"Are you going to tell Clarke her father escaped?" Reid asked.
"Come on, man," Morgan said, giving him a little shove.
"I'll have to talk to Em about it," JJ answered, receiving sympathetic looks from Rossi, Hotch, Tara and Garcia. While Clarke was older and could handle certain things the other kids couldn't, she was still a child—there was no reason to scare her especially because the team hadn't even tried to find him yet.
JJ knew the answer though, they weren't going to say anything to Clarke unless they absolutely had to. The mothers had a lot of tricks up their sleeves, all of which they had yet to try because it hadn't been necessary.
"Hotchner," he said, answering his phone. "No ma'am, we're going to need to be taken off rotation, yes ma'am, I will when I'm finished here, thank you."
The team watched on as he spoke knowing Strauss was on the other line, most everyone he called by name except for her. When Hotch looked at everyone, he realized all sets of eyes were on him and answered the unasked questions, "Strauss, paperwork, and I'll let her know what's going on when we have more information."
"How's that list comin' baby girl?"
"Oh sugar, you know I'll always get you what you need," Garcia teased. "It seems like Mr. Hayes wasn't a very popular man, his phone records only list work and a one Steve Wilder. He also visited Hayes in jail a couple times in the last few months. From the look of things, neither is doing this for the money considering they don't have any…"
"JJ, has Clarke ever mentioned the name Steve to you?" Rossi asked, feeling worried about what Garcia had said.
If it wasn't for money, it was Clarke they were after, and he didn't know why. As a profiler, he understood the need of a narcissist to control whoever is in their lives and because his punching bag was taken away, he was most likely freaking out. All of them were thinking the same thing, protect Clarke, catch the bastard, and make him pay.
"No, she hasn't. I can call Em though; Clarke's never opened up to me the way she does with Emily."
The team understood, Emily was the one who was home with the kids all day and because the mothers kept Clarke out of school the first two weeks she was there, starting her after winter break, Clarke, Emily and the twins spent a ton of time together which was really great for the girl.
While JJ made the call, the team discussed other plans to help lessen the load off the mothers. Luckily for them, the team was so involved in the Prentiss's lives that it wouldn't be strange for them to spend extra time there. Garcia and Morgan stay over at least twice a month and having third and fourth sets of eyes would only help.
There's no way Christopher would ever be able to get into their gated community though which means it wouldn't be possible to get into the estate. They quickly scratched that from their list of ideas because it would be more useful to work on things away from little listening ears.
"Em, can you repeat what you just told me please?" JJ said, putting the call on speaker as she entered the room again.
"Clarke mentioned her father's friend Steve a few times. Steve worked with Christopher and came over way too often to drink with him; Clarke said he also brought food over often as well because he knew Christopher rarely cooked, she wasn't allowed to have any though...my poor baby," Emily paused, walking towards the playroom when she heard a bit of a commotion.
"Clarke said Steve stopped coming over when Christo…Brooks, give Lily back the baby doll, she was playing with it first—uh-uh…Jen, I've got to go honey. Brooks Morgan, no sir—" and with that, the line went dead.
"Kids," JJ said with a small smile.
"You'd never know princess was upset with him though," Morgan commented. "She never raises her voice, sometimes it even seems like she uses an extra sweet voice to scold them."
"Because she's not upset, Morgan, why would she be? They're babies and going through a stealing toys phase," JJ said.
"But…"
"You're never going to win this argument, hot stuff," Garcia chimed in.
"One day when you have your own children you'll understand," Hotch said.
"And may you be blessed with a little hellion," JJ added.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Derek asked.
"How can you study behavior and not understand that when parents are teaching their children, they aren't upset with them when they do something wrong?" JJ questioned.
"Were we all listening to the same phone call? Princess literally used the word no and Brooks middle name."
JJ and Hotch rubbed their temples in frustration, typically they only felt this way when Reid wouldn't stop spouting facts. "Can we please focus back on protecting Clarke?"
"Yes gumdrop, let's do that."
"Do you happen to know what else Emily was going to say?" Reid asked.
"Uhh, no. Spence, where did she leave off?" JJ questioned knowing his eidetic memory would come in handy right about now.
"Emily said, 'Clarke mentioned her father's friend Steve a few times. Steve worked with Christopher and came over way too often to drink with him; Clarke said he also brought food over often as well because he knew Christopher rarely cooked, she wasn't allowed to have any though...my poor baby. Clarke said Steve stopped coming over when Christo…Brooks, give—" Reid repeated verbatim until JJ cut him off.
"Steve stopped coming over when Christopher started abusing Clarke."
"Did she say anything else?" Rossi asked.
"Not about Steve, only the abuse by her father."
"So, Steve never laid a hand on her?" Rossi questioned.
"If he did, Clarke hasn't mentioned it. I can't see her keeping something like that from Emily though. And from the interview tape we saw, Christopher would have blamed it on someone else if he could have," JJ said, shuddering when thinking back to it—part of her wishes she never watched it, JJ understood why Emily needed to watch however, she could have done without.
Emily processed things differently than she did, she also had extensive training in child abuse unlike JJ. Of course the bureau teaches you plenty to get by, but nothing like the training Emily did. There was something about the way her mind worked that helped Emily help their babies process what they had been through by watching the tape and reading the reports.
"Scum, per scum," Morgan gritted through his teeth thinking about all the evil his godchildren have dealt with.
"Garcia, you said the two men were in constant contact, right?" Tara asked.
"From the looks of things, they were still in contact while he was abusing Clarke. I can't tell you why he stopped going over, but I'll keep digging. Maybe I can find something," she said with a frown thinking about the little girl.
"Do you really think the two of them could figure out how to get the other out of jail though?" JJ asked, and she wasn't the only one who was thinking it. "It's not as if he knew Clarke's teachers would spot the abuse…"
Before anyone could answer, a handful of littles ran into the round table room; the kids all called out different names feeling super excited to see them. Lily went to Rossi because she's always loved him that much more, Oakley jumped into Morgan's arms because even at 6, she still loved that he'd always play dress up and color with her and Lily.
Oliver wrapped his arms around Hotch who was an incredible influence for the little boy—all the men were great influences for him, he just spent the most time with Hotch because of his playdates with Jack. Amelia wrapped her arms around Garcia because she, like Lily, was a snuggle bug at heart, something Garcia was always willing to give her.
When JJ saw Clarke, she felt excited to finally have one of her children run up to her however, Clarke went up to Tara. She gave the woman an awkward side hug then pulled out her phone to show Tara some of the pictures she had taken recently. Since their conversation at Christmas, Tara has come over many times to help Clarke with her new camera—she had even taken her out to some new places to take pictures as well.
"Babies, what about me?" JJ said, crossing her arms while pretending to be upset.
Emily walked in pushing the double stroller just in time to hear her wife and went up to her. "Hi babe, I'm sure these two would love to snuggle with you," Emily said, placing a kiss to her cheek and signaling the twins.
"Me wif unple Daavee, momma," Lily answered JJ, squeezing her arms around his neck even tighter to give him a little hug. She was so adorable, anytime Lily tried to save Dave she annunciated the vowels whereas, Derek's name she dropped the vowels all together.
"I see that, baby," JJ smiled as she unbuckled the twins. She knew they'd visit for a little bit and the twins would fuss if they weren't let out of the stroller.
"Gimme, gimme," Garcia said when JJ took Brynley out. She handed the baby over and shook her head at the fact she barely got to say hello to her own children as they were all having conversations with their respective adult.
The kids all loved Reid, he just wasn't a snuggly guy and because of that, they always went to the other adults. The littles loved when he read to them, and the big kids enjoyed when he'd tell them about certain things because in their minds Reid had all the answers.
"Hi baby boy," JJ said, snuggling Brooks.
When Clarke felt multiple sets of eyes on her, she looked over at her mother's and blushed. They didn't mean to stare; it was just so amazing seeing her come out of her shell—she didn't even hesitate before going up to Tara. They were also thinking about Christopher, however, seeing her so happy made them melt.
"Clarke, this is absolutely beautiful. I never would have thought of something so creative. Do you think I could have a copy?" Tara asked, gaining her focus again.
"Which one, Auntie Tara?" Oliver said, making his way over to them. The kids took to calling her auntie when Oliver came to live with them, and she loved it.
"This one," Tara beamed, lowering the phone so Oliver could see it.
Clarke had copies of the photos she had taken on her phone but that's not how they were printed as Clarke loved the photo room at school. Emily even said they could have one made in one of the rooms downstairs for her as well to which, Clarke felt overwhelmed and overly excited.
"Oh, I remember that day. When I went to tell Clarke dinner was ready, her whole room had newspapers in it," Oliver said with a giggle. He too was really impressed with his sister's photo abilities.
Just like Amelia, Emily got Oliver and Clarke an iPad and laptop for school—what Emily didn't realize is how helpful both electronics would be for Clarke's photos. The picture Tara was so impressed with was of something so simple, newspapers, but it was so beautiful. Clarke had coated one of her walls and the floor in newspaper and captured her photos right when the sun hit perfectly.
Clarke had taken some other photos that were similar using pink, yellow, lavender, orange, white, and magenta colored squares of paper with a blanket on the floor covered in roses—some petals and some full stemmed flowers. Clarke had no experience with taking photos, however, she had such an incredible eye for it. Emily and JJ were beyond impressed.
"Did you see the one with the roses, Auntie Tara?" Amelia asked, making her way over to the group of people looking at her sisters' photos.
Emily wrapped an arm around JJ watching the scene unfold. Their children loved supporting their siblings and were the first ones to tell each other how proud of them they were. Even Lily, who was still a little one, loved watching Amelia dance, Oliver play soccer and see Clarke's photos.
"I can't wait to see the pictures she takes when there's no snow on the ground," Emily whispered to JJ, accepting the hand Brooks waved at her and kissing it.
"She's so talented, I can't believe she's never taken pictures before and is already so good."
"A natural born photographer. Hey, let's go chat for a few minutes while the kids are distracted."
JJ nodded at her wife then whispered the same thing to Garica just to make sure one of the adults knew where the two of them were going. Before leaving the room, Morgan accepted Brooks from JJ—he loved his little name buddy.
When the women walked back into the room after talking, Tara made her way over to them still blown away, "You've got to get her into something more than photography class. I'd easily pay three-five hundred dollars for her photos."
Emily was already working on getting Clarke's photos out there, she hadn't told her yet though because Emily wanted it to be set in stone first. When they went to one of her restaurants to eat, Clarke had taken some gorgeous photos as Emily had Antonie close it down meaning the family were the only ones there. Clarke was able to walk around and snap photos of all different parts of the restaurant—Emily already had them printed and hung them up; she had received constant praise from the staff and numerous patrons.
"Em's working on it," JJ whispered to Tara.
She too was excited to see Clarke's reaction when they told her, she truly deserved to have something so special in her life—it would be similar to the love and support Amelia got from their family at her dance competitions and Oliver got when they came to his soccer games. The family also came to Oakley and Lily's dance recitals, they were just too young for the competition team.
"Good. I bought a piece for my parents as a Christmas present and I regret it now, Clarke's are far better," Tara continued.
Emily and JJ beamed with pride at Tara's words. It was a great distraction from the nerves they felt regarding Christopher Hayes being out of jail. Before either woman could say anything in response, Lily ran up to her mothers.
"Mommy, me hungwee. Can we doe eat pwease?" she asked, making grabby hands at Emily.
The brunette scooped her up and nodded, "Yes bug, we can go eat. Where do you think we should go baby?"
"Umm, me dunno," Lily said with her signature shrug.
"Do you think we should ask Clarke, bug?" Emily whispered and Lily nodded. "Go ask her, baby." Emily put her down and Lily ran up to her sister who was talking with Morgan, Amelia and Garcia.
"Kwalk," Lily said, taking her sisters' hand.
My goodness was she cute—Lily still had trouble with certain letters, she had made so much progress in preschool though. Lily was a very quiet baby often turning to squeals instead of words and by the time she had older siblings, she was already putting words together to create sentences.
"What's up, Lil?"
"Ware you wanna doe for wunch? Mommy want you to pip," Lily said with a smile.
"Umm," Clarke said, deep in thought. This wasn't the first or even third time she's picked the restaurant, it was still an odd feeling to be included in this way though. "What about the Cheesecake Factory?"
When her siblings started jumping up and down in excitement, Clarke knew she had made a good decision. Oakley jumped into her arms, something Clarke wasn't prepared for however, she somehow caught her anyways.
"I'm comin' too" Derek said, there was no way he was going to stay at work while his family was at his favorite restaurant.
"Count me in," Garcia added.
"You're all invited," JJ said, making eye contact with the rest of the team.
While the Prentiss family and the team went out for lunch at one of their favorite places, Christopher and Steve were planning...