Thank you guys for the reviews! I really appreciate that you like my story. If you guys have any tips or ideas feel free to say so. I do my best to incorporate your ideas and mine! This is a wicked fast update because I won't be able to update for a little while! Hope you like it. Go Patriots!

Chapter 12

Penelope can't stop tapping her foot in trepidation. She's doing her best to control it, but somehow she can't. The techie takes a deep breath trying to keep her heart rate at a normal pace, but it seems near impossible.

Tanya peers over at her from a file trying and failing to conceal the grin that forms. "You have absolutely no reason to be nervous you know." The social worker stated, however the blonde can't help thinking of the illegal deeds she may have committed in the past that were possibly wiped from her record years ago. It wasn't like any of them were bad, in fact, she caught a lot of creeps before even joining Hotch's team.

"I'm not…well I sort of do, don't I? This meeting could make or break me."

Tanya chuckled kindly. "Ms. Garcia, I think you've been watching too much Lifetime. Your home visit was the meeting to be worried about and you passed that with flying colors." Both figuratively and literary, her colleague described Penelope's house as being as much. "You live in a home with enough space to raise a child in a safe neighborhood. Your neighbors couldn't stop bragging about you. I don't think I've ever met neighbors who like someone as much." Not even Tanya's neighbors sing as much praise.

"Oh the Greeley's are so sweet. I take care of their dog, Ginger, whenever they're out of town." Penelope replied grinning at the thought of Sylvie and Larry, they're such a sweet couple and Ginger is the best dog ever. She a love-bug. "Tanya…what're the chances of me ever having a child?"

"Penelope," Tanya's tone becomes soft. "The possibility of adoption as a single parent is not out of reach, especially with your references. I can help in speeding up the process of you being a foster parent which is a step towards becoming an adoptive parent." Her supervisor is very new age. "It'll be a lengthy process filing for adoption as a single parent. I'm not saying it's impossible, it can happen." Garcia nods doing her best to ignore the sound of her cell vibrating. "Look, I'll tell it to you straight; adopting as a single parent takes more time than it should, but eventually with time you can be a parent."

Garcia answered. "I hope so."

"Why'd Auntie P leave so early?" Callie asked nibbling on a piece of peanut butter toast. Aunt Penelope was up even before Callie went on her easy 5-mile run. She and her mom sometimes go together, but more often than not; Callie prefers to go on her own. JJ likes to race her and wins most of the time which annoys Callie to no end being that she inherited her mom's competitive nature.

"I don't know." Reid squints at the board. He's trying to teach Callie chess, she's a pretty decent but has a long way to go before she comes close to beating him. She's a little too impatient for chess too. Her last move with the pawn was smart, unexpected. "Are you sure you've never played chess before?"

Callie's eyes are sparkled with amusement. Henry appears bored with this development. He doesn't want to watch them play this game anymore when he wants to play Sorry. "Uncle Spencer, you said five more minutes and the big hand is two numbers away from where you said. So that's uh…ten minutes." The seven year old whined; he's only just starting to learn to tell time. Granted, the first grader would prefer digital clocks to analog but that's beside the point. His godfather promised and Uncle Spencer never ever breaks his word. "Please can we play Sorry now? You can be blue Callie." His promise makes Callie half-grin, he knows that her favorite color.

"Thanks squirt." Callie acknowledged knowing blue is Henry's second favorite color therefore this is a very kind sacrifice he's making. Her little brother beams at her.

"You're right Henry. Do you have Sorry set up?" Spencer asked. He follows after the little boy leaving Callie who is too busy wondering what the fuck is going on with Robert. "Callie," Reid's voice brings her back to reality. "Bring Michael in with you." Callie obeys hoisting the gurgling seven month old into her arms. The baby appraises his sister with those LaMontange green eyes and white-blonde hair. "You okay?" Reid studies his teenage niece in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Callie said batting his hand away. "JJ and Will told you that some friends of mine are coming over to do a project didn't they?" Spencer nods mumbling in agreement while Henry pouts.

"Not fair, how come you never play with me anymore?" The little boy complained.

Callie responded. "We're playing right now."

"But, we don't usually play unless you're in trouble or you're bored." Henry's astute observation has his older sister reeling. She never thought of it like that.

A lump of guilt forms in Callie's chest. She isn't trying to exclude Henry out of her life. The fourteen year old guides Mike into his kitchen seat. "I uh…I'll play with you tonight – after we're done okay? We can build a fort and have a Disney movie marathon all right?" Callie offered as Reid watches the pair; Henry considers this seriously. It sounds fair enough. The profiler grins at Callie who despite putting on a brave face appears distracted and rightfully so. JJ explained everything last night about how they were going to see Robert Perry. The entire team is planning on coming over later tonight to distract JJ's mini-me.

"Wait out here, Soph."

"Alex," she protested in a soft little voice.

The older brother turns sighing. He swears Sophia is his one crutch. She's the only person in this entire world that can make him turn on his heels with a single word. "Dad didn't leave us enough since he's gonna be away for a while we've gotta improvise." Frank left a few hours before Belle's party muttering that he'd be back after Jade.

"But, what if you get caught? I don't want him to hurt you." Sophia whispered choked, tears sting her Karvelle green eyes.

"Aw c'mon Soph, don't cry." Alex wipes her cheeks. "I'll be fine. I don't get caught. Remember when I took those candy bars on Christmas?" She nods putting on a brave face. "So, a jar of peanut butter and some bread will be a snap compared to that." He promised. Sophia nods with a watery grin. "After this, I'm gonna drop you off at Belle's and head over to Callie's for a project. Lucy will be there so you aren't gonna be alone. Chances are she'll have Josie with her." He's referring Isabelle's house-keeper Lucy and the woman's granddaughter, Josie. She's a year or so younger than Sophia, but they're still good friends.

The brown haired girl nods solemnly. "Will you come back for me?" She asked innocently as Alex plucks a loaf of white bread off the shelf and shoves it into his pocket.

"What kind of question is that? I'll always be here, no matter what." Alex ruffles her hair.

"Good...can I swipe the peanut butter?" Sophia is bouncing in excitement. The idea of stealing like her big brother seems fun. He's her hero. Sophia wants to be just like him someday; brave. He always stands up to their daddy…even when he gets mean. Anyway if Alex can do it, then so she can too. The brother frowns, if he says no, she'll end up whining at the hypocrisy so instead he nods.

Alex warned. "Don't get caught."

"Duh," the nine year old skips off excitedly making Alex roll his eyes. Good thing, Belle already has peanut butter at her house. She isn't going to care if they use it. But, the male would prefer they use their own stuff. He doesn't like feeling indebted to people, no matter how much he loves one.

Hotch, Rossi, and Jack roam the aisles in search of party favors. They've been assigned by Penelope to pick up any and all delicious treats for dinner tonight. Everyone on the team has signed up to distract Callie from the fact that her parents are currently speaking with her biological father. Jack and Henry haven't be appraised of the situation, but the eleven and nearly eight year old are too young to understand these kinds of things yet.

Jack knows something is going on though. His dad is talking too much and Uncle Dave is being nice. As he walks past an aisle doing a cursory glance inside, he sees a girl with brown hair past her shoulders shoving something into her shirt. His deep green eyes widen and the fifth grader stops, confused. He's never seen anyone steal anything in front of him like that before.

"Uncle Dave," the boy said tugging on his surrogate uncle's sleeve. The author glances down all the while trying to ignore his ruffled shirt. "If you see someone do something bad, should you tell on them?"

A surge of seriousness floods Rossi's eyes. They would be the ones to get caught in a hold-up right now, perfect timing. Dave swears in the very, very, very far off future he and the Big Man upstairs are going to exchange words about his obscure sense of humor. "What did you see Jack?"

"I-I don't know."

"Jack," Dave adopts a firmer tone.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Jack glances up at his uncle looking a lot like his father. "I saw a girl take a jar off the shelf and stuff it into her pocket." As if on cue, the girl saunters past them with glee dancing in her eyes and Rossi doesn't even have to ask but Jack whispers to him anyway. "That's her."

"Ah, doesn't look much like a pauper to me." Rossi's comment is lost on Jack. He is reminded of his age at this moment and winces. "Your dad is in the ice-cream aisle, go find him." The man waits until he sees Jack with Aaron before going over to the young girl. "Stealing, little one, is never okay but," he glances at her bulging pocket. "You may want to consider improving your technique because if I can tell it's there just by looking at you then I promise the clerk will notice too."

Sophia's mouth falls open, however in a matter of seconds Alex is at her side. Her protector. "Back away from my sister." The teen stands in front of Sophia. David raises his eyebrows; the boy is tensing as though he's ready to be hit. In the end, he recognizes the behavior for what it truly is instantly.

"You got it, but your little sister seems to have stolen…" Rossi opens her jacket a little, "Creamy Peanut Butter. Huh, I'm more of Chunky guy if I do say so myself." Alex swallows hard. "Did you put her up to this? What? Did you think if she got caught the store wouldn't make as big of a deal out of it? You did, didn't you?" Dave's intense gaze makes Alex's eyes widen. Ah so that wasn't the right conclusion then, the older profile thought. This kid seems to genuinely care about his kid sister; it's sweet.

"No! Of course not, I-I…we were just hungry okay? C'mon So-Sabrina let's go." Alex responded shooting the squinting nine year old a look to go with it.

Sophia agreed. "Okay, Alan." She would pick an old dudes name that sounds fake.

"You two aren't going anywhere. I'm calling your parents."

"Yes sir, we understand." Alex responded as Sophia's eyes go wide. If their dad finds out what they almost did, he'll go nuts. He'll be so mad, real bad mad. Dave nods turning his back slightly on the kids to fish out his phone, both children know better than to make a break for it. Sophia might not, but she guesses since Alex isn't running then she won't either. However, what he fails to realize is their closeness to the dairy. In record breaking time, Alex takes a carton of milk off the cooled shelf popping it open and pouring it on the man. "Run!" The boy takes his sister's hand sprinting with all his might.

Dave meanwhile is standing there, too stunned to move. No one has ever done that to him before. He didn't even think things like this happened outside of idiotic teenage movies about rebelling. The profiler is frozen for a minute trying to ignore the fact that milk is making his expensive shirt sticky. Upon realizing he shouldn't let these little brats out of his sight, it's too late. They're gone, vanished into thin air with no trace behind them.

And to make matters worse, Hotch comes over with Jack; one is frowning while the other is doing his best to fend off fits of giggles. "Do I even want to know what happened?" Aaron asked doing his best to keep from smiling meanwhile Jack isn't even trying. The father nudges his son. "See, I told you getting out of the house would do us some good."

"You don't." Rossi said ignoring the strange looks and snickers he receives as he stomps to the front of the store with Aaron and Jack following with shared grins. Huffing to himself, Dave sighs. "This is why I have a personal shopper. If anyone else hears so much as a peep about milk tonight; you'll regret it."

Rob.

He looks just as JJ remembers; striking and handsome. But, not as rugged – when they were dating he had stubble. His sun stroked skin was a tinted brown color, now it pales in comparison. And he's wearing a suit too; Rob swore he'd never wear those. Now that JJ really sees him walking towards her composed and together he doesn't look anything like he used to. In fact, he looks like a stranger to her.

"JJ," Robert's hazel blue eyes light up a little. Will sneaks a glance at his wife who offers him a warm grin, the same smile she wore on their wedding day. They made it to Roanoke in about two hours and booked a hotel. Neither of them slept a wink last night, but somehow they arrived a little late to Perry International. Robert commented. "You look as beautiful as ever." The man's eyes linger on his ex-girlfriend a millisecond longer than Will cares for and he clears his throat. The CEO swallows. "And this must be your husband ah–"

"Will LaMontange," the cop stands greeting his foster daughter's daddy. Looking at Robert now, he can see a resemblance to Callie, mostly around her chin and nose. "Pleasure to meet yah finally." They say people can't hold a ten-minute conversation without lying at least once. Well, here's his first lie. Actually, it's his second – he told a waitress this morning that his eggs were delicious.

Robert rubs his neck. "Yeah I'm sorry about that, Cheryl and I must have had a miscommunication or something. So, you guys have an invention to show me or ah what? I don't usually do one-on-one meetings like this, but when I heard it was you...so what's up?"

"No, we're uh…" JJ can't seem to formulate sentences. Her tongue feels numb, like she had just gone to the dentist and there's this lump in her throat. After Will gives her hand a squeeze, JJ composes herself and studies her ex-boyfriend. There's a slight anger flickering inside her. He can't look at her like he cares when he left all those…this is about Callie, not her. JJ refocuses. "There's something I have to tell you and it's going to be a lot to take, but know that I only just found out about her…well I knew but I thought she died." Rob's eyes widen. "Okay, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. We have a daughter."

"Excuse me?"

JJ rambled. "Fifteen years ago, I had a baby…and she died. I mean I thought she died, but…"

"What?" Robert takes a sip of his water. "So you had our kid and she died?" A growing sense of pain burns like a heart-attack in his chest. Having two young children and hearing that one died, one he wasn't even aware of; stings. The CEO's gaze turns sour. "After all these years, why the hell would you tell me something like that now?" He could've gone the rest of his life without having known that.

"Robert, she didn't die. Callie…I thought she died after I gave birth to her. But, she didn't. It turns out Dr. Frye, the doctor on call switched our baby with a stillborn that had died earlier that night." The profiler explained studying his features for any detection of malice or hatred. She's finding…none. If anything Robert looks slightly relieved to hear his child didn't die. Then as he considers her words, he appears rightfully worried. "She was in the system for a while." Robert looks away guiltily; he can't imagine what it was like for the kid.

Will cut in. "Until she came to our door one day askin' ta be emancipated. Then we decided it'd be in Callie's best interest for her ta stay with us. So the judge put her in our custody."

There's silence, a moment to take in their words and let them resonate before Robert shatters it all with one single but certainly loaded question. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant before?"

"You left." JJ answered glaring at the accusatory tone he has the gall to adopt.

"So? You could've looked for me, asked around." Robert replied, although knowing once he left his family made it near impossible for anyone they deemed unworthy to find him. And back then there wasn't any Facebook to find someone instantly. If someone had enough wealth, they could disappear easily.

"Don't you think I did that?" JJ questioned. For two weeks, she asked anyone in contact with the Perry's about Robert. She did the best she could. "I tried Robert, but your family closed ranks so I decided I'd wait until after the baby was born. I even wrote a letter. At the time I had no clue where I'd send it, but I…I was going to tell you about it after I had her. But, after…I thought she died and I didn't want to burden you with it. I decided this was going to be my torch to carry."

Robert huffs angrily at her. "That wasn't your decision to make, JJ. She was – is my kid too." He snapped causing Will to clench his fist as though warning the man to drop his tone. "Look," the CEO sighs wishing for probably the millionth time today that he could rewrite history. "I like to think I would've done right by you, but I don't know. I really don't know. That summer," he chuckles lightly. It was the best time of his life being with JJ. "That summer…I was a jerk okay? I was twenty-three and thought I knew everything." JJ nods. That's as much of an apology as she'll likely ever get. "Is Callie short for something?"

"Caroline," the Louisiana-born said. "But, she'll tear yah apart if yah call her anything but Callie."

"Sounds a lot like someone else I know." Robert remembers the summer he and JJ were together like it was yesterday. God, that summer. If only his family hadn't threw a wrench into things by threatening to keep his inheritance from him. If only he had been strong enough to stand up to them. "Grandma Carrie would've loved that, having someone named after her."

JJ responded, not out of malice, but honesty. "I never got to name her. That was the Scotts, the ones who had her before they gave her up." She gains courage by Will's eyes and continues. If it had been up to JJ, she would've named her daughter Rosaline or Charlotte. However, JJ has to admit out of all the Perry's she liked the elderly woman best. Caroline Perry had a delightfully amusing way about her. She was blunt and simply hilarious, she didn't give a crap about societal norms. She danced in public and went through life to the beat of her own drum which annoyed her family to no end. "The reason they gave her up if you were wondering is because she has HCM."

"She has HCM?" Robert feels guilt crash into him. Neither of his sons; thank God, has it, but he and his father do. HCM isn't a terminal disease by any means, but…it makes you have to slow down. "Shit, I'm sorry about that." His office phone is ringing but the CEO ignores it.

"I don't blame you and neither does Callie." JJ explained softly as Will nods, even though they both worry every day; she's all right. "She takes her pills every day and has regular check-ups. If anything Callie tries to push herself to go even faster than everyone else because of it."

Will chuckled. "You should see her on the soccer field. Nearly gives us a heart attack every time she gets checked and every time she knocks someone else out."

"I bet." The man smiles softly. He wants to know his daughter, but a part of him knows if this comes out; he'll be finished. His political career will be rubbish.

"Rob, the reason we came was…to first tell you about Callie but we also wanted to know whether you wanted a relationship with her." The blonde stated watching as her ex-boyfriend leans back in his chair. The way his desk is shielding his body, you would think it was a castle of sorts; protective and with-holding. A moment passes and the stillness lingering in the air lasts quite a long time.

The man purses his lips. "Ah," he swallows sharply. He wants to. Robert doesn't have any daughter's just two little boys who mean the world to him, but are their mother's sons. His sister Julie has three children, two of which are girls. And they adore his brother-in-law, Grant. "I…I can't." JJ glances at him in such disdain that Robert flashes back to when he first introduced her to his family and everyone, save Gran made their disapproval known. "Now's just not a good time for me. I have my campaign coming up and a scandal like this. It'd ruin me. I want to. I do, but…I–" before he can say anything more JJ gets up shooting him a withering scowl. "JJ, come on. Maybe we can try for another time that works."

"Not a good time for you? How can you…" JJ takes a deep breath. "No, you don't just get to decide when you want to be a parent; it's a full-time job, either you're in or you're out."

"I know that. Don't you think I know that? I have two of my own. I'm thinking of their well-being, finding out they have a sister could be hard on them." Robert lied through his teeth. If anything Sebastian and Teddy would love hearing they have another siblings, especially a girl, they would revel in teasing her constantly like they do on the television show Jessie.

His ex-girlfriend scowled bitterly. "You still can't lie to save your life." She hears her husband sigh beside her, sucking in his cheeks with a trace of disdain. The profiler closes her eyes briefly before leveling a stern glare with the CEO. "I knew coming here would be a mistake and you know what? I was hoping I'd be wrong that maybe just maybe you were still be the Robert I knew, but you aren't that guy anymore. So congrats, you proved me right and I hate it. I didn't want to be right. I wanted to be wrong. I wanted so badly to be wrong."

"Cher," Will whispered softly.

JJ continued ignoring her husband. "You care more about your image than you do your daughter." Robert starts to protest, but JJ being the mama bear she is, isn't having anything of it. "Don't, but let me tell you something. She's an amazing kid. She's beautiful and funny and honest and a fighter. She's such a fighter…and her life has been hard, way harder than it should've been." The blonde sighs. "Look, I came here for Callie – and you doing this is awful. So, I'm going to go and never come back and you don't get to meet our amazing kid. Goodbye Robert." This is the first time JJ's ever said his full-name, usually she calls him Rob or had on special occasion referred to him as Robbie.

"JJ, it just isn't a good time for me right now. The public can be really cruel sometimes. I'm looking out for her best interest too. Imagine what the press would say."

"Do you remember the one thing you feared? I mean really feared?" JJ questioned. "Well, you became you own worst fear. You're a real Perry now, Robert." The scorned woman storms out leaving Robert stunned.

Will lingers behind. He loves Callie and knows hearing that her daddy doesn't want to see her because of how it'll look…will set her back. He stands. "I ain't gonna apologize for JJ cause we both know she hit the nail dead on." Robert glances at the cop abashed; he can't even look at the pictures of his boys right now. The Southerner purses his lips. "Lookit, we all ave' a few big decisions that come around in this life and we don't even think of em' as being that big till after they pass. I'm gonna do yah a favor. Right here, right now, at this moment; it's big decision time and how yah choose to decide is gonna stay with you. For the rest of your life," the silence he receives is deafening as Will rubs his brow gearing to leave and stopping to tap his knuckles against the door. "Good luck with your campaign Mr. Perry."

Reid and Garcia have taken the little guys out to give Callie some time to do their project. They said they're going to come back around dinnertime with pizza. Callie doubted at first they'd take as long of a time, mostly because they're going to do a project on quotes. Each of them is going to find a quote that speaks to them and they're all going to tie them together…somehow.

Aviva has already shot down several of Isabelle's quotes. This is due to the fact that a lot of them are from Fifty Shades of Grey. Wyatt's quote by George Orwell, happiness can exist only in acceptance was approved as was Alex's by the Dalai Lama, don't let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace. Aviva's quote by Winston Churchill, success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm was all right. Callie is attempting to find one as of now while Viva and Belle bicker.

"How did you get that?" Alex asked after seeing Callie pull up her sleeves. At the blonde's confused frown, he gently touches the formerly burned flesh. It's a scab now, well not a scab but the skin has fallen into the creases similar to a book when you bend the pages inward. Callie shivers away. "It looks old and like it hurt." For once he doesn't sound contemptuous, but actually kind.

"Uh, it's nothing, just a birth mark." Callie goes with the lie she's told many before. She looks around making sure no one else is listening, Wyatt is bumping to his music while Belle and Viva are still arguing. Honestly, the blonde could care less if Aviva hears, but she doesn't want the others to know.

Alex looks at her. He really looks at her with all-knowing eyes. "Oh my mistake," he dips his head in false acknowledgement. Alex knows a burn when he sees one. His dad has never done that to him, it's a cliché but Frank prefers swinging his belt or using his fists. "Hope you got the dick back." He muttered. "Least you're with good people now though." Callie's eyes widen and he shrugs in return. "What? I call it like I see it; anyway it doesn't take a genius to figure out you're a foster kid. You call your parents by their first names and they're cool with it. Hey, I don't plan on telling anyone."

"Thanks for not being a dick…for once." Callie responded as Wyatt frowns pulling off his headphones.

"Why are you two being nice to each other?"

Callie is the first to recover. "I asked him what his quote was – and of course, he stole the one I wanted." A forced glare forms on Alex's face. "But, luckily I found a better one by Andy Warhol." She clicks back on her phone going to the last page she was looking at. "They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

"Finally, you found a decent quote." Aviva stated as she checks the clock. "Belle found a sub par one too; I guess that means we're done. We can make a Google Docs and intertwine them. Of course, I'll edit everything you do to make sure you guys don't ruin it." Everyone rolls their eyes in return, but stand nonetheless gearing to leave and it seems to be perfect timing too because Wyatt's mom which includes Aviva is here. Belle's driver is pulling into the driveway and Alex opts for walking. He needs to think. As the others file out of the living room, Aviva hesitates beside Callie. "I'm not going to edit yours, because we both know you're fine. But the rest of them…oh they're getting edited the minute I make the Docs."

Somehow Aviva has it in her head that Callie is a on her level intellectually. This is an accomplishment since Aviva Goldberg rarely if ever trusts anyone enough. Callie decides to take this route rather than thinking anything else, because well, Aviva is Aviva. She waits behind with Alex. He seems to be quietly brooding or maybe he's worried.

"My dad's coming back tomorrow."

"I didn't know he left." Callie purses her lips frowning a bit. "Is that why you brought Sophia last night?"

Alex nods. "Nicky and Jake are with their grandparents…we have different moms. His grandparents are nice, but they can hardly take on the twins. Jade left and then dad left too." He shrugged. "Anyway, I know how Belle gets when she drinks." Honestly, she gets slutty and Alex would rather she get flirty with him than another guy who'd probably screw her; it's safer this way.

"Yeah I-I get." Callie's take on Alex Karvelle is that he likes to be there even though he's broken too. "But, I think Sophia likes going. She gets something to brag about to the kids in her class. What other fourth grader goes to high school parties?" Callie knows she would be grounded forever if she ever took Henry to a party. "She eats all the junk food she wants and stays up late watching movies. It's every fourth grader's dream."

"Oh yeah she does, little too much. I'm kinda worried she's gonna be fat someday." Alex's worries are lighthearted and make Callie pull a face. It shouldn't be his job to worry about things like that. She couldn't imagine having to take on such responsibilities like being in constant charge of a fourth grader not to mention his toddler half-brothers. It really must be hard. No wonder he's such an ass.

Callie punches him. "Who cares if she is? She'll still be my favorite Karvelle."

Alex rolls his eyes as the front door opens to none other than Aaron, Jack, and Rossi. The Italian recognizes his evil milk-doer instantly and grabs him. "Dude what the hell?" The teenage boy looks up cringing in dismay. "Oh shit, how did you find me? There are laws against stalking, you know."

"Uncle Dave, what are you doing?" Callie demanded looking at Jack and Hotch who are too snickering.

"This guy's your uncle?" Alex looks up at the ceiling scowling. "Oh fucking course."

JJ can't even think about eating right now. Honestly, she doesn't even remember ordering Chinese until Will came back with the bags of food in hand. He puts them down on their mini-kitchenette kind of table and goes over to his wife wrapping his arms around her, holding tight.

"Everything's gonna be all right, Cher."

"No it's not. This is such a mess. We can't know that it'll all be fine, because it won't. She's going to be crushed when she hears about this and it sucks." She said feeling the guilt nag at her while wishing they could've kept this a secret from Callie. "How are we going to tell her?"

Will has to take a minute to think. "We'll sit down and talk it over with her. My guess is she's gonna try to push us away when she finds out, but – how about we try not to let that happen?" JJ nods still looking unconvinced of pretty much everything; she didn't want to share Callie, but a part of her knows getting acquainted with Robert would have been in their daughter's best interest. "Cher, there's enough." His words make JJ glance up.

"What are you talking about?" JJ asked in a snappy sort of way.

"We love her enough. I love her and I know damn well you love her too. That's all that matters. We just gotta show her that she's loved enough and she is. We've got an army of people who love her too." Her husband promised all the while cracking a warm grin and motioning for the blonde to eat. "Now I'm gonna be honest, I dunno if I ever told yah but I fell in love with you for your appetite."

The profiler smirks seeing through him but goes over to the table nonetheless. "Huh, I fell in love with you for your deep pockets." She teased causing the amused couple to share a laugh then look at one another, really look at one another the way soul-mates do. JJ pours some fried rice onto her plate then licks her lips tensely. "Tell me she's going to be okay. I know it's not true, but tell me anyway." Her eyes are glued to the plate.

Will grasps onto her hand giving it a squeeze. "She's going to be okay."

Garcia plops down across from her niece in the kitchen table. Her friend Alex had a 'talk' with Rossi about a private matter before the kid wandered off. He seemed pretty rattled afterwards, scared even. But, as he was leaving the house he winked playfully at Callie, letting his friend know Dave wasn't actually cruel to him. The Italian profiler put on his scary face too, although there are hints of slight amusement in his eyes. However, Alex leaving occurred an hour ago and currently, Callie is doing her best to keep her temper under control while eating dinner with everyone. She, Jack, Henry, and Meg have just finished constructing the best fort ever.

Of which the other girl is beginning to piss her off.

She can be such a know-it-all sometimes.

When they first met, Callie sort of liked Meg. But, now things feel different. Like Meg is trying too hard to prove she's perfect and by doing so she has to rattle off lists upon lists of accomplishments. Anyway, Callie can't help thinking about what happened with Robert. Am I going to end up like one of those divorced parent kids and see Robert on weekends? That would suck. When would I hang out with her friends? And meeting his family is going to be awkward, especially because he has two kids from his first marriage and a new wife right now. This is like an awful Lifetime Movie or something. Then again, he might not even want to get to know her at all.

"Callie, how's school going? Fortitude Grace seems like a fun place." Kate said causing the blonde teenager to nod, her thoughts are elsewhere and it's showing.

Henry pokes her. "Your face is scrunched up."

"And your face...oh bite me, Henry." Callie doesn't want to play this game right now. She's too busy being nervous about her future. At the moment, she wishes she had gone with her parents.

"Uncle Spencer, Callie's being mean." Her little brother tattled.

Spencer glances at the pair. They seemed as thick as thieves a second ago. Jack appears to be watching this interaction with a hint of jealousy. He wishes he had siblings. Being an only child is the most boring thing in the entire world. "Callie, be nice to your brother." The genius responded in kind.

"Whatever," she answered rolling her eyes in frustration. The attitude alone startles Spencer, usually Callie is much more respectful to him. She stabs some pasta with her fork. There's silence and Callie knows everyone is profiling her, she looks around the table and upon seeing Meg roll her eyes scowls in frustration. This is ridiculous.

"Hey baby cakes, drop the attitude down from Mean Girls to Clueless please." Garcia reprimanded with warning laced in her tone.

Callie muttered. "This is such bullshit." Everyone's always against her. It feels like they all think she's some sort of delinquent and it sucks being the family trouble-maker. How is it her fault that she maybe enjoys having a little bit more fun than everyone else. Hotch gives her a very steely look causing the blonde teen to swallow. "I ah...I mean may I please be excused?"

"Sure," Spencer responded in an understanding voice. He can tell Callie is gearing to run, but giving her some time alone will do her a world of good. As she passes him however, the genius stops her. "If you plan on leaving, tell me right now."

"Can I go for a walk?"

After the profiler nods ignoring everyone's looks of trepidation, Callie bids them farewell before venturing out the door and out of sight as well.. Being pretty smart herself, the teenage knows none of them agree with Reid's decision to let her go out. But, she needs a minute. She wanders and wanders to the local park which happens to be about ten minutes away. This is nice. She's been here before with Will, JJ, and the boys. She played soccer with JJ and pushed Michael and Henry on the swings. Henry then demanded she swing beside him which she did without giving it a second thought. Much to her surprise, Will pushed her while JJ had her left hand reserved for Michael and the right hand was for Henry. It was a good day. Even if she was grounded.

Callie sits down on the swing. It feels a bit wet from the dew.

"I know you, you're Henry's sister!" A little voice squealed with delight making Callie look up to see little Finley running towards her just about launching herself at the teen. And Callie has no doubts she would've if it hadn't been for...Sean grabbing her quickly. He somehow manages to hold onto her while keeping his other hand clasped around another girl.

"What are you doing here?" The voice. His voice. He sounds confused and a little pleased too, but mostly confused. His eyes are so blue, they're almost green which shouldn't work but it does.

"Seanie, I wanna go on the slide." The older one demanded, barely giving Callie a second glance.

"Then go on the slide, Mae. But, take Fin with you." He shoots his sister a look practically daring her to defy him and smirks when Maeve begrudgingly takes Finley's hand yanking her along. Sean plops down beside Callie on the swing. "Yeah, that's gonna come back to bite me."

Callie is a bit surprised. "Your Finley's brother?" That means the other little girl is Maeve. Henry's talked about her before once in a while, but usually he never stops blabbing about Finley.

"I am, how does Finny know you?"

"I'm Henry's sister."

Sean chuckled. "Henry LaMontange? I love that kid. He's really funny and I'm pretty sure he's the one who taught Finley to say freaking...but I got nailed for it." His eyes are sparkling and he glances over half-watching his baby sisters play. When he looks back at Callie, he pulls a face. "So by the look on your face, I guess this means you know now."

"Know what?" Callie plays dumb.

"Know about Con."

Callie swallows, she almost didn't expect him to say anything. "Did you not want me to know?"

"No, I just liked one person treating me normal. Nobody does anymore." Sean explained. He used to be the best hockey player in his class, now he's the guy who's little brother died of cancer. And he's also the guy who's dad took off promptly during Conor's treatment. He's messed up goods. But, it was nice to pretend he wasn't for one night.

"Yeah? Well, if you want normal then...then I think you're a stalker." Callie blurted causing the older teen to stare at her in mild yet amused confusion. He smiles. "I mean, how the hell did you know to come to this park? Of all the parks in Virginia? It's creepy."

Sean raises his eyebrows. "Me creepy? I think it's way creepier lurking around at a park."

"Whatever, Herron." The blonde teenager rolls her eyes with a smirk.

"You feel like hanging out sometime?" Sean asked suddenly. Callie glances over at him as though she's a little intrigued by his offer. A ghost of a grin forms and she nods causing Sean to smile back. However, their moment is slightly ruined when Maeve leaps on top of her brother.

"Come play with us, Seanie." She demanded stamping her foot after her brother stays put. "You said you would. So you hafta or else I'll tell mommy and she'll make you eat a million green beans and go to bed super early and you'll miss Jessie."

Her brother pretends to look horrified. "Well when you put it like that."

As if on cue, Finley is tugging on his other hand. Her gaze falls on Callie. They're learning in school about having to share and being the astute first grader she is; she goes over to Callie. "You play too. Henry says you can run real fast." There's a devious glint dancing in Finley's eyes.

The foster kid knows a challenge when she hears one. "Faster than you." That has Finley reeling and she takes off in a sprint causing Callie to immediately chase after the younger girl.

Sean chuckles to himself. There's something about Callie that isn't like any other girl he's ever met.