Another late night one; I know. I'm sorry!

Prentiss

Three weeks had passed and I was missing Hotch so much. Jack was doing okay; he was pretending that his father was still in the same country, going to return any day now. I, however, was not so good at pretending. I knew he wasn't coming home anytime soon, I knew I couldn't see him or even call him.

I walked into the precinct this morning and to my desk. I put my bag down and greeted the team with a smile, but it wasn't as big as it normally would be.

"Bad morning, pumpkin?" Garcia asked quietly.

"I miss him." I admitted quietly as I looked down.

JJ gave me an apologetic smile, "How's Jack going?"

"Better than me, surprisingly, but we'll survive. We had a movie night on Saturday, it was actually really fun."

"That's sweet." JJ smiled.

"How are we all today?" Rossi asked as he joined us.

The other four all answered with a "good" or "great", and I didn't reply. Rossi looked at me when he realised his hadn't heard and raised his eyebrows.

"I'm fine." I said as I spun my chair back around.

"…Okay…Garcia; do we have a case this morning?"

"I have two to choose from sir and I cannot decide which we should take and I feel so bad for not knowing."

"I'll help you decide." JJ said as she jumped down from Reid's desk where she was sitting.

I knew they'd take a while so I signed off another piece of otherwise completed paperwork and started on the next, opening and reading the file on top.

"Round table." JJ tapped my shoulder as she walked past. I closed the file over and put my pen down. I walked up to the round table room a few steps behind Morgan and Reid. Rossi, Garcia and JJ were there already.

We sat down and I thanked Garcia when she past me a file. I opened it and looked over the photographs inside. "My god…full on. I thought I felt sick before."

"There's blood everywhere…" JJ said quietly.

The word "blood" reminded me of something. "Hey, what's the date today?"

"December 3rd." Reid said.

"Thanks for clarifying the month…" I said sarcastically as I took my phone from my pocket. I opened the calendar in it and counted from my last period that I had marked. My eyes widened, "Shit."

"…What? Something bad about the third?" Morgan asked.

"Uh…Rossi, do you mind if I meet you guys at the plane and you catch me up there?"

He studied me for a few seconds before nodding, "Sure. We'll leave in forty." He was giving the team ten minutes to discuss here.

I nodded, "Thank you." I stood up and walked out quickly. I grabbed my bag and slipped the case file into it before walking out with it and my go bag on my shoulder.

I got to my car and called Jessica as I pulled out of the lot. I told her that we had a case and hung up after talking to her for another five minutes or so. I pulled up at a drugstore and went inside quickly. I stood in front of the shelves of pregnancy tests and bit my lip as I looked at all the brands. So many brands, so little time to look into them.

"Hi!" An enthusiastic worker greeted me, "Can I help you with something?"

"Uh…yes, actually. Which brand would you recommend?"

"Well there are a few good ones," She said as she looked through them, "These ones are voted the top three brands from our customers." She said as she took out three different brand boxes and showed me. I took the three from her and read the back. I didn't have time to read into it much.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"No problem. Let me know if you need anything else." She smiled and then walked away to the next customer she saw. I walked to the counter with the three boxes and got my wallet out of my handbag. I paid with cash in case Garcia got too suspicious of me and looked into my recent purchases.

I put the boxes into my handbag and walked back to my car. I drove over to JJ's house. It was the closest, knew she wasn't here, I knew Henry was at school and Will's car wasn't here so I assumed he was at work. I had a key to her house in case of emergency, and I considered this an emergency right now.

I went inside and used the three tests quickly. All three tested positive and I stared at them for a few minutes. "Oh no." I breathed quietly to myself. I closed my eyes and lowered myself to the ground slowly. I shook my head and dropped it into my hands, "No, no, no."

After a few minutes, I realised that I didn't have long to get to the airstrip. I stood up and went to the kitchen. I got one of those small brown paper bags that parents wrapped their children's lunch in and I put the test sticks in it. I wouldn't put them in JJ's trashcan.

I walked out of her house quickly and made sure I locked up. I drove to the airstrip quickly and saw the team getting onto the plane when I pulled up. Morgan was looking around from halfway up the steps before he saw my car. He walked back down and approached me as I made my way to the plane with both my bags.

"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked when we met. He walked beside me towards the plane.

"Everything is fine," I nodded. His eyes were filled with concern. "Morgan, I'm okay. I just really needed to do something; it's fine. Let's focus on the case, please?"

He nodded, "Okay, but you know I'm always here if you need anything. The whole team is."

"I appreciate that, but I'm fine." I climbed onto the plane with him a step behind me and I got my glasses out from my bag as I sat down beside Rossi. I took my case file too and Morgan put my bag in the above shelf for me. I thanked him and opened the file.

"Is everything okay? You look flustered and stressed." Rossi said to me once the whole team was paying attention.

I sighed, "I'm fine and I'm sorry I had to leave earlier. Catch me up?"


We closed the case within three days but we had to stay an extra night because it was too late to fly by the time we finished at the station. I had shared a room with JJ over the past few days and she hadn't questioned why I ran out so quickly before the flight there until last night. I changed the subject swiftly and I kept changing it when it came back. She was suspicious but she wasn't prying too much.

When we got back to the precinct today, I let Jessica know that I could pick Jack up from school and I didn't bother going home to my apartment or Hotch's house. Being there would just give me more time to think about the fact that there is possibly a human growing inside of me.

I sat at my desk and opened the top file and began the paperwork which I had started four days ago.

"You're not going home to get some rest?" Rossi asked me. I looked up and saw the five other present members of my team standing by my desk.

"…Uh, no. I have a lot of paperwork to do."

"Boss-man is rubbing off on you." Garcia said.

I smiled and looked back down.

"Come out for lunch." Morgan said, tapping my shoulder.

I sighed and stood up, "Okay." I put the paperwork inside the file and closed it over. I slid it and several others into my bag and walked out with the team.

"Maybe you can tell us what's got you so distracted." Rossi said as we walked into the elevator.

I shook my head, "Nope."

"Can we have a hint?" Garcia asked.

"Nope." I repeated the word.

"Is it Hotch?" Reid asked quietly.

"No, he's fine."

"So it's a personal thing?" Morgan asked.

I ignored him and looked at my phone as it started to ring. "Agent Prentiss." I answered the call.

"Ms Prentiss, I've been informed that you are the temporary caretaker of Jack Hotchner?"

"I am." I confirmed.

"Jack has gotten into a fight at school. Don't worry, he's the victim, not the perpetrator, but he would like to come home and the principal thinks he should. Are you able to pick him up?"

What the hell did "don't worry" mean? He was in a fight, but don't worry, he's the victim, like that makes it better. I decided that I wouldn't express how wrong it was to say that. "Yeah, I can come pick him up. I'll be there in about twenty minutes. Is he okay?" I said as I looked at my watch. I walked out of the elevator with the team.

"He's upset and his eye a bit black, but he should be okay."

"Thank you." I hung up and looked at the team.

"Is everything okay?" JJ asked.

"I'm going to have to take a raincheck on lunch. Jack got in a fight at school and I have to go pick him up."

"Did he start it?" Reid asked.

I shook my head, "She told me not to worry because he was the victim. Because you know, you only need to worry for the wrong."

"I don't think that she meant it like that." Rossi shook his head.

"Well if he doesn't want to go home, the two of you can meet us at the café." JJ offered.

I smiled, "I'll ask him and text you. If he doesn't, then I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Good luck." Garcia said.

I snickered, "Yeah, thanks." I walked away from them and to my car. I contemplated trying to call Hotch, but the day before he became unreachable, he told me that he'd call me the moment he could so I figured I wouldn't be able to reach him yet.

I drove out of the lot in front of the team and turned the opposite way to them. I reached the school in about twenty minutes like I had estimated and parked outside. I got out of the car and made sure my gun wasn't visible before walking towards the admin building of the school.

I walked to the desk and waited for the office administrator to finish the phone call she was having. She hung up and smiled at me, "Agent Prentiss?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yes."

She nodded, "Jack will be out in a minute. He is just getting his backpack from his class. Can you please sign this for me and then you'll be free to take him." I signed it and gave her pen back to her, "The principal is working on setting up a meeting between the other boy's parents as well as you. He'll call you when he organises a time to see if it suits you.

I nodded, "Thank you." I smiled at her. She motioned to the seats against the wall and I walked over quietly and sat down. I checked my phone to occupy myself and looked up when I heard the door open. Jack walked in and he looked at me.

"Hi Emily."

I stood up and frowned at him. His eye was black, "Oh honey, are you okay?"

He nodded and I hugged him. He returned it willingly. "Come on." I grabbed his bag from him and opened the door. I looked back at the office lady, "Thank you." I thanked again and I walked out behind Jack.

He got into my car and clipped the seat belt up straight away, "The rest of the team is out for lunch. Do you want to go eat something or do you want to go home?" Jack was always one to love eating at restaurants and cafes, even just ice cream.

He looked at me, "Lunch."

I nodded with a smile, "Okay." I texted JJ and she replied in little time to tell me where they were. I drove away from the school and towards the café where they were. I asked Jack about what happened and after a few minutes of me assuring him that he could tell me, he gave in and recounted what happened.

"I'm so sorry, Jack." I glanced at him.

"It's not as bad as it sounds."

"It's happened before?"

"Once. No one saw though so the school didn't know. Dad didn't even know."

"You should have told someone. This is bullying, Jack."

"Sorry."

"No, you don't need to apologise," I shook my head, "It wasn't your fault. You were just talking to your friends." I pulled up at the café. I turned the car off and looked at him, "Hey, if you need anything or you need to talk about something, you know that I'm here, right?"

He nodded.

"And so is the rest of the team. Reid was bullied a lot as a kid; I'm sure he'll understand everything."

He nodded again.

I smiled and roughed his hair up, "Alright, let's go eat something. I'm starving."