A/N: Wholesome content ahead. Also, I'm writing a lot of chapters all at once because if I don't get the inspo written immediately I lose the whole chapter. It will probably slow down, but if Y'all could just like spam my messages when you're craving an update just do that. As always rate and review. I don't own anything related to Criminal Minds or CBS, because I guess that's something that needs to be said and not just implied.
After both women were up and changed into clean clothes the met with the estate manager in the kitchen.
"Graiden!" Emily was surprised to see he had taken over for his father. "JJ, this kid was basically my brother when I would stay here. His father was the old manager, I guess I expected him to still be running the place." She turned back to the handsome man, "How are you? And your father?"
Graiden gave her a cheeky grin, just as thrilled to see her. "Well dad retired. He and mom actually moved to Belgium to live with my aunt. Mom sends her love by the way. And I got bored of regular hotel management, so when my dad retired, I went straight to the ambassador and asked for his job, she was quick to say yes. Had I known how much my father was really paid for his work here, I would have taken over ages ago." The group laughed, "Oh where are my manners? Hello, you must be the new Mrs. Prentiss. I'm Graiden James Hammel, Estate Manager at your service." He gave her a firm handshake and his best smile.
The blond shook his hand and smiled at both of the old friends. She looked to Emily, "He's a charmer, isn't he?" she winked at Graiden.
"Oh, you have no idea." Both answered together. The whole group laughed.
"Well how about you guys have some breakfast my wife made, and then we can all head out on the full tour?" The man led them into the kitchen, the scene before them shocked Emily.
His wife, whom Emily had also known, Melissa was just finishing preparing waffles and arguing with two small children. The little boy is about Henry's age. He is blond like his mother. He is pouting as Melissa speaks to him, "Harlan did you break Jaylee's toy on purpose?" he shook his head, not making eye contact. She lifted his face to look her in the eye. "Harlan," the mother cautioned. The boy burst into tears.
"Jay always try to make me play with her dolls! But my friends say that's for girls only so I didn't want to play with it so I broke it so I couldn't!" The boy was in hysterics. Melissa's eye softened at the obvious teasing he had gotten.
JJ had a bleeding heart and stepped forward to kneel by the boy. "Hi Harlan, I'm JJ. How old are you?" The little boy raises 5 fingers. JJ smiles at him. "Me and my wife are going to live here soon. And we have a little boy who is also 5. His name is Henry and he's a really good boy. He won't tease you for playing with dolls, I bet he'd like them too!" At that the boy straightened up a bit. "So maybe when we move here, you guys can play together and show those mean friends that it isn't just for girls. Does that sound okay?" the boy nods again. "Great, but now can you tell your sister sorry so that your mom can finish our yummy breakfast?"
"I'm sorry Jaylee. I won't break any more. I promise." Harlan said and drew a cross over his heart with his finger.
Melissa looked up to JJ, "Wow, think you can deal with her next?" Melissa laughed indicating her daughter.
"Oh Mel, I've already got her." Emily said as she sat with the young girl. Emily was reading a book to the girl that she found on the table in the kitchen. The little girl had auburn red hair, Like her dad. It was styled in pigtails, but you could tell by the tail of them that her hair was long and curly. JJ smiled at the scene; Emily reading as the girl leaned against her. Emily using her free hand to twirl one pigtail.
After breakfast, JJ and Emily met in the foyer to wait for Graiden. JJ looked at her beautiful wife. "We should have a baby." The blond blurted out.
Emily was pleasantly surprised. "Yeah, why the decision all of a sudden."
JJ was relieved there wasn't an issue, "Well with this 7-bedroom house plus a mother-in-law unit and God knows what else, we'll need lots of little feet to keep it occupied." JJ smiled.
Emily placed a soft kiss on her wife's lips. "That sounds like a great idea."
Just then Graiden walked up to them. "I hope you enjoyed breakfast; Mel is a hell of a cook. Anyway, before we get on with the tour, let's discuss furnishing and painting."
Emily and JJ had already talked about this before breakfast, "Well we have the honeymoon in three days so after we get all the rooms sorted out we'll head to a furniture store and pic some things out, we'll have them delivered here while we're away. If you could just get a rough room placement laid out, we can readjust when we get back. Is that okay?"
Graiden nodded finishing writing something on his clipboard, "Of course. Now, let's begin in the main house. You saw where the master suite was. Let's start there and move our way down." Once they saw the 5 bedrooms upstairs and the door up to the attic, they made their way through the downstairs, dining room, formal living room, family room, kitchen, the 5 1/2 bathrooms. 3 upstairs 1 full and a powder room downstairs and the last in the basement, situated between the two guest rooms down there. Also, in the basement was a rec room. After their house they were led to and annex through the kitchen. The door opened to stairs that opened into a 2 bed 1 bath apartment for a nanny or butler or anyone who needed it. Graiden showed them the attached 3 car garage knowing Emily would appreciate it. The house also had a long driveway with plenty of parking space, designed for large get togethers. The back patio had a view of the huge property. Right above the patio was the master suite balcony. The immediate back yard was fenced in but JJ could see there was more property. "To the left there is the Guest house, 3 bed, 2 baths. It is currently where my family is staying. Next to it is the enclosed pool house for year 'round access. Then to the right down about a ¼ of a mile is the pasture and the stables."
Emily's eyes lit up, "The stables are still here?"
Graiden smiled, knowing why she was so excited. "Yes, still in great condition thanks to my dad. I have Jacques and her foal in there. Sadly, they are the only ones, with out you superstar we haven't had much need for many more. Maybe we can change that?"
JJ was confused, "Why did he call you 'superstar'?" the blond teased her wife.
Emily blushed, something that was becoming far more common than she was used to, "I was a rider. That's what I did when I spent summers here. I competed in English style, primarily show jumping and contemporary dressage. I won a lot and trained my own horses. That's why they called me superstar. I would love to have horses again. Maybe I can teach Henry and any future kids?" Emily looked to her wife hopefully.
JJ loved the passion her wife had for her old hobby, "Okay darling, but then they also have to play either soccer or football."
Emily's face lit up with the brightest smile she could muster, "Deal!" She turned her attention back to her friend, "Can I see Jacques? I bet JJ would love the foal too."
"Oh my God! Emily! That foal was so cute! And there was so much pasture," The blond gasped in a breath of air, "We should start a hobby farm!"
Emily laughed and looked at her wife as the climbed into the back of the car she had ordered. "Honey, are you gonna clean all that shit? Segregate the pasture and build a new barn?" The brunette raised her eyebrow at the excited blond.
JJ smiled, "No, but now I can afford to pay someone to do all that. So we would need a contractor to deal with the new fencing and the barn and then a farm hand four days a week. Easy."
Emily laughed and kissed her wife, "Whatever I can do to this place to make it ours and you happy, I will do. Now, let's go pick up the car and Henry and then go furniture shopping."
JJ and Emily walked into Will's hotel room. He had moved back to New Orleans 6 months after the split. When Emily and JJ go on their honeymoon to Italy for 2 weeks, Will is going to take Henry to Louisiana for a mini vacation for the boy. That means the newly-weds are going to try and spend as much time with him beforehand.
"Mommy! Emmy!" The blond boy ran towards them to be greeted with big hugs and plenty of kisses. He screeched when the brunette tickled his sides during her hug.
"Hey Bigman! You want to go shopping with Mommy and me?" The boy nodded excitedly. "Great go put your shoes on." Emily looked at the southern man, "Hey Will, how was last night after you guys left? We never even knew you left but 11 p.m. rolled around and we assumed you must have slipped out." Emily laughed; she knew as well as he did how hectic it was at the reception.
Will smiled, "Yeah, Henry had a meltdown over… lord knows what." He chuckled, "By the time I got him calmed down outside he was mostly asleep. I just took him home so I wouldn't wake him up by going in to say goodbye. I am sorry if it seemed rude. I texted JJ."
The blond then checked her phone, which had died early in the previous evening. "I didn't have a charger all last night. I guess that explains why I haven't had any notifications all day. Sorry." JJ blushed slightly.
Shortly after they women got together; Emily decided she needed a more practical family car. To a Prentiss "practical" meant a 2012 BMW X6. Once the women had Henry in the car, they headed off to a furnishing outlet.
The women planned to move the furnishings from their current condo. They decided to upgrade Henry's bed because his current one was basically a bigger version of a toddler bed. They planned to move the furniture from their room in the condo to a guest room, and the condo living set to the family room in the house. The family room would be converted to a kid's room, so the dark grey sectional was more practical as kid's furniture. In the outlet, they had picked out a nice set for the formal living room. It had a cream color couch and loveseat with hand-carved wooden side tables and coffee table. The set also came with a matching but optional bookcase. The room it was going in had built ins already, but between family pictures and all of Emily's books, they needed the space. Then they settled on a dining set. They chose a more modern looking, greyish colored, wooden table. Then they chose a navy-blue chevron rug and plush navy-blue chairs to go with it. After that they went to the kid's section of the store. Henry's favorite movie since he could really understand what was happen was "How to Train Your Dragon" so they thought giving him a room with that theme would be nice. But they also wanted the option to readjust it as he grew out of that phase. So, they settled on a twin bed frame with a soft sage green colored headboard. It came with a matching dresser and simple wooden toy box. They got him an activity table and found a couple of cool wall decals, and a colorful rug. That way, when Henry out grows the movie, they only thing that would need changed is the wall decals.
The group was out to lunch before showing Henry the house.
"So, Henry, are you ready to see the new house?" JJ asked him excitedly.
Henry nodded shoving his last spoonful of mac and cheese in his mouth.
"Okay, let's get out here then."
Just going through the gates, JJ looked back at her son and saw him in awe. Emily pulled into a spot in the garage before helping Henry out of the back. They both gave him the tour before showing him the room that would be his. By the time they were done it was dinner time. Emily and JJ took him down to the kitchen, hoping Melissa had her family in the kitchen as she cooked. She did.
"Graiden, I'd like you to meet our son, Henry." Emily said pointing to the young boy. "Henry, this is my old friend. His family lives in the smaller house in the back. He has a son your age and his name is Harlan. Do you think you could make friends with him and his sister?"
"Yeah! I love new friends. And we could play with my toys, in my new room. It'll be fun Emmy!" Henry didn't call Emily mom or any form of it. He was only three when she became JJ's new love. By then he already had a mommy and daddy and didn't understand that there could be more. He was starting to understand the distinction two years later, but it didn't matter what he called her. Every night at bedtime he got a song, a story, and an "I love you," from her. And he said the same, and that's all that mattered to any of them.
They ate dinner together and the old pals laughed about old times. Their spouses laughed at all the trouble they got in. After dinner Emily and JJ planned to show henry the horses.
"Hey Bigman, want to see something super special?" The boy nodded, "Okay put your shoes back on." The boy did as he was told as he followed the women outside. He got startled when he heard the first whiney of the horse.
He grabbed onto his mom's hand harder, "Mommy, what was that?"
She squeezed his hand back and smiled, "It's part of your surprise." His eyes got wide, but he just nodded and followed into the stables. When he saw the horse, his eyes got impossibly wider.
"HORSES! MOMMY HORSES!" He was jumping up and down excitedly. He was familiar with them from some books and shows, but to see one in real life was even more thrilling for the small boy.
"I know buddy, but you have to quiet down, so you don't scare them, okay?" He nodded and put his finger over his lips. "Okay, you see the baby?" He nodded, "Well Emmy bought it for you already, so that, is your horse. What do you want to name him?"
The boy thought for a moment, "Hiccup!" JJ was shocked, if he was going to name the horse after a character from his favorite movie, she thought it would be Toothless.
"Why Hiccup? I thought toothless was your favorite?"
"Because horses have teeth, and Hiccup sounds like a better horse name." JJ couldn't argue with that logic.
"Okay honey, also once we move in, we're going to have a lot of animals out here. What do you think about chickens and goats and sheep? Is that a good plan?"
He nodded. "And dogs!" JJ has never had a good experience with dogs, they scared her.
"He's right baby." JJ raised an eyebrow at her as she was stroking Jacques and giving her carrots. "If you want all these herd animals, you're going to need a dog to keep track of them. We could get a small dog, Australian Shepherd, Heeler, they're both smart breeds and great at herding because of their high energy. We would need at least two because of the acreage of this place. I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with, but if you don't want the dogs, you'll have to pay someone to practically babysit the animals all day. There is a lot of predators out here. It would be good to have them." Emily shrugged, she had to go about the whole situation carefully, she didn't want JJ to feel uncomfortable or for her to sound pushy about the dog.
JJ sighed, "You're right. We can get a smaller breed herding dog and train them really well from a puppy and I will be absolutely okay," she flashed a cheeky grin, "If it means I can get a mini horse also."
Emily laughed out loud, "Okay honey, you can have the pony you've always wanted," Emily teased, "Now, let's get back to the condo and head to bed. You guys go ahead, I'm going to meet with Graiden about a contractor for the barn and chicken coop. I'll meet you in the car."
After 15 minutes of talking with Graiden, Emily finally made it out to the car. She got into the driver's seat, gave her wife a kiss and pulled out of the garage. "Let's go home my love."
"Wherever you are is home." JJ intertwined her fingers with her wife's as they headed back to their condo. In just a few days, she would be on their Honeymoon, and she couldn't wait.
