AN: We finally get to see the teams outside of the office. I once again want to thank everyone who reads this story.
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Warnings:
1st-2nd Section: Mentions of scars.
3rd Section: Descriptions of kidnapping, torture/violence, and blood.
Overall: Language, but only a few words.
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"This is usually when I would suggest drinks, but I have a feeling that's not going to work here," Derek joked after they finished their paperwork the next day.
"We could all go to my house and get take-out," Libby suggested.
"No, Cruz just bought my new couch last night, and I want Sergio to better adjusted before I have a bunch of strangers trampling all over him," Emily told her.
"Who's Sergio?" Penelope asked.
"Emmy's new kitty. We all got one, but Emily seems to have forgotten that," Libby said glaring at her sister. "I don't think Geo, Hacker, and Brownie would appreciate being trampled all over either."
"How about our place?" Clay suggested.
"That could work," Noah replied. "Though Matt gets final call."
"It's fine with me."
"Our place it is then," Clay told them.
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Derek and Penelope arrived at the door just as Elle did. "Where's Rosie?" Penelope asked glancing around for the girl she already considered a niece.
"Kate brought her earlier." Elle held up a bag. "I had to stop and get ice cream."
"So Matt lives here with Clay and Noah?" Derek asked.
Elle nodded. "Jenny bought it for them when Clay joined the team about 6 months ago. Before that Noah was staying with Andrew."
"What about their families?" Penelope questioned.
"Most of our agent's live with us and go home for a week once a month, two during Christmas. Ro and Charlotte stay with us year round. Jamie and Libby are the only ones who live with their guardians; though, Matt sees his mom all the time," Elle stated knowing she's entering dangerous territory.
"Why don't Ro and Charlotte go home?" Derek asked trying to imagine not seeing his sisters and mom at least once a year.
Elle bit her lip. "Don't tell anyone I said this, because we try to stay away from the topic, but Ro's family is dead." Penelope gasped. "And after Charlotte ended up in the emergency room on one of her trips home we realized it was best for her to stay with Emily. Her family visits twice a year and it works out better that way."
Derek nodded dropping the conversation after seeing how uncomfortable it was making Elle. Like the rest of the team he constantly had more questions about the EYU, but they would just have to wait. Just in time to as Jackie opened the door. "Did you get starburst and coffee?"
Elle frowned. "I thought I was only getting ice cream."
"Well I thought Jamie called you," Jackie said moving for them to enter. "We didn't know we were out of coffee, and Charlotte finished of the starburst while trying to fix the DVD player."
"Did she fix it at least?" Elle asked with humor.
Jackie titled her head with a duh expression across her face. "Of course she did."
Elle sighed. "I guess I need to go back to the store."
Derek butted in, "I'm sure Spencer and JJ wouldn't mind stopping."
Jackie looked at Elle and shrugged. "Do we need anything else?" Elle asked.
"Hey guys do we need anything from the store other than starburst and coffee!?" Jackie shouted.
"Pixie sticks!" Came a reply that Derek was pretty sure came from Libby.
"Tea," Mia said walking by followed by Emily.
Emily sent a pointed look to Elle. "No pixie sticks."
Elle just nodded, but Derek caught the gleam in her eye. "Can you tell Spencer to get the biggest thing of coffee the store has, a box of tea, a bag of starburst, and pixie sticks. Tell him I'll pay him back when he gets here."
Derek pulled out his phone. "Will do."
With that taken care of Elle and Penelope made their way into the kitchen. "Do you guys have these get togethers often?"
"At least once a week. Usually they're either at mine, Emily's, or Erin's since our houses are the biggest," Elle replied putting the ice cream in the freezer. "Though we have crashed here before."
"What's the story behind the pixie sticks?"
Elle laughed. "At Halloween the kids downed so much sugar that some of them puked all over Emily's living room. That's why Cruz had to buy her a new couch since he supplied them with all the candy."
"It's odd after seeing them be kickass agents to remember that they are just teenagers," Penelope mused.
Elle paused planning her words. She finally turned to Penelope with a serious expression. "I think sometimes we forget, and they do too, that they are still teenagers and not the adults they try to build themselves up to be. That's why we do this. It reminds all of us that there is something other than the job. Kind of like how you decorate your lair."
Penelope nodded in understanding and decided to change the topic. "So Strauss isn't the dragon lady we all thought her to be?"
"Who thinks I'm the dragon lady?" Erin asked joining them in the kitchen.
Penelope gulped and turned around. "I'm sor-"
Erin cut her off, "It's fine Penelope. I know how you all see me, and I guess it's mostly my fault. I don't really share my true self with those I work with. I guess I'll have to make a few changes, but why don't we start with you calling me Erin instead of the dragon lady."
"Yes ma'am."
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Spencer and JJ were the next to arrive; each holding a grocery bag. Emily opened the door and frowned when she saw the pixie sticks sticking out of the bag. "Who told you to get those?"
Spencer shuddered under the glare Emily was using. "Morgan."
"Morgan!" Emily yelled.
"Trying to wake the dead Princess?" Derek asked jogging up to the door.
Emily ignored his attempt at humor. "Did you tell Reid to get pixie sticks after I said not to?"
"You said not to? I must have missed the memo," Derek replied.
Emily crossed her arms. "You realize that these kids are sugar addicts, so when they inevitably make themselves sick you are on clean up duty."
Libby happened to walk by and see the pixie sticks in Spencer's bag. She immediately flung herself at him for a hug; JJ grabbing his arm so he wouldn't fall. "Thank you so much."
"Two per person," Emily told her.
"Emmy," Libby pleaded with sad eyes.
Emily stood her ground. "Two or none at all."
Libby huffed. "Fine"
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Before long they were all in the living room eating Chinese takeout. "... and that's how Cruz ended up with a black eye," Emily finished with a chuckle.
"You should tell them about the time you broke your arm Emmy," Libby said excitedly.
"I have to hear this," Derek told her.
Emily sighed. "Fine. During college I worked as a waitress; I was horrible at it. One day I tripped, dropped my tray, slipped trying to clean it up, and then broke my arm."
"And then she got fired," Libby added.
"At least I didn't shoot my boss in the foot with an arrow," Emily shot back.
"Thank the heavens for steal toe boots," Cruz stated.
"How did you manage that?" Dave asked.
"It was our day off and Cruz took some of us to an archery range. I went to put my arrow on the string and pull it back when it slipped," Libby.
"I once tried to shoot a guy in the knee and shot him in the head instead," Spencer told her, "so don't feel bad."
"You should get Grams to teach you; she's really good. She's the one who taught all of us. Well, all of us that carry guns," Libby told him.
"So you don't all carry?" Derek asked for clarification.
"Myself, Libby, Charlotte, Matt, and Clay are the only ones who carry guns. Everyone else has their own form of weapons. We don't typically leave the office, so it's not a necessity for us," Noah tells him.
"I'm trained in knife throwing, so is Ro," Jackie informed them.
"I have science. Not exactly that helpful in most situations, but hey," Mia said.
"Science is better than a camera flash," Jamie shot back.
Elle chuckled. "Don't let them convince you they're not that tough. All of them could easily take you down with stuff laying around."
"Like what?" JJ asked.
Libby jumped up grabbing a paper clip off the tv stand. "Like with this I could kill you 18 different ways."
"She's not lying," Emily told them.
Libby skipped back to her seat. "We've had some awesome teachers."
"I'm sure there's a few things we could teach you," Derek told her.
"We'll hold you to it," Clay told him.
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The food was gone and the conversation was drying out. "We should dance for them!" Libby yelled abruptly. Mia happily nodded in agreement while the other girls frowned. "Please I brought our uniforms."
"You have uniforms?" JJ asked.
"You guys dance?" Penelope asked at almost the same time.
"Well we're all homeschooled and/or graduated early so we didn't really get to do extracurricular stuff, so we created our own clubs of sorts. Grams and Kate coach the dance team. Mostly we just perform in front of the team on club days," Libby explained.
"Club days?" Spencer questioned.
"Club day is a monthly thing where each club gets to show off what they've been working on," Noah informs him.
"Please guys," Libby begged.
With a few grumbles all the females, excluding JJ and Penelope got up. "I will be hearing nothing of this at the office," Erin warned.
"Same for me," Emily added.
With them gone Dave turned to the remaining EYU members. "Erin coaches a dance team?"
"Yeah, it's a whole family affair. We all teach something," Cruz replied.
"What kind of clubs do you guys have?" Penelope asked.
"Kate also has an art club. Ziva has the self defense club. Emily has chess club. Elle has yoga club. Jenny has debate club. Cruz does archery, though we don't let Libby in that. Andrew has a survival club. We kind of have sports, but we don't play anyone. Kate and Andrew coach baseball, Jenny coaches tennis, and Emily coaches cross country," Clay explained.
"If you want a soccer team I'm your gal," JJ told him.
"I think that would be pretty cool," Clay told her. "Ro loves soccer."
"Just let me know when and where," JJ replied.
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When the girls walked out a few moments later in blue tank tops with 'DANCE' written in silver glitter and black pants the BAU started to get a better idea of why Charlotte had freaked out earlier. Penelope carefully hid a gasp as she saw Charlotte and Libby. JJ noticed Derek, who had already grown quite protective of the EYU, clench his first in anger. Across Charlotte's chest, shoulders, and back were several faded scars forming a circle around her. JJ didn't know what could cause so many slash marks like that. There were also some around her wrist. More shocking was when Libby turned around. JJ caught a glimpse of similar marks, but they held less depth, were more scattered, and exclusively on her back. It was obvious, even to non-profilers, that Charlotte was uncomfortable. JJ chose to ignore the questions bubbling that she was sure Charlotte expected and asked a different one. "Tell us a little about your dance team?"
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"Well as you already know Kate and Grams teach it," Libby started. "All of the girls participate, even the littles. We're actually down three members at the moment, so..."
"Jenny and Ziva," Spencer guessed. He had heard those two names enough to know they were important. He didn't know who the third could be.
"Yeah," Libby replied. "Keep in mind we just started on this first one."
The team smiled waiting as Noah set up the music. "Ready?"
The girls all nodded. As the music started the BAU couldn't help a chuckle, except Spencer who had no clue what the song was or why it was funny. As Super Freak played throughout the room JJ watched with interest as the girls moved together. Even the little girls were following along with decent accuracy. If this was their barely practiced she couldn't wait to see their perfected routines. When Emily and Libby broke into cartwheels followed by Elle and Ro the team clapped loudly.
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What most of them failed to notice was as Libby cartwheeled her shirt moved to reveal a scar of a carved 'E' amongst the other scars. JJ and Dave both noticed. Aaron had told Dave about his realization of the demons both teams held, and he was starting to realize those demons ran deeper than expected.
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When the girls had finished their performance they reclaimed their seats. "That was fun," Libby said excitedly.
"Any other secret talents we don't know about Princess?" Derek asked.
Emily smirked. "So many."
"I didn't know you had it in you Erin," Dave stated.
Erin shrugged. "There's a lot of things you don't know."
"You guys have to join us for our next club day," Mia said excitedly.
"We would be more than delighted," Penelope said speaking for all of them.
"As much fun as it is hanging out with you guys we're going to let y'all have adult talk while we watch a movie," Clay proclaimed standing up.
The other kids nodded also getting up. "Don't have too much fun," Jackie joked.
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With the kids gone a tense silence fell across the room. "I know you guys have a lot of questions. We can't answer them all tonight, but we can start somewhere," Emily finally said.
"What happened?" Derek asked. Even if he didn't state what, they all knew what he was referring to.
All those who knew the answer shared a look before Cruz finally spoke, "The team wasn't always meant to be a secret. That decision was made once we realized it was the only way to keep them safe."
"Matt, Libby, and Charlotte were the first members to join the EYU. The Ambassador and Jenny coincidentally have a few enemies in common. One day the three of them were hanging out, and one of those enemies used the chance to abduct them. They were missing for eight days," Emily informed her team.
"They were all affected, but Charlotte got it the worse. The guy enjoyed playing a game with Jenny and the Ambassador by keeping Libby and Matt alive. Charlotte was just collateral that his men could do whatever they wanted with," Kate said bitterly.
"We still don't know everything that happened those eight days," Cruz said. "We do know that until the last two days Matt was separated from the girls."
"That son of a bitch didn't even worry about tying them up to start with. He made it impossible to get out. He eventually did tie Charlotte up. He used barbed wire which is what caused the scars. His men beat Libby so bad she spent a lot of the time unconscious," Emily said gripping her drink tightly.
"Libby told us that he tied Charlotte up because she fidgeted," Cruz added.
"When we got there Libby was unconscious, Charlotte was pretty much there, and Matt was running off zero sleep. There was blood everywhere. Libby had been beat with wire before he carved an 'E'on her back so her mother would know it was her fault. Matt spent hours trying to get Charlotte untied before sitting there and holding her still. He said that if he couldn't stop the pain he could at least minimize it as much as possible," Kate explained fighting back tears.
The image of them covered in blood would always been engrained in her memory along with every other memory of her family being hurt.
Emily took a rugged breath. "Libby's full name is Elizabeth. I use to save it for when she was in trouble, but we learned quickly that he only called her Elizabeth."
"After we found them it was hell. We spent a month camped out in the EYU office. It was the only place they felt safe. That's when we made the decision to make the EYU a secret. We thought about canceling the program, but it was around that time Elle and Andrew jumped on board. With two more agents we decided it would okay to proceed," Cruz told them.
"They've come along way. It took a lot of learning, tears, and screaming, but we eventually figured out what not to do and how we could help," Kate said.
"That's why Charlotte lives with Emily," Elle inputted for the first time.
"Her family didn't know how to handle her. After she ended up in the E.R. for dehydration we decided it was best she stayed here. Her family visits twice a year, and it's best for everyone," Emily explained further.
Andrew remembered something slightly off topic and couldn't help but ask," Is her mom letting her get the tattoo?"
"Of course she's not," Emily sighed. "Three more months before it won't matter. I've already taken Libby and Charlotte to meet the girl who's doing it. She evaluated if Charlotte's could be done over the scars on her shoulders and chest; it won't cover them all but that isn't Charlotte's intention. She says she doesn't care if it covers the scars per say, but wants something to remind her that they don't have to be seen as something that must be hidden. Libby is so excited about getting her first tattoo too. She says it's not quite fair since I got my first one at sixteen."
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"You have a tattoo?" Penelope asked being the first of the BAU to speak the entire time.
Emily blushed. "I have two."
"Where? What are they?" Penelope asked digging further.
Emily bit her lip. "I have three dates on my ribs that I consider one and the quote 'We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be' on my upper back."
Derek smiled. "Kurt Vonnegut, nice."
"Yeah, I got it a few years ago," Emily added.
"What are the dates?" Dave asked.
Emily bit her lip. "Uhm, March 13, 1985; June 26, 1990; and August 5, 1999."
Spencer did a few calculations in his head searching for any significance of the dates. "1990 would be Libby's birthday?"
Emily nodded. "Yeah."
"And the others?" Derek asked.
"Stories for another night," Emily told him.
The lighter turn of conversation was interrupted by an exhausted Charlotte, now wearing a sweater over her tank top, standing in the doorway. "Em, Jenny called and said she would be here in like 10 minutes."
"Why's Jen coming?" Emily asked.
"Jenny got called into work, and since we're off she's bringing Harper here," Charlotte explained.
Emily glanced around the room. "Is she still running a fever?"
"Jenny said it finally came down, so we're all safe," Charlotte said at a poor attempt at humor.
"I'll let you know when they get here," Emily said knowing the teen was exhausted.
Charlotte offered a small smile before disappearing. "Harper?" Spencer mumbles trying to remember if the name had come up in an earlier conversation; it hadn't.
Elle stood up pulling out her phone. "I'm going to tell Jenny to bring alcohol because I think we're going to need it."
"Elle you are not the right kind of drunk to be drinking during a serious conversation," Kate reminded her. "Also you know Jenny isn't going to let us drink here."
"Well who wants to continue the depressing story?" Elle asked sitting back down.
"I think we've had enough story time for tonight," Erin said.
"I agree with Erin," Dave said just as the doorbell rang.
Emily stood up plastering a fake smile across her face. Whispering could be heard, but nothing that could be made out. When Emily returned with a sleeping toddler in her arms the BAU team was shocked. It seemed the they were in an endless state of surprises. JJ was the first to speak, "I take it this is Harper?"
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AN2: I hope this makes up for the short chapter before this and after this.
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Chapter Questions:
1. What clubs would you be in based off the EYU's clubs?
2. Who do you think Harper is?
