Hey, y'all! This is a short-ish, kinda fluffy chapter that I think some of you honestly might not be too fond of, but I'm happy with it. I think that the relationship between Emily, JJ, and Dani has grown enough for these milestones to happen in this chapter. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy it.

Peace and love

-C

Music quietly filled the empty space in Nate's car as he and Dani sat silently in front of Penelope's house. Nate flexed his hands where they rested on the steering wheel before dropping them into his lap. Dani had hardly said a word in the two hours that they had spent together. Her brow was knit together so tightly in thought that Nate wasn't sure it would ever go back to normal. He had tried everything from making her laugh to bringing up the way Mister Lawrence mispronounced most of what he taught them in French, trying to pull Dani out of her head, but to no avail. He could see in her eyes that her mind was racing at a thousand miles a minute. Every time Dani checked her phone, the most confusing mix of relief and disappointment that Nate had ever seen would wash over her features.

Nate looked over at Dani, taking in the way she was massaging her knuckles and flexing her hands in her lap. He had picked up on her nervous habit quickly, although she hadn't told him how she got the scars on her hands, and he hadn't gathered the nerve to ask.

"I'm sure they're just fine." Nate assured her softly. "They'll probably call soon."

Dani gave a noncommittal hum in response, not even bothering to redirect her attention from the setting sun in front of them. Nate knew that she hadn't even heard him, just like she hadn't all evening.

"Dani." He called, reaching across the interior of the Jeep and waving his hand in front of her face.

Dani's eyes snapped to him with a harsh glare before immediately softening upon seeing the open, worried expression on Nate's face. Nate gave Dani a lazy, lop-sided smile as she released a huff of a breath and sunk into her seat, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Have I told you about Charlie?" Nate inquired.

Dani turned her head to the side, resting it against the seat. She examined Nate's face for a moment before shaking her head ever so slightly. She stayed silent, inviting him to keep talking. Nate took a deep breath and cleared his throat as he ran a hand through his hair. After a moment, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He unfolded it silently and pulled out a small picture. With a shaky hand, he held it out to Dani. Carefully, Dani took the picture from him. It was of a young man with the same crystal-clear blue eyes as Nate. Dani was willing to bet that under his white, Marine uniform cap would be the same chestnut brown hair, buzzed down to a crew cut.

"My older brother, Charlie, was a Marine." Nate clarified, shifting his gaze to look out the windshield. "I worried about him every single day, just waiting for bad news, for three years."

"You're speaking in past tense." Dani stated, her voice barely above a whisper.

Nate nodded and set his jaw as he fought to control the emotion that had built up in his chest.

"He died six months ago."

Without even having to think about it, Dani reached across the center of the car and grabbed Nate's shaking hand, squeezing it comfortingly. Within a second, Nate squeezed her hand back gently.

"I'm so sorry, Nathan." Dani whispered.

Nate gave her a single-shouldered shrug as he directed his gaze back to her.

"I'm telling you now, because I really don't want you spending your whole life worrying about what might happen to your moms."

The strong, unwavering sincerity in Nate's voice settled deep into Dani's chest as she listened to him.

"I spent three years worrying about Charlie, and now that he's gone, I realize that he didn't want that. He was my best friend, and he was a hero, and I know that the last thing he would want is for me to be stuck in my head, picking apart any bad thing that could happen. He joined the Marines to fight for my family and I so we could live our lives, proud of who he was and what he was doing. Does that make sense?"

Tearfully, Dani nodded, and Nate gave her a crooked smile

"Your moms are heroes." Nate continued. "Be proud of that and cherish the weeks that they're home between cases. I guarantee that the last thing they want is for you to be sitting in my car, worrying about whether or not they're okay."

"You're right." Dani nodded. "They wouldn't want me in your car to begin with."

Laughter tumbled past Nate's lips and he rolled his eyes dramatically.

"JJ likes me, I think." He offered. "Emily? Not so much."

"They both like you." Dani corrected. "Emily isn't a fan of your motorcycle, but then again, neither am I."

"It's perfectly safe." Nate argued.

"Statistically, no its not." Dani countered.

Laughter quickly filled the space of the car and didn't die out for several moments. Once it did, Nate's eyes flickered down to where their hands stayed interlocked. Gently, Nate ran his thumb over the scars on Dani's knuckles. Dani's hand flinched at the unexpected contact, but much to her own surprise, she didn't pull away. Her eyes moved from their hands, to Nate's face, finding him looking down at her hand with concerned curiosity.

"How did you get these?" He inquired, running his thumb over the scars once more.

"Don't ask me that." Dani pleaded, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Why?"

"Because once I tell you, you'll run."

Nate's eyes moved up from their hands to Dani's eyes. His gaze was unwavering and strong, and it saw through every wall that Dani was attempting to throw up in that very second. Dani watched him carefully, waiting for anger or irritation, but it never came. When Nate finally spoke, his voice was soft and sure.

"Try me."

"Don! How's it goin', man?"

Dani practically skipped into the FBI headquarters after school. The team had finally gotten back from Texas around noon. Don looked up from his computer and muttered a hello to the grinning teen before waving her through. Excitedly, Dani went to the elevator and hit the button for the fifth floor.

As soon as the doors opened on the BAU floor, Dani slipped through, not even bothering to let them open all the way. Emily must have heard the elevator ding, because she looked up from her paperwork the second it did. A brilliant smile spread across her face as she stood from her desk. Dani ran across the bullpen, but just as she was about to enter Emily's open arms, a shot rang out and Emily stumbled backwards. A dark red, almost black spot appeared in the center of Emily's chest, contrasting against the stark white of her button-up shirt. Dani lunged forward, catching Emily just before she hit the floor.

"Mom!"

Easing Emily to the floor, Dani immediately pressed her hands to the rapidly growing blood stain.

"You're gonna be okay." Dani insisted, attempting to ignore the blood seeping through her fingers and onto the floor. "Help! Someone help me!"

She looked back, finding a masked figure with a gun standing a few feet away, laughing. The sound of the rest of the team talking caught Dani's attention, and her eyes moved to the bullpen entrance, where Derek was pushing the door open.

"Wait!" Dani screamed. "Gun!"

Derek's eyes flickered up to her, and just as his hand moved to the gun at his hip, several shots rang out. Derek, Reid, Penelope, and Hotch all fell to the floor while JJ and Rossi quickly drew their weapons and began firing. As bullets flew overhead, Dani threw herself over Emily. She waited until the shooting stopped and lifted her head. JJ was standing with her back to Dani, not moving.

"JJ?" Dani called out carefully.

JJ turned around slowly, revealing several rapidly growing blood stains. The scream that tore from Dani's throat echoed through the otherwise silent bullpen as JJ fell to the floor with the rest of the team. Sobbing and screaming for help, Dani looked back down at Emily, who lay under her, her eyes closed.

"Mom?" Dani sniffled, shaking Emily lightly.

When Emily's eyes didn't open, Dani shook her harder.

"Mom, wake up." She pleaded. "Wake up, please. I just got you back."

Realizing that there was nothing she could do; Dani pressed a lingering kiss to Emily's forehead and reluctantly pulled away. She quickly moved to JJ and looked over her body, unable to bring herself to touch her.

"JJ, please." She whimpered. "You're my mom, too. Please. I need you."

After no response from JJ, Dani went to every other member of the team, finding them all dead. She let out a primal, devasted scream and slammed her fists against the floor before folding into herself and resting her head on the floor, covering her head with her hands.

"Dani…"

Dani looked around the bullpen, searching for the source of the voice calling her name.

"Mom?"

She sprinted back to Emily where Emily was, only to find her gone. There was no blood on the carpet, or any evidence that the agent had just been laying there, dead. Dani looked down at her hands and found them free of blood. She whipped around to find the rest of the team gone.

"Dani! Wake up, honey."

Dani shot straight up in bed with a gasp, drenched in sweat, with tears streaming down her face. Emily quickly turned on the lamp on Dani's bedside table and began running her hand through Dani's hair.

"Breathe." She soothed. "You're okay. It was just a dream."

Dani gasped for air as she came to the realization that she was back in her room, and both Emily and JJ were sitting on her bed in front of her. Catching both Emily and JJ off guard, Dani's eyes widened in fear and she immediately pressed her hands to Emily's chest and shoulders, searching for injury before moving to JJ and doing the same. After finding that both of them were free of injury she wrapped one arm around both of them and pulled them into a hug before breaking down into violent sobs.

"We're here." JJ whispered. "We're right here."

After several long minutes, Dani pulled away from the embrace, but kept each hand clutching both of Emily and JJ's pajama shirts.

"Do you want to talk about it?" JJ asked as she reached out and wiped the tears away from Dani's face.

Silently, Dani shook her head.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" Emily proposed.

"No!" Dani pleaded. "I can't. Please, Mom. Don't make me."

"Okay, okay." Emily shushed, pulling the trembling girl into another hug. "You don't have to."

For a few moments, Emily simply rocked back and forth slowly while Dani clung to her. JJ started to get up from the bed in order to go turn the light on, but Dani's hand shot out with lightning speed and pulled her back down onto the bed.

"Don't leave."

JJ and Emily shared a worried, heartbroken glance over the top of Dani's head as Emily pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"We're not going anywhere."

The next morning, Dani ate her breakfast in silence with her head propped up on her hand, attempting to stay awake. Emily and JJ watched her carefully from the other side of the counter, clutching their third cups of coffee in their hands. After Dani's head nearly dropped onto the counter a fourth time, Emily sighed and shook her head.

"Why don't you stay home from school today, love." She offered. "You're exhausted."

Dani silently shook her head.

"I can cancel your appointment with Doctor Stone after school." JJ added.

Again, Dani shook her head silently.

"Dani…" Emily sighed, setting her coffee cup down on the counter. "Say something, please."

Dani contemplatively straightened up and placed her spoon back into her basically untouched bowl of cereal. As she took a deep breath, she leaned back into her chair. She looked at both Emily and JJ without any emotion and folded her hands in her lap, as if she was about to make a business proposal.

"I want to change my last name."

Emily's jaw slackened and her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Both she and JJ stared at Dani for a second, trying to figure out if that was really what she had just said.

"Or not…" Dani mumbled, immediately shutting down and going back to pushing her cereal around the bowl.

"Wait!" Emily blurted, finally coming to her senses. "No, sweetheart. If that's what you want to do, we can make it happen. I just- what makes you want to change it all of a sudden?"

"It doesn't make any sense for me to keep Moretti as my last name. It's just a reminder of the worst year of my life. Plus, I'm a Prentiss now, right?"

Dani hopefully lifted her gaze to Emily, who was smiling at her warmly.

"Absolutely." Emily nodded. "You're a Prentiss now."

For the first time all morning, Dani smiled, and it reached her eyes. Just as she was about to say something, the sound of Nate's car horn filtered into the house. Dani let out a huff and pushed herself off of her chair. Once her cereal bowl was in the sink and rinsed, she grabbed her backpack and threw it over one shoulder.

"I'll have Nathan drop me off at HQ for my appointment." She announced.

"Sounds good." JJ smiled. "We'll see you then."

Dani took a step towards Emily but stopped herself for a moment. Emily and JJ watched as Dani gathered up the nerve to step forward and press a quick kiss to Emily's cheek.

"Bye, Mom."

Quickly, Dani weaved around Emily and did the same to JJ.

"Bye, Mama."

JJ's eyes widened with shock and her face reddened immediately. Dani noticed, and fear washed over her features, worried that she had done something wrong.

"Was that not…can I not- I mean, we haven't- "

JJ effectively cut Dani's stammering off by pulling her into a crushing hug.

"Have a good day, love." She said softly. "We love you."

Dani pulled away from the hug with a brilliant, teary smile and nodded before running towards the door. They heard her shoes squeak on the hardwood as she stopped and turned back around. A second later, she appeared from around the corner again.

"I love you guys, too."

Without another word, Dani took off towards the door. Once they heard the door close, and Nate's Jeep pull out of the driveway, Emily turned to JJ with wide eyes.

"Did that just- "JJ started.

"Yeah." Emily nodded. "Yeah, it did."

Joyous laughter tumbled from JJ's lips and Emily smiled brilliantly. Emily surged across the kitchen and pulled JJ into her arms, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around.

"We're officially moms." JJ breathed before kissing Emily.

Emily kissed JJ back with everything she had and didn't pull away until her lungs were screaming for air. With one last, quick kiss, Emily smiled and nodded her head.

"We're officially moms."

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for reading.