Emily sat at the edge of the pool, dipping her feet in the cool water (she would have gotten in the water to splash about with the girls and Lucy, but that morning, she'd found herself incredibly self-conscious about her changing body...and it didn't help that JJ sat beside her in her swimsuit, perfectly sculpted body on full display).

As if sensing her sudden self-consciousness, JJ gently elbowed her. "Aren't you melting?" she asked, nodding to the over-sized shirt she wore over her bathing suit.

Emily shrugged, but didn't reply.

"It's not easy in the early stages, is it?" JJ said knowingly, "Before you look pregnant..."

She gave a small humourless laugh. "Right now, it just looks like a food baby," she muttered.

"A cute food baby," JJ said playfully.

Emily fell back into silence, obviously not finding it quite as amusing as she'd like to portray. At length, she said quietly, "I've waited my entire life to be in a good place to have a baby and now that I'm actually doing it, the experience is nothing like I'd thought it would be."

JJ nodded her understanding. "It's okay to feel like that. When I got pregnant with Henry, I'd honestly never thought I'd have kids and for a long time, I felt guilty because I hadn't wanted to get pregnant. That's normal and what you're feeling is normal too."

She attempted a smile, but it didn't have her usual brightness to it.

"It's a lot of stress," JJ continued, "Physical and emotional. And that takes a toll on you... No one is expecting you to just smile through it like nothing is wrong."

Emily didn't seem entirely convinced by that. "I don't want to seem ungrateful," she mumbled, shrugging her shoulders up near her ears.

JJ's hand sought out hers, squeezed it gently. "Em, no one thinks that," she insisted. A beat. "Have you mentioned this to Lucy?"

She shook her head. She knew, though, that she should.

Before JJ could comment further on the matter, though, Henry and Michael came splashing over.

"Mommy!" Michael shouted over the sounds of their splashing. "Come play!"

JJ glanced over at Emily, offered her a smile. "Are you coming in the water?" she asked her.

Emily shrugged, obvious reluctance in her expression. She opened her mouth to refuse, but apparently, Clara had other ideas... "MOMMY!" she hollered from across the pool where she was standing on the edge of the pool, waiting to jump in the water.

"I'm watching..." Emily called back.

Clara pouted dramatically. "Come play with me!" she demanded.

She was about to protest, but then Aurora – who was sat on Lucy's shoulders – batted her big blue eyes and begged, "P'ease?"

Emily sighed, nodded. If there was one thing she just couldn't say no to, it was her girls wanting to spend time with her...maybe because she knew that all too soon, they would be teenagers and would want nothing more than to be as far from their moms as possible.

With a shaky breath, she bolstered her nerves and pulled off her shirt, trying to ignore the feeling that people were staring and judging. She slipped into the water and waded over to her daughters which Clara took as her cue to jump in the water and splash everyone in the vicinity.

Emily emerged from the shower that evening, having finished washing the chlorine smell out of her hair, to find Lucy sitting on the bathroom counter, apparently waiting for her. She extending Emily's hairbrush out to her and, when Emily reached for it, she grabbed her wrist, pulling her in for a kiss.

"Someone's in a good mood," Emily remarked against her lips.

"Of course, I am," Lucy replied. "I've got great kids and an amazing wife with a cute little bun in the oven..." She gently patted Emily's small belly. "Are you still feeling self-conscious?" she asked.

Emily raised a brow. "How did you know?" she asked quietly.

Lucy tenderly stroked Emily's cheek, a knowing smile on her lips. "I've done this twice before – I know exactly what you're going through right now. I was self-conscious as hell at this point in my pregnancies..."

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "You never told me..."

She shrugged, not having a good explanation. Then, almost, but not quite changing the subject, she said, "We have Rossi's summer barbecue coming up – you know the girls are going to want you to go in the pool with them..."

The thought, apparently hadn't occurred to Emily. "Oh," she said quietly.

"We haven't told anyone but JJ," Lucy added needlessly.

She nodded.

"And we don't have to tell them yet, but they'll probably figure out it for themselves." She took the hairbrush and gestured for Emily to turn around, proceeding to brush through the tangles in her hair, just like she did for the girls.

Emily groaned. "I swear, profilers are the worst," she muttered.

With a little smirk, Lucy said, "Maybe we should just blurt out that Derek got you pregnant, just to see what their reactions would be..."

Emily gave a snort of laughter. "Garcia's head might explode."

In the end, they didn't need to worry about announcing the news. For two reasons.

One: the second they arrived at Rossi's, Clara had very loudly declared, "Mommy has a baby in her bagina."

(Emily's face had turned beet red and she hissed to Clara, "That's not where the baby lives..." Lucy had struggled to hold back her laughter, even as she consoled a crying Aurora because she had wanted to tell everyone the news.)

Two: everyone had nodded knowingly, having already worked out the 'secret' for themselves. Just like Lucy had said they would.

Part of Emily wanted to be annoyed that they couldn't have even one secret. The bigger part of her, though, was relieved that everyone knew...if for no other reason than it meant that she didn't have to wear baggy clothes anymore to try to conceal her bump.