A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. This is a really long one. I thought about breaking it into two chapters but didn't want to drag Christmas Eve out.
Chapter 17
Emily didn't know that Steve would appreciate her stopping by on Christmas Eve – a time he and Hannah were probably planning to spend with his family. She just wanted to drop off Hannah's gift since she wouldn't see her daughter on Christmas and had forgotten to bring it the other day. She tried to time her visit early enough that it wouldn't intrude on any dinner plans or plans to attend Christmas Eve mass.
Steve answered the door wearing a charcoal grey suit. "Emily," he said in a surprised tone, his expression somewhat guarded. "I didn't know you were coming over." He didn't come right out and say it, but he thought an unexpected visit from his child's birth mother on Christmas Eve was a little inappropriate. He liked Emily, but there were still boundaries – or there should be.
"I know. I'm sorry to just drop by like this," Emily said apologetically, wary of Steve's reaction. It definitely looked like he and Hannah had plans – why else would Steve be all dressed up? She held up the wrapped gift. "I just wanted to drop this off for Hannah, and then I'll get out of your hair," she assured him.
He nodded and stepped back to let her in. "Come in. Hannah's in the family room watching TV."
Unlike her dad, Hannah did not look like she was ready to go anywhere. She was stretched out lazily on the couch. Her hair was pulled off her makeup-free face in a haphazard braid. A crème colored fleece throw blanket covered the girl so Emily couldn't see what she was wearing, but she looked pretty comfortable on the couch. Her undivided attention was on the television screen as she absentmindedly scratched the dog's ears – he was sitting on the floor by her head. Emily instantly recognized the movie on TV as Elf.
"Hey," Steve said, trying to get Hannah's attention. "Look who's here."
It took the teenager a few seconds to tear her attention away from the TV and look at the two adults standing at the threshold of the family room. "Emily," Hannah said in the same surprised tone her dad had used a moment ago. She sat up on the couch, the throw blanket falling off of her as she did. Emily noted the long-sleeve shirt Hannah was wearing. It was awfully casual compared to Steve's suit. "What are you doing here?" Hannah questioned curiously but not unhappily.
Emily thought it was strange that Steve looked like he was on his way out, and Hannah looked like she didn't plan on moving from her spot on the couch all night. "I won't stay long," Emily said cautiously with a quick glance at Steve, not really sure what to make of the situation. "I know it's Christmas Eve, and you guys probably have plans." She paused her fishing expedition there to see if either of them would take the bait.
"I don't," Hannah said earnestly.
"I have a work Christmas party," Steve offered, feeling like he had no choice but to explain now that Hannah had said that. He already felt bad enough about leaving his kid alone on Christmas Eve without his kid's birth mother being there to judge him for it. He wasn't even looking forward to the party, but he had to make an appearance – his clients would be there. He planned to duck out early and try to watch one last Christmas movie with his daughter before she went to bed.
Emily didn't like the idea of her child being alone on Christmas Eve, but she, of all people, understood work obligations. "My team's having a Christmas party tonight, too," Emily told them. She looked down at the emerald green cowl neck sweater and dark wash skinny jeans she was wearing. "But ours is clearly more casual." She offered Steve a smile to try to ease the awkwardness she and Steve were both feeling in that moment. She shifted her gaze back to her daughter. "You didn't want to go to your dad's party?"
"I wasn't invited," Hannah told her.
"Kids aren't invited," Steve was quick to clarify. "Not just you," he added pointedly, staring at his daughter. "And let's be honest," he told the girl. "You don't want to go any more than I do. What was it you said again?"
"I'd rather have a cavity filled than spend the night in a room full of mind-numbingly dull lawyers debating financial regulations," Hannah repeated what she'd said to him earlier in a dry tone.
Emily chuckled softly and looked to Steve to gauge his reaction. "I would be offended, but she's right," he told Emily with a good-natured smile.
"See? You're a lawyer, and even you admit it," Hannah said triumphantly.
"Oh, yeah? How do you feel about a room full of FBI agents?" Emily asked her kid. She was hinting at Hannah going to the BAU party with her without actually coming right out and asking.
Hannah didn't think gun-wielding FBI agents could possibly be boring and told Emily so.
Getting the kid she had no parental rights to for Christmas Eve was more than Emily would ever have expected, but she didn't know if her kid's adoptive father would like the idea of Hannah spending any part of the holidays with her. He hadn't exactly given Emily the warmest reception.
Holidays were a time to spend with family, and, while he had allowed Emily to spend time with Hannah, Steve had also made it very clear that he was Hannah's parent and Emily being there now didn't change that. Even if he had other plans that night that didn't include Hannah, that didn't necessarily mean Steve was okay with Emily stealing her away on Christmas Eve. And that was what he was really afraid of on some level – Emily taking his kid away from him. Any adoptive parent would be afraid of that if a birth parent suddenly came back into their child's life. Logically Steve knew Hannah was his legally, but biologically she was Emily's.
Emily cast a questioning glance at Steve, but he either didn't pick up on her not-so-subtle hints or was deliberately ignoring them. She wasn't sure which. The profiler bit her bottom lip as she debated the wisdom of pushing the issue. It would be better if she could talk to Steve alone. Asking directly in front of Hannah would put Steve in the position of being the bad guy and saying no if he was really opposed to the idea. She really didn't want to put herself at odds with him when he had the ability to deny her access to her daughter.
Deciding to wait and see if she could get a few minutes alone with Steve to ask, Emily moved on to the reason she was there in the first place. She walked over to the couch to give Hannah the wrapped package she'd been holding. "Merry Christmas."
"Thank you," Hannah said as she accepted the wrapped package. After Emily asked what she wanted for Christmas, Hannah kind of thought the woman might get her something but wasn't sure. Just in case she did, Hannah got a small gift for her birth mother. It was up in her bedroom. The teenager set the wrapped package down carefully on the coffee table and jumped up. "I have something for you, too," she explained before disappearing up the stairs.
Seizing the opportunity, Emily immediately turned to Steve. "I didn't want to ask her without talking to you first," Emily started carefully, "but I can take her to my team's Christmas party. That way she won't be alone tonight."
Dropping hints didn't work for the vast majority of males, and, as smart as he was, Steve was no exception. Emily caught him off guard with that.
Thinking like a lawyer, he didn't want to set the precedent that his daughter's birth mother got to spend any holidays with her. It was one thing for Emily to spend time with Hannah occasionally, but holidays were sacred. And that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him.
Up until that point, Steve had only really thought about Emily spending time with Hannah one-on-one, getting to know her and answering any questions she had. The prospect of his child attending her birth mother's work Christmas party and being introduced to a bunch of people as Emily's daughter was daunting to him. Hannah was his daughter. His instinct was to stake a proprietary claim on her.
"I don't know," he said hesitantly. "It's Christmas Eve," he pointed out unnecessarily.
"And I never would have suggested it if you already had plans with her," Emily said, feeling it prudent to point that out. It was also a tactful way of reminding him that he didn't have plans with his daughter. Hannah would be sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve.
Steve glanced at the staircase warily, knowing his daughter could come bounding down the stairs at any minute. As much as he may have wanted to, he couldn't spend Christmas Eve with her and Emily could. He knew Hannah would be in good hands with her, but sharing his daughter was a new concept for him and he was still learning how to do it. It was a steep learning curve. For thirteen years, Hannah had been his, with no thought of the birth mother who gave her up for adoption ever having any kind of relationship with her – it was a closed adoption. Emily – or 'Grace' at the time – wanted it that way. Her reasons for that made sense now that he knew she'd been undercover and was afraid for the baby's safety. That actually earned his respect – she did the right thing for Hannah. He knew it couldn't have been easy for her, but she did it anyway.
They heard a telltale creak on the stairs, and Steve knew time was running out to make a decision. "You can ask her," he agreed very reluctantly.
"Are you sure?" Emily questioned. It didn't take a profiler to read his conflicted expression. Anyone could see that he didn't want Hannah to go to the BAU Christmas party. The real question was if Emily was going to let that stop her.
Before Steve could respond, Hannah rejoined them. Completely unaware of what she was interrupting, the girl thrust a reindeer gift bag with red tissue paper sticking out of it into Emily's hands. "This is for you."
Emily held Steve's gaze for a moment before joining her daughter on the couch, watching as Hannah tore into the shiny red, white and green striped wrapping paper with the reckless abandon of a child. Hannah hadn't really known what to expect from her birth mother, but she wasn't expecting expensive electronics. She gasped slightly in surprise when she saw the box. She turned so she was facing Emily on the couch. "Thank you so much," Hannah said as she threw her arms around Emily. She always thanked her relatives and hugged them after opening presents and was just reacting in the moment without really thinking about it.
A slightly startled Emily realized it was the first time she'd gotten a hug from her kid. It only took her a split second to react, wrapping her arms around the girl and giving her a gentle squeeze as she soaked in the moment of having her daughter in her arms for the first time ever. She didn't hold Hannah when she was born because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to walk away from her if she did.
"What'd you get?" Steve asked Hannah curiously, walking over to the couch to see what had elicited that reaction. He could tell his daughter wasn't just being polite – she really liked whatever Emily had given her.
All too soon for Emily, Hannah was pulling away to show her dad the box the Kindle came in. "An Amazon Kindle," she told him excitedly.
Whatever his conflicted feelings toward Emily at the moment, Steve had to admit that it was a good gift for Hannah. She had always loved to read and had a bookshelf full of books in her room upstairs to prove it. She was running out of room on her bookshelf despite donating a whole box full to the library. An e-reader was as practical as it was thoughtful, something a practical man like himself could appreciate. "That'll be good for when we go to Stowe,' he mused. "You always finish all the books you bring and then you have nothing to do on the flight home."
"We go to Stowe for New Year's every year," Hannah explained to Emily.
"A ski trip with my sister, brother-in-law, and their kids," Steve expanded on the girl's explanation. He was trying to be cordial to the woman who had been so generous with his kid.
"Thank you," Hannah said to Emily again.
"You're welcome," Emily told her.
With Hannah's expectant gaze on her, Emily looked in the gift bag to see what her daughter had gotten her. There were three boxes of specialty tea in the gift bag – Chocolate and Roses, Almond, and a 'Christmas Cheer' holiday blend with apple, cinnamon and ginger.
"It's from this tea room in Georgetown that we took my grandma to for her birthday," Hannah explained nervously. She thought Emily would like it since the woman always got tea when they were at coffee shops, but specialty tea was nothing compared to an Amazon Kindle. "None of those kinds have caffeine in them." Hannah reached over and picked up the box containing Chocolate and Roses. "This one's my favorite, even though it doesn't have caffeine. It's really good."
Emily didn't expect anything big from a fourteen year old with no job. It was truly the thought that counted, and she could tell Hannah put some thought into the gift and took her preferences into account. Emily put her hand on the girl's leg and patted it gently. "Thank you."
As he watched them together, Steve was surprised to see how close his daughter and Emily were after only a month. The interaction was sweet, but it left him feeling uneasy. There was just something about having his child's birth mother there on Christmas Eve made him feel threatened – more so than he usually felt by Emily's presence.
The arrangement with Emily had been informal thus far, with either Hannah or Emily asking his permission before they did anything together, but now Steve was wondering if he needed to set some boundaries – no holidays being the first one that came to mind. He didn't want to worry about Emily showing up on Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. Holidays were his.
Technically Steve had given Emily permission to ask Hannah if she wanted to go to the BAU Christmas party, however grudgingly. After gifts had been opened, she looked at her daughter nervously. "Do you want to go my team's Christmas party?" Emily asked her. The profiler's eyes darted toward Steve warily. He was standing stiffly, every muscle taut with tension, his discomfort rolling off of him in waves as they both waited anxiously for Hannah to respond.
Emily knew then that it was a mistake to go ahead and ask. She could feel the previously unresolved tension between her and her daughter's adoptive father soar to new heights.
Oblivious to what was going on between Emily and Steve, Hannah looked at the woman with a mixture of surprise and excitement. The young teenager still thought Emily's job was pretty cool. "Really?"
"As long as it's okay with your dad," Emily said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. It was definitely not okay with him, but he was backed into a corner now.
"Dad?" Hannah prompted expectantly. She gave him a questioning look when he didn't answer immediately. "Can I?"
There was no way he could say no now. He didn't want to be the bad guy in his daughter's eyes. "Yes, you can go," Steve said reluctantly. He glanced at his watch. "Speaking of going, I need to get going or I'll be late." He would be fighting traffic to get to the restaurant where his firm had reserved a private room for the Christmas party, and he wanted to get there before any of his clients did. "Take Alex outside again before you leave, okay, angel?"
The dog in question was sniffing the wrapping paper and tissue paper on the floor with interest and looked up when he heard his name but went back to the trash on the floor as soon as he realized no one had anything more exciting for him.
"Okay," Hannah said.
Emily was hoping she would have a chance to talk to Steve before he left so she could try to smooth things over with him, but that would have to wait. He was clearly in a hurry to leave. She was so stuck in her own head with thoughts of how the unresolved conflict between her and Steve could affect her relationship with Hannah that it took a second for her to realize Hannah was talking to her.
"I'm sorry," Emily apologized. "What did you say?"
"I asked what time the party is. I still need to get ready."
"We can go whenever you're ready," Emily told her.
An hour and a half later (Hannah took a long time to get ready), Emily was trying to give Hannah a quick rundown on everyone she would meet that night as she drove to Rossi's.
"JJ's my best friend," Emily said. "Her husband's a police officer. They have a ten year old son and a three year old son. They'll all be there."
Hannah was relieved to know she wouldn't be the only kid there. As an only child, she was used to being surrounded by adults and was comfortable talking to adults, but it would be nice to have someone else at the party who was closer to her age, even if it sounded like the one closest to her age was ten. "Are they the only other kids who will be there?" Hannah asked.
"Matt has four kids, but his wife is pregnant with their fifth and wasn't feeling very well today so I'm not sure if they'll be able to make it," Emily replied. "And Dave has a daughter, but she's in her early thirties. She has a kid of her own and lives in California."
"Oh, okay," Hannah said.
"And you already met Penelope and Spencer," Emily reminded her. She thought it might make the teenager more comfortable knowing she would know some of the people there.
"Spencer?" Hannah questioned.
"You met him at the library, remember?" Emily prompted gently.
"Oh," Hannah said. "Dr. Reid."
"Is that how he introduced himself?" Emily asked in a somewhat amused tone.
Hannah nodded. "Uh-huh." He'd actually introduced himself as Dr. Spencer Reid, but she'd been taught to address adults respectfully, and it felt natural for her to revert to the more formal address for any adult. "What do I call everyone else? Like, do I call them Agent or Mr. and Mrs.?"
Emily stifled a small smile at her daughter's dilemma as she remembered the girl not quite knowing what to call her the night they met even though she introduced herself as Emily. She appreciated the manners that had been instilled into her daughter but knew her team wouldn't want Hannah to feel like she had to be so formal. "I think they'll all tell you that you can call them by their first name."
Somehow, even though Hannah took her sweet time getting ready, they weren't the last to arrive. Emily didn't see JJ or Will's car (she didn't know which car they would be driving) or Alvez's car as she maneuvered her car into a spot on the street in front of Rossi's house.
"An FBI agent lives here?" Hannah questioned skeptically as they made their way up the long driveway to the house. "It's bigger than my friend Madison's house, and her dad's, like, the founder and CEO of some tech company."
"Don't tell Dave that," Emily told the girl with a little laugh. "He already calls his house a mansion." The woman rolled her eyes in a playful manner as she hinted at Rossi's healthy ego. She realized her daughter was still waiting for an answer to her original question. "He is an agent, but he's also an author," Emily explained. "He's written eight books. One of them is being made into a movie."
"Cool," Hannah said.
When he opened the door, Rossi didn't make a big deal out of Hannah being there, which Emily appreciated. "You must be Hannah. I'm Dave." His demeanor was calm and low-key as he introduced himself to the teenager.
"It's nice to meet you," Hannah told him. She impressed him by holding her hand out to shake his, and he noted that, for a young teenage girl, she had a nice, firm grip.
Rossi stepped back to let them in. "Welcome to my humble abode. Can I get you anything to drink?" He asked as he ushered them into the kitchen. Before she could ask for one, he started pouring Emily a glass of red wine. He met her gaze with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. "I already know what you want. What can I get you, Hannah?"
Hannah's eyes scanned the expansive granite countertop to see what he had out other than wine. He only had bottles of wine and appetizers out so far. "Um," she said uncertainly, not sure if he had soda or what kind he had.
"Do you want a Coke?" Emily asked her kid. That seemed to be Hannah's beverage of choice when they weren't somewhere that had fancy coffee drinks.
"Yes, please," Hannah said.
"One Coke coming right up," Rossi told the girl.
The teenager avoided the fruit and veggie tray completely but helped herself to the cheese and crackers that were sitting out on the counter for everyone to snack on while they waited for the main course.
"It smells really good," Hannah said sweetly. "What are you making?"
"That would be my legendary Carbonara de Rossi," Rossi said. "You know, I tried to teach Emily here how to make this, but she messed it up. A word to the wise – never leave Emily in the kitchen unsupervised."
"I'm surprised I'm allowed in the kitchen tonight," Emily commented wryly, taking the good-natured ribbing in the light-hearted manner in which it was intended.
"That's only because I'm trusting Hannah here to keep an eye on you." Rossi smiled at the girl, who merely giggled in response.
After they had drinks in their hands, they wandered into the living room where Penelope and Tara were talking wedding planning with Krystall while Reid studied the pieces on a chess board as he waited for Rossi to return to finish their game. Reid glanced up when he heard footsteps. "Hey, Emily," he muttered distractedly, his mind still on chess. "Oh, Hannah, hi," he said, surprised to see the teenager.
"Who's winning?" Emily asked curiously as she did her own examination of the chess board and quickly determined that the black king was about to go down.
"I am," Reid asserted. "Do you want to play me next?" He asked Emily seriously. She didn't play often, but she was a worthy opponent and playing her was always a good challenge for the genius.
Emily looked at Hannah uncertainly, not wanting to leave the girl to her own devices if she were at all uncomfortable. "Maybe later," Emily deflected, not unkindly. "Come on, honey, I want to introduce you to everyone else," she said, putting a hand on her daughter's back.
"Hannah!" Penelope said happily when the mother and daughter entered her line of sight. Wedding talk quickly forgotten, Penelope jumped up from her spot on the couch and hugged the teenager.
Hannah returned the hug. "Thank you again for letting me borrow your sweater," the teenager said immediately. "It's in Emily's car."
"Do you have any pictures of you and all your friends all decked out in your Christmas garb?" Penelope asked eagerly.
The teenager retrieved her ever-present iPhone from the back pocket of her skinny jeans and obliged Penelope by showing her the pictures of them all in the limo. From where she was standing at the teen's right side, Emily could see the pictures, too, and looked on with interest.
"What are you looking at?" Tara asked, joining the trio.
"Pictures from my friend's birthday party," Hannah explained. "She got a limo, and a group of us went to look at Christmas lights."
"That sounds fun," Tara said in a warm, friendly tone.
"Tara, this is Hannah," Emily introduced the other woman to her kid even though they were already talking.
"It's nice to meet you," Hannah said politely, shifting her phone to her left hand so she could extend her right hand to shake hands.
Tara smiled approvingly at the girl's manners. "It's nice to meet you, too."
"And this is Dave's fiancé, Krystall," Emily continued introductions, including the woman who was still sitting unobtrusively on the couch.
Emily was glad she could introduce the girl to a few new people at a time instead of overwhelming her with the entire BAU at once. With introductions complete, the ladies settled back down on the couch, scooting over to make room for Emily and Hannah, and resumed their conversation about Krystall and Dave's upcoming wedding. Hannah enjoyed hearing the story of their first wedding in a drive-thru chapel in Vegas when it came up in the course of the conversation. The women included the young teenager in their conversation, which made her feel more adult, and she laughed along with everyone else when Krystall described the Elvis impersonator who officiated the wedding.
By the time Luke arrived, Hannah was pretty comfortable with Penelope, Tara, and Krystall – comfortable enough that Emily was okay leaving the girl with them while she went to indulge Reid in a game of chess. Krystall excused herself shortly after to help Rossi in the kitchen.
Predictably JJ's group was the last to arrive – it always took longer to get out the door with kids, and Michael was being unusually difficult. He was tired and tearful. JJ just chalked it up to him being overtired and overstimulated from all the excitement of Christmas Eve. She wouldn't realize until later that night that he was coming down with something.
Penelope immediately got up to give her godson and the youngest LaMontagne big hugs. While her own children were otherwise engaged, JJ broke away to introduce herself to Hannah. The girl had been chatting away with Tara but was quiet and shy with JJ. Tara noted the sudden change in the teenager's demeanor, eyes narrowed contemplatively as she watched Hannah interact with the blonde profiler in a more reserved manner. Hannah was still polite, but she was a lot less talkative all of a sudden.
JJ was the team member Hannah was the most nervous to meet since Emily had said the woman was her best friend. The fourteen year old was unnecessarily worried that JJ wouldn't like her. She'd been a little worried about that with everyone on the team, but she was more worried about JJ's opinion of her than anyone else's.
Hannah was embarrassed and self-conscious of the fact that Emily's team helped find her the night she ended up stranded at the Metro station in Bethesda without her phone. She thought they might hold that against her. Emily hadn't said much to her about it, but she definitely wasn't sympathetic when Hannah complained about her resulting grounding. The teenager got the distinct impression her birth mother wasn't very pleased with her actions that night and felt like the woman's whole team probably shared Emily's opinion – they were the ones who had to look for her in the middle of the night and it probably wasn't how any of them wanted to spend their night.
Michael helped ease the slight awkwardness when he came over to figure out who the unknown girl his mom was talking to was. He climbed up onto the couch, wedging his way in between JJ and Hannah, before turning to look at the teenager curiously. "I'm Michael. I'm three," he said, pronouncing it like 'free' and holding up three chubby fingers proudly.
Hannah grinned widely. "I'm Hannah," she told him.
"Hannah's Aunt Em's daughter," JJ explained to her curious toddler.
Michael looked at Hannah in astonishment. He didn't know Emily had a daughter.
"Hannah lives with her dad, but she's hanging out with Aunt Em tonight," JJ added, trying to stop her three year old from asking the questions she could already see forming – awkward questions that were bound to make Hannah uncomfortable. He was too young to understand the concept of adoption or how Emily could have a kid he'd never seen before.
Fortunately, Michael seemed to accept his mom's quick-thinking explanation and moved on. "How many are you?" He asked Hannah.
"I'm fourteen," Hannah answered him.
Michael's eyes widened. To him, that sounded really old. "That's my brother, Henry," Michael said, pointing his big brother out. Henry had made his way over to the other side of the room and was watching the tail end of Reid and Emily's chess game. "He's ten."
"And a budding chess player. He's waiting impatiently to play the winner," JJ observed, knowing what her oldest was waiting for. "Who do you think will win? Aunt Em or Uncle Spence?" She asked her youngest, trying to distract him from asking Hannah a hundred questions by turning guessing who would win into a game.
"Uncle Spence," the little boy answered confidently. His Uncle Spence was a genius. His Aunt Em was pretty smart, but she wasn't a genius.
"Really? Well, I think Aunt Em will win," JJ mused. "What do you want to bet?" She asked teasingly, tickling the toddler's ribs.
"No! Mama, stop!" Michael shrieked in between giggles, squirming away from her fingers. He climbed over Hannah's lap in his clamor to escape the assault. He made it to the relative safety of Penelope's lap on the opposite side of the couch from JJ, with Hannah sandwiched in between them and JJ. His mom wouldn't be able to get to him now. He cuddled into Penelope – surely she would protect him.
JJ nudged Hannah gently, wanting to include her. "What do you think? Do you think Emily will win?" She was careful to refer to Emily by name and not as Hannah's mom – she knew Hannah and Emily weren't really there yet and didn't want to say anything to make the girl uncomfortable.
"I don't know," Hannah said.
"Spencer's a genius," Tara offered in a conspiratorial tone as she tried to get the girl more engaged again. "His IQ is 187. Anything over 160 is considered genius."
"Really?" Hannah questioned with wide eyes.
"Really," Tara assured her.
"Okay, then I'm with Michael. Dr. Reid will win," Hannah said with a duly impressed look on her face.
Michael thought it was pretty cool to have an older kid agree with him and held his hand up in the air for a high five.
It took Hannah a second or two to figure out what he was doing, but when she clued in, she belatedly gave the three year old a high five.
"Wanna go watch Uncle Spence win?" Michael asked her eagerly.
"Um, okay," Hannah agreed.
The toddler grabbed the teenager's hand and pulled her across the room, the adults not far behind them.
"Alright, who's winning?" Tara inquired as the group crowded around the chess board. "Spencer's the favorite."
Reid wore a smug expression while Emily pretended to be insulted.
"You guys betting against me?" Emily demanded with mock-indignance.
"Hey, don't look at me." JJ held her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm the only one who picked you to win. Even your own kid's betting against you."
Emily sent her daughter a betrayed look. "Traitor," Emily said lightly.
"I'm sorry, but Dr. Reid is literally a genius," Hannah said defensively.
Genius or not, Emily knew she would have Reid in two moves. "What did you bet?" Emily asked slyly.
"We didn't actually get that far. Michael?" JJ said, prompting her youngest to look at her. "What do I get if I'm right and Aunt Em wins?" She asked playfully.
The toddler thought about it for a moment. "Hugs and kisses," he proclaimed eventually.
At his age, it didn't even occur to him to ask what he got if he won the bet, but Hannah decided to help him out. "What do you get if you win?" Hannah asked him.
Michael looked to JJ for the answer. "Mama, what do I get if Uncle Spence wins?"
"I don't know. What do you want?" JJ said in a slightly amused tone.
JJ watched with raised eyebrows as Michael conferred with Hannah in hushed whispers. That could be dangerous. Hannah was Emily's kid, and Emily had a wicked sense of humor sometimes. JJ could only imagine what Emily's kid might tell Michael to ask for.
It was a relief when Michael announced that he just wanted ice cream if he – or rather Reid – won. JJ didn't know how much of that was Michael (he loved ice cream) and how much of it was Hannah's influence. Maybe the girl had inherited Emily's sweet tooth.
"You sure about that?" Alvez questioned the kids skeptically. "I don't know about chess, but Emily's the only one who can give him a run for his money at poker."
The toddler would be one sad kid if he lost his dessert.
"That's true," JJ told the kids.
"But this isn't poker," Hannah said.
It wasn't long after they agreed on the terms of the 'bet' that a grinning Emily checkmated Reid. Both Reid and Michael pouted a little, but Michael was soon smiling and laughing again when JJ snatched him up into her arms and peppered his face with kisses. His face was flushed but that didn't strike JJ as odd – she swung him around in the air a little when she picked him up and he was squirming around as she smothered him with kisses.
When they sat down at the formal dining room table to eat dinner and the three year old stubbornly refused to eat anything on his plate, JJ thought he was just upset because he thought he wasn't getting ice cream. She and Will tried to appease him with promises of dessert if he ate his dinner, but he still barely touched his food.
Later, when they were at home, Michael would tell JJ tearfully that his throat hurt. And when she took his temperature, she would realize he was running a low-grade fever. But for the time being, everyone politely ignored JJ and Will's struggle to get their youngest to eat and continued their dinner conversation around them.
Emily and Hannah thanked Rossi, said their goodbyes and left after dinner. Emily didn't think it would help matters any if Steve beat Hannah home and felt like his daughter was spending time that could have been spent with him with her instead.
Tara had discreetly shared her observation that the teenager was strangely shy with JJ, and Emily wanted to know why but didn't want to call attention to the fact that Hannah's behavior was being studied intently by every profiler in the room.
"What did you think of everyone?" Emily asked once they were in the privacy of her car, trying to sound casual.
"I like them," Hannah said. "They're nice."
"Thank you for being so sweet to Michael," Emily said sincerely.
Hannah shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but she was secretly glad the woman recognized the time she spent playing with the little boy. She would have been nice to any little kid, but she had been especially nice to Michael because she knew Emily loved him. He and Henry both called Emily 'Aunt,' and Hannah remembered seeing a crayon drawing from Henry featured prominently on Emily's refrigerator. The teenager wasn't jealous exactly, but it was strange for her to think of these other kids knowing her birth mother better than she did. They had always known Emily as someone who loved them. Hannah hadn't known the woman for the first thirteen years of her life. She knew now that Emily cared about her, but she didn't really understand how much.
"I know JJ appreciated it," Emily went on when Hannah didn't offer a verbal response.
"Did she tell you that?" Hannah asked.
Emily glanced at Hannah out of the corner of her eye. "No, but she didn't have to. I know she did."
"Oh," Hannah said. "Do you think she liked me?"
Emily frowned slightly as she wondered why Hannah would think otherwise. Simply reassuring the girl wouldn't be as effective as uncovering the reason for the fear and insecurity and talking about it. "Why wouldn't she?" Emily asked directly.
"I don't know." Hannah hesitated. "You were mad I left my house and went to Bethesda the night we met."
Emily didn't know how this was related to JJ but wanted to clear up any misconceptions her daughter had about that night regardless. It wasn't the first time Hannah had brought it up, but it was the first time she said that. The woman shook her head. "I wasn't mad."
"Yes, you were," Hannah insisted. "When I saw you again, you basically said I deserved to be grounded and that you would lecture me if I ever did it again."
"You did deserve to be grounded," Emily told her child. "I know you were upset, but that's no excuse to leave home without permission. You are fourteen years old. You have no business being out that late at night. Anything could have happened to you."
It was a very abridged version of the lecture she would have given at the time had Emily felt she had any right to parent the girl when it actually happened.
"Nothing happened," Hannah said dismissively.
"Just because nothing happened that time doesn't mean it couldn't have," Emily said seriously.
"You were mad," Hannah said quietly, her eyes downcast. She couldn't tell if Emily was still mad.
The fourteen year old didn't know how to articulate it and wouldn't admit it even if she could, but somewhere deep down the lack of a punishment or lecture from her birth mother made her feel like she had never really been forgiven by the woman.
"No, I wasn't," Emily told her. "I was worried. There's a difference. In my job, I see what the world can do to kids who think nothing bad could ever happen to them - kids like you. When I think of what could have happened to you…" Emily let her voice trail off as she remembered the unparalleled fear of knowing her daughter was out there at the same time as an unsub who was hunting teenage girls. She took a deep breath. "I was scared."
"You didn't even know me then," Hannah pointed out, not cruelly.
"I knew you were my daughter," Emily countered. "That's all I needed to know to be afraid for you."
"Was your team mad?" Hannah asked softly.
"What? No," Emily told her.
"They weren't mad they had to help you find me in the middle of the night?" Hannah questioned with heavy doubt in her voice.
"We were working on a case. I didn't call them in just to help me find you," Emily clarified. "I didn't actually ask for their help. They wanted to help. They're my friends. They care about you because I do."
"And JJ's your best friend," Hannah said.
"Yes, she is," Emily replied. "And because of that, she doesn't just like you. She already loves you."
Emily wasn't sure if her daughter really understood, but she didn't know what else she could say to make her understand and they were already turning onto the girl's street.
"Thank you for inviting me," Hannah said as she fumbled to undo her seatbelt.
"I'm glad you could come." Emily reached over the center console to give Hannah a quick hug goodbye. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."
"Merry Christmas."
A/N: Thanks for reading. Don't worry, Michael isn't deathly ill, but he may have made Hannah sick.
