Wow, what can I say? It's been awhile. I come up with ideas for this story all the time, but don't have a computer, only a tablet, and it's hard for me to write on it. I hope to get a new laptop soon, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently.


"Okay dad, no, it's not a problem, I'll take the Metro home," Lucy said, rolling her eyes at her friend as she spoke on her cellphone.

"I'm really sorry, Luce," Dave said from his office at the BAU. "But we have to get this guy to confess before the DA crumbles and offers him a plea bargain."

"Seriously dad, it's not a big deal; I wanted to hang out with some of my friends after school anyway."

Dave sighed in relief, knowing that his daughter would not be on her own after classes let out. "Okay, but be home by five o'clock. Love you Lucy."

"Love you too," Lucy said with a small smile and then pressed the 'end' button on her cell phone to end the call.

"Your dad?" Her friend Paige asked as they walked down the school hallway.

Lucy nodded. "He wanted to let me know that he can't pick me up today," she explained as she quickly stuffed her cell phone into her book bag before any teachers saw it and wrote her up for it. School rules prohibited cell phone usage during the school day, but it was a rule that Lucy frequently broke. However, now that she was trying to clean up her record for college applications, she tried harder to not get caught with it.

"How is it going with him?" Paige asked as they got to her locker.

"Better, but we're both going to be in trouble if we're late to history class. Hurry up!" Lucy said impatiently.

"Wow, this whole 'good Lucy' still takes some getting used to," Paige remarked as she dug through her messy locker for her history book.

While her friend searched for the elusive textbook, Lucy thought about the past few months with her dad. After the musical ended, she had kept up her end of the 'Mudgie' bargain and had gone to family counseling with him. It was weird at first…okay, even now, two months later, it was still weird to talk so openly with her dad about things, but it was helping their relationship, so she didn't fight it. They talked a lot about her mom and what she had done to her. She had gradually begun to accept that the years of physical and emotional abuse were not her fault, and she had come to terms with the fact that, outside of a courtroom setting, she would probably never see her mother again. Even though her mom had been horrible to her, Lucy still loved her and felt some loyalty toward her, and she had persuaded her dad not to press charges against her. He hadn't been happy about her request, but after talking to both her and the therapist, he relented but it was with the understanding that if Angela tried contacting her again, he would get the legal system involved. She had agreed with him, knowing it was the only way to keep her mother out of jail.

JJ and Henry had also become an even bigger part of their lives. Will had custody of Henry every other weekend, but on the weekends that JJ had him, they both usually stayed at their house or cabin. Even when JJ didn't have Henry, she usually spent the weekends with them, although she tried to keep one weekend free per month so that she and her dad could have father/daughter time. It was kind of weird having their undivided attention on the weekends Henry was with his dad, considering she had spent so much of her tween and teen years practically standing on her head to get it.

Henry also stayed at their place on Wednesday nights since JJ had a weekly girl's night with Penelope and Emily. Frequently, JJ would come to their house after her girl's night and spend the night since it was closer to the BAU and Henry was there.

Things between her and JJ still weren't 100% okay ever since the night of the 'big blowout' so many months ago, but they were nearly there. Lucy couldn't shake a few lingering doubts about the woman, but she chalked it up to misplaced feelings about her mother. The important thing was that JJ made her dad happier than she had ever seen him and, if she was honest, she really enjoyed being part of a family again. She had given up on the dream of her parents ever reconciling, especially now that she could barely say her mother's name without a murderous look passing across her father's face, so if she couldn't have that, what they had now with JJ and Henry was pretty nice.

"Luce? Earth to Lucy," Paige said, waving her hand in front of her face.

Lucy shook her head a little, as if to clear it. "Sorry Paige, I zoned out for a while."

"Well you'd better zone back in, since it looks like Mr. Rather is going to give a pop quiz," her friend said as they entered the classroom. Lucy just groaned as she took her assigned seat.

xxxxxxxxxx

Later that evening, JJ found herself locked in a passionate kiss with Dave and she would have let it go further than that, but there was a pot of spaghetti behind her that desperately needed draining. Not to mention her son was in the next room and she didn't relish the idea of him catching them doing anything more than what they were currently doing.

Unfortunately, Dave had other ideas. His hand was under her shirt and he was about to move it further north, when a young voice asked, "When is dinner going to be ready mommy?" JJ jumped away from Dave, as if he was on fire, and looked at her son guiltily as he stood at the entryway to the kitchen with Mudgie.

"It'll be ready in just a few minutes, sweetie. Why don't you go finish watching 'Doc McStuffins'?" She suggested.

"But mommy, I'm hungry nowwwww." His whining managed to stretch the last word into four syllables.

"We'll eat soon honey, I promise," JJ told him.

The little boy stared at her for a second and then turned and ran back into the living room to watch his TV show. The dog followed, nipping playfully at Henry's heels.

"Now, where were we," Dave said, once again wrapping his arms around the petite blonde in front of him, but he found himself blocked by her hands.

"You're going to finish the salad, while I drain the spaghetti noodles," she said firmly as she maneuvered around him and grabbed the pot off of the stove. "Will is taking Henry tonight, and the absolute last thing I need is for Henry to tell his father that he caught mommy and Dave kissing in the kitchen." Since Will was taking Henry for the night, they were having an early dinner and they were making his favorite; spaghetti and meatballs.

"How is that going?" Dave inquired as he ripped apart a head of lettuce. Henry usually stayed with Will every other weekend, and one or two nights per week, depending on both his and JJ's schedules. Because their separation was fairly amicable, JJ and Will never worked out a definitive visitation schedule and the loose one they currently had seemed to be working.

"Pretty well, actually," JJ told him. "When we first split up, I never thought we would be able to remain friends, but it has been fairly easy." As she tipped the pot of noodles into a large strainer in the sink, she glanced at the microwave clock. "Dinner's almost ready; should we wait for Lucy?" She knew Dave had asked his daughter to be home by five o'clock, but it was nearly six and she wasn't sure how much longer he wanted to wait.

Dave blew his breath out in an annoyed huff. "Dammit, she's almost an hour late with no phone call," he said as he shook his head. "It looks like she just bought herself a weekend of restriction." He understood that Lucy was used to functioning independently, but they had had many discussions over the months about punctuality and the need to let him know if she was going to be late. This was not the first time she would be grounded because of this, and he was fairly sure it wouldn't be the last.

"Well, maybe she'll be home soon," JJ said as she set the pot of noodles on the counter. "Let's eat and she can join us when she gets here."

Over an hour later, there was still no sign of the teenager. Will had just picked up Henry, and Dave and JJ were putting away the leftovers...actually, JJ was putting away the leftovers, and Dave was just swinging between anger and fear at his daughter's tardiness. "Screw the weekend," Dave fumed. "She's earned herself an entire week at home!"

"Did you try calling her?" JJ asked as she shut the refrigerator door.

Dave gave her an exasperated look. "Did I try calling her? Of course I did, numerous times in fact, and it goes to right to voice mail!" He snapped, and then realized he was angry with the wrong person. "Sorry Jen," he said, as he saw the evil eye she was shooting him. "You're not the one I'm angry with; I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"You're right," she agreed, nodding her head, "but since I know you're also worried about Lucy, I'll give you a pass this time."

Dave was about to thank her, when he heard the front door open. A moment later, Lucy entered the kitchen. "Where in the HELL have you been?" He asked loudly, just this side of yelling.

"I'm sorry," the teen said softly, looking at the floor. "I lost track of time."

"You lost track of time? You are over two hours late, young lady! There was no phone call, no text, no email, nothing!"

"I'm sorry," she repeated, looking up from the floor but still not meeting his eyes.

"Dammit Lucy, we've talked about this! I need to know where you are, and you need to be home on time! I was ten minutes away from calling Will and having an APB issued for you!" Lucy remained silent, but she looked as though she was near tears and it took some of the wind out of Dave's sails. "You're grounded for a week," he told her, calmer than before but still angry. "No phone, no TV, and internet only when you're using it for school. Got it?"

She nodded and silently pulled her iPhone from her pocket and set it on the kitchen counter.

"Have you eaten?" JJ asked kindly, feeling a kinship with the teen. Watching the exchange between her and Dave reminded her of her own tumultuous teen years.

Lucy shook her head, "No," she said in the same soft voice she had been using since she had walked through the door.

"Why don't you go put your backpack away while I heat up some leftovers for you?" JJ suggested.

"That sounds great, thanks JJ," Lucy responded and then left the room.

Dave shook his head after his daughter left the room. "Wow, I was expecting more of a fight from her, especially over her grounding. Plus she was really quiet. Something's wrong."

JJ nodded in agreement. "She's not herself tonight."

"I'll talk to her about it when she comes back down for her supper," Dave said.

Lucy, not knowing the adults in the house were talking about her, dropped her book bag off at the foot of her bed, cuddled with Mudgie for a minute, and then went into her bathroom. She turned the tap on in her sink and let the water run cold before she washed the makeup off of her face. Once it was clean, she studied her reflection for a moment and instantly knew that she needed to talk to her dad and JJ. Taking a deep breath, she left the safety of the room and made her way back down to the first floor and stepped into the kitchen.

Dave, who had been pouring a glass of milk for her, looked up as she entered the room. "Whoa, what happened to your face?" He asked as he saw the bruising around her right eye.

Both of Lucy's eyes filled with tears. "I saw mom today."