Locking the car doors, the new BAU agent made her through the parking garage and to her new apartment building's elevator.

She and Hotch had, had a better conversation than she could have imagined. He had been impressed with her work back in Chicago and her liaison role to the CIA that e almost offered her the job the moment they started the interview.

But the kicking point was her language abilities and the fact that she was also offered a linguist position at the State Department.

After he had offered her the profiler position, Hotch made sure to quickly set a date for a play date for their children, dependent on whether or not they would get called out for a case.

Walking into their new apartment, Emily watched as the babysitter tried to hide the broken vase behind her back. "You may think I'm old but I sure as hell am not blind," she snickered, noticing her daughter grabbing the dust pan.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Prentiss," the teenager said quickly. "It's my fault."

Emily's head shook, walking through the foyer and setting her briefcase on the dining room table. "Don't worry about it, Maya. I'll clean it up."

Biting her lip as she heard the front door open and close, the new BAU agent watched her daughter begin to clean up the mess. "So what happened here?"

"My fault," was the dark haired girl's quick response. Her eyes didn't come up to meet her mother's. "I got bored and wanted to play catch."

Emily tried to hide her disappointment when the conversation abruptly ended there. Walking to the living room and sitting on the couch, the single mother ran her tongue over her front two teeth. "I got the job."

"Congrats." She hadn't doubted that would happen. "Would have really sucked to move your daughter across the country and not gt the job you basically staked our lives on, right?"

The brunette woman sighed. "Ava."

Ava Joan, the name she had fought against when she realized how old and ugly it sounded, looked up. "I'm allowed to be mad," she stated firmly.

Emily slowly nodded her head. That girl grew up to be more like her each and every day. "I know."

"So let me be."

Emily let her eyes follow the dark haired girl as she walked into the kitchen and threw the pieces of the vase into the trashcan. "I met a woman who was a champion soccer player," she said smiling. She knew her daughter had wanted to join a team for a while. "Maybe she can help you practice."

"Why? I don't want to join a team."

The thirty year old frowned. "Since when?"

Ava almost slammed the cabinet door after throwing the dust pan inside. "Since we moved from the team with my friends on it!"

Emily ran her hand down her face, hearing her daughter march her way up to her new room and close the door as hard as she could without slamming it. It didn't matter how mad she was, Ava knew she wasn't allowed to slam the door.

Jumping at the shrill ringing of the landline, Emily sighed. She picked the phone up with her free had, her other busy taking off her heels. "Hello?"

"Hello darling."

The brunette froze. "Mother." Standing from the couch she felt her shoulders automatically straighten. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Lose the attitude, Emily. It isn't charming."

"I apologize." Emily walked herself into the kitchen and took a wine glass from the cabinet. "How are you, mother?"

The ambassador signed her name on the last contract to cross her desk before shooing her assistant from her office. "I'm just fine. I wanted to know how the move went. Did you get the job?"

Emily watched the red wine splash against the glass in her hand as she poured it. It was her mother's worst nightmare for her to be working in the field, so it meant a lot that she simply asked the question. "I got it."

"Well you don't sound happy."

The single mother blew out a breath, sinking onto one of their kitchen stools. "Ava hates me, mom."

Elizabeth frowned. "Now why on Earth would you say that?"

"She's upset from the move and I tried to explain to her that it was for the good of our family. You can only go so far in Chicago."

"And she hasn't seen the benefit of it yet. Darling, you can't expect a child her age to understand." Elizabeth sat back in her desk chair. "What's the real problem here, Emily?"

Chewing nervously on her lip, the brunette stared down into her wine glass. "I'm doing my best not to turn into you."

There was a pause on the other end. "I feel as if I should be insulted."

"Mother," Emily sighed, "I don't mean to be rude. But you know how much I hated my childhood. I don't want to do the same thing to Ava that you and daddy did to me."

Elizabeth looked down to a picture she had on her desk of Emily and her late husband. "I won't disagree that we could have been better parents."

"How do I get Ava to realize this was a good decision?"

"Emily darling, you can't force her to be alright with the move," the ambassador told her daughter. "If you try and simply show her what's good about D.C she'll come to terms on her own. Do you remember what happened when your father and I tried to force you out of your funk after a move?"

The FBI agent sadly shook her head. She didn't want to have to wait years for a good relationship with her daughter.

Noting her daughter's silence, Elizabeth smiled. "Let her come to you in her own time. I promise you that once she experiences D.C and makes a few friends, she'll love it."