It didn't occur to Dawn until she was nearly home that she should maybe have prepared Emily for the imminent surprise...or, perhaps, more aptly, asked for permission at all. She hadn't been thinking of that, though. Had barely been thinking at all.

All she'd been focused on in that moment when she'd said she'd take Giselle for the weekend was the way the girl had smiled back at her.

And now, it was too late to take it back...

"Emily?" Dawn said quietly into the silent foyer, partly hoping that she was away on a case so she had a few more hours to prepare for what may end up being a huge blow out. "Em, are you home?"

"Who's Emily?" Giselle asked, dropping her bag by the door and wandering further into the foyer.

Dawn was saved having to answer by Emily descending the stairs, towelling off her hair. "Thank God you're home," Emily started to say, "I'm fucking starving and..." She came to a sudden stop at the base of the stairs. "Who's this?" she asked, perhaps a little rudely.

Wincing a little, Dawn said, "This is Giselle – I told you about her foster mother..."

Emily nodded slowly, offering the girl a tight smile. "Give us a minute?" she said, gesturing over her shoulder for Dawn to join her upstairs for what would no doubt be a hushed argument.

Dawn knew she had no choice but to follow. "Before you say anything," she said the moment the bedroom door clicked shut behind them, "I know I should have talked to you first...

"First?" Emily repeated, "Before what, exactly?"

"It's just for a weekend," Dawn said by way of answering which, truly, explained nothing at all. At Emily's questioning expression, she elaborated, "I told her case worker that I'd watch her for the weekend – just until they can get her a new placement."

Emily's expression did not become any more understanding at that. "This really isn't a good time, Dawn. There's...things going on that really aren't conducive to having a kid around."

It was Dawn's turn to raise her brow. "And what kind of things might that be?"

Emily shook her head quickly. "It doesn't matter," she said evasively. "My point is that I deserved a say in the matter."

"Well, what do you want me to do now?" Dawn asked, throwing her hands up in the air. "It's too late to call her case worker and send her back..."

With a frustrated little huff, Emily shook her head. "I know," she agreed. "It's fine. It's just a weekend." A beat. "But I can't promise I'll be home to help."

When they returned downstairs, the matter more or less settled, it was to find that Giselle had made herself at home on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, making Emily wince internally, though she didn't comment aloud, no matter how much she may have wanted to.

"Do you guys have anything to eat?" Giselle asked, glancing over her shoulder at them upon hearing their footsteps.

"I was kind of hoping to have a date night," Emily remarked dryly under her breath. "But I suppose we could order a pizza or something..."

Giselle nodded sagely. "I like pizza," she agreed.

"So you and Emily are like...girlfriends?" Giselle asked. She stood back, watching Dawn make up the spare bed, clutching a pillow to her chest.

"We're engaged, actually," Dawn said, smoothing out the covers and turning back to Giselle.

Giselle thought on that for a moment. "She doesn't like me, does she?"

Dawn didn't seem to know how to answer that. "Emily...she's just under a lot of pressure at work," she lied. "It's nothing to do with you."

In truth, Emily had been acting strangely for awhile now. She'd tried talking to her about it, but each time, Emily had immediately clammed up and insisted it was just that she was tired and/or stressed. Dawn wasn't buying that, but she knew that with Emily, sometimes you just had to give her the time she needed to work through things in her mind before she'd let you past her walls...

If Giselle was buying that excuse, she didn't let on.

Emily padded into the kitchen sometime around two AM and was rather alarmed to see light spilling out into the hallway, given she'd left Dawn sleeping in bed...she considered going for her gun, only to very quickly remember that there was someone else in the house.

"You should be asleep," she chastized lightly, entering the kitchen and heading for the fridge, in search of a bottle of cold water.

The girl reached around her, grabbing for a beer, only to have Emily snatch it from her hand and replace it with water.

"Nice try, kid," she deadpanned, reaching for a second bottle of water from the fridge and pressing the cold surface against her forehead to soothe her headache. "Maybe you missed the part of orientation where I'm FBI," she added, not quite certain whether she was being playful or irritated.

Giselle, for her part, just laughed off her concern, but dutifully sipped her water nonetheless. "Dr. Bell said you catch serial killers?" she spoke up eventually, studying Emily carefully.

Emily nodded. "Most of the time."

Several long moments of tense silence passed. Then, "Why don't you want me here?"

Briefly, Emily's mouth hung open in surprise at the girl's candour. "That's not... I don't..." She trailed off, heaved a sigh, tried again, "It's not that I don't want you here. I just..." She paused, pursed her lips, debating how honest to be. "I almost took in a foster child once," she confessed, "Before Dawn and I were together."

Her answer seemed to surprise Giselle, though she didn't admit it aloud.

"Her name was Carrie," Emily continued, "Her entire family was killed and something about her just..." She trailed off once again, resisting the urge to spill all her emotions forth on the unsuspecting girl. "I wanted her to have someone she could depend on."

"What happened to her?" Giselle asked in a quiet voice.

With a tight smile, Emily said, "She had an aunt who took her in."

And, apparently understanding a fair bit more than her youth would suggest, she said, "And I remind you of that? You don't want Dr. Bell to get her hopes up?"

"Something like that..."