By the time Emily got home with the kids, Harlan was off the bus, and Mel was watching him and Jaylee in the main house. "Hey, Mel?"
"Yes, I'll watch the kids. I'm making snacks for them right now." Mel said, not turning around in the kitchen.
"You deserve a raise!" Emily called as she and Lola ran up the stairs.
Graiden had already built the papasan chair and the desk. He was currently working on the bookshelf. Emily looked to Lola, "Let's start helping build stuff, you and I can assemble the desk chair. It should be easy enough."
Emily was right, the chair was really easy, it was just the chair that popped onto the wheels. She looked at Lola, "Hold on, I think we need reinforcements for the decorations." Emily pulled out her phone and dialed a number by heart.
"Oracle of all-knowing, Penelope Garcia, at your service."
"Hey Pen, it's me!" Emily said happily.
"Emster! It's so good to hear from you! Today's been a drag! What's up?"
"Lola and I need help decorating her room, do you think you can get Tara to come too? A girl's night? There will be wine involved." Emily bribed.
"Baby, you had me at decorating!" Pen joked, "We're all almost done at the office. I'll let the girls know."
"Cool, see you soon Pen!" Emily smiled into the phone.
"Was that the quirky tech girl that works with Jen?" Lola asked.
"Yeah."
"Cool, I liked her." The teen smiled.
"Everyone does, now let's try and organize your school stuff, while slow-poke over there finishes building." Emily joked, earning a chunk of Styrofoam being thrown her way.
By the time they unwrapped and sorted everything out, Emily heard laughter float up the halls from the front door. Penelope and Tara were the first to the room, "Hey guys!" Emily beamed.
"Alright, let's see what you got." Penelope said, diving in to snoop through all the bags.
Emily looked to Tara while Penelope ogled, "Where's Jen?"
"Greeting the kids and talking with Melissa about dinner." Tara said before plopping on the bed with Emily and Lola. "I heard Ellie's birthday is coming up?"
Emily sighed, "Yeah, March 10th. My mother is already trying to plan a big event. I think we're just going to invite the kids from her school, get a couple bouncy castles, and have it here."
Tara laughed, "And what does your mother want?"
JJ leaned against the door frame, "A gala." She joked. Then she glared at her wife, who gulped at the look, "Emily? A word?"
"Yes, dear." Emily said before standing quickly and meeting her wife in their room, closing the door behind her.
"What did you get Lola?" She asked sternly.
"Well I told you we were going to redecorate her room." Emily said lamely.
"You know that's not what I meant. You know I have access to our financial records."
"Yes, okay. Well, you see, I got Lola a gift for every honors class she made it into." Emily said nervously.
"How many honors classes did she get into? And, what did you get for each class?" Man, if looks could kill, Emily would have died, been revived, and murdered again.
"Okay, for Honors English she got the stereo, for Honors Bio she got a polaroid camera, for Honors World History, she got my old laptop, I got a new one, for the math class above her grade level, Algebra II, she got a phone, and then she also made the top audition choir so I got her an iTunes subscription." Emily finished quickly.
"You got her a phone?!" JJ growled.
"Yes, but I explained the rules to her and she's a teen, it's important for them to socialize." Emily explained.
"What did you say the rules were?"
"She could only use it to talk to people she knew, no internet creeps, when we call, she answers, and when we tell her to put it away, it goes away. We also have the right to take it away at any indiscretion, so really, I just gave us leverage."
JJ sighed heavily, "Emily, no more shopping sprees without me, okay? I know you're an heiress, but if you spend like this every time one of the kids are sad, we will be broke by 60. Now, I'm going to get wine for us, Mel is making baked ziti. Let's go decorate."
Emily hugged JJ tightly, "I love you."
JJ squeezed tighter, "I love you too." As Emily started to pull away, she caught her, "Oh and one more thing," JJ whispered, "I get to top tonight." She growled into Emily's ear. Emily gulped, but nodded as they pulled away.
Emily retreated back into Lola's room. Lola was on her phone, "Hey, what are you doing?" Emily asked.
"I'm downloading music. Thank you for the iTunes. I love music so much; it means a lot."
"Of course, it was my pleasure." Emily paused, "Okay our next task is to get all your clothes away. There's a couple packages of hangers on the floor of the closet, go grab them."
As Emily and Lola sorted and put away the teen's clothes, they got the occasional, "oooh, that's cute," or "I love that!" from Tara and Penelope. Jennifer came back up with Mel, Jen had the wine, a sprite for Lola, and Mel had Lola's bed set and uniforms. Emily sectioned off a section of her closet for the uniforms. When all the clothes were put away, Graiden was finishing the last thing to put together, the organizing shelf.
"Alright, ladies! Time to get to work. Graiden? You are good to go, if we need to move anything, I think we can handle it. We're strong women." Emily smirked.
The group worked to put the bed against a different wall, then they changed the bedding to the new set. They put a dog bed on each side of the desk. With that done, they filled the desk drawers with extra writing utensils, and notepads. They added the cork board to the wall behind it, securing it well. They topped the desk with the lamp, some of the knick-knacks, the vanity mirror and the laptop. They filled the bookshelf with all the books Lola got, the rest of the knick-knacks, and a section for her camera stuff. Lola didn't have enough stuff to fill the organizing shelf, but Emily knew she really wanted a record player and the totes were the perfect size for vinyls. She thought that would also make a good birthday gift. They threw the throw pillows onto the bed and the chairs. They set up the stereo on the dresser. The last thing they did was decorate the walls with the stills, and the curtains.
Mel came in to let them know dinner was ready, "Hey, let me take a picture of you ladies!"
"Wait!" Lola called, "I want this to be the first picture on my board!"
Lola prepared the camera and instructed Melissa on how to use it. The women all held up their drinks in celebration, even Lola with her Sprite. The picture came out and Lola waited for it to develop before she pinned it to the board. She smiled and followed the women out to the dining room.
The rest of the night went great, dinner was delicious, the kids went down easy. Lola was up in her room figuring out all the cool things her phone could do. Emily and Jennifer were watching trashy TV in the living room when Lola came down.
"Emily?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah?"
"I think I started my period." Lola said quietly.
JJ and Emily both gave her their full attention at this. "Okay, uhm, is this the first time you've ever had it?" JJ asked.
"Yeah." She responded in a whisper.
"Okay, come on, Em. We have momming to do." JJ said determinedly.
JJ brought Lola to their bathroom, she ran a hot bath and turned the jets on. She added bubbles and lit some candles. "Okay, this will make your muscles feel amazing." As the bath filled Emily went to get some pajamas for the teen. "Did you get any blood on your clothes?"
"Yeah, but I already changed." Lola said, the way both women were treating it so casually wiped away any previous embarrassment.
"Okay," JJ grabbed something from the cabinet under the bathroom sink, "Follow me."
Emily stayed and watched the bath fill, making sure it didn't overflow.
"Okay," JJ started, "This is hydrogen peroxide. It will remove all the blood stains from your clothes. Then, rinse it in cold water and put it in the hamper. Do that and meet us back in the bathroom."
JJ was sitting with Emily in their bathroom. While Lola's room did have a bathroom, it only had a shower. Both women knew very well how much a hot bath could help, but with the jets? It would be heaven. Lola walked back in and Emily and JJ were laughing about something Penelope said.
JJ looked to her wife, "Okay, Em, time for a demonstration."
Emily finished her last gulp of wine and stood, she grabbed a pad from the cabinet and a pair of her own underwear, "So, you'll want to stick with pads for the first few periods you get. Just peel back the big sticker and apply it to the underwear here," She said demonstrating, "Then peel the stickers off these wing thingies and wrap them around the back, and boom! Full coverage."
JJ grabbed a tampon, "I'm going to show you how this works just so you know for when you think you're ready. You just insert the plastic applicator and push the plunger and you're good to go."
"Okay, seems easy." Lola shrugged.
"Yep, now take as long as you need in the bath, then when you're out apply the pad and you should be good for the night. If not, we already know how to remove blood stains." Emily reassured.
Emily and JJ went back to the living room. Emily was playing the piano softly, and JJ was reading.
Lola came back down after about thirty minutes. Emily looked up at her and smiled, not stopping her song, "All good?" She asked.
"Yep! You were right, that bath made muscles I didn't even realize were hurting feel better." Lola walked over to the piano, "Can you teach me how to play?"
"I'm not much of a teacher, but I've been thinking of getting Henry a tutor, do you want one too?" Emily asked, she continued the music from memory as she talked.
"Yeah! I would love that." Lola said back. Lola yawned and stretched out, "Well I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight Emily, night JJ."
"Goodnight, Lola." Emily called behind her.
"Sweet dreams." JJ said.
Thursday and Friday flew by, Jennifer was delighted to find out she had the weekend off. Saturday morning after breakfast, JJ found Lola playing with Henry and Ellie. JJ took a moment to smile at the scene, "Hey, Lola?"
"Yeah?" Lola said, turning to look at the blond woman.
"Do you want to run some soccer practice drills with me?" JJ asked hopefully.
Lola hopped up, "Yes! I haven't played in a while; I need to get back in shape if I have any chance to make the team."
JJ laughed at the teen's enthusiasm, "Okay, go change, and wear a jacket, it's still kind of chilly."
Lola moved to leave but stopped, "JJ? I don't have a jacket. Emily got me a winter coat, but I couldn't practice in that."
"Oh, I'll get you something, just put on some clothes you can work out in. I won't go easy on you. Plus, working out helps relieve," JJ gestured to her abdomen, "cramps."
Lola smiled, "Oh, cool! I'll be right back." Lola took off up the stairs.
JJ went to her own closet and fished out her old pair of soccer cleats. She found her old Penn State sports hoodie too. She met Lola back in the living room. JJ was carrying her old soccer ball under one arm and the jacket for Lola in the other.
JJ and Lola were giving each other their best, trying to get the ball in the other's small mesh net. Emily walked out with Ellie and Henry. While there wasn't much snow on the ground, it was still cold and muddy, so each kid had a poofy jacket on and rain boots on. Emily walked out just in time to see Lola slide into a kick, effectively avoiding JJ and scoring in one move.
Emily cheered for Lola, getting the attention of both athletes.
"What are you doing?" JJ asked, moseying towards her wife and youngest children.
"I thought I could start getting Henry comfortable on a horse, and I couldn't just let Ellie stay alone in the house. I'm going to start him on Jacques, she's calmer and is used to riding. Graiden is still working with Hiccup." Emily explained.
"You guys have horses?" Lola asked incredulously.
"Yeah, and some goats. The pasture is kind of tucked away, if you don't know where to look, and if they aren't in the pasture you wouldn't know. Want to come?" Emily opened the invite.
"Yeah! My grandparents used to have horses. I haven't seen one since I was six!" Lola beamed.
Emily loved how some of the simplest things could earn her that bright smile. JJ picked up Ellie, so she didn't have to trudge all the way there. When they got to the barn, JJ let her down. JJ and Ellie went to play with the goats immediately. Sometimes the horses could still scare her.
Emily strapped the tame horse into the saddle. When it all looked tight, Emily got Jacques into her halter so she could be led easily. She turned to Lola, "Hey, do you want to ride with Henry? It would be easier to help him stay put on this huge saddle."
"Yes!" Lola answered immediately. Emily helped Lola mount the horse before she lifted Henry to sit in front of her on the saddle. Both kids fit easily.
"Emily, be careful please." JJ called from the goat pen.
"I've got this. We're just going to walk around the pasture so they can get comfortable on the horse." The older woman assured.
Emily led the horse out and as promised just walked her around a couple times.
The rest of the weekend went smoothly. It was laid back, the most the family did was play soccer and swim together.
Monday came and Lola was up before Emily and JJ. She was nervous for her first day. "It'll be amazing." JJ told her.
When all the kids were ready, Lola handed her camera to JJ, "Can you take a picture of me, Henry and Ellie?"
JJ happily took the picture. JJ was the first out the door. After Emily arranged for Melissa to take Henry and Ellie to school, Emily got in the car with Lola. Emily made sure she could get Lola to school on her first day. Emily dropped her off but stopped the teen before she left the car.
"Have a good first day, Lola. Try to make friends and call me if you need anything." Emily said softly.
Lola wrapped her arms around Emily's neck, "Thank you, Emily."
Emily hugged her back. When Lola pulled away, Emily wiped a tear away, "Okay. Have fun today."
"You too." Lola said before shutting the door.
Emily waited until Lola got all the way into the school before pulling away.
JJ stopped by the house on her lunch and found Emily in the kitchen. "Hey, Emmy. What are you doing?" she asked curiously.
"Making bread." Emily responded casually.
"Bored?" JJ joked.
Emily groaned, "Oh my god! I'm so bored!" JJ laughed, "Why are you home?"
"I forgot some files. I don't have much time." JJ said.
"Okay, I'll keep making bread, I guess." Emily groaned.
"Why don't you call your mom? Or do some chores?" JJ suggested.
"The whole house has been cleaned, clothes are in the wash, the clothes that are done are already put away. I just can't keep staring at inventory reports all day."
JJ kissed her wife, "I'm sorry. Call your parents. Talk about Ellie's birthday, talk about Lola. Make dinner plans. Oh, also my parents plan to come down for her birthday because they missed Christmas."
"Yeah, I think I will call them." Emily said.
After Emily finished her bread, she did just that.
"Emmy, dear. It is so good to hear from you."
"Hey mom. I wanted to talk with you about Ellie's birthday." Emily began, "We were planning on getting a couple bouncy houses, invite her classmates, the BAU, you guys and JJ's parents are planning to come."
"That sounds lovely. Do you have a theme?"
"Uh, no. I don't know what a good theme would be."
"Well, what does she like?" Elizabeth asked, "Also think about adding a gift registry to the invite. It's rather convenient."
"I will think about it. Right now, she really likes rainbows. All the art she brings home has at least one rainbow."
"Well then just decorate with every color and some rainbow balloons or something and get her a confetti cake. I think she'd like that." Liz suggested.
"That's a good idea mom." Emily replied.
"Oh, Emily, don't act so surprised. I planned all your parties." Liz laughed.
"We should plan for a night for you and Dad to come over for dinner." Emily said, not even bothering to address the critique. "That way, you can formally meet Lola."
"That sounds wonderful. What day is best?"
"Tuesday and Thursday Henry has swimming, Friday is BAU family dinner, so I think Wednesday?" The ambassador's daughter suggested.
"We will be there."
Emily and her mother talked on the phone for much longer than Emily expected. By the time they were done, Emily was pulling the bread out of the oven before she had to pick up the kids.