A nurse picked us up and led us to Aaron's room. While Jack went in, Liv, Penny, and I took seats in the hallway. The whole atmosphere changed drastically; we were less anxious and nervous. The fear of losing him any moment was almost gone. Now we were just waiting for him to wake up.

I felt much better now, albeit a little bit lightheaded and hungry. Liv, on the other hand, looked worse. She always was fair but now she seemed as pale as the wall. "You all right?" Pen asked, concerned.

"Shoulder's throbbing," she groaned while rummaging in her purse, "could you open this for me?" She held out a bottle of painkillers. I took care of it while Penny offered Liv the last sip of her soda.

"Maybe we should call Naya or Greg to take you home," I suggested.

"I can't leave yet, they're running a blood test. I have to wait for the results. I'll be better when the meds kick in," she assured us while leaning back against the wall.

"Why do they want your blood tested?" Penny asked, alarmed.

"Relax, you sound like your husband, or mine for that matter." Liv pulled the sling aside, which revealed a wound across her forearm. "I cut myself on a rusty nail. They're going to test me over the next months to make sure I didn't catch anything." She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. I followed her lead and leaned back.

Since Clyde and I had done a chase around the globe searching for a phantom, I hadn't really talked to anyone in two weeks. So Penny and I started to share news. Dave was in Rome for a few days. After his retirement seven years ago, he had started travelling, and had even published two new books. He was the one who visited me the most. A well-known but never openly discussed fact was that Erin Strauss joined him every year for a week or two, wherever he was. What the two were actually doing remained a mystery, since we were a bunch of scared cats and didn't dare to ask. Penny hadn't informed him about Aaron's state, so he wouldn't get a heart attack, but was going to as soon as he woke up.

Apparently Reid had found a German shepherd that was so attached to him that it wouldn't leave his side. Henry was thrilled and promised to take care of Newton whenever Reid was out of town, since JJ still had a problem with big dogs. And Reid had picked up his movie dates with Ashley Seaver again.

One of the newbies left the team. Filling the spots of two agents was a hard task. Liv had joined the team three months after my departure and stayed ever since. Seaver had filled in first for Liv and then JJ when they went into maternity leave. But with Dave retiring and Aaron taking over Strauss's position, there had been five different agents trying to do the job. Julien Philips, a man in his mid-thirties, was the only one who seemed able to handle it. Morgan said he was doing a great job and JJ told me he got along with Reid pretty well. And even though Julien had a strange sense of humor and I didn't know him well, he was doing his job and kept them safe. That was all I needed to know.

While we were talking, a squeaky voice screamed, "EMMY!" I turned my head in the direction and saw the blond bundle of joy running towards me. I stood up just in time to catch Annie, who nearly caused me to fall backwards. I heard Penny and Liv laugh while Vivienne LaMontagne's intent seemed to be to never let me go again. JJ and Wills daughter had been born five years ago, and they had decided to grant me the title of godmother, along with Morgan as godfather. My guess was that this was JJ's reassurance that we would never lose contact. But I wasn't complaining, I loved the little girl.

"Hey, mother hen, it seems like you lost two of your protégées, one being your brother, I'd like to add," Liv chastised her daughter.

"I didn't lose them! Henry's at soccer practice, Will's going to pick him up. And as for Bobby, he's at your in-laws' house playing with his cousins. He begged me, so I let him go," Naya replied while pushing the buggy to Garcia. Amalia 'Naya' Vega was Liv's grown daughter; she must have been twenty-seven by now. Sometimes I forgot that Liv and I were the same age. "JJ called and said they would be here soon. Told me to come here. I hope that's okay, Penny. I tried calling you but your phone seems to hate me."

"It's fine, don't worry," Penny assured her, while checking her phone for the problem.

"What did they say?" Naya asked her mother.

"Everything is fine, Naya. It's just a bruise and a cut, nothing serious."

"Mama, you dislocated your shoulder!" She pulled her mother's sling aside and inspected the cut.

"You said you hit your shoulder," I repeated Liv's words form earlier. Damn that woman could lie…

"I said 'pretty badly'," she defended herself, while her daughter started to read her the riot act in Spanish with a calm voice so Annie wouldn't notice.

"How are you doing, pumpkin?" I asked the little girl in my arms, while running my hand through her blond locks.

"I missed you." She let go of my neck and looked me straight in the eyes. Boy, she had perfected that puppy-dog gaze of hers.

"I missed you, too." I kissed her cheek and tickled her sides, which caused her to giggle. She looked more and more like JJ every day, even more than Henry did, but she had Will's grey eyes. Meanwhile, Penny had taken Gracie out and was waiting for me.

"Annie, why don't you go over to Liv? She hurt her shoulder and could use some cheering up," I suggested, but Annie seemed to be reluctant to let me go. "You know, Emily hasn't met Gracie yet," Pen stepped in, counting on Annie's compassion.

"No?" Annie asked surprised.

"Have I visited you after Gracie was born?" I asked her. She thought about it and shook her head 'no'. "Do you think I would visit Gracie, without seeing you?" I clarified. She shook her head again. Thank God, she hasn't lost her faith in me yet.

"Let's make a deal: how about I hold Gracie for a while, and then I'm all yours again, okay?"

She beamed at me and pulled me near one more time. "I love you."

"I love you, too." I put her down and she ran to Liv.

Penny stepped closer to me. "Emily Prentiss, I'd like you to meet Grace Yvonne Morgan!" I took Gracie out of her hands. She was awake and looked at me with her blue eyes. Her skin was fairer than Morgan's but I couldn't really make out a resemblance to either parent yet. What I could say was that she looked cute enough to eat in her green baby-gro.

"God, Penny, she is gorgeous!" I said in awe while rocking her back and forth.

"Good thing you say that or else this would be awkward."

"What are you talking about?"

"Derek and I would like you to be her godmother."

This caused me to face her. She was smiling widely waiting for my reply. "Always."

I assumed they would offer Jack and Naya the responsibility, but who was I to argue, when I got another child to spoil. I had given up the possibility of children a long time ago. I had thought that maybe I would meet someone who already had children, but it didn't happen. I forced my thoughts back to the little girl in my arms.

"Yvonne?" I couldn't place the name immediately. "Derek's aunt, Cindi's mother." Penny clarified. "We wanted to name her Francine after his mother, but Fran wouldn't hear a word about it."

She rubbed her daughter's stomach, which caused her to giggle. Just then my own stomach growled. "Naya, we forgot the sandwiches!" Annie jumped up and ran to the buggy, pulling out a bag. Naya followed suit and they provided us with sandwiches and water bottles. Naya even sneaked into Aaron's room to give Jack his share.

I sat down and started eating still with the little girl in my arms. Annie sat down between Penny and me, telling us about her day. When Gracie started to wiggle, I placed her in her mother's arms. "Seems like someone's hungry." Penny excused herself and they went away.

"Where's Penny going?" Annie crawled in my lap and sipped her orange juice.

"She's feeding Gracie," Naya answered, opening one water bottle for her mother, who, by now, had gained some color back.

"Why can't she do it here?"

I ruffled her hair; her innocence was adorable. Of course it didn't bother her to watch Penny breastfeeding Grace. "It makes some people uncomfortable, pumpkin. Like Uncle Spence, you know?" He never got used to it; in fact, he blushed every time JJ even mentioned it.

"Mrs. Alington?" I hadn't noticed the young nurse coming at us. "That's me," Liv answered, and stood up. "Dr. Meyer has your results, please follow me."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Naya asked.

"Stay here, I'll manage."

We watched them go away. I finished my sandwich, but it wasn't half as satisfying as it should've been.

"Want some more?" Naya offered me her half. I hesitated; sure, I was starving, but I didn't felt right to rob her of her dinner. She started laughing. "It's okay, we had a pretty good lunch today, didn't we, Annie?"

"Naya made mac an' cheese, and muffins!" Annie was beaming. She always told me Naya was her favorite sitter. "Well, in that case…" I took the sandwich and nearly wolfed it down. Annie provided me with information about her past weeks. Usually, I was Skyping with Jack, Henry, and her, since they were less busy than the grown-ups and easier to reach sometimes. And I didn't want to be a stranger to them, somebody who used to work with their parents, or the godmother who showed up only twice a year…

Penny returned and lay Gracie back in the buggy. She was sound asleep. "She's perfect, Penny."

"Thank you. Now you and Hotch as her fairy godparents need to make sure she stays that way," she winked. So that was her plan, great…and since Annie and Naya were sitting right here with us, I couldn't say anything. She was her old sparkly self again. Sometimes I wasn't even sure why I loved her.

"Annie and Gracie are going to give Naya a run for her money," I said then, to change the subject.

"Annie already is," Naya complained in mock.

"What money?" Annie looked at me confused.

"That means you're pretty, pumpkin," I told her.

"But Naya is more pretty than I am!" Annie announced which caused Naya to smile. She was beautiful, there was no denying it. Naya had inherited her father's Spanish roots: tanned skin and dark brown hair. "How about we agree that we three are beautiful?" Annie seemed to like that.

We kept talking about the BAU kids and I showed the pictures I took on my trips around Europe. "That's seems icy," Penny stated, after I showed an image of Perm. "Well, it's Russia in the middle of February, what do you expect?" I asked her. To be fair, it wasn't so cold in Sochi; quite pleasant actually. Well, except for the murdered mobsters…

"I have to go to the loo," Annie announced suddenly, jumping off my lap. It was cute how she had adapted to Penny and me. Penny stood up and they walked to the restrooms.

I put my phone away and took a sip of water. Jack hadn't come out yet, but nobody went in either, so it couldn't be that bad.

"You were in there, how bad is he?" I asked Naya in a low tone. She was a med student, currently doing her internship in a hospital in D.C. She was my best shot for straight answers at the moment.

"He's hooked up to the machines till he wakes up. Let's just say he was damn lucky," she answered honestly, "but he's going to be all right. They might release him in a week or two."

"How lucky?" The words escaped before I could stop them.

Naya looked me in the eyes, apparently searching for something. Maybe she found it because she answered, her tone po-faced, "By a fraction of an inch."

That was the second chapter, tell me what you think :)