I know… it's been a while. Sorry about that, school and work have been a bit crazy but hopefully you're still with me and the story.

Don't own anything.

Emma parked her car and started to walk towards the administration office. This was her new life and after spending a week with her friends, she knew she could do this. Her last night with Callen and Maeve was hard but she knew that Callen was right, she needed to show Maeve that the world wasn't that scary. Walking towards the front desk, Emma saw an older woman explaining to a young blond girl and her parents where they needed to go.

"And your room is 403 and if you need anything else, just call down." She said with a smile.

"Thank you, Ms. Green." The girl said with a whisper. As she turned, she gave Emma a small smile and followed her parents out.

"Can I help you?" the lady said as she saw Emma.

"I'm Emma-Grace Callen. I start my training on Monday."

"Ah, yes. Let me get your information package and your room key." Ms. Green said as she turned. "Sign here and all your books and class information are already in your room. They'll take your picture for your ID on Monday before your first class." She finished with a smile.

"Thank you, Ms. Green." Emma said with a smile.

"This will be your ID till then and the parking pass for your car so try not to lose it. You are in room 404, you know where that is?"

"Yes, I was here last year for the 6-week training program and that was my room." Emma said, knowing someone made sure she had a room to herself.

"Great and welcome." Ms. Green said.

"Thank you and have a great day." Emma said as she grabbed all her stuff and walked back to her car. Opening her door and dropping everything on the seat before heading to where she needed to park her car. After parking, she grabbed a few small things and walked toward the dorms. Pressing the elevator button, Emma waited while she watched agents in training walking around the common room and realized that not much had changed in the year she was gone. When the elevator finally arrived, she made her way up to the 4th floor. Luckily for Emma, she knew her room was the furthest from the elevator, which was a heaven-send for a person who sleeps lightly thanks to having a baby in the house. As she passed room 403, she saw the man from the front office trying to get the door to stay open without someone holding it.

"There's a little string that you pull out and it hooks on the other side to help it stay open." Emma said as she put her stuff down to help.

"Thank you."

"No problem, I'm Emma-Grace Callen. I saw you guys at the front office."

"Agent Allen Mitchell, my wife Kelly and our granddaughter Hailey.

"Retired Agent Mitchell." Hailey said as she shook Emma's hand.

"It's nice to meet you Hailey."

"Is this your first year too?" Kelly asked Emma with a smile.

"It is but I was here last year for the 6-week BAU program. You?" Emma asked the young girl.

"Yes and I have to say a bit scared." Hailey said looking down at the floor.

"This is her first time away from home so she's a bit nervous."

"You'll do fine. It's hard work but it looks like it's in your blood." Emma said trying to reassure the girl. "And I'm right next door if you need someone to talk to."

"Thank you so much." Hailey said almost relieved.

"You're welcome. I'll see you around Hailey and it was nice to meet you Agent Mitchell, Ms. Mitchell." Emma said as she picked up her stuff and walked towards her room.

Opening the door, she looked the room over. It reminded Emma of a hospital room but she could make it a bit more homely with the stuff she brought. When Julia moved out of the house, Emma's room was packed into boxes ready to be unpacked when she got to Virginia. All the furniture was in storage that Emma could use when she had her own place one day. Emma was grateful she had her own bathroom so she only had to worry about cleaning up after herself. She had already ordered a small fridge and Brian was going to drop that off tomorrow before she went for dinner with him and Travis. But until then, she was going to get this room sorted out. Placing everything she had on the bed, she walked back to her car to grab the rest of her stuff. It took about three trips but she finally got everything in the room and was ready to unpack. Getting her Bluetooth speaker out of her bag, she started up her playlist and worked on making this plain room, a room she could actually live in.

"So, you ready for this Monday?" Brian asked after the waitress cleared their plates.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Emma said with a small smile.

"You'll be fine. I know it's hard to be away from the family but you are part of our family now." Travis said as he took her hand.

"That means a lot to me." Emma said to Travis, "I miss Maeve. I feel like we just got to know each other and then I leave her alone with Callen. And before I know she's going to be walking and talking."

"Well, you two can have a nice conversation when you get back." Brian said to lighten the mood.

"I know and she'll be okay with Callen and the team. It's just hard getting used to having a new routine and being in a new place… it's just scary."

"You've been gone from home once and you know what to expect. It's going to take time but you can do it." Brian said.

"I'm overreacting again." Emma said.

"A bit but I know what you mean. Maeve will remember you and you have a phone that can video chat with her."

"I'll have to make sure Callen is in the US before I call."

"That's true." Brian laughed.

"Thanks for dinner and helping me with the rest of my room. Now I feel like I can breathe and relax till Monday." Emma said as she started to stand up. "I'll see you on Saturday for dinner and a tour of the new place." She said as she hugged Travis, "And I'll see you on Monday." She said as she hugged Brian.

"Drive safe and if you need anything, call us okay." Brian said as he hugged her back.

"Love you and text us when you get home." Travis said with a kiss on her cheek.

Emma walked towards her car and started to drive back to the dorms. As she walked past Hailey's room she heard something fall. Knocking on the door, she realized that it wasn't closed probably. Pushing it open, she saw Hailey on a chair trying to put the curtain rail back up.

"Sorry door was open." Emma said as she walked towards the girl. "You need some help?"

"Yes, please." Hailey said with her arms still in the air.

"Okay, how about you come down and I'll take over." Emma said as she moved the chair back a bit. Hailey got down and handed Emma the rail so she could put it in place.

"There you go. It's tricky to get it back in there so don't pull too hard or it will fall out again. You can ask them to come and add a stop at the end if it falls out again." Emma said as she pushed the chair back behind the desk.

"Thank you. I was trying to close the curtains and it fell out." Hailey said wiping her hands on her pants.

"No worries. It happened to me a few times last year so I know the drill. Did your grandparents leave?" Emma asked as she moved towards the bed.

"They're heading back tomorrow afternoon. They're having dinner with friends tonight so I can breathe a bit." Hailey said as she picked up a photo frame. "What about your parents? They didn't help you move?"

"No, my dad had to work and I have a 6-month-old sister, so it's a bit hard getting away with her." Emma said with a smile.

"And your mom?" Hailey asked before she realized it.

"My mom passed away after I was born and Maeve's mom isn't in the picture, so it's just the three of us." Emma said with a smile.

"Sorry to hear about your mom."

"It's okay. What about your parents?" Emma asked as she sat on the bed.

"They were killed by a drunk driver ten years ago. So, I've been living with my grandparents since then." Hailey said with a sad smile.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you." Emma said as she took the girl's hands.

"I want to make them proud. My dad was an agent too, I'm the third generation." Hailey said as she wiped a tear away.

"You are going to do that. I know that is scary but you have to trust yourself and do this for yourself too." Emma said with a smile.

"Thank you for the help and for listening to me."

"Hey, I'm always here if you need to talk or just need to cry." Emma said as she got up and walked towards the door.

The weeks passed fast and Emma got into a routine. She went running in the mornings, returned to her room to shower and headed out to breakfast with Hailey. She took the girl under her wing and she could see Hailey become more confident in the way she carried herself. Emma kept in touch with her friends back home and was happy that they seemed to get into their new routine too. Melissa and Justin's wedding was pushed back a bit… because they were hiding the fact that Melissa was pregnant! Emma was the first, other than Justin to know and they were waiting to have the baby before they dived back into planning the wedding. Callen and Maeve called Emma every day at lunch or when she had a few minutes to talk. Callen could hear that Emma was missing her sister but he could also see she was making the most of the training and that she looked happy. Zach met up with Emma a few times but they haven't had time to themselves since he showed up in Long Beach while she was there with her friends. She met some of his friends and she even brought Hailey out with them and Emma had a feeling something was happing between Hailey and one of Zach's friends, Billy. One day after training, Emma saw him waiting for her at the dorms and she could see in his face, that something was up.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Emma said as she hugged him.

"I need to talk to you about something. Can we go for a walk?" Zach said as he hugged her back.

"Everything okay?" Emma asked as she took in his appearance.

"Go put your stuff in your room and then we can talk."

"I'll take it up for you." Hailey said from behind them.

"Thank you." Emma said handing Hailey her bag and files.

As they walked Emma knew this couldn't be good. But she gave him his time to process before he talked to her about what was bothering him. They walked until they got to a bench and she sat down with him.

"There's been an accident." Zach started and Emma's heart sank. "Kensi's been hurt."

Grabbing his hand, "What happened?"

"Mom didn't say what happened, just that she's in ICU and they don't know how bad it is yet." Zach said looking down at their hands.

"She's going to be fine. Kensi's too stubborn to stay down for long." She said as she brought him in for a hug. "That's one thing you both get from your mother."

"I know she's my big sister but still…"

"She's going to be okay, you'll see. She'll be beating Deeks up again soon and then I'll make her kick your ass just for fun." Emma said but he could hear she was scared too. "Are you going to go see her?"

"I leave tomorrow morning. I can't stay long but I want to go see and hear for myself what they're doing for her."

"Hetty will make sure she gets the best of everything. You have to focus on your mom and make sure she takes care of herself too." Emma said as she held him, "Do you want a ride to the airport tomorrow morning?"

"I was going to ask you if I could borrow your car and leave it there till I get back. That's if you're not going to use it." Zach said as he sat back up, arms still around her.

"Of course, you don't even have to ask." Emma said looking at him.

"Thank you." Zach said as he brought her closer and kissed her on the head.

They sat there for a bit before Zach pulled her up and started to walk back to the dorms so she could get her car keys. As they walked, they held hands and it felt so natural. Emma couldn't help but think about what had happened while they were in Long Beach.

Four months earlier

Emma hated wearing dresses but the girls insisted she wear one to the club so she would suck it up and wear it. They also insisted on painting her face with makeup but Melissa made sure they didn't go crazy. Em knew something was up because her friend was constantly looking at her phone and she caught Mel and Justin more than once whispering in the corner. As soon as they saw her, they would smile, separate and change the topic. With one last check that they had everything, the group made their way to the club. After Emma got her bracelet, the hostess showed them to the VIP area and Emma could see the reason for the two love birds' secret… Zach was waiting for them on the couch. After hugging him and meeting his two friends, Emma found her spot across from him and started asking him a million questions about training and what was happening in his life. The girls made a dent in the dance floor and tried to get Em on it, but she told them that putting a dress on was the only thing they would get out of her tonight. The club got busier and their waitress was running around like a chicken that lost her head so Zach offered to grab drinks for the group at the bar so the boys went to join the girls on the dance floor while they waited. Emma was talking to Kelton when something at the bar caught her attention. Emma saw a group of girls talking a pointing towards their group when she went to the bathroom earlier and now one of the girls was standing next to Zach at the bar and trying to get his attention but she wasn't having any luck. Em watched for a bit and saw Zach was getting annoyed with the girl's attention on him. Excusing herself from Kelton, she made her way toward the bar. Getting closer, she placed her hand on his back and moved to stand next to him.

"Hey babe, forgot to ask you to order me a lime and soda." Emma said before she moved to kiss him on the corner of his mouth.

"No worries." Zach said as he placed his arm around her to bring her closer. "Mind adding a lime and soda to my drink order, please." He said when the bartender placed some of the drink on a tray.

"Sure." He answered as he saw Emma standing with him.

Emma could see the girl stomp off toward her friends and she wasn't happy but Emma didn't care. She moved closer to Zach's ear and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Zach said before he kissed her on the mouth. Pulling back, he could see a little smile on her face but also something that looked like relief. "We'll talk later, okay?" Emma just shook her head on his shoulder. Emma helped Zach carry all the drinks to their tables and when everyone had their drink in hand, Zach sat down and pulled Emma to sit on the loveseat with him and that's where she stayed for the rest of the night. At around 4 am, Emma and Zach helped the group back into the house. After making sure everyone had what they needed and getting Kelton and Alex settled on the pull-out couches, Emma and Zach walked to the room she was staying in. Emma grabbed her PJs and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and while she was out of the room, Zach got ready. Sitting on the bed, he told himself that this was just like a regular 'movie' night for them but he also knew they needed to talk about what happened at the club. But he was tired and if he were tired, she would be too so the talking would have to wait till they woke up later. Just like he thought, she was dead on her feet and when she got settled in bed, Zach pulled her closer and they fell asleep. When Zach finally woke up, he saw that Emma's side of the bed was empty and cold. Turning around he saw that it was 10:30 in the morning. Getting up, he made his way toward the kitchen where someone had already made a pot of coffee. The one thing he could say about this house, it was beautiful and the views were amazing. Walking outside, he saw Em sitting on a blanket reading a book. Zach took a minute to look at her sitting there with the ocean in front of her. She looked so young and he could see how much she had grown since he met her.

"Hey, you. Did you sleep okay?" Zach said as he sat down behind her and pulled her closer to his body.

Moving so she could get comfy, Emma placed her head on his shoulder. "I always sleep better when you're around."

They don't know how long they sat there looking at the ocean but they could hear everyone waking up and they just giggled when they heard them all complaining about their heads and how they would never drink again. Zach helped Em up and before they went back inside, he stopped her.

"You know how I feel about you, right?" Zach said holding her face in his hands, "And now I know how you feel about me."

"But we can't…" Emma started but she wasn't meeting his eyes.

"Not until you're 18 and not until I talk to your dad. Once he gives me the thumbs up, then we can talk about how we want to move forward." He sat as he kissed her on the head and Emma just shook her head yes.

After Emma ran up to grab her car keys from her room, they walked towards her car and with one final hug, they separated.