"I think if she isn't here on time, I should get the baby."

The younger of the two lawyers refrained from rolling his eyes at the redheaded woman across the table, knowing the FBI agent beside him was doing his best to do the same. "Mrs. Linnape, Emily Prentiss isn't late. We just arrived early."

Hennessy glared.

"Our meeting starts in five minutes," Hotch reminded the older woman across the table from him. He saw Theodore sit back in his seat, staying quiet and as out of the way as he was able to, and he thanked him with a small look. "Emily may be dealing with Grace at the moment. She is her guardian."

"Dealing?" Hennessy scoffed. "Is that how you talk about my granddaughter?"

The arbitrator sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"She's a single mother on her way to a meeting to determine if the woman trying to take her daughter from her has just cause," Hotch spoke up. Eyeing the older woman, he made sure to stick up for his friend who hadn't yet arrived. "If she's a minute late, it was a minute she was spending with her daughter. I think we can all agree that's a good enough reason."

Hennessey's teeth grit as she watched the smug gentlemen across from her share a look. "Do not call her a mother."

Opening up the conference room door, Emily stepped in. "Hi," she breathed, checking to make sure Grace was still comfortable in JJ's arms out in the hallway before she took her seat. "I apologize, Grace has been teething and was a little cranky this morning when I woke her up."

The arbitrator nodded over to the newcomer. "Agent Prentiss, thank you for joining us. Don't worry, you're not late."

Emily sent the older man a relieved smile.

"I don't want him here."

The brunette agent looked to see where Hennessy's eyes shot to, and her gaze followed to land on her friend. "Aaron Hotchner is not only an agent but a prosecutor," she pointed out.

"You already have a lawyer!"

"I have two," she said calmly.

Hennessy's shoulders shook as she tried to keep herself calm. "That's unfair!" she cried out, turning to nudge her lawyer. "Get one of them out of here."

The arbitrator held up his hand to gain everyone's attention. "It doesn't matter how many lawyers someone has because there is no limit."

"There's no law against it?"

"No," he said strongly. "Now if it's alright with you all, I'd like to start."

Hennessy's lawyer opened up his case file, slipping his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. "Hennessy and Theodore Linnape are filing for so-"

"No." Theodore sat himself up in his chair. "Henney if filing."

Emily watched as the man across from her nodded in her direction, and she could feel herself calming down.

"Hennesy Linnape," the lawyer corrected, "is filing for sole custody of her granddaughter Grace Benton on the basis of Emily Prentiss' negligence and inadequacy."

"She's my grandbaby. Why shouldn't I have custody of my own grandbaby?"

Emily's ears perked as she listened to both her and Hennessy's lawyers ask her not to interrupt. Meeting Hotch's eyes as she subtly turned her head, she could feel that much more of a weight lift from her shoulders.

The arbitrator looked to the FBI agent in question. "Agent Prentiss, can you tell us about your time with Grace thus far?"

"Grace has been doing perfectly," Emily began with a smile.

"She had an infection!"

Emily eyed the redheaded woman across from her as the lawyers once against asked her to remain quiet. "Grace had an ear infection that cleared up after a week," the agent acknowledged. "I'm sure you know kids get sick."

"Of course," the arbitrator nodded. "Continue."

The brunette set a dark curl behind her ear. "She's adjusted very well to me and my family. The other day we had a barbeque for the fourth of July and she met some of my team members for the first time," she smiled smally. "She loves each and every one of them."

"And her health is better?"

"It is," Emily nodded. "She hasn't been sick. She's been teething now, as I said earlier, so she's been a little cranky and feverish, but we've handled it."

The arbitrator's hand speedily wrote on the papers he'd brought with him. "And your job? How is that working now that you have a child?"

"Is the guardian of a child," Hennessy corrected him with fierce eyes. "She is not her daughter."

Emily rolled her lips together as if she had just applied a fresh coat of lipstick. "I've been a mother for a few months now. I've learned a few things about this little girl and what we can do to help one another. I'm her guardian, that was the wish of Grace's father. This little girl has been through a lot, and I've done my best to help her with that. As for my job, I've been back to work for a few months now."

"And you sometimes travel out of state, correct?"

"To help other police departments with their cases, yes," Emily conceded. "When I have to go out of town, my friend and colleague Penelope Garcia comes to my house and watches Grace."

The arbitrator looked over a few of the notes the social worker had given him. "And how often do you go out of state, would you say?"

Emily bit her lip. "It depends, but possibly once a week."

"For how long?"

"A few days."

Hennessy's jaw dropped at the information. "She's barely even there with my grandbaby! Why are we here? I should have custody."

"Mrs. Linnape if you don't keep yourself quiet, this meeting will be ended," the arbitrator warned her.

Emily kept her composure, her dark eyes on the older woman as she opened her mouth once more to retort. "Grace has not reacted badly to my leaving. I speak to her on the phone every night, have hourly check ins with Penelope to make sure my daughter is doing just fine and when I get home, Grace acts as if I was there with her the entire time."

"Has she been clingy?"

The brunette gave herself a minute to think. "When she gets cranky, she likes to stay in my arms," she nodded. "But I've seen that with many children. It's normal."

When the agent was done, Hennessy's lawyer leaned his arms on the conference room table. "Agent Prentiss, you say Grace has been reacting well to your family."

"Correct," Emily's lawyer agreed. He would talk, lawyer to lawyer, so nothing Emily said when she was replying could be used against her. "Grace loves all of them."

"Now who do you mean when you say family?"

Emily's brow furrowed.

The lawyer looked down to his open case file. "Because I know that your social worker said it was as if your mother, Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss, was never told about the fact you were now a guardian to a child."

The room froze, the arbitrator's eyes turning to the agent on his right.

"My family is my team," Emily said strongly. "My mother knows about Grace."

"Did she know about her before Ms. Calt's last visit?" the lawyer asked.

"I don't see wh-"

"Because if she didn't, to me at least it shows how little you care about this girl you call your daughter."

Emily could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands. "How dare you?"

The lawyer gave a smug smile. "To me, and I'm sure to a judge and jury, it would show how little you even thought about the idea of telling your mother about Grace Benton."

"Agent Prentiss, are any of these allegations true?"

Emily took a moment to control her emotions as she got herself ready to answer. "My mother was overseas when Grace came into my custody."

Hennessy's lawyer sat forward. "Do they not have phones overseas?"

"My mother is an ambassador, as you said. The time she has to speak on the phone is miniscule."

"Much like your love for Grace?"

"Stop!" Emily blew up, her face red. "Enough! Grace is my daughter and I love her more than you could know," she spit out. "How dare you accuse me. Telling my mother about my new daughter has nothing to do with our relationship or my love for my little girl. This is not something you tell someone over the phone."

Hennessy's entire body shook as her head did. "You don't care about my granddaughter!"

"I care for her more than you ever could!"

JJ smoothed down Grace's growing hair, sitting back against the bench she was in. "Mommy will be back in a few minutes," she cooed, hearing Reid sit back down beside her. "Can you say hi to Henry for me?"

Henry walked up to the baby. "Hi," he grinned.

The sound of the door flying open, all heads turned to watch Emily storm out, her lawyers behind her and closing the door before the ambassador's daughter's purse flew across the hallway and slammed into the opposite wall.

Emily quickly wiped her tears from her pale cheeks as she rushed over to her daughter. "Come on," she whispered, kissing the seven month old's cheek soundly. "Give mommy a hug."

"Mama."

Everyone watched as Emily broke down with her eyes on the baby in her hold. "That's me," she tried to smile, wanting to truly be excited for Grace's first word. "Yeah, I'm your mama."

JJ stood from the bench, her hand on her son's head as she watched her friend carry her daughter down the hall. "What happened?"

"They set a trial date," Hotch informed their friends, his face falling. "A judge will decide who gets custody."