The Usual Rules

Chapter 12

Rachel sat down and tucked her knees up into her chest, her eyes full of tears. She was cold, she was scared and she was tired. The little girl pulled a twig out of her curly hair and let out a small sob. Looking around, she had no idea where she was and she felt very much alone.

Emily tapped her pencil onto her desk impatiently waiting for the clock to move just enough that she could get her coat, find JJ and get the hell out of the bullpen. Her first day back had been in a word – long. They didn't have a case, she should have been thrilled, but really she was just antsy and bored. She spent every minute thinking about what Rachel was doing. Did she feel safe? Was she getting along with her tutor? Did she play with other kids at recess? Did she feel included? Emily knew what it felt like to be the new kid in school, with her mother's postings, it was never ending. Emily had learned to keep her head down, not bother making to many friends and rely only on herself. That attitude had stuck with her throughout adulthood. Without her upbringing, she might have gotten together with JJ much sooner, the attraction had certainly been there the first day. Even now Emily had a hard time truly opening up all the time. She had only finally told JJ everything that had happened with Doyle after she was 'dead'. Having to come off of that, to have JJ finally know everything there was to know about her and still love her, Emily had learned that true trust was in fact possible. There were people who would always do everything they possibly could to be there for you. It was all a person could ever ask for and Emily was determined to share her newfound information with a certain seven year old.

The minutes dragged on, JJ didn't appear to be faring any better than Emily. In fact, if people were simply going on appearances, Emily would seem rather calm, while JJ was irritable and stressed.

Fifteen minutes.

Emily stood up and pulled on her coat quickly, catching JJ's attention. JJ had given up looking at the clock as it had clearly been broken and hadn't moved once since they arrived at 9:00 that morning, according to the blonde anyway. 420 minutes was – as Rachel had said – an incredibly long time if you were anticipating the end of it. JJ leapt out of her seat and grabbed her coat, putting it on as she sprinted out of the bullpen.

"See you tonight guys!" She yelled, knowing that Emily was right behind her.

"Jen, you are not driving." Emily said sternly as they reached the parking lot.

"Excuse me? Are you my wife or my mother?" JJ asked, irritated. If Emily hadn't known her for over five years – three of those in marriage – she might be flustered by JJ's mood swings; instead she smiled, kissed the blonde and stole the keys out of her hands. JJ frowned as Emily jumped into the driver's seat, closed the door, and stuck her tongue out like a child. "Seriously?" JJ asked as she climbed into the passengers seat.

"You drive very scarily when you are like this, and us getting pulled over will make us late. We promised, 3:30 on the dot."

"Exactly why you need to speed."

"We have plenty of time."

"I will flash the lights if you don't start going faster right now." JJ warned, completely serious. Emily hesitated a moment, to gauge if JJ was joking or not. When it became apparent that JJ was in fact, totally serious, Emily hit the gas. "What if something went wrong? What if she hated it? School sucks, I can't believe we told her it would be fun!"

"JJ, if something had gone wrong, Liz would have called us." Emily said trying to calm her wife – and herself – down at the same time. She had made Liz promise, more than once, to call for anything. She had a feeling Liz would try to handle it first and only call if it was something big. Emily pushed on the gas a little more.

They pulled into a front parking spot for drop offs and pick ups and ran out of the car. JJ noticed her first. "There!" She pointed. Rachel was sitting away from a few other girls, looking a little older than her on the front steps. At JJ's exclamation, the little brunette looked up and her face broke out into relief. She picked up her backpack and ran, holding onto one strap as she dragged it across the ground towards the two women.