Days passed and Mother's day rolled about. Penelope had managed to convince Rossi to host a small gathering at his house. For days, she'd had a rough time convincing him. Nothing seemed to warm the Italian's heart, but as soon as she mentioned JJ's rough predicament the man reconsidered and agreed to host it.
When the weekend rolled about the team gathered at Rossi's for a barbeque. It was a perfect day, clear and vibrant, and the men of the team had all arrived early. When Gracia walked in, she found Morgan and Hotch manning the grill and Read, sitting cross-legged on the swing by the pool, reading. Rossi was busy trying to find a corkscrew in one of the drawers when the doorbell rang.
"Can you get that for me, please?" He asked as he closed the drawer and got busy cracking open a bottle of wine.
"With pleasure, Sugar." Garacia walked the few paces toward the door and opened it to find Emily, JJ, and their children. "Well, aren't you all cute! Come on in!" Both women laughed and stepped inside. Rossi poured four glasses of wine; one for each woman and one for himself. He greeted the kids, who ran out to play with the dog. After they were out of earshot, Rossi asked the one dreaded question.
"How are you two doing?" The question surprised them.
"As well as can be expected." JJ answered, "The divorce has been harsh on all of us, more so on the boys."
"I can imagine. How about you, Emily?"
"One day at a time, Dave. One day at a time."
"Sometimes that's all we can do."
Nothing was else was said after that; and they drank wine and ate and laughed. It was a day of jubilee, just like it was when the group got together. Sometime in the afternoon, JJ pulled Emily aside; grabbing her by the hand. Garcia followed them.
"Ready, my Darlings?" she asked.
"I don't think I'll ever be; JJ?" Emily turned to look at the taller blonde. She looked like she was about to pass a kidney stone.
"I think I'm gonna puke," she said. Garcia laughed.
"Seriously? This scares you?"
"You'll be fine, come on." Her hand still in JJ's, Emily began to walk in the direction of the rest of the team. A gentle resistance from an inert JJ made her stop with a sudden, dry motion. She turned around only to find JJ staring haplessly at her. "What?" Emily said , "You'll never be ready, so you might as well get it over now."
"Well then; let's get it!" Said JJ and began walking.
"Atta girl!"
The men were huddled about, drinking beer and talking about baseball. They were loud, as usual, trying to shut Reid up as he began spitting random facts and statistical information irrelevant to the conversation. Garcia cut in the conversation loud and rudely. The men went quiet, the baseball conversation forgotten as four pairs of eyes focused on the women.
"Yes, okay. Like Penelope just said, JJ and I have something important to tell you all," said Emily.
"Wait a second," Rossi cut in, "Did you finally gather the balls to pop the question?"
"What? He knew?" Penelope was scandalized.
"Yeah," the reply was intended for both Rossi and Garcia, "You were right, she does feel the same."
"Hold up, hold up. Just what in the hell is going on?" Hotch looked at the pair, a question in his eyes.
"Emily and I, were together…. As a couple." JJ finally spoke, nerves long forgotten. "We've had feelings toward each other for a very long time but none of us were brave enough to act upon them." The men who knew what was going on smiled and congratulated them. Hotch and Reid, on the other hand, were beyond stupefied.
Suddenly, an explosion of voices and laughter engulfed them. Emily found herself entangled in Reid's arms, unable to breathe, but she was happy things had gone relatively well. Deep down, she knew everything was going to be fine; but Emily was a preparer, and like any good preparer, she liked to prepare for the worse but hope for the best.
"About time!" someone said, and it took her a few seconds to decipher it was Rossi, "I swear, if I had to listen to this one crying one more time about her unrequited love for you, someone was going to get hurt ." The indirect was for JJ. By "this one" he meant Emily, and by "someone was going to get hurt" he meant her as well.
"I did not cry!" objected Emily, insulted. Everyone burst out laughing.
When night fell the couple gathered the four kids, passed out on the couch, and with help of Morgan and Rossi moved them to the car; buckling seatbelts and car seats with practiced expertise. The three boys and the toddler went back to sleep as soon as their backs hit the seats. They said their goodbyes and got in the car, Emily on the driver's seat. One look at the four sleepy children had them both giggling like a pair of schoolgirls.
"Alright, my love, enough emotions for one day." Emily looked at JJ with a smile.
" Seriously, did you ever think today was going to turn out the way it did?"
"Look who's talking, Miss 'I think I'm gonna puke'." Emily chuckled and turned on the ignition.
"Don't laugh!" JJ pleaded, "Besides, how'd you know I wasn't ready?"
"Because I wasn't."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope. I was about ready to crap my pants."JJ just about lost it.
"You're something!"
They arrived at Emily's in a bout of quiet laughter. The kids were heavily asleep in the backseat, and with the level of tiredness in her body all Emily wanted was her bed. Slowly, they moved the children to their respective bedrooms, all too tired to protest sleeping arrangements. JJ's boys landed on Emily's couch with a soft thud of their heads. Emily, having put the kids in bed earlier, occupied herself with brewing herbal tea for the both of them. JJ walked in the kitchen just as she was popping two bags in each mug.
"Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?" Emily smiled.
"That word sounds to nice coming from those lips." She received JJ when she came in for a cuddle, placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then proceeded to pour out the hot water.
"What? No 'motor-oil black' caffeine hit?"
"Yeah, well, I decided it was time for a change. Helps keep my panic attacks at bay." JJ looked at her for a second.
"Wait, go back. Since when d'you get panic attacks?"
"Since Doyle. They started when I was in Paris. One minute I was walking down the street and the next I couldn't breathe. There was this oppression in my chest, my eyesight turned blurry and then black. I thought for a second I was going to die."
"How come I didn't know anything about that? How come you never said anything?"
"I didn't want to worry you. Plus, I wanted to deal with it myself. I ended up seeking treatment. My psychologist made me see that I am not alone and that I do not need to deal with my problems as such. That's why I came back, that's why I decided to stay. Being alone is okay for when you need to reclaim some control, but I know I have to let control go because it is impossible to control everything." JJ looked her dead in the eye.
"You listen to me, Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, in the future, no more hiding key information. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
Morning came soon enough and with it respite. The pair shared a bed and the morning routine that came after. There was coffee and pancakes and laughter. There were "hurry-up"s and "Mom, where are my socks?"s. And then somewhere in the middle of that rampant chaos, something beautiful happened.
"Mom!"
"Yeah?!"
"Have you seen my math textbook?!"
"On your desk, second drawer on the left!" It took her a second to figure out it was Connor speaking to her, and when she did so, Emily froze mid-pour and her eyes welled in tears.
"You okay?" JJ laid a lean hand on her arm.
"You didn't notice?" Emily's voice broke.
"What?"
"Connor," a small smile appeared on her lips, "He just called me 'mom' for the very first time. He didn't even notice, it just came out." JJ couldn't help but smile.
"Then what are you waiting for, Silly? Go!" The blonde took the coffeepot away from her and pushed her in the direction of the boy's bedroom.
Connor was just finishing shoving two spiral notebooks into his backpack. The fourth-grade math textbook was nowhere to be seen.
"Did you find it?" Connor turned around with a smile.
"Just where you said it would be. Thanks." He closed the bag, turned to look at her. "I'm ready now, Mom."