I'm sorry for the long wait between chapters, my muse has been very quiet in regards to this story, but I finally got this chapter written and I've got another couple more ideas in the works for this story, so hopefully I'll get this story rolling again. Enjoy!
Chapter 24:
After a week of having Nicole in her home, Emily couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. They had finally been able to get some things from the Dayton House and had spent nearly an entire day moving things around in the guest bedroom and putting up the posters and artwork Nicole had brought back, it was almost as if Nicole had always been there and Emily was not looking forward to saying goodbye to the teen when the trial was over.
"We're going to go to the BAU to get Mudgie from Dave, and then go to your next therapy appointment," Emily informed Nicole as the two of them got ready for the day.
"Why isn't he dropping Mudgie off here?"
"He had to go to work early. It was too early for us," Emily explained. "Your therapy appointment is with the Quantico psychologist; we'll be down there anyway."
"Okay," Nicole replied half-heartedly.
Emily finished brushing her teeth, and after cleaning up, she left the bathroom with Nicole following her. Shelby raced around Nicole's feet; the cat was officially in love with Nicole who spent hours petting her.
"Hey, Shelby," Nicole greeted the cat. She picked Shelby up and petted her.
Emily smiled, then quickly got her things ready. "I'm ready to go when you are," she called out from the front door, her hand poised above the keypad of the alarm system.
Nicole nodded and grabbed her purse. They quickly left, hoping to get through the DC traffic before it got too bad.
When they came into the bullpen it was clear that everyone was busy. "Hey, Prentiss." Morgan greeted, and then he spoke into his phone. "Hey, baby girl, Emily and Nicole are here."
"I'll be there in a moment to see my teen angel," Garcia chirped loud enough to be heard through the receiver.
"You must be the new girl," Emily saw a woman with auburn hair and walked up to her. Dave had mentioned that the temporary profiler would start sometime that week. "I'm Emily Prentiss."
"Julia Child," the new profiler introduced herself.
"Any relation to the chef Julia Child?" Emily quipped with a grin.
"None at all," Julia responded, smiling. "My parents were hoping I would turn out to be a chef, they were very disappointed when I applied to the FBI instead of culinary school."
Sudden barking cut off anything else Emily would have said, "Hey Nicole." Agent Dave greeted the teen from the door to his office.
"Hey, Agent Dave," Nicole greeted. She bent to give Mudgie a back rub. "Hey there, buddy," she spoke quietly.
Emily came up from behind. "Thanks for letting me borrow him."
"You're welcome. I've got something in my office for him; come in and get it." Dave said. "You have Mudgie, right, Nicole?" He turned to the teen.
"Yeah, I've got him," Nicole assured with a firm grip on the leash. "Besides, Mudgie wouldn't do anything too bad." Nicole turned to the dog. "Would you, Mudgie?" she asked in baby talk. "Would you?"
Emily walked into the office and Dave closed the door partway before turning to her. "I was thinking," his voice was low, "we don't have any cases that require travel until Monday, do you think you could leave Nicole so you could come over to my place for a nice dinner on Friday?"
"That sounds nice." Emily said.
Dave turned as he heard Mudgie barking excitedly. He ordered a command in German. Instantly, the dog stopped barking. He turned back to Emily. "I'll see you tomorrow when I pick Mudgie up." Emily nodded as Dave bent to grab a doggie bed. "I brought this over so Mudgie would have his bed." He told her.
They both left the office again, stopping on the balcony right by his office. "Thanks for letting us use this," Emily said, Dave nodded and knelt by the dog.
"Be good,." Dave told the canine. "I don't want to have to come and get you earlier than I have to."
Mudgie whined ,then licked Dave's cheek. He patted the dog, stood and began to hand the leash over to Emily. "Here. You've already got the kibble he likes, right?"
"Yep," Nicole said. "We also have some toys." She bent to give Mudgie's head a scratch, "You are going to have so much fun with the toys we bought you, Mudgie," she crooned.
"You will be his best friend for life," Dave chuckled. He looked at Emily as the female agent took the leash from him, their hands brushed against each other.
"Thank you for letting us borrow him," Emily murmured, glancing at Nicole and Mudgie.
"You're welcome. I'll be by tomorrow after work to pick him up."
Emily smiled. "Okay. Come on, Nikki," she spoke to the teen. "Let's take Mudgie to the park; we've got time before our next appointment."
"Awesome!" Nicole cheered. "Come on, Mudgie. Let's go." The dog didn't need a second urging.
Both women left the bullpen and Nicole turned to Emily, "You were in Agent Dave's office for a few minutes, what'd he want?"
Emily shushed Nicole and guided the teen into the elevator. "I'll tell you later," she whispered under her breath, unable to stop the blush from creeping up her cheeks.
"Okay," Nicole complied. She looked up at her guardian. "The two of you are going to go out on a date, aren't you?" she asked coyly.
"Not now," Emily cautioned, before she guided Nicole into the elevator. "We can talk about this later."
"When's your date?" Nicole asked, undeterred by the subtle warnings as the elevator began its descent.
Emily shushed the teenager again, but grinned to herself. Nicole was looking at Emily with a raised eyebrow; the smirk on her face was so much like Dave's that Emily did a double take. "Friday," she finally admitted.
"We should go shopping for a new outfit!" Nicole rushed on enthusiastic at the information.
"We can go shopping for an outfit after your appointment."
"Great!" Nicole grinned; Emily could tell that the wheels were turning in her head. "What kind of date is it?" she asked. "Really nice or casual?"
"We'll be at his place for dinner; he'll be making it."
"Okay, so that will be casual." The elevator doors opened and they three of them stepped off the lift. Nicole had Mudgie's leash and the walked out of the Hoover building,
For once, closing time didn't take forever to get to and before Dave knew it, it was time to leave, he decided to take the stairs and he left, turning to go past Garcia's lair. Faintly he could hear Child's voice and he paused when he heard his name.
"So," Child leaned forward and lowered her voice, "I know I'm only here temporarily, and I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds by asking this, but am I the only one who sees the huge crush that Rossi has on Prentiss?"
"No, you're not; we even have an office pool," Garcia supplied and pulled a bag with garish hearts decorating it out from one of her desk drawers. "Wanna join? The pot's up to 1,000 dollars!"
"Sure!" Julia said, she pulled her purse onto her lap and opened her wallet.
Dave smiled, shook his head and walked away, if only they knew.
Emily glanced into the living room; Nicole was still lying on the couch, staring at the TV. It was turned on, the volume low. The teen had been watching it since arriving home nearly two hours earlier.
"What'cha watching?" Emily inquired with a nod toward the screen.
"Hannah Montana," Nicole said quietly. "There's a marathon on the Disney Channel."
"Do you like it?" Emily sat on the opposite end of the couch from Nicole.
"Not really," Nicole said. "I'm just watching it because I don't want to use my brain. Hannah Montana doesn't really require the use of any brain cells." Emily nodded; she reached out and brushed Nicole's hair out of her face. "I hate therapy appointments."
"I know." Emily said quietly, she took in a breath. "I know it doesn't seem like it's helping, but therapy takes time."
"I just wish it would go faster." Nicole sighed; she snuggled under the afghan and closed her eyes. Mudgie took his place next to the couch. He licked Nicole's hand and she began petting his head absent-mindedly.
"I know it's tough," Emily tried to console. "I wish I could make it easier on you, Nicole."
Nicole turned slightly so she could see Emily. "Emily, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Is it okay if I call you 'Mom'?"
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