Emily and Virginia sat together, just enjoying each other. Neither had ever had a first date like this before.

Then something caught Emily's eye. Or rather some things…

"Do those rings mean something?" she asked Virginia.

Indeed, Virginia was wearing two distinctive rings on her left hand.

She regarded them for a moment. "They're treasures, and both with stories."

Emily fixed her blouse closed again and touched Virginia's compass tattoo. "That's one story down. I would love to hear more. Please?"

Virginia handed her the first ring. "Okay. Check this one out."

It was made of thin braided gold, with a ruby-colored stone in the middle. Simple. Beautiful.

"Phoenix and Lilith received birthstone rings on their twenty-first birthdays, and Jubilation will receive one when it's her turn." Virginia indicated the gem. "That's my birthstone on the top."

"And ruby means July." Emily recalled. "A special date for me is July twenty-second."

Virginia stared. "And that's my birthday. Are you sure that you haven't been googling me?"

"Yes. Actually, my partner has been reading your work for ages and it seems that she figured out on her own that you two have the same birthday."

"How about that? Which one of us is older?"

"You, by exactly a year. Her older son also reads your books."

"Now I really want to meet them." Virginia pointed to the birthday ring again. "My mom started the tradition with me when I turned twenty-one. I'm going to have to do something like that for Zion when he's of age."

"That's a sound plan."

Taking this in stride, Virginia had Emily her second ring, this one silver. The band featured an emblem of her old badge number on one side and the USMC insignia on the other. Atop in pride of place was another ruby. 'To Protect And Serve' encircled it. Prestigious was the word that came to mind. This ring commanded respect, where the other one had been for beauty.

"What's the tale here?" Emily wanted to know.

"I was given this ring when I retired. Everyone on my squad chipped in for it."

"Wow. That's really nice."

Virginia nodded. "Emily, do you collect any specific types of jewelry?"

"Anklets. However," Emily pointed to her middle. "Those will be hard to put on after awhile."

Virginia patted Emily's leg. "I can help you with that."

"Thank you."

Even as Emily said these words, she realized that she was looking at Virginia's rings again. Her imagination was running away with her. But she couldn't have that. So she put the rings back in Virginia's hand and closed her fingers over them.

"Hey, how did your conference call go? You said at the café that you had to leave so you could take part in one."

"Oh." Virginia recognized what Emily was doing, so she played along. "It was fine—just housekeeping items from an international book tour I recently completed."

"It's been a few years since I left the country." Emily said in wistfulness. "An actual adventure would be fun."

"This last one was—Fitzhugh volunteered to come with us to look after Zion because I'd never been away from him for any extended amount of time. Everyone else was unavailable. He even paid his own way."

"Wow. He told me recently that he'd been traveling for awhile with a friend. Where did you all go?"

"After it kicked off here, we went went to New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Calgary, London, Dublin, and Sydney. It was all amazing."

Emily felt a little guilty at this point. "I wish I'd asked him for more details when we'd talked about it, but I was distracted because work had become a madhouse."

Virginia shook her head in amusement. "Look at this."

She was pointing to the inside forearm where a window of sorts could be seen inside the tattoo sleeve. Inside here, two names had been inked in a very delicate script. Zion. Eden.

"Oh, my goodness." Emily exhaled noisily. "Zion and Eden are the only two names I've ever considered for any kids of mine."

Virginia was bowled over by this. "If this isn't the universe causing our paths to cross, I don't know what is. I already have Zion. The one coming will be dear Eden."

Thrilled by Virginia's confidence, Emily deadpanned, "Please tell me that there's a story about why you have those names tattooed on yourself."

"There is. It would be best to leave it for another day." Virginia said in a tone of some finality. "What's up? You're squirming now."

"I'll have to show you some time, but I have two glass jars at home filled with origami stars that I made. Want to take a wild guess about what names I put on the jars when I completed them?"

"Zion and Eden."

"Precisely. Now, this." Emily pointed to the names on Virginia's arm. "I don't know what to say."

Virginia beckoned to her. "Then just come here. Please."

Emily sat with Virginia, enjoying her embrace, while they talked about many more things.

Including everything that they were going to do on their next date.

But, as good things always do, the date came to an end.

Virginia walked Emily all the way down to the building door when she had packed her things up.

"Thank you for such a wonderful night." she said.

"I should be telling you that." Emily zipped up her coat and found her things up. "Virginia, I had a really great time, too."

"That makes me so happy." Virginia hugged her. "Zion and I will see you on Saturday."

Emily nodded as she pulled away. "Just a few more days. And don't forget—I'm always down for texts and calls."

"As am I."

They kissed. It was magical.

With echoes of, "Saturday," and promised to further their communication in the time away, Emily left.

The rest of the family started clearing out of the LaMontagne house not long after Emily's departure. After the last person had gone, Katherine expressed a desire to collect hers and Olivia's things from their hotel. Will helped her out on this front. It didn't take them long to head out.

Olivia stayed behind because she had been having fun with her cousins.

This brought about an adrenaline crash before long.

JJ was even holding her when Emily returned.

She watched her friend set a container in the refrigerator when she called out a soft greeting. "Hey, Em."

The dark-haired woman jointed them at the table and chuckled at the sight of a snoozing toddler. "Did Olivia party hard?"

"That's about the size of it, and then she wouldn't let anyone else hold her. Only me."

Emily looked around. "Where is Katherine?"

"Upstairs, getting ready for bed. Will helped her get checked out of her hotel." JJ's eyes darted up to the ceiling for a second. "Katherine is going to get her in a minute."

"So you're getting in some last-minute snuggles with Olivia."

JJ nodded. "For the night, at least. She was talking in her sleep about five minutes ago. The subject was Noah's ark."

"Wow. It must be noisy in her head."

"Henry and Michael are also sleep talkers. The things that come out of their mouths are just wild." JJ motioned towards the refrigerator with her head. "What did you just put away?"

"I told Ginny in passing that I had been craving popcorn dipped in strawberry yogurt. She came through for me and gave me that to bring home."

"How sweet." JJ then looked Emily up and down. "You're glowing. How did your date go? Still certain that you've met your future wife?"

Emily's heart fluttered. "More than ever. Jennifer, she has the names Eden and Zion inked on one arm."

"Get out."

"Now there's a hell of a movie." came a new voice.

Will had arrived.

He said to Emily, "I hope you know that JJ's favorite kind of movies are suspense thrillers. She also loves Jaws."

"I figured that out a long time ago—try December 2006." Emily answered without missing a beat. "In Boston."

Will was already sighing. "What happened?"

"There was a freak blizzard that left us all stranded in our hotel for quite some time. You know that JJ and I always share a room when we travel, right?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Well, we were stuck in Boston for three days because it was just that bad." Emily recollected. "That means that we got to know each other very well."

Will sighed again. "And how long had you been part of the BAU by that point?"

"About a month."

"And was this when you two learned about each other's favorite movie genres?"

"That's a gold star for you." Emily praised him. "And how can you be a great movie lover, but recoil at movies like Get Out, my friend?"

Will became saved from answering when Katherine finally joined them.

"It's way too quiet upstairs, now that the boys are asleep." she joked.

JJ held Olivia out to Katherine. "Here is your lovebug."

Katherine took her with ease before turning to Emily. "How did your date go?"

"Very well, thanks!" Emily chirped.

"Good." Katherine said to the other three. "Good night, everyone—we're off to bed."

So the Spellingses exited.

A sudden thought popped into Emily's head and she turned to the lone blond in the room.

"Jennifer."

"What?" she said in actual surprise.

"Have you been waiting up for me?"

JJ was like a deer caught in the headlights. "No!"

Will smirked. "She totally was."

Emily arched an eyebrow. "Oh? And what about you, William?"

He shrugged. "What kind of brother would I be if I didn't try?"

"Smooth. I'll be right back."

Emily realized that if she didn't tell someone about the exact nature of the connection Virginia had to her parents, she would burst. Odds like this were astronomical.

So she dressed more casually, removed her makeup, and put her hair into a ponytail before making her away back to the kitchen again. Time to just be herself.

Neither LaMontagne had left the kitchen table. They wanted to chat. About something.

"Have you decided to share her name yet?" JJ blurted as Emily sat down.

Will threw his hands into the air. "Jesus Christ. Can't you let her breathe? What happened to taking it easy?"

Emily laughed at both of them. "I am not sharing her full name because you have to earn it."

Now JJ spoke in protest. "What the hell?"

"I promise that it's worth it. Anyway, I'm glad you're both here. Something happened on the more personal front."

"Really?" the LaMontagnes chimed together.

"Really. We got to talking about family, and I mentioned mine."

"How did that go?" Will asked. "Ginny already knows your parents."

"In a word, Ginny finds all of you very neat. Same for the BAU team."

Will bobbed his head but checked on his wife. She was yet digesting that one of her favorite authors found her family to be interesting. What was her life now?

"You okay, cher?" Will asked JJ.

She nodded after a moment. "Yes. I'm fine."

"Good." Emily approved. "Because amongst other things, Ginny expressed a desire to meet everybody. I also told her that you and Henry both read her books."

"Oh, my God…"

Emily reached out and patted JJ's hand. "Ginny has been through a lot in her lifetime, but I'm promising you now that she's very delightful and normal. There are also two more dates to go before I bring her around."

It was this last part that really captured JJ's attention. "Wait. Two more dates?"

"Yes. Including one on Saturday."

"Wow. I'm glad you had such a nice time."

Will nodded in agreement. "So am I."

"Thank y…"

Emily's words trailed off as she surveyed her friends a little closer. She believed that they were happy jus then, but it was easier to see than ever that they were definitely both holding something out.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asked them.

The LaMontagnes became sheepish.

"Will, JJ? What's up? I'm starting to freak out a little."

Will finally spoke after what he felt was the longest pause of his life. "It's about my mother."