So I've begun to realize that I tend to get so caught up in the whole JJ/Emily/Alex aspect of this story that I seem to forget about the team. So I'm really going to try to make up for that. There's a little bit of the team in this chapter, and I plan on doing some more in the next one (with the case they're working on). So I hope that's okay. Also I've planned to basically deal with everything that I plan to deal with in this story, while dealing with Alex's birthday, which is going to be discussed quite a bit throughout the various chapters.
I think I've finally gotten the structure of this story straight in my head. And I'm really looking forward to writing it all!
Thanks so much for reading! -J
Chapter 3
"Oh I could just snuggle this little guy forever," Garcia sighed as she sat in the Prentiss/Jareau family room Monday night, happily snuggling little Henry. "He's just so stinking cute! Aren't you handsome? Oh yes you are," she cooed.
"I know exactly what you mean," JJ laughed, placing a mug of tea in front of her blonde friend before taking a seat beside her. "I spend most of my day just rocking him or watching him sleep. I have no idea how I'll manage to leave him when I have to go back to work."
"Aww don't even think about that!" Garcia said. "It's too sad to even consider. Let's just pretend that you get to stay home forever. And that he'll be this little and snuggly for forever too."
"I wish," JJ replied wistfully. "But unfortunately I really do need to start thinking about going back to work. I mean Emily and I are trying to figure out a plan. We can't exactly have Henry and Alex over at the Hastings when we're away."
"Ugh I wish I could take him," the technical analyst said. "But I'm not exactly home much when you guys are away."
"Trust me I know," JJ replied. "I mean you were the first person that came to mind, but we know how busy you are during a case," she said. "We were talking about my parents as well but they can't really get here all that quickly and they babysit Lily after school during the week so it really wouldn't work out."
"So what are your other options?" Garcia asked.
"A nanny?" JJ said, sounding skeptical. "Emily hates the idea, but I really don't think we have any other choice. We need someone who can be here all the time so realistically it's our best choice," she explained. "I just have to give Emily some time to warm up to the idea."
"She'll come around," Garcia assured her. "Speaking of Emily though, where is she?" She asked. "I thought the whole point of me coming over was so we could wedding plan."
"Oh it was," JJ nodded. "Which is why Emily decided to take Alex and Spencer out for ice cream," she laughed. "Since we already picked a date she said she'd give us the chance to do some serious planning before she joins us. Her only condition is she gets to pick the venue."
That morning before she left for work, Emily had confessed that she had never really thought about getting married before. She never spent her childhood imagining her wedding day because she had despised her parents' marriage so much. As she grew older she grew more skeptical of marriage since she had a difficult time making her relationships work. But as things got serious with JJ, Emily had explained she could finally see herself being with one person for the rest of her life and therefore wanted to get married for the first time in her life. Since she had never really thought about a wedding before, the brunette admittedly wasn't even sure what she wanted for the day, so she explained that she would probably be taking a backseat as long as JJ allowed her to choose the venue; promising that the blonde would love what she had in mind. Understanding, and trusting her fiancé, JJ had agreed, knowing Emily would be involved in anything she really needed her to be.
"Where does she want to have the wedding?" Garcia asked curiously.
"She won't tell me yet," JJ chuckled. "She said she has someone she needs to talk to and then she'll fill me in."
"Ugh that woman," Garcia huffed. "Always with the mystery," she said, making JJ laugh.
"Yeah," JJ smiled. "I kind of love it though."
"Of course you do," Garcia laughed, loving the lovesick look on her friend's face. "So what kind of plans do you have for this wedding then my little buttercup?"
"Well I have a ton of ideas but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to bring them together," JJ explained. "Which is why I thought we would take a look through some of these," she said, pulling a stack of wedding magazines out from under the couch. "Find a way to plan a simple, yet elegant wedding in a matter of like…5 months," she said, sounding slightly worried.
"No worries Jayje," Garcia said, the wheels in her head already turning. "We totally got this."
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"Remind me again why we're out for ice cream while Mum's at home planning the wedding with Penelope," Alex said as she sat outside the ice cream parlor with Spencer and her mom.
"Because I thought you girls deserved a treat," Emily replied with a shrug. "Plus I wanted to spend some time with my daughter and her best friend."
"Yeah because we all haven't spent enough time together all weekend," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "You're obviously trying to get out of wedding planning."
"I am not," Emily replied with an eye roll of her own. "I'm just letting JJ take care of things with Garcia, while I take care of a few things on my own," she explained. "And then we'll get together and make the big decisions together. Flowers and colour schemes just really aren't my thing. Definitely more in Garcia's area of expertise."
"Wow letting Penelope take care of colour schemes," Alex said, a grin spreading over her face as she imagined the colours that the bubbly blonde would choose. "That's pretty brave of you."
"Yes well I expect your Mum to reign her in when things get too crazy," Emily replied with a laugh. "Also we went over a quick list of things I absolutely hate so I'm not too worried," she added.
"So do you know what you're going to wear?" Spencer then asked curiously. "I mean you're both wearing dresses right?"
"Yes," Emily nodded. "Though I think I will be going for something a little simpler than Jen will," she said. "I guess I better start looking actually. You'll have to do that with me Lex. That way we can find something for you to wear too."
"That sounds fun," Alex smiled. "Are you having anyone else in the wedding party? I mean you guys haven't really told me anything about it."
"No we both decided we would just have one person stand beside each of us," Emily replied. "We want to keep the wedding small so we figured we'd go with a small wedding party as well."
"That makes sense," Spencer said. "It'll be really nice."
"That's what we're hoping," Emily smiled. "But I actually wanted to talk to you girls about something non-wedding related," she then said. "Well I really want to ask you Lex, but you'll be involved as well Spencer," she explained, receiving confused looks from both teens. "Well someone's birthday is coming up," she said with an excited look on her face as she turned to her daughter. "The big 1-5."
"Oh," Alex replied, looking down at her bowl of ice cream. "Yeah I guess it is pretty close huh."
"Just a couple weeks now," Spencer said.
"Exactly," Emily smiled. "And I know that you'll be busy studying for finals then, but I thought it would be nice to get a break in there somewhere to celebrate," she said. "Whatever you want. We can do something at the house, or go somewhere. We'll invite the girls and the team, plus all the family, though I'm not positive they'll all be able to come down."
"Oh well….yeah sure," Alex nodded, not sounding the least bit excited.
"You should go with a party at the house," Spencer suggested, noting the suddenly somber look on her best friend's face. "It should be warm enough to swim by then and Penelope always organizes really fun games."
"Sure," Alex repeated, doing her best to force a smile. "Sounds good," she said just as her mother's cell phone began to ring. Checking her caller ID, Emily sighed, seeing her boss' name lighting up the screen. "Hotch?" Alex asked, recognizing the look on the older brunette's face.
"You bet," Emily replied. "I'll be right back," she said, standing up and going around the corner of the ice cream shop so she could answer her phone in private.
Now left alone, Spencer turned her attention to Alex, who still looked to be upset. "Hey you okay?" Spencer asked. "What happened there? You seem sad all of a sudden."
"I'm not sad," Alex was quick to deny, scooping a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
"Are you sure about that?" Spencer said skeptically. "Because you got a little weird there when your mom mentioned your birthday. What's going on? Don't you want to have a birthday party?"
"I said sure didn't I?" Alex said in reply. "A birthday party is fine."
"Well you don't seem very excited about it," Spence pointed out.
"It's just a 15th birthday," Alex replied with a shrug. "I just don't think it's a big deal."
"It's a birthday," Spencer said, trying to get her friend excited. "They're always a big deal," she said. "I mean it's the one day a year where everybody spoils you and you get to be the centre of attention. It's supposed to be fun….it will be fun."
"Yeah…okay," Alex nodded as Emily came back around the corner, looking thoroughly disappointed. "Case?" Alex asked.
"We leave first thing in the morning," Emily sighed. "I told Hotch I would let Garcia know so we better head home before she let's herself indulge in some wine while she plans. We'll need her bright and early," she said as both teens stood from their seats so they could head home.
"You know sometimes I really wish the serial killers would just take a break," Alex said, happy for the change in subject but feeling bummed about her mother leaving again. "I feel like you just got home," she said as Emily put an arm around her.
"I know honey," Emily said, kissing the side of the teen's head, before throwing her other arm around Spencer. "But I will be home before you know it and then we can plan the wedding and your birthday. Sound good?"
"Sounds great," Alex replied, forcing a smile. "Just great."
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Returning to the Prentiss/Jareau household, Emily had been forced to break the bad news to both the blondes; explaining that the team would be leaving first thing in the morning, and that Hotch would need Garcia in the office before they boarded the plane. Both JJ and Garcia had been bummed, half-heartedly sharing their wedding plans before Garcia had decided to go home, needing to go over the information Hotch had sent her before getting some sleep.
JJ was sad to have Emily leaving again so soon, but she did her best to understand; spending the night cuddling with the brunette before bidding her a rather tearful goodbye, which she had insisted was only because she was still hormonal. So after ducking into Alex's room to say goodbye to her and Spencer, both of whom were barely awake, Emily headed for the airstrip, finding only Hotch there when she arrived.
"Hey bossman," Emily greeted as she boarded the plane, finding Hotch already scanning through the case files and making notes. "Already hard at it."
"I figured we should take any head start we can get," Hotch replied, putting his pen down. "Plus I was just really early."
"As usual," Emily laughed, taking a seat across from him. "You just can't help yourself," she smiled. "Did you at least relax last night with Haley and Jack?"
"As much as one can relax with a rambunctious almost 2 year old who enjoys running around the house while his father is trying to give him a bath," Hotch said with an uncharacteristic smile. "What about you? You were wedding planning with Garcia and JJ right? That must have been very non-relaxing," he joked.
"Well considering I spent the night getting ice cream with Alex and Spencer while they planned, it was," Emily explained with a laugh. "I gave Jen the run down of things I hated, most of which she agreed with anyways, and then asked to pick the venue so I feel pretty secure letting her take care of most other things," she explained. "Plus she's better at talking Garcia out of crazy ideas than I am and she promised we wouldn't make any final decisions without consulting each other first."
"Sounds like you've got a pretty good system," Hotch smiled. "I actually had a pretty similar deal with Haley when we got married. Worked well for us, so I'm sure it'll work for you too," he said. "Where are you planning on having it?"
"Well I haven't told anyone about this yet, so you better keep it a secret for now," Emily began to explain. "But my family lived in the most beautiful house in Virginia when I was a teenager," she said. "It was actually one of my favourite houses that we ever lived in, and even though I went through some pretty tough stuff while I lived there," she said referring to her teenage pregnancy, "I really feel like I grew up there. I don't exactly know who's living there right now, if anyone, but I'm planning to go find out if we can have the wedding there. I mean it's got a beautiful yard and foyer. It would be perfect for a small wedding. And I think Jen would like it."
"I bet she'll love it," Hotch said. "Sounds really nice."
"What sounds nice?" Rossi called as he boarded the plane, Morgan and Reid not far behind him. "You two working or just engaging in some girl talk."
"I actually think they call it small talk old man," Hotch said. "And I don't think it's any of your business," he said, giving Emily a small smile. "It's about time you all showed up."
"I would have been here faster if it wasn't for these two," Morgan said, putting his bag down before forcing Emily to move over so he could sit beside her. "I was on my way to pick up Reid when this guy calls saying he needs a lift from some hotel completely out of my way," he explained gesturing towards Rossi, who was looking rather smug.
"Where was your car?" Emily asked with a laugh.
"Well in the spirit of safety I left my car at the bar last night," Rossi replied. "And I had planned to get up early to go retrieve it but I got a bit…distracted," he said without a hint of embarrassment. "So I had to call Morgan."
"Mr. Responsible," Morgan said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"That actually does sound very responsible," Reid said. "I mean drinking and driving is the leading cause of car accidents, although distracted driving stats are on the rise and…."
"Alright now that we're all here, I'll go tell the pilot we're ready," Hotch interrupted before Reid could start a huge explanation that none of them were prepared for so early in the morning. "Reid why don't you hand out those case files, we need to hit the ground running on this," he said before going to talk to the pilot.
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"Lex can I ask you something?" Spencer asked early Wednesday night as she lay spread out on her friend's bed doing her homework, Alex sitting at her desk.
"Sure, but if it's about this math you need to give me a little longer, I'm not done yet," Alex replied, looking up to find her friend watching her with a worried gaze. "What's wrong?"
Hesitating, Spencer opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally sighing, deciding she needed to ask the question she had been waiting since Monday night to ask. "Why don't you want to have a birthday party?"
"What are you talking about?" Alex replied, trying to sound convincing. "I never said I didn't want a birthday party."
"No, you didn't say it," Spencer agreed. "But I saw the look on your face when your mom asked you about it," she said. "You didn't look happy, and you didn't sound the least bit excited, so what's going on? Is it because of your parents?" She asked voicing the only guess she had been able to come up with since she had begun to worry about it.
"I…." Alex begun, considering denial before finally sighing in defeat, knowing there was no point in lying to her friend who always saw right through her. "I've never celebrated a birthday without them," she shrugged sadly.
"So why didn't you say something to your mom?" Spencer asked, sitting up. "She would totally get it."
"I know she would," Alex said. "She would totally understand and she wouldn't make me do anything I don't want to but….she just looked so excited. I didn't know what to say," she said. "But I'm just really not looking forward to my birthday this year. It's just…it just makes me sad."
"You know that's perfectly understandable right," Spencer said supportively. "I mean I totally get it. Anyone would," she said, watching as Alex began to pick at her nails, indicating that she was anxious. "Your mom wants to celebrate with you, but she doesn't want to upset you. You need to talk to her."
"I can't…"
"Alex," Spencer quickly interrupted, giving her friend a stern look. "Call her. Seriously," she said, grabbing her friend's cell phone off her nightstand before bringing it over to her. "I'm gonna go down and get a snack. Talk to JJ for a while," she said. "You call."
Watching as her friend left the room, Alex pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on as she considered what she needed to do. Even though she knew that Spencer was right, and that Emily would understand if she said she didn't want to have a birthday party; Alex still felt like she would be letting her mother down. She and Emily hadn't discussed her birthday in the past, but the teen could tell from their conversation Monday night that her mom was obviously excited.
Knowing there was no point in putting it off, Alex hit the speed-dial for her mother's number, listening as the phone began to ring, while silently hoping no one would answer; her wishes crushed when her mother's voice eventually came through. "Alex?"
"Hi Mom," Alex greeted, doing her best to sound upbeat. "Are you busy?"
"Well I'm still working, but that's okay," Emily replied. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah of course everything's fine," Alex quickly assured her. "I just…do you have time to talk?"
"I've always got time for you honey," Emily said, the sounds of her opening and closing a door in the background. "What's up?"
"Well I kind of wanted to talk to you about my birthday," Alex replied hesitantly, suddenly feeling extremely unsure of how to explain herself.
"Oh did you decide what you wanted to do?" Emily asked. "Because I think a pool party and barbeque would be really nice. We can do it the weekend before or after. Whichever works better for you in terms of studying for your finals. But if you wanted to do something else that's fine too. It's your day sweetie," she said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
"Well actually I kind of…" Alex attempted to begin to explain before shaking her head in frustration, biting her lip as she carefully considered her next words. "Look I know you really want to do something, and I really appreciate that. I mean a party with the family sounds really great but….it's just that….I….I'm not really looking forward to my birthday this year," she finally spit out. "As my birthday has gotten closer it's just gotten a lot harder because I….I'm…"
"Because you're thinking of your parents?" Emily finished for her, understanding what her daughter seemed unable to get out. "Oh honey of course you are. I'm so sorry. I should have realized how hard this would be for you," she said, sounding guilty.
"I'm just having a really hard time with the fact that they aren't here this year," Alex admitted. "It's just a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've never had a birthday without them and it's just…"
"Oh honey you don't have to explain," Emily assured her. "I completely understand. You should have just told me as soon as I brought your birthday up. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Of course," Emily assured her. "After all it is your birthday. Don't even worry about it kiddo."
"Thanks Mom," Alex replied, relieved that the conversation had gone so smoothly. "Do you have to get back to work? Or do you have time to talk?"
"Actually I really should get back," Emily said. "But I might be able to call you back in a couple hours," she suggested. "You can tell me about your day then."
"Sounds perfect," Alex replied happily. "I love you."
"Love you too sweetheart," Emily responded. "We'll talk soon."
"Bye," Alex said before hanging up, putting her phone down and sighing as she leant back in her chair, feeling relieved. "I don't know why you worry yourself so much Alex," the teen said to herself, rolling her eyes as she stood up and stretched deciding she would go downstairs and get herself a snack. "Had nothing to worry about," she said, shaking her head as she left her room.
Meanwhile Emily sat with her head in her hands in the precinct of a small town in Ohio unable to help feeling anything other than disappointment, as she realized she was going to miss out on celebrating yet another birthday with her daughter.
