Summary: when Jack has a project and school and begins to question the roles of the people in his life, Hotch and Emily help him make sense of it all.

October 2016

Emily glanced at the clock as she drove home after a late meeting, frowning when she saw it was almost 9 o'clock. She'd had a meeting after work that just continued to drag on and on. She was beyond exhausted and ready to go home to her family. Layla would-hopefully-already be asleep, but she would get to see Jack and Declan. Her children always seemed to cheer her up when she was down.

Since it was late, there was virtually no traffic, so Emily made it home in almost record time. She went inside the house and found it to be quiet, a rare occurrence in the busy Hotchner household.

Declan was sitting on the couch, leaning up against the arm rest with a textbook opened in front of him and a notebook in his lap.

"Hey, Dec." Emily greeted as she leaned over the back of the couch to kiss his mop of curly hair. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Hey, how's work?" The boy asked, never removing his attention from his textbook.

"A little less boring than history homework," Emily teased. "Did you have a good day?" She asked, running a hand over Declan's hair.

"A little less exciting than a day in the life of agent Emily Prentiss." Declan joked. While Emily had changed her last name to Hotchner legally, she remained Prentiss at work. Even though she and Hotch didn't work together anymore it was still easier for her to continue being called Prentiss.

Emily smiled. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Jack's in his room. Layla wouldn't go to sleep so Dad went upstairs to see if staying in her room would calm her down." Declan informed her.

"Okay, well, you get back to learning about the catholic reformation. I'll go upstairs."

"Actually, I'm pretty much done, so I'm just gonna go up to my room." Declan said as he gathered up all his things and walked upstairs with Emily and going into his room while Emily went to the nursery. She found that the door was slightly cracked.

Emily peeked in as much as she could without opening the door. She could hear Layla's soft, quiet whines and Hotch talking to her soothingly.

Emily pushed the door open to find Hotch sitting in the rocking chair, Layla snuggled in his lap with her thumb in her mouth. She rarely sucked her thumb, only resorting to it when she was too tired or sick.

"Mommy home!" Layla said as she sat up quickly and reached for Emily. Emily scooped the toddler up and smiled as Layla wrapped her little arms around her neck.

"Hi, baby girl. I missed you today." Emily said honestly.

"Miss you Mommy." Layla replied quietly, resting her head on Emily's shoulder.

"It's way past your bedtime little one." Emily said to the girl in her arms. She lay Layla down in her crib and kissed her forehead gently, Layla's eyes were already closed. She bit back a laugh, she'd never seen the rambunctious little girl go to sleep so quickly.

Emily motioned for Hotch to follow her as she left Layla's room. Once they were in the hall she closed the door gently. Hotch pulled her toward him and kissed her, pressing her up against the wall of the hallway.

"Hi," Emily whispered as they broke away, foreheads still touching.

"Hey, yourself." Hotch said. "I missed you today."

"I was only four hours late," Emily said. "Woulda been three but that stupid lady wouldn't stop talking."

Hotch laughed. "I know, but I like it when we both get to leave at 5, pick up our kids, and come home to spend the rest of the day together."

"How domestic of you." Emily teased as she kissed him again. "Sorry I wasn't home, was Layla alright?" She asked after they pulled away.

"She's fine, she ate dinner and was alright while I gave her a bath. But when I put her to bed she asked for you. I told her you would be here when she woke up, but she looked at me with that little face she makes and said: 'I'll wait.'" Emily couldn't even pretend to stifle a quiet laugh.

"She was content for a bit, but I think she got too overtired because then she had a tantrum and the only thing that calmed her down was sitting in the rocking chair with me, but she still wouldn't go to sleep until she saw you." Hotch informed her.

"She's most definitely your child." Emily smirked. "I haven't seen Jack yet, wait for me downstairs?" Emily asked. Hotch nodded and they parted ways.

Emily knocked on Jack's door and heard a muffled reply, so she opened the door and found him sitting in his bed with a bunch of pictures and art supplies spread out in front of him. He was looking at them as if he was deep in thought.

"Hey, Jack. Are you alright?" She asked.

"Hi, Em-Mom." Emily caught the slip. Jack had asked her a while ago if he could call her Mom, and she tearfully agreed. She knew that Jack and Declan were both old enough to understand that biologically she wasn't their mother, and she never expected them to both call her by that title. She loved that they did, though, and it warmed her heart every time she heard it.

Jack hadn't called her Emily in months, only Mom. She knew something was troubling him, and she was determined to figure out what it was.

She gently nudged his shoulder. "Scoot over, honey." She said as Jack moved over a little to make room. Emily sat down next to him and instinctively put an arm around him.

"What's this?" She asked him. There were pictures of their family, pictures of the team, and pictures of Jessica and Haley as well as Emily's parents and Haley's parents. There was a big piece of green construction paper where all the pictures were laid out, there didn't seem to be any order to it.

"A project for school. I have to make a family tree." He said a little glumly.

"Oh, I see. You'll probably run out of room with all the people you can put on it." Emily smiled at him, knowing what was bothering him even though he hadn't voiced it yet.

"But..." Jack started but didn't continue.

"What's wrong? You can tell me." Emily encouraged, moving to rub small circles on the troubled boy's back.

Jack sighed. "It's just...well, Logan said that I can only put my real family on here."

Emily frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"He said that I can't put Dad's team on because we don't have the same DNA. But then that means I can't put Declan or...or you on there, either." Jack said sadly.

"Oh, honey." Emily said softly, putting an arm around Jack's shoulders and holding him close to her side. "Why don't we take all this stuff downstairs? Dad and I will help you out." She suggested.

Jack didn't say anything, but she felt him nod into her side.

"Okay, you grab all the pictures and I'll get everything else." She told the boy.

They gathered everything and headed downstairs where Hotch was waiting on the couch. He didn't miss the sad look on his son's face.

"Jack? What's wrong?" He asked concernedly, sitting up a little straighter.

Emily and Jack put the supplies and pictures on the coffee table and sat down, Jack in the middle of the two adults.

"You wanna tell him what you told me?" Emily asked, running a gentle hand over Jack's hair. Jack quietly relayed his predicament to Hotch, never making eye contact and leaning into Emily's side for support.

"Look at me, Jack." Hotch said gently. Jack slowly looked up. "Why do you call the team your aunts and uncles?" He asked.

"Because they're always there for me and Dec and Layla. And I love them." Jack answered softly.

"Do you feel like Declan's your brother?" Emily asked. She'd been a little worried about the two of them getting along at first, but they took to each other immediately. It made Emily's heart swell.

Jack nodded. "We fight sometimes but he also helps me with homework and plays video games with me." He said. "And...and I know that Emily isn't my bio...biological mom." Jack added, stumbling a bit over the word he had just learned in school. "But..." He turned to Emily. "I only remember my mom a little bit, and I remember how much she loved me. You take care of me when I'm sick and make me lunch for school. You help me with homework if Declan's busy. You come to all my soccer games and you love me." He told her.

Emily hugged him close. "I do love you, Jack. And I need you to know that I don't ever want to replace your mom. I want you to remember her as much as you can for the rest of your life. But I also know for a fact that she's glad that you think of me as your mom, too." She ran a hand over Jack's hair.

"I love you too, Mom." Jack pulled back and grinned up at her.

Hotch smiled at the sight. "Family doesn't always mean DNA or sharing blood. It's about the people who love you and would do anything for you. You're lucky, Jack, because you've got a whole bunch of people that would move mountains and cross oceans for you." He told the boy.

"So...I can put both Moms on here? And Declan and...well, everybody?" Jack asked, searching for clarification.

"Of course." Hotch and Emily confirmed at the same time.

"Here, let me show you." Emily said as she helped Jack arrange all the pictures on the piece of construction paper in an organized manner. She added Haley next to Hotch at the top of the page and put Jack underneath their picture. "Who do you want to put next?"

Jack thought for a moment. "I can put you on the other side of Dad, and Declan under your picture, then Layla under both of you!" He said excitedly, placing the pictures where he thought they should go. "Then I'll put Aunt Jess on Mom's side, and the team picture with all of us at the bottom." Jack explained.

"What do you think?" Emily asked as she turned to Hotch.

"I think that's a beautiful family." Hotch smiled.

Hotch and Emily helped Jack glue everything down, then he finally wrote everyone's relation to him on the back.

"What do you think?" Hotch asked Jack after he held up the completed project.

"I think that I should get an A." Jack smiled.

"If you don't, I'll personally come down to your school and arrest your teacher." Emily said, only half-joking.