So I finished this last night but was too tired to edit it, but here it is! (And it didn't take me a whole week this time!) I really hope that you guys enjoy it! I've got big plans for the next couple chapters so get ready guys! I think you're going to like what I have in mind!
But for now enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading as always! -J
Chapter 4
Emily had been upset when she had gotten off the phone. She had been looking forward to Alex's birthday, excited to be able to spend the day with her daughter for the first time, but her daughter had other ideas. The teen was still suffering from the loss of her parents and therefore wanted to treat her birthday as any other day, and Emily really couldn't blame her. Understanding that the teen was sad about spending her birthday without her adoptive parents, and knowing her sadness would only increase as the anniversary of her parent's death approached, Emily knew she couldn't push her daughter into celebrating her birthday.
So doing her best to act normal, and get her head back into the case, Emily had gone back to work; rejoining the team at the table as they combed through the lives of all of their victims. Since they had quite a bit of information to go through, the team had decided to work as late as they could until Hotch eventually ordered everyone to return to the hotel to get some sleep.
Having missed the opportunity to call Alex since the teen had school the next day, Emily instead sent JJ a text as soon as she got to her room asking if the blonde was awake since Henry often needed to be fed around then. Placing her phone on the bed so she could change, the brunette smiled when her ringtone for JJ filled the room less than a minute later.
"Hey Baby," Emily greeted, flopping back on the bed with a sigh. "I didn't wake you with my text did I?"
"No it was perfect timing actually," JJ replied, her voice quiet. "I just got Henry back to sleep."
"Aww how is he?" Emily asked, her voice indicating just how much she missed the little boy.
"Perfect as always," JJ replied. "But definitely missing his Mommy. I had a hard time getting him to sleep earlier. I think he was missing you rocking him."
"Well hopefully we won't have to spend too many nights away from each other," Emily said. "Though it's not looking too promising right now."
"Tough case?"
"Well the victimology is all over the place," Emily replied. "We've got men and women, different ages, different races. All killed with their tongues cut out."
"Gross," JJ muttered, making the brunette laugh. "Although cutting out their tongues. That seems like a pretty clear message. I mean the unsub could be trying to shut them up."
"That's exactly what Reid said," Emily said. "But we can't seem to find out what it is they want to keep them quiet about. I mean they all seem like perfectly normal people, living perfectly normal lives," she explained. "Though there must be a connection in there somewhere. We just haven't found it."
"Well everyone's got a dirty little secret," JJ said, hearing her girlfriend's exhaustion in her voice. "You guys must be getting pretty frustrated."
"It's just getting so tiring," Emily said, wishing she could be at home in her bed with the blonde, wanting to talk to her about her conversation with Alex earlier, but unsure how to bring it up. "I uh talked to Alex earlier," she finally said. "Did she tell you?"
"Yeah she mentioned she was talking to you when she came downstairs earlier," JJ replied. "Did she call you?"
"Yeah she wanted to talk about her birthday," Emily explained.
"Oh did she decide what she wanted to do?"
"Actually she doesn't want to do anything," Emily said, doing her best not to sound disappointed, though she knew the blonde would hear it regardless. "She's been feeling kind of down about her parents. She misses them and I guess her birthday coming up is just making it harder for her. She's never spent a birthday without them so she'd rather just not celebrate this year."
"And you're okay with that?" JJ asked, her voice indicating she knew the truth, as Emily remained silent. "Em I know how much you've been looking forward to this. I mean you've been talking about it since like new years. Did you even tell her that?"
"Of course not," Emily was quick to reply. "I mean it obviously took a lot for her to open up like that, and I wasn't going to ruin that by pressuring her into something she doesn't want or making her feel bad about it," she explained. "I mean I've missed the chance to throw my kid a birthday for the last 14 years, so what's one more?"
"Em, Alex doesn't know how important this is to you," JJ said. "She doesn't know how much you want this. If she did I'm sure she would feel differently. You should have told her."
"I can't," Emily was quick to deny. "I really can't do that to her Jen. It's fine," she said. "I mean I'm sure I can still give her a present so at least there's that. It's no big deal."
"It is a big deal," JJ insisted sadly. "I'm sorry baby."
"Well there's always next year," Emily replied, her voice sad, knowing there was no need to hide her feelings from the blonde. "At least I'll get to actually be with her on her birthday. That's better than nothing."
"That's very true," JJ said, trying her best to sound positive. "And who knows, maybe she'll come around and change her mind. Maybe the girls will convince her."
"Yeah," Emily agreed. "Maybe."
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Emily had a hard time sleeping that night, unable to shake off her disappointment enough to clear her mind and fall asleep. So after several hours of tossing and turning, the profiler wasn't sure she had slept at all when her alarm began to ring early the next morning. Groaning, Emily pulled herself out of bed; turning off the alarm before dragging her feet towards the bathroom in order to shower and get ready.
Though she was feeling groggy, the brunette managed to get herself ready in record time, deciding to meet the team down in the lobby so she could search for some coffee before they had to leave. Emily was in the elevator as she pulled out her cell phone, planning on texting Morgan to let him know where she was; her attempts pointless as the elevator doors opened to reveal her fellow Agent standing on the other side with two coffee cups in hand.
"Please tell me one of those is for me," Emily said desperately, fully prepared to tackle her friend if needed in order to get the caffeine.
"It is," Morgan smiled. "I actually went out to get the good stuff. Thought you could use it."
"You have no idea how badly," Emily replied taking the cup gratefully and immediately taking a rather generous sip. "God that's good. Thank you."
"No problem," Morgan smiled, following the brunette deeper into the lobby, the pair taking a seat on one of the sofas there so they could wait for the rest of the team. "You have trouble sleeping?" He then guessed, able to see the tiredness in his friend's eyes despite her best attempts at covering it up.
"I had a lot on my mind," Emily replied, biting her lip.
"Yeah I kind of noticed you were a little off when you got off the phone with Lex yesterday," Morgan nodded understandingly. "You wanna talk about it?"
"Alex doesn't want to celebrate her birthday this year," Emily said after a moment's hesitation. "She's feeling a little down about her parents not being here. Which I totally understand but…" She explained, suddenly unable to find the right words.
"But you were looking forward to celebrating your daughter's birthday with her," Morgan finished for her, having heard the brunette discussing plans quite a bit over the last couple months.
"I missed 14 birthdays Derek," Emily said. "For 14 years I spent Alex's birthday sitting around thinking about her…wishing I could be with her," she explained. "Her birthday has been a really hard day for me ever since she was born, and for the first time I actually get to be with her and it's still going to be a day filled with sadness," she shrugged. "I just want to give my daughter a birthday. I want to do something special for her for the first time and I can't…because…because she misses her parents…and I'm just…I'm…just really disappointed," she confessed, her eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall as she took a deep breath to calm herself.
Having never considered how Alex's birthday would have made Emily feel in the past, Morgan was filled with a sudden sadness for his friend. "I'm sorry Em," he said, reaching forward and taking her hand. "You know it's okay to be disappointed. It's completely understandable actually. Did you happen to tell Alex how you feel about it?" He asked.
"How can I?" Emily said, shaking her head. "She opened up to me about how she feels; something that Jen and I are constantly begging her to do. I can't try and ignore those feeling because I'm bummed out," she explained. "I've got to respect what she wants, even if I hate it."
Nodding, Morgan wished he could think of something to do or say to make his friend feel better, but knew there really wasn't anything that would make Emily feel better, besides Alex changing her mind. "You know she still has time to change her mind," he pointed out, saying the only thing he could think of.
"Yeah that's what Jen said too," Emily said, giving her friend a small smile. "I'm not going to get my hopes up too much though," she said. "I just really need to get my head back in this case. I can't talk about this anymore," she said, finally pulling her hand away from Morgan's so she could take another long sip of her coffee.
"Of course," Morgan nodded, understanding Emily's need to compartmentalize her feelings right now. "You got any new ideas about our unsub?" He then asked, knowing the brunette would appreciate the subject change, especially since the rest of the team would most likely be arriving soon.
"No clue," Emily shook her head, hoping that perhaps Reid had, had some sort of epiphany during the night. "But I think we need to really figure out what it is our unsub was trying to keep our victims quiet about," she said. "I think it's our only hope for a connection and really the only way we're going to find our unsub."
"I think you're right," Morgan agreed. "So let's get to work and find us a connection," he said, knowing Emily was preparing to bury herself in her work; unsure if that was a good thing or not.
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"I think I found something," Garcia, who was on speakerphone said later that afternoon; words which had the whole team sitting forward in their chairs.
"What is it Baby Girl?" Morgan asked with everyone listening closely, anxious for something solid that would lead them to their unsub.
"Well I was thinking about what you said about the unsub trying to quiet the victims," Garcia began to explain. "That there must be some sort of scandal that all of these people knew about, or that they all witnessed something that someone didn't want repeated. So if they all saw or knew something than that would mean that their lives crossed paths at some point in their lives, even if they all didn't know it, so I started digging," she continued. "So I started looking into schooling and work and basically anything I could think of but I wasn't coming up with anything…"
"Garcia are we going to get to what you found soon?" Hotch asked, getting impatient with the analyst's long-winded story.
"Almost there Boss-man, promise," Garcia replied, before picking up where she left off. "So since I couldn't find any crossover I put my thinking cap on and I decided to I needed to dig deeper so I started to look into our victims, and that's when I found it."
"Found what?" Emily asked eagerly.
"Well, while our victims didn't know each other, it turns out that they all had family members who did…or might have," Garcia replied. "Because all of our victims have a father or mother or in a couple cases grandmother or grandfather who all went to the same high school," she said. "Now I know that could be a coincidence because this is a small town, but at the time that these family members went to school together there were 3 high schools. It could be a long shot but…"
"But it's definitely worth looking into," Rossi said, interrupting the blonde. "Which means we need to figure out what happened at that school."
"And we need to talk to the families again," Reid added.
"Reid you go with Morgan, Prentiss you're with Rossi," Hotch began to hand out instructions. "Split the victims and go talk to the families, Garcia will text you the names of the family members who went to school together."
"Aye, aye captain," Garcia said, acknowledging Hotch's orders.
"We'll meet back here and compare notes," Hotch then said, the rest of the team nodding their understanding before leaving their seats; all hoping that they finally had the lead that they've been waiting for.
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After talking to Emily on the phone, JJ had a hard time getting to sleep. The blonde knew how much Emily had been looking forward to celebrating Alex's birthday with her. The brunette had confessed to the blonde quite some time ago that for the last 14 years Alex's birthday had been an incredibly difficult day for her and she was therefore looking forward to this year being different. For Emily, Alex's birthday was a sad day, but now that her daughter was living with her, she wanted to turn it into a happy day again; but now that was ruined.
JJ understood Alex's hesitation about her birthday this year. Both she and Emily knew that the teen was going to have a difficult time as the anniversary of her parents' death neared, but they hoped that they would be able to do something special for her for her birthday.
And while JJ wanted to respect her daughter's wishes, she just couldn't stop thinking about Emily's feelings, which got her thinking. Alex didn't know how Emily felt about her birthday; she wasn't aware of how important the day was for the older brunette, and JJ felt that if she did she would feel differently about not celebrating it. So even though JJ knew that Emily wouldn't approve, the blonde decided she was going to talk to Alex, and therefore spent her entire day thinking about what she was going to say.
"Hey Mum, we're home," Alex called later that day, as she and Spencer came in the front door; Alex clad in her soccer gear.
"How was practice?" JJ asked as the girls dropped their things and joined her in the family room where she was sitting with Henry.
"Exhausting," Alex sighed, taking a seat cross-legged on the floor, not wanting to sit on the furniture since she was still sweaty. "But I think we're ready for the big game Friday."
"You're definitely ready," Spencer said, taking a seat on the couch next to JJ. "You should see her practice. It's kind of intense. I wouldn't want to play against her," she said to the blonde.
"I am not that intense," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "I just really want to win."
"Well that much was obvious," Spencer replied with a laugh. "I mean I'm pretty sure your own team is afraid of you."
"They are not!" Alex argued. "Stop exaggerating. I am not scary," she said as JJ watched the pair, laughing. "Do you think you'll be able to make it to the game?" She then asked, turning to her blonde mother.
"I will be there for sure," JJ quickly assured her. "Henry and I are looking forward to it."
"Good," Alex beamed happily. "I should probably go shower before dinner though," she said, beginning to get up before JJ interrupted.
"Actually Lex, I was hoping I could talk to you about something," she said, glancing at Spencer, who immediately got the hint.
"I should go start my homework," the taller brunette said, getting up off the couch. "I'll just be in your room," she said to Alex before heading for the stairs.
"What's going on?" Alex asked, watching Spencer walk up the stairs before turning towards JJ who was looking rather nervous. "Is something wrong? What happened?"
"Nothing happened," JJ was quick to assure her. "Everything's fine I just….I talked to your mom last night and…" she hesitated, unsure if she was doing the right thing.
"And?" Alex questioned.
"Well she told me that you don't want to celebrate your birthday," JJ said, sounding a little unsure of herself. "And really I completely understand," she said. "I felt the same way the year after my sister died. I didn't want to celebrate anything without her. It was incredibly hard."
"So did you?" Alex asked, beginning to pick at her nails.
"I did," JJ nodded. "My mom told me that my sister wouldn't want me to sit around mourning her. She would want me to keep on living. To be happy," she explained. "And so she would make sure that we always made a big deal about everything; every birthday, every holiday," she smiled. "And it always felt like Roz was there with us," she said, watching as Alex bit her lip, obviously thinking. "I know you're missing your parents honey. And I know that it's hard…thinking about celebrating your birthday without them…especially since it's almost been a year since they were…I know it's hard," she said, not wanting to bring up their death. "And I don't want to pressure you…I don't want you to do anything you don't want but I just wanted to give you something else to think about."
"What?" Alex asked, raising her eyebrow curiously.
"Your Mom," JJ said, as Alex looked even more confused. "Your Mom loves you Lex, and she would do anything to make you happy. And truthfully she probably won't be thrilled with me for telling you this, but she was really looking forward to celebrating a birthday with you," she explained. "Your Mom spent every one of your birthdays thinking of you and wishing she could be with you, and after all this time she finally gets the chance, which is why she wanted to do something special for you."
"She never said," Alex said, looking guilty.
"I know," JJ sighed. "And she won't. Because she wants to put you first; she just wants to make sure you're happy," she said.
"I never really thought about how Mom would feel about my birthday," Alex confessed, feeling bad now that she thought about it. "That must have been hard for her."
"I think it was," JJ nodded, hating the sad look on the teen's face. "Look Sweetie, I don't want you to feel bad about this. I just wanted to tell you the truth because your Mom won't, and because I really think this is what your parents would want. They would want you to be happy Lex. They wouldn't want you to spend your birthday sitting around missing them…being sad," she said. "Your mom loves you and she just wants to give you a special day, but if you really don't want to then that's really okay," she assured her. "But just think about it okay?"
"Yeah," Alex nodded. "Okay," she said, standing up from the floor, still needing to go upstairs to shower, heading towards the stairs before stopping and turning back towards JJ. "Mum," she said, causing the blonde to turn towards her. "I love you and Mom you know. Even though I miss my parents I still…I really love you guys."
"We know that sweetie," JJ replied. "We completely understand where all of this is coming from. We never doubted your love for a second," she smiled, as Alex nodded. "Now go shower. Dinner will be ready in a little bit."
