Authors Note: Thank you to everyone who has prompted us with their kind reviews to keep up this story. We will attempt to continue to update it. As writers we often just start off with a prompt/idea/concept and enjoy exploring it for a few hours or days, the number of story starts in our writing folder is far bigger than we'd like to admit and most of them will never be finished but because we've posted this one we're going to do our best to bring it to a point in the story that everyone feels satisfied with. It is the kind of story that could go on forever, but we understand there are some basic questions/worries in the plot the reader needs resolved. Thank you again for reading.

Disclaimers: All original property is owned by CBS and The Mark Gordon Company, and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Criminal Minds' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.

Pairings: Emily/JJ Slowburn

Rating: T

Trigger Warning: This story does deal with the horror of having to deal with watching someone you love succumb to an illness that cannot be beat.

Somebody To Lean On

Part Seven

The sudden, possibly unexpected noise at the door a little less than two hours later made JJ frown and focus immediately on the main hall from where she had been sitting with the Ambassador in her room as the older woman lightly dozed after their delicious dinner had obviously settled well. It was only moments later when the unmistakable figure of Emily slipped into the room, still dressed as in her coat and boots.

"Hey." The brunette stopped in the doorway looking at the scene before her with a small smile, her voice a whisper.

"Hey." JJ whispered back. "Dinner settled really well, she's been dozing." She pushed up out of the seat she'd been in reading on her tablet and moved back towards the brunette. "Why don't we go get you something to eat? Your plate just needs to be warmed up."

"You don't have to move, you look just as settled." Emily's voice stayed low and soft, but the blonde had already moved making the brunette smile softly at her as she approached. "I just need to do a couple of things, I'll meet you in the kitchen?"

JJ waited until they were both in the hallway before she gently stopped Emily from retreating to go upstairs by blocking the staircase with her body.

"Don't put concealer on it, it needs ice." Blue eyes appraised the redness across the brunette's left cheek, making sure to address the issue head on knowing Emily's style would be to pretend the injury didn't exist.

"I need antiseptic for this..." She raised her hand and pressed up the sleeve of her coat, revealing deep bloody scratches over the top of her right wrist. "Daphne wasn't as..." She paused. "Stable as I hoped she would be." A frown pulled on Emily's brow.

"Then let me help." JJ frowned as well at the injury and began moving up the stairs hoping Emily would follow her.

When the brunette seemed to do so immediately, JJ didn't ask anymore questions until they were in Emily's room.

"Is their a first aid kit in the bathroom?" She checked assuming that there would be one so she wasn't surprised by the nod she received. "Slip your coat off and sit on the bed, I'll get it." She urged leaving the room to retrieve the case from the under sink storage before returning to find that Emily had followed her gentle instructions. "Do you want to talk about it or do you just want to digest it all for awhile?" She offered the option as she lay the case down on the bed and picked through it to find antiseptic wands and some polysporin ointment. She also took out some gauze and tape to secure it around Emily's wrist.

"I don't know really." Emily admitted. "I think she honestly expected me to still be in love with her, still want her, no questions asked, no hesitations, no second guessing." She continued to frown obviously going over in her mind all that had happened in the hours she had been gone. "With little to no thought about her wife, her children." She shook her head a little. "And when I told her that wasn't going to happen she... wouldn't accept it." She admitted. "Told me that seeing me again was like a the message she had been waiting for that told her that it was time, for her 'real' life to start again." Emily's frown deepened slightly. "It got a little ugly."

"You mean that's when she slapped you?" JJ reached her hand to run her thumb under the red mark trying to gauge if it would benefit from anything other than ice and time. "Tried to get you to come to your senses."

"Yes." Emily admitted with a soft nod. "Tried to explain to me that I wasn't a little girl any more and 'they' couldn't stop us being together anymore." She sighed. "Tried to tell me that she was better for me than what I had, that I could restore the light that used to shine in my eyes apparently." The brunette breathed out again deeply. "That's when she tried to literally drag me out of the apartment to her car." She raised her arm a little. "Getting my arm free proved tricky."

"Especially since you didn't want to hurt her." JJ acknowledged as she opened one of the wands and began to clean Emily's wrist, frowning at the damage that Daphne's well manicured nails had done to the pale skin. "What happened when you did try to pull away?"

"Well unfortunately a certain someone got a lot of the blame." Emily admitted with a small glance at Jennifer. "Along with a very spiteful comment about Henry." She added with a deeper frown. "And it quickly turned into a malicious, I think the term is 'bitchfest' and then she left claiming it wasn't over."

"She can take all the shots at me Emily, I don't care, her opinion doesn't mean anything to me, only yours." JJ reminded her with a soft smile trying to erase the hurt the malicious words had caused. "I'm sorry if you didn't get the closure you were looking for, I'm sorry Daphne couldn't have been more in control."

"I didn't know she had been so... damaged I guess." Emily admitted with a frown. "I always thought of myself as the one who..." The brunette stopped and shook her head. "It doesn't matter." She forced her look into one of neutrality. "It's unfortunate that this can of worms got opened, but I don't think it's a disaster." She shook her head again. "She'll go back home and it will settle."

"I think the past damaged both of you Emily." She didn't immediately let her back away the topic. "I think the first time anyone's heart is broken, it has a profound effect on them." She continued to clean the scratches glad most of them were superficial and not too deep. "Did you manage to talk at all before she let her emotions get the better of her?"

"Not really, her first comments were about mother..." Emily admitted. "Which started her off emotionally."

"Em, I hope you know that if you want to tell me all of it blow by blow, I'm right here to listen, to dissect it with you." JJ crouched down on her haunches in front of the sitting brunette, seeing the troubled look in Emily's eyes. "What did she say about your mother?" She urged her to start.

"Things I didn't want to hear." Emily shook her head, her dark eyes glistening with tears, her breathing hitching in her throat as she shifted her focus a little so she could actually look into blue eyes. "I'm not ready to lose her Jenn." She shook her head ever so slightly. "I don't want her to die."

"She's your mother, of course you're not." JJ held onto Emily's hand and stopped fussing with the scratches for a moment. Taking a breath as a decision solidified in her head, she pushed up to stand again and moved onto the bed around behind Emily before she closed her arms around the brunette's body pulling it back into her own in the embrace. "Let it out baby." She urged her in a whisper.

A hard sob broke from Emily's body as the brunette lean her weight back against the blonde, her hands moving to clutch around one of JJ's arms.

"I told Daphne I loved you, that you and Henry were my world." Emily sobbed harder as she leaned more into the other woman. "She told me you didn't love me back, she could tell." The sobs came easier now as Emily let them. "Henry would look like me if you loved me, we'd have a dark haired rascal not a blonde cherub if you loved me."

"Daphne doesn't have a clue what she was talking about." JJ held her tighter, rocking them both slightly. "She doesn't know that the first person that felt him kick was you, the person who helped me decide to even call him Henry was you. She couldn't comprehend that no matter what his hair colour is you were the one to cut the cord, the one who did silly breathing exercises with me and who watched that horrible birthing video." She gave her a tight squeeze. "She doesn't know Henry, she certainly doesn't know me or what is in my heart and she doesn't know you anymore." She placed a kiss into dark hair.

"The first thing she said was, how long in hell do you have left, freedom is nearly yours from the look of her, what a month before that hell hound is dead?" Emily barely made the words audible through her full flood of tears.

"She had no right to say that to you." JJ gritted her teeth just hearing the bile. "Whatever anger she still feels towards Elizabeth... it's just not right to say those things to anyone, let alone to you, the woman she's still supposed to be in love with." She stroked her free hand over dark hair. "We're going to convince her to try the new therapy, we're doing to do everything we can to keep her here with you, where you want her, and where she wants so much to be. She doesn't want to leave you either Emily, push whatever Daphne said out of your mind and listen to me right now... she wants to stay with you, she loves you so much." She admitted the truth she believed having spent the time she had with Elizabeth now.

"I just..." Emily kept herself close in JJ's embrace. "I know she's done things... but..." The brunette stopped knowing that JJ understood all of it without it being hashed over again and again. "I love you." She said instead, her voice still broken by her tears. "You and Henry." She underlined. "All those things you just said..." She brought the blonde back to the words she had just spoken about the small infant and the relationship they all shared. "No one can ever change them, or take them from me." She underlined pausing for a moment. "I hate this, I hate it when I get thrown from my stance, from my equilibrium." She tensed a little in the embrace.

"I love you and Henry loves you." JJ made sure the first two points she'd made were these. "And I know how much you hate feeling off balance, but it's okay Em, we all feel it sometimes and right now you have so much to deal with, Daphne's emotional assault wasn't something you were expecting or deserved." She admitted. "Also..." She took a breath trying to decide if what she was about to say was the right thing to say but then a little bravery over took her. "It's not that I want you to feel this way but that you've let me see it and not done the easier thing and just pretended you were okay until you could deal with it all by yourself, it makes me feel special, makes me know that we'll get through this, all of it, together."

"I want you to feel special." Emily pushed herself through the obvious emotional pain she was in and moved a little so they were a little move even on the bed and she could look at JJ. "I'm serious about you and I, you know that, even if it was only hours ago I told you the real truth." She admitted with a soft look of embarrassment. "The only way I want to be with you is real, to try, to force myself to be more."

"Real is the only way I want you Emily Prentiss." Soft blue eyes held sad dark ones. "I don't just want the smiles and the happy times, I want the tears and the doubts and the times you feel off balance, I want all of it."

"Why?" Emily asked honestly. "My life right now is chaos." She shook her head lightly, not breaking the eye contact but her soft breath out was almost beaten in its depth and unevenness.

"Because how could I leave you to deal with the heartbreak of her being sick when I love you Emily?" JJ asked the question in answer. "How could I sleep at night knowing you were restless with worry?" She shook her head. "You need to remember it was me who showed up on your doorstep with tuna casserole because I needed to reach out to you, to remind you I was there."

"Yes, yes you did." Emily recalled with a nod. "Bet you didn't think for a minute though it would get you here."

"No." She gave a honest shake of her head. "All I really wanted that night was to see you, to judge how you were, find out if there was anything I could do to help you. I didn't even understand the depth of what I felt for you then Emily, I'm sorry for being naive, for not figuring out what the butterflies in my stomach meant when you were close but I have now and I can only hope that I was worth waiting for."

Despite the trail of tears that streaked her face and her obvious emotional state, Emily let a soft laugh escape her lips.

"You really think it's possible that you won't be, couldn't be?" She asked shaking her head just a little. "Because I don't."

"That's because despite yourself Emily Prentiss, you are a romantic at heart." JJ smiled at her reaching up using her thumb to brush tears off the brunette's cheeks. "How about I finish dressing your wrist and we can head downstairs so we can re-heat your dinner, and I think just about time you finish that at least one of your two favourite napping people will be up and wanting to spend time with you."

"You know I find myself not caring in the slightest which it is." Emily admitted with a slight smile. "I could squeeze the hell out both right about now." She used the very un-Emily term.

"Then when I've finished with the first aid, I prescribe that you go down to the state room and crawl into bed with your mother until I get your dinner ready. I know she'll appreciate it." JJ reached out soothing black hair over Emily's shoulder.

"Thank you." Emily whispered the word softly. "For everything you are, everything you do." She let brown eyes pan over JJ's features as she said the words. "Without you, this really would be hell."

"Well you don't have to worry about how it would be without me, because I'm right here and I always will be." JJ vowed. "Now you have a date with a beautiful older woman." She winked at Emily with a smile. "You're lucky I don't mind sharing you with her."

Emily shook her head still smiling as she leaned ever so lightly and let her lips ghost against JJ's cheek.

"I'm just lucky."

-x-

"Emily..." As Elizabeth felt the weight added to the mattress beside her she was pulled out of her light slumber, the immediate smell of her daughter's perfume telling her who it was before she even opened her eyes or could think to worry about who would dare crawl into bed with her.

"Just me." Emily assured the older woman as she settled behind the ambassador and laid her arm lightly over her side. "You don't have to wake up."

"We missed you at dinner." Elizabeth moved to clutch her hand around her daughter's. "Did your meeting go as expected?" As she asked the question her hand hit the edge of the bandage and she looked down to figure out what it was she was feeling. "Are you all right? What happened to your arm?"

"I just caught my arm...it's fine." Emily down played the small injury. "The meeting is over which is the best out come I think I was every going to get." She let her body relax into the special mattress more. "I heard from Jennifer that you liked her special recipe chicken." She felt a smile creep onto her lips. "Apparently all you've been missing these years is Philadelphia cooking."

"Yes, it was quite delicious, especially the biscuits, such a dense texture reminds me of some of the middle eastern breads I used to enjoy so much." Elizabeth knew her daughter was side stepping the topic of her arm but she also knew the reason for her doing so was she didn't want to explain and she respected that fact at least. "Have you eaten?" She questioned concerned. "Jennifer made sure there was a special plate ready just for you, she's so thoughtful."

"Jenn's just heating it up for me, I wanted to slip in time with you while it warmed." The brunette replied honestly. "Talk a little if you were awake." She added. "Just be with you if you were still napping."

"What a nice thought." Elizabeth squeezed her hand softly. "Is there anything you want to talk about in particular?"

"Shall we play around this or should we do this the Prentiss way mother?" Emily kept their intimate position even though her words were slightly more pointed.

"I think our way is the our way for a reason." Elizabeth took a slight intake of breath, one that normally would have been missed if not for the close hug Emily was giving her.

"I know the ultimate choice is yours..." Emily made the lead in as she always did, her voice calm and even, without the taint of emotion or bias. "But I..." She stressed the point. "Want you to try the therapy." She pressed out the words, her voice breaking a little. "I'm not ready for this to be it, I'm not ready to give up when giving up is not a phrase I was ever allowed to believe in." She shook her head against the older woman's back knowing she could feel it. "There is so much more for you, for us."

There was a long moment of silence, though within it, Elizabeth pulled Emily's arm around her tighter.

"I will do it for you." Finally breaking the silence Elizabeth's word was barely a whisper. "I'm not ready for this to be it either." Her voice got thicker with emotion. "But..." Everything seemed to be hitched on the word for a moment. "I'm scared, I don't want to be a helpless burden."

"I understand that." Emily acknowledged. "Something none of the Prentiss' do well is deal with weakness, of any kind." She admitted with surprising ease. "But, right now you're not a burden and anything I'm giving to you, I'm doing it because I want to." She made clear. "Not because I feel the need to through responsibility or force." She vowed. "We will talk thoroughly with the specialist, get real guidelines of expectations and dangers, make it clear what your boundaries are before we go forward if that's what you want."

"I would like that, but sometimes I'm so tired, and all the medication it makes it so my mind isn't as sharp as it should be, Emily I want you to know I trust you to make any decisions that need to be made." Elizabeth explained letting out a sigh of clear relief that she had finally made the statement out loud. "As long as I'm able I still want to be involved in the process, but if... I need you to know that you are the only one I want making them."

"Thank you." Emily's voice was nearly silent as she pressed her head down lightly onto Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'll do my best to be a good daughter."

"I know you will." Elizabeth acknowledged softly. "If we are going to fight this, like Prentiss', perhaps you could see if your genius friend would help by reviewing all the reports and tests, see if there is some weapon we could be using that we've missed or the rather narrow minded doctors haven't thought of. I understand that Eastern medicine is proving to be quite helpful in some cases."

"Unofficially he's looking into it I believe, I could ask him to be more thorough." Emily felt a smile pull onto her features out of the older woman's sight. "My other friend... Garcia... also suggested... there are other people mother... like you, well no... there is no one quite like you..." She corrected herself with a chuckle. "But on line, there are support groups and communities. She's been reading."

"Are you suggesting I sit with a group of strangers and talk about how cancer is making me feel?" Elizabeth's frown could be heard in her voice.

"No." Emily's response was instant and sure. "No, not at all." She underlined. "More that maybe you read a little, like she has, about their experiences, see if maybe anything they have to say strikes a cord."

"Oh." This idea was a very different one from what she'd thought her daughter had been first expressing. "Perhaps then you could ask her to email me some links, that I could take a look at." She conceded her willingness to do this. "Perhaps we could both read some of them, there must be people in the position you're in who also write their stories for others to gleam whatever wisdom they can from them."

Emily paused for a moment, having to admit that she had actually never even thought of that.

"I'd be willing to do that." She consented and then paused for a moment. "Mother." She added. "Honestly, why did you invite Daphne to the dinner?"

At first Elizabeth let out a soft breath, her fingers playing over the back of Emily's hand.

"Because I wanted her to see how beautiful you were, how smart and successful." The older woman started her reasoning. "And I wanted you to know... I... the past was so long ago..." She seemed to stall for a moment. "I'm not mad anymore, the world has taught me that you don't choose who you fall in love with, who you're attracted too. I love you just as you are." She brought Emily's hand up and kissed the back of it softly.

"The problem is mother, I, for the longest time..." Emily pulled in a breath. "I didn't love myself." She admitted. "Who...what I was." She swallowed. "I'm still unsure." She felt her body tense slightly.

"I..." Elizabeth's words stammered in the most unusual way. "I'm sorry that I was the cause, am the cause of that doubt." Her body sagged as she said the hard to say words. "I just was afraid I was losing you, you were so young, I wanted to protect you from the world and all I did was cause you more pain." Emily couldn't see it but she had her eyes closed, concentrating on saying the truthful words and not hiding away behind a mask. The truth was no matter how much it hurt to be honest she was too exhausted to hide, time was too precious and that Emily had taken the first step to start this conversation she had to give something back to reward that. "I don't expect you to forgive me but I hoped by inviting her I might show you that I wasn't angry anymore."

Emily nodded gently so her mother could feel it.

"You didn't cause all of my pain, all of my doubt." The brunette clarified. "But thank you, I didn't understand then that there could be any 'good' reason for anything you did." She took another breath. "As we're talking and being... honest." She continued, her voice tenser than it had been. "Using JJ and Henry like you did Mother..." She forced herself to relax into the words and her breathing. "At the dinner, I want to believe, to trust your motivation wasn't diabolical, but I won't let Jennifer be brought into something that hurts her, she is not a puppet to be manipulated." The brunette was firmer. "I love you, with all the love a daughter can have, don't doubt that." She underlined. "But I love Jennifer and that boy more than I ever knew or believed I could love anything, and I will not let anything knowingly hurt them."

"Nothing I did was to hurt them, I promise you that Emily, if my intention had been to use them or puppet the situation I would have told everyone you were together." Elizabeth acknowledged how much further her manipulation of things could have gone. "Jennifer is a competent agent, a loving mother and in this short time has been not just a good friend to you but to me as well, at a time when I wouldn't have believed I wanted or needed a friend she has proven quite the opposite and that little boy..." Emily could probably hear the smile in her voice. "He has reminded me of so many memories on top of giving me so many new ones." Her delight as she thought of the infant sleeping so close at hand couldn't be missed. "And I know you love them darling..." Her voice dropped to an even more tender tone. "I have seen both of them bring a light to your eyes I never thought I'd see again." She took a slow breath. "If we are being honest Emily, part of my reason for wanting them at the head of the table with us was to tell you, to show you, that you had my full blessing to make those seats theirs permanently."

A little of the tension in Emily's body shifted slightly at her mother's surprisingly honest words.

"I've told her..." She revealed the fact very, very softly. "How I feel, about both her and Henry." Emily could hardly believe of anyone she was sharing this brand new information, information she hardly believed was real, let alone had processed herself, with her mother. "I think..." She stopped, taking another breath. "There might be a chance for us."

"You need to take her out on a proper date, not one here babysitting either myself or Henry, show her how well a Prentiss can spoil a woman." Elizabeth urged her with a soft smile, internally both surprised and proud of the strength Emily had shown in being honest with the blonde about her feelings.

Emily actually chuckled.

"Well unfortunately we both have hellish schedules..." She began. "She has this job you see..." She continued playfully.

"I'm glad to hear she's serious about her career, she can't possibly understand how serious you take yours if she doesn't put value in her own." Elizabeth answered back playing along. "Perhaps you could try a bit of spontaneity then, take her for a walk in the garden after you eat and both Henry and I are tucked up in bed. If there aren't enough people here on staff to pay attention to both an infant and myself calling out for help, we will have to think about hiring someone specifically for the purpose of being on call to look after the Little Prince." She added ideas forming in her head. "I mean you suggested before that my questions about an Au Pair were inappropriate, but if we're hiring one for her at the estate then I'm well within my boundaries am I not?"

This actually made the younger Prentiss laugh brightly.

"You just want any excuse to hire a nanny." She said just as brightly, tucking her head into her mother's shoulder again. "I don't know if Mary Poppins is still on the listings."

"If she is I'll damn well have her hired for the estate." Elizabeth pointed out with a bright laugh. "And if she isn't I'll demand the next best candidate, he is royalty after all."

"My food is probably hot." Emily shifted ever so slightly. "I'll come and tell you about any after dinner plans I make before I enact them."

"Just so I know that you two are indisposed." A soft smile came onto Elizabeth's features as she shifted onto her back once Emily moved to sit up. "Jennifer is a very beautiful woman." She added softly reaching to rub her daughter's leg. "Naturally so, not altered to the point where one has to wonder if the can still manage the full range of normal facial expressions like some people we know." She added the cutting remark without mentioning Daphne's name.

"I love you mother." Emily said the words fluidly, leaning to kiss her mother's forehead. "I'll send one of your 'boys' in to check on you on my way out." She added as she slipped her legs off the side of the bed.

"I love you too my Emily." Elizabeth smiled at her, looking happier as Emily moved to find out if indeed her dinner was ready then she had in a very long time.

-x-

"Well at least certain events didn't ruin someone's appetite." JJ announced pleased when she collected Emily's empty plate and moved to put it in the dishwasher. "So what do you think? Has Teresa put me out of a job making fried chicken for you?"

"I don't like to put it that way, more like she's freed up that hour you spend slaving over hot stove making this particular delicious dish." Emily smoothed talked her way around the question. "It was very tasty." She added leaning back a little in her place. "Mother was right, the biscuits were lovely."

"She even raved to you about them? She really did like them, I told her it would be a good thing to keep on hand for her bad days when she can't stomach much. A little bread like that does wonders sometimes." JJ outlined her thoughts for the future. "How was she feeling when you checked on her?"

"Good." Emily summed up. "She's going to do the treatment." Brown eyes came up to find blue.

"What?" JJ's hand stilled mid motion as her eye did snap to meet Emily's, abandoning the dishwasher with the door still open. "Emily, that's fantastic, I mean I know it's going to be hard and there's no guarantee's but... she's a fighter, Prentiss women don't know how to give up." She moved back over to where the brunette was sitting and leaned down to hug her.

Emily nodded reaching up to close her arms around the slender blonde tightening her grip a little as she felt the warmth of the blonde's body press against hers, all-be-it restricted in their positioning.

"We've agreed to some restrictions and some guidelines to set in place, but she's no more ready than I am to give in." Emily held on. "And she wants help..." She added the details of all they had spoken of. "She asked if Reid would lend his expertise and Garcia..."

"No one is going to give anything short then 100 percent to help Emily." JJ assured her keeping up the warm embrace. "I'm so happy she's going to try the therapy." She leaned back with these words a little, her eyes bright with enthusiasm as she leaned in the short distance and pressed a kiss to the corner of Emily's mouth. "Whatever you did to convince her, good job."

"I just told her the truth." Emily pushed up out of her chair as JJ had moved back after the 'almost there' kiss and tucked the seat back into its place. "I wasn't ready for this to be over. I wasn't done." She gave a shrug. "And I told her she had a world of you and I and her grandson that she would be missing out on." Dark eyes went right back to bright blue.

"Just when I think I've figured you out you prove to be even braver then I ever thought you were." JJ's eyes only widened in surprise for a brief second before a broad smile spread across her face. "Though... was she horribly disappointed you're dating such a commoner?" She closed the distance between them again, slipping her arms up to loop around the brunette's neck.

"On the contrary." Emily stepped in close and wrapped her arms around JJ holding her tight. "She thinks I need to up my game a little and do some things to impress you..." She offered smiling brightly.

"She didn't say that." JJ shook her head with a soft laugh leaning more into Emily's body, breathing out contently at how 'right' it felt to be this close to the brunette.

"She did tell me to take you out on a date, away from all this..." Emily paused. "Chaos." She decided on the word and again paused. "I think somewhere in my mother there is a romantic wanting to get free."

"Steady there." JJ gave a soft laugh. "She wouldn't want you giving away her secrets like that."

"I pointed out the impracticality of her idea, and as always she had come backs for that." Emily leaned back a little in the embrace but only enough to be able to look at the blonde in her arms. "I did wonder about a walk in the gardens though, through the terrace." She added. "Just you, me and the stars."

"That sounds perfect, a little time with just you and me but still close enough to the important people who might need us." JJ smiled brightly at her, "How about you check on Henry and Elizabeth while I get a light sweater for us both?" She questioned and seeing Emily's easy nod felt a sense of anticipation fill her body.

-x-