A/N: So I have seen a few stories here and there on fanfiction regarding 'The Parent Trap' movie. I thought that it would be a cool idea to write about Hotch and Prentiss as parents so here is the story. Unfortunately 'present day' in their world is set in our future because the timeline wouldn't have worked any other way and I wanted the twins to be a certain age. So its in the future, but I don't think that its really going to matter. Its about the content and the story isn't it?

So anyways... Here is the beginning of the story. Please review and let me know what you think. I do have a second chapter written and many other ideas floating around in my head and in my journals. Your reviews will tell me what I need to change and what I can add. Enjoy the read!

Bailey

June 2023
Virginia

It was always the familiar sound of hearing her father's snores echo throughout the apartment on a warm Monday morning that set off the feeling of excitement in Bailey Hotchner. Even when her father Aaron Hotchner had come home from work early on multiple occasions to spend time with his children, Bailey always felt that their time together was cut short. She loved her father more than anything and all she wanted to do was be with him.

As she lay in her bed and listened to the familiar snores down the hall from her room, she glanced across at her alarm clock. 6:25. 5 minutes until she was allowed to wake up her father. Even though she knew that he wouldn't mind if she woke him, she also knew how grumpy and hostile he was with a lack of sleep- which let's face it was every day of the week.

It was a part of his job, he received calls regarding cases all day long. It didn't matter what time it was or where you were, when dad received a phone call, it generally meant a trip to Aunt Jessies house. Bailey had discovered very early on that Aunt Jessie wasn't actually her Aunt, Jessie was actually Jack's Aunt. However, the woman still treated Bailey as if she were her own niece. After all she never did have a child of her own.

Bailey decided that she couldn't wait any longer and tiptoed silently in her black and white striped pyjamas into her father's bedroom. It wasn't a surprise to Bailey to see the man still dressed in his black suit and red tie. She had seen him on multiple occasions fall asleep on the couch looking at disturbing crime scene photos spread out all around him. Luckily for her, it was normally Jack who cleaned that up before his younger sister could see anything, but there were times when Jack wasn't around, and Bailey couldn't avoid seeing what she saw.

This time was no different except for the fact that there were no crime scene photos anywhere, just her dad asleep on the top of the bed still dressed in his work clothes.

Upon seeing him asleep so peacefully, Bailey carefully crawled across the bed sheets and lay next to Aaron- resting her ear on his chest. She could hear the gentle pulsing of his heart and could feel her head rise and lift with each passing breathe he took. Sometimes she resented his job. It took him away from her and he always had some sort of injury whether it be major or minor. She swore she hadn't even counted half of the scars she found on his body.

What she didn't understand was how he loved his job so much. Bailey was eleven and for as long as she could remember her dad had been in the same job. Not that he had a boring job at all. She had been to the BAU a few times before and met his co-workers on a few occasions, they always smiled at her and tried to be funny- particularly Morgan and Rossi. But she saw how obvious it was that she all reminded them of one person- her mother- and it was no different with her father.

She had hardly ever seen him smile. On the occasions that he did, it was forced. Very occasionally it was a genuine smile.

The loud sound of chiming sounded from her dad's phone on the bedside table. She felt Aaron stir and roll over on his side to turn off his alarm before turning back around to have a little snuggle with his younger daughter.

There was nothing more that Aaron loved more than waking up to see his daughter cuddled in close to him. For as long as he could remember she had always done that. He couldn't complain though, the amount of cases he had seen where children had died always dug a hole a little deeper in him.

Some days he couldn't believe how old she was getting, it just felt yesterday that he was with her mother in the hospital waiting for their precious babies to arrive. He was glad he had at least Bailey. "Dad, why do you never change out of your clothes when you get home?" Bailey asked innocently even though she already knew the answer. He worked too hard. He overworked.

"Bailey…" Hotch said tiredly. "Sometimes, when you have my job… You forget to take care of yourself." He answered simply. Bailey just nodded into his chest. His suit smelt like dry-cleaning, but underneath it all she could smell his scent and felt safe. "Have you got school today?" Hotch asked as he smoothed his hand on her wavy, brunette hair.

"Yes dad. Its Monday…" Bailey murmured back. In all his years' experience of being a behavioural analyst profiler, he hardly ever remembered what day it was. Partly that was due to being away so much and because of travelling into different time zones on a regular basis. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes. He needed a coffee, completing reports at 2am wasn't good for the brain.

"Go get ready for school." Aaron whispered calmly to Bailey. However instead of doing what she was told- which was what she usually did- Bailey acted up and cuddled in closer to Aaron.

"I just got here dad… Just a few more minutes?" Bailey asked him with her dark, chocolate eyes. Aaron sighed and gave in. There was just no point in arguing with his daughter on a Monday morning, not when she was looking at you with an expression he so vividly remembered from another person.

Hotch looked down to see that Bailey had brought in her brown otter teddy bear with her name written his tummy. It was squished between Bailey's and his chest. "I see that you brought in pip for a cuddle too." Aaron said as he patted the otter. He still couldn't believe that it was still stitched together.

He flashed back to a time where Bailey had accidently left the thing at Jessica's house after being babysat. Hotch had carried her to the car as she slept, but she ended up screaming the entire night when she woke in her bed and realised it wasn't there- causing Hotch to call Jessica at 1am and asking her to bring it over so he could get some sleep. She was only 2 at the time.

He glanced back over at the clock. "Right princess… Go wake up your brother for me. I'll go make some breakfast." Hotch said to which Bailey hummed in response. Waking up Jack was her favourite thing in the world. He always slept through his alarm, so Hotch had made Bailey responsible for waking up with some sort of punishment. Lately it had been water balloons, since it had been so hot lately, but Bailey must have used that many that she had run out.

"I'm all out of water balloons." She said simply as she stood in his doorway. Aaron couldn't help but smile at his daughter's antics. She had her mother's wicked sense of humour- something he missed about that woman.

"Uh… Hang on." Bailey watched as her father paced into his bathroom and returned holding some shaving cream. The girl couldn't help but laugh, her dad did have a sense of humour. "Not too much okay?" Bailey nodded and tiptoed down the hall to Jack's bedroom.

He should have known by now to put a decent lock on his door. He was seventeen for goodness sake. Bailey took out a hair pin from her pocket and inserted the clip quietly into the key slot, causing the door to unlock. Now came the fun part.

Jack was sprawled out on his stomach fast asleep wearing black trousers and a grey t-shirt. His sheets were all dumped on the floor. Typical. Bailey placed pip the otter down by the door and looked at the can of shaving cream trying to figure out how to use it. After seeing that it came out of the can just like whipped cream, she glanced at Jack, she realised that he needed a shave anyway. She would just be doing him a favour. She managed to cover the right half of his face before his eyes fluttered open.

Bailey ran out of his room as fast as lightning, quickly picking up pip along the way. Jack- who was still half asleep- dabbed at his face and rolled his eyes. He really needed to talk to his dad about this arrangement. He was sick and tired of Bailey waking him up prematurely. He power walked to her bedroom door (which was now shut) and barged on into her room. Bailey sat at her desk waiting. She laughed as Jack walked in with white stuff all over his face.

"Seriously!?" Jack said pissed off. His deep voice had that angry vibration that could be felt in the chair she was sitting in. Bailey wasn't afraid of Jack when he was angry. She was used to it. "Water Balloons and now Shaving Cream!?"

"Oh… Would you rather water balloons?" Bailey asked him amused. She watched as he bit his bottom lip and walked out of her room silently. When Jack was mad, he could only stutter a few words of rage before he had to walk away and deal with his thoughts. Never in her entire lifetime of knowing Jack had he ever purposely hurt her.

They had had their arguments and tantrums. Yes. But he was genuinely a good kid. And the best brother she could have ever hoped for. Seeing him mad put a smile on her face every morning and occasionally on her fathers too. He didn't seem to smile that often, not even in some of the pictures of him around the house with Jack. It made her wonder what happened to make him so closed off from the world.

Hotch was busy cooking banana pancakes down in the kitchen. They were Bailey's favourite. Followed closely by poached eggs on toast. Since he actually had time to cook this morning, he decided on making pancakes. He had spent enough time away from his kids- or more like his teenager and pre-teenager.

A very angry teenager stomped into the kitchen with shaving cream sliding down his face and shirt. "Dad! I've told you about this… It needs to stop." Jack said irritated as he washed his face off in the sink.

"You need to wake up on time so that it doesn't happen." Hotch said calmly. It always amused him in the mornings he got to spend with his two children of how Bailey always managed to prank him. "You'd think that you'd learn by now." Aaron said with a smirk on his face.

Jack snatched a towel from the linen cupboard and wiped off the excess shaving cream in his hair. "Can't help being a deep sleeper." He mumbled. "Sometimes I wonder what the other one would be like." Jack whispered under his breathe so that Bailey couldn't hear in the other room. Hotch looked around to see if Bailey was around. She wasn't.

"What have I told you about that?" He reprimanded quietly. Jack just rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to have a look what was inside. Hotch hated nothing more than having to talk about his other long-lost daughter. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the pain he felt. But he knew Jack also missed her as well. They had only known her for 9 months before everything all went wrong…

Hotch watched as Jack began to walk back down to his bedroom. The boy was almost if not taller than himself. Jack had inherited his tall and prominent cheekbones as well as his grumpy attitude in the mornings.

"Hey!" He yelled down the hall. "You want a pancake?"

"I'll pass." Jack replied.

"Hey dad." Bailey said happily as she strolled confidently into the kitchen with her school uniform on.

"Hey princess." Hotch replied. "You all packed for school?" Bailey nodded and began to prow in the fridge for food. All that she could find were apples and old leftovers. The fridge stunk. Another reason she resented her dad's job was that he never had time to go shopping.

"Dad!" Bailey complained. Hotch whipped his head around to see Bailey staring at him disappointedly and pointing at the fridge. Her eyes were squinted, and her brow was furrowed. "We need more food." She said calmly.

"You have canteens, don't you?" Hotch said questionably. Bailey just rolled her eyes. Sometimes her dad just didn't understand what his job meant for the rest of the family and that irritated her.

"Dad. I have a swimming assessment today… and I need snacks to eat so that I have energy." She explained. Hotch frowned. Sometimes he got so caught up in his work that he forgot to ask about his kids' lives.

"I didn't know that." He replied somewhat heartbroken.

"Well duh… You haven't been here the last 5 days." Bailey retorted somewhat sarcastically. Hotch winced. Sometimes he just couldn't even look at his daughter. Every little action, every little word and every little glare was enough to send his broken heart into shards. She spoke her mind like her mother once did.

Bailey looked on at her father in sorrow after making her remark. Sometimes she didn't mean it. She said things that obviously reminded him of her mother without her even knowing. But not only did it hurt him, it also hurt Bailey. She never knew her mother. All she knew of her was that she had left when she was a few months old. But it was obvious that she still had a place reserved in her father's heart.

"I'm sorry." Bailey with regret evident in her voice. Hotch knew that he would have to beat himself up for being weak in front of his daughter. He hated talking about Emily with her. Emily didn't want to have anything to do with him and Bailey, so why was he still obsessed with her?

Hotch shook his head and motioned for Bailey to come closer. She did and gave her a big bear hug. "You did nothing wrong princess… It's all my fault… I've been working too much." He said with great sadness. The reality was that he was hurting and had been hurting since the day Emily decided to leave with his other daughter. He wondered what she was doing nowadays, if she ever thought of him. Emily had ripped the family apart.

Bailey closed her eyes and took in her dad's scent. "It's okay… I forgive you." Bailey said momentarily forgetting why she was mad.

"Now… Tell me about this swimming assessment thingy." Hotch asked as he turned back towards the pancakes.

It was no secret to Hotch, and the rest of his team how passionate Bailey was about swimming. Throughout her life, Hotch had taken her to as many swimming lessons as possible as well as the beach. She had won many awards and had come first in heaps of competitions. He was certain she was going to be going to the Olympics one day and getting a gold medal.

"It's a test. Apparently, there is this international swimming workshop being held in New York in a couple weeks. The school can only send two students. That's what the test is. A qualifier." Bailey explained. Hotch nodded and couldn't help but smile.

"You'll ace the test. You always do." Bailey couldn't help but beam showing the deep dimples in her cheeks.

"Thanks dad! Hopefully I get in." Bailey said nervously.

"You really want to go?" When he didn't get an answer, he turned around to see an 'Emily' scowl. "Yup. You want to go."