Morning seemed to come too quickly for Derek as he felt Emily shaking his shoulder just few hours after he'd gone back to sleep.
He groaned. "What time is it?"
"5:30" Emily replied. "You'd better get up soon or you'll be late. I'm sure Charlotte will be up soon enough too.." she trailed off
Derek paused, remembering his conversation with Charlotte. "She uh, she might not be up until later." He said
"What do you mean?" Emily asked stretching her arms.
He sighed. "Last night I got up to go to the bathroom, and she was sitting on the stairs, watching the rain. She opened up to me a little, but didn't get back to bed until around 3." He told her
"She- she did?" Emily said in disbelief
He nodded with a smile.
"Derek that's great! I knew you'd have the magic touch! What did she say?" She asked
He smiled at her happiness. "Nothing too much.. and I didn't want to push her. Basically she said it rained when her mom died and she misses her and that she was scared at the doctors."
Emily nodded. "Derek that's... that's progress. Thank you" she said, full of gratitude
Derek grinned, and Emily did the same.
Derek craned his neck to look at the clock. "I've still got a little time before I have to get ready.." he said
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Emily asked, already pulling off her shirt.
She wrapped herself around him and planted a deep kiss on his lips, grinding her body slowly up and down against him.
"God Em, you're so beautiful" he groaned before unclasping her bra...
A couple hours later Derek was off to work and sat at the table talking to JJ on the phone.
She missed her friend so much.
As much as she loved all the time she got to spend with Charlotte and now Derek, part of her longed to be back with her team and profiling criminals.
"Well Em she sounds absolutely amazing. We all miss you here and I'm so excited to see you tomorrow!" JJ said
"Me too." Emily replied. Tomorrow was Charlotte's therapy appointment at the FBI office.
She had yet to tell Charlotte about it, and wasn't looking forward to that conversation, but she was looking forward to getting to see her team again.
She heard Charlotte walking down the stairs.
"I've got to go JJ, see you tomorrow!"
"See you!" JJ replied, hanging up
"Hey sweetie" Emily said as Charlotte walked into the kitchen
To Emily's surprise, Charlotte smiled and climbed into her lap, snuggling against her protector.
Emily's heart melted at the sweet gesture.
"Do you want some breakfast?" She asked, rubbing her back.
Charlotte, with her thumb stuck in her mouth nodded.
"Yes plwease." She said, climbing onto the chair next to them, and Emily noticed her wince as her arm pulled herself up.
"What's wrong Charlotte?" Emily asked, full of concern.
"Noffing" Charlotte said shrugging it off
Emily sat back down, "it's ok to tell me, remember I won't be mad at you" she gently reminded her.
Charlotte gingerly rolled up her sleeve where one of her worst burns was still healing.
It was getting much better, but part of the healing process was it blistering over.
Dr. Coves had given Emily some cream to help with the burns, and Emily retrieved it from the counter and gingerly rubbed some on the injury.
Charlotte let out a breath. The cream made the stinging go away.
"Thank you Emiwly" she said gratefully.
Emily smiled. "No problem. Remember you can always tell me when something's hurting you, right?"
Charlotte nodded.
"Ok, good" Emily said. "Now how about some breakfast?"
An hour later Charlotte ate and they both got dressed and ready to go to the aquarium.
Emily could see Charlotte's excitement increasing as they were getting ready.
This time, in the car, Charlotte's head no longer stayed trained down. Emily could see her looking out the window from her car seat in wonder.
When they finally arrived, Charlotte was wiggling to get out of her seat and jumped out of the car, ready to go inside.
Emily couldn't suppress a laugh at how happy she was.
"Come on" she said, holding out her hand.
Thankfully, the aquarium wasn't too crowded, but Emily could still feel Charlotte stiffen from being around so many people.
The poor girl hadn't been out much ever... and only a couple times with Emily, but as soon as they reached the first exhibit, she relaxed completely.
Charlotte spent 3 times as much as any other kid looking at an exhibit. She didn't want to just look at the animals and move on, she wanted to look, read, and ask what seemed like 50 questions about whatever it was to Emily, many of which she didn't know the answers to.
Emily had never seen her have so much fun, and she was thrilled.
After about 3 hours of walking and seeing the animals and getting some lunch in the food court, Emily could see Charlotte tiring out. It had been a long day for her.
But before they left, Emily couldn't resist stopping by the gift shop with Charlotte.
"Why don't you find a new toy or book you'd like?" She said smiling to Charlotte
"Weally?" Charlotte exclaimed, already looking around at all her choices.
She immediately was drawn to a stuffed seal, which was one of her favorite exhibits of the day.
Emily smiled at her choice, not at all surprised, and picked out three kids books about various animals.
Just as they were about to head to checkout, they one of the workers who was setting up a display of "starter fish tank" sets.
"Emiwly" Charlotte said, gently tugging on her shirt. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to the boxes.
The employee cut in. "It's everything you need for a pet fish all in one!" He said. "It comes with a tank, light, food, gravel, plants, and a filter system," He recited.
Charlotte looked up at Emily with confusion written all over her face, then back to the man.
"You can... kewp a pet fish?" She said, confused
"Well... yeah kid" the young employee replied, now confused as well.
Emily sighed, silently cursing Charlotte's so called dad from keeping her from something as simple as a goldfish, but was glad she had the opportunity to fix it now.
"We'll take one of the kits" Emily said to the man
"Oh cool!" He said, carrying one to the register for her. Do you want to pick a fish too? We have some for sale on that wall" he said gesturing.
"What do you think, Char? Want to go pick your own pet fish? Emily asked
Charlotte put her seal down immediately and nodded, speechless with excitement.
She ran over to the wall with the tanks and after a few minutes, found her favorite fish.
After paying for the seal, books, starter kit, and fish, the two made their way back to the car.
Emily wasn't exactly planning on getting a pet that day, but for Charlotte, she just couldn't resist. Besides, she could manage to take care of a goldfish, right?
Not surprisingly, Charlotte was asleep in her car seat before they even made it out of the parking lot.
Back at the house, Emily unloaded all their new things and gently put Charlotte down in her bed.
A couple hours later, after she woke up, they worked together, setting the tank up just right on Charlotte's desk, and Charlotte was mesmerized.
Emily sighed, looking at her watch. She had to get dinner ready and get Charlotte her shower, and they still had to talk about the therapy appointment.
"Do you want to hop in the shower sweetie? Then we can eat dinner?" Emily proposed, knowing Charlotte stilled preferred privacy when she was showering.
Charlotte nodded, still looking at her fish with a smile. "Ok Emiwly."
Once she got Charlotte settled in the shower, Emily went downstairs to make pasta for them, and set aside a small bowl of applesauce and Charlotte's medicine for her.
Once she came down in her pjs, she took her medicine without complaint and started on her pasta.
"Ok, Charlotte, sweetie, I have to talk to you about something." Emily started, dreading their impending conversation...
A/N- sorry it took me so long to update! Hopefully I'll be able to write a little more regularly for this now. I've also been working on a law and order svu fanfic. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story! If you just took a minute and reviewed it that'd be amazing. Your reviews always make my day and help me know how I should continue! Thanks :)