I hope you all will enjoy this chapter! I may have borrowed a character from another television show that I love because I just couldn't resist the urge!

Happy Reading! -J

Chapter 8

Alex and Emily were up early the next morning, both anxious about the day ahead, waking up before the alarm even went off. Alex dragged herself to her room, slowly pulling on her uniform, spending an extra few minutes in front of the mirror, unsure of how she felt about having to wear a uniform to school. Today the teen was wearing her school skirt, which was blue and plaid, along with a her blue blouse and knee high socks. Pulling on a pair of flats and grabbing her backpack, the teen made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Emily was making coffee and trying to decide on what to make for breakfast.

"I'm not really sure this is a good look for me," Alex declared as she entered the kitchen.

Looking up from the coffee maker Emily smiled, "what are you talking about? You look great!"

"I do not," Alex replied. "You're just saying that because you have to."

"I am not," Emily argued. "I'm saying it because it's true! You look adorable!"

"Adorable?" The teen repeated with a disgusted look on her face.

"Not adorable?" Emily corrected. "You look cool, hip, ummmm awesome?"

"Oh God please stop," Alex laughed, taking a seat at the kitchen island.

"Alright, so what do you want for breakfast?" Emily asked, opening up one of the cupboards. "I can make pancakes, or waffles. Eggs maybe? Cereal?"

"I'm really not hungry," Alex replied, picking at her nails.

"You should eat something sweetie," Emily said, placing a hand over the teen's to stop the nail picking.

"I'm pretty sure I'll throw up if I eat," Alex replied honestly. "I'm too nervous."

"Alright, but take a protein bar or something in case you get hungry," Emily said, grabbing a box out of the cupboard and handing it to the teen. "Also I didn't really think about lunches, so are you okay with buying your lunch?" The older woman asked, pulling money from her purse that was sitting on the counter.

"Sure, thanks" the teen replied, taking the money Emily offered her and putting it in her backpack.

"Also, I talked to Hotch this morning and he said I can leave early today, so I'll be at school to pick you up at 3, but then we're going to have to figure out the bus route because I'll have to work until 5," Emily explained.

"Okay, that sounds fine," Alex agreed, chewing her lip, while her knee bounced up and down, glancing at the clock every few seconds.

"Hey, today's going to be great you know that right?" Emily asked, running her hand through Alex's long wavy hair. "You're going to be fine."

"I know," Alex nodded, not exactly sounding all that convincing.

"Alright well we should probably get going then," Emily said, moving towards the door to put on her shoes, grabbing her briefcase and purse.

Alex slowly followed Emily towards the door, dragging her feet, not all that anxious to get to school.

"Emily?" Alex called out just as Emily was about to open the front door.

"Yeah?" Emily replied, turning around to find the teen standing directly behind her.

For a moment Alex hesitated, looking rather unsure of herself, before finally making up her mind and putting her arms around the taller brunette. Emily was surprised, but returned the hug, rubbing the teen's back in a comforting manner.

"You're going to do so great," Emily reassured, squeezing her daughter just a little bit tighter.

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"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Emily asked for the third time as the pair sat in Emily's car, parked in front of the school.

"No, I'll be fine," Alex replied, partially wanting Emily to come in with her, but too embarrassed to allow it. "I know where to go."

"Alright, well then you better get going, you don't want to be late," Emily said looking at her watch.

"You'll be here at the end of the day?" The teen asked.

"3 on the dot," Emily replied. "I'll be here. Don't worry okay. You're going to do great!"

"Okay, I'll see you later then," Alex said, hugging Emily one last time before grabbing her bag and exiting the car.

Alex looked back one more time, waving to Emily before making her way towards the school building, falling into step with the large groups of students that were walking about.

Entering the main office Alex found the same woman from the other day sitting behind the front desk, talking to another student. When the other student finally walked away a few minutes later, Alex approached the desk.

"Hi, I'm Alexandra Campbell," the teen introduced, unsure if the woman would remember her. "Dean Hackett told me I would need to come get my schedule….it's my first day."

"Ah, yes Alexandra, I have your schedule right here," the woman, who's name Alex read to be Mrs. Mckenzie, replied, handing Alex her schedule. "Someone should be here in a few minutes to show you around."

"Oh that's not necessary I'm sure I can…"

"Here she is now," Mrs. Mckenzie interrupted, pointing to a tall, skinny girl, with long brown hair walking towards them.

"Are you Alexandra?" The girl asked as she approached Alex.

"Alex," the teen replied, holding out her hand for the girl to shake, feeling slightly awkward.

"Spencer Hastings," the girl greeted, shaking Alex's hand firmly. "I'm in your first period English class. Dean Hackett said our schedules are pretty similar so I can show you around."

"You really don't have to do that," Alex replied, not wanting the girl to feel obligated to be nice to her.

"It's no problem," Spencer said. "It's a big school. We should probably go find your locker. It should be near mine since we have the same class. Do you have the number?"

Alex looked down at her schedule finding her locker assignment written at the top. "213," the teen replied.

"Right next to mine," Spencer smiled, leading Alex out of the office. "So are you new to DC?"

"Yeah, I just moved here from Chicago," Alex replied.

"How come you moved here?" Spencer asked curiously, as she pointed out Alex's locker.

"It's…it's a long story," Alex replied, opening her locker, taking out a notebook and pencil case before stuffing her backpack into the locker.

"So what other classes do you have?" Spencer asked, changing the subject, since she could see that Alex looked uncomfortable.

"Well I have English, history, phys-ed, then lunch, math, science, and French" Alex replied, handing her schedule over for Spencer to see.

"Well I have English, gym, math and French with you," Spencer said, reading the schedule over. "And I have friends who are in your history and science classes, so I'm sure they'll show you the way."

"Thanks," Alex said, following Spencer into a classroom, where students were just beginning to trickle in.

Alex followed Spencer towards the far side of the room where two girls were talking, one sitting in front of the other. One of the girls had short blonde hair, and even though she was sitting, she looked to be about Alex's height, a pair of extravagant looking earrings hanging from her ears. The other girl was tiny, with long hair that looked almost black.

"Hey guys," Spencer greeted the pair. "This is Alex, it's her first day here," Spencer explained. "Alex this is Olivia," she said pointing to the blonde, "and Zoey," she pointed to the smaller girl.

"Hi," Alex greeted, feeling slightly shy, something she usually was not.

"Oh my gosh, please tell me you have history next period, because neither of these two do and I really don't think I will survive the class alone," Olivia said, talking faster than anyone Alex had ever heard speak.

"That would be Liv's way of saying hello," Zoey laughed. "It's nice to meet you Alex."

"You too," Alex laughed. "I do have history next period by the way," she said looking at Olivia.

"Oh thank God," Olivia sighed. "You can keep me awake."

"Sounds good," Alex laughed, taking a seat across the aisle from the two girls, Spencer in front of her.

Alex pulled out a pen as her teacher walked in, writing his name on the board. As the teen looked around at the three girls surrounding her, she couldn't help but think that maybe this school wouldn't be so bad after all.

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After Alex left the car, Emily had to force herself to drive away, wanting so desperately to follow the teen inside and make sure she was okay before leaving. Since she was still early Emily stopped at Starbucks on her way to work, figuring she would go grab her favourite drink to start her day.

When she arrived at the BAU, she wasn't surprised to see the bullpen empty, as it was still early. She could see Hotch through the blinds, sitting at his desk in his office, already hard at work, something which didn't surprise the profiler at all. Knowing JJ would also be there already, Emily made her way towards the media liaison's office, two coffee cups in hands.

Emily knocked softly before entering, finding JJ sitting behind her desk, barely distinguishable behind the stacks of files that surrounded her.

"I brought your usual," Emily greeted, causing the blonde to look up from her work.

"Em! Hey!" JJ greeted happily, standing up and coming around the desk to take the coffee Emily was offering her. "God I missed having you here," JJ said, taking a long sip of her usual Starbucks order.

"Only because I feed your caffeine addiction," Emily laughed, taking a seat on the couch in the office, figuring she still had time before she needed to get to work.

"That might be true," JJ smiled, sitting down beside the brunette. "So how'd it go this morning?"

"I don't know, okay I guess," Emily replied. "Alex was pretty nervous, I felt kind of bad leaving her. I feel like a mom dropping her kid off at kindergarten for the first time, it's awful."

"Well you kind of are," JJ laughed. "Except that your kindergartener is fourteen instead of four. Don't worry though I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a smart kid, and she's bound to make friends," JJ reassured, reaching out to squeeze her friend's hand.

At this gesture Emily looked up, smiling at her friend, grateful for the support. Looking into the blonde's, bright blue eyes, Emily also couldn't help but think about what Alex said. Did she really look at JJ like she loved her? Did JJ look at her like that too? Looking at JJ now, all Emily could see was her friend looking at her the way she always did. Was she really not seeing something?

"You okay?" JJ asked, as Emily continued to stare, lost in her thoughts. "Em? Earth to Emily…"

"What? Oh yeah, sorry," Emily said, shaking her head and laughing. "Sorry, I guess I spaced out there for a minute. So are my files already on my desk?" She asked, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Yep, gave you a few less than everyone else since you're leaving early today," JJ explained.

"Thanks Jen," Emily smiled, standing from her spot on the couch. "I better get to it then. Need to make sure I can still do this whole profiling thing," she joked.

"I'm sure you can," JJ smiled, also standing. "Do you want to have lunch together? Go to the deli?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Emily agreed, making her way towards the office door. "I will see you then."

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"So how come you moved from Chicago," Zoey asked as the four girls sat down to lunch in the cafeteria.

The morning had gone by rather quickly for Alex, and she was grateful to have already found a group of friends who were happy to show her around and talk to her.

"It's kind of a long story," Alex said, placing her tray on the table before sitting down, feeling a little nervous about telling people she barely knew about her parents.

"We've got an hour," Olivia said, earning a glare from both Spencer and Zoey.

"Ignore her," Spencer said, shaking her head.

"What? I'm just saying we have time," Olivia replied, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"You know what? You're right," Alex said, feeling like she might as well get this over with now. "It's going to sound complicated though," taking a deep breath the teen braced herself. "I lived with my parents in Chicago. They adopted me when I was born," she began, looking down at her tray of food. "They um….they were killed…"

"Those murders?" Spencer asked, earning a nod from Alex, who was looking nervous. "I heard about that on the news," she said, looking to the other two girls. "There was a man murdering families who had adopted their kids in Chicago. Four families were killed."

"Oh my God," Zoey exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth.

"I wasn't home at the time," Alex continued, taking another deep breath to calm her emotions. "My parents left me to my birth mother, Emily, in their will, so I moved to DC to live with her," Alex explained, figuring that she didn't need to give them every detail from that dreaded week.

"Wow, I'm so sorry," Olivia said, the normally bubbly blonde, looking sadly at her new friend.

"Thanks," Alex said, unable to look up at the girls, knowing all three were probably looking at the newest member of their group with pity written all over their faces.

"What's your birth mom like?" Spencer asked, hoping that the topic change would make Alex a little more comfortable.

"She's pretty great," Alex replied, looking up. "She had me when she was 18, so she's young, and she's cool. It's a little strange, living with someone you hardly know, but we're getting to know each other, so I guess it's going pretty well."

"That's great," Zoey smiled.

"You know we do a girls' night every Friday," Spencer said, as the girls continued to eat their lunches. "We rotate whose house it's at every week. We watch movies, eat junk, whatever else, and then have a sleepover. This week is at my house. You should come."

"Yeah! You should totally come, it's a lot of fun," Olivia said, Zoey nodding her head in agreement.

"I'll have to ask Emily, but that sounds great," Alex replied with a smile.

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Emily arrived at the school at 2:55pm, waiting in the same place where she dropped Alex off that morning, anxiously watching the clock, praying that Alex had a good first day.

The day had gone by rather slowly for the profiler, who couldn't help watching the clock, thinking about Alex and what she was probably doing. Derek and Reid had tried to distract the brunette, asking her questions about the cases they were working on, even though they really didn't need to, both happy to have their friend back at work. Lunch with JJ had helped get Alex off of Emily's mind, as the blonde spent most of their time together reassuring the brunette that Alex was perfectly fine.

When 2:30pm had finally rolled around Emily packed up faster than she ever had before, grabbing her suitcase and making a beeline for the elevators after bidding her coworkers a very hasty goodbye.

Emily turned her attention towards the school as students began pouring out, heading towards buses or other various vehicles in order to head home. Emily searched students' faces, looking for the familiar face of her fourteen year old, hoping said face would be graced with a smile when she did find it.

It was a few minutes later when she finally found her, walking with three other girls, laughing and chatting animatedly. Emily watched as the group stopped, not too far from the car, talking for a few minutes before Alex pointed towards Emily, bidding her friends goodbye before making her way to the vehicle.

"Hey," Alex greeted, getting into the car with a smile on her face.

"Hi," Emily said happily, relieved to see the teen looking so happy. "How'd it go?" She asked as she pulled out of the parking spot, watching as Alex waved to the group of girls she had been talking to.

"Great actually," Alex replied, buckling her seatbelt before turning her attention to the older brunette. "This girl Spencer showed me around, she's in a bunch of my classes and she introduced me to her two friends, Olivia and Zoey, I have some classes with them as well, and they're all really nice."

"That's great," Emily exclaimed. "And how about your classes?"

"They're pretty good," Alex replied. "I'm taking English, History, Gym, Science, math and French. The teachers are pretty decent. I've read 3 of the 4 books my English teacher assigned for the year, and so has Spencer so Mr. Hanks is letting us choose 3 of our own books to read and we're going to write reports for him. He said we can work together so it's pretty cool."

"That's great Lex," Emily replied with a smile. "And it's great to hear you found a friend who's as big of a book worm as you."

"Yeah Spencer's like crazy smart," Alex said. "Oh and that reminds me, she invited me to sleep over at her house Friday night."

"Wow a sleepover already huh?" Emily asked, extremely relieved that the teen had hit it off so well at the school.

"Yeah, I guess they have a weekly girls night and they asked me if I wanted to come. I guess they rotate houses or something," Alex explained.

"Well that sounds fun," Emily replied. "I would like to meet her parents though if that's okay. I can drop you off on Friday."

"Sounds good."

"Did you figure out what bus you need to take tomorrow?" Emily asked.

"Yep," Alex replied. "I'm on the same one as Zoey so she said she'd show me where it is. I guess she doesn't live too far from us."

"That's great," Emily smiled. "I'm so glad today went so well."

"You know I had some serious doubts, but I really like it there," Alex said.

"Do you have lots of homework?" Emily then asked.

"Yeah I have a bit," Alex replied.

"Alright well you can work on that when we get home and I'll make a nice dinner to celebrate," Emily said, looking over at the teen as she stopped at a red light.

"Sounds good," Alex replied. "Oh and I have to make a power point about myself for my English class for Friday. If I get it done by Wednesday do you think Garcia would look at it for me; help me make it all fancy?" The teen asked, looking for an opportunity to talk to the tech analyst.

"Sure, I'll see if she can come by after work," Emily replied.

"Great," Alex smiled, feeling truly happy for the first time in the last month.

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So I have a bit of a Pretty Little Liars obsession (to go with my Criminal Minds obsession) and so I decided to include Spencer (who is my favourite character on the show) in this story just for fun!

Also I figured all of you would guess correctly that Alex would go to Garcia about Emily and JJ. I plan to have that interaction in the next chapter, so you guys have that to look forward to! Thanks for reading!