AN: I hope this chapter meets your expectations. The next chapter should also be up soon.
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"When you're on stage, the real world just drops away for that time. It's pretty intense." -Robert Smith
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Backstage was filled with the noise of the show choir warming up and their band tuning. Mattea had to say this was her happy place. The bustle around them as they focused on their director running through different vocal exercises was magical; well it was magical until a crying interrupted them. Everyone's eyes snapped to look at the poor girl holding their interruption. Mattea felt bad for the young girl as she tried to soothe the baby on her hip to no success. "Natalie!" The choir director snapped.
Mattea shot the director a look, it was no secret she was the favorite in the class, before ushering the girl in the hall. "Is everything okay?"
"She's just overwhelmed by all the noise. My foster mom was suppose to be here and watch her, but she had an emergency at work," Natalie replied.
Mattea had to say Natalie looked overwhelmed herself. Mattea obviously knew Natalie from show choir, and they both took Dr. Blake, but she had never really spoken to the junior. Mattea held her arms out. "Let me see."
Natalie hesitantly handed the baby over to Mattea. With a little rocking and humming the baby had quieted down. "How?"
"I have two little sisters who are a lot younger than me, so I helped when they were babies," Mattea explained. "What's her name?"
"Sable"
Mattea smiled. "Nice to meet you Sable, I'm Mattea."
"Thank you," Natalie whispered as her cheeks flushed with a light pink hue.
"Anytime," Mattea replied honestly. "Hey if it's okay with you my mom could watch Sable while we perform."
"I don't know," Natalie started fidgeting nervously. "I don't want to impose and-"
"It's fine. Trust me she gets it," Mattea reassured her.
Natalie finally nodded; it was probably better than asking one of the stage hands like she had originally planned. She allowed Mattea to lead her to the mostly empty auditorium. It was still over an hour to the performance, and there was only a few people here and there. Natalie stood apprehensively as Mattea introduced them. "Guys I want you to meet two of my new friends, Natalie and Sable."
"Hi," Natalie whispered with a small wave.
"Natalie this is my mom, Dad, little sisters, Clyde, Nonno, Nana, Nonna, and you know Dr. Blake and her son Ethan."
"It's nice to meet you Natalie," Dave spoke for the group.
"I like your dress!" Chloe exclaimed.
"I'm wearing the same dress," Mattea pointed out.
Their dresses were grey one shoulder with gold glitter falling from the top and climbing up from the bottom.
"It's prettier on her," Chloe replied.
Mattea gasped exaggeratedly. "See what I have to put up with every day."
Natalie let out a tiny giggle at the interaction. "I wouldn't know. It's just me, Sable, Elle, and her German Shepherds Rummy and Ginny."
"Elle is your foster mom?" Mattea asked for clarification.
"Yeah, has been for the last five months. She's cool, and we get along pretty well. She was suppose to be here tonight, but there was an emergency at work. I know she was disappointed, but her work is important and I understand that."
"Hey, Nonno could record it for you so you could show it to her," Mattea suggested. "If you would like?"
Natalie turned to Dave. "Really?"
"Well maybe not me, but one of us who has better luck with technology could record it," Dave replied.
Erin grinned. "I can do it."
Natalie's face was graced with a true smile. "Thank you so much."
"We were also wondering if you could watch Sable while we perform?" Mattea directed to her mother.
"Of course," Emily replied holding her arms out.
Mattea passed Sable over to Emily while Natalie passed her the diaper bag. "Thank you so much," Natalie told her.
"Hey guys," Caitlin called drawing their attention as she rushed into the room. "Robin wants to do a quick vocal run through."
Mattea turned slightly to see Cailtlin. "Kay, one sec," She then turned back to her family. "I'll see you guys after the show."
"Thanks again," Natalie repeated before Mattea was tugging her towards Caitlin.
"Break a leg," Matthew called after them.
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Not long after Mattea and Natalie left the rest of the BAU team filed into the auditorium. "Who's this cutie?" Penelope asked quickly zeroing in on the baby in Emily's lap.
"This is Sable," Emily replied. "I'm babysitting."
"I'm Carmeilina, feel free to call me Carma," Carmeilina introduced shaking Hotch's hand as he happened to be the closet to her.
"Clyde Easter," Clyde introduced almost defensively. These were the people who took his best agent, even if he was biased. They did have a kid together after all.
Matthew's introduction was more awkward as he planted his hands in his front pockets, "And I'm Matthew."
"I lived with Carma after I had Mattea, Clyde is my old boss, and Matthew is my best friend," Emily elaborated.
"Nice to meet you all," JJ spoke for the entire team.
"So what time does the show start?" Derek asked taking a seat next to Penelope. Penelope on her own part had taken a seat in front of Emily and turned around to play peek a boo with Sable. She was into it way more than Sable.
Dave checked his watch. "We have twenty minutes."
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The lights dimmed as the piano intro to Clocks by Coldplay started to play. The girls entered the stage first slowly stepping to their places with their backs to the audience. The guys followed taking their own places facing the audience. The guys took the first verse; the girls took the second verse. They started out slow, but as the song continued their movement became quicker; however, kept an even flow and grace. They created a line at the edge of the stage as the song ended. Once it did the guys filed off as the girls moved to center stage.
The girl's moved slowly as the opening notes of Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper started to play. The performance relied heavily on facial expression and body language. Something they had practiced and executed pretty well. When the song ended they too exited the stage. The stage was not empty for long as the guys once again entered and started a fast paced performance to Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley.
The girl's joined them on stage as they slowed the pace down with Seasons of Love from Rent. There was less dancing for this number as they clustered together and sung their hearts out. Next was Turn Back Time by Cher. Natalie had a solo for this song, and now that Mattea had deemed her friend she noticed just how good she was.
Throughout the number Mattea could feel her nerves surfacing. Not only was her and Caitlin dance solo next they also had a very quick costume change. They left the stage a little before the song ended to quickly change. Thankfully they had amazing stage hands who had the whole thing down to a 'T'. Mattea changed into a pink dress. Caitlin's change was more difficult as she changed into black pants, a black shirt, and black shoes. They'd never missed their entrance in practice and the real performance was no exception.
Mattea had the biggest smile as the audience erupted into a thunderous applause at the end of I've had the Time of my Life from Dirty Dancing. It had been their best performance so far; if she said so herself. Seeing her entire family in the audience only caused her to smile more.
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Mattea, Caitlin, Natalie, and Luca were among the last few still hanging around backstage. Mostly it was just the band members who had to pack away their music and instruments. Currently they were waiting on Mattea to finish in the bathroom. "Seriously how long does it take you to change?" Luca asked annoyed.
"I had to redo my makeup. We're going to dinner after this and stage makeup is not dinner appropriate," Mattea yelled back in reply.
Caitlin readjusted the strap of her bag that rested on her shoulder. "Are we invited to this dinner?"
Mattea walked out of the bathroom with a smile. "I'm sure, but you're welcome to double check."
"Finally, you guys always exclude me with your girly get togethers," Luca complained.
"Dude, its only been a few times besides you could always come with," Caitlin told him.
"Maybe," Luca replied picking up his own bag that had been left at his feet.
Mattea turned to Natalie. "If it's okay with Elle you could come too."
Natalie frowned. "I don't know. She's kind of funny about me going out with people she hasn't met before. I get it though, you can never be to careful."
"But there's going to be a teacher there, three FBI agents and Clyde," Caitlin informed her.
"Actually the whole team's going to be there. They came to the watch us perform and they are joining us for dinner," Mattea corrected.
"FBI agents, team?" Natalie asked puzzled.
Mattea chuckled. "Oh did I forget to tell you? My mom and Nonno are profilers for the FBI, and Nana is like their boss' boss."
Natalie took a moment deciding what she should do. "I guess I could call her and see." Mattea nodded with a smile as Natalie pulled out her phone. "Hey Elle I was, uhm, wondering if I could go out to dinner with a few of the kids from choir?" There was a pause. "We would be going with one of their's family and mom's co-workers. Plus Dr. Blake and Ethan will be there." Natalie gave them a hopeful look. 'What's your mom's name?' Natalie mouthed.
"Emily," Mattea whispered.
"Emily Prentiss," Natalie told Elle. "Yes, some of her co-workers will be there, but they-" Elle cut her off to give her an answer. Natalie squealed. "Really? Thank you so much."
Natalie hung up with a big smile. "I'm guessing she said yes?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah, she said yes," Natalie replied.
"Well come on then," Mattea said leading the way.
"Don't forget to tell her about the thing," Caitlin reminded Mattea.
Natalie stopped. "Thing?"
"Oh that. My mom's team doesn't know she's their boss' daughter. Well Penny knows, but I think that's it. It's kind of a long story," Mattea informed her.
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Soon they were all seated at the restaurant in a private party room Dave had reserved and introductions had been made. Dave rose at the head of the table preparing for a speech. "Before we order I have a few things to say. As some of you know Erin and I have a long complicated history. What some of you don't know is that 30 years ago we had a daughter." There were a couple of surprised gasps from JJ and Derek. "When she was three she was abducted. A few months ago she found her way back to us." Dave looked to Emily as the rest of the team filled in what he was saying.
"Is this the long story you were telling me about?" Natalie asked Mattea in a whisper.
"Yep" Mattea replied with a smile.
"Wait?" Derek said. "You're telling us that Prentiss is your daughter?"
"Yes," Dave replied with a nod.
"How?" Derek asked.
"Chocolate Thunder, now is not the time for the Talk," Penelope joked.
Derek shook his head. "I know that how, I mean like the how of the likelihood of something like this happening?"
"Well-" Spencer started but was cut off.
"He doesn't actually want a statistic," JJ informed him. "He's just saying that it's not something you see everyday."
"No, it's not," Erin started, "but we are very grateful,"
Derek shook his head. "Well now we know where Emily gets her stubbornness from."
"Yes, Erin can be very stubborn," Dave said with a smug grin.
Erin crossed her arms and raised her brow. "I'm stubborn. This coming from the man who insist on getting his shoes custom made."
"We're all stubborn," Emily stated.
"That we are," Erin replied.
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"Well it was nice meeting you Natalie," Emily said as they all got ready to leave.
"It was nice meeting you too. Thanks for allowing us to join your dinner."
"Anytime," Emily said. "Mattea, I'll meet you in the car."
"I'm glad we became friends," Mattea told her. "You're pretty awesome."
Natalie blushed. "You too."
"Well I'll see you Monday," Mattea said with smile.
"See you Monday."
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Emily threw the keys into the bowl on the hall table as she shut the front door behind her. "Your show was so good sweetie," Matthew told Mattea in a hushed whisper trying not to wake Elise who was asleep in his arms.
Chloe was not far from it as she tried to lean on his legs to go to sleep. "Thanks Dad I'm glad you liked it," Mattea said with a wide smile.
"When's your next performance?" Mathew asked.
"Well we have our Christmas Concert but we're just singing and then show competition season starts in January," Mattea replied.
"I can't wait to see your Christmas concert."
Mattea's smile got incredibly wider. "Really?"
Matthew nodded. "I wouldn't miss it."
Emily's own smile was not as wide as she watched them. It was a beautiful picture, but she worried how long it would last. Matthew was great until he got high and started questioning everything. Emily knew they had a long discussion before them. She didn't want to see Mattea get her heart broken again.
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"There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family."
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Chapter Question: Would you guys be interested in a sequel to this story? Don't worry this story still has a while I'm just gauging interest for the future.