There's not much to say for this one, really. Thanks as always for your reviews and story alerts, etc. They keep me motivated to write!
Disclaimer: I do not own CM
-kbrewster.
"Do you think I'm being overly paranoid?" Emily asked JJ over the phone the next morning. Jack was at school, and Gabby insisted on helping Hotch make breakfast, so the brunette had the upstairs all to her self. She'd taken the opportunity to call up her best friend and tell her what had happened with Gabby the previous night.
"No," JJ confirmed on the other end of the line. "I think a mother's intuition is always right," she added. "Also, if you ask me, don't you think Hotch is being a little... I don't know careless?"
Emily sighed. "I don't know if if carelessness so much as it is...I don't know what to call it. I mean, I've honestly only let Gabby out of the house twice since we've been here. That's not really fair to her, its driving her insane. She loves being outside, experiencing the world. I feel almost mean for letting her miss out on it, you know? And I know Aaron wants to spend time with her before she gets into the teenager stage. She's got a few years, but he's got so many more to make up for, and there's only so much you can do sitting inside. But there's just that gut feeling there that never goes away," Emily confided.
"This all is your decision, Em," JJ said. "But I think taking her somewhere might be good for all of you. Maybe just to a museum or a movie. Nowhere too crowded. I'll even come too, just to have an extra set of eyes if you want. But like I said, its all up to you,"
"There's so many museums here Gabby would just love to see, she's been looking some of them up online. There's one in particular not too far from here, actually," Emily stated, switching her phone from one ear or the other. "I'll talk to Aaron about it, though. I'll let you know,"
"Okay, no rush though, Em. Don't feel pressured to do anything. I know this is gonna sound kind of cliche and lame, but: safety first!"
Emily had to giggle softly at that. "I know, I know. Thanks Jayje,"
"Don't even worry about it," JJ said back.
"I'll call you back later, okay? Tell Henry hi for me,"
"Will do,"
After the two of them hung up, Emily went into the bathroom just across the hall. She tied her hair back with a hair tie before she went to wash her face as she did every morning. After she had done so, and had wiped off the remaining water with a towel, she looked at herself in the mirror. She found herself staring back at the reflection for longer than usual, her forehead creasing more with each passing moment.
She realized she no longer recognized the person staring back at her. Sure, the basics of Emily Prentiss, or Marie Blanchard, who whoever she'd presented herself to be over the last ten years, were there. The dark hair, a shade or two lighter now; the dark brown eyes; the facial features; the height. All of those things were familiar. But the tiny frame, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so skinny. The ever present slouuching of the shoulders had never seemed to be a constant. The worst thing, Emily felt, was the sadness that loomed over her face. Her eyes were red where they should have been white, they were glassy like they used to get when the team had just finished working a long case. Her cheeks were sunken in, and though she had always been pale, she had never noticed it so clearly as she did now.
She didn't know who she was, and it scared her. She couldn't believe she had let it go this far, that she had let Gabby see her this way. They had only been back in the States for 3 weeks, and Emily could see the physical changes the whole mess had brought upon her. She decided, then and there, that she needed to do better. She needed to take better care of herself. Emily sucked in a breath, and held her shoulders back as she once had. She straightened the hemline of her shirt, pushed her hair back behind her ears, and carried herself out of the room and down the stairs.
"Good morning!" She said in a sing-song voice as she reached the kitchen.
"Morning!" Hotch said back, turning to kiss her when she approached him.
"I'm glad you guys are together again, but that's gross," Gabby giggled, rolling her eyes as Emily turned to be closer to her.
"You can close your eyes," Emily joked, ruffling the girl's messy hair, lightly kissing the top of her head. "Good morning, by the way,"
"Morning," Gabby returned the greeting.
"What are you guys making?" Emily asked.
"Can't tell you, it's a surprise!" Gabby said excitedly. "Go over there so you don't see,"
"You got it," Emily replied, making herself comfortable on the couch in the living room, turning the television on to something she could watch without paying too much attention to it.
A few minutes later, Gabby walked into the living room, a silver tray in her hands. Hotch followed closely behind, a mug and pot of coffee in his hands.
Emily smiled as Gabby sat the tray in front of her. "You guys didn't have to do all this, you know," she said.
Hotch set the coffee pot down on the small coffee table in front of Emily, placing the white ceramic mug next to it.
"You may wanna turn around, Gabby," Hotch said, leaning into Emily for a kiss. They heard a small giggle from the girl as they broke apart.
"You're too good to me," Emily stated.
"It was Gabby's idea," Hotch told her.
"I wanted to say I was sorry for yelling last night," Gabby said shyly, dragging her foot across the floor in front of her, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her light orange hoodie.
"Its okay," Emily said, outstretching her arms to hug the young girl. "You guys didn't have to bring breakfast to me, though. I could have come to the kitchen. Besides, you need to eat too," she added.
"Actually, Daddy and I planned on bringing ours in here too,"
That's just what they did, and the three of them had a wonderful time together, as a little family. Of course, the family would have been completed had Jack been there.
Hotch and Emily exchanged glances several times through out the meal. Hotch was seated in the recliner across from the couch, which sat Emily by the arm and Gabby right beside her. Gabby kept them both laughing with her bubbly personality, telling them stories that were too ridiculous to be true, but they both played along anyway.
After they had finished eating, and everything was cleaned, Gabby went upstairs to change out of her pajamas and brush her teeth and hair, per Emily's suggestion. She wanted to talk to Hotch about something, but she didn't want Gabby to hear until the decision had been made.
"Can we talk?" Emily asked once she was sure Gabby was out of ear shot.
"Of course," Hotch replied, leading Emily back into the living room and onto the couch. "You okay?" He asked, taking her hand in his, resting them on her knee.
"I've been thinking really hard about what all was said last night," Emily started. "And I do think what we're doing is the safest thing to do for Gabby. But, its not fair to keep her cooped up inside all the time. She's a kid, and one who has always loved being outside. Plus, I know there are a lot of things you'd like to do with her. I know she's been looking up some of the museums around for the past few days, and she seemed most intrigued by the National Aquiarium," Emily told him, looking up from their intertwined fingers to meet his eye, smiling when she saw the light in his eyes.
"I think...maybe tomorrow we could go?" She added. "Its Saturday, Jack could come too, if he wanted. And JJ, you know, for an extra set of eyes in case anything happens," she finished.
Hotch smiled in a way she hadn't seen in years. "I think that would be great," he said, kissing her hand softly. "Really, really great, actually. She'll love it there," He told her happily.
"Okay, good," Emily confirmed. "I promise I'll try not to be too crazy,"
"I love you, you know that right?" He told her.
"Actually no, I'm not too sure I do know," she responded, her voice low.
"Should I prove it to you?" he asked playfully into her ear, softly kissing her jawline.
"Later," she giggled. "Like tonight," she said, running her fingers through his hair.
"I'm gonna hold you to that,"
She kissed his lips and stood from the couch, taking his hand in hers.
"Come on, let's go tell Gabby the news," she told him.
"Okay," he agreed, as he stood too and the two of them made their way, hand in hand up the stairs to their daughter's room.
"Can we come in?" Emily asked, though the door was already opened.
"Sure," Gabby said, pulling on her socks.
Emily and Hotch sat on the bed, and Hotch motioned for Gabby to come sit in between them.
"Your Dad and I have a surprise for you," Emily said.
"Really? What is it?" The girl asked excitedly, her young eyes wide with wonder. Emily smiled, remembering the time in her life that felt like ages ago when her eyes did the very same thing.
"Well..." Hotch continued, Gabby spun her head around to face him.
"Your mama and I know you've been looking up some of the museums around town, and you seem to really want to visit the Aquarium, right?" he asked.
"I would love to someday," Gabby said, fidgeting slightly in her seat.
'What are you doing tomorrow?" Emily asked.
Gabby hopped off the bed and turned to face both her her parents, her mouth hanging open.
"You mean we're actually going to go?" Gabby asked.
"Yes, we are!" Emily confirmed. "If Jack wants to go, he'll come too. Also I think JJ is going to come too,"
"Really?" Gabby asked, throwing her arms around both Emily's and Hotch's necks.
"Really," Emily told her happily.
"Oh, it's going to be so much fun! Thank you!" The young girl said excitedly.
"You're welcome, mon chere" Emily replied, embracing her in a hug. When she let go, Hotch did the same thing.
"I can't wait!" Gabby said happily. "They have alligators there! Can we go look at them?" she asked.
"We will go look at everything," Hotch promised. "But especially the alligators," he winked.
Gabby smiled back at them, apparently too excited to say anything more, as she quickly skipped out of the room exclaiming that she was going to go look at the website that Emily had bookmarked for her on Hotch's laptop a few days ago.
"She's something else," Hotch said, shaking his head.
"She really is," Emily agreed. "And," she added after a moment of silence. "I think she'll be too preoccupied for awhile looking at all the things she wants to do tomorrow, so I figure we'll have some time to ourselves..." she told him, raising an eyebrow.
"What are you suggesting?" Hotch asked her, pretending he didn't already know.
"Why don't you follow me into your bedroom and I'll show you?" she said, going to stand in the doorway, motioning for him to follow her with her index finger. "Come on, you're wasting time," she said.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Hotch said, getting up off the bed and following Emily out in the hall.
"Yeah, you better be," Emily said, grinning wildly as she closed the door to the bedroom behind them once they'd made it inside.
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The next morning, Gabby woke up early, and got herself dressed and ready to go to the Aquarium with her family. She wasn't allowed to took anything without an adult with her, so instead she poured the three people who remained upstairs sleeping a bowl of cereal, and then she headed up the stairs and into Hotch's bedroom, which as of the previous day, had become Hotch and Emily's room. She opened the door slowly, to prevent any creaking the hinges might produce. She found both of her parents sleeping in the bed inside the room.
Gabby crawled up on the bed, settling herself in the middle of her parents.
Emily was the first of the two to wake up, and she rolled over so she was face to face with their daughter.
"Hi," Gabby said grinning.
"Morning," Emily said quietly, glancing at the clock that was next to Hotch on the other side of the bed. "It's not even 8 yet, are you okay?"
Gabby nodded her head. "I made you and Daddy and Jack breakfast!" she said a little louder than she meant to, causing Hotch to wake up now. "Oops," she said.
"I can't imagine why you're up so early," Hotch said sleepily. "Is there something going on today?" he joked, glancing over at Emily.
"Hmm," Emily pretended to think. "You know, I really don't think there is," she said.
"Yes there is!" Gabby said, laughing at her parents. "We're going to the Aquarium, remember? Jack even said he would come! And JJ too!"
"Oh, was that today?" Hotch said. "Well, I guess we'll squeeze in some time for it, if we have to,"
"You're silly," Gabby stated simply. "Anyway, I made you guys cereal! Now go eat it before it gets icky," she instructed. "I'll go wake Jack up," she said, crawling over Emily to get off the bed.
"Ow, I'm under there you know," Emily told her, bringing a hand to her head Gabby had managed to accidentally kick in the process.
"Sorry!" she said, making her way out of the room and down the hall to Jack's room.
She quietly opened the already cracked door, noting that Jack was still asleep. She tip-toed over to the bed and gently shook his shoulder.
"Jack," she whispered, but she got no response. "Jack," she tried again, a bit louder. He stirred this time, and opened his eyes.
"Hi!" Gabby said. "We're going to the Aquarium today," she reminded him.
"Yes we are," Jack said, grabbing his phone off his nightstand and unlocking it to check the time. "I thought we were leaving at 10?" He asked, noting the incredibly early hour.
"We are," Gabby said. "But I woke up early because I was excited. And I made you and Mama and Daddy breakfast," she said. "It's just cereal though 'cause I'm not allowed to cook anything by myself. Are you mad that I woke you so early?" she asked, worried he might be.
Jack just smiled at her. "No, I'm not mad. Why don't you go find Dad... and your Mom and I'll be down in a few minutes?" he suggested.
"Okay!" Gabby agreed, spinning around and walking out of the room. Even though Jack had to admit that he wasn't completely on board with the idea of Emily suddenly coming back into his life, bringing along his little sister with her, and knowing his dad had lied to him at first, he also had to admit that now, even if he still wasn't completely comfortable with it, he was growing on the idea. It was incredibly nice having Emily back, she was just as pretty and nice as Jack had remembered. And as far as little kids go, Gabby was actually a lot of fun and not as annoying as some he knew.
So, even though the teenager would have much rather have had a couple more hours of sleep, he got up and got himself dressed and went downstairs to eat the bowl of cereal Gabby had made for him.
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Finally, they had all arrived at the Aquarium. JJ had met them at their house, and they had all ridden in Hotch's SUV. It was a bit tight trying to fit everyone inside, but they all managed to ride comfortably. The entire drive, Gabby talked to them constantly, not letting anyone else get a word in edge wise.
The five of them had gotten their tickets and were inside, and Emily was feeling incredibly anxious. She couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement when she looked down and how happy Gabby was, she could hardly stand still as Emily tightly held onto her hand, but Emily was also terrified. There were more people here than she had been expecting, which made her feel like she needed to watch everyone extra carefully.
She looked to JJ and then to Hotch, both giving her nods of assurance. She knew with all three of them watching out for Gabby, and Jack being there too, it would be a memorable day for many reasons, and none of them would be anything but positive. Taking a breath, she braced herself to mentally give the ones she loved a good day as Gabby began pulling Emily towards the many exhibits.
They five of them found themselves stunned by the plethora of species and colors the Aquarium seemed to create. Gabby had started out counting all the different types of fish she saw, but she claimed she lost count after 100. Emily laughed at that, knowing she was actually telling the truth because the girl had counted that high out loud where everyone could hear.
"You've seen about half of them!" One of the workers at the Aquarium had said, who overheard Gabby's counting.
"Half?" Gabby gasped in disbelief. "Wow, that's a lot of fish!" she said. "Mama, can I buy an Aquarium?" she asked excitedly.
"I don't know about getting an entire Aquarium as big as this all to yourself, but maybe we'll look into getting you a few fish sometime, okay?" Emily said.
"Okay," Gabby agreed. "But when I grow up, I'm getting one like this," She added, causing everyone in the group to laugh at her.
They had stopped to eat lunch in the cafe before heading to their final two destinations. The only thing they had left to view were what Gabby was most excited about, the alligators. On their way out, Hotch promised Gabby a trip to the gift shop.
"Okay, okay let's go see the alligators!" Gabby said after she had eaten her chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese meal much quicker than she normally would have.
Impatiently, the nine-year-old waited a few more minutes for everyone else to be finished, but they were finally on their way. They turned down the necessary hallways, passing by some exhibits they had already seen. They reached the exhibit which housed the large reptiles, and Gabby tried to run ahead of Emily, but the older brunette grabbed her hand before she could do so.
"I promise you they aren't going anywhere," Emily reminded the girl.
Gabby couldn't believe how big the alligators were once they finally located them. She spent several minutes oohing and ahhing over their size. She and Hotch made a bet on which alligator was the biggest, and Gabby won with her guess after they asked the person working in that exhibit.
Emily smiled the entire time, and knew knew just by watching Gabby and Hotch's interactions with one another that she had definitely made the right choice by bringing Gabby here.
After spending a good while at the alligators, the group of 5 found themselves at the gift shop, where Gabby was allowed to pick something out. The gift shop was rather small, so Emily allowed Gabby to walk around without holding her hand, but of course she stayed right behind Gabby just in case.
Gabby was browsing through the stuffed animals, though Emily wasn't surprised. They had always been her favorite thing to play with, and the girl hadn't been able to bring any of them with her when they left France. Since Gabby was stationed by the stuffed animals, Emily found herself looking through the books sitting around the shop. She picked up a book that went along with the animated movie Finding Nemo and found herself reading it. Though she had seen the movie with Gabby before, she had always zoned out at some point during the movie, so she had never sat and watched the whole movie from beginning to end. In some ways, though it may have been a bit crazy to some, she found herself relating to the story. The father in the story had swam for miles and miles to find his son who had gotten lost. He stopped at nothing to make sure he got his son back safely. Though Emily had Gabby with her, she knew she would do whatever it took to keep it that way. She smiled to herself as she sat the book back on the shelf.
She jumped sightly when Hotch came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said lowly.
"It's okay,"
"Has Gabby picked out anything yet?" he asked.
"I don't know, she's right over there by the stuffed animals," Emily told him.
Hotch glanced up and scanned the area. "You sure?" he asked. "I don't see her,"
Emily felt everything inside her body go cold. "What- what do you mean? She's right there!" Emily said, pushing free from Hotch's embrace quickly running over to where she thought Gabby was. But she wasn't. Instincts kicking in, Emily scanned the rest of the store. She asked JJ and Jack if they had seen her, but they hadn't. She checked the bathrooms, and she asked the cashiers. No one had seen her. Emily tried to keep herself from having a panic attack. She couldn't do that here, she wouldn't. She kept herself calm on the outside, but on the inside she was freaking out. How could Gabby be dare she think it, missing? Emily had been mere feet away from her. It didn't make sense. Something didn't add up. She and Hotch decided to search one side of the aquarium, and JJ searched the other. Jack stayed in the store in case Gabby came back when her name was announced over the speakers like the Aquarium workers said they would do. As she and Hotch ran around, checking every small place Gabby could hide in, every exhibit they passed, asking everyone of they'd seen her, Emily found herself simply praying for the first time in she didn't know how long. All she wanted was to find Gabby, it was the only thing on her mind.