Her Mother's Daughter - Hotchniss

chapter eleven: everybody talks

"Hey, baby, what you gotta say? / All you're giving me is fiction"

-

Bridget got to go home, finally, but she went with JJ for the first week or so. Emily, whose apartment they didn't keep, stayed with JJ while looking for a place so no one got suspicious about her and Hotch. Some nights, though, she'd sneak out to go see him, and they agreed to let JJ and Will — and only them — know about their relationship so they didn't get worried about someone coming and going in the night.

It was three o'clock in the morning when Emily came back one night, and she saw Bridget with a bowl of cereal and homework in front of her. Bridget's head whipped to look at the door. "Mom?" she whispered, loud enough so Emily could hear. Emily put on a fake smile.

"Hey, honey,"

"What are you doing here? Not, like, here, like, you live here, I mean why were you out?"

"I had some stuff to finish up, debriefing on Doyle,"

"At three in the morning? You were here when I went to bed,"

"Why are you up?"

"I'm doing homework." Emily glared at her. After a brief staring contest, Bridget started getting her things together. "I'll go to bed,"

"You were fast asleep when I left,"

"Okay, but why did you leave?" Emily sighed. Bridget smiled. "Were you going to see someone?"

"My love life is none of your business,"

"So you were seeing someone! What's her name?" Emily furrowed her brow and laughed.

"Her?"

"Okay, fine, what's their name?" Bridget corrected with an eye roll. Emily smiled.

"You're the worst, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm a menace." Emily grinned at her daughter.

"I'm just joking, yeah? Nice try, though, you're not getting anything out of me,"

"Hotch?"

Emily overrode her instinct to freeze and put her hand on her daughter's back, walking her back to her bedroom.

"I'm not with your father anymore, honey, you know that."

Bridget gave her mother a look, like they both knew she was lying. "He knew you weren't dead and he still missed you like crazy. JJ missed you too, but nothing like I saw from him. It was way different. I even saw him cry. I've only ever seen him cry once otherwise, when Haley died." Emily softened her look. "Plus, your reaction just now. You're not as good at hiding things as you think you are,"

"He cried?" asked Emily. Bridget nodded, her smile falling. "Honey, let's go to bed, okay? Why were you up in the first place?"

"I was just doing homework,"

"At 3 in the morning?"

"Clearly you don't understand the American public school system,"

"You were asleep a few hours ago." Bridget got stiff and quiet all of a sudden. "Is everything okay, honey?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine,"

"Don't say that if you don't mean it, Bridge,"

"I'm okay. Let me go to bed." Bridget shut the door in Emily's face and Emily stood there, a little hurt. She felt a gentle hand on her upper back. JJ.

"She's been through the wringer. You guys can talk in the morning." Emily turned quick and wrapped her arms around JJ. JJ rubbed her back. "How was Hotch?" she whispered, so quiet that Bridget couldn't hear through her door.