JJ left the House Of Hotchner in a very pleasant mood and armed both with leftovers for Emily and ideas on how to propose to her. When she returned to the Prentiss House, she was quite surprised to see that she and Elizabeth were the only ones home.

"Where did Max and Emily go?" she asked when Elizabeth sat with her in the living room after putting the leftovers away for her.

"Max took Emelia out to dinner about an hour after you left. He wanted to cheer her up."

"The hiccups got worse, didn't they?"

"She hiccuped when I carried her, but not this frequently at all. " Elizabeth smiled at her. "But it's just as well that it's you and I."

JJ arched an eyebrow. "Is it?"

"I have something important to show you, Jennifer."

Heart hammering because Elizabeth almost never called her by her actual name, JJ watched as the older woman plucked a small black box off the coffee table and hand it to her.

"Open it." Elizabeth said softly.

JJ opened the box to a very beautiful diamond engagement ring.

She looked back at her companion. "This ring is beautiful!"

"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled fondly. "It belonged to my mother, and she gave it to Maximo."

"And this is the ring he proposed to you with?"

"Uh-huh, and we decided, after Emelia was born, to save it for the person she marries, and that's you, my dear. Did you know that you're the only person whom she has ever brought to home to meet Max and I?"

Ring box in hand, JJ shook her head, suddenly feeling very dazed. "I had no idea."

Elizabeth closed the box and then closed JJ's fingers over it. "You and Emelia save that ring, alright? You save it for whomever comes asking first to marry one of your children, but first make sure that that person is your offspring's soulmate."

"Emelia is mine…"

Elizabeth's heart swelled with affection. Oh, how she loved JJ like she was her own.

"And I'll always be so glad and thankful that you two found each other, even though you weren't even trying to. Some of the best surprises in life come that way."

"I—oh, come on! Really, you two? Please calm down for mommy!"

Not at all thrilled with how quiet things were, Alexis and Olivia decided to make things exciting again by kicking their mother.

"They really don't like when things are too quiet." JJ blew out a breath as she leaned back against the couch cushions. "They were very quiet at work, and just now at Haley's, they were fast asleep. It's like they've gotten jumpier ever since we gave them their names."

Elizabeth immediately perked up. "Are you and Emelia sharing yet? I would love to know so I can make them each something."

JJ glided her hands over bump, framing it. "Alexis and Olivia are in here."

"Two baby girls?"

"Mhm, and they're identical, so we're going to have a hell of a time telling them apart."

Expecting JJ to tell her the name of a third granddaughter, Elizabeth asked, "Who does Emelia have in her belly?"

"Sweet baby Henry."

Elizabeth's heart caught in her throat. "Two girls and a boy?"

"Yes, and—Lizzie, are you crying?"

Indeed, the ambassador had become teary-eyed, and was wiping her tears now.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." she said after a moment. "I was expecting you to say the name of a third baby girl, so hearing you say Henry's name took me by surprise."

"In a good way, right?"

"Of course." Elizabeth patted her hand affectionately, although it ended with a gentle squeeze. "I miscarried three times before Emelia was born. Has she ever said anything about that?"

"As I recall, she told me that she was the last chance that you and Max had to be parents, but she never said how many came before her."

"She has three brothers up in Heaven right now."

JJ's heart filled with sorrow and sympathy. "Do they have names?"

"Maximo Junior, Tobias, and Gabriel." Elizabeth looked a little distant as she thought of her angel babies. "I'm not playing favorites, or anything, so don't think this is that, but…"

Her words trailed off, like she was embarrassed, but JJ understood what she was driving at.

"But seeing Henry and knowing him will be like seeing how your boys could have turned out."

"Exactly."

JJ smiled. "That's really sweet and understandable."

Elizabeth smiled at JJ and then checked the time on her watch. "We have quite some time before Max and Emelia are due back. Would you like to do something together?"

"I would love to."

Twenty minutes later, JJ had put the ring away in her luggage for safekeeping and channel-surfing with Elizabeth. It often seemed that the two of them bonded well when some kind of media was being used, whether it was the TV or the piano, but it worked for them and they liked it.

Even as they passed the time just by talking about different things, JJ for the first time considering her name as Jennifer Abigail Grace Prentiss.


After that night, JJ felt like she'd blinked and it was time for the gathering of their families.

"Has anyone arrived yet?"

"My mom and Kaida are almost here."

"Kaida isn't coming with Archer and Cho?"

JJ shook her head. "Cho is resting at home while Archer collects Cho's parents from a quick event they had to attend that was near the White House. My mom hasn't seen Kaida since Alabama, so she wanted some one-on-one time with her since she's going to be staying for awhile."

"To help when Cho has the babies?"

"Yeah. She wants to make sure that someone is paying attention to her since the rest of us are busy with our lives."

"Translation: she's a little bit lonely in Pennsylvania?"

"Just a little."

They stopped walking and JJ looked at her girlfriend; this whole time, they'd been making their way down the main upstairs hallway with Emily hobbling along on her crutches and trying not to be too self-conscious about the awkward gait that the medical boot gave her. The couple was dressed and ready for their family, but at that particular moment, they had to get back down to the main floor. Staircases always gave Emily pause.

"It's okay, babe." JJ soothed. "Just take your time."

"Is my chair at the bottom?"

JJ pointed to the foot of the stairs where Emily's wheelchair was waiting for her, just off to the side.

"It's there." JJ lovingly looked Emily in the eyes. "Now how about you put the crutches of the way and we work on getting you to the chair?"

Saying no would have just made her sound childish, so she did as JJ suggested and then proceeded to work with her on accomplishing her goal.

"I can do this."

"Yes, you can." JJ agreed encouragingly. "Trust me."

With a lot of careful stepping and patience, Emily made it down the stairs and into the safety of her wheelchair.

When she settled and they got her foot elevated, JJ kissed her on the top of her head and chirped, "There you go! All ready!"

Emily giggled. "You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Tapping into your southern accent."

JJ turned red. "Goddamit…"

"Curb your curses!" came a new voice.

JJ and Emily turned to see Elizabeth and Maximo entering the room, both with eyebrows raised.

Elizabeth out her hands on her hips and pressed, "What was the curse for? Need I remind you two that your elementary-aged niece is en route?"

Around a snicker, Emily provided, "JJ is packed with language quirks like we are, yes, but at work, the team learned about a new one a little bit ago when we crossed paths with her family in Alabama."

"And this particular quirk would be what?"

"She has a southern accent that automatically kicks in whenever Sandy is around because of where in the south Sandy is from."

"JJ has a heavy accent, too, huh?"

Emily nodded. "Yes, but since you've spent a lifetime deciphering daddy's, then this will be a breeze. It was for me."

Quite amused by now, Elizabeth turned to JJ. "Does it go that you grew up in Pennsylvania sounding like your mother, but you lost your twang somewhere along the way?"

JJ's face was burning more than ever, and when she answered the question, the changes in her dialect and tone were impossible to miss. "This was when I spent two college semesters at school in California, and now it comes back like a reflex when I'm with my mom. Russian and French do, too, so I apologize in advance if we confuse anyone."

"When do things go 'back to normal,' for lack of a better way to put things?"

"When one of us goes home."

"Anyone else on the guest list for tonight come with trivia facts that we should know about? I think we'll be able to handle anyone speaking a foreign language as a reflex because Max and I are like that with Italian—it's what we speak when it's just us in the house."

"My brother and his family speak Japanese and English at home because they're a duo-language family. Archer has a southern accent, too, by the way, and it's even heavier than mine. Kaida has a twang that suits her because she's a little bit of a diva, but it can be a little bit of a head-scratcher if you aren't expecting it."

"Got it."

"Lars is back!"

Elizabeth, Emily, and JJ jumped at Maximo's exclamation—they'd already forgotten he was there.

The elder Prentisses had sent Lars to collect Sandy and Kaida from Sandy's hotel, and like a little excited boy, Maximo had gone to look out the window by the front door for a sign of the town car coming back to the house.

At the same time, JJ's phone beeped with a new text.

"And Cho just said that she, her parents, and Archer are on their way, too!"

Elizabeth immediately beckoned to her husband. "Come away from the window, my love."

"Go!" Emily made shooing motions at her parents. "Go, go, go!"

"Please?" JJ tacked on for good measure.

Elizabeth laughed and looked to her husband. "Come on, Maximo—I think the children want us to vacate."

"We do!" Emily and JJ said in unison.

Elizabeth and Maximo left to the kitchen, just as the door from the garage to the house began opening.

It was show time!