Fate Gave Me You
Chapter One:
She watched as tears filled those clear blue eyes when the Social Worker took the young girl's hand and pulled the child away. Emily Prentiss' heart clenched. Tears formed in her own eyes but she didn't let them fall. Her team was watching her. She couldn't be weak but the more the girl move away the more she was torn up inside until…
"Wait!" Emily stood stunned at her own voice. Her eyes wondered around. Great now everyone's looking she berated herself.
"Ma'am?" the grey headed woman turned waiting for Emily to say something. Emily quickly made her way across the crowded police station in Raleigh, North Carolina and stood in front of the woman and child.
"Wait please…I-I" she tried to speak but just couldn't find the words. Although her brain was screaming at her to tell the woman that she wanted the girl but her mouth was betraying her.
"Do you want to take her?" the Social Worker asked smiling. She could tell from the moment she arrived to see the child in question that the agent had bonded with the girl. Sure police officials always helped with the children during cases but the way the woman was with Gracie Bennett was not the normal. The older woman knew the agent would try to adopt or at least foster the child. Emily nodded not trusting her voice would embarrass her again. "Come to my office by 5pm and we will talk about all the necessary paperwork." She said handing Emily her card. Emily bent down eye level with the six year old girl.
"Gracie would that be okay?" the profiler hoped Gracie would say yes but to be honest Emily wasn't sure what the traumatized child would say, the past few days Gracie had lost everything she knew in the world. Her sole parent and only relative had died in the hands of a sadistic killer, leaving the girl alone. Emily knew how that felt. Of course she had parents but not the normal loving kind. Most of her upbringing was left at the hands of strangers, nannies or housekeepers. Now she rarely speaks to the Ambassador or her father. And yes she has friends but even JJ and Penelope don't know her that well. But Emily and Gracie had become bonded somehow.
When Hotch sent Emily to interview the only witness to see the unsub's face the child opened up. Others had been to talk with the girl but she hadn't spoken to any of them. Emily enters the room and the child becomes Chatty Cathy. Gracie trusted Emily. Trusting anyone after witnessing something so horrific was a miracle even by Dr. Spencer Reid's standards. Emily had some sort of pull towards the young girl. When Gracie wasn't around and the team was giving the profile the woman couldn't concentrate. Her thoughts going to the girl, wondering if she was okay or if she needed anything. Hotch even had to call her name several times and a swift kick in the shin from Morgan to get her attention back on topic. She didn't know why or how but something told her to keep this little girl. Sure the child didn't have any family and would be place in foster care but the team had many cases like that and the older profiler hadn't wanted to keep any of them. She had mentioned to her boss once that she would take in a teen from a case but that was different. The teen she wouldn't have to raise like she would Gracie. But that had backfired when Hotch told her that it was a job and she needed to distance herself. Gracie was somehow different. She knew the ever stoic Aaron Hotchner would feel the same way now but she had to do this. For Gracie. The child had no grandparents or long lost uncles. She had no one just like Emily. Two peas in a pod. Emily could take her and give the girl a normal life, one with love and happiness. Over the course of a few days Emily had fallen in love with the brave girl. She just hoped Gracie felt the same way.
"Can I go home with you?" Gracie looked at Emily with trembling lips.
Emily's heart sank "If you want." She took Gracie in her arms.
"Yes" Gracie whispered hugging Emily tight.
The Social Worker cleared her throat "I guess we will see you before 5 pm Agent Prentiss?"
"Yes you will." Emily stood and said her goodbyes to them both before turning around to face her team.
To her right was JJ sitting at a desk smiling ear to ear nodding her head at her friend. Morgan and Reid stood next to the blond whispering until Emily looked their way. Morgan smile and said congrats and Reid tried giving her a statistic but she just walked past them, her eyes connected to Hotch's. His head tilted to an empty office and when she nodded he entered followed closely by Rossi.
Emily's soft smile faded when she walked into the office and her eyes met his again. Her hands balled into fists and jaw clenched at the disappointment written on his face.
"Sit" he said pointing to a chair next to Rossi. The older man smiled but didn't say a word. Emily took a deep breath and shook her head.
"No" she said calmly, surprising herself and the men in front of her. "Hotch, you can't order me around with this one. This counts as personal so that is where your authority ends." She smiled at the confidence in her voice but frowned at the hurt in his eyes. She wanted to take it back but her mind was telling her she had to do it the hard way. She had to convince the stone man that this was her choice not his.
"Prentiss that's where you are wrong, she is part of this case. I told you this before. You have to..."
"No Hotch! I have to have emotions. I have to know I can still be human when I do this job!" Her voice rising but she didn't care.
His face tightened. He wanted her to feel human too. Of course he wanted all his agents to feel their emotions but at some point they all had to put their emotions into neat little boxes and pack them away. Cases with children always hurt his team but this was the job and Emily had to understand she couldn't play Superwoman when she wanted. Hotch wanted to take these kids in too but he couldn't. Any person with a heart would want to but this was the job. Deal with it or find a new one. He really did feel for the woman facing him. The brunette agent had stolen his heart the past few months and he wasn't sure she even knew it. Hotch had become protective over her the past few weeks more than usual for any of his agents. When he gave out orders he always partnered her with Morgan or himself. He knew she could do her job and she was very good at it but his heart told him to protect her. After the case with her friend Mathew Hotch had seen another side of Emily. She had never been so vulnerable before and his heart broke for her. Hotch wanted to make sure she never had to go through that again. Scared Emily would somehow get hurt within this messy situation he had to help her see the trouble with this. "Prentiss…"
"Hotch just listen please. I love her. I'm sorry I can't be made of stone like you. I can't turn off my emotions. I love that little girl. And I'm going to keep her. You can't tell me no on this one. I'm doing it." Emily stopped and took a much needed breath. Her eyes flickered to a now standing David Rossi. The older man looked at her then at Hotch.
"She is right Aaron. We all have seen the way Emily is with Gracie. And that child must feel something too. Emily is the only one she will talk to." Turning to talk to Emily he said "you have my blessing and if you need anything let me know."
"Thank you Dave!" Emily hugged him before he left her with the 'Ice King'. She wanted desperately to leave too but Hotch was glaring at her.
"Prentiss, I just want you to know how hard this is going to be. Not only with the job but add parenting a traumatized child into the mix. What if something happens and you get hurt? I don't want that for you." His face and voice softened.
"I understand it will be hard but what about Gracie? Doesn't she deserve to be somewhere safe? Doesn't she deserve love? I can do that." her voice pleading with the man to grow a heart.
"I know you can give her those things and yes she deserves them but I don't want you to be hurt in the end. That's all I care about." Her heart started beating faster. Does he really care? She thought. She watched him move closer. "I guess you're going to take her weather I say yes or not." A faint smile appeared on his face.
Emily laughed "Yes I am. Thanks Hotch!" she hugged him which left him with a stunned look on his face. He was not the hugging type. Then she all but ran out of the room and across the station when she heard him call out "Call me if you need anything." She turned back nodded then left.
Hotch sat down and placed his head in his hands praying she wasn't making a huge mistake.
