They had barely sat down at their table when the interrogation started.
"Alright, out with it, Em. What's going on?" JJ demanded, though in a soft tone that begged Emily to not be mad at her for prying.
"Yea, what are you hiding from us, buttercup?" Garcia chimed in.
"Guys –" Emily started, intent on changing the subject as soon as possible.
"Emily, seriously! We're you're best friends and you know you can tell us anything and it'll stay right here between us three." JJ insisted.
Looking across the table at her two best friends, Emily couldn't help but relent. She was desperate to talk to someone about everything she had learned yesterday and how blindsided she felt by the whole thing. "Well, it's kind of a long story, and I don't even know all of the details yet. Hell, I don't think I even know half the details yet."
"Sweet pea, quit stalling and just get on with telling us." Garcia prompted.
Emily sighed and started the story that she still found hard to believe herself. "Well, I guess it starts with when my mom was a sophomore in college and decided to study abroad…." Over the next 10 minutes she explained everything she knew, during which her friends gasped and gaped in all the right places, making her feel at least a little better about being so freaked out by the whole situation.
"So, in short, your mom had a daughter, gave her up, never told anyone, and now wants you to adopt the daughter of the sister you never knew existed or got the chance to meet?" Garcia summarized with an air of incredulity.
"Yep, pretty much."
"Wow. No wonder you didn't sleep a wink night. I'm pretty sure I would have pulled the covers over my head and refused to move from my bed the whole day if I were in your place." Garcia sympathized.
"So you don't think I'm overreacting? I mean, I'm so confused right now that I'm not even sure what to think, you know? I just feel bewildered and betrayed and angry and sad, all at once. I feel like I was cheated out of having a sister. And then there's this little girl out there who just lost both of her parents and now she has no one and she might need my help and I'm not sure if I know how to help her. I mean, I've never been a mother before. I think I want to be a mom, you know, some day. But it was always just an abstract possibility. What if I screw it up? Or screw her up? She's already suffered so much. I don't want to make it worse." Everything she'd been feeling since the night before was suddenly bubbling up to the surface and she couldn't stop the tears from filling her eyes and running down her cheeks. When JJ moved beside her and pulled her into a tight hug, she went willingly, just glad to have such caring friends.
"First things first, honey bear. You will be a great mom," Garcia declared. "No matter whether that's starting tomorrow or starting 5 years from now. And besides, JJ's already got the parenting thing down so she can help you out with that, and I'll be right there to spoil the little girl with dresses and teddy bears and ice cream trips every day."
"Every day, Pen? I'm fairly certain the social worker would take her right back if I let her eat ice cream every single day." Emily laughed, sitting up properly and wiping her face.
"Well, okay, maybe just a weekly trip then." Garcia relented. "Secondly, you're not overreacting. I'm fairly certain there's no such thing as a 'standard operating procedure' for how you're supposed to feel when you find out about the skeletons in the proverbial family closet. Okay?"
"Yea, okay. Thanks Pen."
"So how's your mom dealing with the whole situation?" JJ inquired. "After having Henry, I can't imagine giving up a daughter and being forced to wonder every day how she was doing and if she was really okay with complete strangers. I mean, I can understand why she did it, but that must have been really hard on her."
"She didn't really say, but I could tell she has a lot of regrets from the whole situation." Emily confirmed. "I need to call her tonight and let her know I'm coming with her tomorrow. I wanna make sure that, even if I don't end up with custody, the person who does is really going to take good care of her – of Mandy."
They spent the rest of their lunch discussing what all adopting Mandy would mean for Emily – everything from living arrangements to babysitting while she was away on cases to the possibility of needing to find a grief counselor for the little girl. There were still a lot of unknowns, a lot to be decided, but until after the hearing was over there was really very little she could do to prepare for the possibility of caring for a six year old.
When they got back, Hotch had already left for the day, even though it was barely 2 o'clock – a fact which had Prentiss confused and slightly worried. The only time Hotch ever left work early was when something was wrong with Jack. But when she went to Rossi and inquired, he assured her that Jack was perfectly fine and Hotch just had other stuff to do, which he hadn't gone into detail about, even with his best friend.