I'm sorry this took so long but I'm now back to college, meaning updates will probably be weekly, I'll do my best to get them out every weekend! Thank you for the amazing response, enjoy!
"Xena Princess Warrior you open this door immediately!" Even if Emily hadn't recognised to voice and heard a distinctive jingle to accompany the pounding on her front door, the interesting choice of name would have alerted her to Garcia's presence.
"Baby girl give her a chance, she will answer the door when she gets to it." Chuckled Morgan who was evidently with the eccentric blonde.
"That's easy for you to say my Chocolate Adonis. You have met Princess' Princess already but they have been in DC over 48 hours and I have yet to meet her. I can't wait any longer Morgan. I can't." Emily was actually surprised Garcia had stayed away for so long and not just showed up at their door.
It was midday on the Saturday after Carrie had arrived in DC with Emily and the whole team were coming over for one of their usual hangouts with the twist of helping the two brunettes decorate the teen's new room. Evidently Garcia was unable to contain her excitement any longer and had gotten there early. Emily guessed that the only reason she was this late was the fact she was with Morgan, her partner probably able to restrain the woman to a certain extent. But her heart was in the right place and that was what mattered.
Upon opening the door, Emily found herself engulfed in a ball of energy. Garcia's arms were wrapped so tightly around her that she could hardly breathe. Letting out what little air was left in her lungs in the form of a laugh, she wrapped her arms around Garcia.
"Baby girl, let her go, she can't breathe." Morgan laughed, placing his hand on the blonde's shoulder, entering the room with Reid trailing behind him.
Garcia let go of Emily to hold her at arms length, the only recognition that she'd heard Morgan. "Well, where is she then?"
"She's upstairs, I'll go get her. Wait here." Emily replied, aiming the last words at Morgan with a look that said 'You keep her down here or you'll see the business end of my boot.' To which he nodded with a grin on his face.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she put her head around Carrie's door only to see the room as they had moved it this morning, all the furniture moved to the middle of the floor and sheets on the floor to protect the hardwood, but no Carrie. Emily moved across the hall and inched open the door to the study to find Carrie curled up in one of the armchairs, lost in a book.
"Hey, Morgan and Garcia are here. I know they're early but if I'm honest, I'm surprised they weren't here earlier."
"Garcia is the tech analyst right?" The teen replied, marking her page and putting down the book.
"Yeah, she's a bit...different. You'll understand when you meet her but she's great. Oh and be prepared for a rib-crushing hug the second you see her." Sensing the teens nerves she decided to try and calm her a little before exposing her to Garcia. "What are you reading there kiddo?"
The two were more comfortable after their little talk in the car the day before. Carrie realising that the brunette was there for her and she wasn't imposing on her life, well not as much as she had originally thought, and Emily, knowing she had to be strong for the teen, being able to read her, knowing when she needed space and when she needed comfort.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I prefer the English title. These are my favourite books, they've always given me a sense of comfort. Whenever I'm stressed or upset, I read them and they calm me, I just get lost in them." A genuine smile crossed Carrie's face, one that Emily had rarely seen in the short time she'd known her.
"Well then it's a good thing I have original copies then, isn't it? Come on then, best go and meet Pen before she comes bursting through that door." Emily said with a small laugh.
Emily had not been over-exaggerating about the hug. Carrie wouldn't have been surprised if Garcia had broken one of her ribs before the older brunette had pulled her back, under the guise that the teen had to breathe.
Penelope pulled back to interrogate the young girl, "Hi, I'm Penelope Garcia, Oracle of All Things Knowable, you can call me Pen or Penelope or Garcia, whichever."
Just then there was another knock on the door and Morgan answered it to find Hotch and Rossi on the other side, finding it weird to see the two older men so dressed down. "Hey, come on in, Garcia is just about to interrogate the kid." He said with a chuckle.
"Hey, we're just waiting for JJ, thanks so much for coming." Emily said, trying to shift attention away from the poor teen who was suffering the full wrath of a very excited Penelope Garcia.
"It's no problem at all Bella. How are you two getting on?" Rossi asked knowingly, seeing the signs of sleeplessness all over their faces.
"Good, we're getting to know each other, aren't we." The older brunette said, throwing her arm around Carrie's shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah we are." The teen said, a small smile crossing her face. Before she had a chance to expand, a frantic knocking sounded on the door, Emily moving to get it.
"I'm so sorry! I actually left my place nearly an hour ago but then there was a crash and I was sitting in traffic, then I had to take the long way. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be late." Exclaimed a very flustered JJ. It was extremely cute if you asked Emily.
"Hey Jen, relax, it's okay. We haven't even started yet. Hotch and Rossi just got here, you're not late." The profiler reached out to touch the blonde's arm in an attempt to calm her. The second the two touched, tingles, much like pins and needles, ran up both their arms, metaphorical sparks flew.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the room, who were chatting with Carrie and flying jokes back and forth, the two women were reeling from the touch. It seemed like the rest of the room didn't matter and they were in their own private bubble. Emily knew had the rest of their team, plus her new foster daughter, not been there, she would have pulled JJ into a kiss right then and there.
"Are-are you coming in? W-would you like something to drink?" The older woman eventually managed to stutter, with a strong sense of deja-vu from two nights earlier when the blonde had entered and she couldn't even catch her breath.
"Please, you have any water?" JJ said, her mouth very dry all of a sudden, as she moved into the apartment and greeted the rest of the room.
Ten minutes later had the group entering the rather bare room with glasses of water and cups of coffee, laughing and joking.
"So kid, what colour we got here?" Morgan asked, picking up the paint tins.
"Lilac, it's my favourite."
"Right, well lets get us some lilac walls shall we?" He said as he poured the paint into some trays.
The group split up into pairs, each taking a wall, Morgan and Garcia, Hotch and Rossi, JJ and Reid, and Emily and Carrie. Emily turned on some music and the group totally relaxed, joking around and teasing each other about their painting and 'missing spots'.
As JJ and Carrie got closer to their shared corner, JJ started feeling playful. "Hey kid, you got a little paint on your nose."
"Ahh," she said, trying to rub her nose on the sleeve of her t-shirt, "did I get it?"
"Nope, it's right...here." JJ laughed as she ran a paint covered finger down the teen's nose.
Emily was watching the interaction between the two, grinning to herself. She stopped painting and turned to observe the whole room. JJ and Carrie were having a miniature paint fight, Hotch and Rossi were squabbling over who was missing what, Garcia was doing more staring at Morgan than painting, whose shirt was riding up as he reached towards the ceiling and poor Reid had more paint on himself than any where else. This was her family, none of them shared blood but that didn't matter. Blood didn't make a family.
Carrie and JJ eventually stopped goofing around, and it was then that the young girl looked over at Emily and she saw love written all over her face as the profiler took in the room and its occupants. Carrie could see how much all these people meant to each other, they seemed to have a kind of bond that she hadn't seen outside of family. Catching Emily's eye, they shared a smile and somehow, Carrie knew that, eventually, everything would be okay.