A/N Hey all, I finally finished with this chapter. I had such a hard time writing this. At first, I wanted a chapter solely on Emma's preschool graduation and then when I started it, it was dragging so bad I tossed most of it. Anyway, this is what I ended up with. I know exactly how the next few chapters are going to go so I should get those done sooner. Thank you for you patience and again, I apologize for the long wait.

Chapter 7

They stood staring at the large map on the wall. Red lines marking different flight paths crisscrossed the US like a giant tangled web. Emma stood on a stool in between Jane and Lisbon. Her grandparents were waiting in line to retrieve their boarding passes and check their luggage. This was it, the last few moments before Emma took off with what was left of her family to the other side of the country. It took a great effort for Jane to keep himself in check for these last precious moments.

"We're here." He said, pointing to California on the map. "You're going to fly all the way over here." He drew his finger across the map to Connecticut.

Emma's eyes traveled back and forth across the map as if she was judging the actual distance represented by the smaller scale.

"I don't want to fly in an airplane." She concluded suddenly. "Why can't we just drive there?"

Lisbon took this one. "Because it's a long way sweetie. It would take you over a week if you drove in a car."

"A week?"

"Yup. I used to live here." Lisbon pointed to Chicago on the map. "It's pretty far away too. Too far to drive."

Mr. And Mrs. Brooks finally finished with their luggage and strolled over to where the trio was standing.

"Your shoe is untied." Emma's grandfather noticed.

Emma knelt on one knee and expertly re-knotted her shoelaces. The motion reminded Lisbon of the morning they had picked Emma up before her kindergarten graduation only a week ago. Had the time really flown by so fast?

One Week Earlier

"You told Van Pelt to pick up the flowers?" Lisbon asked as they approached the front door.

"Yes dear. Don't worry." Jane rang the bell.

They could hear running through the house before the door flew open excitedly.

"Trick! Tree!" Emma was dressed in a bright yellow dress covered in white polka dots. Lisbon noticed the Emma was wearing the locket she had given her for her birthday.

"Hello Emma." She said and then looked at Jane who was distracted by something. She followed his gaze inside the house to the pile of cardboard boxes in the living room. He recovered quickly.

"Hey kiddo." He smiled down at her. "You ready for breakfast?"

"Mmhmm. I just need my shoes." As she scampered away, Mrs. Brooks came to the door.

"You sure you don't want to join us?" Jane asked.

"No, that's quite alright. You all go and have a good time. We'll meet you at the school at eleven."

Emma came running back in a blur of yellow.

"Tie those shoes young lady before you fall down and crack your head open." The girl's grandmother chided lightly.

"I know." Emma said. "I Just wanted to show Trick and Tree that I can do it all by myself."

They all watched as Emma squatted down on the stairs and carefully did up the ties in her sneakers.

"That's a very good job." Lisbon praised.

"She is graduating today after all." Jane said with a smile.

They said farewell to Mrs. Brooks and piled into Lisbon's car.

Both breakfast and the graduation had gone off without a hitch. The entire team went and sat with Emma's grandparents at the school. True to her word, Emma walked confidently across the stage for her diploma.

They hadn't seen much of the Emma after that day with the chaos of the trip approaching. It was a shame really but it couldn't be helped. Besides, they would always want more time with Emma, no matter how much they were granted.

"Our flight boards in forty five minutes but we still need to go through the long line at security."

That was their cue. Jane took a deep breath and knelt down in front of Emma. "See those gates over there?" He pointed to the security gates across the room.

Emma nodded.

"You and your grandparents have to go through there before you get on your plane."

"What about you Trick?"

"Lisbon and I have to stay here. Those guys in the uniforms only allow people who are flying past them."

"But I don't want to go. Why can't I just stay here with you and Tree?"

This is too hard, Jane thought. "Your grandparents love you Em and they would be sad if they didn't get to see you. You're going to make all kinds of new friends and start first grade in the fall."

Emma didn't have anymore arguments which Lisbon was silently thankful for as she watched the pair, however the vocal protests were replaced by crocodile tears. Jane wiped the tears with the pads of his thumbs and then pulled Emma in for a hug.

"I'll come visit. Lisbon will too." Jane promised.

Lisbon didn't know if Jane was talking in whispers in order to calm Emma down or simply because that was all he could manage. Probably both reasons, she decided.

"I hope we're doing the right thing." Mrs. Brooks said suddenly from behind Lisbon's left shoulder. "Taking her away from all this. Losing both her parents caused enough trauma in her life and now we're uprooting her from the place she grew up."

"She's still young. Children are resilient." If Lisbon and her brother's childhoods had been any indication, Emma would be ok.

Mrs. Brooks nodded. "I hope you're right."

Jane loosened his tight grip on the girl in his arms and instead, held her shoulders. He whispered something into Emma's ear and then planted a light kiss on her forehead. When Jane finally released her shoulders, Emma turned and sprinted towards Lisbon who caught her, Lifting the girl up onto her hip.

"Tree, Trick said you would come visit as soon as you had some time off."

Lisbon saw the hope sparkling in the girl's eyes and didn't have the heart to disappoint her. "We'll come visit as soon as we can, though I don't know when that will be." The truth was, that kind of time off was rare in the police business. The soonest they would be able to make the trip would likely be the holidays, if that. For some reason criminals tended to up their mischief as the holidays drew closer.

Lisbon smiled when Emma planted a big kiss on her cheek. "Trick said to pass that on to you. He said it would keep us connected." She tried to glare at the consultant, jokingly of course but he wouldn't meet her gaze.

"Alright, we got to book it if we're going to make our flight on time." Mr. Brooks said.

Lisbon put Emma back down on the floor after giving her another tight squeeze.

Jane moved to shake Mr. Brook's hand and to wish both of Emma's grandparents a safe trip. Mrs. Brooks was having nothing of it and grabbed Jane for an embrace of her own.

"Thank you Patrick." She said. "For everything you've done for Emma."

He nodded shyly, still locked in the woman's arms. "Take good care of her."

"Oh we will." She assured. "You two take good care of each other. I may be old but I'm not stupid you know."

Jane turned a darker shade of red. "Yes, ma'am."

Mrs. Brooks finally released Jane and she picked up the handle of her suitcase. Together, the three of them headed toward the security line. When they had taken about five steps, Emma turned around and sprinted back to Lisbon and Jane. The three hugged a final time before her grandfather insisted they needed to go. Emma sprinted back to her grandparents.

Jane and Lisbon watched as they made it through the line. Then, they moved down the hallway to the windows. Forty five minutes later, the plane backed up and taxied down the runway. As it gained speed and finally ascended into the air, Lisbon grabbed Jane's hand and held on tight. Together, they watched Emma's plane disappear into the clouds.