"Lily bug, do you have doe-doe?" Emily asked her adorable sleepy little one who had on a t-shirt and pair of princess underwear.

"Dot doe-doe, mommy, see," she smiled, holding the stuffed turtle up while walking down the stairs carefully, taking the steps one by one because she was still so small, and they were big for her.

"Good job baby. Can you give her to momma, so she stays so super safe, please?" Emily questioned, pressing a kiss to the top of her head when she jumped off the bottom step, landing in front of her.

"But, who donna snubble wif me, mommy?"

Emily squatted down in front of Lily and gently cupped her cheek. "Tell you what, how about doe-doe stays with you until I finish helping you get dressed and then we can pack her, deal?"

Lily nodded and leaned forward, placing a kiss on her mother's lips the same way she had since she was two months old; when she was incredibly upset sometimes, a sweet little kiss from mommy calmed her instantly. As Lily got older, the little kisses often focused her when she felt overwhelmed by too much—when she initiated them however, it was just because, and it was so adorable.

Lily fell into Emily's arms and when the mother picked her sleepy girl up, as it was still very early in the morning, she smiled at Amelia who was sleepily eating the small breakfast she had made. They were going to have a real breakfast later, but her children had a routine, and she didn't want to break it too much, so she made some mini pancakes, fruit and bacon.

"Wasn't your brother just in here, sweet girl?" Emily said, kissing the top of Amelia's head then handed Lily a strawberry.

"Mhm. I think he…I'm not really sure where he went. Can I just leave my hair in my braids for now please mommy?"

Emily smiled and nodded. "Of course you can baby. I need to go find this little one some pants, when Oliver comes back down can you please make sure he eats something?" Emily asked.

"I'll take care of it, Em," Hayley said, walking into the kitchen.

"Oh great, thank you. I'm sure Clarke will be on her way down shortly as well. Were the boys downstairs with you?" Emily questioned.

"No," Hayley answered. "I haven't seen Jack since I tucked him in last night. I'm sure he and Oliver are adding last minute toys to their already over packed suitcases."

"Good thing they don't get weighed," Amelia said, still staring off into space. It was too early for her; she wasn't a huge fan of this time of morning because even when she got up for school it wasn't this early.

"I'll check on them when I go up," Emily said. "Come on bug, let's find you some bottoms."

Not even twenty minutes later Hotch and Hayley felt an odd sense of something they could only describe as a family swap. Clarke was sitting at the kitchen island eating breakfast, Amelia was getting Brynley's favorite spoon for Hotch so he could feed her, and Hayley was making airplane noises at Brooks with his breakfast.

They understood the concept of having an older child when their youngest was born but the age gaps in the Prentiss household took things to another level and their ability to help was unreal. Plus, there was something so different about having a simple conversation with the two big girls than their son—and then adding twins to the mix, my goodness.

"What are you most excited for?" Amelia asked them, feeling a bit more awake after eating.

"All of it," Hayley answered immediately.

"What, no!" the girls exclaimed. "That's totally cheating, Aunt Hayley. You have to pick one place like the rest of us," Clarke continued.

"Oh gosh," she laughed. "I'd have to say Paris then because it's somewhere I've always dreamt of going with your uncle," Hayley said, touching Hotch's shoulder causing him to smile at her.

"What about you Uncle Aaron?" Clarke asked him.

He fed Brynley another bite then faced the girls. "Rome. I can't wait to see all the history, museums, the Vatican, and the colosseum. What about you two?"

"Rome too!" Amelia exclaimed. "Pasta, so much pasta. The best pasta ever and it's everywhere there," she laughed. "And they have gluten free for Lily too."

"I agree with that, I'm always down for pasta. I just can't wait to take pictures. I think maybe Venice and London may give me the best shots, but the Eiffel tower in Paris is an obvious picture too. And then Rome too," Clarke answered.

"You need to choose one like I—" Hayley started to say, then was interrupted by her daughter.

"Mommy!" Harper screamed, running into the kitchen with Oakley on her heels.

The two of them had been playing upstairs—for some ungodly reason after Emily had gotten out of the shower, Oakley had woken up and in return, her bedmate did as well. She hoped they would eat something and go right back to sleep, however, no such luck. Emily knew on the jet they'd take a great and long nap though, so it wasn't a huge deal.

"Hi sweetie, come give me a hug," Hayley said.

Harper ran into her arms and after her hug with Hayley, she snuggled up with her dad and felt content in his arms while Oakley cuddled with Hayley. "Are you two excited to go on vacation?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be really fun," Oakley smiled.

"How are things going in here momma bear?" Emily asked.

This was a big trip; one they had taken before however, that time they only had three children and packing seemed like a breeze to Emily. She had a method back then though and she's stuck with it.

Packing cubes made things incredibly easy for the family, especially because the big kids liked to be a part of choosing their own outfits, which was fine as long as Emily was there for the process, so she knew they had everything.

JJ was in charge of day-of add ons—the kids blankies, stuffies, extra pacifiers, the diaper bag, anything she herself may use that morning before leaving or the kids may use in the morning too. She laid each of the kids' special items on their bed to make sure she had them and when she and Emily counted them, they were good to go.

Anything else was replaceable. If they forgot something, Emily had no problem going to the nearest store and buying another one. What they couldn't replace was a two-thirteen-year-old blanket/stuffed animal and their children couldn't sleep without them. This is why they had the system, it worked.

"I can't find doe-doe anywhere," JJ said, mentally counting everything on the bed once more.

"Doe-doe dare, momma," Lily said, causing JJ to look up at her daughter who was waving the turtle around proudly while snuggled in Emily's arms.

"Oh, silly girl. You have her, I didn't know! I thought she must have crawled away," JJ teased.

"No, se no twawl away. Doe-doe no berry past, momma," Lily giggled.

"Because she's a turtle?" JJ asked. "Or is she not very fast because you put a magic spell on her to keep her close at all times?" she said, now right in front of Lily to tickle her sides.

Lily squirmed around in Emily's arms and the mothers laughed hearing her breathless giggles. "Can you take her and make sure the boys have gone down to eat some breakfast please? I'm going to pack these last items then start bringing the bags downstairs," Emily said.

"Sure babe," JJ said, giving her a chaste kiss then accepting Lily. JJ didn't know if Lily was feeling extra snuggly this morning or just sleepy, either way she was more than happy to cuddle with her. "Let's go see what the boys are doing, Lily bug."

While walking down the hallway, Emily heard JJ ask Lily, "Do you know all the places we're going baby girl?"

"We donna doe on da aiwpwaine!"

"Yeah, that's right. But where are we going when we get off the airplane?"

"Umm, me dunno," Lily said with a shrug.

"Lil, we're going to London first," Oliver said, suddenly appearing in front of the two with Jack to his left.

They were adding some special toys to their carry-on backpacks—Emily liked the kids to have a backpack each to bring in the cabin to keep them occupied while traveling. Oliver and Jack, however, had decided this morning to switch some toys out with others. Boys.

"Wondin momma," Lily repeated with a smile, still cuddling doe-doe. Emily wasn't going to fight it; she knew her sleepy girl wasn't going to make down the driveway before falling asleep again. It wasn't even 4am, she could keep the turtle—between all the adults including the grandparents who would be meeting them at the airstrip, nobody would let her leave without it.

"Yeah, then where are we going?" JJ asked more to the boys.

"Paris, Venice, and Rome," Oliver answered with a smile. "It's gonna be so much fun."

"Yes it is," JJ smiled. "Why don't you two bring your backpacks downstairs and go get something to eat please, okay?"

"Okay!" they said, then ran down the stairs.

JJ, Lily and their trusty friend doe-doe made the rounds upstairs to make sure all the children were downstairs—JJ was also making sure backpacks had been taken down, and there were no lingering blankets or stuffies. She did find two items that caused her to shake her head, silly girls, she thought to herself.

JJ knew Hayley would have already done the same thing in the guestroom where she and Hotch slept; they figured it would be easier to have the Hotchner family here and leave for the airstrip together. Two cars would be necessary anyways because of all the luggage, and because the Prentiss cars already have airstrip parking passes it would save a lot of time. The Jareaus have one from all the time they've traveled with the elder Prentiss's, and even though the grandparents were coming with them, there was no reason they needed to spend the night too.

"Wook wat doe-doe finded," Lily said, when JJ carried her into the kitchen. Lily's turtle was tucked safely under her arm so she could hold up two cellphones with a huge smile on her face, she felt like such a big girl with phones that barely fit in her hands.

Hotch, Hayley, JJ and even Clarke held back their laughter, Lily was just so darn cute. "Oops," Amelia said, standing up and accepting the phone from her sister. "Thanks Lil. I thought I put it in my bag."

"No, doe-doe fine it on da table dwesk," Lily answered.

Amelia patted the turtle's head and said, "Thanks doe-doe."

Clarke was next to walk over to her mom and sister, smiling at how proud she was. "Thanks cutie. I didn't know doe-doe was a detective." When it was clear Lily didn't know what that was, Clarke continued. "You know Chase on Paw Patrol?"

"Yeah," Lily nodded.

"Doe-doe is like Chase, she found my phone the way Chase finds clues and helps his friends," Clarke said.

"Yeah, doe-doe wike da dadeptive, momma," Lily giggled, feeling so happy her sisters were glad she brought them their phones.

Clarke knew she could have used her moms as examples however, Lily and Oakley didn't completely grasp what they did. The girls knew JJ and the team helped people, Oakley even knew her mom was sometimes on the tv but she wasn't allowed to see it because it was late at night. At least, that's the lie Emily told her. The big kids knew that sometimes when JJ was on tv, it was to talk with the bad person they were trying to get or warn the town of what to look out for and Emily didn't want them to have nightmares, and they understood. Lily however, was still at the age where all she knew was momma helped people, not recognizing that FBI, detective and police office were similar in nature.

Emily knew her little bug was still a bit behind her other children, granted three came to them far older than their little Oakie-bear, but she was okay with it. The mother had a feeling by the end of the summer they were going to see a huge difference in her peanut, and she'd be ready to conquer kindergarten.

Something about Lily that differed from Oakley, the twins and even Harper for that matter was the fact she was an only child for the first eighteen months of her life. And in that time, she preferred to take everything in rather than repeat words her mother's said to her or speak herself. While Oakley was passed from group home to foster home where she was constantly with other children, something the twins experienced as well, being born into a family with five older siblings, and Harper with one, Lily didn't.

Even though she's the one who keeps Emily and JJ on their toes, is the most sassy, opinionated, and loud little girl, they still find Lily often talking so quickly to herself while playing that it's more of a babble; if anything, it sounds like the twins. Lily's excitement and energy gets her little brain tangled up when the words come rushing out of her mouth. And while still normal for a four-year-old, Emily does find herself worried sometimes. She just wants the best for all her sweet babies.

Before the jet took off, they were already down five children.

The twins had fallen asleep on the car ride over which was great because they were an easy transfer. Gerald and Elizabeth snapped their car seats into the bases on the jet and sat across from them, essentially stating they'd take care of them for the duration of the flight.

Oakley ran into Allen's arms the minute she saw him and refused to let him put her down—that turned into her falling asleep almost instantly the minute JJ put a blanket over the two of them when he took his seat. Allen was in charge of Oakley and was very happy about it. None of the grandparents had a preference of who they were looking after, they just wanted to help their daughters anyway they could.

Hotch had his sleeping little princess in his arms and a smile on his face hearing his son's excitement regarding the jet. "Ollie, let's sit here together. It can be our own little space together…" Jack said, and Oliver agreed as Hotch saw them pick one of the double seats toward the back. He kissed Harper's head gently and sat down next to his wife and she spread the blanket across them, running her fingers through the little girl's hair. Their seats faced the boys to keep an eye on Jack and Oliver just in case Emily and JJ needed to tend to the others.

Emily had Lily in her arms, the little one's eyes fluttered even before they left the house. Doe-doe was securely tucked between Lily's cheek and Emily's chest while the mother made her final rounds down the jet. Everyone seemed to be settled.

Amelia and Clarke were sitting together with JJ and Sandy right next to them, they had already had their bubbles so the nerves were gone—Emily had given some to Jack and Harper as well after verifying it with Hayley first. The girls still wanted to hold their mom and grandma's hands though for take off which was absolutely fine. Oliver and Jack were good to go, they were beyond excited however, Emily had a feeling the boys would be out like lights as soon as they were in the air.

She took her seat next to her wife, wrapped a blanket around Lily then nodded at Charlie when he made his appearance. Wheels up.

"What are we—" Morgan started to say, just to be silenced by Garcia who was holding her finger to her lips. She pointed to the box on the round table then made a fake cell phone with her hand, signaling to the rest of the team to put theirs in the box.

Morgan, Tara, and Reid put their phones in the box then waited to say anything. Things had been very cagey and hush hush since Hotch had received the photos of their team, his family, the Prentiss family, and the note. They were going to be working on this case in a completely different way than they normally did to keep everyone safe, and because they were down two members, Emily had sent in backups.

While the Prentiss and Hotchner families were on their way to an undisclosed location, two men were on their way up to the 6th floor with Strauss. In fact, this went higher than Strauss because of a lovely thing called connections—nobody targets the Prentiss family, and that includes the team. This case was code word classified.

"For the foreseeable future, I'm going to be the unit chief," Rossi said. He held his hand up knowing everyone wanted to speak, however, he wasn't finished. "I know we are two members down right now, that is for their own safety as much as their families. Before I go into everything, I want to wait for our reinforcements to arrive."

"Reinforcements? What the hell does that mean, we work alone!" Morgan said, not liking the fact Rossi was bringing other people into this, especially when it was their family this guy was after.

Just then, the door swung open revealing Strauss and two very, very familiar faces. These men were much more than the team thought they were—only Emily knew that though. When choosing people to protect her children, she wanted the best and that didn't just mean protective details, Emily searched everywhere.

Matt Simmons is a military veteran, then he worked for the FBI's international response team where he met Emily. She had heard about the disbandment of the unit around the time Oliver came into their lives and offered him a job which he accepted to finally be stateside again.

Luke Alvez was a ranger, something Emily knew the men would bond over due to the brotherhood, and joined the FBI after, jumping all around division. He settled when assigned to the fugitive task force and while he loved hunting down criminals, he found it very lonely because it was a job Luke did alone.

A little negotiating and an introduction later, Emily had the men working for her to protect Oliver while also keeping an eye on Hayley and the kids just in case because you can never be too safe. Turns out, the men were much happier having that brotherhood bond while stateside and being able to have their own life at the same time.

"Listen guys, while I think it's great you help keep the kids safe, you can't work a case with us," Morgan said.

Matt and Luke exchanged a look then pulled their badges out from their pockets shocking everyone besides Strauss and Rossi. "You're…but how?" Garcia questioned.

"David, let's get started please," Strauss interjected before the men could explain.

"Take a seat everyone," Rossi said. He waited for them to follow his instruction then continued.

"This case is code word classified. I've been given strict orders by the director, Agent Hotcher and Jareau are not to come back until Stratton Greenburg and anyone else connected to him is in custody. You will not be working on any other case until this is solved. Is that clear?" Strauss said, and everyone nodded. "Very well then."

And with that, she left the room.

"Okay team, we have a lot of work to do. You heard Strauss, these orders are coming from the director. Any and all files regarding this case are to be labeled with the following," he said, handing them each a blank file, prelabeled.

"Integrity?" Morgan questioned.

Rossi ignored the question and moved along. "As you all know, two days ago an envelope was sent to Hotch by Stratton Greenburg—in it, was pictures of the team, including Emily, Hayley and all the kids. Hotch took his family to Emily and JJs because of their security and when Emily checked the mail that night, she found this."

Due to the fact Rossi had just brought Garcia into things this morning, she hadn't had time to help put anything together, so he held the note up to show the team then read out loud.

You can't hide forever.

I know you're poison, do they?

Maybe we should show them what I know…let's turn your perfect world upside down.

"She also received a few more pictures, this time they were only of herself and Hotch," Rossi added.

"Shouldn't they be over there protecting my godbabies," Garcia not so whispered to Rossi, signaling Matt and Luke.

"Nobody is home. We don't need to worry about anything but solving this case, they are in a safe location," Rossi smiled.

"Oh no you don't mister. That's not going to fly with me, you really think you can get between me and all my little cupcakes?" Garcia said, working herself up.

"Even Hotch and his family?" Reid asked.

"Yeah kid, they are all together," Rossi answered. "Garcia, this is to protect them. We don't know who Greenburg is working with, that's why we put our phones in the box before our meeting too, remember?"

The director didn't take too kindly knowing someone in his own building was a traitor and because agents were still being targeted, agents with connections he feared, Sam wasn't going to take any chances. Precautions had been put in place that caused a lot of aggravation, it felt necessary to him though—he was also considering a sweep while the BAU worked their case so by the time it ended, it would be a fresh start for all.

Emily had planned the trip perfectly for the kids—even for the adults really, although they were much better at jumping through time differences due to their lines of work and being adults. Their bodies adjusted quickly whereas children didn't, which is why Emily came up with her masterplan.

Hayley was all for the plan the minute Emily told her as she'd never traveled internationally with Jack and Haper before however, Elizabeth wanted to add her two cents into the conversation as well. She was quickly shot down though because this wasn't Emily's first trip, she had literally taken Amelia, Oakley and Lily on this exact trip years ago however, it was for business.

Getting up and out seemed like a crazy thing to do, especially when your spouses are the queen and king of the let me sleep club. You'd never know they held such prominent roles in the FBI when Emily and Hayley were the ones attempting to get them out of bed each morning. It was worth it though, especially because of where they were going and the fact they could sleep again on the jet.

Emily's schedule started at 3:30am, Hayley wasn't far behind her at 3:45am—it may seem extreme but getting nine children up, changed into comfy clothes, last minute items packed, fed, then tackling getting your spouses to do the same and help so you could make it to the airstrip by 5:30 was a challenge.

Take off by 6am—a little over 7 hours of travel giving everyone plenty of time to get more sleep, get their wiggles out, and land in a new time zone ready for a yummy dinner while the bags are taken to the grand suits Emily booked seeing as it would be 6pm. Thanks to the food served on the jet, the family would have eaten a real breakfast, a light lunch with plenty of snacks, and were just saying how hungry they were before landing.

It may be 1pm at home, but this was the best way Emily was able to counter jetlag in kids. Adults typically stay up before getting on the plane, or take an early flight then stay up—kids cannot do that, their little selves need all the sleep they can get. The mothers put them to bed the slightest bit earlier last night, woke them up early today, told them to go back to sleep, and while they may have so much energy now, after a huge dinner and then playing for a bit, they will sleep all night long. No jetlag for the little monkeys.

Emily straightened out Lily's shirt that had become twisted in her car seat while watching Hayley strap Harper into her stroller as JJ did the same with the twins—JJ was going far slower though as she kept looking up at her parents with a huge smile on her face.

Emily knew JJ was really excited to experience traveling out of the country with her parents. While they had with the elder Prentiss's, it was never with JJ and her family too, so this was really special to the blonde; JJ got the best of both worlds, her parents and her children it was magical to her.

Hotch was nodding along to what Jack and Oliver were saying to him although Emily could tell he couldn't repeat back if he was asked—he was just so happy to be here with his family and not missing this incredible trip due to work. These are memories he and his family would cherish forever.

Gerald was listening to Oakley tell her about the drawing she was working on while in the air and even though Elizabeth kept suggesting they put the iPad in the bag to keep it safe, Gerald would say, she isn't done telling me about her doggy world, Lizzie. Emily bit her lip each time because he was so invested in the coloring page and the story Oakley put behind her artwork, it was adorable.

Amelia and Clarke were deep in conversation regarding what the family did here last time and even though mommy had to work, they still did lots of fun things. Clarke was also snapping a few pictures to represent the first few sites she saw once they parked the car while continuing the conversation with her sister. When Amelia's stomach grumbled, it caused her to remember a specific restaurant and after explaining to Clarke, they ran over to Emily.

"Mommy!" Amelia said, then covered her mouth with her hand when she got up to her mother, her sister right on her heels. "Is she asleep?" Amelia asked, standing on her tiptoes to see if Lily's eyes were closed or not.

"Nope, Lily bug is awake. Aren't you, silly girl," Emily said, taking doe-doe from her daughter and using the turtle to kiss all over Lily's face.

"Me doe-doe, mommy," Lily said, stealing the turtle back, then lying her head back down against Emily's chest.

"What's up sweet girls?" Emily asked her oldest two.

"Remember that restaurant we went to last time? Umm, I don't remember the name, but we all got to eat free because part of it was kids didn't need to pay. Well, you did, but only if you're like not 12 yet or something I forget. Do you remember mommy? The food was really, really yummy."

"Heddon Street." Emily said, smiling when she saw the excitement on the girls' faces. Clarke didn't even know why she was so excited, besides the obvious, they were in London.

"Can we please go there, mommy?"

"Who is our guest, baby?" Emily whispered to her.

Amelia smiled and ran off to ask a few more people first. This was vacation after all and because it was a 14-day trip, the intention was to try and map things out the best they could and figure out what each person wanted to do most and give them their special day.

Granted, there may be some overlap and some things may not take very long meaning, you can choose other activities as well. The parents would figure it out after a goodnight's rest for their children. Tonight though, Emily and JJ agreed they wanted the Hotchner's to be okay with the choice because the Prentiss children who hadn't already been here were the easiest going.

Once Amelia had asked the Hotchner family who all said yes, Amelia nodded to Emily, and they were off. On the way there, Lily told Emily what type of food she wanted in her tummy and what type of food doe-doe wanted in her tummy too which made for great entertainment for everyone listening in.

"I think doe-doe should eat leaves, bug. Not your strawberries," Emily said.

Lily gasped and shook her head no, "Me shawre me swabwrees mommy!"

"Oh my goodness, why didn't I think of that," Emily teased.

"Mommy so swilly," Lily giggled.