"I don't get why the judge said you had a court date," Emily's blond friend said frowning, feeding pieces of her chicken to her friend's new daughter. Watching as the seven month old mashed as the small shreds of chicken with her toothless smile, JJ grinned. "Good?"
Emily kept herself silent, her chin in her hand as she watched her daughter interact with Henry.
"Em?" Hotch reached over to the woman by his side and put a hand to her arm. They had gone out to lunch after their meeting with the Linnape's and their lawyer, the hopes of Emily being in such a public setting having her be able to calm down. "There's nothing to worry about. We're going to get you custody."
The brunette blew out a breath, her head shaking. "I shouldn't have to fight for custody," she stated. "I'm only a few months from signing her adoption papers. This shouldn't be happening."
JJ watched as her friend took a long sip of her beer.
"Am I not a good mother?"
The blue eyed woman let her jaw drop. "Is that a serious question? Emily, you're an amazing mother. Gracie already sees you as her mommy, you know all the tricks to calm her down and you know what she likes to play with, what she likes to sleep with. You're her mother."
Emily's eyes watered. "If I'm such a good mother, why am I losing custody before I even sign the adoption papers?"
"You're not losing custody," Hotch said strongly. "This is just a formality, at this point. All they have against you is your relationship with your mother, and that has nothing to do with your parenting of Grace."
"But what if the judge thinks they actually have a case?" she asked her lawyer with wet eyes. "The arbitrator did."
Hotch took the drink from the younger woman's hand and put it out of her reach. "Barely," he corrected her. He handed her the napkin beside him and waited until her cheeks were dry. "He barely thought they had a case. He's sending it to a judge to get a better perspective on it, not to take custody away from you. The worst that would happen is he'd given them visitation rights, but the agreement you have with Theodore already is basically the same as that."
"Em," JJ said softly, pulling the brunette's attention back to her, "no one is going to take Gracie from you. Your social worker will be there to speak on your behalf, we all will give them our thoughts on you and your mothering. You know what's going to happen," the blond nodded. "You're just stressing yourself out."
Emily sighed, sitting straighter in her chair and nodding her head. "Yeah." Looking to her daughter, she watched as the seven month old happily slobber over the chicken her friend had given her. "Ok, I think it's time to go." Only half of the day was over and she was already exhausted.
The only man at the table met the eyes of the younger woman, his head tilting as she stood from her chair. Do you want company?
The new mother could see the question in his eyes and she did her best to smile. "We'll be fine." Groaning animatedly to get the little girl to laugh, Emily lifted Grace into her arms and shouldered her purse. "We just need some time alone right now."
JJ reached out and squeezed her friend's elbow. "Call us when you're home."
Smiling, Emily bid a goodbye to each of her friends and kissed Henry's head before walking out of the restaurant and into the city. Her daughter was strapped tight to her chest, her arms around Grace's small body to protect her from the strangers they passed on the street and the wind that was blowing Emily's curls back, and drooled slightly against her chest.
"How yucky," the single woman grimaced, sharing a smile with the toothless little girl. She had done her best to check to see where her teeth were coming in, but nothing had poked through her gums yet. "Mommy can't even wipe that up right now."
The seven month old laughed, cuddling into her mother's chest.
Kissing her daughter's head, Emily waited until the crosswalk light turn green so she could step into the street. "Maybe when we get home we can have some carrots," she said excitedly, watching as Grace's green eyes widened.
A blaring horn blasted through her ears, the vehicle from which it came knocking the new mother to the ground before she had the chance to even turn her head at the sound. Her arms never faltered, holding her baby tight to her chest as she fell and hit the ground, her head taking the first punch as the car hit her.
"Ma'am!"
Blinding pain flew from her head to her chest and back again, brown eyes flying open at the sounds filling her ears.
"Ma'am, let me help you!"
The agent winced as her baby cried bloody murder in her ears, her body aching as someone helped her sit up in the street. "Shh," she whispered to Grace, her pain and everyone around her making it hard to concentrate on calming her baby.
"We're calling an ambulance," the cyclist hurried out, the sight of the older woman's blood scaring him.
"I'm sorry," the driver of the car cried, "I'm sorry!"
Emily could feel herself growing dizzy as the sounds of horns and sirens grew louder, a pain in both her temples. "Grab the baby," she said quietly, barely handing off the wailing seven month old off to the man in blue before she fell back down against the tar.