All I own is Paige. The rest belongs to Criminal Minds.
I know it's been like forever since I've updated, but my computer hasn't been working, and I've been extremely busy. So please have mercy on me and read and review…please.
It had been a few weeks since Paige and Spencer's rescue, and things were starting to get back to normal. Paige was back in school, getting ready for graduation. She had been going to therapy on a weekly basis, on her father's orders, as had Spencer. Things were running really smoothly. Paige and Spencer were still sort of seeing each other, but because Paige was only 17, they had decided not to tell the rest of the team until she was 18. They didn't really spend that much time together, due to Spencer's job and Paige's school. They did however, spend a lot of time texting and talking on the phone in their free time.
And now it was the night of Paige's graduation. That night, she and the team were all going out to dinner, then to Paige's graduation ceremony. Penelope, J.J. and Emily had spent an hour and a half doing Paige's hair and makeup. Finally, at 5:00 p.m., Paige was ready. Her hair, which had been dyed back to her natural black color just a few weeks earlier, fell into soft curls to her shoulder. Her pouty lips were coated in a sheer pink gloss, and her eyes were darkly lined with a brownish color eyeshadow. She and the ladies of the BAU had gone shopping for a dress and shoes a week earlier, and she was now clad in a short black and pink dress that clung to her small waist and showed off her legs, while still being modest. On her feet were simple black heels with pink accents. Around her neck was a pretty pink heart necklace. She was simply pretty, and all that was missing was the cap and gown, which she would put on right after dinner.
J.J, Garcia and Emily all went downstairs ahead of her, giving her a few seconds to herself. She looked in the mirror and smiled at herself. She sat down on the bed, looking at a picture of her and her mom.
"I hope I'm making you proud, Mom." She whispered.
"I know she's proud of you, kiddo." A choked up Rossi said from the doorway. "Because I am."
A little tear rolled down Paige's cheek and she ran up to her father and hugged him.
"Don't cry, you'll ruin your makeup or whatever." Rossi told her.
"I love you, Dad." Paige said.
"I love you, too." He replied. "There's something I want you to have."
Rossi pulled a little box from his back pocket and handed it to her. She opened it, revealing a gold ring with three diamonds on it, one large diamond with two smaller ones surrounding it. She lifted it from its case and studied it, noticing that "David and Casey" was engraved inside.
"Is this--" Paige stopped.
"Yes. That was your mother's ring while we were married. I loved your mother so much, she was the one that got away. I want you to have it. She would want you to have it. Paige slipped the ring onto her tiny middle finger. She hugged her father again.
"Come on, you guys!" Emily called up the stairs. "Our reservations are for 5:30! It's 5:10!"
Rossi headed down the stairs while Paige looked at her appearance once more.
Rossi got to the bottom of the stairs.
"I now present to you, our graduating senior!" He announced. Paige came down the stairs smiling.
Garcia began snapping pictures right and left. Hotch smiled a little bit. Emily, J.J. and Will clapped while Henry gurgled happily.
Derek whistled jokingly. "Congratulations, Grad. You're lookin' pretty in that dress, I'll probably have to take my gun to the ceremony, because all the boys are gonna be chasin' you!"
Spencer was speechless. Paige blushed.
"Come on! We'll be late and lose our table!"
They all piled into three SUV's and drove to the restaurant. They got there just in time, and were seated. They all ordered nice meals, and chatted while they ate. After they were done eating, the waitress brought out a cake that J.J. had dropped off earlier. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and it said "Congratulations, Paige! We're so proud of you! Love, the big crazy family."
"Aw, you guys!" Paige exclaimed. Hotch, Derek, J.J., Garcia, and Emily all handed Paige cards.
Paige opened Hotch's card first, which was a simple card that had a hippo in graduation garb on the front that said "For a great Grad". Inside, was a 50 dollar bill, and the card said "Congratulations! Love Hotch and Jack." Jack had drawn a picture for Paige. Paige had baby-sat for Hotch a few times before, and little Jack loved Paige.
Next, Paige opened Garcia's card. It was colorful and frilly and said "My best friend is graduating, so I'm showering her with love, congratulations, appreciation…" on the front, and on the inside, behind the $25 iTunes gift card it said "…and tons of glitter, fuzz, and colors of course!" Below that, Garcia had written "To Paige, one of my closest friends. I'm so proud of all you have achieved and I love you forever! Love, Penelope."
The rest of the cards were all similar, with messages of "Congrats Grad!" on the front and "I'm proud of you." on the inside, each card was simple and sweet and of course, there was money inside.
Paige hugged everyone tightly.
"Thanks guys! I love you all too!" She squealed. They cut the cake and quickly ate a piece each. It was 6:30, and everyone loaded up to get to the ceremony. Spencer and Paige were the only one's left behind.
"I have a gift for you." Spencer said awkwardly. He pulled out a little box. Paige opened it, and inside was a little silver charm bracelet. From it hung a single silver heart.
"Congratulations," he whispered, his voice cracking.
He lifted the bracelet out of the box and put it on Paige's wrist, his hands shaking the whole time. Paige looked into his eyes.
"Thank you, Spencer. It's beautiful." She placed a gentle kiss on his lips. He deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist. The kiss was cut short, however, when Garcia came running back into the restaurant.
She cleared her throat obnoxiously.
"Come on, lovebirds, get your butts out to the car, we're gonna be late!" She said.
Spencer cleared his throat awkwardly and left, leaving Paige and Garcia.
"Pen, please don't say anything to Dad. He'll be mad, I think." She said.
"Hon, we aren't stupid. We've all been expecting it since you two met. And we all pretty much know. It's a little obvious, darling." She said. Paige smiled at her. "But, I'm not going to tell him."
They left the restaurant and rushed to the school for the ceremony.
Paige donned her cap and gown in the car, and when they arrived, she lined up with her classmates and prepared to walk in. They all walked in and sat in their places for the speech. Paige looked into the family section and saw her father, Hotch, Garcia, Spencer, Derek, Will, J.J., Henry and Emily. They all waved at her and smiled. The ceremony went beautifully, and when it came to walking across the stage, no one tripped. When Paige's name was called, there was a loud cheer from her family.
After the ceremony, they all went back to Rossi's house to eat more cake.
"Paige, I have another present for you, kiddo." Rossi said. "Everyone, let's go outside, I want you all to see it."
"My gift is outside?" Paige asked incredulously.
"Well, it's a little too big to fit in the house," Rossi replied.
Rossi covered Paige's eyes and led her outside. The rest followed them. Once outside, Rossi uncovered his daughter's eyes. She squealed when she saw her gift. A little black Jeep Wrangler was sitting in the driveway.
"No way!" She said, running up to it. "This is for me?"
"Sure is, why don't you jump in and take it for a test drive?" Rossi suggested.
"Oh my goodness, yes!" Paige said.
"Penelope, why don't you go with to make sure she doesn't crash in her excitement." Rossi suggested.
"Okay!" Penelope squealed then ran to the Jeep. She jumped in and she and Paige took off. Twenty minutes later they were back.
"Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! This is so awesome! I love it! I'm giving it a name and everything! His name is Leonard." Paige gushed.
"Whoa, kiddo! I think we gave you too much sugar. We'll put Leonard in the garage and go back inside now, okay?"
"Okay." Paige said, still excited. They opened the garage and Paige drove the Jeep in.
An hour later, Paige and Rossi were saying goodbye to everyone. Paige went upstairs to put on her pajamas, then she came down to the kitchen. She started cleaning up the dishes. Rossi came down.
"What are you doing, kiddo?" Rossi asked.
"It's late, we'll do this tomorrow. You should go to bed." Rossi told her.
"Okay. Good night, Daddy. I had the best day." Paige said, hugging her father. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Love you."
"I love you, too, kiddo. Now go get some sleep." He said.
Paige ran upstairs and jumped in bed. She snuggled down into the blankets, and turned off the bedside lamp. She twisted the ring on her finger and toyed with the heart dangling from her bracelet. Then she fell asleep, thinking about how great her life was, and how much she felt loved by her new big, crazy family.
A/N: Ah, finally! Paige has graduated. Next up, she'll turn 18. R&R pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!