After a couple episodes of whatever cartoon the kids were watching (the adults talked or did other things while it played), Emily got up to make dinner. While JJ helped Henry with math homework, Penelope played with Ellie in the playroom. Emily paused from her task in the kitchen to ask Garcia a question, as she got near the playroom she heard Penelope talking animatedly, "You know nicknames are fun, like Ellie and Penny, but I think you should use Eloise more often, I think it's like the prettiest name." Emily smiled to herself, of course Garcia would be the one to talk her into it.
Emily popped her head around the archway that lead to the playroom, "Hey, Penelope, are you staying for dinner?" Eloise looked at her expectantly.
"What do you think Ellie, should I stay for dinner?"
The girl nodded, "Please stay Penny?"
Penelope rubbed a hand down her soft hair, "I'll stay my sweets, now what do you say we get Emily there to go get what she bought from the mall, and you can show me all of your new stuff?" Penelope looked back up to Emily, "Well? Can we?"
Emily laughed softly, "Sure, why don't you let me get dinner going and I'll bring it in." Emily walked back out after getting the affirmative from both.
Once Emily had the meat in the oven, she started boiling the water for the mashed potatoes, the meat and potatoes would take the longest so she started them early, she pulled a coat on, while the garage was heated, it could still get chilly at night. She brought back almost all of the items in one trip the only thing left was the car seat, but she could deal with that in the morning before taking Henry to school. She sorted Henry's stuff from Ellie's before taking Ellie's to her in the playroom. She set the many bags down in front of both her and Penelope. She gave the little girl a soft smile, "Have fun showing Penelope your new stuff," she turned her gaze back to Penelope, adding a more serious look, "And please pick up any mess."
"Yes ma'am!" Penny smiled at her friend, before searching through the bags. Emily grabbed the bag for Henry and brought it to the dining room where they were working. JJ was pointing to something on the page, and Henry had his concentration look on.
"Mommy it's too hard! Math is dumb!" Henry was getting frustrated. JJ looked to Emily, her eyes pleading for a little bit of help.
"Hey big man, what's the problem?" Emily set the bag at the other end of the table, sitting down by the blond boy and peaking over his shoulder at his addition chart.
"Math is hard Emmy; I can't do it." He said sadly, still concentrating hard.
"Well sure you can, you just have to get creative and find another way to count it. Can I show you a trick?" The boy nodded. "Okay draw a circle, good! Now what is the first number?"
"Six"
"Good, okay can you count out six little dashes in the circle?" She watched Henry take his time doing so. "Good, now what is the second number?"
"Three."
"Okay now do the same thing with the second number." She watched as Henry drew another circle, adding three dashes to the inside. "Okay, now count out each dash in both circles."
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine." He looked up at her hopefully, "Nine? Is the answer nine?"
"Yep! You got it right big man! See how easy it is?" Henry nodded happily, "Great now sit with Mommy and do it for the last couple of problems, I have to go finish dinner. And once you're done, you can see what's in that bag." Emily said pointing to the gift bag at the end of the table.
JJ looked up at her wife, "Thank you, I didn't even think of that, I just told him to count on his fingers." Emily leaned down and pecked JJ's lips.
"You're welcome, my love." Emily went to finish dinner.
Once everything was cooked, she got the table ready. Henry had finished his homework and was playing with his new RC car, racing it up and down the hallway as JJ watched from the playroom with Garcia and Ellie.
Once Emily had Henry's old booster seat strapped into a chair, she got a plate ready for JJ, Henry, and Ellie. She popped her head into the playroom, "Jayje? I got you and the kids' food; can you get them eating? I'm going to throw some of Ellie's new clothes in the wash so that she has her new clothes ready for today and tomorrow. Sorry Pen, you have to serve yourself." She winked at her friend.
JJ stood, "Sure thing Emmy. Henry, Ellie, ready for dinner?"
Henry jumped up from his spot in the hall, "Yeah! Come on Ellie! Emmy always cooks good!" He grabbed her hand and led her to the dining room.
When Emily got back from removing tags and putting the clothes on a cold cycle, everyone was sitting at the table, talking and laughing. She served herself some dinner and met them in the dining room. They had saved her a seat between JJ and Ellie. Beside JJ was Henry, and on the other side of Ellie was Garcia. "How's dinner?"
She got a rally of delicious and yummy's. She sat down and took a bite, it was pretty good, the roast beef was good, and the roasted vegetables were great as well. Suddenly Ellie stopped laughing and looked at Emily. "Em'ly! I have to potty!" She started squirming as she struggled against the booster seat's safety belt. Emily got her free and the small girl sprinted to the downstairs bathroom. Emily was close behind but when she pushed the door to the bathroom open, she saw Ellie with her head down, like she was crying.
"Oh honey, did you have an accident?" the little head nodded. "It's okay, let's go get you changed and you can go finish you dinner, okay?" Emily extended her hand.
A little hand squeezed against hers, and Emily led the girl up to her room. Emily found a clean pair of tiny underwear, and some leggings that should still fit the little girl. Green eyes looked into brown as Emily helped her change. "Don't tell okay? Only baby's go potty in their pants."
Emily smiled at Ellie, setting her at ease immediately, "Okay, I won't tell." Once Ellie was changed, they went back downstairs to finish their dinners.
"Everything okay?" JJ asked, blue eyes full of worry.
"We're just fine, where were we?" everyone finished dinner happily, and just as Emily promised she never told of Ellie's accident.
When everyone was done with dinner, JJ picked up dishes as Emily went to switch wash. Penelope had the kids back in the playroom, they were playing Candyland. The brunette met her wife back in the kitchen as she washed dishes. "Thank you for cleaning up baby." The brunette wrapped her arms around her wife's waist as she moved JJ's hair to one side, she trailed kisses down JJ's neck.
"You're welcome, now leave before you start something you can't finish." JJ felt Emily smile against her neck.
Emily pulled away and walked into the playroom, "Pen, you good in here? I think I'm gonna go change into some pajamas."
"We're just fine, Henry's winning though." She faked a mean look at him and stuck her tongue out, he laughed and so did Ellie. Emily smiled at the scene.
Begrudgingly she stepped away and went to her bathroom. She went to her bathroom and turned on the shower. She pulled off her days clothes and stepped under the warm spray. Half her body was sore from toting Ellie around the mall, but she didn't care, she loved that little girl already and would do anything for her. When she got done scrubbing away the minor aches, she pulled on some flannel pants and a t-shirt. She met her family and friend in the playroom. Ellie was curled up with JJ reading one of her new books. Emily saw Ellie give a big yawn. "You look about ready for bed little miss." Emily said from the doorway, looking at Ellie. It looked as though the girl was going to deny her accusation, but instead she yawned again. She nodded her head and lifted her arms when Emily came over. The brunette scooped her up easily and carried her up the stairs. "You okay for a bath?" Emily felt a small head nod into the crook of her neck.
Emily ran a warm bath and set her in it. She realized she didn't have any pajamas for her. She looked at the girl, "Stay there," Emily popped her head out of the door, "Jennifer?" She shouted, she saw her wife appear at the top of the stairs, "Can you get some pajamas from the dryer?"
"Okay, be right back." JJ turned and disappeared.
Emily finished washing Ellie's hair before JJ got back. Once she was done, Emily got Ellie out of the bath, without the warm water, her teeth started chattering quickly. Emily wrapped her in a warm, fluffy towel before carrying her to her room. Emily grabbed the still warm pajamas off the bed and a pull the social worker left for bedtimes. "Okay, you know where the bathroom is, so if you have to go to the bathroom in the night, even though you have a pull up on, try to make it there, okay?" The tired girl nodded. Once she was dressed and warm again, Emily pulled her hair brush off the dresser, she sat crisscrossed on the bed and patted in between her lap for the girl to sit there. Emily softly brushed through her long hair. Just then JJ appeared in the doorway. She smiled at them both.
Ellie turned to look up at Emily, "Do you know braids?"
Emily gave her a sad smile, "I'm sorry I don't." She looked up hopefully at her wife. "Jayje?"
The blond smiled, "Of course I know how to braid, it's all little girls in East Allegheney could do to pass the time. What kind of braid?"
"French." Ellie answered before yawning. JJ sat on the bed and Ellie shifted so that JJ could do her hair.
JJ heard Emily mumble something about the language versus braiding but didn't pay much attention to it. She focused on making the braid tight enough to stay in all night, but not be tight enough to pull on her scalp all night and make it painful in the morning. When JJ was done, she inspected her work before putting the end in a small ponytail. "Okay little one, time for bed." Emily moved off the bed to pull back the blankets.
"Why no owls?" Ellie looked at Emily scowling slightly.
Emily chuckled, "We have to wash them tomorrow, but we can put them on the bed when they are all clean, deal?"
Eloise huffed and leaned back against the pillows, "Deal."
Emily and JJ only got halfway through a bedtime story before Ellie was sound asleep. Emily and JJ kissed the sleeping girl goodnight. Emily flicked on a night light that projected stars on the wall and ceiling.
They waved goodbye to Penelope who was playing with Henry's new car when they came back down. Then they went through the bedtime process with Henry. As they were tucking him in, he looked at JJ, then Emily. "Is Ellie my new sister?" Both women were shocked for a minute.
Emily was grateful JJ seemed prepared for this question, "Well if everything goes well, she will be. But right now, she just needs a home, and people who love her. Do you think you can do that?"
Henry nodded, "I want her as my sister." With that he cuddled further under his blanket and turned on his side, away from his mom's.
Both women kissed him goodnight, and went to bed themselves, both beat from the early morning and their day in general.
The rest of their weekend went great. They all had a blast showing Ellie the small farm, she loved the baby goats. They spent a lot of time watching movies, and playing, and reading. JJ walked into the bullpen on Monday. She had left at the same time Emily left with the kids to take Henry to school. When she walked in, Penelope was perched on Morgan's desk and she told him and Spencer all about Ellie.
"She's just so darling. And she has this tiny voice, but she also speaks really well for a three-year-old. Oh, and she has these eyes, these big, green doe eyes that I could just melt into. God she's amazing!" Garcia was talking with her hands, the biggest smile on her face.
JJ made sure they knew she was in by letting her bag thump against her desk as she dropped it.
Morgan whipped around, "Now why is Baby Girl the only one who gets to meet Little Princess?"
JJ smiled, "Don't let Emily hear you call her that. Hell don't let her hear you call her that! She's quite the hard head." She laughed at herself, "A hard head who loves all things girly. You guys can meet her this weekend. We're having the whole team over on Friday for team dinner. We just needed time to adjust to her. Spread the word. The Elder Prentiss's will be there as well."
JJ sat down and began paperwork. And that is how her day dragged on. Nothing exciting happening, thankfully. When she got home, the only noise was coming from the playroom. JJ kicked of her shoes and walked down the hall. Henry and Harlan were playing with his Legos, and Jaylee and Eloise were playing with Barbies. Emily and Melissa were sitting on the couch in there, each with a glass of wine. "Long day?" Emily asked, looking into the dull eyes of her wife. She poured a glass for her wife and handed it over as JJ sat down by her.
"Just incredibly boring. How was yours?" JJ asked, moaning as the first sip of wine hit her tongue.
"Pretty much the same. Melissa watched the kids while I went over the inventories. But at least I got a couple of cute faces to look at throughout the day." She said as she leant forward and tickled Ellie and Jaylee.
JJ and Melissa joined in on the tickling. Soon Ellie and Jaylee were squealing and laughing as they both tried wiggling away.
After both kids were in bed, JJ crawled into bed with Emily, who was reading a book in bed.
Emily spoke without looking up, "We need to get Ellie into pre-school after New Year's."
"What, full time mommy exhausting?" JJ giggled, lightly nudging Emily.
"Haha," Emily said as she put her book down. "No, she's just so smart, she'd rather have me read to her all day and tell stories, rather than her watch tv or even play. She's going to be a genius. Can't you tell?"
JJ thought for a moment, "Actually yeah, today at work I talked to the team about how she speaks so well already. Henry was never that good at talking at her age. She forms more full sentences, and her words are easier to understand."
"See? Genius. I'll talk to Mother, see if she can put some feelers out." JJ nodded and went about getting settled with her own book. Emily spoke up again, "What should we do for Christmas? It's coming up fast. And I want to make it special for both kids, I know Will is planning to come up, I told him to just stay with us. It makes it so much easier for all of us. But what should we do, gift wise?"
JJ thought on it a moment, "We could get the kids matching pajamas that they can open Christmas Eve, then we can take family pictures, we will also have matching pajamas. Christmas morning, they will have a big gift that will be revealed after all the other gifts are opened. Then a big Christmas dinner with everyone. Last year Rossi got the big dinner, but I think our mansion is way better than his, what do you think?" JJ finished with a wink.
"How much have you thought about this?" Emily asked, laughing.
"Since last Christmas, why?"
"I love you." Emily kissed her wife but pulled away to yawn.
"I love you too, but we both really should get to bed, we both have boring weeks ahead. You've got business stuff, and the team isn't back into rotation until next week."
Emily and JJ cuddled into bed together, drifting into a peaceful sleep.
The rest of the week rolled around. On Friday, Hotch let the team go home early so everyone could get ready for team dinner. At home JJ could hear Emily in Eloise's room, fighting over something.
"Ellie please?" JJ could hear Emily beg.
As she got closer, she could hear Eloise whining, "Why? Why do I have to put shoes on if we're not going anywhere?"
Emily sighed, "Because people are coming for a party, it's polite to wear proper attire, now please put. On. Your. Shoes."
JJ popped through the doorway, "Emily do you know how much you sound like your mother?"
Emily glared at JJ. "Go get dressed." She nearly growled through clenched teeth.
JJ made a zipping motion at her lips, and scurried off, saving that story for later. When JJ was ready, she figured Emily most have won the fight, because Ellie was sitting on the couch in the kids' room, with shoes on. She met Emily and Melissa in the kitchen. Melissa was cooking and Emily was drinking. "I see you won the argument?" JJ said as she sat down and reached for the wine near Emily.
"Actually, you won it for me. When she saw me get mad like that she just sat down and let me put her shoes on, I think I scared her. I didn't want to scare her." Emily looked down sadly and took another gulp of wine.
JJ stroked her wife's back, "Well she's over it now, you did a good job." Before Emily could respond the doorbell rang. "Oh, the guests are here."
JJ met Emily at the door. Ellie was perched on Emily's waist and Henry ran to the foyer when he heard the bell. JJ opened the door to Spencer and Penelope.
"Aunt Penny! Uncle Spence!" Henry squealed, excited.
"Penny!" Ellie squealed too, reaching away from Emily. Garcia welcomed her into her arms.
"Hello Eloise, this is Spencer he is one of Jennifer's best friends."
"Hello." She said, turning into Garcia, tightening her grip around the peppy blonde's neck.
"Let's go play!" Penelope rest Ellie on one arm and grabbed Henry's hand with her other hand, pulling them towards the playroom.
JJ smiled at Spencer. Emily pulled him into a hug, "Oh, it's so good to see you!" Spencer and Emily walked off, talking about… something JJ probably wouldn't be interested in.
Soon, everyone was there, the Prentiss's we the last to arrive. They hugged Henry and his mom's. Edward looked towards Emily expectantly, "Well, where is she?"
"She's playing with Garcia. You know where the playroom is." Edward and Elizabeth led the way, Emily right behind them.
"Eloise, come here honey." Emily said poking her head into the playroom. Jack and Henry were playing with an assortment of Henry's toys. Eloise got down from Garcia's lap and ran into Emily's arms. Emily lifted her up, letting her rest on her hip. "Ellie, these are my parents, Edward and Elizabeth."
"Hello, I'm Eloise." The little girl stuck her hand out, like Henry showed her. Elizabeth and Edward shook it and laughed.
"Hello, aren't you darling?" Elizabeth tickled Ellie's neck, making her squeal with laughter. Eloise led Emily's parents into the playroom, telling them about the story she was reading.
Emily left to get another glass of wine. Tonight, would be a good night. Emily was sure nothing could go wrong. But as the old adage goes, man plans, and God laughs.
A/N: So, here's this. There will be a case popping up within a couple chapters, I have an idea I just need to do more research and get it put together. Thanks for all the support, enjoy this fluffy chapter!