Reaching up to hold her mother's hand, the four year old with her fingers on her lips looked to her right to see if there were any cars coming down the street. The wind blew her dark curls before her eyes, and she quickly took her hand away from her mother's to move it.
"Hold my hand, sweetie."
The four year old girl delicately rolled her eyes, grasping her mother's hand once more. She knew to follow her mother's instructions, but after four years with the woman Desi knew that she had to hold her mother's hand and look both ways before crossing the street without having to be told.
Squeezing her hand, Desi stepped off of the curb and followed the older woman across the street.
Emily could feel her daughter lagging behind and turned to see the four year old staring down to the lines of the crosswalk, her purple dress shoe tracing the cracks in the painted white line she stood on. "Baby, we have to keep walking."
"Mommy, it's broken."
The BAU agent felt herself frown as she follow the eyes of her daughter.
"We have to fix it," she almost whispered, taking her mother down with her so she could touch the cracks in the pavement.
Immediately the brunette swooped up her daughter and ran her the rest of the way across the street and out of the way of the cars that had started their engines back up. "Desiree," she breathed, setting the four year old back down and narrowing her eyes, "you do not just stop in the middle of the street. Do you understand me?"
The brown eyed girl almost whined. "Mommy, it's broken!"
"Desiree Elaine," Emily almost growled, pulling her daughter lightly by her hand so she stepped further away from the edge of the curb and closer toward her. "When crossing the street you do not stop, do you hear me? You could have gotten very hurt if those cars had started coming at us because the light changed."
"But it's broken!" she whined. "It has a crack!"
Sighing, Emily stood with her daughter's hand still firm in her grip. "What's broken?"
Desi yanked on her mother's hand and walked a few steps back to the curb of the sidewalk. Her small body shook as the cars speeding by passed her, her hair flying in front of her eyes. "Look, mommy."
Making sure to keep the young girl in her hold so close to the street, the ambassador's daughter looked out to where the freshly paved road had broken apart. "It's a crack, sweetheart. The road is going to be just fine." She stood and did her best to pull her daughter along. "Come on, we're going to be late for lunch with nana." She had sent Hotch ahead of them so Jack could get to know her mother better, but she hadn't planned on leaving them alone for more than an hour.
"But mommy!"
Emily refused to walk any further, knowing her daughter would break away from her and run back into the street.
Desi ripped her hand from her mother's and stood her ground. With her hands on her hips, she waited for the older woman to turn on her heel and face her. "It's broken," she stated strongly, squinting as she looked up to her mother. "We have to make it better."
She should have known to just drive them to the damn restaurant, but the doctor recommended her walking after getting so far in her physical therapy. "How are we supposed to make it better?" the agent asked patiently, watching as the four year old turned to look back at the busy road.
It took a lot for her not to let out a chuckle as the young girl stepped closer to the curb, and she could see the squint her daughter was making to examine the pavement.
"Do you have a Band-Aid, mommy?"
Smiling to her little girl as she ventured back toward her, Emily knelt in her pristine pantsuit on the ground. "Hold mommy's purse open, ok?" When Desi held the straps in her hand Emily reached into the bag and took out the small makeup bag she had stuffed in the bottom.
Desi's smile brightened when her mother held up two different Band-Aids.
"Blue's Clues or Rudolph?"
The four year old's forehead scrunched as she contemplated but quickly stole the Rudolph Band-Aid out of her mother's hands. With the ambassador's daughter's assistance Desi had the Band-Aid out and ready.
Emily brought her daughter to the edge of the sidewalk, the four year old hugging her mother's side as they waited for the light to turn red.
She shouldn't have been surprised that this was her daughter's reaction to a crack in the road. On one of her rough days she had been talking to Hotch about a few nightmares she had been having, and she had mentioned the talk she had with Morgan a few years ago about the cracks in the foundation. Emily hadn't realized her daughter was standing in the doorway listening as she explained that finally she thought she had cemented those cracks, paving over them. She walked into Desi's bedroom twenty minutes later to check on her and found the four year old plastering Band-Aids all over the rips in her teddy bear.
Smiling up to her mother as she entered the room Desi stated, "no more cracks, mommy."
When the light turned red Emily swung her daughter up into her arms and quickly made her way into the street. "Lay it down," she instructed the young girl, giving the finger to one of the drivers that honked their horn.
"Did it," Desi smiled wide, running her fingers over the reindeer on the bandage before her mother whisked her away and back to the safety of the sidewalk. When her mother set her on the ground, Desi stood on her toes and kissed her mother's cheek. "Fixed it."
The proud statement had the agent smiling. "You fixed it," she nodded, running her fingers through her daughter's curls. "Now come on."
Desi waved to the crosswalk and her mother took her hand, pulling her down the street.
"There's definitely something else we'll need to fix today," she said begrudgingly, pasting on a smile when she saw her mother outside of the restaurant. Maybe she'd save that Blue's Clues Band-Aid all for herself.