"What's her favorite color?" "Purple but to be more specific it depends on the season. In the winter, she loves plum, in the spring she loves lavender, in the summer she prefers electric purple, and in the fall she only likes tyrian purple." "Favorite food?" "It changes with her moods. If she's sad, she likes sushi, but only California and Spicy Crab Rolls. If she's happy, then she loves Caribbean food but she'll settle for Indian. If she's tired, she prefers Mexican. And if she's overthinking something, as usual, she prefers Italian." "Favorite sport?" "She'll watch any sport but she absolutely adores hockey and baseball. She's a Yankee baseball fan and a Chicago Blackhawks fan. She doesn't understand football at all but she'll watch it. She has a weakness for watching both the Summer and Winter Olympics." "Favorite book?" "That's a trick question. She doesn't just have one but she has quite a few. Anything Kurt Vonnegut, To Kill a Mockingbird, War and Peace, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Heart of Darkness, Catch 22, Dracula, Crime and Punishment, A Tale of Two Cities, The Odyssey, Little Women, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, Flowers for Algernon, The Crucible, Pride and Prejudice, oh and Oliver Twist. Sorry, there are quite a few and even more that I didn't name. What can I say, the woman loves to read?" "Favorite animal?" "To simply view, she enjoys watching giraffes. She loves to watch how simple and graceful they are. She likes how they are able to ignore everything around them. Her favorite animal to have would be a dog. She likes cats just fine but she's always wanted a Dalmatian. As she got older, she was torn between a Dalmatian and a Siberian Husky. A small part of her also wants a rabbit but don't tell her that I told you that." "So far so good. I don't have any more questions for the British man candy", Garcia said as she sat back in her chair and started rummaging through her oversized bag.
JJ watched Mick's body language as he answered every question Garcia threw at him with ease. He didn't have an ounce of intimidation in him. She smirked to herself Well see if he stays that confident when the guys question him. She leaned back and folded her arms, "What's Emily's relationship with her parents like?" "Her dad is still pretty busy traveling for different assignments. He's working in Western Europe right now which is a relief to Emily. He doesn't get to see Lani as much as he'd like but he sees her more than he would if he was still in Africa. Her and her mom's relationship is the best it has ever been. They've had their ups and downs but now they seem to be in a good place. She moved to London to be with Emily and Lani." "How is Emily's individual relationship with all of us?" JJ watched Mick take a gulp before her answered. "With you, she is the most open and trusting. There are very few boundaries between the two of you. The two of you fight and makeup like sisters would. With Penelope, she only mentions the good because she doesn't want to bring down her sprits. Reid is the little brother she wished that she had growing up. They have many things in common—she wouldn't betray his trust by telling me—which makes it easier for him to open up to her. He's her go-to guy with anything remotely nerdy. They always talk on the phone during a sci-fi marathon or they try to go see foreign films together. Morgan is the overprotective harmless big brother that she wanted to have around some of the time—her words not mine. Hotch is the older brother/uncle figure that she desperately needed—also her words and not mine. He was the amount of discipline and stability that she was cheated out of growing up. Rossi is the part of her father that she wished was present more. He is her rock and her security blanket on this big bad world." "Last question. How is Emily's relationship with Declan?" Mick let out a breath. "He's doing great in school. He and Emily talk ever so often and he visited her on his last break. They are at a standstill right now because Declan doesn't want her and I together. He would rather her and Tom be together." JJ could see the hurt in his eyes, although he tried to hide it, and she was relieved that he knew about Declan and she was impressed that Emily had opened up to him so much.
Mick knew that it would be mere seconds before he got interrogated by the rest of her old team. Reid was the first one to ask him questions. "What's her favorite holiday?" "Halloween." "Why?" "Her monsters become non-existent for one day. She loves to see people be whatever they want with freedom from judgment. She's also a big-time horror movie addict, so it fits. Lastly, it was her mom's original due date; she was just born early because she was breach." "What was the weirdest name that she came up with for a child?" Mick laughed, "January and Dove for a girl and Dodger for a boy." "Do you really love her or do you think that you do?" "I love Emily with every breath in my body. I wish that I'd seriously pursued her when our teams had that case together. I wished that I hadn't tried to be a player because maybe she would've taken me seriously. I look at her and I wish that I could just make all the pain in her past disappear. I look at Kehlani and I can't imagine my life without either of them. There's a part of me that wants to do this job with everything in me so that I can keep one less monster off the streets and away from them. Then there's another part of me that wants to leave this job, grab them, and run away to the furthest place we can go and just enjoy the rest of our lives."
Mick was unaware that the rest of Emily's old team had heard his admission to Reid and that JJ and Garcia had tears shining in their eyes. Hotch stepped towards Mick and Reid, "How do you and Emily plan on balancing out your living and work situations?" Hotch asked with that classic Hotchner glare. "We haven't had in-depth conversations about that yet but I am willing to either transfer or quit to be with her. I'm not going to ask Emily to give up anything because she's worked too hard to get where she is. She's worked too hard to be at peace." "Do you want more children? I see how you are with Kehlani but that doesn't mean as much as you think. So I'll ask again, do you want more children with Emily?" Rossi asked. "Yes, I do. If she can't have any more naturally, then we'll explore alternatives. I'm okay with a surrogate or even adopting. I'll even take a foster child. As long as I have them with Emily, then it won't really bother me as to how we got them." Morgan cleared his throat and stood up chest-to-chest with Mick. "And if she has nightmares about Doyle? Or if down the road Kehlani asks about him?" Mick straightened his back and sized Morgan up. "She still has nightmares about Doyle. They aren't as frequent but she still has them. Most of the time they're manageable. When they're not, we talk, watch movies, cook, or sit outside and just listen to the wind blow. Look I know that you guys feel like I may be playing her or trying to hurt her, but I truly love Emily and I'd do anything to keep her happy. As far as Kehlani, I doubt that Emily plans on lying to her about her biological father. From my standpoint, I would tell her who her father is but I would also tell her that helping to create a baby doesn't make you a father. I am Kehlani's father because I know that she has to be able to look out her window before she can go to sleep. She has to sleep with the bear that I gave her or she'll be up all night. She always has to have a framed picture of this team in her bed with her. When she's sick, she prefers socks over clothes and always has to watch the Cubs World Series from the 80s that her Uncle Derek recorded for her. She loves when either me or Emily reads The Hobbit—that her Uncle Spencer got her. She loves the puzzles that her cousins Jack and Henry usually help her finish. She loves that Rubiks cube that her Aunt Penny got specifically for her. The only backpack she ever grabs is the one that her Aunt JJ got for her in Pennsylvania. She gives that look—we all know the look—whenever someone is eating Italian and doesn't pronounce it the way her Uncle Davey does. Kehlani is my daughter because I know what every little face she makes mean…the same way that I know each of her mother's looks. Doyle was just a sperm donor. Even if her were here, he wouldn't know the first thing about being a father. He wouldn't know the kind of joy you get watching Lani attempt to eat Cherrios while she's half-asleep. He wouldn't pay attention to the way her head nods while she's trying to put the spoon in her mouth. I notice things like that because I am her father!"
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Emily sat semi-uncomfortably as she watched Kehlani play with all the little knickknacks that Garcia found in her bag. She also felt the eyes boring into her from Mick's team. "Ask whatever it is that you feel you need to ask." Cooper spoke up first, "Where would the three of you live?" "At first I was adamant in staying in London. I have become accustomed to London and made good friends there, but as I look at all the love here, I can't take this away from Lani or Mick. I can't take all her aunts and uncles away from her—even if they spoil her rotten. I can't take Mick's best friends from him nor can I handle being away from mine for much longer. I know that my mother would move with us in a heartbeat so that's not an issue. I am willing to come back to the States." Gina took a sip out of her glass before clearing her throat, "Mick's been screwed over badly once before and he's lost a woman that he loved and his child. How do we know that you won't just walk out of him and leave him heartbroken?" "I've never truly been in love ever in my life. This is not a whimsical relationship; we are both putting everything out on the table and going all in. I can't walk out on Mick because I doubt that I'll ever find another man who could even remotely love me like Mick does. I can't love anyone else the way that I love Mick. I won't take my daughter's father from her. The bond that Mick and Lani have is unbreakable and something to be treasured, so why would I screw that up?" Prophet grinned and sat back further in his position on the couch. "I just have one question." Emily looked over at Prophet expectantly as he rested his hands behind his head, "When's the wedding?" The sheer look of terror in Emily's eyes made Mick's entire team laugh. "I'm sorry but I just had to." The timer in the kitchen let Emily know that some of the food was ready and that the grill was probably ready. She clapped her hands together a couple of times. "Okay men. The grill should be ready by now so you guys can decide and/or battle over who gets to be the grill master." They all hurried in the direction of the grill like a stampede.