AN: For those of y'all who haven't read it yet I have a new Criminal Minds story called Mid Fall.

For those who have read it and liked it there will hopefully be an update tonight.

:::::::

Spoilers: 3x02 In Name and Blood (minor and only in first two parts)

:::::::

Disclaimer: I do not own the quotes. They can be found pinned on my Pinterest page. (Link can be found at the bottom of chapter 18)

:::::::

"There's no place like home, except Grandma's house."

"Let me go in alone."

Those words made Rossi do a double take. "You are not going in alone."

"The boy's in the family room. He'll answer the door," Emily continued.

"And what if something goes wrong?" Rossi asked her.

Emily sighed; this was going to be harder than she thought. "I'm a capable agent with a gun. Once I'm in I'll signal for the team."

Rossi knew he wasn't going to be able to talk any sense into her. Emily was still as stubborn as she was when she was three.

"Be careful," He warned.

Emily turned back and shot him a smile.

:::::::

Pain, was all that registered in Emily's mind as she hit the floor. Dad was right, was her second thought as her vision blurred. Emily watched their unsub hand the gun to his son. She shook her head despite the pain shooting through it. At the same time she managed to signal for the team.

Even though Emily's world was in a haze she could feel Rossi's 'told you so look' as the team stormed the basement. Rossi pulled her to her feet and helped her to one of the ambulances waiting outside.

"Capable agent with a gun?" Rossi repeated to Emily as the EMT cleaned her head up.

"It's not my first time being hit in the head by a plank of wood," Emily told him, "though I was drunk the first time, so it hurt less."

"Do I even want to know?" Rossi asked with a raised brow.

"No, but I would like to know who did it. Most of that night is still fuzzy. I'm not quite sure how everything went down," Emily told him with a grin.

"You were wild in your teen years?" Rossi theorized.

"I was," Emily stated, "but that happened last year."

Rossi shook his head. "What are we gonna do with you?'

Emily smiled like a kid at Christmas.

:::::::

"You know you didn't have to do this," Mattea told Erin as she placed her bag by her feet.

"But I wanted to," Erin reassured her for the third time that day.

"Thank you again Ms. Strauss," Caitlin said hopping into the middle seat behind Mattea.

"You can call me Erin," She told her.

Normally Caitlin would ride her bike to school, and her brothers would take the bus to school. In the afternoon they would stay with the neighbor until Caitlin got home. When it rained Caitlin also took the bus or got a ride from her mom. On that particular day there were three strikes to the situation: it was scheduled to rain that afternoon, Caitlin's mom had to work, and the neighbor who watched the boys was out of town. Mattea would have taken them home but there was no way the six of them could fit in her little car.

"Nana took us to get ice cream!" Chloe announce from her spot in the back seats with Ace.

Ace was two years older than Chloe, and Parker was one year older than Elise.

"What kind did you get?" Caitlin asked turning back to look at them.

"I got rainbow!" Chloe replied kicking her legs in excitement.

"Me too," Ace said.

"I got chocolate," Parker said from the seat behind Erin.

Elise was sitting in between Caitlin and Parker. "Me too," She whispered.

"Was it good?" Mattea asked.

All the kids nodded.

"How was practice?" Erin asked addressing the older girls.

"I only got dropped twice which is a big improvement," Mattea replied.

"And the band finally worked out the major kinks in the whole set," Caitlin added.

"What's the theme this year?" Erin questioned further.

"Time," Mattea and Caitlin answered at the same time before erupting in a fit of giggles.

"It seems we have great timing," Caitlin joked.

:::::::

Erin watched as rain started falling on the windshield. "Our house is closer," She stated knowing they wouldn't make it to Emily's apartment before it started storming.

They'd already dropped Caitlin and her brothers off.

"That's fine," Mattea told her.

"Yay!" Chloe cheered.

Chloe was insistent that such a big house had to had secret rooms, and she was determined to find them.

Erin held the door open as the girls ran inside to avoid the rain. Once inside Elise began digging in her backpack and pulled out a book and flashlight. Erin watched curiously as she did this and walked down the hallway without a word.

"Where is she going?" Erin asked setting her keys and purse on the hall table.

Before Mattea could answer a clap of thunder lit up outside. Chloe ran to the couch and leaned on the back to look out the window.

"Elise has a thing about bad weather. She gets her flashlight and book then finds a bathroom or closet to sit in," Mattea explained.

"Is she okay to be alone?" Erin asked.

Mattea nodded. "She'll be okay."

"What would you guys like for dinner?" Erin asked changing the topic.

"Can we have pizza Taya," Chloe asked over her shoulder while she continued watching the storm.

Unlike Elise Chloe loved thunderstorms.

Erin glanced out the window. "I don't think they deliver in this kind of weather."

Mattea knew what her sister meant; she wanted her to make pizza. "This isn't my house," She reminded Chloe.

"Please," Chloe pleaded, "I like when you use Nonna's recipes. They're even better when you make them," She tried.

Mattea rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as a challenge to Chloe's statement. "Nonna Carmelina would probably say the same thing, but there's no way my food is better than her's."

"It's better than mommy's," Chloe shot back in defense of her statement about Mattea being a good cook.

Erin watched the interactions between the two sisters for a few moments before deciding to speak, "What do you need? I'm sure Dave has whatever it is already here."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Mattea asked letting her arms fall back to her sides.

"We have to eat something. Dave won't be home for another hour, and when he gets home he'll be too tired to cook anyways."

"It's pretty simple," Mattea told her letting in to her sister's request. "Nonna Carmelina taught me a lot of her easier things. She said the next time we visit she'll teach me how to make her famous spaghetti. It sounds simple, but trust me she makes all of it from scratch," She rambled further explaining.

Erin followed Mattea into the kitchen where she offered her assistance. "Who's Nonna Carmelina if you don't mind me asking?"

Mattea answered her question as she gathered ingredients, "Mom and I lived with her in Italy. I was too little to remember most of the earlier years. Nonna Carmelina taught me everything I know about cooking. She tried to teach Mom, but it always ended with a disaster to clean up."

"It's good to know that hasn't changed," Erin said with a smile.

"Yeah, Nonna Carmelina looked out for us when Mom was trying to find her footing. If you ask Mom she'll say she payed for her rent in college by waitressing, but it was really Nonna Carmelina putting money in Mom's account," Mattea spoke with a sad, nostalgic tone. She shifted to a lighter tone as she added, "Mom never did figure out how to be a waitress, and Dad helped when he could."

Erin had spent decades imagining what her daughter's life would have been like. Know that she did know she wasn't sure what to feel. Emily had turned out wonderful, but from what Erin could tell it hadn't been easy to get where she was.

"How long did y'all live with her?" Erin asked.

"About three years in Italy, and two in France. Her sister had moved to France with her husband, so when her husband got sick Nonna Carmelina went to help her with the kids. Mom wasn't going to go with her, but she insisted. Funny enough Dad's family got stationed in France for a year while we were there. After France Nonna Carmelina returned to Italy while Mom and I moved to the states where she went to college," Mattea rambled remembering those years of moving from country to country.

Erin was intrigued. "And after that?"

"Italy again for a year. That's when Nonna Carmelina started really teaching me how to cook. Then Mom got a job in London. We visited different places, but London was home until I was thirteen. We moved back to the states for about ten months then it was back to London," Mattea told her.

"Did you like moving?" Erin couldn't help but ask.

Mattea shrugged. "Sometimes I did, but I hated being asked where I was from. Italy felt like home, but I never felt right saying that's where I was from."

"And how do you like being back in the states?" Erin asked.

Mattea was so caught up in the conversation she forgot who she was talking to. "I'll love it if we stay."

Erin stopped what she was doing to turn to Mattea. "You think you'll leave?"

Mattea stopped her task too. "Mom says we won't, and I want to believe her but-"

"You've moved plenty of times before," Erin continued.

"Exactly," Mattea replied.

:::::::

"I've never met a strong person with an easy past."