New Memories

Nine months came and went in a blink of an eye. I could hardly believe it when the week before my due date came around. To me, it felt like only yesterday that we were sat in the restaurant in D.C telling our parents they were going to be grandparents.

Speaking of parents, dad bought us a house on Earnestine Street, in McLean, Virginia. Jack and I couldn't believe it when they told us. We were a fifteen-minute drive from Mom and Dad's in Potomac and a five-minute drive from Hotch's. I'll admit, I felt more relaxed knowing that we had a home. The apartment was nice, but, I don't know, there was something about living in a house that made me feel safe. Jack had now graduated from the FBI training program and was now a special agent. He was currently being trained and advised by Spencer at the BAU.

My main job at home was to get the nursery ready for the baby and luckily, I had plenty of help. Ashley came by everyday after being at college (she was doing her PhD in forensic science) and the rest of the team were willing to lend a hand. Morgan and Savannah had given us a load of stuff that Hank had now outgrown including gender neutral baby grows so we didn't have to buy many of those. We had been to the store to choose a 'coming home' outfit for the baby which was now packed in a bag that sat by the door. We had to make sure that we could tell the difference between the hospital bag and Jack's away back (although Mom had now made sure that Jack wasn't away on any cases in case I went into labor). But the nursery was all done, the house baby-proofed so now it was a waiting game.

With a week to go, Mom had signed Jack off until the baby came. She wouldn't usually do that but because I had recently turned 23 and had no idea what we were doing. Jack and I carried on with life as normally as we could. There was still plenty to do in the house and the garden needed sorting out. I liked gardening, so I spent as much time as I could in the garden and seeing as it was April now, the weather was lovely and warm.

One day, I was out in the garden sorting out the flowers that I had planted earlier that month. They were coming on well and had brightened up the garden amazingly. We had also started our own vegetable and herb garden which have also been coming along. I got up from where I was knelt down at the back of the garden to walk over to the veg patch when I felt a twinge in my back. It felt like a PMS cramp but not as strong as I could get them. I winced slightly, thinking it was just trapped gas and I walked over to the patch. I put the cramp to the back of my mind, I still had a week to go until I was due, so I carried on with what I was doing. It wasn't until I was in the kitchen, making dinner, when the pain came back that I began to think that something was up.

Explaining to Jack what had happened, he phone the hospital to see what we should do. Currently the pain was every 2-3 hours, so they said to wait until it was every hour apart and then come down. We decided not to tell our parents yet. Mom would only worry and get in the way and we didn't know how long it would be. Dad was away on a case. He was in Missouri, I think so I sent him a text with the promise that he wouldn't tell anyone. He replied to say he wouldn't and to tell him when we went to the hospital and he would fly back.

We had dinner like normal and Jack ran me a bath. We then curled up in front of the TV and waiting. Bless him, Jack was amazing as I couldn't get comfy. I must have elbowed and kicked him more times than I could count, but he didn't complain. Around half eleven, Jack got up and made some tea. I hadn't had a pain for a few hours now, so we decided we would head to bed. Jack helped me climb the stairs and we fell asleep almost as soon as we hit the pillows. I woke up what seemed like hours later with a sudden pain across my tummy. I gasped out loud and Jack stirred in his sleep.

"What?" he said sleepily.

"Ow!" was all I managed.

Jack rubbed his eyes and sat up, switching the light on. "Baby?" he asked.

I nodded rubbing where the pain had been.

"Do we need to head to the hospital?"

I shook my head. "We need to wait until its an hour or less apart."

He nodded, lying back down. I snuggled in next to him.

"So, now we wait?"

"Now we wait…"

We didn't have long to wait as it turned out. Around half an hour after being woken up, another pain started. I tapped Jack, who had fallen asleep again.

"What?" he asked again, sitting up.

"We should probably head in now." I said, smiling.

Jack's eyes lit up slightly, "You sure?"

I nodded, "Its time."

So, Jack packed the car and helped me out. It was half four in the morning so the road to the hospital was deserted. It took us fifteen-minutes in all to reach the hospital and we managed to make it before I had another pain. We had to go in through the Emergency Room and then we were led up to the labor suite. While I got admitted, Jack rang Mom, Dad and Aaron to let them know what was going on but also not to come down until the unit opened. The midwife got me settle in and checked to see how far along I was. I was only three centimeters dialated and she warned us that we could be in for a long wait.

Around 9.30 that morning, Mom arrived along with Hotch. Jack had fallen asleep on the sofa in the room and I had let him sleep. The midwife had come in half an hour earlier and told me that I was now 4 centimeters dilated. Hotch woke Jack up and took him down to the cafeteria. Mom walked over to me and held my hand.

"Hey, sweet girl!" she said, softly.

I smiled. She hadn't called me that since I was a young girl. "Hey, Mom."

"How you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired." I smiled, "But I'm ok. I let Jack sleep as nothing is happening."

She smiled, "That's ok, Jess. You should try and get some sleep too, you know."

"I've been dozing on and off." I said, honestly.

"Good."

"Where's Dad?" I asked, shifting myself up a bit.

"Waiting for a flight out of Missouri. He said he can't wait to meet his grandbaby!" she smiled, "Neither can I."

"You may have a long wait ahead of you…" I muttered.

Mom shook her head, smiling.

"Jess, it's your first kid, it's going to be a while. I was in labor with James for over 14 hours."

"Fourteen hours?!" I said, hardly daring to believe it, "It's been five!" I let my head flop against the pillow.

Mom chuckled softly, "Oh, baby!"

I was checked on by the midwife every hour. Dad arrived just before the unit closed at 9.30. By this point I was 8 centimeters dilated and my contractions were every 20 minutes. My waters still hadn't broken. We sent Dave and Hotch to the waiting room, so they could get some rest. Mom and Jack bounced between my side and that room. But they made sure I was never on my own.

Then at about half one in the morning, I really needed the loo, so I got up and as I did, I felt a gush of water fall to the floor. Mom had been dozing on the sofa and she woke up when she heard me gasp. She rushed off to get the midwife and Jack came back in. He helped me back into the bed and I was immediately hit by another contraction. The midwife came in, measured me and announced that I was fully dilated. I breathed out a sigh of relief. We were on the home stretch. Mom and Jack stayed with me the whole way.

Finally, at 2.32 in the morning, I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl. Jack was allowed to cut the cord and Mom left to tell Dad and Hotch. She kept them out until I was ready and decent.

Jack kissed me on the forehead, "Well done, Jessie!"

I smiled, "She's perfect!" I said, as she wrapped her hand round my finger.

"What are we going to call her?" he asked, softly, stroking her head.

I looked down at my tiny baby girl in my arms, "I like Heidi. She looks like a Heidi, don't you think? I asked, looking up at him.

Jack smiled, "I like Heidi too!"

"And what about Hayley, as a middle name, for your mom?"

Jack didn't speak for a moment and I could see the tears in his eyes. He simply nodded his head and kissed me on the shoulder.

"She would have loved her." I said, looking back down at Heidi.

"I know," Jack said softly, tears falling down his face. He took a deep breath in to steady himself, "And I also know that she would be so proud of you!"

I smiled, "Of us."

Jack kissed my forehead again and rested his head on my, gently stroking Heidi's mop of dark brown hair.

Eventually, we let the excited grandparents in. Hotch cried when we told him Heidi's name and gave me a massive hug, thanking me for honoring Hayley when she couldn't be with us.

Heidi and I were discharged from the hospital a few days later and we took her home. The next day, Jack and I drove by the bureau to introduce her to the rest of her family. We told Mom and Dad we were coming, and Dad met us in the carpark. He carefully took Heidi out of her car seat and held her gently. I smiled as Jack helped me out of the car. We walked hand in hand into the office, Dad holding onto Heidi. Jack opened the door and I followed Dad in.

JJ was the first to see us. "Jess! Jack!" she called, excitedly as we walked in, "Congratulations!"

"Thanks JJ!" I smiled, hugging her tightly.

"Is this her?" she asked, looking at the pink bundle in Dad's arms.

"Yep, that's Heidi Hayley Hotchner." Jack smiled.

"We know it's a bit of a mouthful, but she looked like a Heidi and I wanted to make sure that Hayley lived on in her granddaughter."

"That's perfect!" said JJ, smiling and she hugged Jack.

"Well, look at you granddad!" called Matt Simmons, walking out of the roundtable room. He was followed by Luke Alvez, Tara Lewis, Penelope Garcia and Spence.

Dad laughed, "Thanks Matt."

"Congrats, guys!" said Alvez, hugging me gently.

"She's beautiful!" said Tara, also going in for a hug.

"Just like her mom!" said Jack, looking at me.

"What's her name?" asked Spence, hugging me and then shaking Jack's hand.

"Heidi Hayley Hotchner." Jack said.

"Nice!" said Luke.

"HHH!" smiled Matt, "I like it!"

I smiled, "Thanks guys! It seemed only right to have Hayley's name in there somewhere!"

"And we wanted to introduce her to the rest of her family!" said Jack.

"Where's my beautiful granddaughter?" asked Mom, joining the group. Dad passed her the baby, kissed me on the head and then went and stood behind JJ.

"Oh, that's just too cute!" said Garcia, holding her phone and taking a photo of mom and Heidi.

"You'd better send me that, Pen!" Mom said, smiling at her.

"Of course, my liege! I'll send it to you and Jack too!" she smiled at us.

"Thanks, Penelope!" said Jack.

"Would you be a godmother?" I asked Garcia, smiling.

"Me?" she asked, amazed.

"Yeah, you've been the godmom to both of JJ's kids and you've always been there for me growing up. I'd like you to be there for me and my baby now."

Garcia welled up and nodded her head.

"JJ, will you also be godmother?"

"I'd be honored, Jessica!" and she hugged me.

"Spence, Matt, will you be godfathers?" Jack asked.

"Of course!" said Matt, "Can I hold her?" I nodded, and Mom passed Heidi over.

"Spence?" I asked.

"I'm not sure I can…"

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, concerned.

"I'm a different person… prison… Scratch…"

I walked over to Spence, held his hands and looked him in the eyes, "You know I don't care about any of that. You're my big brother, Spencer. You've been there for me in some of the worst times of my life and I was there for you. You've got Maeve and Jane in your life now. I couldn't imagine anyone else looking after my baby girl." I looked up at him, "Please, Spence. Who else is going to help her get into Yale?"

Spence smiled at me, "Oh, Jess!" he hugged me, "I'll be Heidi's godfather!"

I hugged him back, "Thank you!"

We stayed with the team for another hour. Everyone got the chance to hold Heidi. Eventually she made her way back to me. As I held my baby daughter in my arms, I looked up at the team. Even though it had changed throughout the years, it had always felt like family. My family. They had seen me grow up, see the woman I had become. When things had been bad with Jason, they were there for me. And now, it felt like the circle was complete. Jack and I had our beautiful baby girl and we were surrounded by the only people that mattered to us.

Just then, I was reminded of a song I used to listen to in high school. As I looked down at my newborn bundle of joy, I smiled as the last lines of the song seemed to play out loud: "If you don't know if you should stay, and you don't say what's on your mind. Baby just, breathe there's no where else tonight we should be- You wanna make a memory. You wanna steal a piece of time. You could sing a melody to me, and I could write a couple lines. You wanna make a memory…You wanna make a memory"

THE END