Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for who (or what) I make up. I recently went through seasons 1-9 in a binge-watch because Netflix is my friend, but I haven't seen anything past that T_T this is also the first Criminal Minds fic I've done, so bear with me!

Keep in mind, this takes place in season 3, any time before the Jones episode.

Enjoy!

"Friends are the family you choose." —unknown

Emily Prentiss was exhausted.

She and her team had just finished a very harrowing case in Mobile, Alabama, involving a series of child abductions carried out by a delusional couple who had lost their young children in a car crash some months prior.

The children they'd abducted—three, in total—were found alive and in good health because crazy though their abductors had been, they'd still cared for them, desperate to be parents again.

Sunday and Jimmy were sister and brother, ages four and two. Upon the initial rescue, they'd bonded with Officer Vasquez, one of the local officers, because she'd reminded them of their mother. The youngest child had been a newborn baby girl, taken from her mother's shopping cart at the supermarket.

That baby was so tiny that she couldn't have been more than three weeks old, and Emily rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital for a check-up, never straying far from her side. The little one's name? Emily.

Agent Prentiss loved children, so holding baby Emily had been heaven for her, especially when she fell asleep in her arms after finishing her bottle, resting her little cheek against Emily's breast.

Having children had always been a major want of Emily's, but she had yet to find the right person to settle down with.

Emily wouldn't lie when she said that since joining the BAU eight months ago that JJ had been on her radar, but was off-limits for a variety of reasons, especially because she was already in a relationship, and with a man, to boot.

It had been awhile since Emily had been with a woman, but it had been even longer since she'd been with a man.

And Emily knew a lot about JJ now, but she'd always just assumed that JJ was into men, meaning that the two of them were just friends.

She could dream, couldn't she?

All that being said, Emily had decided to take matters into her own hands as far as childbearing went and tried the IVF route. JJ and Penelope were the only ones who knew about it, and they had been there for her when she had two miscarriages.

Recently, though, she'd underwent a third round of treatment, and it hadn't been until their last day in Mobile when JJ and Penelope ganged up on her and forced her to take a pregnancy test after she'd spent the whole week feeling sick and making up excuses about it that she found out she was pregnant again.

Emily had been so busy with the Alabama case—and the one before that, which hadn't ended well—that the thought of a pregnancy hadn't occurred to her sooner, especially because of the miscarriages.

"Okay, baby bird," Emily looked down at her middle and ran a hand over the tiny bulge there. "Mama is finally home, and I'm wearing the comfy pajamas, too. What should we do? Make dinner and watch a movie?"

The baby wasn't big enough to kick, of course, but Emily could feel the baby wiggling around inside her and it fascinated her. Taking her offspring's movements as a yes, Emily headed over to the kitchen where she had a freezer full of pre-cooked frozen meals.

As Emily was in the middle of deciding between taquitos and stir-fry, she heard her doorbell ring.

"That's odd." Emily closed the freezer and headed to her front door. "Nobody should know that I'm home yet."

Imagine her surprise when she saw JJ standing there, her go bag in one hand and tears in her eyes.

"JJ!" Emily gasped and immediately stepped aside to let her enter. "Come in, come in!"

The blond stepped inside and the second Emily closed the door, JJ leaned into her, crying. It broke Emily's heart to see JJ like this, but she hugged her and comforted her, bewildered all the while.

Eventually, JJ was calm enough to talk.

"Emily, I'm sorry." She sniffled, pulling away as she wiped her tears and set her bag aside. "I didn't mean to show up unannounced, especially because you need rest because of the baby and all, but I panicked and you live around the block…"

"It's okay, Jayje. It's over."

Emily brought her over to the couch and sat her down. Seeing that JJ was too upset to eat or drink anything just yet, Emily found one of her afghan blankets and draped it over her friend's shoulders before sitting with her.

"You know Daniel?" JJ asked her friend.

Daniel Sutherland was JJ's boyfriend.

"Mhm."

"I called him before we got off the jet to tell him that we were coming back, and he surprised me by waiting for me at my place."

"What happened? Was he happy to see you?"

"Yes and no."

Emily tilted her head to the side, confused. "I don't follow. If he waited for you and everything, then why wouldn't he be happy?"

"Dial back." JJ pleaded. "He was happy, and it lasted for about ten minutes before he really revealed why he was there."

"Which was…?"

"On the day we went to Mobile, I accidentally left out an empty box of pregnancy tests. Daniel found the box when he'd stopped by my apartment to collect a book he'd left there."

Emily heard what JJ said, but her heart was beating double time, hung up on one thing in particular. "JJ, are you pregnant?"

She shook her head and sighed sadly. "I thought I was and took both of the tests in the box, but they were negative."

"Did you at least explain that to Daniel?"

"Yeah, but he got tunnel vision and freaked the hell out."

"What did he say?"

JJ thought for a moment. "It's kind of a blur now, but most of it was hurtful things about how he doesn't want kids or have time for them, being the CEO of a business in one of the big office buildings downtown."

"Did he hit you?"

"He tried, but I ducked and he ended up hitting the kitchen wall; that, I remember easily." JJ let out a shaky sigh. "The fight got worse, and now we're broken up. Daniel has a temper, and I'm a little worried about going home because I left before he did."

"Then stay with me tonight; I have a spare bed that's made up in my office."

JJ's heart just about jumped out of her chest and she wasn't sure why; she (and even Penelope) had crashed here before during movie nights, and other such things. This shouldn't have been making her heart do jumping jacks, and yet…

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose."

"Of course I'm sure, and you won't be imposing at all." Emily gave her a kind smile. "You brought your bag, didn't you?"

"I didn't even realize I'd brought it until after I left my apartment building. My clothes need washing."

"Perfect—so do mine; I'll do a load of our things while we eat something."

JJ blinked in surprise; it wasn't like Emily wasn't a fun person because she was, but knowing that she was pregnant now meant that everyone would be seeing a lot more of her maternal side, something that she usually saved for when she interacted with children.

She also knew that Emily Sandrine Prentiss was a force of nature to be reckoned with, and that when she got like this, it was best she just go along with her.

Before long, JJ was actually cheered up considerably. She still hurt considerable over her fight with Daniel, but Emily was being a really good friend and looking after her. It was making her feel wanted and loved.

What really gave JJ butterflies was that they ended up camping out on Emily's bed while they ate together and watched a cheesy TV movie on the plasma TV that Emily had mounted on the wall directly across from the bed. JJ was also quick to notice that Emily's bed was really comfortable.

"Em?" JJ turned to the older woman as their movie went to a commercial break.

"Yes?" Emily looked JJ in the eyes.

"Thanks for letting me stay here tonight"

"Of course, Jayje. You're my friend, and I wanted to make you feel better because you were sad."

JJ grinned; she really cared about the woman beside her and probably always would. "That means a lot. Thank you again."

"You're very welcome."

Emily wanted so badly to kiss JJ because she was already adorable to begin with, but now, JJ was wearing a pair of borrowed pajamas and looked content, all things considered. She looked even more adorable.

But still, she restrained herself and gladly welcomed the buzz of the washing machine out in the hallway.

"I'm going to put our dirty dishes in the sink and change out the laundry, alright?"

"Okay." JJ yawned sleepily. "Hurry back…"

By the time Emily finished what she was doing and went back to her bedroom, JJ was fast asleep. She looked even more content than she had before and because of the rough night she'd had, Emily didn't have the heart to get her to move.

In the end, Emily turned off the TV and the lamp before crawling into bed with JJ. They were both exhausted.

Emily woke early, as she always did, and the first thing she remembered was JJ coming to her house in the night. She felt an unusual weight on her body, and when she looked to see what it was, her heart rose into her throat when she saw that in the night, JJ had not only snuggled up to her, but also wrapped her arms around her waist. Emily should have been freaked out because this was crossing all kinds of lines, but she couldn't deny: this felt right, and if JJ had fallen asleep the way she had, it had to feel right to her, too.

I could stay like this forever, Emily thought as she absently stroked JJ's back.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for her because her phone buzzed with a mass text from Penelope to her and the rest of the team: Rise and shine, family! Briefing room in one hour!

Setting her phone back on the bedside table, Emily turned her attention to JJ.

"Time to wake up, JJ!" Emily patted her friend on the back. "Up you get!"

JJ swatted blindly at her, conscious, but not ready to open her eyes. "Five more minutes."

"No can do." Regretfully, Emily extracted herself out of JJ's hold and turned on the lamp. "I just got a text from Penelope; she wants us all in the briefing room in one hour."

JJ let out a moan of displeasure and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "What's the time?"

Emily turned on the TV and channel-surfed until she found a morning show; those always told the time. "According to Good Morning, Quantico!, it's 5:45."

"And you were already awake?" JJ mumbled. "What the hell?"

Emily got out of bed and gave JJ's ankle a gentle squeeze. "Come on—you can have the first dibs on the shower while I make breakfast."

JJ just let out an unintelligible mumble—she was already falling back asleep.

"You brought this on yourself," was the only warning Emily gave JJ before she yanked the duvet off the bed completely.

JJ finally caved, opened her eyes and sat up. When she realized where she was, everything from the previous night had come back in a rush.

"Emily, this is your bed," JJ then registered what she was wearing. "And these are your pajamas."

Emily smirked, amused by how short-circuited JJ was in morning. "Very astute."

JJ rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Did anything weird happen? I remember coming here, but…"

She did remember starting to wake up when Emily began realizing the placement of her arms, but she wasn't ready to share that.

"Nothing happened, I promise!" Emily told her. "Now please hurry up—we are under a time crunch!"

Emily and JJ arrived to the briefing room in a timely fashion, and Penelope, Derek, and Spencer were already there, but they were all nursing coffees, not quite awake, either. While Emily opted for mug of lemon tea, JJ made herself a cup of coffee before she and Emily sat in the empty chairs between Penelope and Spencer.

"I feel incomplete without files to hand out." JJ murmured.

Emily looked around. "And where are Hotch and Rossi?"

"Tinker Bell, Gumdrop," Penelope told them. "Just drink your coffee and your tea—they'll be here soon."

The tech analyst's words were still hanging in the air when the two men in question entered, both looking more awake than the other five.

"Good morning," (Hotch was greeted by their yawns) "And I do apologize for getting all of you back here so soon, but we jut got handed a case that's going to go a little differently than what we usually do."

Spencer arched an eyebrow. "How different are we talking?"

"As in we don't have a choice," elaborated Rossi. "Because it's undercover and coming straight from the desk of Erin Strauss."

Everyone sat up a little straighter at the mention of that name. BAU Chief Erin Strauss was Hotch's boss. She was elusive, and they knew that she thought of Hotch's team as disorganized, but if she wanted them to do something like a special undercover case, then there was no room for messing up.

Especially on Emily's part, but that was another story.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, I'll begin."

Rossi turned on the monitors for the PowerPoint presentation he had prepared, and upon pressing one of the buttons on the remote, three pictures of happy, smiling babies appeared. Hotch handed files out to everyone as Rossi explained the situation.

"These are Ariel Alcott, Juliet Coolidge, and Milo Henderson, and from New York City." Rossi indicated each child as they appeared. "Each of them were taken in the last three weeks, while still en utero, meaning that they were born into captivity."

"How far along were the mothers?" Derek asked, looking up from his folder.

"Each between thirty-seven and forty weeks. This is them."

Rossi pressed the same button on the remote and three more pictures appeared, corresponding with the pictures of the babies.

"From left to right we have Zoe Alcott, Lorelei Coolidge, and Emma Henderson. Does anybody notice anything particular about them?"

"They're young—late twenties to early thirties," Emily remarked after a moment of observing the pictures of the smiling ladies. "And they're all blond. Has the unsub killed them?"

"Actually, no." Rossi pressed the button on the remote again, this time to show pictures of Zoe, Lorelei, and Emma looking scared and like they'd each taken a beating. "The unsub let them all go, but has elected to keep the children. Zoe, Lorelei, and Emma were found wandering together in the Inwood area of Manhattan yesterday afternoon."

"That's really saying something," Spencer commented. "Because the files are saying that Zoe and Lorelei are from West Village—but strangers before the abductions—and that Emma is from the area of the Meatpacking District closest to the West Village border. That's already a very tight hunting ground."

"How are they now?" Penelope asked. "Apart from getting hurt and separated from their darling babies?"

"Recovering in the hospital, but each too traumatized to talk about it." Hotch provided. "We know where the unsub is doing the snatching, but we don't know what he or she even looks like."

"Does anybody else get what this is leading up to, or at least what it sounds like?" Emily said suddenly. "This is probably baby trafficking!"

"And because I fit the description of the unsub's preferences a little more to the t than Garcia does," JJ sighed. "This means they I'll be going undercover as an expectant mother, huh?"

Rossi shut off the monitor and set the remote down. "Yes, you are. Think you can handle it?"

"Yes, but will we have all of the proper… costume pieces and that sort of thing when we get to Manhattan?"

It was Penelope who answered this, immediately more awake. "Oh, yes, my friend. All of that is waiting for us in the jet, and we will be needing Emily's help with getting you set up when we land."

Had Emily not just swallowed a sip of her tea, she would've choked on it; a pregnant JJ, even if it was going to be a disguise? This was going to be seared into her brain for the rest of her days.

Spencer patted Emily on the arm. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded and turned to Hotch. "How long until wheels up?"

"Twenty minutes. Let's get going."

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