shouldn't have,” Emily told her friend, “but you were convenient and sometimes when you convenient it just happens more easily then if you are a stranger or a casual acquaintance.”
“I'll think about it,” Garcia repeated, “but that's all I'll promise.”
“Does Morgan know you have brothers?” asked JJ.
“Yes, he does, and he also knows I haven't talked to any of them in years,” Garcia said. “He knows they hurt me badly by lashing out at me after our parents death by blaming me for them. He's never urged me to contact them and try to patch things up, although I know he thinks I should, even if he hasn't said so.”
“Well, I can understand Morgan's point of view because as you know he's very close to his family and he just wants to same for you,” Emily said.
“I am close to my family, I adore my children and Derek as well...he's the only one for me,” Garcia said knowing and that's not what Emily had meant.
“That's not what I meant,” Emily told her friend rolling her eyes and exasperation, “but you knew that and deliberately didn't understand my question, just because you don't want to answer it.
“Alright, fine, my brothers and I used to be pretty close as children and they were always very protective of me their baby sister. I know they'd love to know that they had a niece and nephew with two more on the way, but they hurt me so badly, even though I knew they were just lashing out at the easiest target as you suggested JJ.”
“I think you should at least try to patch things up with your brothers,” JJ told her friend gently. “You can't just throw away the fact that you're related to them or that at one time you were pretty close by your own admission. I'm sure they'll understand that you were hurt by what they said to you, what 14 or so years ago now?”
“Besides, did you ever think that at least one or more of them are married and have children of their own who would be your nieces and nephews? If they do don't you want to get to know their families?” Emily added.
“That's a good point and I hadn't thought about it that way,” Garcia admitted. “They might not want to patch things up when I do call you know.”
“If they don't then you'll just have to accept that decision and it's their loss,” JJ told. “I don't think that'll happen though because as you said you were close as children and they were very protective of their baby sister and I'm sure they'll be glad that you are finally back in their lives.”
Garcia thought about her brothers and how protective and loving they had been to her when she was just a little girl and thought that JJ was probably right about that.
“So what are your brothers names?” asked Emily.
“Max, short for Maximilian instead of Maxwell is the oldest,” Garcia smiled as she remembered. “Nicholas is next but he goes by Nick, then Andrew or Andy and finally Oliver or Ollie is the youngest.”
“You miss them,” JJ told her friend with certainty having noticed the yearning in her friend's voice.
“Just talking about them has made me remember all the good times we had together,” Garcia admitted. “I haven't thought about any of them, except once or twice in years and I don't know why I mentioned them to you a few minutes ago.”
“Because somewhere deep inside yourself you want to be reunited with your family,” Emily told her friend and JJ nodded in agreement. “The hole in your heart will never heal until you at least try to reconnect with the four brothers that love you and whom you love in return.”
“Things are often said during the grieving process that people regret later and that hurt someone they love, like in your case,” JJ said.
Emily changed the subject then knowing that she and JJ had given their friend plenty to mule over and Garcia for her part was grateful that they were off the subject of her brothers as she needed time to think as to whether she wanted them back in her life and the lives of her children

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“Good morning, Hotch,” JJ said to her boss as she poked her head into the open doorway of his office.
“Morning, JJ,” Hotch told her with a smile. “How are you this morning?”
“Well, besides, the fact, that my back is killing me, and my feet, well, I won't go there, but I'll live. I know it's perfectly normal when you're pregnant, especially since this is my third,” JJ said, as she walked further into his office shutting the door behind her.
“Well, I really wasn't expecting you to get pregnant again so soon,” Hotch said, “although I was aware that you and Sean wanted at least a couple more.”
“Neither was I, but our schedule is often so hectic that I forgot to take my pill, the kind that prevents you from getting pregnant. Unfortunately for me when I started taking those pills I was still breastfeeding so I'm taking the kind that you have to take every day and can't afford to miss one, especially if you have sex on the day you forget, because it's very likely you'll get pregnant again before you are ready. You know how mated couples are with each other when they're alone so I won't go into any details, but I will say that Sean and I spent a great deal of time in bed when we weren't working or looking after our two sons.”
“Thank you for not going to do any details as I don't need you to draw me a diagram,” Hotch told her his expression serious, but with laughter in his eyes. “Yes, I'm aware of how mated couples are with each other so I can understand why you're pregnant again so soon especially if you forgot to take your pill.”
“Which I did. I need to keep better track of that, as I definitely don't want to be pregnant again for at least two years after these two are born.”
“Did you say two?” asked Hotch his expression turning to astonishment. “You're having twins?”
“Yes, Aaron, I am,” JJ said with a wide grin, “Sean and I just got back from my doctor's appointment a couple of days ago where I had an ultrasound and Dr. Holloway confirmed that I am indeed carrying twins. I thought I was bigger this time around, but I just figured it was a big baby you know? So it turns out the reason I'm so much bigger this time is because I'm having twins”
“This is great news,” Hotch told JJ rising from his desk and giving his sister-in-law a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Why did you say anything sooner?”
“Nothing against you or anybody else, but Sean and I needed time to absorb the news that we were going to be parents not of a single baby like we had originally thought, but of twins. We were very happy with this development and as soon as we learn the sex we can start decorating either one or two, depending if they're different sexes, although as Sean pointed out we're going to have to start building on if we have anymore after this.”
“I would think that four would be plenty,” Hotch said dryly and JJ grinned as she could tell that beneath her boss's dry tone he was pleased for them.
“I would have agreed with you if I stayed with Will, although I would've liked at least one other after Henry, but with Sean…”
“You don't need to elaborate I know exactly what you mean,” Hotch said. “I have often regretted that Spencer and I can't have a few kids, since we're both male, although I've never told him, as I don't want him to feel bad that he can't give me a few kids and I would appreciate you not saying anything. It's just that I want to procreate with the person that I love, but in our case it's just not possible since it goes against genetics.”
“You could adopt,” JJ suggested.
“Maybe,” Hotch said. “I'll mention it to Spencer when we have a few minutes to ourselves as it isn't a bad idea.”
“Anyway it is great news that I am having twins and Sean is certainly excited about the coming birth as I'm sure you know,” JJ agreed. “You're the first one I've told, well, besides, Sean since he was there.”
“I'm surprised that Sean hasn't shouted the news from the rooftops,” Hotch joked dryly, but with a small smile and JJ laughed.
“Yes, he is pretty excitable when it comes to children,” JJ agreed.
“But then so are most people, well those that truly love children anyway and with mated couples, well so long as it is a male and a female anyway it's almost a given that they want a few children, since having them is like the epitome of love and that is what being mates is all about,” Hotch pointed out and JJ nodded.
“True enough,” JJ agreed. “Sean told me awhile back that he never wanted children or to get married until he met his mate and if he never did then he was happy with just being a bachelor.”
“Yes, well unlike me, Sean was kind of a rebel and is also a romantic at heart. He didn't care about carrying on the family name and he absorbed stories of true mates from an older lady that was part of the pack we grew up in, when he was a child. Me on the other hand was always more practical and always toed the line that our parents set out for us, well at least until I went away to college, where I experimented and decided to go into a career my parents disapproved of. Oh, at first I became a lawyer like my father, even if I was a federal prosecutor and they were proud of me for that, but I found out that career didn't satisfy me as I got tired of getting criminals off, so they could go out and do rape, murder or something else all over again. When I joined the BAU, mother wasn't happy with my choice of career and my father wouldn't have been either if he had still been living. Haley supported me at first, but we both know what happened.”
“You met Spencer and afterwards your marriage started to break apart,” JJ murmured and Hotch nodded as she was very familiar with the story as was everyone else on the team.
“I didn't intend for it to happen, and I struggled to maintain my relationship with Haley for a long time, but finally it just wasn't enough and I got tired of living a lie,” Hotch shrugged. “Eventually I had to decide if I wanted to continue to struggle through my marriage with Haley or if I wanted to be happy with Spencer and you know the decision I made in the end. Besides, the pull to be with Spencer was nearly irresistible, especially since we worked closely together every day.”
“I'm going to tell you a secret that not even Sean knows this as he left before Dr. Holloway told me,” JJ said.
“What is it?” asked Hotch immediately concerned.
“It's nothing to be concerned about, but Dr. Holloway told me that I'm likely to have twins again so long as I maintain my current health level. He told me that since I've had twins once it will almost certainly happen again, because I am apparently releasing two eggs, one from each tube at one time or close enough together anyway that they both get fertilized. She also said that some women just ovulate like that, which is what results in fraternal twins in the first place. My doctor also said that it's very likely it is fraternal twins because they are much more common then identical because with identical one egg splits into two, and not two separate ones get fertilized.”
“I know you're aware of this, but that's not really all that unusual in a werewolf family, having twins I mean, although in our case it comes from the male side of the family, even though medical science claims that having twins rests with the female.”
“I can see how that would happen though,” JJ said, “if you have sex for hours before you finally fall asleep from exhaustion the woman is bound to release more than one egg doing those sessions and it's more than possible that both get fertilized, which is how you get twins or more. Also there is an extremely rare medical condition called superfetation, which means you are already pregnant with one baby, but usually no more than a week later another egg releases or one that didn't get fertilized the first time, does and then you're pregnant with twins, even if genetically according to Dr. Holloway anyway, the two babies aren't considered twins because of their different gestational ages, even if it's only a week or sometimes more apart.”
“I've never heard of superfetation,” Hotch said.
“Well, it's a very obscure medical event and isn't very common,” JJ admitted. “And there's only been a few reported cases of it happening over the last few decades. It's where one baby is much bigger than the other one because they weren't conceived at the same time. The doctors believe that happens more often than that, but usually within just a few hours or at most a few days apart and therefore the ages of the two babies would be about the same, which is why in those cases superfetation is impossible to tell that the eggs weren't released at the same time. This is especially true if a woman has no history in her family of having twins and also if the doctor has tested her to prove that she is not hyper-ovulating. I'm sure if you asked Spencer he could tell you all about it. ”
“More than likely you are right about that,” Hotch said with a smile as he thought about his mate, the man he adored with every fiber of his being.
“Where is Spence anyway?”
“Oh he's around,” Hotch said, “you know we always come into work together since he doesn't drive. He was getting coffee last I knew.”
“There he is at his desk,” JJ said finally spotting her friend after looking out of Hotch's office window. “He was probably in the restroom or something when I first came in because he wasn't getting coffee, since that was the first place I headed.”
“Well, both of us have been here for over an hour already,” Hotch said. “You know I like to come in early to get as much of the paperwork out-of-the-way as I can, so I don't have as much to deal with after a case.”
“I'm surprised you managed to drag him out of bed,” JJ laughed, “you know he likes to sleep in as much as possible.”
“That's still true,” Hotch admitted, then smirked wickedly, “but I have my ways of waking him up.”
JJ tried not to blush, as she could just imagine how her boss woke up her friend, and tried not to think about it, since Spence was the brother she had never had and you didn't want to imagine your brother, honorary or not, having sex.
“I think I'll let you get back to work,” JJ said. “I'm going to go tell Spencer the news and then start going through cases to see who needs us the most.”
JJ skedaddled towards the door and Hotch just looked after her and said, “I'll congratulate Sean when I talk to him later. I'm looking forward to meeting my new nieces or nephews.”
“I'll tell you the second we know what sex we're going to have,” JJ promised before she opened the door and exited closing it behind her gently.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“You're having two sons,” the doctor announced as he studied the image on the ultrasound. It was a couple of months later and JJ and Sean were both at the doctor's office having an ultrasound done to tell the sex of the twins that JJ was carrying. JJ was now over five months along and she knew she had been lucky to get to this appointment since her schedule was so often unpredictable. Sean on the other hand had an assistant cook that could take over for him when he had something like this and so it had been is hard for him to get away.
“Two more sons,” Sean said enthusiastically looking happy, “although we were really hoping for a girl this time.”
“Well, from what you've told me of your family history, your family tree tends to run heavily towards sons, and so does JJ's biology because she already has two sons,” the doctor said, “Even if her family history is more heavily laden with females. Some couples are just more predisposed towards one sex or the other and in your case…”
“We seem to be predisposed towards the male side of the line,” JJ said and Dr. Holloway nodded.
“Yes I'm afraid so. I won't say you won't ever get a daughter if you want more after this, just that it's more likely to be sons, because both of you are already predisposed towards them... I know science hasn't proven it, but I have found, by my personal observation that if a man is predisposed towards sons, because of his family history then his wife is more likely to have sons as well, especially if she has already had at least one child that is male and since you have two, well that makes it even more likely. Of course, I have also seen couples have a boy first and then a girl or vice versa and that means those couples are not predisposed towards one sex or the other, no matter what their family trees say.”
Dr. Holloway shrugged as if to say giving birth is still a crap shot 50% chance of one sex or the other.
“So do you know if they are fraternal or identical?” asked Sean wondering if Dr. Holloway could tell one way or the other.
“There's no way to really know, at this point,” Dr. Holloway told him with a smile, “but really the odds are against identical twins, as there has never been any medical explanation for a woman's egg splitting like it does sometimes, so it's very likely to be fraternal, although it's very possible that they will look nearly identical except for some small difference like the color of the eyes or one could be right-handed and the other left something like that, or one could have curly or wavy hair and the other straight, just small little things that means while they may look alike they are not identical.”
“Of course, it's also possible that they'll look so different from each other that there is no mistaking them for identical twins, even from a distance,” JJ said and the doctor nodded.
“Exactly, there's no way to tell until they are born so there's no point of worrying about it at this point,” Dr. Holloway agreed.
“I remember reading an article sometime back to where a child can get a different hair or eye color from either one of his parents so long as it runs in the family line,” Sean said Dr. Holloway nodded.
“Yes as possible, although it's rare that a child not to get the hair or eye color of either one of his parents. You both have blonde hair which is normally a recessive gene, but since you both have it that makes a dominant so it's very likely that child will end up with blonde hair, even if it's more of a brownish blonde like yours is Sean.”
“I was just thinking that we shouldn't be surprised if one or both of the twins end up with black hair since it's dominant and my brother has that color,” Sean explained what he had been thinking, “and so did my father before he passed away.”
“You're right that black is the most dominant color, followed by brown each needing only one gene from one parent in order to turn out that color while red and blonde are both recessive and need two genes one from each parent,” Dr. Holloway said her estimation of Sean Hotchner going up a few notches for not many people knew or bothered to learn the quirks of genetics. She had already known he was an intelligent man, as she couldn't see Jennifer Jareau marrying anybody who was stupid like Will LaMontagne had been when he had left her and Henry in a bad situation. She had known Jennifer for years and knew that Will leaving had hurt her and when he refused to even pay child support that had again hurt her even more as well as infuriated her and Dr. Holloway could hardly blame her for that.
“So when do you think I'm due?” asked JJ. “I've heard that twins usually come notoriously early at least two or three weeks.”
“This is true, if you're asking so you can arrange leave time I would say take at least the month before you are due off, as you never know and I'm sure you don't want to happen what did when you had Bradley. As for when you are due I would say by Christmas, which means the end of November to very early December.”
“Yeah that was so unexpected and a little embarrassing,” JJ admitted blushing as she remembered.
“I'm just glad that I was at the police station and not out in the field when I finally went into labor. Spencer helped me a great deal until they could get me to the hospital.”
“What did your teammate do?” asked Dr. Holloway.
“Well, he had read all this medical information about infants and giving birth back before I had Henry just in case I went into labor in the field that time and since he remembers everything he ever reads he knew what to do when I did. You don't know him, but he's a genius and also a doctor… No not a medical doctor, but he does have several degrees in various fields and he was a great help to me. I'm just glad he was there at the station with me and not out in the field, although I'm pretty sure that Hotch arranged it that way on purpose as he was bound to know that Spence had read up on the subject just in case his knowledge was needed.”
JJ didn't mention that Hotch was certain to know that his mate had the knowledge to help her simply because the two of them lived together and it was likely the he had seen his mate reading medical journals and guessed the reason that he was.
“Knowing my brother, that's exactly why Spencer was at the station,” Sean snorted. “He would've wanted to make sure that there was somebody there that could help you, until you got to the hospital.”
“So this Hotch, is your brother, Sean?” asked Dr. Holloway.
“Yes, Hotch is Sean brother and it is just his nickname,” JJ explained answering for her husband. “We're not in a profession that exactly encourages the use of first names and Hotchner is way too long to say in a bad situation, like a raid, where bullets are likely to be flying or a hostage situation, so he insisted years ago that the team calls him Hotch and it just stuck.”
“Yes, I can see that,” Dr. Holloway said. “In any case, we got off track and you are perfectly on time for your late December due date, although as I said I would take leave at least a month before, simply because twins 90% of the time are early.”
JJ groaned at that as she hated inactivity but she nodded. “I'll do that, although I hate the thought of it is I don't do well with just lazing around the house by myself or even with my children.”
“You can still do some activities, but I wouldn't try lifting anything heavy… I'll give you a list of what you shouldn't do,” Dr, Holloway said.
“Thank you, doctor,” Sean told Dr. Holloway with a boyish grin, causing her heart to melt just a little. She could really develop a little crush on him if she let herself, which she wouldn't do, because not only was he married to one of her patients she was also married to a good man, but still Sean Hotchner had a boyish charm about him that she well knew that a lot of woman would fall for.
“You're welcome,” Dr. Holloway told the two of them before scheduling another appointment that she knew very well might be canceled or at least postponed and then a ushering the two of them out to the reception area.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

On the 21s t of December, just after 2 o'clock in the morning just three days before Christmas Eve two black haired twins were born to JJ Jareau and Sean Hotchner.
The firstborn Dustan Garrett, was only five minutes older then his brother Devlyn Sinclair. Both were of similar weight and which was over 6 pounds apiece and at first glance the only difference was their length as the second born Devlin was several inches longer than his older brother Dustan. Both twins were destined to be tall just like their father and their uncle, but Dustan would probably be a little shorter than his brother Devlyn once they were both fully grown. 6 pounds and 6 ounces for one and 6 pounds and 2 ounces for the other was excellent for twins, but then JJ had known what she needed to do in order to have two healthy children and she didn't even care she had to lose over 40 pounds of baby weight, although now was an excellent time to try for another set of twins so that she wouldn't have to worry about gaining so much weight if she did have twins again or losing it for that matter. No it was best to wait awhile more was the pity, JJ thought because the birth hadn't exactly been very easy on her and giving birth to one child wasn't for sissies much less two.
“Aren't they just adorable,” JJ said, as she cuddled Devlyn to her breast while Sean held the other one.
“They are, but then as their parents we're supposed to think so, right?” asked Sean with a slow, lazy grin.
“Yes, we are, but the nurse told me when she brought them up here, which is while you were down in the cafeteria that they've been voted the most handsome babies in the nursery.”
“Have they now?” asked Sean with a smug grin.
“They have and the doctor says that they are not identical, because of their different lengths and the fact that one has the beginnings of curly hair like mine and the other it appears is going to be wavy like yours, even if it's the same color.” Sean had learned in the last year or so that JJ's hair was naturally curly but she normally took the time to straighten it as that was the way she liked it.
“Well, we didn't really expect them to be identical, even if we knew they were both boys,” Sean pointed out and JJ nodded.
“They're probably look nearly identical by the time they are grown and you'd have to know what to look for in order to be able to tell that they're not, especially if they start to dress the same. I suppose we'll just have to make sure that we dress then differently so that they don't get the idea they can pull that kind of stunt on us,” JJ said. “Identical twins do that you know, dress the same, style their hair the same, act the same just to confuse family members and strangers alike.”
“I don't think we'll have any trouble telling them, because as you said they are just different enough that they're not identical. They'll probably even be different heights, once they are grown, even if it's only an inch or two,” Sean said.
“It's also possible that they'll get different eye colors, even if that's only different shades of blue or one of them could get Hotch's dark brown eyes, since you do carry the gene for it and unlike every other eye color brown is dominant, but we won't know that for about a year as that I when the color finally stays whatever it is going to be.”
“It doesn't really matter if they do look so similar that they might as well be identical, they're healthy and they're ours and really that's all that matters,” Sean said and JJ nodded.
“Absolutely,” JJ agreed. “Besides, PG gave me some tricks she uses so she can tell her twins apart. They're not identical either as you know, but they're so similar in coloring and everything else that they might as well be.”
“I'm not really surprised in that case,” Sean said, as he cuddled Dustan in his arm. “Morgan is a big black man, even if he's half white because of his mother and when you have a marriage that has one black and one white person is it then any children are going to turn out to have dark skin, even if it's not as dark as it could be with a white person in the mix and add in the fact that Derek's already half white...”
“Also, all the children are bound to get Morgan's black hair and dark brown eyes, because it goes with the skin tone for one thing and I doubt very much that Morgan has any blonde haired, blue eyed relatives within two or three generations,” JJ added.
“Yes, that's true, but you can tell them apart though if you really look, because one got Penelope's nose and the other Derek's,” Sean added, “and the same goes for the forehead, and cheeks, they each look pretty similar that's true, but I believe once they get to be a year old it'll be easier to tell them apart, because I can already see, that one of them got some of Derek's more prominent features, while the other got Penelope's.”
JJ didn't have a chance to reply as there was a knock on the open door. “Are you accepting visitors?” came Hotch's strong voice and JJ could just see Spencer standing behind him.
“Of course,” Sean said. “It's good to see you, although I didn't figure I'd see the two of you until after work.”
“We're just going to be going in late, that's all,” Spencer said, as he and Hotch entered the room, “but considering how often we go in early, none of the higher-ups, even Strauss really has a right to say anything if we go in late one day, just because we wanted to see our two new nephews before you took them home and make sure you two were okay.”
“You mean Aaron didn't have to drag you out of bed?” JJ teased her brother in every way except blood.
“Not in this case I didn't,” Hotch said his expression neutral, although the amusement in his tone caused Spencer to blush an even deeper red then he had been at JJ's teasing. “He was anxious to come see you, and his nephews of course, which is why for once I didn't have to drag him out of bed like I normally do when we have to get up early.”
“So I like to sleep late, what's wrong with that?” Reid whined. “Especially when I don't get to do it too often, since I always seem to get a call that asks me to come in, because we have an urgent case or because we are already in the middle of working one. It's a very rare event that I get to sleep as late as I want.”
“You'd stay in bed all day, if I'd let you,” Hotch told him his amusement clear.
JJ and Sean watched this interaction between Hotch and Spencer with amused expressions because it was clear that the two of them were very close just as mates were supposed to be, even as they playfully argued.
“Come meet your nephews,” JJ finally urged the two men gently causing them to break off their argument immediately.
“So what are their names?” Spencer asked eagerly as Sean handed his brother-in-law baby Dustan that he was holding.
“The one you are holding Spence, is Dustan, who is the oldest by about five minutes,” JJ said.
“And the one that JJ has is Devlyn,” Sean added and watched his wife pass the baby she was holding to his brother.
“You didn't go for names that sound alike like a lot of people do when it's twins?” asked Hotch with a teasing grin and humor in his eyes.
“No, we didn't,” JJ said bluntly, “as I think it's a stupid practice. They both start with D and that was as far as I was willing to go and make the names similar. Why a lot of perfectly intelligent people go with names that sound similar or rhyme if it's twins or even triplets I have no idea.”
None of the other three people in the room had an answer for that, so the subject was switched as Hotch and Spencer cooed over their two nephews.
“So what time were they born?” asked Spencer.
“Just a little bit after 2 am,” Sean answered before JJ could. “Neither JJ or I wanted to wake anybody up, as we all know how long labor can take, but in this case it was relatively fast, as I brought JJ into the hospital about 11 o'clock when she went into labor and her water had broken. Luckily, for us it wasn't really too early as it was only a month or so before they were due anyway and the doctor assures us that's perfectly normal considering it's twins.”
“Both were born naturally and the doctor didn't have to do a c-section on either one, which is why they are five minutes apart instead of only a minute or less,” JJ added. “The doctor was surprised that they were both facing the right direction to be born that way considering it was a month early, but he also told us that it was possible that the date I was supposed to give birth might've been a little off as well as it is only an estimate and babies come in their own time in any case.”
“They were over 6 pounds apiece and they are a month early?” asked Spencer in astonishment as he listened to JJ explain what the doctor had told her.
“I picked up some tips from Penelope, since she went through having twins recently,” JJ explained with a smile. “I took her advice so the twins to come out at a decent weight. I didn't eat anything like salads or low cal things while I was pregnant and I got dessert after most meals which helped me add on the weight. I got decadent things that have a lot of calories to them, stuff I usually avoid, except on special occasions in order to not put on the weight that I needed in this case. Also Sean cooked me a lot of very high calorie meals, that were absolutely delicious, but I don't usually eat such large meals, except very occasionally.”
“And you snacked almost all the time, even when we were on a case or at least you did while we were tossing ideas around at the police station in their conference room or in the car traveling somewhere,” Hotch said, as he remembered. “You also snacked a lot while we were home, but in the office.”
“Exactly and none of the team said anything, because they know that pregnant women are often hungry all the time, especially doing the last trimester and I didn't eat anything while I was doing interviews.”
“Like we were really going to report you to Strauss that you were snacking while you were working and get you in trouble,” Hotch smirked. “She might have understood, since she's a mother herself, but it was better just not to mention it and it's not like the whole team doesn't eat when we are discussing ideas in the police station, as we usually take meals there if our unsub is one of those that kills at a fast rate.”
Sean didn't say anything for he now knew the whole history about Strauss and why the team all hated her guts including his wife, who usually saw the best in most people, although that didn't include the unsubs the team caught, of course. He had never met the woman, but if seven people he knew and respected hated her, then there must be a reason for it and from he knew of her she was a miserable, power-hungry, and just totally dislikable person.
“Now all I have to do is lose all this baby weight,” JJ sighed.
“Why bother if you're going to get pregnant again in a couple years you'll just have to put it back on,” Spencer said bluntly.
“Believe me, I'd love to have twins again right away so that I wouldn't have to worry about putting on too much weight and then losing it again, but that's just not practical,” JJ said not taking offense at Spencer's bluntness because a lot of times he didn't get why he shouldn't talk about a certain subject, which had to do with the Asperger's syndrome as it made him miss social cues a lot of times, and JJ was well aware of this fault in her friend and didn't hold it against him as it just had to do with him being a genius.
“Even though the birth of the twins seemed easy on me, I still need to let my body recover from it, even though I feel fine at the moment, but the doctor has warned me that I'll probably get incredibly tired if I try to do too much too soon at certain points of the day.”
“Which is why I want you to take the last ten weeks of your maternity leave,” Hotch told her his tone brooking no argument. “You're right your body needs time to recover from giving birth, even if you feel fine right now. Of course, right now you're not straining yourself, which is probably why you feel like you have a lot of energy, but that will fade if you overdo. I'm sure for the next few weeks you'll be sleeping a lot, that kind of thing.”
JJ had taken maternity leave two weeks ago, even though it was still six weeks before she supposedly give birth, but she'd had a feeling that the twins would be coming earlier then she really wanted them to and so she had trusted her instincts, even though she had no reason to and gone ahead and taken her leave earlier then planned and now she was glad she had.
“That sounds really good,” JJ said, “but how with two young children in the house? They'll demand a lot of attention you know and won't realize I'm not exactly feeling like my normal self, especially Bradley.”
“So ask your mother to help,” Spencer suggested. “You know she'll be delighted to help you look after Henry and Bradley when Sean has to work.”
“I'll make sure she doesn't overdo and get's plenty of rest,” Sean promised and JJ knew then that her fate was sealed. It wasn't that she disagreed it was that she was going to go crazy at home with nothing to do to keep her mind occupied, but on the other hand she knew her body needed rest in order to recover from the birth and she'd never get that on the job and so she was a resigned to taking the next ten weeks off.
Of course, it also meant extra time with Sean and her children and since such time was precious it wouldn't be all bad, but she wasn't one of us sitting on her butt watching TV or reading a dozen or more books.
“We'll do some outings,” Sean said, “maybe a picnic in the park with Bradley and Henry.
“Too cold,” JJ said with a smile knowing that San was just coming up with ways to distract her. “Picnics are for summertime.”
“Well, we could at least go to the park and have a snowball fight maybe and you know Henry in particular would love that. Or maybe we could take a trip somewhere since you have the next 10 weeks off it would be a vacation.”
“A vacation, I haven't had a vacation in…” JJ said trying to remember. “I don't remember when.”
“If you can't remember the last time you took a vacation then it's been far too long,” Sean said and Hotch and Spencer nodded in agreement.
“It's at least been several years,” Hotch said, “Since the whole team hasn't had more than a few days off here and there in at least the last five years. Strauss tries to block the team's vacation time, especially when we all want to take it at the same time as a team. She hasn't been able to block individual vacation time, but it's not that she hasn't tried.”
“Why would your section chief do that?” asked Sean confused. “I know she hates you, but to block your vacation time…”
“It's all about power,” Spencer explained to Sean as calmly as possible. “I believe she wants us to burn out or at least Hotch to, so she can get rid of him. We all take personal time here and there, but none of us have had a real vacation at the same time in years. It's Aaron that she hates the most, as I think she secretly fears that he's after her position.”
“I have to agree with Spencer that's exactly what she thinks and you couldn't pay me to sit behind a desk all day and play politics,” Hotch snorted. “I deal with enough politics just in the position I'm in, thank you. Yes, the team all realizes that they'll always be people that need help all over the country and that crime never stops, which is fine, but we are not robots that can keep going for days or weeks or months at a time without more than a few hours rest in between. Human need downtime, time to decompress, time to deal with the horrors, that they've seen on the job, especially with jobs like ours. I'm actually surprised that at least one of us hasn't burned out by now, but that's probably only because we all take a week here and there, even if we can't take it all at the same time because Strauss keeps blocking it.”
“Strauss doesn't understand what it's like to be out in the field, the horrifying things we see and have to deal with in our nightmares,” JJ told Sean. “She was never a field agent, just a bureaucrat, which is why she doesn't understand, although maybe if she had been she'd be a little less of a bitch and more understanding.”
Hotch looked at his watch and then told his brother and JJ regretfully, “Spencer and I really have to go into work now as we've been here too long as it is.”
“You're welcome to visit us at our home,” Sean told his brother and his mate.
“So how long will it be before the twins can go home?” asked Spencer.
“The doctor believes in a few days and said that he's amazed that they're so incredibly well developed considering they are a month early,” JJ answered. “He wants to keep them here for a few days and run some tests just to make sure they are completely healthy before Sean and I take them home, but he said that they don't even need the incubator, because they aren't underweight and their lungs are fully developed like at least one of a set of twins usually are.”
Hotch and Spencer nodded and they turned to leave but not before Hotch shook his brother's hand and been slapped him on the back and kissed JJ's forehead. “You two are so lucky to have four perfectly healthy little boys,” Hotch told JJ and Sean.
“We know,” JJ said with a grin, “good genes that's all.”
“We'll see you sometime, you keep us updated, alright?” ordered Hotch.
“We will,” Sean promised. Hotch noticed that his brother looked so happy that he also most glowing and Hotch could hardly blame him for it as he now had four sons to love and spoil and his brother was certainly a better parent then their own had been. Their own shouldn't have had children in the first place, Hotch thought, and Helen and Sam Hotchner were just lucky that he and Sean hadn't turned into someone who killed their own parents because of how they were treated as children.
Hotch and Spencer exited the hospital room and headed down the hallway to the elevator as they were late enough to work as it was.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“Well, I am now on a baby free sabbatical for at least the next two years, probably three” JJ said with a sigh, as she put Devlyn down in his crib, while Sean did Dustan.
The nursery for the twins had been set up for several months already, although JJ had just finished folding tiny little outfits not long before she's gone into labor.
The nursery consisted of a changing table, two cribs, a chest against one wall, and a dresser against another. The walls were decorated with a border of little animals, while the walls were blue. The room was pretty big, and would eventually become the twins bedroom once they passed the infant stage.
“I can't afford to wait any longer than that to have another child because I'm not getting any younger and being pregnant and given birth isn't exactly easy on a woman's body.
“So you want to have at least one more?” asked Sean looking eager, “in a two or three years? I know we had discussed it, but we hadn't come to a decision.”
“Yes, I'm willing to have one more in a couple of years and if we have twins again then that's fine too, but then that's it. For one thing I don't think we can afford anymore, and for another I'll be too old to have them very easily by then as I'll be 39 by the time he or she is born. Besides, if we do have another we'll have a full house and lose our guestroom and that's only if Dustan and Devlyn share once they get past the infant stage.”
“Great!” Sean exclaimed grinning he was so happy. “I would've been happy with the four we had if you had decided against having anymore, but I'm glad you're willing to entertain the idea of having another.”
“Well I wasn't going to give you a definite yes, until I saw how hard the birth of Devlyn and Dustan was on my body,” JJ explained. “Some women give birth easily and others don't, but even if some women give birth easily for the first few children if they have to many, well sometimes things go wrong. A body can get tired you know and it's easier to give birth a lot of times when you're younger then when you are older, although I of course, realize it varies form woman to woman.”
“I understand,” Sean assured her. “Just because the birth the Bradley or Henry for that matter went smoothly didn't mean that the birth Dustin and Devlyn would have, which is why we discussed it, but you refused to give a definite yes until after they were born.”
“Precisely,” JJ agreed with a smile. “Besides, I think the next one will be more than enough for us, even if it's only a singleton instead of twins.”
JJ didn't bother to tell Sean that the doctor had told her that she was in perfect health and it was very possible that she would have twins again next time she got pregnant, especially since she had already had them once and that upped her chances
“I'm really hoping for a little girl next time,” Sean said looking dreamy.
“Well I am too, but we seem destined to have only sons, not that there's anything wrong with that as I love all of them, but still I understand what you mean,” JJ agreed. “Even if it is a boy next time or two boys, I'm not planning on trying again after that as I'll be nearly 40 before they're born.”
“Well, here's hoping in a couple years we get lucky,” Sean quietly putting his arms around his wife as the two of them stood and watched their sleeping sons. “They are so precious,” Sean added just as quietly so as not to wake up his sons who where sleeping so peacefully. “I'd never dared dream, that I would not only find my mate, but that I'd have four sons and another child in a few years.”
JJ was happy that her husband considered Henry just as much his as hers, even though the two of them didn't share the same blood, although she had often wondered if Sean was ever going to suggest turning him into a werewolf when he was a teenager, so that he wouldn't feel left out when her other sons did transform for the first time once they hit puberty.
JJ wasn't sure how she felt about that subject. It was not that she minded her husband being a werewolf or her boss/brother-in-law or Spence or Morgan or her sons for that matter, but she also didn't want Henry to feel left out when the change did hit her other three sons in about 10 years. JJ know that puberty for boys usually hit between 10 and 14 depending on the boy in question. When a boys voice started changing and turned squeaky that was when the boy was starting to change and therefore the wolf in them would emerge for the first time. Sean, Aaron and Spencer would have to handle that part of it because she didn't know anything about being a werewolf, except that they were nothing like in the books or the movies. She had seen Sean in his wolf form of course, and also the other three werewolves that were part of the team as well. She had even been taken to meet the pack Alpha so that she could be welcomed to the pack along with Sean. The Alpha had wanted to learn how they had met and she and Sean had been totally honest when they had explained that it had been doing a BAU case in New York where her husband then boyfriend was working as a chef.
Greg had then told them that when they had children that they would need to be welcomed to the pack and that included her son Henry from her previous relationship, even if he wasn't changed into a werewolf when he hit puberty, because even though Henry was completely human he would still be considered part of the pack because he was Sean's adopted son and therefore part of the pack family.
JJ had thought that it was a nice sentiment and it had helped that she could tell that Greg had meant what he had said and that made her feel good that Henry would be welcomed within the pack, even though he was another man's son and even if he was never turned into a werewolf once he hit pubescence. Finally JJ decided that she wasn't going to think about that right now although she knew that Henry would hit puberty before she was ready for him to do so and so she had better have reached a decision before he did.
“Well, not every person in the world has their deepest desires fulfilled, but some are just lucky,” JJ told him quietly voice intent. “It was fate or luck that we met and I'm glad that we did, even if I didn't know quite what to make of your advances at the time and I'm not talking about in New York, but after you came here. You know what I thought at the time you just popped back into my life after we had met in New York for those few brief hours?”
“What?” asked Sean curiously.
“I thought that when you came and knocked on the door of my office that there was no way you were there to see me. I told myself that you had come to see your brother and brother-in-law and that there was no way you could be interested in a woman with a kid that wasn't even yours. A lot of women, have kids out of wedlock or from a previous marriage and if you keep them a large percentage never get married because most men aren't willing to accept that the woman has children that doesn't even share their blood and the ones that do accept it are few and far between.”
“I can understand why you thought that,” Sean told her calmly, even as he buried his nose in the side of her neck inhaling her scent which he would never get enough of as long as he lived. “I won't lie and say that us males on the whole aren't a flawed species because you would know I was lying and since you are already well aware of that, instead I'll be brutally honest and say that we aren't perfect and yes, some men are total scumbags in various ways, but not all of us are like that. All I ever wanted was to find my mate and when I actually met her I was extremely shocked as you can imagine.”
“I know,” JJ assured him turning around just enough to kiss Sean on the lips, which was accepted eagerly. “Females not perfect either, so I suppose that the whole human race is flawed, although both of us already knew that. What makes a relationship strong is having staying power, no matter the problem or the arguments that come along with any relationship. A lot of men or women for that matter will abandon their significant other for a lot of stupid reasons. They'll abandon their spouse, because their pride is wounded or not stroked enough, although that is largely a male fault, but not entirely, or if a child dies, or for various other reasons, most of them incredibly stupid.”
“I can understand the break up if one of their children dies,” Sean said, “but most of the other reasons are just stupid as you said, except if they are abused.”
“Of course, there is always the popular adultery where one spouse cheats on the other, just because their going through a rough patch at home.”
“And there is absolutely no reason at all to cheat on your spouse, none at all, no matter how many stupid excuses you come up with claiming otherwise,” Sean growled his arms tightening around his wife's frame protectively.
“I agree,” JJ said, “but as we just said the human race is very flawed and I believe we were created that way.”
“Yes, I believe you're correct,” Sean agreed as he kiss the top of his mate's head, “and although this discussion has been interesting I believe we can find better things to do considering the twins are asleep and Bradley and Henry are staying with your mother for a few days.”
“You know I believe you're right,” JJ said. “It won't be long before the twins are wailing for food and a diaper change so we might as well use the time we have constructively.”
“Yes, we should,” Sean agreed and without giving JJ any warning picked her up and carried her in his arms towards their bedroom, which was right next door to the twins nursery.
“Hey put me down,” JJ told Sean pounding a fist into his chest playfully. “I am perfectly capable of walking on my own you know.”
“Why should you have to walk when I can very easily carry you?” asked Sean with a smug grin knowing by JJ's tone that his wife wasn't really upset at him. “Us werewolves are a lot stronger then we look.”
“Is that all men never think about? Sex?” asked JJ in pretend exasperation.
“You know the answer to that so I'm not going to bother to reply,” Sean said still grinning.
JJ sighed and pretended to be put out at the situation, although that couldn't be farther from the truth, but finally after a few seconds she just laid her head against her husband's strong shoulder as Sean entered their bedroom laying her gently on the bed.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

January 19, 2021

“I know I've been putting off answering you about offering to turn Henry into a werewolf when he hits puberty,” JJ said sighing. “It's not that I'm against it per say…”
“You just don't like to think of your little boy growing up on you, even though he is,” Sean said understanding what his wife wasn't saying. “I'm sure it's at the back of your mind that Henry is growing up way too fast and it won't be many more years before he's off to college and then gone from your life except for visits.”
“Yes,” JJ said, ashamed of herself. “It's just that he was my first baby and while I love all my sons, he's my oldest and therefore special.” JJ lay there on her side of the bed with Sean's arms around her tenderly. “Of course, firstborns are always special, but you know what I mean.”
This was the only time they dared discuss such a subject unless the kids were out of the house, especially since Henry had been hinting that he wanted to be turned into a werewolf when he turned 12 in a few weeks having already begun to hit puberty several months ago. Sean had left it up to JJ to decide, whether or not to allow their son to be turned into a werewolf, because he wasn't exactly against the idea and in fact JJ was the only holdout, as his brother and Spencer were all for it. Of course, if JJ didn't agree, Sean would still do it when Henry turned 18 because then their son would be able to make his own decisions as he'd be legally an adult, but Sean didn't want his and JJ's son to resent his mother because he felt she was holding him back, even if it was a temporary kind of resentment. Also Henry wanted to be like the other male members of his family, which included his father and his five brothers and Sean could hardly blame him for that as all Henry wanted was to fit in and he felt like he didn't unless he was a werewolf as well.
Sean could certainly understand about wanting to fit in and he knew JJ did as well, and he felt that his wife would give into Henry's request with a little prodding from him, which is what he preceded to do.
“Yes, he's the oldest and the only male member of this family that is not a werewolf. All he wants is to fit in and he'll feel like he doesn't unless he's like all the other members of this family except you. We both knew this day would come when we told him about werewolves when he was nine years old because we felt he was trustworthy enough to keep the information confidential and you should have expected his request which he made way later then I thought he would. I figured he'd start pestering us to be turned into a werewolf after we told him and yet he waited until a few months before his twelfth birthday when he had already been going through puberty for six months in order to start pestering us about it, which I think shows a surprising maturity considering he's only 11 going on 12.”
“Yes, Henry's always been mature for his age,” JJ admitted, “but then I suppose that's not surprising considering he has five brothers who are younger than him to help look after.”
“When you were about to hit puberty didn't you want more than anything to fit in with your peers? If only because you knew if you didn't you would be teased, ridiculed or bullied?” asked Sean. “Of course, Henry being bullied is not the case here, but you know what I mean.”
JJ sighed and Sean knew that he'd had won at least half the battle. He was sure JJ was thinking about her days as a preteen and then a teenager and how all you wanted that age was to fit in with others like you, but part of a group that shared similar interests and tastes.
“I do know what you mean, but still...” JJ said her tone wavering so Sean when in for the kill—figuratively speaking of course.
“I know you don't want your oldest son to grow up, but he's going to whether you give your consent or want him to or not,” Sean said pressing his point home. “I don't blame Henry for wanting to be like everybody else in the house and I also think he's making a very mature decision as I'm sure he thought about becoming a werewolf ever since we told him when he was nine. You have to let him grow up sometime and even if you don't give your consent he'll still get what he wants when he turns 18 as that will mean he's a legal adult and you will no longer have the right to tell him no.”
“You're right in everything you just said,” JJ sighed feeling her resistance crumbling even further, “and if Henry's one thing it's stubborn, but then so am I, so I suppose he comes by it honestly.”
“You know he'll still always be your little boy, even if he is turned into a werewolf in a few weeks time when he hits puberty. Actually he's already begun puberty as haven't you noticed his voice going up and down in range when he talks for the last few months? And there have been other signs as well that I'm sure you noticed since you are so observant.”
“I had noticed the signs. Alright then,” JJ sighed finally giving in. “We'll tell him in the morning that I've agreed that you're allowed to turn him into a werewolf when he has his 12th birthday in a few weeks.”
“Henry will always be your son no matter whether he's a werewolf or not,” Sean told her gently kissing the side of her neck, “so keep that in mind so that you don't change it at the last minute.”
“I won't,” JJ promised, “I never break my promises as you know.”
“I know,” Sean said. “Once I do turn him into a werewolf he'll have to meet the Alpha of the pack officially. Yes, I realize he's already met Greg since he and Maggie have been frequent visitors to our home over the years, but since he is the Alpha he'll have to officially welcome Henry to the pack. Actually it might be better to go ahead and turn Henry into a werewolf as the full moon is about a week before his birthday and he's going to be very anxious and jittery until he transforms for the first time during it.”
“But it's on a school night,” JJ protested.
“So we'll call in and tell them that he's sick or something as there's no way he'll be able to concentrate on school until he transforms for the first time as he'll feel the pull of the moon very strongly until after he has gone through his first transformation. I wouldn't worry so much, Henry's at the top of his class and missing a day or two isn't going to do his grades any harm and he is hardly ever out sick,” Sean said.
“We'll have to make sure we get his homework assignments but that should be easy enough,” JJ said giving in without complaint because Sean was right there was no way Henry was going to wait until summer in order to be turned into a werewolf. Henry might have been very mature for his age, but he was still a child and didn't have much patience when he really wanted something.
Now that JJ had given in, not that she had fought very hard Sean started to kiss the side of her neck and JJ automatically tilted her neck to give her mate better access. Even though the two of them had been married for just over ten years, she was still deeply in love with Sean and he with her and sometimes she still couldn't believe she had been so lucky as to have such a good man fall deeply in love with her, one that accepted her job and that she was gone for days and sometimes weeks at a time. Not to many men would have put up with it, JJ knew and she knew she had been incredibly lucky to find one that would. She had loved him enough to have five children by him one singleton and two sets of twins all boys and the youngest Wesley and Walker were only three. The only difference between Dustan and Devlyn and Wesley and Walker was the fact that the youngest two had gotten her pure blonde hair, not the black of her oldest twins or the dirty blonde that her husband and Bradley possessed.
“I love you,” Sean muttered in her along with sweet little sayings that turned her body to jelly. Things like, 'you are my life, my world, my universe.' Things that were incredibly sappy and would have sounded like very corny come-ons, coming from any other man that want to get a woman into his bed, but not from Sean who she loved with all her heart and knew that he returned her feelings
“More, Sean, more! I need you inside me, now!” JJ begged her husband as Sean finished worshipping one of her very firm breasts with his lips, teeth and tongue, before moving down to her still flat stomach as her other breasts had already been paid attention to and also reverently worshipped.
Sean knew exactly how to get his mate to come quickly, or how to slow the process down until she was withering beneath him and begging for him to enter her. He knew how to bring her and himself the most pleasure, without entering her or how to bring his wife to her climax quickly just by using his hands, and his mouth.
He loved every part of his Jennifer's body and had from the moment they had made love for the first time long before they had gotten married in the human way. Sean had warned her before they had ever had sex that if they did do it that they would technically be married in the werewolf community. Most werewolf couples still decided to get married in a ceremony that was legal in the human world, but having sex with your mate whether you went that route or not meant that the two of you were technically married as making love bound the werewolf to his mate whether it was male or female. Unfortunately it didn't bind that werewolf's mate to him since females couldn't be wolves even if their fathers were. As for the males, well, a small percentage decided against the change and stayed human and if they did those men that were mates of werewolves had been known to cheat on their wolf partners, which led to suicide of at least the wolf in question and a lot of times his human mate. Of course, the same thing applied to the female mates of werewolves as well.
Of course, Sean had learned long ago that his Jennifer was a wildcat in bed and knew how to bring him to his climax just by using that mouth of hers, how to nip his taunt skin, lick it, and kiss it until he was nothing but a quivering mass of jelly beneath his mate's ministrations. Jennifer just didn't stick to his chest or stomach either as she treated every area of his body his thighs, his legs his arms and his neck. His favorite however was when she took his cock into her mouth bit by bit, sucked on it and tongued the tip with her wicked tongue and while she was torturing him she used one of her hands to fondle his balls and sack even having taken his scrotum into her warm wet mouth to suck on, which had made him come instantly and explosively.
It was a damn good thing that JJ had had her tubes tied as soon as the youngest twins were born because as much as they made love there was a very good chance that she would have gotten pregnant again, because his wife had forgotten her pills that prevented pregnancy before and it could very well happen again, but thanks to her having the operation she no longer had to worry about taking any pills that prevented a woman from conceiving and likely forgetting one at some point. Sean agreed that five, six with Henry was plenty and gave the two of them a full house, which made him extremely happy.
Finally JJ collapsed back onto the bed as her climax finally subsided and Sean collapsed on top of her just a few seconds later as his cock finally finished spurting semen into his mate's very toned and slim body. His Jennifer had gone about losing the weight from their last set of twins with a determination that astonished him, although it shouldn't have, as she had done the same with every one of her pregnancies. JJ was determined to get back to the size she had been before she got pregnant for that final time and get rid of the few stretch marks she had acquired in the last few months of pregnancy. Within just a few months she had done it and his wife had been back to her prebaby weight, although her shape was of course, different as were her breasts for she had birthed six children even if she had only been through four pregnancies. After having so many children she was even curvier if that was possible and sexier in his eyes anyway and his opinion was all that mattered in this case, since Jennifer was his mate. His! And therefore nobody else's opinion mattered at all, although Sean was aware that despite being over forty his Jennifer still had men drooling over her. It helped he supposed that JJ didn't look 43 or like she had birthed six children. People were often disbelieving when JJ told them that not only was she 43 she'd had six children, mostly because she didn't look like she could be that old or have had so many children. JJ was just one of those people that tended to look internally young and also the fact that she was happy in her relationship helped, Sean knew. Couples that were in bad relationships, tended to look it and you could often tell if it was a happy relationship, as a lot of times just by looking at the couple in question as there were always signs.
After a few minutes Sean gathered his strength and rolled off his wife before he smothered her knowing that he was at least 150 pounds heavier than she was.
“Well, we should get some sleep, we both have to work tomorrow,” JJ murmured already half out of it as she was extremely exhausted. “I love you.”
“Yeah, we should and I love you too,” Sean agreed, as he kissed his wife on the lips before she curled up against him absorbing his body heat, which felt very good considering that it was the middle of winter and slowly drifted of into slumber.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“Here you go,” Sean said passing Henry a cup full of blood. “Before you drink that we need to go over again what's going to happen, the kind of changes your body is going to go through and also the rules.”
“We've already been over a dozen times,” Henry complained rolling his eyes.
JJ just glared at her son and Henry knew better then to push his luck because his mother could change her mind her at the last minute if he did, so he sighed and recited: “One: once I drink your blood I will be knocked unconscious for several hours, possibly until morning. Two: my body will go through changes, I will gain muscles and be much stronger, my nose will be a hundred times more sensitive to smells and I will heal instantly from things like cuts, although more serious wounds take longer. I will, once the change is complete, will be unable to get any type of blood disease like cancer or even the flu. My hearing will also be much more acute than it ever has been before and it will take me awhile to get used to these changes. Three: You will be teaching me to control the wolf part of me so that nobody ever suspects me of not being completely human. Four: Once I am a werewolf I will need to change at least a few times a month whether it's the full moon or not in order to stay sane because as wolves we need to use our second forms or risk our wolf senses taking over even in human form and that is not a good thing.”
“You don't really need to worry about that last one until after you are out on your own because I'll make sure I take you into the forest in order to change and run around being a wolf,” Sean said. “Now the rules for after the change,” Sean added
“One: I am not to use my wolf form without you present until I am at least 16 or until I am deemed ready by you or Uncle Aaron,” Henry recited. “Two: I am not to mention to anyone what has happened or that werewolves are real. That's kind of an old rule isn't it?” Henry added cheekily causing his mom to look annoyed and Henry continued hurriedly. “Three: when I meet the pack Alpha for the first time as a new werewolf I am to use my manners and what you have taught me. Why? It isn't like Greg doesn't already know me since he has been a frequent visitor to this house over the last few years, even if I never knew he wasn't completely human until less then three years ago. I just figured he was a friend of yours and so never bothered to think about it beyond that.”
“Yes, Greg's known you for years and yes, he is a friend to your mom and me, but before you were human and therefore you didn't have to follow the werewolf rules of conduct, just the human ones,” Sean told him sternly. “You will be polite and bar your neck as a sign of respect and not call him by his first name until he gives you permission is that understood? You will not embarrass me because if you do I would be forced to discipline you and the way you discipline a werewolf youth is different from disciplining a human one and you won't like it one bit. I wouldn't want to have to do that, but if you are disrespectful to the Alpha, even though you've known him for years, I will have no choice, understand?”
“Yes, dad,” Henry said looking contrite.
It was rare for Sean Hotchner to be so stern, because unlike his brother, his Uncle Aaron he was normally much more laidback and easygoing. Henry was well aware that the man he called dad was not his biological father, but he was the only one he had ever known as he didn't even remember his real dad, which was fine with him as Sean was the only dad he needed or wanted.
“What else?” asked Sean simply.
“Three: I will keep up with my homework and maintain my grades. Four: I will come to you when I'm having any problems with my wolf form, any problems at all, even the tiniest one or how insignificant it seems. Five: I will control my temper at all times because I cannot afford to lash out until I've learned to control the strength of my werewolf form. Six: I will never abuse or misuse my new abilities,” Henry finished.
JJ looked at him and Henry added hurriedly, “I will never cheat or use my new strength or speed in sports or use my abilities to bully others that are weaker or who are bullying, teasing or picking on me or on others.”
“Alright, you know the rules, and you better not break a single one,” JJ told her son sternly. “We are allowing you to do this because Sean and I have agreed on it, but that does not mean I can't discipline you if I have to young man. There are responsibilities that come along with us allowing you to do this and both your dad and I believe that you are mature enough to handle those responsibilities, even at your young age. Don't disappoint either one of us.”
“I won't,” Henry promised.
“See that you don't,” JJ told her son pulling him into a hug, kissing his cheek ruffling his hair. “You're growing up on me way to fast.”
“Ah mom,” Henry said his voice an embarrassed whine. “I'm almost 12 years old.”
“Doesn't matter, you will always be my baby,” JJ said hugging him again her arms around his neck.
If only that bastard Will could see what a handsome, mature young man you've turned into, my son, see what he gave up without a second thought. Well, it's his loss and not my problem, although I will always be grateful for our relationship because it gave me Henry. Sean is and always will be his father no matter the blood connection and once Henry is turned into a werewolf he'll be more Sean's son then he ever was Will's, which is just fine with me.
“Alright then, drink that, before it congeals. It needs to be as fresh as possible,” Sean told his son with a smile.
Henry made a face as he looked at the cup of blood, but bravely did as ordered and put it to his lips taking a sip and then grimacing at the taste not that he had really expected anything different since blood wasn't meant to taste like chocolate or some other sweet as it was what ran through all living things, well not plants or fish or bugs he supposed but most other animals, intelligent or otherwise.
Henry took another sip and then another until finally the cup was empty. “Whoah! Nasty!”
“Yes, well, you had to expect it to taste nasty,” Sean told Henry. “It is blood after all, and blood isn't meant to taste good.”
“I know,” Henry said calmly although he still had that nasty taste of blood in his mouth. “I didn't expect it to taste like anything but what it was—blood.”
“Here this should help take the nasty taste out of your mouth,” JJ said helping her son to sit up and handing him a glass of juice. “Drink this quickly, before the blood that Sean gave you knocks you unconscious.”
“I'm already so dizzy, mom,” Henry said his voice plaintive, although not scared for he had been taken through the steps of the process of turning into a werewolf and being incredibly dizzy was the first symptom. Next he could expect his vision to start blurring and then to be unconscious until the change was complete. “The room is spinning violently.”
“You know that's to be expected,” Sean told his son giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Drink your juice, then lie back down as you'll be unconscious in the next five minutes or so or at least that's what I estimate.”
Henry did as Sean had gently ordered and drunk the rest of his juice, which did a good job of removing the nasty taste from his tongue. Once his juice glass was empty and his mom had taken it from him so that he wouldn't drop it, Henry lay down on the bed and just started to drift.
“Your dad and I both love you son and will see you when you wake up,” JJ told Henry kissing his forehead and running a gentle hand through his hair before she and Sean exited his room.
“I love both of you too,” Henry told them saying it just loud enough for them to hear before they walked out the door.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

Henry groaned and opened his eyes to find that his room was dark except for a small nightlight right over his bed, which made him smile as he knew that his mother hadn't wanted him to wake completely in the dark. He cautiously sat up and when that didn't bring any renewed dizziness he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He sat on the edge of the bed trying to figure out how he felt physically. He felt great, he decided after a moment, like he had a ton of energy more than he normally did. Henry know from what his dad had told him that by turning him into a werewolf it would have cleared up any medical problems that had to deal with the blood and the bones, but not the heart. Why turning into a werewolf didn't clear up every medical problems including with the heart or the brain, Henry didn't pretend understand. Maybe, just maybe if somebody had a heart problem and was turned into a werewolf it would kill them instead of changing them, which was probably why the transformation didn't do anything if you did have a bad heart, because instead of being turned you ended up dead, Henry considered after a few moments. The change into a werewolf had been relatively simple, and mostly painless, but had put quite a strain on his body, because he could feel his sore muscles as he tried to move even as they disappeared rapidly thanks to a werewolf's healing ability. He could understand why the change knocked you unconscious, because his body felt like it had been put through the ringer, even if those aches and pains were rapidly disappearing as he moved around more.
What time was it? Henry mused getting a look at his alarm clock that sat on his bedside table. 6 am, Henry mused, or a little bit before that actually. He had been knocked unconscious for almost 10 hours as he had taken that drink a little bit after 8 o'clock. Should he go wake his parents? To let them know he was okay? Henry asked himself as he rushed to the bathroom that was down the hall from his room. No, he immediately decided they need all the sleep they could get, his mother especially as her job was often very hard on her and a lot of time she didn't get a lot of sleep during a case. Not to mention his five brothers would tire out an army of babysitters much less his dad and mom. Bradley, who was the next oldest after him being 9 was a ball of energy and his 7 almost 8 year old twin brothers Dustan and Devlyn weren't exactly well behaved poster children. His two older twin brothers weren't even two years younger then Bradley if only because his mother had forgotten to take her pills, the ones that prevented pregnancy. Henry had heard the whole story several years ago, when he had asked why they weren't even two years younger then Bradley, but then he had always been a child curious about everything and had asked a ton of questions, when he was younger.
Henry relieved his bladder, and washed his hands as that had been drilled into him since he was a child. You need to remember to wash your hands every time you use the bathroom, he well remembered his mom telling him on multiple occasions. You can get sick more easily if you don't remember to wash your hands before you handle food or after you have to use the toilet. There are germs all around, and you increase your chances of catching something, even if it's just the cold or the flu if you don't remember to wash your hands after you use the toilet. His mother was probably right because he had been a very healthy child, and he had hardly ever missed school at all except once or twice when he had gotten sick although that had passed quickly. He had never had anything more serious then the flu that had passed through his system in 48 hours or less.
Henry turned off the faucet and dried his hands on the towels that were on the towel rack on the side of the sink and then headed back to his room. He knew he wasn't going to sleep anymore tonight, so he might as well surf the internet on his laptop, that had been a Christmas present two years ago from his Uncle Dave. Besides, it was about 6 am and it was only an hour or so before he normally got up anyway so what was the point of going back to bed?
“Good morning,” Henry told his parents softly as they opened his door and came into his room.
“Morning, how do you feel?” asked JJ looking concerned.
“Great,” Henry told her with a grin kissing her cheek. “There was some residual soreness, when I first woke up, but that didn't last long.”
“That's to be expected,” Sean told him with a grin giving his son a friendly pat on the back.
“I know,” Henry said returning Sean's grin. “Anyway I'm starving.”
“That's also to be expected,” Sean said, as he went back to cooking breakfast. “Your appetite will only increase after you change into a werewolf for the first time day after next. Us wolves require a great deal of meat in order to feel satisfied, full and to maintain our bodies, but just because we do need a great deal of meat, doesn't mean we don't need our vegetables too. Now that you're a werewolf who's hit puberty, you going to require a great deal more food than you used to eat simply because you are growing, which would be true even if you were still human because teenagers seem to have bottomless pits for stomachs no matter the species. When you stop growing so much you won't require quite so much food.”
“Which won't be until he's at least 18 and probably early 20's since I well remember my brother eating more at one sitting than I could ever dream of eating in a week,” JJ groaned, “and it won't be too long before Bradley's going to do the same thing two or three years at most.”
“And then less than two years after that Dustan and Devlyn are going to go through it,” Sean said with a grin.
“Why do I have a feeling I'm going to be paying a lot more for groceries for the next few years,” JJ said trying and failing to sound stern.
“Because you're incredibly intelligent and perceptive?” Sean suggested with a smile giving his wife a kiss on the cheek knowing his mate wasn't serious. “I wouldn't worry so much, both of us make plenty of money to afford it as you know. We never would have had so many children, if we couldn't afford to feed them properly when they hit puberty and changed into wolves for the first time.”
“I know,” JJ said. “You know we bunked the national average.”
“The national average of what?” asked Henry who had been watching his parents curiously. He had watched in astonishment as his parents talked, even as his dad continued to flip pancakes and fry bacon, while only half his attention was on what he was doing. He had always been astonished that his father could carry on a conversation and cook at the same time and the food always came out perfectly. Then again his father was a professional chef, which Henry figured had something to do with it.
“The national average of how many children a couple has,” JJ explained to Henry with a half smile. “The normal amount of children per household is two or three. I'm not saying that there aren't some families with more than two or three children because there are, but mostly couples stop at two children or three at most.”
“Why?” asked Henry curiously causing Sean to snort in amusement and JJ to hide a smile.
“Do I need to give you the talk about the birds and the bees?” asked Sean the amusement clear in his tone causing Henry to go red an embarrassment.
“No, you don't,” Henry said still a bright red. He knew what the birds and the bees were, even though his parents had yet to give him the talk, but he knew that day would come all too soon, way to soon and he'd like to avoid it and the embarrassment involved as long as possible.
“Sorry, honey,” JJ told her son kissing his cheek. “As to your question, there are a lot of reasons most couples don't have more then two children. For one thing kids are very expensive to raise as they need a lot of things from the time they are infants to the time they are 18. Some people don't make a lot of money, and so only have one or two children. Another explanation is that some people don't really like children and only see them as a way to carry on the family name, which to some people is more important then anything else. Finally the last reason is that some women don't get pregnant or give birth easily as it can still dangerous because a lot of things can go wrong. In other words some women's bodies just aren't made to give birth, while others can have as many children as they like because they get through a pregnancy and the birth more easily. Medical technology has improved a great deal in recent decades, so that a lot of mother's and babies can be saved that even ten years ago would have been impossible, but things can still go wrong, that nobody, doctor or otherwise can prevent.”
“Your mother and I, love children, and make plenty of money between her job with the BAU and mine as a chef so we had six. Luckily, your mother is in one of those that never had trouble giving birth and if carrying one baby is hard on the body two is doubly so and she had twins twice,” Sean added. Sean didn't mention the fact that Henry's godfather Spencer had steered him and JJ towards some good investments, so they had the money from those as well. They would never be considered rich by those of high society, but that was by their own choice, but they had enough to get through the hard times with money left over and that was what mattered.
Henry was silent as he thought about his mother's explanation and felt that there was a lot being left out, but what she had told him made sense. He was sure that she was leaving out a lot that she thought he was too young to know, but he would find out what wasn't being said eventually.
Sean placed a plate of pancakes in front of Henry and then did the same for JJ and then himself. The other five children were spending time with their grandmother, so it was just the three of them. Luckily, JJ's mother was still hail and hearty and loved to have the grandchildren stay with her for a few days. The only reason that Henry wasn't with them, was because they had told JJ's mother Kathleen that he was sick.
Kathleen Jareau was perfectly capable of getting three of her grandchildren to school and keeping the youngest two with her, as they weren't even in prekindergarten yet. The youngest four children had no idea that they were werewolves and would be able to transform once they hit puberty as JJ and Sean had decided not to tell them until they each reached nine years old as that was about a year that some children started puberty, although other's were later.
“I can't wait for the full moon,” Henry said eagerly making Sean smile.
“I remember that feeling very well,” Sean told his son. “Transforming for the first time, running on four legs and not getting out of breath, for miles is such a simple joy, but a fulfilling one. I enjoy going out to run in the forest behind our home just for the sheer pleasure of it and not because I have to or because I feel the pull of the moon.”
“Is that where you've disappeared to sometimes,” Henry said and it was as if a light bulb had gone off over his head.
“That's where,” Sean told him with a smile. “It's pretty fun to run alone, but it's way better to run with a pack, so sometimes you're Uncle Aaron, your godfather and your Uncle Derek have joined me, because running in the forest that is near our home is a lot closer than going out to the pack town, which is two hours away as you know as sometimes we just don't have time to go that far and this way we can still enjoy a good long run. It helps all of us to not feel so itchy in our own skins, which tells us that we haven't transformed in way too long.”
Henry finished gobbling down his breakfast and asked, “So where do we begin?”
“With your training?” asked Sean and Henry nodded eagerly. “Well, let me finish eating breakfast and cleanup the kitchen and then we'll began. There will be no transforming before the full moon in a couple of days, but there is something that I can teach you while you're in your human form.”
Henry looked disappointed and Sean sympathized. “Transforming for the first time is special, almost a rite of passage, as it means you have entered puberty and are no longer a child, but a teenager even if you are only ten when it happens, though that's rare,” Sean told him. “For one thing you need to let go of any modesty you possess as you are going to have to undress in front of the other wolves of the community. There is no room for modesty, doing the full moon no matter how shy you are about being naked in front of the other men and boys of the pack. Only the ones that can actually transform will be there so there will be no females present or any boys that are to young to have hit puberty.”
“Like I didn't already know that,” Henry said rolling his eyes at his dad. “I've never seen you or anybody else transform, but I figured you took off your clothes first or you would rip them to shreds I would think.”
“Very logical and smart reasoning,” JJ told her side son ruffling his hair. JJ had sat silently for the most part and just listened to the conversation going on between her husband and her son as while she knew quite a bit about werewolves now, the current discussion really didn't have anything to do with her. She really didn't like the fact that her son was going to be buck naked in public, but it least it was just other man and boys with no females present so that was something anyway and she knew it was necessary so that Henry didn't rip his clothes to shreds when he transformed. JJ knew that Aaron, Spence, and Morgan would be there as well if they weren't on a case, which helped ease her fears as she knew that all four of them would help look out for her boy.
“Mom, you are okay with this, right?” asked Henry looking worried as he hadn't thought until that moment how his mother would feel.
“It's fine,” JJ assured him with a smile. “I would never have let your father change you if I wasn't okay with it. I know he and probably your uncles will look out for you when you do go through your first transformation. Sean was very honest with me when he told me precisely what was going to happen on the full moon and I've picked up quite a lot about werewolves over the years. Believe me, if I'd had any problems with your dad being a werewolf, then I never would have gotten involved with him and had five other children.”
“And I will be grateful that you accepted me for what I am, every day,” Sean said kissing the top of JJ's head.
“Alright then,” Henry said watching the open affection between his parents. It was not at all rare for either one of them to show affection in front of their children and Henry knew that not all families were like that, not even most of them and it deeply saddened him, because he thought that the world could use more love, love like his parents had and if it had it, it would be less messed up and then maybe his mom wouldn't have to be gone so much catching the bad guys or any of his uncles or aunts.
“Finish your breakfast you two,” ordered JJ with a smile. “I'll clean up so you can get started.”
“Are you sure, honey?” asked Sean looking at his wife measuringly.
“Yes, you know we take turns cleaning up after meals and it's just my time to do it that's all, which is fine since you do it more often then I do, because I travel so much for work.”
“Alright,” Sean finally said kiss and JJ on the cheek.
The three of them finished breakfast in silently and once they were done JJ shooed two of her favorite men out of the kitchen so that she could clean up in peace.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“This evening we are welcoming Henry Hotchner to our ranks,” Greg begin solemnly. “It is always a special time, when one of our young people transform for the first time after hitting puberty, but Henry made the decision that he wanted to be one of us and so his father Sean Hotchner handled his transformation, with his mate's approval.”
Greg droned on about how Henry had been part of the pack for years as the adopted son of Sean and how he and his mate had watched as Henry grew from a two year old to the young man that was now standing in front of them, as he and his wife had been constant visitors to the Hotchner home over the last nine years.
Finally Greg finished his speech like before the moon was to set. Greg approached Henry and Sean, and offered, “You're welcome to run with me and the rest of the pack or go your own way.”
“It's your decision, Henry,” Sean told his son, “either way is fine with me.”
“I think, I'll run with you and the rest of the pack this time,” Henry said baring his beck to Greg in respect and Greg nodded approvingly.
“A very mature decision, young Henry. You and your mate have raised him well,” he added looking to Sean,” Greg said.
“Thank you, JJ and I agree that we did a good job raising him and all five of his brothers,” Sean said with a smile of pride.
“It won't be long before we'll be seeing young Bradley here will it?” asked Greg and Sean shook his head negatively
“Just another two years or three years,” Sean said. “Every child hits puberty at different times, but most of them hit around 11 or 12 and Bradley is 9 now.”
“Not long at all,” Greg said with a smile, “and soon after that it will be your oldest twins Dustan and Devlyn.”
“Yes, they're only a year and six months younger then Brad as you know, so no it won't be long at all,” Sean agreed placing his hands on Henry shoulders affectionately. “However, Wes and Walker still have about three to five years depending when they go through puberty.”
“Now young Henry,” Greg said, as the sun finally finished setting. “You need to take off your clothes so you don't destroy them when you transform.”
Henry nodded not even blushing in embarrassment at the thought, having already known this. “I will guide you through your first transformation as it is my duty and my privilege.”
Henry started removing his shirt, then his shoes and then the jeans he was wearing and finally his underwear. Henry who was a pretty modest young man now tried not to blush because he was buck naked in a large crowd with other men and boys around his age or a little older not far away. At least there weren't any girls present, which he was grateful for as he knew that his mother never would have allowed him to attend if there was going to be females here as disrobing in front of other men and boys was one thing, since they were the same sex you were, but females, especially younger ones was a different story.
“Now, concentrate and think of your wolf form,” Greg told Henry his voice soft and intent. “He won't be as large as a full grown one because he'll still be a pup, just like you are, but still he'll be powerful and he'll have the same color of fur you do hair...”
With Greg's coaching, within just a few minutes, Henry who had closed his eyes in order to concentrate and also ignore the stares of the others, started to change, slow at first and then faster. Henry's skin begin to itch as his fur took place of it and his nose and mouth changed to a snout. Henry fell to all fours as his hands changed to paws then his feet and finally the transformation was complete as a long bushy, blond tail sprouted out of his butt.
Henry opened his eyes and shook himself just like a wolf or a dog would do and as he looked around he saw the parking lot was already mostly empty except whom he assumed was Greg in his wolf form and Sean who stood at his side also transformed.
Come on, let's run, Sean barked, which Henry's wolf mind seemed to translate with ease.
I'm hungry, Henry barked trying to look pitiful.
Aren't you always? Sean barked with a lupine grin.
It was weird really how he could translate a wolf's body language and his growls, howls and barks without thinking about it, but cool to, Henry thought. He wondered if he would be able to do that in human form to if it just came with his wolf form. Well, he could worry about that later, Henry decided, as now it was time to have some fun running in the forest with other wolves.
I'm only a growing boy, Henry barked with laughter clear in his eyes.
Come on, we can get something to eat in the forest, Greg barked at them.
Let's go, Henry responded and then let his wolf instincts guide him and wagging his tail excitedly and then shooting off like a rocket towards the trees with Sean and Greg following closely behind. It wasn't long before the three of them caught up with the others of the pack who were running among the trees weaving around the trunks and so the older two wolves did the same chasing the young pup through the trees, with tongues hanging out panting happily, playfully nipping at his heels, when one of them got close enough. All three zigzagged this way and that going around tree trunks, through brush, and even jumping over a fallen tree with giant leaps. Finally they came into a semi-round clearing deep in the forest that was quite large and Henry spotted a rabbit which he immediately began to chase as he was starving not even thinking about what he was doing as his wolf instincts just took him over. The rabbit when he looked up from his meal of grass and saw a blond colored wolf coming fast in his direction squeaked in fear and began to hop towards the trees at top speed hoping to escape, but Henry was far faster and was on it in just a few seconds breaking it's neck cleanly.
Great kill, son, nice and clean, Sean told him pride shining in his yellow lupine eyes licking Henry on the cheek in a wolfish gesture of affection.
You're doing great, young Henry, Greg told him also with pride in his brown eyes.
I didn't even think about it,” Henry barked. I was having so much fun running through the trees with you chasing me and then I saw that rabbit the wolf just took over and made the kill.
And that's perfectly natural, Greg assured him.
Were you grossed out with eating raw rabbit? barked Sean.
Not really, Henry barked after a considering moment. To me or at least the wolf it just seems natural to eat it raw in this form.
Good, you're coming right along then, Greg barked, approval clear in his eyes.
The three of them started chasing each other around the meadow, after Henry had eaten most of the rabbit and then lay down side-by-side in order to get some sleep for they were all exhausted from all the running and leaping they had been doing.

~~~Sean and JJ~~~

“How was it?” asked JJ as soon as the two entered the house the morning after the full moon.
“It was great!” Henry enthused. “Not so much the ceremony part of it, but the turning into a wolf and running through the forest with dad and Greg chasing me. We left the rest of the pack behind early on and eventually found a nice meadow to run off some more of that energy and fell asleep in it.”
Henry didn't mention the rabbit or the fact that he had eaten a great deal of it raw, leaving the rest for the other wild animals to consume, because his dad had advised him after they were both dressed and in the car on their way to find some breakfast that his mom was very tenderhearted and it was best if he not mention that part to her. Oh, she will know in her head that it had probably happened, but there is no reason to confirm it for her and make her sad and upset at the death of a cute cuddly little animal, even if she knows that it is the natural order of things. Besides, why gross her out by telling her that you ate a wild animal raw, even if it was just a rabbit? Most humans refuse to eat anything raw unless it's sushi, you know fish, and those few who do don't normally bring it up in the course of normal conversation.
“You slept in a meadow?” asked JJ in disbelief.
“We were in wolf form and it was perfectly natural to us as sleeping in a bed has been for you,” Sean reminded her gently and JJ nodded for she had known this, she had just been taken by surprise, even though she knew she shouldn't have been. “We had our fur to keep us warm and we slept close enough together that we were able to absorb each other's body heat.”
“It was really neat, mom and dad is right, sleeping on the ground in wolf form all cured up is perfectly comfortable and once we were tired from running around we conked right out. I didn't stir even once all night.”
“Remember Henry can't get sick anymore,” Sean reminded her. “He is protected from almost every natural disease, including pneumonia or even the common cold. He is now not completely human and therefore can't pick up any human disease.”
“But he could still die of something that is human invented like poison right?” asked JJ, remembering how Spencer had almost died from anthrax when they had been involved in a top secret case years ago now.
“None of us are protected from things like manmade poisons or things like radiation or something like anthrax. We aren't immortal after all, but we are protected from things that our bodies can produce naturally like cancer, or something less serious like the flu.”
“Well, I'll stop worrying so much then,” JJ said with a smile.
“Oh, you'll still worry,” Sean observed with a grin, “That's what mother's do after all.”
JJ rolled her eyes at Sean and swatted him on the arm playfully, but privately admitted that her husband was right about that.
“Would the two of you like breakfast or have you eaten?” asked JJ.
“We ate at a diner that was on the way,” Henry said grinning his stomach grumbling in hunger as if on cue, “but I could certainly eat again.”
“Me to,” said Sean, “but I believe a shower for both of us is in order first, since we did work up quite a sweat running like we did through the forest and then sleeping outside amongst the trees.”
“Men!” JJ muttered her tone affectionate, “are always hungry.”
“Hey, I'm just a growing boy,” Henry told JJ cheerfully making her laugh and ruffle his hair affectionately.
“So you are and what's your excuse?” JJ asked playfully glaring at Sean while poking him in the stomach.
“Wolves in general just eat more then most humans, no matter their size, which you know,” Sean said with a careless shrug and a grin knowing that his wife wasn't really angry, “well unless you are a big behemoth of a man anyway. You know, like truck drivers.”
“I know you eat more then any three normal sized people put together and now Henry is going to start doing the same and then Bradley and the twins. I'm surprised that their isn't a food shortage as much as you werewolves eat,” JJ said rolling her eyes at two of her favorite men affectionately.
Neither Sean or Henry responded and simply continued to grin at her until she sighed as if in exasperation. “The two of you do smell like sweat, and dirt, and other things I don't care to think about, so you should head to the showers and I don't want to see either one of you until you have had them and gotten into clean clothes, understand?”
“Yes, honey,” Sean said at the same time Henry said, “Yes, mom.”
“You really should be used to me smelling like sweat and dirt and the outdoors by now,” Sean told her with a grin kissing her cheek, even as JJ tried her best to recoil. “I lost count of how many time I came home the night after a full moon smelling the same.”
“Yes, I know,” JJ told him shooing them both towards the stairs, “so go shower and I'll have your second breakfast ready when you return.”
“Yes, ma'am,” Sean said at the same time Henry said, “Yes, mom.”
“What are you twins?” asked JJ rhetorically causing both men to laugh.
Two of the men in her life, raced for the stairs heading for the showers so they could get clean and sit down to a second breakfast.
Her oldest son was growing up way too fast, JJ thought as she watched her husband and son disappear upstairs for showers. She knew that eventually children did grow up, move out, and get lives of their own, but it still made her a little sad, even though she'd have five more children after Henry was gone, eventually they'd also be grown up and gone. By the time her youngest twins were graduated from college, she'd be old enough to retire and maybe travel a little with Sean if he could get away from the restaurant, so all her sons growing and getting lives of their own up wasn't all bad. Still it made her a little wistful and sad to think about an empty nest, even if it would be nice too.
JJ got busy mixing pancake batter and frying eggs along with sausage and bacon since as wolves Henry and Sean would crave meat and had it almost ready by the time her two men emerged from upstairs.
“That smells terrific, mom,” Henry said giving her a kiss on the cheek and took the plate she handed him.
“Eat up,” JJ told Sean and Henry, “although where you put it all, especially you Sean, I have no idea because as much as you eat you would think you'd be as fat as a pig and yet you're not. Now I know exercise, and running as a wolf takes care of a large part of that, but still you should at least have a pot belly hanging over your belt and yet in all the years we've known each other I don't think you've gained an ounce.”
JJ's tone was jealous and envious, which Sean couldn't blame her for for he didn't have to exercise much to keep his normal weight, but for JJ who wasn't a wolf it was different and she had to constantly keep herself in shape, especially after birthing six children, even if she had only been pregnant four times in all. It wasn't that as part wolf he couldn't gain weight and develop a belly, it was just that his metabolism made a more effective use of the food he consumed and exercising, either normally or by transforming into his wolf form burned up a lot of the calories from the food he ate, which allowed him to eat more then a human and not gain an ounce. This was true for all wolves and while some of them had bellies, because they didn't exercise enough to keep themselves at their ideal weight when they ate more then they should and didn't exercise. Most werewolves were not overweight though because they transformed regularly and ran in the woods therefore burning up a ton of calories in the process.
“Good metabolism, is all,” Sean told her with a wink as he scooped up some of her pancakes and put them in his mouth.
Sean was so busy gobbling up his breakfast that he never noticed his wife looking at him and Henry with a little smile on her lips.