(Author's note…the song Kaitlin sings in this chapter…I actually wroteJ I hope you guys like it…obviously you can't hear it, but I hope you enjoy the lyrics)

Kaitlin's POV

When we got home, I went into my room. I fell asleep. In the middle of the night I started having a bad dream. My parents were talking to me. We were having a family meeting. Jason was there, too. He was playing with his trucks. Then a woman walked up. It was Emily. She started stabbing my mom. My mom didn't bleed, though. So Emily took a match, struck it, and threw it at my mom. My mom turned into paper, and burned. I turned to my dad, but he, too had turned into paper, and started to burn, and then my little brother did. Then she came at me. As I held on to the ashes that were from my mom, Emily tried to pull me away.

I screamed. "NO! STOP! NOOOOOOOO! HELP!" Emily ran into my room and flipped the light on.

"Kaitlin, honey, it's a dream! Wake up! It's okay!" She tried to hold me, but I shook away from her.

"Kaitlin? What was your dream about? Calm down. It's me!" She tried to tell me, but I kept backing away from her.

"You were killing her! Burning her! But she was paper! And you were pulling me away from her!" I was out of breath.

Emily looked confused, "Who?"

"My mom," was all I could say before bursting into tears.

"Honey, I will never replace her! I will never take her away from you! It was a dream. It's not real," She assured me.

"I…I…I…ohhh," I cried harder. Then I let her hold me.

"Are you going to be okay?" She asked me after a few minutes.

"Only if you promise…" My voice trailed away.

"Anything. Just tell me what it is," She told me.

"Promise…you'll stay with me…at least until I fall back asleep?" I asked her. I realized this was the first time since I was at least six that I had asked an adult to stay with me. I was now fourteen.

"I promise," She said. She climbed into the bed with me and held me until I fell asleep.

Emily POV

I stayed with Kaitlin after she fell asleep. I sat and watched her sleep all night. I regretted not having kids of my own. I regretted fighting with Derek. I had wanted everything to work out. I guess it didn't work out the way I had hoped. I was going to make a change. I was going to work it out with Derek, with Hotch, and with Kaitlin.

It was 9:14am when Kaitlin woke up.

"Morning, Kaitlin. Merry Christmas," I said to her. She looked surprised that I had stayed with her all night.

"Thanks," She told me and I smiled and nodded.

"Is it okay…if I call Derek and clear everything up?" I asked her.

"That's your call…not mine," She told me. I got up and called Derek.

"Hello?" He said.

"Derek, can you meet me…at the park in 5 minutes?" I asked.

"Uhmm…yeah," He said and hung up. I walked back into Kaitlin's room.

"I'm going-" I began, but she cut me off.

"I heard the whole thing," she said holding up the other phone, "go get him!"

I smiled and left. I put on sneakers and jogged down the road to the park where Derek was waiting.

"Hi…" I said.

"Hey," He said. I walked closer to him.

"Look…about the other day," I began. He put his fingers to my lips.

"Shh…" And he kissed me. And the funny thing was, I kissed him back, but then began to pull away.

"Derek…I," I was cut off again.

"Shh…Merry Christmas, Prentiss," he said, and kissed me again. I wrapped my arms around him and continued to kiss him. I pulled away.

"Derek…" I tried a third time.

"Emily," He began.

"For God's sake Derek! If you don't let me talk, I'm gonna pull out my Glock and shoot you!" I said threatened in a hushed voice.

"Alright, talk, Prentiss," He told me grinning.

"Thank you," I told him, "Derek, I love you. I do, but I also love Kaitlin, and she needs me right now, and I think I need her, too. I want this to work. I want us to work. But you need to know that Kaitlin needs to come first, and our jobs. Hotch told me that if I felt a personal connection to a case that would give me bias or something like that, I would have to take myself off the case, or he would. You distract me. I admit it, all right? I look at you and my heart leaps, I get butterflies or something, and then I remember that I'm trying to catch a killer. I think we shouldn't be fighting. I don't want to be fighting, but I think…we should take a break," I explained to him.

"That's what I wanted to tell you, that exact same thing. I know Kaitlin needs you and I think our relationship hasn't been working because we were just two really good friends that thought it could be more than friendship. It just can't," Derek looked at me. "But I love you. You know that, right?" He told me.

"Yes. And I love you, too. But just as…a best friend," I told him and he hugged me. We stood there in a big embrace for a couple minutes.

"I'll see you later at the Christmas party," He said, "With Kaitlin's big present. You ready for that?" He asked.

"Yeah, definitely. Oh and Derek?" I said.

"Yeah?" He asked me.

"I think Kaitlin would like it if you stayed part of her life. Played basketball with her once in while, take her places…she needs a father figure, too," I told him. He nodded and left.

When I got home, Kaitlin was sitting on the couch playing her guitar. The second I walked in the door, though, she ran up to me.

"We're leaving for the party! Go change if you want. I'll tell you in the car!" I told her laughing.

She sighed, but agreed and quickly went and put on a pair of skinny jeans, flats, and red sweater.

"Okay! Let's go! I wanna hear!" She said excitedly. I rolled my eyes and climbed in the car, and told her the whole story. When it was over I asked her, "What do you think?"

"I think…that it's pretty cool that you need me, even cooler that you're there for me, and coolest that you and Derek may be taking a break, but there's still hope?" She told me.

"Okay…" I said agreeing. I pulled into my BAU parking spot and hopped out of the car. I pushed the glass door of the BAU. We got off the elevator and I laughed. The BAU was all decorated, all thanks to Garcia.

"Finally you guys are here!" Garcia said hugging Emily and then me.

"You ready for the most amazing Christmas present ever?" she asked Kaitlin.

"Yes! I'm really excited!" Kaitlin told her. Garcia grabbed her hand. "Close your eyes," she instructed Kaitlin and pulled her into a big open room. It was a huge, conference room.

Garcia waited for me to go in before she allowed Kaitlin to open her eyes.

"Open!" Garcia said and Kaitlin did. She saw Derek sitting on a stool with a microphone, Hotch sitting at a drumset, JJ at a keyboard, Reid with a violin, Rossi with an electric guitar, and me with my acoustic. Garcia walked up next to us and grabbed her bass guitar. Derek handed me the microphone.

"Now here at the BAU, we are a little nosy. I had Garcia hack into your laptop and find the top played song. And we're gonna play it for you right now. Merry Christmas to you Kaitlin, my new daughter."

Kaitlin didn't know what her top played song was. She listened to her music so much that she really didn't remember what the top played one was. She thought she had listen to them all about the same.

Derek took the mic back from me. "Now I know your name isn't Kristi, but your top song was Kristi Are You Doing Okay by the Offspring, and it was sort of appropriate for everything that's happened, so we hope you like it," he said.

I began with the guitar intro, then Morgan started to sing:

"There's a moment in time, and it's stuck in my mind, way back when we were just kids. 'Cause your eyes told the tale of an act of betrayal. I knew that somebody did. Oh the waves of time seem to wash away the scenes of our crimes. For you, this never ends. Can you stay strong? Can you go on? Kristi are you doing okay? A rose that won't bloom, winter's kept you. Don't waste your whole life trying to get back what was taking away. Though the marks on your dress have been neatly repressed, I knew that something was wrong. And I should've spoke out and I'm so sorry now. I didn't know because we were so young. Oh the clouds of time seem to rain on the innocence left behind and it never goes away. Can you stay strong? Can you go on? Kristi are you doing okay? A rose that won't bloom, winter's kept you. Don't waste your whole life trying to get back what was taken away". Then Rossi had a guitar solo, and Reid had a violin solo. "Can you stay strong? Can you go on? Kristi are you doing okay? A rose that won't bloom, winter's kept you. Don't waste your whole life trying to get back what was taken away. Don't waste your whole life trying to get back what was taken away." And I finished with a guitar ending.

I looked at Kaitlin. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She was smiling and so was the whole team.

"Thank you," She said, "I had no idea Derek could carry a tune," She began when Garcia interrupted, "Neither did we!" Kaitlin smiled. "I didn't know you guys were all such talented musicians, and I definitely didn't Emily could play the guitar…" Her voice trailed away and she came and gave us all hugs.

"And, uhmm…I actually wrote a song for you all tonight," She said and sat down at the piano. "This is really kind of for everyone of you in a different way. And you all taught me in your own way that even though we have pain, we can eventually overcome it with the help from each other. And ah, before I start I just wanted to say something about each of you. "JJ, thank you for being there for me through every thing. Emily's amazing, but I know she can't do it all. It's hard to deal with all the crap that's been going on with me and this job that you guys have, and when I didn't want to freak out on Emily, you were there for me. I can't thank you enough. You're like a…third mother to me, and I appreciate you so much more than you'll ever know.

"Spencer, I love you so much. You are like the big brother I never had. You've helped me with my homework while I've been…sick, and you've been so funny. You've put a smile on my face when I thought nothing could. Thank you.

" Rossi, thank you for everything. I hate to make you feel old, but you've been like a grandfather to me. Not annoying as a dad can be some times, but like a grandfather. You're wise, and I feel like I'll learn so much from you. I've built a great deal of respect for you in this short time, and I just want to thank you so much for everything.

"Aaron, I haven't really gotten to know you too well yet. You've been so

busy with work and all, but I have a lot of respect for you, too, especially because you, like JJ, make so much time to love and care for your child, even though your job is hectic. Also, you've helped me cope with losing my family in a way that's different from the way other people have…so I want to thank you for that.

"Penelope, where do I start with you? I'm probably the only child, besides Henry and maybe Jack, that can say they have their very own Penelope Garcia. You've hacked into my computer, and left messages on their, as opposed to just texting or emailing me, that have made my day so much better, when they have really sucked. You're so much fun. The life and color you bring to this place makes everything so much better. Thank you so much.

"Derek, you're an amazing person. You're so nice, so helpful, and you've been like a dad to me, this past month. You've picked me up from Emily's and played basketball with me and you've taken me out for lunch sometimes. You make me feel better when I'm upset because of your smile and the way you can give a pep talk is amazing, and I love you.

"And last, but definitely not least, my mom. Emily, there's so much about you that I don't know…but lucky for me, I have my whole life to learn. You saved my life, you took me in when I was alone, you hold me when I'm scared and when I'm in your arms I feel so safe, like nothing will ever hurt me again. Not only are you my mom, you're like my best friend. We watch movies, we go shopping, we do our nails, and I can tell you all my secrets. I love you so much. I don't even know how to tell you how much I love you and I don't think I could ever thank you enough.

"So, I wrote you guys a song…I hope you like it," I said. I sang my song and when I finished and put down the guitar, Emily ran to me and gave me a huge hug. "I love you," she whispered, "You're pretty fantastic"

They all clapped. Jack, who was now 5, ran up to me and gave me a hug. I picked him up.

"Hey, you," I said smiling. He smiled and giggled in his cute baby voice. I put him down and he ran back to Hotch. He had lost his mom, too, and he was so young. I felt so sorry for him. He would grow up to be a great kid, though. I knew it.

We ate food and exchanged presents and around 12am, we all decided it was time for bed and we all went home.