"How is that possible? We have a combined thirty years of experience in security. It cannot be that difficult to get into their home," Christopher nearly yelled.
"Chris, it isn't that easy. They live in a gated community, we couldn't get close if we tried," Steve said.
He didn't realize his friend was this far gone—they had been friends for years, even before Clarke was born. When his wife died in childbirth, Steve tried to be there for him the best he could, but it wasn't easy. He didn't know much about kids, and he definitely didn't know he was abusing her.
When Steve agreed to help his friend, he just thought Christopher wanted to get his daughter back because…she was his, nothing more. Christopher had told Steve he was in jail for drinking and driving and because Steve had no way of verifying it, he took his friend at his word.
After hearing the plan Christopher had, Steve started to wonder if his friend was telling him the truth about his daughter and jail. "Chris, why do you really want Clarke back?"
"What do you mean? Clarke is my child, not theirs. She can't stay with those whores; they aren't her family, I am! I'm her father, she's my flesh and blood."
"I get that she's yours but, why would they let those women adopt her if they were bad people?"
Steve wasn't very familiar with the system; he knew children went into foster care placements for a bit and then were able to get adopted—he didn't know why some kids were adopted almost instantly while others were forced to bounce around from home to home, either way, Steve wasn't knowledgeable on the system. What he did feel confident in though was the fact if these women were allowed to adopt Clarke already, they must be really good people.
"Of course they're bad people, it's not right. Women marry men, not other women!" Christopher screamed. He was livid Clarke was placed with lesbians, that wasn't okay in his book. He was going to get his daughter back if it was the last thing he did and if Steve died in the process, well, he was fine with that.
"I should have seen him," Emily said, pacing back and forth in the kitchen. JJ had come home with security tapes thanks to Garcia and to say Emily was livid was an understatement.
"Em, there's no way you would have known," JJ said, soothingly.
"I should have! This is our child we're talking about here, Jen. How could I have missed him?" Emily said, her hands now covering her face as she leaned against the kitchen island.
"Babe, we've never seen Steve before. We'd have no way of knowing."
"I should have, Jen. I don't know why I let myself get so comfortable, I put our children in danger."
JJ couldn't stand it anymore; she walked over to her wife and comforted her. Once she wrapped an arm around her, Emily broke down and cried. She was beating herself up, something she does best—Emily didn't know why she became so careless. Yes, Doyle was dead, Palmer was captured, but she shouldn't have dropped the ball.
"Babe, I'm just as much to blame. You're retired from the FBI, I'm not," JJ said in hopes of taking some of the weight off her wife's shoulders.
"It's not the same, Jen. They wouldn't be on your radar. I'm the one who is with the kids all day, not you."
Emily didn't mean any offence by her statement and JJ knew that to be true. A few years ago, it would have sent her spiraling because she didn't feel like a mother the way Emily was, now though, she felt differently. JJ didn't know if it was because of the birth of the twins, or something else but she finally felt like she meant just as much to the kids as Emily did.
"We're not going to let anything happen to Clarke, babe. With anything that's ever come our way, you've protected our babies Em."
"Not as well as I should have," Emily whispered, letting more tears fall. She knew no physical harm had come to their children in their presence, however, they had experienced more trauma.
Lily and Oakley were kidnapped by Jessica, and while neither truly remember it, Oakley did experience more episodes afterwards. They also went undercover with their mothers, but they thought it was more of a fun vacation. Amelia didn't though, she was afraid someone was going to hurt them. She was also terrified when JJ got shot, and when Emily was kidnapped by Doyle.
"Emily," JJ breathed out, then let her tears fall. She knew how much her wife blamed herself—for some crazy reason, Emily even blamed herself for when JJ got shot, something that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Eventually JJ was able to get Emily upstairs and after a shared shower, they settled in bed together. It was still early so it wasn't as if they were going to fall asleep however, it was nice to be close with one another. With seven children, the couple lost some of their alone time together, neither would trade it for the world though.
When JJ's hand wandered up Emily's shirt, the brunette responded—somehow with their crazy schedules, the women still found a way to be intimate with one another at least three times a week if not more. If they could find a way to make love every night, they would. Emily knew she'd never ever get enough of JJ, and the blonde felt the same way.
…After two hours of making love, they fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.
Emily rolled over in her sleep and opened her eyes not knowing what woke her. Looking at the clock she saw it was only a little after 3am. She listened for a few seconds and when she realized nothing was coming through the baby monitors, Emily ran into Amelia's bedroom.
Emily was puzzled when she saw Amelia sleeping soundly. It wasn't like her other children to have nightmares, the littles on occasion had crazy nightmares—the latest involved a monkey chasing a zebra and Emily blamed the book she read Lily before bed, but they were still few and far between.
Emily opened Clarke's door next and saw that she too was sleeping soundly, which only left Oliver as the littles all had monitors in their rooms still. Emily's heart ached seeing Oliver tossing around in his bed, his blankets now thrown on the floor along with his panda bear.
He wasn't screaming anything the way Amelia or Clarke did, he was crying. Emily sat on his bed after picking up his blankets and stuffy, "Oliver baby, you're safe. Wake up baby boy, you're having a nightmare."
Oliver jolted awake in Emily's arms, snuggling closer to her and the panda stuffy she offered him. "Mommy," he cried.
"I'm here baby, you're safe. It was a nightmare, I've got you."
"It was gonna get me," Oliver whispered.
"What was, baby?"
"The monster. It came in our house and tried to get me. It was black with yellow eyes and four arms; I was so afraid."
"There are no monsters coming, baby boy," Emily assured. She was relieved when Oliver said monster instead of him or her because it meant he wasn't afraid of a person. "Nothing can get into our home, I promise."
"Can I sleep with you?" he asked.
"Of course you can," Emily said. She carried him into their bedroom and when Emily set him down, JJ snuggled him closely.
"I love you, Ollie," JJ said, then fell back to sleep.
Emily snuggled the two of them then waited for his breathing to even out before falling back to sleep herself.
The next morning JJ woke up to a bed full of children, her wife though was nowhere to be seen. Squinting, she saw it was 9:30am which answered the questions she had. Emily would be downstairs with…JJ had to look around before figuring out who was with her wife.
JJ still had an arm wrapped around Oliver, Clarke was snuggled up next to him and Lily was smooshed between the two—she always found a way to sneak in and has since she was an only child. JJ oftentimes woke up with an arm wrapped around Emily then was startled when a tiny hand worked its way onto her face, shoulder, or chest. Oh, Lily.
That left Amelia, Oakley and the twin's downstairs with Emily if Amelia had even woken up yet. JJ's thoughts were cut short when she saw a pair of green eyes looking at her and smiled, "Hi sweetie, when did you wake up the first time?"
"Umm, I'm not really sure," Clarke said with a yawn. "Oliver was already in here, but Lily wasn't."
"What about mommy, was she in here still?"
"Only for a little bit," Clarke answered.
JJ figured from Clarke's answers that she'd been in there for a few hours now and changed courses. "Do you want to read?" JJ asked, reaching behind her to get the book on her nightstand of Clarke's.
She nodded and JJ opened the book to start reading; Clarke thought her new mothers would stop reading to her after she was adopted but they didn't. She loved how attentive they were, Amelia and Oliver were right, they were the best moms ever.
While Clarke was being read to, Christopher and Steve were continuing to plan. If they couldn't get into the gated community, they would have to do things a different way. Christopher wasn't sure how Emily spotted him so quickly, but she clearly didn't see Steve so they'd continue to use him until it was time.
What neither man knew was the fact they had already taken extra precautions against them, and it wasn't just Emily's eyes looking out for them anymore, it was the entire teams.
"You realize we're going to have an issue figuring out their schedule tomorrow and Sunday because it's the weekend, right?" Steve pointed out.
"There can't be that much to do in the house, they'll go out," Christopher assured. Little did he know, the home had everything the kids could ever want and more.
"Chris, I can't just stay here all weekend. I'll see what their schedule is like on Monday." After Steve left for the night, Christopher continued to get drunk while thinking about his daughter.
In his mind, she really messed everything up for him. He had a beautiful wife who meant everything to him; she wanted a child more than anything and because he would do anything for her, they got pregnant. What neither was prepared for was Mary dying in childbirth leaving Christopher to raise a baby he didn't even want by himself.
At first, he tried to be a great parent because he knew that's what Mary would have wanted—but then, well, he just couldn't do it anymore. He was always so frustrated by the fact he had a child to care for and tried to make her self-efficient. In other words, the less he did for her, the more she was forced to do for herself. And that's how things went as she got older, until her 13th birthday.
By 6pm that day when Clarke asked her dad if he knew what day it was and he said no, she became increasingly sad. Because of all the emotions she was feeling, Clarke wasn't hungry which meant she didn't make anything for dinner, something that caused Christopher to freak out. He stormed into her room and screamed at her for almost 35 minutes and when he walked out, Clarke finally whispered, it's my birthday.
That set him off again and he turned around and slapped her across the face. It was the first time he had ever laid a hand on her—Clarke was horrified, locking her bedroom door the second her father left and didn't come out until the next morning for school. All she wanted was for her dad to wish her a happy birthday, she didn't expect anything else as that's not who he was.
"I'm going to get her back; she's not going to stay with those whores any longer. Clarke belongs here with me! All I did was hit her a few times…my dad did the same thing to me, there's nothin' wrong with it. I shouldn't be locked away for parenting my own child," Christopher spoke outloud to himself in the empty home.
"Oliver, Amelia are you two almost ready? Grandma and grandpa will be here any minute," JJ yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
Two weekends ago, Clarke went with Amelia on her Spectacular Saturday to see what it was like, and while the girls had a blast, Clarke was staying home today. Emily had tempted her with designing the photo room only because they were worried about Christopher. Luckily for the mothers, Clarke was thrilled and knew she could go out on her own grandparent outing next time.
"We're coming," Oliver called back down. He was waiting for his sister who was getting her last piece of hair curled by Emily. Oliver's hair took maybe two minutes if that, his sister's hair though…my goodness it took so long.
"Hi Jenny," Allen greeted when the four grandparents walked in the door. JJ was still at the bottom of the stairs holding Brynley, Brooks was pulling on her pant leg, and the littles were in the playroom.
"Hi daddy," JJ said, kissing his cheek and handing the baby over. Sandy kissed her daughter then bent down to pick Brooks up as Elizabeth and Gerald went into the playroom to see the littles.
"How's your morning been?" Sandy asked.
"Good. Em let me sleep in, Clarke and I read for a while, we had chocolate banana chip pancakes for breakfast, and then we've played. Em's upstairs finishing Amelia's hair, they should be finished any minute."
"We're in no hurry, honey," Sandy assured.
"Who are you taking this week?" JJ asked. It was hard to keep track because there were two sets of grandparents who always rotated, not to mention she also rotated each Wednesday.
"Ollie is with us today," Allen said with a smile, kissing the top of Brynley's head.
"He's with—oh no, wait, I have no idea," JJ said.
"He went with you last Wednesday, Jenny," Sandy informed her daughter. Sometimes it was easier for Sandy to keep track of things which was crazy to JJ, she couldn't believe her mom always knew when she didn't.
"So that means Lily is with me this week," JJ realized. The mothers didn't mind the kids missing school once a month to spend extra time with JJ, they did set things up so certain kids went with their grandparents then JJ while the others went with JJ and then their grandparents.
Due to the fact JJ only took one instead of two, her schedule didn't follow a youngest to oldest structure. Also, because the grandparents were going to start adding Clarke to their rotation next weekend, they were also starting with the twins too to help even things out. Plus, at nearly 18 months they are at an age that even Elizabeth should be fine with as she's the only one the mothers were worried about.
"What are your plans today, buddy?" JJ asked, wrapping an arm around Oliver's waist when he got to the bottom of the stairs.
"Grandpa said we could go to National Air and Space Museum!" Oliver said, his eyes wide as he spoke. The Prentiss children had similar interests and the time they went to the museum as a family, Oliver thought it was the coolest thing ever—he had gone back a second time with Jack and Hotch, this would be his third time.
JJ smiled at Oliver's enthusiasm, rubbing her hand over the airplanes on his shirt, "It looks like you're ready, sweet boy. Especially with this shirt, huh?"
"Mhm, I'm so excited!" Oliver said, jumping off the last few steps.
Something JJ didn't know was the fact Emily had given the Jareau's a credit card in their name for the outings they took the kids on. Due to the fact the grandparents also came on vacations with them, it was easy to make it seem like it was only to help.
It's not as if they just had one child, they had seven and the four Sandy and Allen frequently take out often want to go someplace special with their grandparents. Because of this, it costs money each time followed by going out to eat—Emily knew her parents had the type of money she had, but the Jareaus didn't, they also had three other children and five other grandchildren.
They put up a fight at first stating they could pay for their grandchildren however, remembered what their daughter said about Prentiss's getting what they wanted. Sandy and Allen caved, they were also so grateful because it would have been much harder for them to do activities with their grandchildren each week than it would be for Elizabeth and Gerald.
Thanks to the black card Emily gave them in their name, they've been able to take the kids anywhere they want to go. Something that makes them smile each time though was the fact the kids rarely chose an expensive outing, all they truly wanted was to spend time with their grandparents.
Lily loved going to a bookstore and reading books—when it was time to go, they'd get one or two new books to keep at their house and she'd ask if they could get ice cream to which, they said yes after eating lunch.
Oakley loved to paint, it didn't have to be anywhere, her grandparents' house was fine by her as long as they could do it together. She also loved baking cookies with grandma because grandpa would sneak her chocolate chips and grandma would make them in all different shapes.
Oliver loved putting lego sets together, playing boardgames, and even making up his own games. Sandy loved his imagination, and Allen was so excited to play the new games Oliver came up with. They were even able to find pieces at an arts and crafts store to use for the games which was extra fun because it made Oliver feel like a real creator.
Amelia loved spending time in the kitchen and learning about her grandparents. She was the most sentimental of the bunch and enjoyed hearing stories about her momma as a little girl, seeing pictures of her childhood, and doing things her grandparents liked. Sandy also loved spending time in the kitchen whereas Allen enjoyed making things, something he taught Amelia how to do.
Of course all the kids loved going out and doing activities as well, but the point of these Saturdays was to spend time with their grandparents. The activities they did with Sandy and Allen were completely different than the ones they did with Elizabeth and Gerald—if you asked the children though, they didn't prefer one to the other.
They were both special to them in their own ways. Amelia knew she could never ask her grandma Liz to see pictures of her mommy, although Gerald had some of baby Emily he showed her—they did have the most elegant tea parties, and learned so much history at museums. And not just the actual history, but they learned about the time their grandparents spent there too which was super cool to Amelia and Oliver.
Something that was really great for Elizabeth and Gerald, more so Elizabeth, was seeing how excited the kids were about the little things. While Sandy and Allen knew this to be the case, they didn't because their lives had never been so simple. Galas here, meetings there, dinner parties, work lunches, using Emily as a pawn—the Prentiss children will never know what that's like, and because of that fact, Elizabeth and Gerald were able to change their ways.
The first time Oakley asked if they could play hide and seek the couple didn't know what to say. Gerald understood the concept however, even he had never played with Emily. They said yes though as it was Oakley's day and found themselves having the most fun. It happened again the following weekend when Lily asked if they could play Candy Land. While Elizabeth found the game very dull, which she was later told all adults thought, they did have a very good time.
"And where are you off to, pretty girl?" JJ questioned, smiling at Ameila.
She looked absolutely beautiful—she was a gorgeous little girl, there was just something about when she dressed up, my goodness. Emily and JJ were dreading the day she wanted to wear makeup, she didn't need it and that was their number one argument. They didn't wear makeup, the only thing the mothers put on in the morning was mascara and some coverup over the bags under their eyes.
"We're going to the ballet. I'm so excited! Do you like my hair, momma?"
"I love it, sweetie," JJ said. Emily had really outdone herself and now she knew why. Amelia's hair had the most beautiful half braid swooped across the side of her head, and the rest of her hair was perfectly curled. "You look gorgeous."
"Thank you," Amelia blushed.
Twenty minutes later the six of them were gone leaving Emily and JJ with the littles and Clarke. Nap time was soon for the twins and because Clarke was content playing with her little siblings, the mothers got to work. JJ set out the littles new KiwiCo boxes and Emily pulled up all the information she had been looking at on her computer for Clarke to check out.
Once the twins were sleeping and the littles were hard at work, Emily sat down with Clarke to go over everything she wanted for her dark room.
"We can start by converting one of the downstairs bedrooms, but I think we should put up an add on," Emily said. She had her notebook out to write down a list of everything they'd need, she had already spoken with JJ about the possible construction as well.
"Wait, what?" Clarke asked, looking up from the laptop and into Emily's eyes.
"The bedrooms have windows and the sinks are in the ensuites, that doesn't exactly make them accessible. It would be an awful setup."
"But mom, that's why you put dark curtains up. Look, you literally wrote it down," Clarke said, pulling her mom's list closer so she could point to where it said blackout curtains.
"I know honey, I just think it would be easier if we could set your dark room up the exact way you want it. Look at these pictures I found," Emily said, moving closer to the laptop screen so she could see the tabs. Once she found the right one, she clicked on it and moved back, "See. According to the research I've done, this setup seems to work best."
Clarke looked at the pictures and her eyes went wide. They seemed better than the dark room at school, and even that one was easy to navigate. "You'd really make a room like this just for me?"
"Well, I'd hope if one of your siblings took an interest in photography they could use it too. But yes, of course I would," Emily answered.
Clarke was speechless so Emily continued. "When the girls showed interest in dance and gymnastics, I added a room for them downstairs—I also added an indoor half field for Oliver to play soccer. I want my babies to be happy, and you my sweet little photographer are one of my baby's."
"I thought mom wanted the soccer field," Clarke said with a giggle knowing how much JJ loves soccer. Oliver does too, but JJ's love for soccer runs so deep and she never holds back from teasing the girls about it.
"Don't tell Oliver you know my secret," Emily said with a wink.
"I won't," Clarke laughed.
"So, what do you think? Can you help me plan your dark room, or do I need to hire a professional?"
"Umm, we should definitely hire someone because I don't know how to build an entire room, mom."
Emily laughed and pulled Clarke into her, kissing the top of her head. "I'm talking about the inside, silly girl."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, let's do it," Clarke smiled.
"Hey grandpa," Oliver said, looking up at him.
"What is it, buddy?"
"Do you think I could fly planes one day?" he asked. They had been at the museum for about an hour now looking at all the different planes and it got him to thinking.
"Ollie, I believe you can do anything you set your mind to."
"That's what mommy and momma say," Oliver exclaimed causing Sandy to smile.
"Well, that's because it's true honey. If you want to fly planes one day, we'll all do whatever we can to help you get there," Sandy assured.
"I think it would be so cool. Bill lets me go in the cockpit when we go on vacation, maybe I can fly with him one day," Oliver beamed, referring to the jet staff. Bill was incredible, he always let the kids sit in his seat to 'fly the plane' which was so cool to them.
"It sure would be, Ollie. I used to want to be a pilot when I was your age too," Allen said.
"Really? But that's not what you do," Oliver said, clearly confused. He was after all still a child who didn't understand that life happens, and dream jobs don't always come true.
"I know, buddy. You know how you really love soccer, airplanes, and racecars?" Allen asked and Oliver nodded. "Well, you wouldn't be able to have a career in all three even though you love them all. When I was deciding what to do, I chose construction."
"But you really love it, right?" Oliver asked.
"I do," Allen answered.
And it was true, he did. Would he love to have a career doing something else? Yes, absolutely. But he also had his family to think about and construction was the best option for them when they found out Sandy was pregnant with Johnathan. He doesn't regret anything; he does love having moments like these with his grandchildren to enjoy things they love so much though.
"I wanna do lots of stuff when I get older like mommy did. She worked with kids, then umm I forget the name of it, then she was at the FBI with momma, then with grandpa doing paperwork stuff. And momma, even though she's just worked for the FBI she did one job where she got to be on tv lots and lots of times, then she did the same job as everyone else. I don't think I'd want to be in the FBI, but maybe," Oliver said with a shrug.
Sandy hugged him and kissed the top of his head, "You still have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do with your life honey. And whatever you end up doing, we're going to be so proud of you."
"Thanks grandma. Come on, let's go see this plane," he said, taking her hand and dragging them to the next exhibit.
"What do you think so far, sweet pea?" Elizabeth asked at intermission.
"They're so good. I've thought about trying pointe but after today, I'm not sure I'd be good enough."
"Don't say that little pumpkin. You're the best dancer I've ever seen," Gerald smiled.
"Grandpa, I think you need new glasses because those dancers are much better than me."
One thing about Amelia was her lack of confidence in herself—it broke the mother's hearts because she was beyond talented and had gold after gold metals and trophies to show for it. She just always expected more from herself and thought everyone else was so incredible.
"I'm sure they weren't undefeated all competition season like you were," Gerald continued, feeling very proud. He had talented grandchildren—Oliver scored goal after goal at soccer, Clarke's photos belonged in museums and being sold, the littles were the cutest little dancers and Amelia was undefeated.
"I think you should try pointe lessons, sweet pea," Elizabeth chimed in. "I'm sure you'd be great."
"I don't know," Amelia said, looking down at her feet.
Sometimes she wondered if her family was so supportive of everything she did because that's just what they do, or if it was because she wasn't actually great at anything and they didn't want her to know.
Of course that wasn't the case, Amelia was beyond talented, even when she played soccer, she was fantastic. They'd never tell her something just for the sake of it—unless it was regarding her safety, the mothers are very honest.
Gerald gently lifted her chin with his fingers and smiled, "I'd love to see you on pointe. I could see you performing on a stage like this one day and best believe I'd be in the first row."
"Grandpa!" Amelia exclaimed, blushing.
"What do you mean they split up? So Clarke didn't leave the house? Well, it's not like they can just keep her in there forever…and when she does comes out, we will be ready," Chrisopher said through the phone.