Work Text:
Of Innocence and Empathy: Mom Logic
by Frogg
Aaron could feel Haley watching, hovering over the back of the couch. For a time, she held her peace, content in the comfortable silence between them, in the precious space of Jack's naptime.
Then, her hand brushed the back of his neck, across one strong shoulder. He couldn't help but flinch, attention torn from the too-familiar card in his hands, its white bunny and bright flowers burned indelibly in his brain.
"Why do you have a Mother's Day card?" Haley asked, tone curious and gentle.
Choking on a laugh, Aaron had to juggle to keep from dropping it. "How'd you know--" he started; he hadn't yet opened it in front of her. The cover only read "For You".
"I saw it in the display when I was looking for one for my mom."
Aaron shrugged. "Reid gave it to me."
Haley rounded the couch to slide next to him on the cushions, still confused, still accepting.
"Do you remember when we went to Chicago, when Morgan--"
Tension knotted Haley's shoulders, made her grit her teeth. "When that bastard framed Morgan for murder."
Aaron nodded, some of his pleasure in the card dimming. "He had...nightmares, after. Like Reid did, for Nathan."
"I'm not surprised," she replied, her voice filled with sadness and concern.
"Reid called me 'Mom' at breakfast the next morning," Aaron went on, unable to keep from smiling softly at the memory. "Morgan had been...depressed is too mild a word." Aaron shook his head. "Everyone else was staring in shock at Reid. Morgan cracked up laughing, like it was some kind of in joke between them."
"So he gave you a Mother's Day card? Isn't that taking it a little far?"
"I'd thought so...It's been something of a joke on the team since then, but this..." and he tapped the card once, then rubbed the edge with a careful thumb, "makes me think otherwise."
Haley reached out, covering Aaron's hand with hers. "Can I read it?" Her eyes were wide, fathomless.
Aaron hesitated, reading the love in her gaze, the unwillingness to trespass. Then his hand slid from beneath hers, trusting the card into her possession.
Carefully paying the card the same, slight awe-struck respect and near reverence that Aaron had, Haley pulled it closer so she wouldn't have to lean over Aaron's shoulder.
Unable to help himself, Aaron catalogued every tiny reaction: tensing and untensing of muscles, caught breath, shift in position, dabbing at the corner of an eye.
Aaron could hear the words in his head, in Reid's voice, somewhere between lecture-mode and that I'm-annoyed-enough-to-lose-my-stammer tone he had when he was angry but unwilling to start an argument. He'd memorized them days earlier.
"Hotch--
All gender stereotypes and such aside, I wanted to thank you for all the support and guidance you've offered since I joined the BAU. For the first time in what feels like - and may well be - forever, I feel like I have a family, and more importantly, parents I can turn to, and count on.
I should probably be using 'parental figures', but...after being forced into the position of caretaker for most of my life, 'parental figure' doesn't really fit how I feel.
I have parents who offer unconditional support now, whether I can ask for it or not. Parents who let me make my mistakes, but make sure those mistakes don't hurt too badly. It's a novel idea, for me, and one that is hard for me to accept after so many years.
I'm sure you've long since realized that. At least, I can't think of any other reason you'd allow me into your family.
Considering how little time you have with Haley, and now Jack, it's amazing to me that you would sacrifice it for my sake, but you've always been here for me. You've never turned me away, even if I call at two in the morning just needing someone to talk to. I can only imagine how Haley must feel about the team, and myself, taking more of the time you consider sacred. I owe her a debt of gratitude, and an apology for taking you away from her.
I feel as though I could write for days and not say everything I need to, so let me just say this:
It's been said that friends are the family we choose for ourselves.
I wouldn't want anyone else to be my mom.
So, with all due respect, I hope you had a Happy Mother's Day.
Love,
Spencer"
As she finished reading, Haley was dabbing at her eyes, holding the card away from her body to keep tears from damaging the flimsy cardstock. Then she turned back to him, pressing the card back into his hands. "You're a very lucky man, Aaron," she whispered.
Unable to speak, Aaron nodded.
"Did you know he felt like this?" she asked, gesturing vaguely towards the card.
"I knew he looked up to me," Aaron said, shrugging self-deprecatingly. "But nothing like this. It makes me wonder...Spencer, and Morgan, and myself...we all have..." He sighed. "Issues, with parents. Or the people who fill those roles."
"I would have thought Jason would have been the logical choice for that role, at least for Spencer. And maybe Morgan."
"We've talked about that a little. Jason and Spencer at least acknowledged that bond, but," and Aaron shook his head, frustrated. "They're both skittish. Jason doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes, and Spencer..."
"Spencer's father abandoned him, and forced him into adult shoes."
Aaron nodded.
"Ever since you started working at the BAU...I always thought you had two families. I don't think I ever realized how very real that was, until now," Haley said, brushing her shoulder against Aaron's arm. "I guess the most important thing is, are you okay with being Spencer's mom?"
In any other situation, it would have been laughable.
In any other world, a joke.
That Haley had managed to ask with a straight face, her tone nothing short of deadly serious, amazed Aaron.
He could only rub the card with his thumb again and nod. "I think I am."
END