Prentiss
"Mummy? Wake up!" Ainsley jumped on me a few times, trying to get me up. I ignored her and put my hand out, gently pushing her off. "Come on!"
"Ainsley, let me sleep." I said, irritation in my voice.
She sighed dramatically and jumped down from the bed. She walked to the door and opened it, walking out after leaving it open ajar. A few seconds passed before Morgan ran in quickly, "Emily?" He asked with such apprehension. He put his hand on my back as I lay on my stomach.
I groaned, "What?"
"Oh my god," He sighed and sat on the bed beside me, taking a few breaths, "Ainsley came in and said mummy wasn't waking up."
"Mummy's awake; she's just not getting up." I said as I lifted a pillow from beneath me and put it over my head and ears. His hand was still in the small of my back. As he stood up, it moved down slowly and softly before he was upright. The touch sent shivers down my spine. He took Ainsley's hand and walked out and I was left lying there, trying to feel that touch again.
Sarah came in after a short while. She pulled the pillow away from my head and hit me with it, "Get up."
"Why?" I asked, burying my head in the pillow beneath me.
"Because it's late morning and you need to get up sometime," She said. I rolled over and ignored her. She clicked her tongue quietly, "If you get up, I'll tell you about last night and how it went and how I got lucky…"
I jumped up quicker than I ever had, "Let me have a very fast shower and get changed. Then you can tell JJ, Garcia and I." I said as I walked to the bathroom.
"Good morning to you to!" She called after I closed the door. I had the fastest shower in my existence and got changed very quickly before walking downstairs, excited to hear everything. She was sitting in the living room with the others and talking to Ainsley.
"I just remembered that I don't like you right now…" I said to her once I walked in, remembering last night when she told them about my financial difficulties before leaving.
"But I helped, didn't I?"
"No," I shook my head, "You made everything worse."
"I did not." She rolled her eyes.
"Really? Because Morgan and I aren't talking now. I argued with him and JJ and I almost argued with Hotch."
"…She said something about it too." She pointed to Ainsley. Obviously someone had told her about the happenings after she left.
"Yeah, she's four, Sarah…"
"Doesn't matter anymore, they know now. I lied to you upstairs by the way, it didn't happen."
"What?" My shoulders slumped and my lips parted in disappointment.
"It was the only way you were going to get up." She shrugged her shoulders.
"I hate you. I quite literally hate you," Even I noticed the accent in my voice then, "Does anyone else find my accent annoying? Because I can hardly hear it and I do."
"I like it." JJ smiled.
"You sound so posh, it's great." Garcia agreed.
"I need coffee." I said as I walked through.
"Decaf only!" Rossi called as I walked through.
"You're not my real father!" I called back and smiled, amusing myself. After a few seconds, he came in and took the pot from my hand.
"No." He put it back and picked up the one beside it. He poured it in the cup and gave the cup to me.
"I hate you, too." I said as I took it.
"Well, you wouldn't want to be drinking too much caffeine after your little scotch stunt last night." He said as he guided me back to the living room.
"Whatever are you talking about?" I smirked.
"What scotch stunt?" Sarah asked, "You drank alcohol?"
"Only one and half glasses." I brushed her off as I sat down.
"So to get back at me, you're trying to kill the child?" Morgan asked.
"It was a tiny bit of alcohol."
"Yeah, they all know about your blood pressure and the increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth…"
"Oh, you're on a roll." I shook my head at her.
"I'm a terrible person, I know," She rolled her eyes, "But hey, they know now."
"Don't you have rules on what you can and can't consume and stuff like that?" JJ asked me.
"It's not serious, it's just minor. I just have to see a doctor if I have any problems." I shrugged my shoulders.
"That reminds me, you're due for the 12 week check-up thing." Sarah remembered.
I picked up my phone and unlocked it. I found the calendar and looked at the dates, "Shit."
"I'll call the hospital now because I'm bored." She said as she stood up with her cell phone and walked out of the room. I checked my bank online and I definitely would not be able to afford this within the next few weeks. I locked my phone and dropped it before sitting forwards and dropping my head into my hands.
"Are you okay, mummy?" Ainsley asked as she walked over to me. I sat up and picked her up, hugging her to me. I kissed the side of her head and let her down after a short while.
"Sarah!" She put her head around the corner with her phone to her ear and raised her eyebrows to ask me what I wanted. "Don't book it." I shook my head.
She gave me a confused look and disappeared back into the dining room. After a few minutes, she came back in, "It's today at 4." She nodded.
"I told you not to book it!"
"It has to be done."
I decided against arguing; I'd work something out. "Thank you for booking it." I sighed.
She smiled, "No problem." She looked at Morgan, "Cancel your plans; you're going with her."
"…Why?"
"Morgan, do you know what happens at a 12 week scan?" JJ asked him.
"I've never been pregnant before," He raised his eyebrows, "And I clearly wasn't around when Ainsley was born."
"The 12 weeks scan is the first ultrasound and you see the baby for the first time," JJ explained, "And they do a nuchal translucency scan and blood tests to check for Down syndrome."
"Personally, I think it's nothing important but every other person in the world seems to think it is." I said.
"But it's when you first see it."
"JJ, you can't even make out what is the baby and what isn't. You don't know which end is its head…"
"The doctor knows and tells you, though."
"No, the doctor guesses and tries to make it sound like they know what they're seeing."
"Well everyone else in the world apart from you thinks it's important, like you said. So let Morgan go with you."
"I didn't say no, I just said it's not important."
"You don't think it's important to know whether your baby has Down syndrome or not?" Garcia asked.
"That's a separate scan and I'd be having it either way so maybe I want to keep it a surprise. Maybe I'll keep the gender a surprise too when that scan comes."
"Please don't." She shook her head.
"I'll know the gender, I don't know if I'll tell you or not."
"You will." Rossi nodded.
"Well, I have something to do before the appointment so I'm going out." I grabbed my phone from beside me and stood up.
"What do you have to do so urgently?" Hotch asked.
"You're all very curious these days."
"Emily…" Rossi said.
"Nothing that concerns any of you." I shook my head.
"Do you want to borrow my car? Cabs are kind of expensive into town from here…"
"…Are you sure?"
He nodded, "Gas tanks full."
"Thanks." I grabbed his keys from the table in the corner.
"Mummy, can I come?" Ainsley asked.
"No honey, I don't have a baby seat for you," I kissed her forehead, "I'll be back."
"Don't you dare skip or even be late to that appointment!" Sarah called as I walked into the foyer and towards the door. I heard footsteps follow me and I knew it was Morgan. He walked out behind me and I turned around on the porch.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Coming with you because god knows you'll be out longer than you're intending and we don't need to take two cars to the hospital," He said as he walked down the stairs and took the keys, "I'm driving."
"Morgan…" I followed him to the car.
"If it doesn't concern me, then it means it's not serious. If it's not serious, then it doesn't matter if I know. If it is serious and you're lying, then I should know anyway. Get in."
"Where are we going?" He asked as he drove down the long driveway.
"…The bank."
"Please stay in the car?" I asked him for the third time.
"You're hiding this from me." He shook his head and locked the car.
"Morgan—"
"We're having our second child together, Emily. There shouldn't be secrets."
"It's not secret, it's just personal."
"A personal loan, by any chance?"
I sighed and looked down, "Well do you want me to feed our daughter or not?"
"Well you only seem to be feeding one lately." He said.
"Look, Mark took everything. Even if I sell everything in London, I won't receive much because I don't own much. He blew all my money on gambling, drugs and alcohol. He took expensive items that I bought when I was doing really well and could afford them and he sold them for money and he blew that too. I have a very limited amount right now because I'm jobless and I'm using that to pay Sarah and care for Ainsley. I don't have any other option; I can't afford the appointment today so I'm here." I turned to walk in but he grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back.
"No, Emily."
"What do you want me to do here?" There were unwelcome tears in my eyes.
"Don't get a loan; it'll just be another thing you need to pay back that'll cause you so much more stress than you already have. Let me pay for this appointment and the ones after. I'll pay Sarah and I'll pay for everything Ainsley needs."
"No," I shook my head, "This all builds up and it costs a fortune."
"Look, I'm doing pretty well in the financial sense. I've taken old, run down homes and rebuilt them back up and sold them for more than I paid on the materials to fix them. I'm doing better than I appear to be. I'm no Rossi, but I've got more than the others on the team."
I shook my head as a tear escaped my eye and I looked away so he wouldn't see it as I wiped it quickly. He put his hand on my cheek and made me look at him. "Emily, you're not on your own this time around. Let me be the father I'm supposed to be and let me help you."
I gave in and I felt so guilty doing it, "Just this appointment."
"Okay," He nodded, "And the ones afterwards…and Sarah and Ainsley."
"No."
"Yes, princess." He said more forcefully but used my old pet name to make it sound less enforced. I looked into his eyes as mine dripped of tears. He wiped the tears away and unlocked the car, telling me to get in. I got in and he sat behind the wheel but he didn't start the car. "Tell me."
"What?"
"It isn't my insistence that has you crying so much, so tell me what it is."
I looked down and put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from sobbing, "It's just really hard…I never imagined before all of this that I'd ever have children. And when I thought about it, I never expected to be a single mother if I did end up having them. And I certainly never imagined that I'd be in a position that prevented me from providing them with everything they need and want."
"But you're not alone here, Emily."
"Not right now, but I was with Ainsley and I have been for the past four years and it sucks because I have no one to blame but myself. If I had of just told you and the team, I wouldn't have felt so alone and now here you are, being so easy on me and you're being kind and you haven't yelled at me about it since I told you but you should be. You should be yelling because I was pregnant with your child and then kept it from you for four fucking years! You should be furious with me; the whole team should be but you're all so supportive and I haven't experienced this in…well…four years and it seems new again. I'm so used to being alone and screamed at every day and left in the dark with no one to turn to. Then Sarah came and I found a friend, but I pulled her into the broken mess of my life and she was hit a few times trying to protect me and it was all shit; then we finally left for good and we came here and I'm scared. Mark mightn't be a cop or a murderer but he's bad and he's followed us before and even if I recover from everything he's caused on us, I'll still always be left with the fear that he'll come back. If it happens to be after six months and he sees this one alive, he might actually snap and either kill me, the baby, Sarah, Ainsley or you."
"Okay, stop. Breathe," Morgan held my hand comfortingly. "If he comes looking for you, then the team and I will be in his way and he won't get to you. Everything else is in your head, Em. I'm not angry with you because I understand how hard it is for you and how scared you were. You hadn't ever been a mother before; you never knew what to do or how to handle any situation. Sarah came into your life voluntarily and she took what she was capable of dealing with. She's fine, Emily. The team isn't angry because they understand the same way as me but they also have no right to be. You had no obligation to tell them anything."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Being this kind and supportive after everything I did to you. Everything I didn't tell you about, every call I ignored, every text I never replied to. I never called you after the first time we slept together and then I didn't call you after the second."
"I'm a big boy; I'll survive."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything I've done and I'm sorry about this," I motioned between us, "I'm just really stressed right now, is all." I pulled my hand from his and wiped the tears on my cheeks.
"Don't be sorry," He shook his head, "Let's go eat something, my treat."
He drove to a nice restaurant and we ate and he distracted me and made me laugh a lot. I appreciated it a lot and I'd be sure to tell him that when I calmed down.