"Well, Bug, it's almost your birthday," Emily said, "Are you excited?"

Clara nodded eagerly, but didn't look up at Emily – she was very busy scrawling on a sheet of paper as she sat at Emily's desk. Lucy had brought Clara and Aurora to the BAU to say hello to everyone; Aurora had been content to be passed around and fawned over, but Clara had just wanted to colour a picture for her Mommy's office.

Emily settled in the chair opposite her desk, watching Clara colour with a fond smile on her lips. "What should we do to celebrate? We could go to the aquarium or have a party at home or..."

"I wanna go back to London," she said with a shrug. "We can have a party there – a tea party!"

Emily sighed softly. "Bug, I don't think we can go to London right now..." she said gently. "Mommy has to work a lot and it's really close to Christmas. It just isn't a good idea right now."

Clara's bottom lip wobbled a little, but it was more melodrama than any actual threat of tears. "But that's what I want to do," she insisted. "'Cause London is more fun."

"I know you love London, but it'll still be lots of fun to have a party in DC..." Emily pressed, hating to disappoint her daughter. "We can invite all of your Aunts and Uncles – maybe Uncle Derek will come and bring baby Hank."

A little sigh, a shrug.

"Think about it, okay?" Emily urged, moving to kiss the top of her head.

"Mommy, where are we going?" Clara asked from the backseat of the car.

"It's a surprise," Emily replied, sharing a smirk with Lucy.

They'd enlisted Garcia's help in planning a surprise party for Clara's birthday; Garcia had been thrilled, of course...possibly too much so. Afterall, Clara was the first BAU baby girl and Garcia had been waiting years to throw a big girly party.

Clara stared out the car window, watching where they were going, ever impatient, just like Emily who was also impossible to surprise. "It's not a surprise!" she declared, "It's Papa Dave's house!" Even if it wasn't a 'surprise', her eyes lit up nonetheless...Rossi was the closest thing she had to a grandfather and he took his role very seriously, which meant never failing to spoil the girls.

Lucy laughed, shook her head fondly. "Little Sherlock in the backseat..."

"Who's Sterlock?" Clara asked pleasantly.

"Nevermind. I just meant you're very clever," Lucy said...not that Clara was listening anymore.

When the car pulled to a stop, Clara was out of her car seat and out of the car in the blink of an eye, scampering to the back gate. "Papa Dave!" she hollered.

Rossi came through the gate and scooped Clara into his arms. "Bambina!" he greeted, kissing her cheek. "Happy Birthday!"

"I'm five!" she declared proudly.

He chuckled, ever a soft touch for the girl. "I know. You're such a big girl – I remember when you were just a baby and now you're all grown up." Settling her on his hip, he carried her into the backyard where the team was waiting.

"Surprise!" the group clamoured in greeting.

Clara squealed with glee, her entire face lighting up. "Birthday!" she shouted excitedly. She wiggled to be put down, then sprinted full-on towards the group, but couldn't quite decide who to hug first.

Garcia solved the problem by embracing her like it was the first time she'd seen her in years. "Welcome to your British birthday party!" she announced once Clara's patience for hugging had been worn out.

"A tea party?" Clara asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Garcia nodded. "A proper English tea," she agreed. A beat. "But with cake."

Emily watched the kids playing from her seat on the edge of the garden, bouncing baby Hank on her knee. "So, how do you like being a Dad?" she asked Derek. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other and Emily was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with her friend and former partner.

He grinned from ear to ear and, though she'd seen him smile often, this was a smile reserved purely for his son. "It's the best thing in the world. I'm so blessed."

She nodded, smiling softly as she tickled Hank's tummy. "I always knew you'd be a good Dad."

A contented silence settled between them for several moments until he broke it by asking, "So, what's up?" He fixed her with a raised brow, the kind that said he knew her well enough to know there was something on her mind.

She rolled her eyes. "What makes you think there's something up?"

He shot her a pointed stare because he wasn't about to buy her excuses.

She just laughed, shrugged in concession. "You can't tell anyone, but Lucy and I are thinking about having another baby..."

"Wow. That's great!" he declared with a genuine smile. "Three kids..." He let out a low whistle.

She nodded, laughed. "It will absolutely be chaos."

He smirked. "Is Lucy going to carry the baby again?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said, "But I've been thinking I'd like to do it this time."

He reached over to squeeze her hand, smiled softly.

"Actually... I, umm, we were wondering if you might consider...well, if you'd think about donating sperm..."

His brows leapt up his forehead. "Really? You'd want me to do that?"

She nodded, smiled. "We used a sperm donor we selected because we wanted Aurora to look like Lucy, but we don't want to have no answer to the 'who's my Daddy?' question..."

He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "I'll talk to Savannah about it." He offered a reassuring smile. "I'm honoured you asked."

"Don't go getting a swelled head about it," she teased. "We just want you for your genes. I mean, look at this little cupcake..." She kissed Hank's chubby cheek.

He chuckled, rolled his eyes.

Clara came sprinting up, icing smeared all over her face. "Mommy, Aunty Penny gave me so much cake!"

"I see that..."

"You didn't have to come all the way from Boston just for kid's birthday party," Lucy murmured to Alex.

Alex shrugged as best she could with Aurora in her arms. "It was nice to be invited," she said, almost a whisper, as if afraid of waking the toddler.

"You're always welcome to visit," Lucy said. "Emily speaks very highly of you and so does everyone else. And clearly, you're wonderful with kids... Aurora hates napping, but she fell asleep in your arms without a fuss."

Alex smiled down at Aurora's sleepy face. "She reminds me so much of Ethan," she said softly.

Lucy didn't ask questions, reading between the lines well enough. She rested a gentle hand on Alex's shoulder. "Well, you're always welcome to put her to sleep," she insisted.

Aurora looked up at Alex through half-lidded sleepy eyes. For a moment, Lucy was worried she might make strange, but instead, she just yawned, snuggled deeper into Alex's neck, and returned to sleep.

"You're officially a miracle worker..." Lucy declared. "If you ever want work as a nanny..."