Emily sighed as she pushed against her desk to roll away. As far as she was concerned, even though this day had technically just begun, to her, this day was beyond over. She had spent all her time writing lately; her mother just didn't stop talking about it, and locking herself away to write was a lot easier to deal with than her mother's constant nagging.

She never really wanted to be a writer. She'd always thought of herself growing up and ending up going into the FBI, or maybe psychology; maybe working her way towards the Behavioural Analysis Unit, but certainly not becoming a writer. It all started with her winning a few awards in high school and her mother never let it go, and now she was here, an office away from her condo, writing what would be her next novel that would follow her bestseller. The bestseller that was soon to become a movie, another thing she didn't particularly want to be involved in.

As Emily packed up her notebooks and laptop she couldn't help but wonder how things had ended up this way. It wasn't that she was unhappy, but maybe unfulfilled would be the word she would use. She loved the creative process and exploring emotions and personalities, she liked thinking that she was able to connect to the people who read her books through those characters, and she would be foolish to disregard how lucky she had been in the industry. But as she made her way down the dimly lit hallway, she couldn't help but think that there was meant to be more. Here she was, leaving her office at 8 in the morning, after having spent the entire night there writing, to go to the auditions for the lead roles in 'her' movie and that would suck up her entire day, leaving her to go home to her apartment that had no one but her cat waiting for her. If she had have gone through with even becoming a police officer, or did make it all the way to the FBI or BAU, what would she have accomplished in the same space of time? She could have saved lives or solved a mystery; but in this life she wasn't even going home to anyone special.

She made it to the building where the auditions were being held and parked in the underground parking. Slinging her bag over her shoulder and checking the time on her watch, she sighed and sped up at little on her way over to the elevator. She was going to be late, but there wasn't really much she could do about it now.

She got in the elevator when it finally got there and jabbed the button for the 3rd floor. Which, as she thought about it, was ridiculous because it seemed like it was only one floor that simply sunk down into an auditorium with the full stage and seating. What would happen if she pressed the button for the 1st or 2nd floors? Would she be greeted with a cement wall when the door opened?

She was about to laugh at herself when the door opened. Well, that answered her question; definitely not a cement wall. She offered a polite smile to the blonde woman entering the elevator with a small blonde boy who she assumed must be her son. She figured they must be here to support someone auditioning, as she was already late, so she gave up thinking about it and resumed her position, arms crossed and staring a whole in the floor when the tiny metal box lurched and caused her to slightly stumble.

She glanced around to see both of the blondes still standing, the mother had her eyes closed in frustration…or sadness, she couldn't quite tell. The boy just looked a little lost, like he wanted to help but didn't know what to do.

Giving the adorable little kid a small smile, she reached over the button panel to hit the button for help, only to sigh when she realized nothing was happening. She wondered if the whole building had lost power or something, but weren't those things to still work? She pulled her phone out of her pocket to confirm her theory that there wouldn't be any service in the elevator anyway. She took a chance to search for a wifi network, but still came up empty.

Putting her phone back in her pocket she leaned back against the shiny silver surface of the wall and slid down to the ground. She was almost positive that after spending the whole night awake that being in the quiet and cool little elevator was the last thing she needed. If they didn't get out soon she would surely fall asleep.

The little boy mimicked her actions against the opposite wall and stared at her with a thoughtful look on his face before glancing up to his mother who was practically pacing in the small area with her eyes still closed, seemingly off in her own little world. He held out his hand with determination that Emily found absolutely adorable "I'm Henry Jareau."

Emily couldn't help the wide smile that spread across her face when she heard the little guy try to pronounce his last name. "Nice to meet you, Henry. I'm Emily Prentiss." She offered her hand while he tried his best to give a firm handshake and she tried to discreetly look up at the pacing woman "You think your mom is going to be okay, Henry?"

He shrugged and scooted across the tiny amount of floor space to sit beside Emily and lean back into the corner. "I think she had another fight with Gramma. And she's late for her audition. And she had to bring me with her; I don't think she likes it when I have to come."

"Well you don't seem like much trouble." She ruffled his hair and pulled her phone back out of her pocket. "Wanna play Angry Birds?" He seemed rather delighted with the idea so they scooted closer and Emily held the phone between them while they took turns firing birds off into the sky. There wasn't really much else they could do with their time. Emily was grateful that out of all the people to get stuck in a small space with, the lady wasn't too crazy and the kid was very well behaved for his age.

They played through a few levels before both of their heads shot up when the pacing woman began to audibly freak out, kicked off, of course, by the "Oh my God!" outburst that had grabbed their attention.

"Ma'am….Ma'am" It didn't seem to grab the woman's attention, so Emily took a moment to study the woman. She was definitely pretty and she couldn't be sure but she didn't really seem like the type that would worry like this often, at least not externally. Her tired mind kept sending Emily's eyes over the blonde, appreciating her obviously very good looks and admiring that she had at least taken her son with her rather than leaving him alone; she had met a lot of people willing to do crazier things for fame.

She felt a tug at her sleeve and looked down "Her name's JJ."

She looked back up to the woman while she mumbled on about missing a great opportunity and a number of other things that Emily couldn't quite decipher. "JJ…"

That seemed to do the trick as the woman finally looked down to see her son basically leaning against a strange, yet gorgeous, woman that she apparently hadn't acknowledged up until now. "I-uhm-I'm sorry…who are you?"

She cringed a little, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." She shook her head and held out her hand "I'm Jennifer…sorry about all this; bringing all my crazy and everything…" She gestured around to where she had been pacing.

A friendly laugh escaped Emily as she took the other woman's hand "Don't worry about it. Henry and I have been keeping busy."

It was then that JJ saw the iphone between the two and her eyebrow involuntarily quirked, but Emily didn't seem to miss a beat, offering a playful smile and patting the ground next to her "Don't worry, you can play too."

She rolled her eyes as her son giggled and slid down the wall next to the brunette. Might as well do something while they were stuck there.