AN: Small spoilers for 3x04 and the episodes around the middle of season 6 (I can't remember exactly which ones). I'm sorry this is so short, but I really wanted it to end on the line it did. The next few chapters have more going on in them.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the quotes or parts of JJ and Emily's dialogue.

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"'We need to talk,' words that send a shiver down any man's back."

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Even though Garcia hadn't given her names she had her suspicions. It was her suspicions that brought all the questions in the first place. The meeting however would have to wait because the team had gotten a case. Emily knew from the get-go the case was going to be a hard one. Any cases with children were always extra hard.

Hotch had given them a ten minute break to refuel before hitting the case head on again. "We need to talk," Rossi said pulling Emily out of thought.

"Okay," Emily said abandoning her phone on the desk. She followed Rossi to the room where their evidence boards were set up.

"It's nothing bad," Rossi reassured her. "Erin and I would like to invite you to dinner when we get back."

"Why?" Emily asked. Had Garcia told them, she wondered.

"We have team dinners at my place all the time. We would like to extend the invitation to you and the girls," Rossi explained.

Emily started picking at her nails. "So the team will be there?"

Rossi shook his head, "Erin and I thought we would just invite you and the girls this time. That way they have more time to form allies. I would not subject them to the whole team all at once for the first meeting."

Emily took a deep breath. "That sounds good."

Rossi gave her a genuine smile. "We'll figure out the details after the case."

Emily couldn't help the one thought that kept running through her mind, 'I'm having dinner with my parents.' She'd known the moment she walked in the office and heard Erin humming. Her whole life that tune played in her head, but she could never place it.

Rossi was on cloud nine. Emily had agreed to dinner, and that's when Erin and him planned to tell her.

Emily used her last few minutes of break to text Mattea back. Mattea, out of the blue, had asked if she could have a friend over. In all of her eighteen years Mattea had never been interested in having friends come over. After a small mental debate Emily asked her to wait until she could meet the friend. Mattea seemed very okay with that answer.

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Emily didn't know where the words came from. They went right past her brain and out her mouth, "I could take her." What was she thinking?

However, Hotch's disapproval only reassured her they were the right words. She defended her words, but Hotch still brought the topic to a quick end.

On the plane she couldn't help but wonder where exactly the idea came from in the first place. Her memories were suddenly filled with a little blonde haired boy; he wasn't so little anymore. Emily was lost in her memories until JJ sat across from her.

"You okay?" JJ asked curling up into the chair across from her.

Emily broke her gaze from the window where images of an eleven year old Mattea danced around the living room entertaining Declan and Chloe. "Yeah"

JJ took a moment to plan her words. "They're good people, Carrie's family."

"Good," Emily gave her a small smile, "I'm glad." Her gaze fell back to the window remembering the months after Doyle.

"I think it's a good idea though," JJ continued.

"What's that?" Emily asked.

"You, kids," JJ replied. "I can see it."

Emily allowed a real smile as she pulled out her phone. "Sometimes I wonder," She said showing JJ the same picture she had showed Garcia.

"Really?" JJ asked not believing her suspicions were confirmed.

Emily nodded. "Seventeen, six, and three."

"You owe me paper work for the next week," Morgan, without opening his eyes, whispered to Reid.

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"No one is ever quite ready; everyone is always caught off guard. Parenthood chooses you. And you open your eyes, look at what you've got, say "Oh, my gosh," and recognize that of all the balls there ever were, this is the one you should not drop. It's not a question of choice."
― Marisa de los Santos