The next morning Jamie was up first and once he was out of the shower and dressed in his uniform, he went to make breakfast and Eddie was in the shower. She wasn't going anywhere just yet, but she wanted to be able to eat breakfast with Jamie and see him off to work.
"Morning, Babe." She says as she walks up to him in the kitchen.
"Morning." He replies pausing to kiss her. He pours her a cup of coffee and hands it to her. She adds sugar and milk before sipping it.
"Thank you, Baby."
"Are you still going to 1PP today?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm gonna take Emily so she can learn how to get there, and I'll leave her with Frank in his office while I go take care of the paperwork. He already agreed that she could sit with him."
"That'll be good for her, I'll be at the precinct most of the day doing paperwork if you want to text me when you're done and we can go get lunch somewhere." He replied as he set out food for the three of them and went to let Emily know breakfast was ready.
Emily got up and put the boot back on her foot before joining them at the table. They said grace and ate in silence. When it was time for Jamie to leave both Emily and Eddie sent him off with a hug. Emily went to get into the shower and when she got out and dressed, Eddie helped her with her hair again.
By the time she was ready, it was time for them to leave so that they could get across town to 1PP. When they walked in they signed in at the desk and Eddie told the Sergeant at the desk that Emily was she and Jamie's foster daughter and soon would be adopted he agreed to make sure Emily would be taken care of every time she walked through the doors.
With visitor's badges on they headed over to the elevator and went up to the fourteenth floor. When they got off Eddie greeted Baker and introduced her to Emily.
"Hey, Baker."
"Hey, Eddie, how's it going?"
"Really good, this is Emily, Jamie and I's foster daughter, we're just waiting on a family court date so we can officially adopt her."
"That's awesome, I think he mentioned something about the two of you doing that," she turned to Emily, "Hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm Abigail Baker, I work directly for the Commissioner."
"It's nice to meet you, too." Emily smiles shyly.
"I'm sure you heard about the accident," Eddie started, "I'm going to be out of work for a while until she's healed up quite a bit, so I have a meeting downstairs. Frank said she could sit with him while I do that, can we go in?" Baker nodded. She'd definitely heard about the accident.
"Of course, he told me to expect you this morning." She replied and opened the door. Frank looked up from his paperwork and smiled.
"Hey, Grandpa." Emily smiled and skipped over to him and hugged him. Baker shut the door behind them and went back to work.
"Hey, Baby Doll." He replied and hugged her back for doing the same with Eddie.
"Hey, Frank, I shouldn't be too long, just some paperwork, but call me if you two need me," Eddie replied, warily. Emily hadn't been left alone with any of them except for Jamie or Eddie and Eddie was a little stressed about how this was going to go.
"I will, but we should be okay." He reassured her. She nodded and turned to Emily.
"Are you okay if I go now?" Emily nodded.
"I'll be okay. We'll call if we need to, Mom." Eddie nodded and left the two to their own devices. As soon as the door shut behind her she smiled bigger than she ever had.
"What's that about?" Baker asked as she looked up.
"She called me 'Mom' for the first time." Eddie choked out.
"That'll do it. I remember the first both of my boys said it, it's exhilarating." Eddie nodded and walked back toward the elevator and rode down to the floor where HR was located. She walked into the outer office and to the office, she had been told to report to when she called and knocked on the door.
"Come in." She opened the door and walked in.
"Hi, Officer Janko?" The woman asked.
"Yes, hi."
"My name is Ramona Fowler. Please, have a seat." She replied as she gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. Eddie complied and waited for her to continue.
"You here to fill out extended leave paperwork, correct?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Ramona began as she placed a small packet of papers in front of her, "I just need you to fill these out, and may I ask you the reason for this extended leave?"
"No problem," Eddie replied and took the proffered pen and began to write as she explained the situation, "My foster daughter was recently hit by a drunk driver and has quite the recovery ahead of her, She ended up needing both a craniotomy and open chest surgery to repair a punctured lung, she has a broken ankle, and several broken ribs, not to mention the emotional and mental repercussions. My husband and I just feel more comfortable having me home with her while she recovers."
"I'm sorry that has happened, may I ask where she is now?"
"With my father-in-law, just while I'm here signing the paperwork."
"And he couldn't stay with her while you and your husband are at work?" Ramona asked tersely and Eddie put the pen down.
"No. He's an awfully busy man, given he is the Police Commissioner." Eddie replied calmly. Ramona tried not to let the shock show but failed miserably.
"And before you ask, my husband is in a command position, that's why I am the one that has to stay with her," Eddie added before resuming her paperwork silently. Ramona thought it best to not say anything else and waited patiently for Eddie to finish. Eddie put the pen down again after another ten minutes, rose from her chair, grabbed her purse, bid Ramona goodbye, and left before she could respond.
Ramona sat back in her chair and huffed a sigh of relief. She took the paperwork and entered the necessary information into the computer system.
Meanwhile, in Frank's office, Emily was filling him in on her plans to find a PTSD support group for teens and that Eddie and Jamie were already doing research for that. She also told him that she was thinking about testifying against her father but wanted to talk to the ADA on the case before she made a final decision.
Frank couldn't help but find himself impressed by the maturity of the thirteen-year-old in front of him. Emily had faced a lot of adversity and trauma that forced her to grow up far too soon, but he also saw a child-like fear as she spoke about possibly testifying, and he knew that this was a glimpse into her soul. He swore to himself that from this moment on he would do everything in his power to make rid her eyes of that fear.
"Sweetheart, can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"I am so proud of you for surviving and thriving despite everything that has happened to you. I also want you to know that you don't have to just keep surviving anymore, promise me that you will re-learn how to be a kid and have fun, okay? You deserve every bit of the break that you are going to get, I don't mean stop trying to heal from everything by any means, just remember, it's okay to let your guard down and have fun." He says and she swears she can see tears forming in his eyes, and feels her own eyes fill.
"I can do that," She replies her voice trembling, "I promise." He nodded and opened his arms and she fell into them just as Eddie walked back in. She gave them their space, knowing this was an important moment between them. When they broke apart, Emily smiled up at her and wiped the last of her tears. Frank looked back and smiled when he noticed Eddie.
"Everything all sorted?" He asked and Eddie nodded.
"Yeah, although, one Ramona Fowler downstairs may or may not be a little frightened of me. But that's a story for another time." Eddie grinned. Frank chuckled.
"I know it's still a little early but do the two of you have anything planned for lunch?" Frank asked.
"We're gonna text Jamie and meet him somewhere. You can come with us if you want, Emily needs some more clothes so I was thinking we could go shopping for a while and text Jamie when it was closer to one-ish."
"Alright, well let me know, and I'll meet you all there." Eddie nodded.
"I will, Em, you ready?" Emily nodded.
"See you in a little while, Grandpa," Emily said as she hugged Frank once more before following Eddie out of the office.
They headed downstairs and turned in their visitor's badges at the desk before heading out to go shopping. Eddie and Emily found a lot of stuff that Emily really liked and the style of it all made her wonder how long it had been since she'd gone clothes shopping, if ever. There was nothing remotely similar to the clothes she brought with her. But she kept her mouth shut because the smile on her daughter's face told her that she was happy to have clothes she liked, and that was worth every penny.
Emily smiled as she grabbed a few more items to try on before they checked out and texted the others to meet for lunch. She had never gotten to pick her clothes before. She went into the dressing room and made sure they fit correctly before putting them in the cart.
"You ready to check out?" Eddie asked and Emily nodded.
"Thank you for this, Mom, I've never actually picked out my clothes before," Emily said softly.
"I'm not going to lie and say I'm surprised, I'm just glad you're with us now, and that we can provide this for you, Em, because you deserve to be loved, and you deserve to feel comfortable in the clothes you wear," Eddie replied just as softly. Emily nodded and not wanting to show too much emotion in public, changed the subject.
"Can I go ahead and text Dad and Grandpa and let them know we're almost done? So that we can figure out where we're going?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Eddie replied as she placed the clothes on the counter. She greeted the cashier and chatted with her as she scanned everything. Eddie swiped her card and paid for the clothes before grabbing the bags while Emily texted back and forth with Jamie and Frank.
As they walked back to Eddie's car, Emily informs her they decided on a diner that she and Jamie used to frequent when they were on their meal break when they were still at the 12th. Eddie smiled and nodded. They put everything into the car and Eddie drove toward the diner and they met Jamie outside while waiting for Frank to show up with his detail.
Once they were seated in the diner, lunch went by fairly quickly. Eddie and Jamie took turns sharing stories from when they would come in during their shifts, Frank and Emily enjoyed it as much as they'd enjoyed reminiscing. Soon, it was time for them to part ways. Jamie and Frank both went their separate ways back to work, Eddie and Emily followed Jamie so that Eddie could clean out her locker at the precinct since she wasn't going to be there for a while.
They checked in with the Desk Sergeant and Emily sat with Jamie while Eddie grabbed her stuff and met them at Jamie's desk so that she could collect Emily and head back home, stopping only to sign back out at the desk.