"Emily, I am proud of you, do you know that? I've always been proud of you."
Under the intensity of her mother's gaze, Emily feels small and lost for words. She thinks probably her mother believes what she's saying right now. And she knows there's no value in challenging it – there's too much time and experience stretching between the Emily who needed her mother's support and approval and the one standing in front of her now, straight-backed in white silk. She looks across the dancefloor and just catches Morgan spinning Garcia under his arm and Hotch cutting in and whisking her away, Garcia giggling delightedly and Morgan tracking a fake tear down his cheek with his fingertip. She feels the smile on her face, the warmth in her chest, because these are the people who matter now, then her mother's hand taps above her elbow.
"And your father would be very proud of you."
That, she can believe, maybe because her father is more mythical being than person at this point. "Thank you," she says eventually. Then, because she has to say something else and also because it's true, she adds, "I'm glad you're here."
"Of course I'm here," her mother replies, and pulls her by the shoulders into a hug that feels as foreign as their hugs always have. But there is genuine warmth in it, like there always has been. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Later, she hovers on the edge of the dancefloor, stubbornly refusing to work the room, and Hotch finds her, fingers ghosting down her arm as he kisses her. "Everything okay with the ambassador?"
"Mm," Emily replies vaguely, tearing her eyes away from how cute he is in a bow tie to look over his shoulder, at where her mother is working the room like a pro. "She says she's proud of me."
"I'm sure she is proud of you," he says, brushing a stray strand of hair off her forehead, bringing her eyes back to his. His touch is familiar and grounding, and god she loves him.
"She doesn't know me," she replies, and she steps into him, fits herself against his chest and sighs. "That was true when I was a kid, but it's more true now. She doesn't know what I've done that's worth being proud of."
"Maybe it's not exactly what you've done that's important. She can see who you've become." He pauses, kisses her temple and concedes, "Mostly."