JJ arrived at the same time Elise woke again. I was trying to get her to latch and it wasn't happening. She put her bag down and smiled sympathetically when I looked at her. She must have seen the fear in my eyes.

"May I?" She motioned towards my chest. I wasn't sure what her plan was, but I nodded anyway. JJ positioned my nipple and Elise and she latched quickly. "It takes a bit of practice." She said quietly as she sat down in the seat beside the bed.

"Thank you." I whispered to her.

"Let's never let Morgan know that I was just playing with your boob. He'll never recover." She smirked.

I laughed at that and watched Elise as she ate. About twenty minutes passed before she pushed my breast away and the screaming started again. I threw a towel over my shoulder and moved her against me to burp her. She burped, sighed, and then started screaming again. I shook my head and brought her down to lay in my forearms in front of me. I tried shushing her and kissing her forehead and swaddling her again. She didn't stop.

"I don't understand!" I said as tears came to my eyes again. JJ held her arms out and I handed the baby over. To my dismay, she settled once JJ held her tightly and shushed her. I shook my head and got up. "I need to go to the bathroom." I went and locked myself in the bathroom, sat on the closed toilet seat, and cried.

I came out after letting my guard down for five minutes to find Elise asleep in JJ's arms. I watched as the blonde rocked slightly and smiled down at my daughter. Why couldn't I calm her? Why did she prefer anyone else but me?

I lay back down on the bed and watched them. After another 10 minutes, JJ lay her in the bassinet and looked at me. "Get some sleep. I'll stay right here, at least until Hotch is back." She slipped a few files out of her bag. I didn't say anything, just moved down and closed my eyes.

I wasn't quite asleep when I heard JJ's phone buzzing. Of course I could only hear her side of the conversation, but it made me feel terrible. I assumed it was Garcia and she was telling her about how I needed her at the hospital because I couldn't handle Elise. That was why she was here, though. My daughter was 24 hours old and I was already at my limit. This was ridiculous. I needed to do this alone.

I opened my eyes once she hung up and sat up. She looked at me and smiled, "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Wasn't asleep. You can go home. Thank you for coming."

"…But didn't you want me—"

"I'm fine."

She sighed and sat forwards, "You heard me talking to Garcia, and you're misinterpreting what I was saying."

"No, I think I interpreted it just fine. JJ, please go home."

She looked sad, but she put her files back into her bag and stood up, "Okay. Call me if you need anything."

I watched her leave the room and I lay back again with a huff. I repositioned to my side and watched Elise as she slept. She seemed so peaceful. I fell asleep watching her.

I woke again a couple of hours later to dinner being served. I looked to the bassinet and panicked. She wasn't there.

"I've got her." I heard Hotch say quietly. I whipped my head to the other side of the room where the chair sat and relaxed when I saw her laying in Hotch's arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay." I shook my head. I smiled as I looked at them, but JJ's words played over in my head. Hotch pushed the table towards me so I would eat. I moved the soup around but didn't eat it; I wasn't hungry. "I can do it, you know."

"I'm sorry?" He looked at me.

"I can look after her. I can handle her."

"I don't doubt that…"

I sighed, "JJ and Garcia do."

He was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke quietly, "What happened?" I told him what I had overheard. "Okay, honey, you may have misunderstood what she meant, especially since you couldn't hear Garcia on the other end. However, your hormones and emotions are everywhere right now and JJ knows that; she should have never said anything like that around you whilst you are in this state of limbo."

"As soon as you left, I called her because I didn't think I could. But I can. I'm going to do it alone like I should."

"No. Emily, no." He shook his head. He stood and lay Elise against my chest. I lifted my arms up to secure her in place safely. "You can do this alone, but you're not going to. I am going to be here, and JJ and Garcia, and all four guys are all going to be here to help you as well. When we're back home and you've settled into this new role, you can't cut everyone off because you think you're not doing a good enough job. You need to accept help."

"I don't need it." I said stubbornly.

"Not even from me?"

I dropped my head to the side, "You're her father; of course you are going to be here and you're going to help. We're a team, but they do not need to be involved."

"You cannot cut our family out of our lives, Jack's life, or Elise's life. I'm not going to let you do that."

My retort died on my tongue when I felt her squirm on my chest. A second later she began to cry. I quickly took a breast out and tried to get her to latch. It didn't feel quite right like it did when JJ did it, but she was latched and she was drinking so it didn't really matter, despite the pain.

An hour later, a midwife came in and asked a myriad of questions. Afterwards, she told me they could discharge me now if I wanted. I accepted quickly and she went to get the paperwork. When she came back, she asked Hotch to take our things out to the car and pull it around the front for us. Once he was gone, she asked a few questions about our home life and if I was safe. I had no idea that they asked questions like this, but it was nice to see them ensuring no domestic violence or fear was present when you're about to take a defenceless newborn baby home.

The drive seemed so short and not the thirty minutes it really was. I got her out of the car seat gently and Hotch stopped me before I went inside. "Jack and Jessica are here. Is it okay for them to see her?"

"Of course."

"Do you want to see them or go upstairs and rest?"

I tried not to read into his words, "I'm fine." He just nodded and opened the door for me.

I sat down with Elise on the couch across from Jessica and greeted her. Hotch called out for Jack who ran in to see his baby sister. He asked to hold her, so Hotch sat him down on the couch and positioned his arms to hold her. I lay her down gently and kept my hand under her head as a precaution. He only lasted a minute or so before he had enough, and then I offered for Jessica to hold her. She seemed surprised that I asked, but I could see the excitement in her eyes as she accepted the offer and took the baby from my arms carefully.

She asked for the birth story and I told her what I could remember. Hotch filled in the blanks. He looked at me and placed his hand on my back, "Honey, you look exhausted. I can have her for a little while. I'll wake you when she's hungry."

I looked at Elise before meeting his eyes and nodding. I said goodbye to Jessica and kissed Jack's hair goodnight. I went upstairs and got ready to shower slowly. I liked being back home and in my own space again.

I took a long shower, and then I got into bed and relaxed with a sigh. I hadn't realised just how uncomfortable the hospital bed was until now. Hopefully, sleep would come easily.

Hotch woke me after a couple of hours. "I'm sorry honey, but she's hungry. I held her off as long as I could."

I sighed as I sat up and took her from him. He watched as I got her to latch and then I looked at him. He smiled and kissed my forehead before he stood and went to shower. Jack must have been in bed by now; it was almost nine o'clock.

Once she was fed, burped, and swaddled, she was quiet for about twenty minutes in my arms before she was screaming again. I tried everything to calm her and when all of my efforts didn't work, I handed her over to Hotch. He calmed her quickly. I sighed and got back into bed, rolled over with my back to them, and tried to go to sleep.

I tried for an hour to fall asleep. I got out of bed quietly and went to leave the room. "Hey." I heard Hotch whisper. I turned and looked at him. Elise was in the bassinet at the end of the bed. "Where are you going?"

"To do some work." I said shortly before leaving the room. I went into my office and closed the door. I got the last few files I had to do and began working on the paperwork. I was only halfway through the second file when I heard her crying again. I sighed to myself and got up to go back to bed and feed her again.