CHAPTER 127

WELCOME TO THE PINK LADIES CLUB

After a very late Sunday lunch at Emily's home, with everyone being beyond tipsy, it was time to relax. Tara drove Garcia back home and soon after them, Luke left as well. And then it was just Emily and Angela.

"May I, please, take a shower now?" Angie asked politely.

Emily stared her up and down. She was only 23, how the Hell was she so cordial and polite when she spoke? She sometimes used words and phrases that people twice her age did not use. Despite the sporty clothes and the messy hair, Angela looked and behaved like a Socialite. She smiled brightly when she spoke to people, she either ignored rude remarks or she shut them down in with a witty comeback, but never rude.

"Yes, your Royal Highness, may." Emily replied, mirroring Angie's smile.

"Actually, you just downgraded me from the true Queen that I am. 'Your Royal Highness' is actually used to address any other member of the Royal Family, apart from the Queen herself." Angela stated.

"I was just-…" Emily tried to defend herself, but Angie was quick enough to continue speaking and not let anyone interrupt her.

Emily could not help but feel proud that Angela stood her ground this well.

"I was not done talking!" Angie stated, taking a deep breath before she continued. "Typically, female members of the family are referred to as 'Your Highness' or 'Ma'am'. In a similar manner, male members of the Royal Family are to be referred to as 'Your Royal Highness' or 'Sir'."

"But…they refer to the Queen as 'Your Royal Highness'…" Emily stated in confusion.

"That shall be partially correct! She used to be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York until her father, George VI, became king in 1936. After that, it's 'Your Majesty'."

"Okay, nerd…" Emily messed with Angie's hair a little. "You don't even like the Queen. Now, get ready for that shower."

"I don't. But I like to think of myself as a fierce Queen of a different type." Angie flipped her hair. Why yes, she was indeed a fierce Queen.

"Here, I got you a few things…" Emily said, walking Angie to the bathroom and showing her a basket, full of brand new stuff.

A fluffy new bathrobe in light pink and matching hand and face towels, fuzzy socks for around the house after the shower, caramel scented shower gel, vanilla and coffee body scrub, toothbrush and toothpaste, pink loofah, bathroom slippers, shampoo and conditioner set and a shower cap with pink flamingos. On the side, there was a small package with a cute headband and a few face masks, one hair mask and one of those cute foot masks in the form of socks, caramel scented, of course. Then there was a really nice lip balm, a set of night and day moisturizing face creams and a pale pink lipstick.

"Woah…that's more than what I own, at the Academy!" Angie exclaimed, curiously going through everything.

"Feel free to take them with you…" Emily licked her lips, trying to come off casual.

"…or leave them here…." She added shyly.

Angie's eyes darted to Emily's face. Who was she trying to fool? It was obvious how much she enjoyed having the girl stay over.

"So, we've reached the point in our relationship where I have stuff at your place?" It was just so easy to toy with Emily Prentiss and Angie knew exactly what to say.

"Uh, I mean…have we?" Emily replied with a question.

"I dunno…wouldn't French Daddy be jealous?"

"Eww, do not call him that!" Each time Emily heard Angie call him that, she felt beyond uncomfortable.

"Fine then. What's his name?"

"No!"

"No is a very unique name…" Angie laughed. "Does he have a sibling, named Yes? Or better yet – doesn't it get confusing when you're saying his name in bed and you go No, No, No?"

"Don't be smart with me, young lady. And it's not a name that I'm saying over and over in be-…ugh, stop trying to make me tell you things!" Emily cut herself off when she realized how sneaky Angela had been.

"I'm smart with everyone. I'm just a smart girl, can't help it." Angie kept on smirking until she saw Emily roll her eyes. This had been her goal all along.

There was a certain mastery to the eye rolling process and it filled Angie's heart with joy when Emily Prentiss successfully completed the process, marking very important little detail with surgical precision. Her eye rolls were the best.

"What?" Emily scoffed. She only loved teasing when she was on the giving end, not the receiving end.

"It's just…Emily Prentiss looks all kinds of cute when she rolls her eyes. She's full of snark and quite frankly, she's astringently amusing!"

"Who even speaks like that?" Once again Emily found herself doubting everything she ever knew about young people.

Astringently. Really? Never in her life had Emily ever heard anyone use that word and she only knew it because of her SAT prep, many years ago.

It took Angie a second and a half to push Emily out of the bathroom and to lock the door. She was determined to have the best shower ever, since the bathrooms in the Academy were minuscule and the water was almost always on the verge of being cold.

Emily walked away, once again rolling her eyes. She busied herself by cleaning up the kitchen after the lunch. Granted, everything was take away, but she was left with over a dozen empty boxes to throw away and she had to wipe the table because Tara ate like a child and there were sauce stains all over the side of the table, where she had sat.

Halfway through cleaning, her phone buzzed. She intended on ignoring it and finishing up her grown-up chores, when she realized it was time to feel young again, just by glancing at who had sent her a text message.

"How about this time? It's nine o'clock in the evening for me. Hey, how are you?"

Emily smiled instantly. Richard had not forgotten their little arrangement to try and find a good time to text.

"Hey! It's actually perfect. I just had some of my colleagues over for lunch and now I'm cleaning up a bit. It's around three o'clock here. What are you up to? How was your weekend?" She texted him back, using only two fingers to type, trying not to make her phone all greasy.

The process of cleaning up now had to be sped up, so while she waited for his reply, she ran across the kitchen a few times, throwing away the trash and placing the chairs in order, so that she could wash her hands and relax back on the couch, giving Richard more of her attention.

"Went to a Charity Gala last night, got a little tipsy, met a supermodel, went to an after-party…"

She read his text, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Then I guess it's a good thing I canceled my flight for next weekend…" She texted back.

It made him smile. Apparently, she was a woman who could take a joke and get on with it. He was beyond thrilled about that, however, he did not want to let this joke go any further.

"Ah, it was true until (and including!) the tipsy part, hahaha! I have to say - the place really was full of supermodels. But you should know I only have eyes for you, ma Chérie. How was your weekend?"

Emily felt like she was melting. What was it with this man and those texts? They were so sweet, she really did feel like a teenager and that was refreshing.

"Jeeeeeesus, the water pressure here is oh my God, so goooooooooooooooood!" Angie yelled out from the bathroom, loudly enjoying a hot shower, with actual running water, not the spurting shower head she had back at the Academy.

Emily laughed out loud at the girl's randomness. This was the best Sunday she'd had in a long time – she got drunk with half of her team, Angie was keeping her company and French Daddy was texting her.

"Oh my God, I did not just refer to him as that!" Emily muttered to herself, realizing that she had subconsciously called Richard the name that Angie had come up with. That was simply disturbing and she hoped she'd never subconsciously blurt it out, when he was around.

"Yesterday was boring. I was at the gym all morning and then had lunch with a friend (not that I have to clarify, but it was a female). Then I had to stop by my office for a couple of hours of paperwork, after which I did some grocery shopping and I ended up at home, reading a book. Oh my God, it sounds so lame when I type it all out. I sound like a boring old lady…"

Emily hit Send before she'd re-consider her words. He had asked her about her weekend and this was what she typed out first, hence this was the truth and she didn't need to go back and edit the crap out of it until she'd sound 'cool'.

"Don't worry, next weekend would be much…much more different! I was meaning to ask you, what do you want to do around the city? Is there anywhere you want to go? Anything in particular you want to see? Any foods you're curious about?"

Oh, was he planning something? How sweet of him. Emily touched her cheek, wondering if she was blushing.

"Nothing specific, really. I just want to be with you and whatever happens, happens. Guess we'll plan as the day goes. Or surprise me? As you wish. I'm extremely low maintenance, keep that in mind before you go crazy with the planning, okay? I really mean that a pizza slice at the park would literally be the perfect lunch for me. Not a fan of huge fancy restaurants."

Emily replied, skillfully masking up her attempt of letting him know that she did not enjoy the lavish lifestyle. She had been brought into this world and she had grown up around excessive amounts of money. She hated it. All she had ever wanted was to be normal and to feel normal. And given how she knew that Richard was quite the wealthy man, she needed to let him know that she was nothing like the previous girls he had dated. She did not want anything that could be bought with money. It's not what she needed from him.

"Okay then, lunch is sorted. How about dessert?"

He found himself grinning as he wrote this text. Short, but meaningful.

As Emily read it, she was now sure she was blushing.

"How about you leave the dessert for me to handle?

She texted back, adding a winking emoji, as if her words had not been transparent enough.

"No, don't you say that or I'll find myself wanting to skip the meal itself. Come on now, don't do this to me, Emily."

He had gulped twice, while reading her text. After that once specific night they had spent together, he knew she was a wild one, insatiable even. So, to have her play with his imagination like that was making his head spin.

"What are you having for dinner tonight? I just had some rice with veggies for lunch, but honestly I didn't care much, as I was tipsy way before that. Don't ask, it's a Sunday tradition with my team. We like wine after breakfast, okay? Judge away, haha."

"I just got my delivery, I'm having pizza tonight. And yes, I ordered it before you started raving about pizza earlier, so don't you say I'm only having it because you spoke about it. And come on, I'm French! I could never judge someone about wine! I mean, okay…yeah, I can't judge them about drinking wine, but I reserve my right to judge their choice of wine…What the Hell were you thinking with that bottle of red, the day we met? It was the easiest way to set yourself up for a headache! And don't get me started on what canapé you paired it with! Emily, you need a crash course on wine and sides, from a real French man!"

Emily laughed out loud, reading his reply. He had some nerve, calling her out like that. Emily was a known wine connoisseur…or so she believed.

"In my defense, that's what I found at the supermarket. It was also discounted, so yeah. Plus, I enjoyed it, so I guess the headache was worth it. Also, I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two, from a real French man…"

She shook her head when she hit Send. Did that sound a bit too desperate? Or was it cute? How could she tell? Maybe it was too desperate…

"Shit!" She muttered to herself, reaching for her phone with the intention of deleting this message quickly. Sadly, he had already read it.

"Uh, I hate to do this, but I have to make a work-related call now, so we have to cut this short. Sorry, it's something urgent that cannot wait. Have a good afternoon and next time you want to buy wine, text me from the store, so I can guide you, okay? Talk to you soon, Emily."

His text made her frown, but also came as a relief. Angie was bound to get out of the shower, sooner or later, and the last thing Emily wanted was for this girl to pry on her private conversations or to come up with some elaborate scheme to distract her for long enough so that she'd be able to read the entire conversation with Richard.

"No problem at all. I hope you manage to enjoy your pizza, despite the call. Talk to you soon and goodnight, for later…you know, for when you go to bed."

She texted back quickly before throwing her burner phone back in the kitchen drawer, underneath the cutlery. She had figured it was the safest place to hide it, for when her colleagues would be over at her house. Also, she didn't want Angela reading any of that conversation and given how they just ate, it was safe to say the girl wouldn't touch that drawer for the next few hours.

For the next five minutes Emily tried to tidy up a few things that she had left scattered around. There was a cardigan on the couch and she realized it wasn't even hers, but probably Tara's, from earlier. Then there was an empty vase just sitting on the entrance table, next to the small tray where Emily kept her keys and stuff to grab on her way out. And then there were the six pairs of shoes, just laying around in the hallway. Those needed to be tucked back into the shoe storage, where she wouldn't have to see them all the time, nor trip over them on a regular basis.

"Wow and I thought I was a neat freak!" Angie's voice startled Emily, just when she was putting the last pair of shoes back in its place, stuffing it real good and making sure the door won't pop open, if it even managed to get closed anyways.

Emily Prentiss had a lot of problems. Buying too many shoes was definitely one of them.

"Oh my God, you look like a pink polar bear with this thing!" Emily chuckled, turning around and finding a huge, fluffy, human-shaped thing standing behind her.

"I know! It's awesome. Thank you so much for all the things you bought for me. You didn't really have to…" Angie said with a huge smile, running her hands up and down her new bathrobe and adoring it's softness.

"Oh, please. I was getting stuff for myself and I was like - why not, you know?" Emily waved it off.

Truth was, she had been to five different stores on Saturday, making sure she'd pick out the right things - ones that Angie would actually like, as opposed to just buying whatever shower and cosmetics stuff was available at the first shop she went to.

"Also, your shower is insane! Best shower I've had in a long time." Angie added, on her way to the guest room where she was clearly supposed to stay for the night.

Emily followed her, knowing what was about to happen next.

Emily's everyday work clothes were kept in the wardrobe in her own room, while the fancier things she owned were safely tucked away in the guest room wardrobe, as she reached out for them less often.

"Yes, you can borrow my clothes. No, you can't borrow any of my dresses." Emily stated, standing by the door, watching Angie clutch onto the bathrobe, realizing that she only had the sports attire she had come to Emily's place with and she wasn't keen on putting it back on after a shower.

"Ugh, you just had to ruin the fun…" Angie rolled her eyes jokingly, walking over to Emily's room instead and opening the casual wear wardrobe.

Emily could not help but notice that eye roll. It made her smile, but she didn't dare tell Angela what was going through her mind, at that moment. Some things were better left unspoken.

"Can I…"

"No, you can't make any alterations to my clothes. That includes, but is not limited to: ripping, shortening, burning, poking holes, tying, cropping , tie dyeing and so much more." Emily cringed at the thought of all that happening.

Then again, she wasn't even attached to her clothes, so why would she even care?

"Ah, you know what? Do whatever you want. Just don't touch my formal dresses, please." She corrected herself and let Angie pick her clothes and get dressed in privacy, as she waited in the living room area.

Ten minutes later, Angie walked out with a pair of shorts that Emily sometimes used at the gym, and a pink shirt that Emily had tucked away in the secret drawer of her wardrobe.

The shirt looked really small, even on Angela's slim body. It almost looked like it belonged to a child and it most certainly was not Emily's style. Then, why would she even have it?

"You look…" Emily trailed off. She could end that sentence in so many different ways, but she decided not to.

Angie just smiled and sat down next to her, on the same couch where she had earlier sat on, next to Luke.

"Can we watch a Musical?" She asked, her eyes darting towards the DVD stand next to the TV.

"Sure, choose anything you want. I'll go get us something sweet." Emily remembered having some ice cream in the freezer and she quickly made two bowls, adding whatever fresh fruit she found in her fridge, plus some colorful sprinkles on top, until it looked like every kid's dream come true.

"Wow!" Angie gasped when Emily returned to the couch and handed her one of the bowls.

"Grease? Again? How many times have you seen it?" Emily laughed, noticing what Angie had chosen to watch.

"It's my favorite!" Angie whined a little. She really wanted to see it again.

"Alright then, there's just one thing missing…" Emily then disappeared for a minute and came out of her room with a gift box in one hand, while hiding something behind her back with the other hand.

"For me? Oh, you're spoiling me. Stahhhp!" Angie took the box and admired how neatly it had been wrapped.

"Oh, I didn't do this. That's how it came from the shop. I wish I could take credit for those mad wrapping skills. I did, however, put that tacky bow on top, so I guess that should count for something…" Emily laughed.

She had also been the one to draw that sloppy uneven heart on the box, but she chose not to tell Angela about it.

Angie knew it, anyway. Emily had a very specific way of screwing up a simple figure, such as a heart. Angela would always be able to pick out which heart Emily had drawn, even out of hundred ones. She just knew, she had a way of figuring it out instantly. And it was cute that Emily had added this little detail, but had not bragged about doing so. This added more emotional value to whatever gift Angela would soon find inside the box.

"Holy sh-…" Angie gasped loudly when she opened the box and, underneath tons of white and pink wrapping paper, her gift was revealed.

"Is that yours?" Angie asked, brushing her fingers against the fabric of what looked like it would be a silk robe. Angie knew exactly what it was.

She wouldn't put it past Emily if she had given her the one she had. After all, Angie's new favorite mug read PRENTISS, too. Apparently, Emily was willing to give her whatever it was, even things that were clearly meant for her and personalized with her own name.

"Nope. This one is mine." Emily pulled an identical robe from behind her back and put it on.

A second later Angie was up on her feet, trying it on. She twirled around happily, glancing over towards Emily, as if she was just a little girl who was asking for her parent's approval.

"Perfect fit, darling! Welcome to the Pink Ladies Club!" Emily felt like such a dork to even say it out loud, but the girls in Grease called themselves The Pink Ladies, so that was how the BAU girls referred to themselves too, when wearing those robes.

She had seen the way Angie had been eyeing that pink robe, each time she had seen the photo of it on Emily's phone screen when one of the girls called her. It was about time Angie got her own matching robe.

"Wait, does it have my name on the back?" Angie remembered, walking to the mirror and realizing that HUNTER was written on the back, in the same shiny rhinestones as Emily's robe.

"This is so awesome!" Angie felt like a kid.

Granted, she had a very free-spirited way of expressing herself already and she sometimes could not contain her emotions, just like a child, but this time it was different.

"Are the other girls okay with it?" She asked, biting her lip.

Of course she had been in love with this robe ever since she had seen it on Emily's caller ID photo, but she didn't want to interfere and to invite herself over to what sounded like a mega exclusive club…or at least that was how it felt.

"Yes. I asked Garcia to order you an identical one, from the website that customized ours. Sorry it took this long to give it to you, but the shipping was a mess and they got my address wrong. Long story. It's all yours now." Emily looked Angie up and down.

The girl looked thirteen, with all the pink and with that silly childish smile on her face, while still twirling around. Who knew that just a simple robe would make her so happy?

Then Emily drew a parallel between the two of them. She had literally just told Richard that she liked small things. She wasn't a fan of huge, expensive gifts. Angie seemed to be just the same.

"Come on, we're ready to watch Grease now, before our ice cream melts into a soup." Emily urged her and they sat back on the couch.

Ten minutes into the Musical and she could see Angie shivering. Maybe shorts were not the best choice of clothing. She was, at least, wearing her new fuzzy socks.

With one hand, Emily grabbed one of the throw blankets and placed it over Angie, so that her feet would be warm, before she threw the other blanket over herself.

Time seemed to fly after that. Angie was busy eating her ice cream and watching the Musical while Emily just watched her. And God, she was beautiful. For as long as the Musical lasted, Angela was just a normal 23 year old girl, smiling and singing along with her favorite songs, switching between the original in English and the official translation in French. She looked so peaceful, so happy…so normal.

"Ooh, turn the AC on, girl. The car scene is coming up and it's getting hoooottttt in here. Oh, hello boys!" Angie chuckled, poking Emily with one hand.

She loved that scene with all the boys dancing around the car. She hated cars, but that was surely not what she was looking at, during that scene.

Emily had lost track of time. It felt like they had just sat down five minutes ago, when the DVD let them know they were halfway through. How was it already half over? She hadn't seen much of it, as she had been busy over-analyzing Angie's every breath, every smile, every small movement.

"Can we watch it again, from the start!?" Angie asked, with the enthusiasm of a five year old with a sugar rush.

"Oh, forget it!" Emily sighed, hitting the Pause button.

Yes, Emily hadn't looked at the screen much, but she already knew every detail by heart. She distinctly remembered a time in her life when she'd sit in her living room, with someone by her side, poking at her ribs and urging her to watch it again and again. Those were some good memories and Angie had just brought them back to Emily.

"Are you okay?" Angie whispered, as she finally turned sideways and caught a glimpse of Emily, brushing a lonely tear from underneath her right eye.

Emily was known to be good with words. She was good at improvising important work-related speeches, she was good with crowds and with one-on-one conversations, especially with the most dangerous people in the world. She had a silver tongue, she knew how to use words to her advantage. She also knew how to get away from a situation, using nothing but words. It had been one too many times that she had found herself negotiating for her life, or the life of someone else, armed just with her words.

Full of confidence, she opened her mouth to reply to Angie with some lie. Denial. This was all Emily Prentiss knew.

Surprisingly, no words came out. Not even a sound came out when she inhaled sharply. She was mute.

Angie saw how Emily's lower lip quivered and she knew what was to be expected next. Each time Angie's own lip quivered that way, she was usually overwhelmed by the powerful desire to cry her heart out. And yet, she didn't want Emily to be upset.

While contemplating on how to proceed with Emily, Angie stood still.

Seconds later, she felt Emily's hands wrapping around her.

"I'm sorry. I know you need time and space, but…I just, I can't…" Emily whispered in Angie's ear while squeezing her so tight that she was sure she was going to break in her arms.

This time it was Angie's lip that quivered, but she was too stubborn to let herself cry. She sucked it up, like many times before.

"It's good for me. I've been doing well." Angie whispered back. She had requested time and space from multiple people and she had received it. Ultimately, this had been a good decision and she was feeling stronger now, happier even.

"I'm getting there…" She added and Emily knew exactly what final destination Angie was referring to. Happiness. Truthfulness.

"I just want you to be happy." Emily loosened her grip, but didn't yet fully let go.

"I am. Emily Prentiss makes me happy, okay? It's been good getting to know her better. It's good…it's a good thing, okay?" Angie kept on repeating.

"I can't even imagine what you're going through…all alone…" Emily sighed. It must have been extremely hard for Angela, to fight her own daemons.

"I'm okay. I'm a tough girl. I can handle myself, I've been brought up well. And I've read way too many books on psychology, to know how to handle a situation, as delicate as…well…this one…" Angie came off truthful.

Emily wondered if that was a bluff. How was this girl so incredibly strong? How did she manage to never cry? Emily herself was an emotional mess at times and she'd shed a tear or two, on occasion. It was her way of relieving the stress from her everyday job. Well, crying and wine, they both helped.

"I'd like to leave them here, if that's okay…" Angie's words came out of nowhere, in no context.

"The shower stuff." She smirked after giving Emily a few seconds to wonder what the heck she meant.

"It's more than okay. My house is always open for you." Emily smiled and finally moved back. She didn't want to smother the girl.

"You mean your home?" Angie corrected.

"No. I mean my house, well, or rather apartment. It's not really a home until a family lives in it." Emily defended her choice of words.

"Well, it will be a home, eventually." Angie looked around, realizing why Emily never got to decorating this place a little more.

"Yeah?" Emily asked, her voice full of hope.

"Oh, yeah!" Angie held her hand up and let it brush another small tear from Emily's cheek.

It was comforting - just a small gesture, but it gave Emily huge hope.

Angie hit the Play button, letting the second half of the DVD start. As they both got lost in the Musical, silence followed. It had kind of become their thing – dropping some emotional bomb and then becoming mute, so both of them can overthink and over-analyze it about a million times, while looking busy and distracted by whatever activity, on the outside.

"I used to go to the theater…" Angie suddenly mumbled.

"Mhm?" Emily questioned.

Of course she knew this already. It was just weird that Angela would point it out like this, as if it was any news to Emily. Maybe she had a point to make.

"The Musical theater. I grew up with Musicals. And opera, ballet, but mostly Musicals!" Angie added willingly and Emily understood that this was going to be one of those times when she'd need to shut up and listen, giving this girl all the time she needed, in order to keep adding to her story.

"It was great…" Angie continued, but this time Emily did not react.

"I'd dress up and pretend like I was some sort of a Royalty - walking down the beautiful theater hallways, or climbing the magnificent stairs of Opéra Garnier in Paris, looking at the crystal chandeliers and the mirrored ceilings and all the lavish things around me…and I understand how lame that sounds, but I was a child back then and I loved it."

Emily smiled, trying to imagine anything cuter than a kid-sized Angela, dressed like a total princess, living in her own little fantasy world.

"I also went to a performing arts school, I specialized in dance and Musical Theater. I was pretty good, I got the lead in a few Musicals. I was, actually, Sandy…" Angie pointed at the TV just as Grease's main character was doing a solo.

"I was also Mary Poppins. Well, I was going to be…" She pouted. "I trained for months and then, two weeks before the opening, I had to…I uh…"

"You had to relocate?" Emily dared to suggest.

"Sort of. Yeah." Angie shrugged. "When I went back a few months later, I was allowed to do the occasional show, subbing for my understudy. The irony is daggering…"

Emily shook her head. If she knew anything about Angela, it was that once something was hers, it was hers and dare nobody touch it. And not even in a selfish kind of way. The girl just felt oddly connected to things and even people, despite denying it.

She also chose not to point out that the word Angela needed to use was 'staggering', instead. She knew Angela would go on and google 'daggering', trying to figure out just why this was the wrong word and Emily did not want Angela to find out its meaning – not online, not in the form of photos, videos, verbal explanations…not ever, possibly.

"It made me feel like I was powerful…" Angie smiled. "Alone, in the middle of the stage, with all eyes on me…people curiously awaiting my next move, hungry for my next words. Like it all depended on me, you know? Like the world was my stage and I could do anything! I mean, of course there was a script to follow, but I've improvised too and it was so cool. It made me feel like I was worth it, like people adored me and like I was making a difference in their miserable, mundane lives."

Emily rolled her eyes. Miserable, mundane lives? Of course Angela would go and insult the very same people that she claimed were making her feel good.

"You know, your sarcasm is almost on a Prentiss level." Emily joked.

"Yeah?" Angie raised an eyebrow. "What do I need to do, in order to be a real Prentiss?"

Those words came out of nowhere. Emily was unsure whether this was a very well masked up plea or maybe she was just reading way too much into it.

"Nothing." Emily smiled, placing her hand on Angie's knee. "You don't have to do anything differently, baby. You are perfect, just the way you are. God forbid you'd ever be Prentiss material!" Emily whispered her last sentence, thinking how screwed up her entire family tree was. She, herself, had always hated being a Prentiss.

Angie opened her mouth, but decided to not let out a single word, not even a sound come out of it. Instead, she just focused on the TV where Sandy was done with her solo and the scene changed to the one in the cafeteria where all the girls wore their cool and colorful dresses.

To Angela, this was mesmerizing. She remembered her own custom-tailored dress, back in the days when she had been in this same Musical. It had fit like a glove, which she realized was purely because it had been sewn to fit her figure, but she liked to think it was destiny, that she was meant to always look flawless and to feel like a true Queen in her outfits. Sadly, she had traded style for comfort recently and all she ever wore at the Academy were leggings, pants and polo shirts.

Emily could not possibly care less about watching this Musical again. She was sitting sideways, stealing tiny glimpses of Angela and thinking hard about the girl's previous words. She wondered why Angela had just dropped the topic altogether. Maybe she really did read way too much into those words. Maybe Angie just meant that she wanted to be a boss, an authoritarian figure, like Emily. Maybe she had expressed herself wrong, making it sound like she wanted to be a Prentiss, instead.

"Who in their right mind would ever want to be Prentiss material?" Emily quietly thought to herself, uttering no word out loud.

"What if I do?" Angie whispered.

Of course she knew exactly what Emily was thinking. Of course she was physically unable to prevent her lips from parting and to stop herself from being honest.

Emily froze in place, feeling like her heart skipped a few too many beats before it stabilized and got into some sort of a normal beating rhythm again.

"Je t'aime plus que tout, mon précieux petit bijou!" Emily said breathlessly, holding out one hand and letting Angela slide in, hoping she'd allow to be held for the rest of the Musical.

The remaining sixteen minutes of it, Emily spent wondering what she could possibly do next and just how legal she'd like it to be. Things had to change. Everything had to change. And as scary as that sounded, she was excited for that change. She felt ready for that change.

Angie, in turn, paid a little less attention to the ending of her favorite Musical and a gave a little more thought to her current life situation. Things had to change – she was okay with that. Change had never scared her, she was used to it. In fact, it lit a fire within her and every time she had to change something about herself or about her life, she would dive into the challenge and she would make the most of it. And this current situation was no different. She knew things would not stay the way they were, not for long anyways. And she knew that she'd have to accept certain things, sooner or later.

They both knew exactly what was going on, behind the façade. They both knew how to keep up with a character's lies for as long as they needed to. And yet, they were both slowly realizing how they needed to hear each other's truths, if they wanted to do this right, to overcome whatever emotional traumas they had from their pasts, in order to move forward in a healthy, happy manner…maybe even standing next to each other, as they'd walk forward in life, helping the other one with whatever hurdles they might find on their way. The mere thought of that happening was the reason why both Angela and Emily were working so hard on this newly found relationship between them.

REVIEW REPLIES:

"rmpcmfan" True, it's hard seeing her break down and doubt herself in such a brutal manner. However, it's realistic. She can't just walk around, pretending to know everything...that would be a delusion. She knows she needs to stay grounded and to continue learning as much as she can. And she fully realizes that as good as she is in certain 'subjects', she lacks theory, skills or experience in others. And yes, her doubt serves as a boost for her to improve, while at the same time it keeps her leveled and doesn't let her become bigheaded. And LOL the drinking game...it kind of gave me an idea for a future chapter (which is already written btw), where certain VERY PERSONAL things are being discussed...lol...I'm just waiting for the right moment to insert such a chapter and yes, it will be M rated (but NO profanity, NO graphic stuff...just...leaving it to the readers' imagination hehe). But yeah, it's going to be a bit frisky lol...ehm. As for the party - lol I combined all the wildest kid party ideas, with the most ratchet ideas I could come up with and...I gotta say...as weird as the final product sounds, I can totally see Angela having a kick out of it and everyone else just being too drunk to care whether they're dressed like a 70's disco ball, posing for questionable selfies on that My Little Pony figure, while enjoying a caramelized banana a lil' too much, hahahahha! I mean, it's doubtful anyone in the world could ever plan THIS party, but if it ever happened, I'd be laughing my butt off lol!

"sweetkid45" Ooooh, I think Emily would be furious if she learned that someone else is giving Angela the perfect opportunity, while she cannot do it, because of legal reasons! We'll see what will happen to Garcia's punishment, in the future chapters :)! She really gave the Director a piece of her mind, lol!