In those next few weeks, Lauren and Ian developed a routine. Ian would always wake up first, at five fifteen exactly every morning. He would drag himself out of bed and get into the bathroom. He would use the restroom, shower for ten minutes, then shave. He would get dressed, put on cologne, then go to kiss his wife. Every morning she would wake up to the feel of his lips, the sound of his voice, and the scent of his favorite cologne. They would always go downstairs and have breakfast together on the back patio. After that Ian would head off to work by six, and Lauren would see Declan (who had returned home shortly after his father and new stepmother) off to school. After that, Lauren had the day to spend as she pleased. She often spent her time reading, gardening, and solving crossword puzzles. Her husband would arrive home by six thirty at the latest. Occasionally he went out for work later on but never without telling her. The three of them would eat dinner together, then spend time together in the living room. When it was his bedtime they both tucked Declan in. After that there was a few hours of free time before they would retire to their bedroom for the night. They would always get to bed at eleven to do it all over again the next day. All of it was in complete contrast to what Lauren had always known.

As Emily Prentiss she never had time to herself and was always on edge as she waited for the next case to crop up. The stress of the job kept her anxious all the time. She constantly feared for the safety of her team. But here as Lauren much of that stress was gone. Of course she persistently obsessed over her husband's safety. In his line of work it was natural to be worried. Even though she knew he could handle himself her terror remained.

Now, she sat on the balcony of the master bedroom, staring at her reflection in the glass of the French doors. For the first time in her life she could say that she liked the woman she had become. There was no more keeping secrets from everyone. She knew her team might try and track her down, but as long as she used aliases, disposable cell phones, and left no paper trail she would remain undetectable.

She looked back at the stack of forms on the table. The adoption papers had just arrived this morning. Filling them out- despite the tediousness of the task- was actually quite exhilarating. It wasn't the first time in her life that she had been faced with the idea of motherhood, but it was the first time she was honestly contemplating it. She knew that she loved Declan deeply, and that he loved her too. It seemed only natural that she take that final legal step to make him officially hers. She signed the papers with a flourish before going back inside.

She set the papers down on the living room coffee table and could hear Louise moving around the kitchen. It wasn't long until the smell of chicken Parmesan caught her nose. Instead of smelling appetizing, however, it made her stomach roil, and she ran to the bathroom to get sick. As she lay there bent over the toilet, she kept trying to catch her breath, but it was a fruitless endeavor. Her stomach kept trying to empty itself further, but there was nothing left inside of it. She curled up onto her side on the floor trying to calm down. She could feel her breasts tingling through her thin top as it made contact with the cool tile. It made her flinch. Only when she was certain that she wouldn't be sick again did she get up from the floor. She dragged herself into the bed and laid there for a few minutes, trying to regain her strength. She looked around the room, not really looking for anything specific, just trying to find something to look at. There were a few paintings on the walls of grassy plains and rolling hills. Ian had wanted them to match the outside of their home. Her eyes landed on the calendar they kept near the door. Her eyes landed on today's date. it was the twenty-seventh.

Suddenly, a realization hit her that would have knocked her over if she'd been standing.

Her eyes flashed up to the date fifteen days earlier. The twelfth was circled in red- meant to denote her time of the month. She'd been so busy with Ian and settling into her new life that she'd paid the calendar no mind. And now her period was late. Over two weeks late.

Oh shit.

She leapt out of bed, no longer worried over her nauseousness. A new, much greater fear had taken hold of her body. She barely managed to tell Louise that she was going to the store before bolting to the car. The drive there was long and irritating to her. When she got to the store, she calmly walked in, got the item she needed, paid, and went out the door. Somehow the drive home was even worse. When she got there she zipped up the stairs and went back to the master bathroom. She opened the box and stared at the small stick for a moment. She couldn't believe that she was holding a pregnancy test in her hand.

She took the test and looked at it, waiting for it to season. The shock and surprise of it all was overwhelming. She put a hand over her mouth, nervous and fidgety. She hated not knowing more than anything else. The moments before the answer was revealed to her were the most intense torture she had ever experienced. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and then opened them again.

A little pink plus sign was staring back at her.