"Hey sweet girl," Emily saw Amelia staring off into space sitting on the edge of her bed and sat down next to her, "Baby, talk to me, what's going on in that beautiful brain?"
"Mommy," Amelia said softly, wrapping her arms around her mother as the tears formed. Emily instantly scooped the little girl up into her lap.
"Shh, shh, shh, it's okay baby. Mommy's got you, mommy's here," Emily held her tight, rocking her and rubbing her back. "What's wrong baby?"
"I'm scared. I don't want to go."
"Oh my sweet girl, I know you're scared but you don't have anything to worry about. You loved school on Thursday and Friday, right?"
Emily had initially been very fed up with the parents of the little assholes who hurt their baby not being able to take the time off from work to take care of this until Monday—completely ridiculous. That being said, the kids weren't allowed back to school which meant Amelia had a great few days. She met two little girls who seemed to accept her and were very friendly.
Amelia nodded, "But mommy those mean kids are gonna to be so mad at me and they are gonna hurt me again. Please don't leave me there, mommy please," Amelia wrapped her arms around Emily's neck, tighter than ever before.
"I'm going to be right there, baby. Those kids won't even be there, just you, me and momma. Lily is staying with grandma Liz and grandpa is meeting us at school so he can keep you company. We are going to drop Oakley off at preschool and then go in together, okay? And if you are too upset after momma and I talk with Mark, I promise I'll take you home. Deal?"
"Deal, but mommy please don't let them hurt me."
"Nobody is going to hurt you, baby girl. Momma and I will always protect you."
"Emily, it's nice to see you. Thank you for clearing your schedule to be here," Mark said, clearly nervous. Knowing the Prentiss family could do a lot of damage to not only his name, but the schools as well, he was prepared to follow every one of their requests.
"Absolutely. This is my wife, Jennifer. My father will be staying with Amelia while we get this sorted out, but I brought Amelia in here in case you had any questions for her," Emily watched Mark gulp seeing her father and tried to hide her smile.
"Nice to meet you Jennifer, I wish it were under better circumstances."
"So do I," JJ replied sternly.
"Amelia, would it be okay if I talk to you for a minute? You mommies can come too," Mark said, seeing the terror in the little girl's eyes.
"It's okay, baby. Momma and I will be there with you," Emily saw the tears well in her eyes and scooped her up. "I've got you baby. Mark already knows what happened, okay?" At this, Amelia nodded against Emily's shoulder.
"Amelia, I want to begin by saying how sorry I am that this happened to you in the first place. I'm going to ask you some questions about what happened—"
The little girl now sitting in Emily's arms, face buried in her shoulder and not meeting Mark's eyes only heard the last two words, "They were mean to me because," JJ was going to stop her daughter, not wanting her to relive anything, but Emily shook her head. "They said I'm not allowed to have two moms because that means I'll go to—"
Amelia looked up at Emily who nodded, "I'll go to Hell too. And they said my sisters shouldn't be so young because if my mommies loved me, they woulda had us all together because playing dolls with them is for babies. One boy pushed me into the lockers twice, and another one dropped big books on my foot and it really hurt but I was too afraid I would be in trouble if I said something."
Emily's heart was breaking and JJ was furious. Emily had told her some of what happened but left a lot out knowing she would have lost her mind.
"Amelia, thank you for telling me. Nobody should ever be treated that way and I promise you, nothing will happen ever again. We have a zero-tolerance for bullying, which means it isn't allowed here. I appreciate you sharing what happened, I know it can't be easy. Would it be okay if I talk to your mommies for a little bit?" Mark asked.
"Baby, let's go see grandpa. He told me he brought you a surprise, should we go see what it is?" Emily was hoping the promise of a surprise would help, but it didn't. She stood up and brought her out of the office to go find her dad soothing the little girl who was still crying in her arms.
After her wife and daughter were out of the office, JJ scowled at Mark and he knew what was about to happen. "Listen Mark, I realize you need to do what's best for your school, but I need to do what's best for my daughter. I really don't care what any of them might have on you, their kids aren't coming back here. End of story."
Too stunned to speak, Mark nodded and was very grateful when Emily came back into the office. "The parents will be here any—oh, here they are. Thank you all for coming in today, let's head into the conference room so we can all take a seat."
The four sets of parents saw Emily handing off Amelia to Gerald and each made a face thinking the same thing this little thing is the one who threw out allegations against my kid? She can't be more than 7 years old.
They were all seated and Emily had her hand on JJ's thigh trying to keep her calm knowing she was seconds away from exploding. "I'm aware some of you know each other," surprise, surprise JJ thought as Mark spoke. Bullies friends with bullies. "however, I'd like to make introductions. The Prentiss', Stewarts', Addisons', Arnolds' and Parkers'." Mark said, gesturing to each couple.
"I realize you all have a brief understanding as to why we're here, but I'd like to make everything—" Mark continued.
Mr. Stewart interrupted, "My son Will has absolutely nothing to do with this. He has missed three days of school and we are only on the fourth day. Playing video games is doing nothing but harm him—"
"Harm him? You're joking," JJ laughed dryly, ignoring her wife squeezing her thigh to keep her quiet, "You are the parent! Take away the stupid games, teach him someth—"
"We wouldn't have to worry about video games if he was at school," Mrs. Stewart continued then turned her attention back to Mark, "William will be attending school tomorrow."
"So will Casey, this is unacceptable. My girl would never pick on anyone and if she did, they must deserve it!" Mr. Arnold exclaimed.
"All of this is a bunch of bull shit anyways, my son Jacob would never hurt anyone. This 'so claimed' book that fell onto your daughter's foot was obviously an accident." Mrs. Addison said.
"Nobody deserves to be bullied, especially for things they have no control over. Picking on our daughter for her size, what kind of messed up shit is that? If you drop a book by accident you don't laugh and do it again, you apologize! She has two mothers, so what? She's more taken care of than any of your children clearly because after everything that happened to her on the first day of school, the first thing she said to my wife was that she didn't want anything bad to happen to your children, the children who bullied her all freakin' day! I will—" JJ raised her voice, anger bubbling out of her.
"Jen," Emily said sternly, "Mark, please continue."
"Oh, you two know each other huh? First name basis—keeping it classy," Mrs. Arnold snorted. "It figures you know each other. Does your 'wife' know you're cheating on her with the headmaster of your daughter's school?"
"My sweet Olive knows what happens to the gays, we've taught our daughter well. Clearly this wife of yours needs a man," Mr. Parker said, unbothered by the previous statement.
"You do not want to go there." JJ said
Mrs. Parker laughed, "You're not even her mother! We saw that itty bitty girl on the way in here, she looks exactly like her," she said, pointing to Emily, "and nothing like you! It's obvious your wife gave birth, you're not her mother, face it!"
Seeing JJ starting to choke up Emily stood up and slapped her hands down on the conference room table, "You have NO right to talk about things you obviously know nothing about. Jennifer is just as much of Amelia's mother as I am. Now I'm going to say this one time and one time only, do not talk about my wife or my daughter ever again, or you will be sorry!"
Mr. Parker stood up too now, nobody will threaten my wife he thought. "Is that a threat?" he said weakly, wanting it to come out differently, but chickened out seeing Emily's glare.
"No, it's a promise," Emily said calmly. "Mark, please inform these parents of what you told Jennifer and I earlier."
Mark was in shock, he was not prepared for a blood bath—he composed himself and continued. "William, Jacob, Casey and Olive are all expelled from Brookwood; your deposit will not be refunded. Seeing as they only made it one day they will have nothing to clean out of their lockers. You are all expected to leave immediately."
"You can't be serious right now! You're taking the side of a bunch of dykes and their screwed up fucking kid? She isn't even old enough to be in the 4th grade, she's a pint size stupid brat!" Mr. Addison exclaimed.
"You have no proof of anything that happened, this is against the law! I'm calling our lawyer," Mrs. Arnold said.
JJ snapped out of her daze, "Your children terrorized our daughter all day, pushed her into lockers, dropped books on her feet which we have evidence of. Your 'precious' little girls harassed Amelia the entire day causing her to come home and cry in my wife's arms all night. She had nightmares about your children, kids don't have nightmares if nothing happened!"
"It must be something that's going on at home, clearly your child is sick, look who she is living with," Mrs. Stewart said.
Emily, who had finally sat down stood up again, "You've crossed the line. You had your chance, now you'll pay for it!"
"It's time you all left, won't want you escorted off the premises," JJ added.
"The Prentiss' are correct; I've tried to interject for the last forty-five minutes. I've given you chance after chance. If you do not leave on your own, you will be escorted off the property. I won't ask again."
None of the parents wanted to leave, however once they saw security they all stood up like the cowards they were. Mark, JJ and Emily were still in the conference room.
"An emergency order of protection will be sent to each parent and respective child by noon today. Do as you please regarding your school, but if they step foot in the building, they'll be removed for being too close to Amelia.
I will also have a security detail placed outside for the next month until I know none of them are returning. I'm sorry for raising my voice, Mark. I appreciate you standing your ground. Amelia will be returning tomorrow, we are excusing her for the day," Emily said, very calmly.
As Emily stood up with JJ, Mark spoke softly, "Emily, I'm so sorry."
Emily marched straight into the main office and took Amelia from Gerald, "Come on sweet girl, we're going to play hooky and celebrate, you me and momma."
"What's hooky?"
She smiled at her daughter, "It means you get to skip school and have a fun day with me and momma. What do you want to do baby? Ice cream for lunch? Kick the soccer ball around at the park? Go swimming? Shopping? To the toy store? Anything you want."
Amelia looked back but didn't see JJ or Gerald, "Mommy wait! Where's momma and grandpa? You forgot them."
Emily turned around and saw JJ talking to Gerald as they walked out of the school after them, "They're coming baby, see? What did grandpa bring you?"
Amelia turned around and saw them, "Oh. I thought you forgot them, mommy. Grandpa brought me a charm bracelet, but he couldn't put it on because he said his fingers are too big, can you help me?"
"A charm bracelet? Let me see it, sweet girl!"
"It has charms with all the letters of my name, mommy! It has a soccer ball and a dance shoe too!" Amelia said, showing Emily.
"You know what? I think that's the most beautiful bracelet I've ever seen! I'll put it on you then I need to go talk to your grandpa quickly. Momma is going to want you to show her too," Emily smiled, giving Amelia a kiss on the forehead.
"Pumpkin, what do you need? Your mother and I will do anything and everything for our little Amelia Mae.
"Thank you, daddy. I need a detail assigned to the school for the next month, orders filed and served today, and—oh gosh daddy," Emily collapsed in his arms, finally letting the tears fall.
"I know, pumpkin. I know. You make me so proud every single day, do you know that? You're the mother you never had and I'm so sorry I didn't fight more for you. You and Jennifer are the most incredible mothers who do everything in their power for your girls. I'm so honored to be your father."
"Daddy, I think you're supposed to get me to stop crying, not make me cry more."
"Oh, what has gotten into me!" Gerald said, causing Emily to laugh, "I love you pumpkin. The detail will be here tomorrow before the start of school, parents and children served by noon. Anything else you need, your mother and I will take care of it. We spoke earlier before I left the house, don't worry we'll pick up Oakley from school and keep both her and Lily for the day. Go take care of my grandbaby. I love you."
"I love you too, daddy. Thank you."
The next two weeks flew by. Both girls were doing well at school, Amelia became very close to her new friends and even invited them over to swim and for a sleepover. "Amelia sweetie, did you get all the snacks you wanted for tonight at the store with momma?"
"Yeah! We got so many cool snacks, it's gonna be so much fun! Momma said we're making our own pizzas. Do you think Parker and Ayla will like it?"
"I think they'll love it, baby. Oh, I think that was the doorbell," Emily said, smiling as Amelia ran towards the door. JJ heard it too and walked out of the playroom to meet Amelia's friends and their parents.
Amelia opened the door and squealed seeing both of her friends there at the same time. They quickly said goodbye to their respective parents and ran up to her bedroom. Knowing her mother's said no swimming unless an adult is there, Amelia said they could get changed while they waited.
"Hi I'm Emily Prentiss and this is my wife Jennifer," she said, holding out her hand to shake their hands.
"I'm Liam, this is my husband James—you briefly saw our daughter Ayla run by," he said with a laugh, typical children behavior.
"I'm Allison, my husband Noah is at home with our son. Both our girls have been friends since kindergarten and have fell in love with your little one."
"Oh, that's so nice to hear. Amelia talks about Parker and Ayla all the time. I'm happy to finally meet them, and you," JJ said, smiling big.
Allison's phone rang causing her to take off after thanking Emily and JJ but James and Liam were still talking as Lily came running up to the door, "Mommy, snack pease!"
Emily scooped up her daughter and sat the baby on her hip, "One minute Lily bug, mommy's talking."
"Oh how adorable, how old is she?" James asked.
"Thank you, she's two. We also have a four-year-old, Oakley."
"I love that name! Liam and I had such a long list of names picked out, it was so hard to—"
"James honey, let's no bore our new friends," Liam said, trying to shush his husband. "We really appreciate you hosting the sleepover, do you need anything? Money for food?"
"No, no, don't be silly, thank you though. Jen took Amelia shopping today to make sure we're loaded up on the 'coolest' snacks, whatever that means. We already have your numbers, and I'll make sure you receive a bedtime call."
"Thank you, so much. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call us. No matter what time it is."
The girls swam for a few hours, Emily falling in love with the sound of giggles filling the air. Pizzas were made, movies were watched and soon enough the girls were tucked into bed for their sleepover.
JJ and Emily's hearts felt so full seeing their daughter have so much fun; they both had good heads on their shoulders and wonderful parents. It didn't hurt Ayla had two fathers who were very close with Parker's parents providing an extra sense of security in their family and their daughters' life. The Prentiss' were very secure in their marriage, but also knew how cruel kids were and their parents; knowing the Richards and Barnes were not going to cause any trouble for their daughter, things couldn't be better.
Until they weren't.
3:23am "Jareau."
Emily woke up to the sound of JJ's phone, "Yes sir—okay, absolutely, I'll call the team, goodbye."
"Case?" Emily asked.
"It's a bad one. Missing kids, ugh," JJ sighed, already feeling scared. "Are you going to be okay with a handful of girls?"
"It's going to be okay, Jen. Our girls are here, safe, and I won't let them out of my sight okay? But to answer your question, yes, we'll be fine. Go catch the son of a bitch, be safe. I love you."
"I love you too, baby. So, so much!"
"The Chief of police in Middletown, Connecticut has requested our help," Hotch explained as everyone met on the jet. "Over the last four weeks 3 girls have gone missing, taken on their way home from school. The three girls were between 10-12 years old, all with brown hair and brown eyes. They were dumped in two local parks, and a walking trail," Hotch said.
JJ didn't see the three unknown little girls, she saw her three little girls, especially Amelia. The rest of the team saw the tears welling in JJ's eyes, all giving her concerned looks.
"Any sign of sexual assault?" Tara asked.
"No," Hotch replied, shaking his head. JJ heard that and was relieved the girls had at least been spared that bit of torture.
"There's ligature marks," Reid pointed out, "The bruising looks to be in various stages as well, obviously the unsub beat the girl before eventually stabbing her." Morgan was about to speak when he saw JJ looking paler than usual. He reached out and took her hand in his.
Once doing so, he continued, "Angela Harris was taken four weeks ago on a Monday, followed by Kathryn Jones two weeks ago also on a Monday. This past Monday, Haley Dekker was taken. This son of a bitch is speeding up, I'm not about to sit around and wait for him to screw up."
"It's clear the unsub has a type not just looks with the brown hair and brown eyes but the a—," Reid started to ramble before meeting the eyes of the team, "Umm, yeah, that's all."
"Okay, when we land Morgan, Tara I want you to interview the Harris' and the Jones', Rossi and I will talk to the Dekker's'. JJ, Reid I know we don't have a lot to work with but work on the geographic profile as much as you can and then get in contact with Garcia. Find out everything you can about these girls. Reid, work with JJ to put together a statement for the press, we need to make sure that people know about this, and everyone is being vigilant."
After many yes's Hotch looked towards his pale team member, "JJ, may I speak with you for a moment?" Hotch said, then led JJ over to the back of the jet. "I know you're worried about your girls, trust me I get it. I feel the same way when Jack fits the victimology, but they are safe and I need your head in this."
All JJ could do was nod before wiping her tears, finally speaking up, "Yes sir."
Tara and Derek had come walking back into the precinct just in time to see JJ running to the bathroom. "I think you should go check on her," Morgan said. In return, Tara gave him a look so he continued, "I'm not exactly a female so I can't go storming into the women's bathroom without—"
"Okay, okay go fill in the team and I'll talk to JJ," Tara walked into the bathroom to see JJ emptying her stomach.
Everyone knew JJ wasn't the best at hiding her emotions unless she was giving a press conference which wasn't as often anymore now that she was a profiler. To anyone else, JJ looked to be calm and in control, but her team knew better. Seeing the pictures of the three little girls that looked so much like her daughter, all her daughters actually, finally got to her. Every time she looked at the board all she saw was their faces, she needed to see them, she needed Emily.
JJ all but collapsed on the floor after vomiting, "Woah, I've got you." Tara said, grabbing the blonde and sitting on the floor with her. "I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I can keep reminding you your girls are at home and safe. Emily is with them, JJ. We aren't even in the same state."
"I know, it's just—every time I look at the board—"
"You see them," Tara finished. "I know I haven't known you as long as everyone else, but I'm still here for you. The team isn't going to judge you for being affected by this, they'll understand. We need to remember why we're here, we need to find this asshole so he can't hurt any other little girls. Plus, as Emily always says, you're a Prentiss."
JJ laughed through her tears, "You're right, I am a Prentiss. Thank you Tara."
They didn't find too much to go on during the day and knowing everyone was tired, Hotch sent them back to the hotel. JJ called Emily immediately, breaking down and letting her wife pick her back up.
She then spoke with Amelia briefly and even though she was half asleep on the couch next to Emily, it gave JJ the fire to keep pushing through.
Emily watched the press conference the next day feeling extremely proud of her wife. The night before she had feared the worst thinking JJ wouldn't be able to push through, but was very glad to see she not only pushed through, she rocked it.
That night, Emily let the girls sleep in her bed to watch a movie; even though it was a school night, she needed to know they were close. She took a picture of the four of them and sent it JJ: keep fighting baby, we all love you so much.
I love you all, give them extra kisses and snuggles from me.
Although she missed her girls and wife, JJ fell asleep with a smile on her face that night staring at the picture Emily had sent.
"I hate that we have to risk him taking someone else's baby just so we can find him," JJ sighed after they got back from talking to the local schools.
"We all do kiddo," Rossi agreed, seeing the light from JJ's eyes disappearing more and more. "But unfortunately, it's inevitable at times."
"Do you think we're going to catch this guy in the act?" JJ asked, looking towards Reid hoping he could provide some sort of helpful information that would calm her nerves.
"Well he probably knows we're here so it's likely he will take extra precautions," Reid replied, "But I think we got through to most of the kids telling them about the buddy system."
"And you think he's going to look for someone today?"
"There was more time between Angela Harris and Kathryn Jones than with Haley Dekker meaning he's escalating and given the fact he lays the bodies in such visible places the media coverage is just going to fuel him even more, force him to prove that he can still get away with it," Reid explained.
"God I hope we find him," JJ sighed, her stomach filled with worry as she played with her Cheetos. If my girls were playing with their food like this… JJ smiled, thinking of her girls in that moment until.
There were cops all around the city. Cops and FBI agents in black SUVS, circling the neighborhoods around the schools like it was going to make a difference. They thought if they combed the area I wouldn't hunt. Boy are they wrong. They were all wrong because I'm too smart for them, I'm too good at what I do. He had a strategy, he had his ways, and even with the presence of the extra law enforcement, Erik Palmer felt confident he would succeed in getting another girl.
He hadn't planned on taking another girl so soon. He liked to take his time; get to know his girls first, but then he saw that blonde on the news and knew what he had to do. The FBI thought they could stop me by warning people, by telling them to be extra cautious, but they don't even know me. They didn't know what he was capable of, and he was about to show them exactly what he could do.
As the sounds of the nearby school bell ringing filled the air, Erik got into position knowing that despite the FBI's warning he would find someone, because they're kids after all. They defy their parents, the rules, they don't want to listen. He watched and waited, until he saw the perfect girl.
Ha-ha! This one, this one might be the best one yet!