Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

An "everyone hates me" day

"I don't want to go."

Emily had stopped counting on how often she had heard that sentence in the past hour. While her daughter had jumped at the idea of spending a week with her grandparents, the thought hadn't made as good of an impression on her teenage son. Already juggling the girl's bag and toys, she grabbed her son's as well.

"Annie, car, now," she ordered, following the five year old towards the door.

"I'm not going."

Emily turned abruptly nearly loosing her balance from the heavy load she was caring.

"Mommy?" Her daughter's voice sounded again from outside.

"Get into the car sweetie, we'll be there in a minute," she called over her shoulder, before turning her attention back to the nearly fourteen year old.

"You mean YOU will be out there."

"Why do you have to start being such a teenager right now?" She sighed only half aware that she had actually spoken what she was thinking. Declan had been the best teenage son anyone could imagine. It had even scared her a little just how good he was with rules, and she was glad that he didn't get the opportunity of inheriting her rebellious traits - another great thing about adoption.

"Why do you start having secrets from me now?"

"I don't have secrets from you."

"Okay so then why are we going to Grandma's?"

"I need some time," she offered, knowing that she needed to give him some kind of an explanation.

"Some time for what?"

As their voices grew louder during the short exchange her silence now seemed a lot quieter than it would have in a normal conversation.

"Secrets," he spit the word at her, before adding. "Where is Derek?"

"On a case." At least that wasn't a lie.

"He hasn't called once."

"He talked to Annie earlier."

"But you barely spoke to him."

"Declan," she glared at him not at all in the mood for this conversation. She loved him and she didn't want to keep things from him, but if she started on this topic now she wouldn't be able to hold back her tears and that was the last thing she wanted her son to see. "Get in the car NOW."

With those words she threw his bag in his direction and left the house, mad at herself for letting the conversation go that far. Reaching the car, she put her daughter's things inside, before slamming the trunk door.

"Declan." She exclaimed angrily as there was still no sign of him. She slid into the driver's seat taking a deep breath. It wasn't like her to lose it in front of her children. That, in fact, was the reason why she wanted them out of the house.

"Mommy?"

"Are you buckled in sweetheart?" She glanced to the rear mirror, not trusting herself to turn around.

"Yes, is Declan not coming?"

"He is." She turned on the engine and finally the young boy came out of the house. She assumed that the door had been slammed, but at least he was coming. He clearly showed her what he thought by sitting in the back instead of the passenger seat.

When she reached her mother's house half an hour later, she had been able to cool down enough to keep quiet through the annoying procedure of identifying herself. Her mother greeted her with worry in her eyes and took over the toy bag Emily was carrying.

The younger woman glanced at her kids before heading to the next room, which would lead her into the wide back yard she always used as a refuge. By the time she reached her tree her eyes were blind with tears. The fight with Declan had done what she thought was impossible; it had made the day even worse. She was about to sink down against the tree, when she remembered the last time she had been at this place.

She stared at the tree, becoming even more irritated by it as the memory of their reunion swamped over her. Why did he have to be in every single one of her memories by now? She punched her fist against the tree, crying out the moment she hit the hard wood. She was pretty sure that the crunching sound hadn't been the trees injuries, but more likely her own hand.

"You are bringing the saying "head through the wall" to a new stance, pumpkin." She was startled to hear her father's voice.

"Why are you home?" Her voice was weak and her eyes were fixed on her fist. The torn skin slowly started to turn red. By the feeling, at least one of the knuckles was broken and she didn't dare to touch to find out if the feeling was correct.

"Well Elizabeth mentioned that my grandchildren would be here for the week. I missed too much time of my daughter's life to miss out on the grandchildren too." Her eyes were still fixed on her hand and slowly the pain started welling through her.

"You didn't even notice me in the living room and now you are breaking your hand. What is wrong?"

She could hear and feel him move closer as he peaked over her shoulder to inspect her hand as well.

"Everything's fine."

He laughed. She turned glaring at him, but seeing his worried face immediately softened her and she let herself fall into his arms.

"Daddy."

Howard tightened the embrace drawing his little girl closer to him.

"What did he do?" The question was quiet and she simply shook her head against his shoulder thinking back to her encounter a couple of hours ago.

"Hi I'm looking for Derek?" The girl, probably in her early twenties stretched to look around Emily, causing her to close the door further, stepping outside to finish the conversation.

"He is not home. If you want to leave your name, I let him know you were here." She offered a small smile on her lips.

"Well it is kind of important. Maybe I can wait until he gets back."

"He won't be back for a couple of days." Emily's forehead wrinkled as she gave the woman a closer look. "If you tell me what this is about, I'll give him a call later and have him call you."

"Are you his wife or something?"

"Yes. Why?" The woman kept quiet gazing towards her car. Emily took a sharp breath as she recognized the car seat holding a tiny baby.

"I don't even know if it's really his and if it is he didn't cheat…" Emily trailed off, burying her head against her father's neck.

"But it hurts." He concluded quietly. He could feel her nod and carefully brushed over her hair.

"I should have seen this coming. I knew that he had always been a womanizer. There could be thousands of little Derek's out there." She weakly added.

"I doubt that."

"Dad," she angrily pushed away, regretting it immediately as pain shot through her hand.

"Pumpkin, he isn't the kind of man to be that careless."

"It can still happen."

He smiled seeing no need of further arguing that point.

"It doesn't even bother me that he did sleep with that girl. Even if we had been dating before Doyle - which we hadn't - for all he knew at that point I was dead."

"So what bothers you?"

"That child; do you know what children do? They bind people. Dec and Annie, they bound us together. But that child is going to keep his mother in the picture. She will be there for everything, Christmas, birthdays, everything."

"Pumpkin don't you think you are a little harsh? Derek accepted Declan into his life, didn't he?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you think that boy will always remind him of what his father did to you? Derek found you that night, didn't he? You basically died in his arms and now he is playing dad for your 'murderer's' son." Howard's voice was quiet, trying to get through to his daughter with common sense.

"That's not the same." Her voice was weak, fighting a cause her heart was already losing to her mind.

"Don't you think Doyle is as much there for every occasion than that woman would be?"

"He doesn't have to face him."

"He has to live with the memories, sleep through the nightmares, awake from your nightmares."

She slowly shook her head.

"You two are talking about marriage. Don't you think you should at least give him a chance to tell his side of the story, before you jump to conclusions?"

"I guess."

The older man nodded satisfied, before adding: "Good, now let me give you a ride to the hospital."

Her little girl was busy playing upstairs when they entered the house again. While Howard arranged himself a driver for later, Emily stood in the hallway, not sure what to do with herself. The hand hurt like heck by now and she would have loved to kick herself for that hit against the tree. After waiting for what seemed forever, her father came back, handing her a washcloth and icepack to put on her hand.

They were about to leave the house when she got a glimpse at a familiar back of a head. She sighed, before stopping and turning towards the study room.

"I'll be there in a minute dad." She let her father know, before she leaned against the door to open it further so she could enter the room. Declan had himself trained well and didn't even turn at her entrance. Looking back at her own teenage years she could even see his point. She had hated it when her parents had kept her out of all the business, but then expected her to act like an adult.

She sat on the edge of the seat opposite from him. Not sure what to say she studied him for a moment. The features of his father seemed more pronounced every day. Suddenly Howards words seemed to be a little more logical. He had a point in saying that Ian would always be present in their family.

"I'm sorry Declan." She smiled as he looked up, just to remember that he was ignoring her and looking away again. "I do recognize that you are old enough to understand. I will tell you what was going on, but right now, I need to talk to Derek first. I'm sorry that I have to have you spend the week here; I certainly know that there are more exciting places for a teenager than this house." She sighed remembering her own misery in this house.

"As soon as Derek comes home from his case and we have talked, I will get you back home. I just need some time for myself to sort out some thoughts I have. And there might be some fighting, which is the reason why I wanted the two of you out of the house, especially Annie. But it will be okay. I promise you that."

By now he had looked up. She could see in his eyes that they were okay and stood up.

"Give me a hug." She offered her good hand pulling him up and right into her arms.

"What happened to your hand?" She could hear the worry in his voice.

"Nothing that cannot be fixed, believe me this is nothing." She tightened her hug for a moment.

"I love you Declan. You're the best son anyone could ask for."

"I love you too Mom." She couldn't help herself but smile when he used what had become her favorite word out of the mouths of either of her kids. They stood embracing for a little longer, before she finally decided that her hand really needed a doctor to work on it. She let go, picking the icepack up.

"Sophie gives you ice-cream whenever your grandmother is not around. Just make sure Annie is not overdoing it." She said with a wink, referring to their old maid, who had already worked for the family when Emily had been his age.