"Come on, Emily," Elizabeth Prentiss said in exasperation. "The least you can do is help me plan your wedding."

"If I had my way mother, I would've elope and be done with it," Emily said firmly. "I'm letting you plan it to get you out of my hair and I'm sorry if that's blunt, but it's the truth."

"And what have I done to earn your animosity?" Elizabeth asked.

"What haven't you done mother?" Emily asked with a cooly raised eyebrow, a look that Elizabeth recognized, as it was one she'd often used on her daughter growing up. "You tried to force me to go into your profession, which would've driven me insane in no time, I have neither the patience or the right attitude for that type of thing. I'd probably end up ruining things just by losing my temper with the idiots I would have to deal with.

"Also, you chastised me over every little mistake acting as if the world was going to come to an end, because I wasn't perfect, when I was growing up, and you didn't spend any time with me or my brothers and left us in the care of the nanny and the housekeeper. Yes, I realize you had a business to run, but other people that are busy manage to spend time with their families, because they actually love them. You spent absolutely as little time with me and my brothers that you could get away with.

"Finally, the big one, you trying to force me to marry someone I likely wouldn't have been able to stand. I hate politics, with reason to do so and I doubt that I would've had anything in common with my spouse, anymore then a pig loves a chicken. I likely would've divorced him in a very short amount of time or killed myself or perhaps my spouse, just to get out of it, though I would hate for any children to grow up with you, since you would likely treat them the same as you did your own children.

"I have no trust whatsoever that you would've chosen someone that was suitable for me that I could have respected at least, even if I didn't love him. I can just imagine us living in the same house, but never truly connecting. He would do what he had to do and I'd do my own thing. I'd be very surprised if we ever had any children at all. That's kind of arrangement only leads to cheating and discontent, if not outright unhappiness.

"You know absolutely nothing about me, but then, you haven't bothered to learn. That you couldn't even see that there was no way I would ever accept being put in an arranged marriage or used as some kind of bargaining tool, ought to tell you that you don't know your own children, particularly your daughter. I'd rather live the rest of my life alone and have no children than be miserable, as at least I would be free."

Elizabeth stared at her daughter and realized that everything Emily said was true. She hadn't taken her daughter's feelings into consideration, just going down the same well trodden path that her parents had. She had known deep down that Emily would never agree to an arranged marriage and yet, she had still tried to force it on her only daughter. Her daughter was way too independent to ever accept being tied to someone that her mother had chosen for her, especially when that same mother had ignored every single sign, that her daughter was nothing like herself. She had made sure of that, by basically, not spending anytime with any of her children when they were growing up.

She remembered how she had forced a young Emily to go to the various parties for various business associates and how she had always stood in a corner like a wallflower. It had nothing to do with shyness, but with the fact that she hated such parties. Emily had just tried to stay out of the way. She hadn't enjoyed to single one of them, except perhaps for the food, which was usually excellent. Her sons had at least tried to enjoy themselves and she was sure the oldest of them, Theo had, but as for the rest of her children they were like their father, something she had laminated a lot over the years.

She knew that children grew their own way despite family pressure a lot of times and all her children had been strong enough to do that against her wishes.

She had hired a tutor to teach her children how to behave in society and social graces, so she really hadn't paid that much attention to them. She likely never would've gotten married, much less had four kids if not for the fact that her husband Alan Prentiss wanted his portion of the family inheritance. She might have had one, but that was all.

She knew she could be domineering and in fact that was her main personality. She had tried multiple times over the years, to get her daughter in particular, to do what she wanted and Emily had more often than not argued with her, absolutely refusing to back down. The two had often butted heads until Emily had gone to college.

They were just too similar in personality Elizabeth finally realized that Emily had inherited her stubbornness and her domineering attitude, though she was more subtle than her own mother most of the time, which she got from her father.

"Aaron wouldn't mind eloping and if you turn this into a three ring circus I might just convince him to do that. Try to keep the politicians to a minimum, the ones that just want to cozy up to me, because I'm your daughter, not caring about whether I want to talk to them or not and don't care if I am interested in what they have to say. I have absolutely no interest in politics or politicians that just want to push their own agenda, something you made sure of by forcing me to go to all those parties growing up, instead of just leaving me at home. I'll try to be polite if one of them corners me, but I'm promising nothing. You'll be lucky if I don't punch one of them in the nose and I don't give a damn if I get blood on my wedding dress. Wedding days, are supposed to be happy occasions, but a lot of people don't understand that and think it's a venue to air whatever they want to, whether that's their own agenda or just to try to push their particular candidate for governor or senator or even for president, when elections come up."

Elizabeth watched how her daughter's eyes sparkled angrily, as she was ranting and she couldn't really blame Emily for all she said. Her daughter was usually polite around her, even if it was clear she'd rather be elsewhere, but apparently, she'd had enough of her interference. Emily was also right that weddings were supposed to be happy occasions, especially if they were love matches and it was as plain as daylight that Emily loved Aaron and that he loved her.

"You can't seem to stay out of my life and when I have children you will be lucky if I allow you anywhere near them," Emily finished ranting at her mother. "I'm tired mother, I'm tired of you interfering in every decision I make, trying to correct what you see as an error. One thing you forgot is that humans have to make errors in order to learn from their mistakes. This is something that Dave, Aaron's friend, reminded me of just recently. Whether you think I made a mistake or not it's not your business unless I ask for your help. You'll be lucky if Aaron and I don't move somewhere far away, Hawaii or somewhere else exotic. I wouldn't be surprised if Theo, Ed, Ray, haven't told you to butt out as well."

Emily was well on her way to being immortal, because it wasn't like she and Aaron had waited to have sex until after the actual wedding. It wasn't like she or Aaron had been virgins before they had met so why bother to wait to fulfill their mutual desire.

It wouldn't be long now before she actually was immortal according to Dave, because apparently having sex might be slower, but it was certainly more pleasant than drinking blood. As much as they made love the process was taking place faster.

"I was only trying to help," Elizabeth said in a much quieter voice.

"You don't help unless I ask," Emily said firmly. "You wanted me to turn now in a specific way more like you, than my father. Father stayed away from home as much as possible just to avoid you I'm sure, and left his children in your clutches, though luckily, you didn't spend much time with us. I would hate to think how any of us would've turned out if only you had given us a smidgen of your time, instead of leaving the servants to care for us. The nanny was more of a mother to me and my brothers then you were, the woman who gave birth to me.

"You wanted me to be passive with no will of my own, you wanted me just to accept you running my life. You've never cared about my happiness or my brothers happiness. You wanted me to be as miserable as you are. I know very well you weren't happy in your marriage to dad, but then, it was arranged, so what did you really expect? Contentment, happiness, joyfulness?

"Did it ever occur to you that's one reason I refused to go into an arranged marriage? I saw how you and dad interacted enough times to know that I never wanted that for myself, you were both miserable until dad died about 10 years ago. You didn't exactly set a good example for any of your children. I don't know why you just didn't divorce, at least you both would've been happier."

Elizabeth could not truthfully deny her daughter's accusations. She hadn't paid attention to how unhappy her daughter or sons were, how miserable. She had just issued orders and expected them to be obeyed without question. Emily had gone along with that only because she knew she had to, but once she had gone to college she had never again obeyed an order unless she had wanted to. She hadn't cared how miserable her children were not at the time. She had never considered their feelings, just like her own father had never considered hers or her sister's.

"Divorce wasn't done back in my day," Elizabeth said quietly, seeming introspective.

"Well, it is in mine, and boy, am I glad of it. If I had actually agreed to that arranged marriage I would have divorced the man you arranged as my husband within five years I'm sure. While I doubt very much I would have even liked who you set me up with I love Aaron so much. He is gentle and kind. We share a lot of the same interests and I'm looking forward to starting a family after our wedding."

"I'm glad you met him," Elizabeth admitted. "He's a good match for you I have to admit. Not only does he love you, he has plenty of money of his own so he can't be called a gold digger. I had begun to doubt that you would never marry."

"So had I, but as I told you earlier I'd rather never get married then be miserable," Emily said with a stubborn glint in her eyes.

"I'll try to keep the politicians to a minimum," Elizabeth promised finally. "The only problem is that while I'm just a businesswoman I'm a wealthy one, and a lot of politicians will be insulted if they aren't invited to my daughter's wedding, since I've contributed to their campaign funds a lot over the years. It doesn't help that your father was involved in political circles until his death. You're right, they won't necessarily care that it's your wedding, a supposedly happy occasion, and no time to bring up business."

"Well then, warn the politicians that if they try to corner me that I won't put up with it, as it's supposed be a happy occasion after all. They and you can talk politics all you like, just so long as you leave me and Aaron out of it. Aaron has no more use for politics then I do, which is one of the reasons I love him so much. If he had a political bone in his body I probably never wouldn't've agreed to marry him, that's how much I hate politics. He'll never be a senator or a governor and has absolutely no ambition in that direction, thank you god."

Emily didn't tell her mother the real reason that was of course, as Elizabeth Prentiss was too grounded in reality to believe in immortality, even if given a demonstration.

The only reason she had believed it was that she was reincarnated from Aaron long dead wife Berenice and she had started to get her memories back once she had met Aaron again. At least in this century she could be herself and not be so disregarded, though some men still disregarded a female opinion, no matter how intelligent. Still, things were much better in this time, then they had been when she had been Berenice.

"I will," Elizabeth promised.

"Good, you do that. Warn them they're going to be punched in the mouth or the nose if they don't leave me alone. Tell them, I have a violent temper for people who annoy me and politicians definitely fall into that category," Emily said firmly. "This is one reason I never come home anymore. I can't argue with you if I'm not here for you to set me off."

"I know that now," Elizabeth said, feeling extremely subsided. "I've made a lot of errors when it comes to my children. I know I didn't give you the attention or the love you deserved and left you in the care of the servants and the nanny. I wouldn't be surprised if your brothers resent me just as much as you apparently do."

"If you tried to arrange marriages for them like you did me I wouldn't be surprised if they told you no," Emily said bluntly. "This isn't centuries ago where such things were common and I don't know why families do it anymore. Its not like we're poor mother. We should have a right to choose our spouse without one of our parents doing it for us, especially since this isn't the past where a daughter had to obey her father or be thrown out. Women have rights now and I had every right to refuse an arranged marriage, unlike hundreds of years ago.

"I'm surprised more women didn't kill themselves back in the past with the way they were treated as if they were stupid and only good for keeping house or producing children. I suppose they were used to their lot, trained from birth to do nothing useful with their lives, except produce children and doing the cooking, cleaning, basically, being a servant to a husband, who likely cared nothing for them and probably cheated on them within two or three years.

"Of course, in high class families they weren't expected to cook and clean, but the poor sure were. I couldn't live like that, as I'd go insane. Being thought of as only good enough to provide a husband with children and to direct the servants, wasn't much of a life for the woman back then. Thank God, I was born in modern times, as women had so few rights and choices centuries ago. Hell, we couldn't even vote until 1920."

Elizabeth listened to her daughter's speech in astonishment, as she have no idea that Emily had even thought about such things. On the other hand, she didn't really know her daughter at all, which was her own fault, as she hadn't really tried too and she knew it. If there was one thing she'd forgotten about children was that each one was an individual and not an exact copy of the mother or the father, so it was no wonder that Emily clearly resented her for her actions towards her over the years, as this was the 21st century after all, not hundreds of years ago. In trying to do what she thought was right, she hadn't considered what her daughter had wanted, hadn't bothered to ask for her opinion and basically, done what her father had done to her, tried to arrange her life so that it suited her and not her daughter.

"I suppose it's a way to ensure the family name lives on," Elizabeth sighed. "That's probably the main reason actually."

"Since we have numerous cousins that's not really necessary anymore," Emily pointed out. "Arranged marriages are archaic and need to be abolished entirely. Any children Aaron and I have will be allowed to choose their own spouses or never get married at all if they don't care to," Emily added in an implacable tone, which was a tone Elizabeth was very familiar with, since it was one she had used a lot over the years. As far as Emily was concerned her opinion on this particular subject was set in stone. "I will never do what your father did to you or your grandfather did to his children. It's a good thing that both are dead and were before I was born or I'd give them my opinion of their parenting skills and they wouldn't like what I had to say."

"I wish I had done the same back then, but women had far fewer options when I was born then they do today. Also, I had been trained from birth to obey my father. It was only after I married that I felt like I could be myself. I knew that father probably have beaten me black and blue if I had dared disobeyed him," Elizabeth said pensively.

"I'm certainly glad now I never met him," Emily said fervently. "We would've been at loggerheads constantly whenever I saw him. He probably beat his wife if she didn't obey him like some kind of robot. It's clear to me he had no respect for females as anything other than objects."

Emily actually felt some sympathy for her mother now, as some of her attitude when she had been growing up was now explained. Parents had a great impact on their children, and some came out more timid from that kind attitude while some came out tougher. Apparently, the same thing had happened to her grandfather's mother, but only after her father had died. Emily hoped the bastard burned in hell, and was absurdly glad that Aaron or Dave for that matter were nothing like that.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~