CHAPTER IV
"So what shade of blue do you want for your room?" Emily asked as they're presented with a lot of blue choices.
Lexie shook her head at the palette samples, "I can't believe there are these many shades of blue"
"Yeah me too, this is crazy and all of them even have names. The only shades of blue that I know are aqua blue, royal blue, navy blue and powder blue" Emily says.
"I think I like this" Lexie says, pointing at one of the palette.
"Cerulean Blue, it's nice" Emily agreed at Lexie's choice.
"So how about clothes and shoes"
"No Emily you don't have to" Lexie dismiss Emily's offer.
Emily smiled reassuringly at the teen and placed a hand on the teen's arm "Lexie, I insist. I want to buy things for you; you're under my care now"
"Are you sure?"
Emily beamed at Lexie, "Let's go"
After almost five hours of shopping, the two brunettes finally made it home both their hands clutching dozens of bags.
"Emily thank you for all of this." Lexie tells Emily sincerely.
"You're welcome Lexie, anytime" Emily replied reassuringly at Lexie.
"I might have done a serious injury to your credit card" Lexie says.
Emily chuckles, "Don't worry honey, I've done worse" she says winking at Lexie.
Emily took the chance of the shopping spree to buy Lexie the things that the teen doesn't only need but also the things that she wants her daughter to have. Aside from dozens of clothes and pairs of shoes, Emily also bought the girl a new phone, an iPod and a laptop which the teen reluctantly accepts after numerous pleads from Emily insisting that it will help her in school. She also brought Lexie to a bookstore and told the girl to pick as many books she wants to put in her new book shelf that they have bought which will be delivered tomorrow along with the other sets of furniture Emily insists on purchasing for Lexie's room.
"So we still have 2 hours and a half till we go to Dave's place, why don't you rest first in your room before we both get ready" Emily tells Lexie.
"Yeah, you too" Lexie replies before heading upstairs.
An hour before they leave Lexie got up from her bed and took a shower. After her shower she blow dried her hair and went through the bags that are scattered in her room to look for clothes to wear. She decided on a yellow Sunday dress accented with a thin white belt to protect herself from the cold night she topped her dress with a coat-like non-collared navy blue blazer pulling the sleeves up till before her elbows. She slipped on a tan ballet flats to compliment her clothes. She doesn't use make-up, so she just put on some powder and a little lip gloss so that her naturally pinkish lips wouldn't be dry. She tied her hair into a half pony tail allowing the natural waves of her long hair to just fall on her back freely and her side bangs perfectly accenting her face. She's always preferred herself like this – simple.
Emily was already down stairs doing some last minute check before they leave when her eyes caught Lexie coming down the stairs. She smiled at the sight of Lexie, her daughter is adorably beautiful not that she's biased.
"You ready?" Emily asked as the teen approach her.
Lexie smiled at Emily and nodded.
"Bye Sergio" Emily called out to her cat.
Sergio immediately appeared and nuzzles his fur around Lexie's feet.
"Hey boy, we'll see you later okay" Lexie said picking the cat up.
Emily was amused at the interaction between her daughter and her pet, "I see he already found a new favorite. He really likes you"
Lexie beamed at Emily, "I like Sergio too. We're buddies, right Sergio?" Lexie says caressing the cat's head before putting him down.
"It's great that you're not allergic to cats, it doesn't trigger your asthma?" Emily asked.
Lexie shook her head "No, surprisingly animal furs don't give me an attack"
They continued their chat in the car during the drive.
"So how bad do your asthma attacks get?" Emily asks her eyes focused on the road.
"Ummm...usually they're not that bad. Inhalers usually do the trick. I don't really get hospital trips with my attacks" Lexie answers.
"What usually triggers your attacks?"
"Dusts, when it's really dark and I'm enclosed and when I catch cold and cough the attack follows" Lexie answers.
"When was the last time you had your check-up?"
"Three months ago, I think. My foster mom forgot to buy the refill for my inhaler though I've reminded her for so many times that she even got pissed off but she still forgot, then one night I had an attack it wasn't really bad but it got worse since I didn't have an inhaler so they had to rush me to the hospital and I got admitted till the next day." Lexie answers as if it wasn't really important.
Emily took her eyes off the road for a moment to look at Lexie, "Lexie, I want you to remember to always remind me when you're inhaler is halfway okay. Though tomorrow we'll buy some inhaler reserves to make sure you always have one with you and to make sure you won't run out"
"Okay"
When they reached Rossi's place Emily saw several cars already parked by Dave's driveway. Everyone was already there, though they weren't late. Emily rang Rossi's door bell, few seconds later it opened up revealing Garcia.
"Hey Emily!" Garcia hugged the brunette.
"Hi Pen" Emily greeted back.
"Hey pretty young lady, you must be Lexie" Garcia tells Lexie who is shyly standing behind Emily.
Lexie smiled shyly at Penelope, "Yes ma'am. It's nice to meet you" Lexie answered politely offering her hand for a shake.
"You're too polite, you sure Emily's you're mother" Penelope teased but instead of shaking Lexie's stretched out hand she pulled the young brunette for a hug, Emily just rolled her eyes playfully at Penelope's joke.
"Honey you can just call me Penelope. I'm a good friend of your mother here" she says breaking up their hug.
"Now I'm not really sure you're my friend" Emily teased this time. Causing Penelope and Lexie to chuckle softly.
"Getting back at me that fast Prentiss"
"So where are the others?" Emily asks Penelope
"Oh, they're in the yard"
"Princess!" Derek's voice welcomed them to the yard.
"Hey guys"
"So guys, this is my daughter Lexie" Emily says putting an arm around the teen.
"Lexie, these are my friends, this is Derek; Spencer; David the owner of this house; JJ, her husband Will and her son Henry he's five; Aaron and his son Jack he's 8, and of course Penelope. They're my BAU family which is your BAU family now too" Emily tells Lexie introducing each of the members of the BAU family.
"Hi. It's really a pleasure to meet all of you" Lexie tells them shyly.
"It's very nice to finally meet you too, little Princess" Derek says giving Lexie a hug to which Lexie returned shyly. The others also gave Lexie a welcome hug to which the teen graciously returned.
"You've got a really beautiful girl there Emily. A real bella" Rossi says as the adults sit in one corner sipping wine while they watch Lexie interact with the two young boys Jack and Henry, the two having a little contest trying to get Lexie's attention.
"Look at those two, they obviously have a crush on her already" JJ said amused at the two boys' little competition.
"Now I just realize how huge my problem would be in the near future. She'll be a sophomore this fall" Emily shakes her head beaming.
"Don't be afraid to use your 'I'm with the FBI card' I'm sure it would definitely work and always holster your gun in your waist whenever there's a boy around" Hotch suggested surprising his friends.
"Yeah and we're here. I'm pretty sure no one would have the guts" Derek added.
"We'll scare them even before they get close" Reid also piped.
After dinner they were all scattered around the living room, Rossi noticed the light in Lexie's eyes when she caught the sight of the piano.
"You play piano?" Rossi asked Lexie.
Lexie smiled shyly, "Yeah." she muttered softly "How did you know?" she asked Rossi.
Rossi smiled at her, "Your fingers, they're long definitely a pianist's fingers. The way you hold things you extend your fingers with great flexibility" Rossi answers.
"Oh"
"Do you want to play?" Rossi said lifting the cover of the piano keys.
"Oh, no it's okay" Lexie said shyly.
"Please Lexie can you play for us" Jack said.
"Yes Lexie can you please play piano" Henry also said.
"Okay" Lexie shyly gave in.
She went over to the piano, thankfully she doesn't directly face her small audience when she sat on the piano chair, so her shyness has gone down a bit. She let out a breath before she placed her fingers above the keys. Moments later she was already playing 'River's Flow in You'.
Witnessing one of her daughter's talents for the first time has made Emily beamed in a way that only a proud mother could.
After releasing the last key, the sound of applause echoed throughout the living room. Lexie bit her lip obviously flushing from the attention she's getting. "Thank you" she shyly says.
"Wow, gorgeous that was definitely beautiful" Penelope happily tells her.
"Thanks"
"A real piano prodigy" Rossi praised.
"You were really great sweetie" Emily tells Lexie as the teen settles on the couch beside her.
"Thanks"
Praises and compliments continued to shower Lexie several minutes after she played. A little while later Jack and Henry are already settled down on the recliner their energies obviously starting to die down. While Reid and Prentiss are in a heated game of chess, Penelope accidentally tripped so she tried to balance herself holding onto the table ruining the positions of the chess pieces.
"Oops! Sorry" Penelope says regaining her balance.
"It's okay" Emily tells her.
"It's alright Pen" Reid assures Penelope then looked down at the chess board, "I was winning though" he added.
"Actually she would have had you in three" Lexie's voice startled them. Reid looked at Lexie surprised then he turned to Prentiss who is also a little surprised and Lexie just shrugged. To Reid it was like a déjà vu, she can still remember when Emily told her the exact same thing the first time Emily joined them for a case.
"You play chess?" Reid asked her.
"Yeah" Lexie admitted shyly.
"Maybe we could play some time" Reid tells the teen.
"Sure" she smiled at Reid.
At 10:30 they've decided to go home.
"So it was a great night?" Emily asked Lexie.
Lexie beamed at Emily, "Yeah, it was a very great night. You're friends are all nice. Thank you"
"I'm glad you like them" Emily tells Lexie.
"It's difficult not to. They're really great."
The next day was spent decorating Lexie's room and even Morgan, Penelope and Reid came to help.
"So do you like it?" Emily asks Lexie.
"By like it, you mean love it? Yes I do!" Lexie beamed looking around her room.
As planned, the walls were painted with the shade of blue that Lexie picked. Most of the sets of furniture they bought were white complimenting the color of the room. For a teen age girl Lexie definitely is a neat and organized one judging by the choice of colors in her room—blue, white and yellow, from the wall, to the bed spread, up to the tiniest details in the teen's room these colors dominated the only thing sticking out from the group is the beaver stuff toy that Emily bought for Lexie previously, that is now lying in between the mountain of pillows on the teen's bed.
"Thank you so much" Lexie tells everyone.
"Anytime kid" Morgan tells the young girl.
"Really Lexie anytime. You know I rarely go with them from place to place, I usually just stay in Quantico in my lair so whenever you need something – anything and Emily's not here just give me a call okay?" Penelope tells Lexie.
"Okay, thanks" Lexie tells the blonde, giving her a hug. She's already figured that the blonde loves hugs so she gives her one as a sign of appreciation.
Emily smiled at the interaction, she is really happy that her kid is warming up with her friends. She's relieved that she and Lexie will have people behind them every step of the way.
"So Chinese for dinner?" Emily asks. Everyone nodded in reply.
"Lexie why don't we have that rematch now while we wait for the food" Reid asks the teen as they went downstairs.
"Sure, game on" Lexie took the challenge. While they were resting just after they had their lunch that day Reid and Lexie played chess and surprisingly Lexie won the game.
After they had their dinner, Reid, Morgan and Penelope went home since they all have work tomorrow. After Emily and Lexie cleaned up their dishes they also decided to go to bed since they have to wake up early tomorrow for their job and school respectively.
Lexie has already settled herself in her bed when her door opened slowly.
"Hey" Emily said quietly walking towards Lexie's bed. "So you're comfortable?" she asks.
"Yes" Lexie smiled as she wraps her arms around the beaver stuff toy.
"Good Night" Emily says, she didn't want to make Lexie feel uncomfortable by kissing her forehead so she squatted down a little to touch the girl's silky hair softly.
"Good Night too" Lexie tells her back.
"Okay, see you tomorrow" Emily says as she slowly walks towards the door. She was already near the door when Lexie called out to her.
"Emily"
"Yeah?" Emily asks looking back at Lexie who is now sitting on her bed instead of lying down.
"I can see the Pentagon from here" she says. Emily remembers the first time they met and Lexie told her that one of the reasons why she wanted to get emancipated was to get an apartment with the view of the Pentagon.
"I'm glad to grant one of your wishes" Emily says walking back towards Lexie, this time sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Thank you, really." Lexie says reaching out to give Emily a hug. Emily was surprised and glad, this wasn't the first time Lexie hugged her but she knew the first one was not intended only brought about by excitement, but this hug – she knew it was intentional and real. Emily returned the hug immediately wrapping her arms around the girl's petite body; she closed her eyes for a moment breathing in the scent of her daughter's lavender shampoo.
"You're welcome sweetie. Always." Emily replies just before they broke the hug. Lexie was biting her lip slightly embarrassed by the amount of affection she showed Emily, honestly she's still not comfortable hugging her, but the woman has done too much for her and it's the only way she can show her appreciation.
"Good night, again." Lexie says as she lowers herself under her covers.
"Good night." Emily says this time not hesitating to kiss Lexie's forehead.