Ben woke up in an unfamiliar bed, confused and disoriented, why wasn't he being punished for not being out of bed yet. Everything that happened came back to him at once, a quick glance at the clock next to him told him he had been asleep for 10 hours. Ben didn't think he had ever slept that long without nightmares or being woken up by something else.

Not knowing what to do Ben just laid back down, he really wanted to trust Emily and JJ, but just couldn't. He had very little reason to trust them- sure they had rescued him, and Emily had assured him he could trust them- but that's what everyone said. Ben couldn't trust anyone, any time he ever trusted someone they betrayed him.

JJ was still asleep and Ben thought he would take a risk and sneak out of the room and up into his, hopefully without being spotted. Ben still hadn't changed out of his Navy-Blue pajamas; it was one thing we could do to make the transition easier. The bed creaked as he stood, making him flinch, but JJ was still asleep so he went on.

Slowly opening the door, it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the light on in the hall. There was another set of stairs he hadn't seen before, so instead of going into the main part of the house, Ben dashed up that set of stairs. He passed a couple room, not bothering to look in them.

Once upstairs Ben realized he wasn't sure where he was upstairs, he had only seen his bedroom and bathroom, after navigating through a few hallways Ben found his room, happy that he hadn't been seen. Closing and locking the door behind him Ben settled himself onto his bed, leaning against the wall.

Pulling his knees to his chest Ben rested his head against the wall. He wasn't sure what he could do. He was so used to having every minute of every day scheduled for him, that having nothing to do was a foreign concept.

……………………….

Emily couldn't stop herself and went to go check on Ben and JJ. Penelope had dropped off her stuff, just leaving on the front porch not wanting to intrude, plus she wanted to get to her house where it was warm.

Opening the door to the master bedroom Emily started to panic, JJ was still asleep but Ben was gone. After checking the bathroom, she checked that both the front and back door were locked, they were. The only other place he could be was his bedroom.

Emily ran up the stairs hoping Ben would be in his room, she hadn't seen or heard him go up. She wiggled the doorknob; she could pick locks but she would give Ben a chance to open the door first. There was some rustling on the other side of the door and Emily allowed herself to relax slightly knowing his was in his room.

The door swung open revealing a distressed looking Ben. "I'm sorry, I knew I should have asked before coming up here. It won't happen again, you can do whatever, I'm sorry" his words came rapidly.

Emily heart sunk- he thought he was in trouble, 'The Downstairs' really messes people up. "Don't apologize. You don't have to ask to go to your own room, I was just worried when you weren't in bed"

Ben didn't look convinced, and just stood waiting to see if Emily was going to continue.

"There are a lot of things you have been taught are wrong or bad, that aren't. You will never be punished for something like going up to your room, and punishments will never be physical" Emily was growing more and more concerned the more time she spent with Ben. "Do you want to get the rest of your stuff up here, maybe get some of it put away"

Ben nodded, he had never had more then the few things he was given at 'The Downstairs' and it was a little overwhelming.

Several minutes and trips up and down the stairs later all the things Penelope had bought Ben when she was shopping were on the bed in their specific pile. The bed was almost completely covered.

"What do you want to start with?" Emily asked

"Clothes since there is the most of them"

Emily and Ben went to work putting away all the clothes and shoes. There was a lot of back and between Ben and Emily the whole time, nothing bad or mean just a lot of,

"Emily where does this go?"

"I don't know, where do you want to put it"

"I don't know, is this okay"

"Its you room, you can put stuff wherever you want"

An hour later, not only were all the clothes put away, but so was everything else. Ben looked around the room and felt something he couldn't quite identify, but whatever it was wasn't bad.

A knock alerted them to JJ standing leaning against the doorframe, an almost motherly look on her face.

"I'm glad you both got everything put away, and Emily you didn't have to get groceries, I could have done that." JJ was still in a lot of pain from her injuries and it was getting harder and harder to hold herself up.

"It wasn't a problem; I knew you both needed sleep" Emily said "Speaking on groceries, I'm getting hungry, why don't I make us some dinner"

"You don't have to do that Emily, I can make something" JJ tried, she was independent, Emily didn't need to do anything for her.

"It's really fine, I've been told I'm a good cook"

"No no I can do it"

"I'm not saying you can't do it, if it makes you feel better, we can alternate"

While JJ still wasn't happy with the arrangement, she didn't even want Emily to be there, she was fine, she didn't need help, she gave in nodding.

Ben was looking between the two and wondered if Emily and JJ were a couple, he hadn't been told they weren't, but Aunt May and Aunt Becca would go back and forth like that all the time, and they were married. At the thought of his "aunts" ben remembered all the time he had spent there at 'The Hut'

The hut was a safe haven for so many kids over the years, a safe place to go, somewhere to get work at a young age, and most importantly somewhere kids could be loved.

Emily went off to start dinner, Ben asked to stay in his room- which was of course answered with a yes, and JJ went off to some other room of the house.

……………………….

JJ made sure Emily and Ben weren't watching and headed towards the door into the attic. The first thing JJ noticed was that the drop cloth covering one of her paintings was moved, anger rose in JJ when she realized it meant Emily had not only been in her attic, but had looking through stuff.

JJ felt it was an invasion of her privacy that Emily had come into her safe space, the fact she was even in her house was an invasion of her privacy. As soon as JJ started on the team it was clear she would didn't want other people over at her house, they had asked several times why but JJ always managed to not really answer the question.

JJs home was the only place she ever felt safe, and bringing other people into it was stress inducing enough it defeated the purpose, it was easier to just not have people over. The only team member who had been to her house- besides Elle- was hotch when he checked on her after the Hankel case.

He had shown up at her house a day after they returned, he had a key to her house like he did to every other team members house and let himself in. he found her sitting on the floor in the kitchen, she didn't know how long she had been there but when hotch came in and she was convinced for a few moment it was the dogs that had attacked her.

That was the day her friendship with hotch really started, she was close with everyone on the team but her and hotch had a special bond. There was one time Strauss had accused them of sleeping together, which was quickly shut down.

JJ checked every inch of the attic, making sure everything was still there and in the same spot as before. she wanted nothing more then to go downstairs and yell at Emily for snooping, and that she was a guest not a member in the household. But she couldn't, it wouldn't do any good especially for Ben.

JJ came up with a plan, a simple but effective one: convince Emily I'm fine and in the process convince myself I'm fine.

It seemed like a foolproof plan… right. I mean JJ had been doing for years, convincing everyone she was fine when she definitely wasn't, it was a skill.

……………………….

There were so many questions Ben wanted answered, but was too afraid to ask them. He wanted to know about Roslyn, and his parents, and JJ. Where would he go to school, would he be left alone during the day.

There was one question that kept coming up, he should know this but the information would never be provided to him if he asked in 'The Downstairs' and Aunt Mae and Becca just didn't know:

When is my birthday?

Ben knew how old he was- 11, but had never been told his birthday, most of the other kids he was with in 'The Downstairs' knew their birthday from before they came, but since Ben was only 3 when he was placed there, he had no idea.

Sitting down at his desk Ben grabbed one of the notebooks what he had got, he wrote down all the questions he wanted answers to, maybe he would ask them one day. Once they were all written down there were two full pages of questions, plus a few on the next page. He stashed away the notebook and stood to look at his bookshelf.

While Ben had never gotten to tier 5 in 'The Downstairs' and had been stuck at tier 4 he had been given special access to the library, of course the only thing in the library were mostly Christian books between that library and Aunt Becca's book collection he found he had a major love for books

……………………….

Emily put herself to work making dinner, not hesitating to open cabinets and drawers pulling out whatever she needed. She was now a member of the household.

Emily decided to make a French dish she had been taught to make by her mom's chef when she was a teenager, it would take a little while but it would be worth it.

It would take some effort to get Ben and JJ sleeping at normal times, they had slept all day after being up all night and that wouldn't work for long, and she needed sleep too.

She was waiting for a chance to talk to JJ but so far there hadn't been any opportunities, there was a lot to talk about but Emily didn't want to send JJ into a panic, but knowing what would send JJ into a panic was something that required a conversation, maybe she just needed to rip off the band aid.

The food was nearly done Emily was just adding the final spices when there was a loud shout from upstairs that Emily didn't know which person it came from. Abandoning the food Emily raced upstairs first checking on Ben.

Ben had also heard the scream and was standing outside his room looking concerned and very confused, "That wasn't me"

"Stay here" if it wasn't Ben then it was JJ.

.………………………

A/N: stay hydrated folks

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