"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚕𝚞𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦
"EMILY GOT ME THEM," Noah says as she shows Penelope her new shoes.
The week went by quickly, but the weekend became slow as Emily got a call to come into work for a case. Noah was, yet again, dragged out of bed and taken to the BAU.
"I love them!" Penelope beams.
"We went shopping on Friday and she got me tons of stuff," Noah chimes, "You'll have to come over and I can show you all of it!"
"Oh, this sounds like the perfect opportunity for an at-home fashion show!" Penelope exclaims and Noah nods along.
"Absolutely!" Noah says and smiles wide, "I'll talk to Emily about it when I see her."
"I went to look for her, but I couldn't find her." Noah adds.
"I think they went to the briefing room if you need her." Penelope says and sees the teen nod.
In the bullpen, a very stern woman enters. She is wearing a black blazer with a tight pencil skirt. Her hair is perfectly curled at its ends and
"Excuse me, Agent," The woman says as she approaches Anderson, "I need to speak to Agent Prentiss and one of her superiors."
"Uh, she's in a briefing—"
"Yes, well, it's extremely important." The woman insists.
Emily stands at the counter in the briefing room and looks out the window. She furrows her brow as she sees a familiar face. Emily quickly heads to the door and walks out to the balcony. She blinks a few times before realizing that the woman is exactly who she thought it was.
"Mother?" Emily calls out.
The woman looks over at the balcony and acknowledges her daughter by a single glare.
—
Noah steps into the bullpen and looks around for Emily. Once she sees her leaving Hotch's office, she rushes to catch up to her.
"Emily—" Noah says as they meet at the bottom of the steps.
"C'mere," Emily replies and immediately pulls Noah towards Garcia's office.
Emily checks the office and sees that Garcia must have gone somewhere. She takes a deep breath and turns around to face the teen.
"What's wrong?" Noah asks. Emily's heart melts at the concern emitting from the teen.
"My mother is here," Emily states.
"Why?" Noah asks.
"Because she has a case for us."
"Okay,"
"So, you're gonna be meeting your grandmother for the first time." Emily says in hopes that the teen will be somewhat excited.
"Okay," Noah replies, having no words.
In the teen's mind, there are a million thoughts popping up. She is worried about all the different ways that meeting Emily's mother could go wrong.
"She may come off a bit cold," Emily adds.
"I come off a bit cold." Noah says.
"Well, try not to." Emily pleads.
"If she can, why can't I?" Noah says stubbornly. Emily rolls her eyes as she realizes that the teen is not taking the situation seriously.
"I'm being serious," Emily sternly says, "She's not that bad once you get to know her."
"Are you telling me that I'm not gonna like her?" Noah asks.
"I think you two might be too similar to get along." Emily notes, which confuses Noah.
"Too similar?" The teen questions and looks into Emily's eyes, "Oh my God, you're nervous!"
"What? No, I'm not." Emily defends.
"Yes, you are! I can read your face like a book!" Noah exclaims as she lets out a little giggle. She sees that Emily does not laugh or even crack a smile, which shows her that the woman is genuinely nervous.
"It's okay," The teen sweetly says, "I'll be nice, I promise."
"You better keep that promise." Emily warns her and watches a smile paint the teen's lips.
"Well, c'mon," Noah says and shows Emily the door.
As they walk back to the bullpen, Noah lets her doubts flood her mind. She saw how nervous Emily was and it is not helping calm her nerves. With Emily struggling to breathe, the teen tries to keep it together and save the trouble of both of them being anxious.
"In here," Emily says as she walks up the balcony with Noah. She shows her into the briefing room, where Elizabeth Prentiss sits alone.
"Mother," Emily says, "Uhm, there's someone I want you to meet." She adds and looks down at Noah. The teen recognizes the look of stress and nods her head to give Emily some reassurance.
"This is Noah," Emily begins, "She's been living with me for a while now."
"What?" Elizabeth asks.
"I am fostering her," Emily says, "Hoping to adopt soon, though."
"So, I don't hear from you for months and you suddenly have a child?" Elizabeth questions her daughter. Noah's heart sinks at the condescending question.
"Well, mother, I—"
"I thought you'd never give me a grandchild!" Elizabeth suddenly exclaims, surprising Emily and Noah, "Hi!" The older woman beams as she walks over to the pair.
"Hello," Noah sheepishly speaks.
"You are so beautiful." Elizabeth beams and admires the similarities between all three of them. Their raven hair, unique and sharp bone structure, and all of their smiles.
"Thank you." Noah chimes with a small giggle.
Emily would never admit it, but jealousy strikes through her veins at her mother's comment. The way that Elizabeth talks to Noah is so different to what Emily knew as a child or teenager.
"I'd say you were a part of our family if it wasn't for your eyes." Elizabeth says as she looks into the teen's blue eyes; they differ massively from her and Emily's pools of brown.
"Mother—"
"It's okay." Noah calms her mother and smiles at Elizabeth.
"We're ready to get started," Hotch says as he enters the briefing room. Noah nods and steps back as the team slowly enters the room one-by-one.
Penelope notices that the teen does not know where to go, so she stands next to her and places a hand on the teen's shoulder.
"I left my Nintendo on my desk for you." She whispers into Noah's ear.
"Thanks, P," Noah beams and walks off to Garcia's office.
Emily watches Noah walk away through the window, wondering if the interaction went as well as it came across. She hopes that, in the end, Noah can be close to Elizabeth. Noah may even be the glue that brings the mother and daughter back together; she just does not know it.
—
"Hey," Emily says as she walks into Penelope's office.
Noah is on the sofa listening to music while Penelope is working away on the case. Emily looks over at the teen and kneels in front of her.
"I have to go to my mother's house to help her—"
"Can I come?" Noah asks.
"Not right now, honey—"
"Please, Emily!" Noah quietly pleads, "I wanna talk to her again," She says and looks into Emily's eyes. The woman tries to resist the puppy-dog eyes, but it does not work.
"You have to let me work—"
"I will," Noah insists and sees Emily nod as she stands up.
Noah jumps up alongside Emily and walks to the elevator with her. The teen begins to ramble on about the game she was playing on Penelope's Nintendo. Emily simply smiles at Noah and is pleased to see that she is happy.
"Can we watch a movie tonight?" Noah eagerly asks as they get in the car.
"What movie?" Emily questions.
"A superhero movie—"
"Superhero?" Emily says as she gives an expression of confusion.
"Like Spider-Man or Iron Man or Fantastic 4." Noah rambles.
"You really like those movies?"
"You can't tell me that Iron Man isn't one of the best movies you've ever seen!" Noah replies with an excited smile.
"I've never seen it—"
"What?!" The teen shrieks.
"Noah, I'm a very busy woman." Emily states with a small giggle.
"Too busy for a movie night with me?" Noah pouts.
"Never," Emily beams and strokes the teen's hair with her free hand.
The rest of the car ride is silent as Noah looks out at the large houses. The neighborhood they are driving through is unlike anything Noah has ever seen. The houses, to her, appear as castles while Emily feels a sense of her childhood.
"Here we are," Emily chimes as she pulls into one of the driveways. The teen looks around in awe at the beautiful house before them.
Noah gets out of the car and follows Emily to the sidewalk leading to the front door.
"Did you grow up here?" Noah asks.
"Yeah, for a bit. We only moved here my junior year of high school." Emily answers, "But I moved away as soon as I graduated."
"How come?"
"I wanted to be on my own." Emily says, "Live under my own roof with my own rules."
"That sounds like fun," Noah giggles.
"Hey, don't get any ideas. You're still stuck with me for a while." The woman says and puts her arm around Noah's shoulder.
"I'd miss Sergio too much," The teen says with a smile.
"Not me?" Emily gasps as she knocks on the front door.
"Well, you too, I guess." Noah jokes and leans into Emily's hold as she becomes nervous to face her new grandmother again.
Suddenly, the door swings open, revealing a woman in a nice blouse and pencil skirt with short and sleek blonde hair.
"Hi, Georgia." Emily beams.
"Hello, Emily, it's nice to see a familiar face around here." The woman replies.
"In the office?" Emily asks.
"Like always," Georgia sighs and walks off to finish her own work.
"C'mon, Noah." Emily says as she notices the teen staring around at the massive home. Noah rushes to catch up with Emily and walks into the office with her.
"Mother?" Emily says as she knocks on the open office door.
"Come in, come in." Elizabeth says as she keeps her attention on her computer.
"Any news?" Emily asks as she watches Noah sit down at the seat in front of Elizabeth's desk. The teen zones out the women's conversation.
"Woah," Noah whispers as she looks at the antique paper holder on Elizabeth's desk. She runs her fingers gently across it and admires the intricate details of the gold.
"Oh, I didn't realize she made you follow her everywhere when she's at work." Elizabeth says to Noah.
"She figured I'd be safe here," Noah tells a lie, which Elizabeth does not catch. Emily would be unimpressed with the white lie, but let's it slide because it seems to keep her mother off her back.
"Are you enjoying your work at the BAU, Emily?" Elizabeth asks.
"It's work," Emily replies. Noah rolls her eyes as she sits in one of the chairs and puts her feet over the arm.
"I thought that was where you wanted to be?" Elizabeth questions Emily.
"It is, definitely." Emily replies.
"Then, you do enjoy it." Elizabeth states.
"All I'm saying is 'enjoy' feels wrong." Emily argues.
"Why're you being so defensive?" Noah questions the woman as she leans back to look at Emily, who is browsing the shelves of her mother's office.
"I—"
"What would you call it then?" Elizabeth butts in.
"Why do we always have to end up in an interrogation?" Emily defends herself.
"She was actually asking you a nice question." Noah mumbles. Before Elizabeth or Emily can say anything, Georgia walks into the office.
"Ambassador," She says.
"Yes?"
"Gregor Popovich is on the line." Georgia states and points to the phone.
"Thank you," Elizabeth says and presses the button to get on the line. Noah stands and walks around the office, admiring all of the little knick-knacks.
Noah giggles as she looks over at the framed pictures on one of Elizabeth's decorative tables.
"What're you giggling at?" Emily quietly asks so not to disturb her mother's phone call.
"Check these out," Noah says and picks up one of the frames. In it is a picture of Emily when she was just a little bit older than Noah.
"Oh God,"
"We do look alike." Noah says with a proud smile. Emily flashes a wide smile as well as she gazes at her daughter.
"I thought you said she was distant." Noah whispers as she looks at the other framed pictures — they are all of Emily.
"Just because she's distant doesn't mean she can't print pictures of me." Emily quietly mutters.
"You only have one picture of me at the apartment." Noah mumbles.
"Excuse me," Emily scoffs as she gives Noah the side eye, "There's two."
"There's not—"
"One in the living room and one on my nightstand."
"The one in your room doesn't count, nobody walks in there except for you." Noah says, "And the one in the living room is a baby picture of me and Penelope asked if it was you."
"I really thought he could do this." Elizabeth says as she interrupts the mother and daughter's conversation.
"Uhm, I should head back to the office and let them know." Emily says.
"Yeah. Please tell Agent Hotchner I'm sorry." Elizabeth adds and looks back at her work.
"Right." Emily says with a quick nod. Noah looks over at her grandmother and sees her pretending to busy herself with her computer again.
"What was that?" Noah asks as her and Emily walk outside of the house.
"I don't think I've ever seen her like that." Emily says.
"Like what?"
"Defeated," Emily answers with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Everybody gets defeated." Noah states.
"Yeah, but she never shows it. I just assumed she never felt that way." Emily speaks honestly with the teen.
"Ambassador Prentiss gets everything she wants or needs." Noah repeats words that she had heard Emily say before.
"Exactly," Emily sighs as she opens the car door and heads back to the BAU.
—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
The team has quickly figured out more and more of the case. Elizabeth took some time to call one of her old friends from the embassy. She pulled some strings and got some information that can help Penelope hack into the Russian bank's server.
Elizabeth brings the information to Emily, who is quick to take it to Penelope. Elizabeth follows close behind as they enter the blonde's office.
"Garcia?" Emily asks as she walks into Penelope's lair with her mother.
"What's up—" Garcia begins but suddenly gasps, "What have I done to have the honor of not one, not two, but three Prentiss' in my lair?!" Penelope exclaims, making Noah giggle. Elizabeth turns around and sees that the teen is comfortable on the sofa with a book and her headphones.
"Do you always sit in here?" Elizabeth asks her granddaughter.
"Yeah, the couch is comfy, Penelope's fun company, and there's a metal door with a technological lock on it for safety." Noah says with a playful smile.
"Hm," Elizabeth hums in response.
"I need you to look at this for me. This should tell you how the Russian bank works." Emily says to Penelope and hands her the hard-drive Elizabeth gave her.
Penelope takes the hard-drive and gets to work immediately.
"It's bread crumbs," Penelope beams at her discovery.
"I'm sorry?" Emily asks as she leans down next to Garcia to see the screen better.
"It's a set of address strings and passwords, a path. See?"
Garcia works her magic as she explains her steps to a clueless Emily.
"What is that?" Emily asks.
"Ohh!" Penelope exclaims, "It's downloading the structure of Nadka Bank's server to me."
"Are you kidding?" Emily says and looks at Elizabeth out the corner of her eye.
Noah listens in to the conversation and is impressed by Elizabeth. Emily was right in saying how they are similar. No matter how defeated Elizabeth felt, she kept trying. Noah is stubborn in a very familiar way.
—
𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘩'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦
The team was able to solve the case after Elizabeth's help into the bank. Hotch asked Emily to thank her mother, so she thought it would be nice to do so in person.
"Are you nervous?" Noah asks her mother as they get out of the car that is parked in Elizabeth's driveway.
"What?"
"Are you nervous?" Noah repeats herself.
"Why would I be nervous? She's my mother." Emily states as they walk up the sidewalk for the second time today.
"She seems to make you...shaky." Noah replies.
"Shaky?"
"You know — anxious."
"She's always made me anxious. She drove me crazy when I was a kid." Emily says as they arrive at the front door.
"What're you doing?" Noah asks as she watches Emily raise her hand to knock on the door.
"What?"
"Why're you knocking?"
"Would you prefer the doorbell?" Emily asks with a chuckle.
"I prefer walking into your mother's house as if you've lived here before." Noah tuts.
"Yeah, over ten years ago." Emily says in a defensive tone.
"Don't be weird — be normal." Noah states and opens the front door before Emily can object.
The teen makes her way to Elizabeth's office with Emily right behind her. Noah knocks on Elizabeth's office door and sees Elizabeth flash a smile as she sets eyes on her. Emily comes out from behind Noah and gives her mother a small smile.
"We got him." Emily tells her mother as she walks into her office, "Mr. Chernus is safe now."
"Oh, good." Elizabeth beams, "Hi, Noah." She acknowledges the teen.
"Hi," Noah beams.
"We really couldn't have done it without you." Emily continues.
"Ah. Well, I'm sure that isn't true." Elizabeth coyly replies.
"Hotch said so himself," Noah adds, "He wanted us to thank you."
"Well, tell him I'm glad I could help."
"Anyway, I thought you would wanna know how it all came out." Emily says as she prepares to leave.
"It was nice to feel needed again." Elizabeth says, stopping Emily in her tracks.
"What—what did you say?" Emily tuts, shocked to hear her mother's words.
"Well, I don't mean to be overly dramatic, but..." Elizabeth trails off, "I am an ambassador without an assignment."
"You—you've been without assignments before." Emily says.
"Yeah, but never for this long, and one does begin to wonder." Elizabeth says, "What, did I say something wrong?"
"I don't think I've ever seen you doubt yourself before."
"Oh, I doubt myself all the time, Emily. It's just not showing it. That's what being a diplomat's all about." The mother explains, "But, I have a granddaughter now. I guess I have to start showing her that you don't always succeed and that that's okay." She adds, making Noah smile. The teen looks up at Emily and sees that she is a bit speechless.
"We're going to dinner," Noah interjects, "We'd love it if you'd join us."
"My treat?" Elizabeth offers.
"Can I get dessert?" Noah asks.
"You can get whatever you want." The woman replies with a sweet smile.
"Then, yes, definitely." Noah beams and walks out of the office with Emily and Elizabeth.
—
𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘻'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦
"I've never been to this restaurant," Elizabeth says as they enter a small Mexican restaurant.
"They have the best enchiladas," Noah notes, "Penelope brought me here for takeout once."
"You seem to be close to her," Elizabeth mentions.
"Well, when Emily goes on cases, I stay with her."
"Then I'm sure she's a very trustworthy individual." Elizabeth says with a smile.
"Oh, you can't trust her with your gossip, but I can trust that she would take a bullet for me." Noah giggles.
"You must be special to her," Elizabeth adds.
"Everyone is special to her." Noah says with a smile. Emily looks down at her daughter and cannot help but smile as well. The way she perfectly describes Penelope shows her that she is beginning to trust her team members and friends.
"Right this way," The hostess says as she walks them to a booth towards the windows of the restaurant. Emily sits down first and Noah immediately slides in next to her.
A waitress takes their drink orders and rushes off to get them. While they wait, they all browse their menus even though Noah knows exactly what she wants.
"What should I get?" Emily asks the teen.
"The tacos — so I can try one." Noah says with a playful grin.
"Okay, deal." Emily agrees as she shakes her head.
After they get their drinks and order, Elizabeth begins asking about Emily and Noah's life.
"Noah, where do you go to school?"
"Levine Prep," Noah answers.
"That's a very good school; I'm impressed."
"I'm a lot smarter than I look," Noah jokes and hears Emily giggle.
"She's not joking when she says that." Emily adds and begins talking about Noah's grades, her love of books, and how multilingual she is.
Noah feels her phone buzz in her pocket and quickly pulls it out to check it. She sees that it is a text from Jess and immediately reads it.
—
hey you :)
hey :)
just checking in on you, forgot
to text you this morning
i was wondering where your usual
good morning text was
i have a story for our walk tomorrow
can't wait to hear all about it :)
—
Noah smiles at her phone and looks back up at Emily and Elizabeth. She notices that they have stopped talking and seem to be in an awkward silence.
"So, when was the last time you had a case like this?" Noah asks Elizabeth.
"Noah—" Emily tries to stop her.
"I don't really remember when it was. It was so long ago, but I remember it." Elizabeth answers, "It's a thrill — a chase to do justice."
"I'm worried I may have lost my touch anyways." Elizabeth sighs.
"Are you kidding?" Noah exclaims, "We're gonna pretend that you didn't pull some illegal strings to get that bank's server to Penelope?"
"I wouldn't say illegal—"
"It's okay. I won't tell anyone." Noah says with a shrug. Emily looks over at Noah and smiles to herself.
Noah is somehow mending the bonds between the mother and daughter; acting almost like glue.