A/N I hope this chapter isn't too choppy. I struggled with it for quite a while but this is what I ended up with. Enjoy!

PS Extra thanks to Holly for giving me the extra push to get this finished :o)

Chapter 13

He felt the cushion sag with the new weight of the person who sat on the far end, beyond his feet. He didn't need to open his eyes to know it was Lisbon sitting in the space just big enough for her small frame.

"You had two whole weeks off and yet you've spent the past two days back at work napping." She crossed her arms.

Jane had yet to open his eyes but he grinned. "I ate more food the last couple of weeks than I've had the rest of the year."

"So what, you're hibernating now?"

"Hmm," Jane agreed.

Lisbon stood. "Well then, I guess I'll go tell your guests they should come back around spring?"

That made Jane sit up. "They're here?"

It was Lisbon's turn to grin. She had to admit, her consultant looked downright adorable when he first woke up from his catnaps. "Front desk just called."

Jane straightened his suit. "Then I guess I shouldn't make them wait."

Lisbon shook her head in amusement as Jane strode towards the elevator.

"Trick!"

"Hey sweetheart." Jane waved at the computer screen. "How was school?"

"School was okay but guess what?" Emma bounced in her seat, clearly excited about something.

"What?"

"Nana and Gramps said if I do all my homework then I can see Mystic on Saturday. Ms. Casey said I'm ready to ride all by myself."

Mrs. Casey was Emma's riding instructor. When the Brooks' saw how much interest their granddaughter had taken to horses, they allowed the girl to help Mr. Casey a couple days a week and in return, Emma was rewarded with free riding lessons. Mrs. Brooks had thought Emma was too young for such responsibilities but the light in the girl's eyes whenever she was around horses was enough to change her mind. The equipment and clothing attire alone stretched the Brook's finances but it was the one joy Emma had found since they had relocated her to Connecticut.

"Is that so?" Jane knew Emma had been riding for a little over a month with Ms. Casey leading Mystic using a long rope. Evidentially, Emma had improved to the point that the lead was no longer necessary.

"Yeah. I'll only be practicing walking though."

"Well you have to walk before you can run. I'm sure it won't be too long before you've mastered walking and can move on to other things."

"You think so Trick?"

"I know so."

Emma opened her mouth to continue but Jane held up his hand.

"Whatever you were going to say, I want to hear all about it but later. I'm being a little rude to my guests."

"What?" Emma tilted her head in confusion.

Jane grinned wickedly and gestured someone off screen to come over.

"Tree?" Emma guessed aloud but then shrieked in delight when Jasmine appeared on screen followed by a somewhat timid Cody trailing behind her.

Emma was so excited Jane thought she would jump right through the screen. "OH MY GOSH! I can't believe you guys are here! How?"

"Trick came to our school." Jasmine explained. "It's so big Emma." She explained referring to the school. "But Cody and I are in the same class."

"Our teacher is old and mean." Cody finally piped in.

"Shh!" Jasmine chided. "She's not that bad, all the time."

Jane listened to the three children banter on for a while and then quietly snuck off to Lisbon's office. He knew Emma could talk for a long time so he figured he'd come by and check on them later.

When he swung open the door to Lisbon's office, she didn't even look up from her paperwork.

"Was Emma surprised?"

"Yes, the mission was a success my dear and I'm now sure Cody has a crush on our little Emma. I wasn't positive when he asked to come here too with Jasmine but I am now."

"Nonsense Jane; They're in first grade for goodness sake."

Jane plopped down on the plush white leather sofa. "Have you ever heard of someone named Cody Simpson?"

"No but I can look him up if you want. What it in reference to?"

"Oh nothing important. Jasmine and Emma were going on about him and I was just curious. I'm assuming he's some kind of teen idol and I guess he's going to be in town next month."

Lisbon typed the name into a google image search and nearly choked on her coffee when the images loaded. She threw back her head and laughed harder than Jane ever remembered seeing her laugh. Now he was curious so he strolled over to Lisbon's side of the desk where she was still hysterical to the point of tears.

It only took one glance at the screen to figure out what was making his friend so batty.

When Lisbon finally caught her breath she managed to get out. "It's a singing Australian mini-Jane." That only caused her to crack up again. "He even dresses like you."

"I can assure you that I've held my particular fashion statement much longer than that kid." Jane said defensively, clearly not finding this quite as amusing as Lisbon was.

"You should try the popped-collar thing sometime. It's looks pretty good."

"Yeah, maybe on a 16 year old."

"You're not 16?" Lisbon asked trying to act serious. She shrugged. "Couldda fooled me."

"Hey, that's not nice."

"You know you walked right into that one."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry I ever asked." Jane held up his hands in mock surrender.

"When do the children have to be back?" Lisbon asked.

"Both of them normally attend an after school program so I need to have them back by four thirty which is their normal pick up time."

Lisbon nodded.

"I should probably go check on them, make sure Rigsby isn't feeding them copious amounts of sugar or something."

Emma walked confidently into school the next day feeling better after talking with Jasmine and Trick about what she should share with her class today for show and tell. Her teacher wanted them to share with the class something important that their parents had taught them. She had been rather overwhelmed on what she could possibly bring in so the impromptu video chat with her friends had been a real help.

She entered her classroom and placed the cloth bag carrying her favorite doll on top of her desk. Emma was a little early so there were only a few students in the classroom. One of the boys, Kevin, whom Emma didn't like all that well, spotted her bag and strolled over.

"What did you bring for show and tell?" The boy asked. "I brought my hockey puck. My dad is teaching me how to make a slap shot."

Emma didn't know what a slap shot was but a couple of the other students came around to gawk at the strange round puck. She didn't expect Kevin to suddenly snatch her bag off her desk and proceed to dig through it. He pulled out the doll.

"Your mom teach you to play with dolls?" He asked.

"No." Part of her wanted to explain why she brought the doll, tell him that her parents had taught her to take care of things that were the most important to you, but she remained silent.

"Emma doesn't have a mommy or a daddy." A girl, Monica, to Emma's right said. Up until a few days ago, Emma hadn't told anyone about what had happened to her parents but then Monica began sitting with her at lunch time. At the time, Emma thought she was finally making a friend and so she had opened up a little. Unfortunately, Monica had just wanted Emma's fruit snacks which Emma rarely ate. The day Mrs. Brooks changed the snacks in Emma's lunch bag was the same day Monica lost interest in their so called friendship.

"No mom OR dad?" Jake, another student asked.

Now, all eyes were on Emma. She stood like a statue, not believing that this was happening. She managed a small shake of her head.

It was Jake who spoke up again. "What happened?"

Emma didn't respond. She just stood there, trembling and wishing Kevin would give her doll back.

"She probably made them angry or didn't listen to them." Kevin suggested. "My dad says he's going to give me away sometimes when I'm bad but he's only kidding. You must have been real bad."

"NO!" Emma finally found her voice. "A bad man hurt them and they had to go away."

"Then why didn't they take you with them?" Kevin persisted. "If my parents ever went away they wouldn't leave me behind. You must have done something."

Emma's mind whirled, trying to figure out if the boy's words could possibly be true. They couldn't could they?

"Did you ask for too many dolls?"

The room began to tilt as Emma's confusion intensified. Surely there had to be a misunderstanding but then she thought of Trick and how she had wanted him to be her daddy. He said he couldn't because it was too dangerous but what if Kevin was right? What if there was something wrong with her?

As the first tear fell, Emma found her legs and fled the classroom, forgetting about the doll still in Kevin's hands. She didn't need the doll. She didn't need any of it.

She ran to the girl's bathroom and locked herself in one of the stalls until she got her tears under control. She couldn't possibly go back to the classroom but what other option did she have? Her answer came when she finally opened the bathroom stall door and she noticed the open window just a few steps away.

TBC

A/N The rest of this story is written so the update speed is completely up to you. *evil RJ laugh*