Chapter Question: Would you guys be interested in more flashbacks? If so what would you want flashbacks of?

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"Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So, today is my new favorite day."

-Winnie the Pooh

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Chloe was jumping around the living room as Emily helped Elise put her boots on. "This is the best day ever!"

Mattea placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder to keep her still. "We haven't even left the house yet rugrat."

"But we're going too and it's going to be so much fun."

Matthew chuckled as Mattea turned to Emily. "Was I this excitable as a kid?"

Emily smiled. "Only when it came to dancing and Carma's cooking lessons."

Matthew decided to get the quietest Prentiss' opinion of their outing. "Are you excited, Elise?"

She gave a small nod. "Sea turtles live a long time."

"About as long as humans," Mattea added.

"Long time," Elise repeated.

Emily grabbed her purse and keys. "Are we ready to go? We got everything?"

Matthew grabbed the bag Emily had packed with anything they could possibly need. "Yep."

Emily headed to the door. "Well let's go then."

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"Where do you want to go first?" Emily asked after they entered the aquarium.

Emily was holding Elise's hand while she kept a watchful eye on Chloe who was a couple of paces in front of them.

Matthew held up the map turning it around a couple of times while he tried to figure out where they were at. "I was thinking we could start here to the left," He said pointing, "Then just kind of walk around the circle before going to the open ocean exhibit in the middle. Then we can go get a late lunch and pay a visit to the gift shop."

"Sounds good to me," Emily replied. "Mattea?"

"That's fine."

"Chloe?" Emily called out.

Chloe paused to turn around. "You're too slow. I want to see the fishes."

Emily shook her head with a small smile. "I guess we better get going."

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They walked through the exhibits; Chloe and Elise's eyes glued to the aquariums. Chloe was especially excited when they got to the kid section and she was able to pet a Monterey. To Emily's surprise, Elise even put her hands in the little pool and allowed the Monterey to swim under her hand. Emily made sure to get a picture of the confused glee that crossed Elise's face.

The second to last exhibit before the big one was the Sea Turtles. Emily had never seen Elise so excited as she pressed her nose to the glass and watched the sea turtles swim around. "I think we're going to be here a bit," Matthew said after they had been standing there a good ten minutes.

"Why don't you and Mattea go on and we'll catch up?" Emily suggested.

Matthew turned to Mattea. "Do you want to do that?"

"It's fine with me," She replied.

"Okay," Matthew said, "We'll be in the tunnel."

Matthew and Mattea walked to the next exhibit which was a tunnel with sharks and other fish swimming around. It was surprisingly a slow day at the aquarium and the tunnel was mostly empty. "So... what have you been up to the last few years?" Mattea asked not bothering to hide the aggravation that had been growing slowly since Matthew had returned.

Matthew sighed picking up on Mattea's irritation with him. "Going here and there."

"How long are you here for?"

"Until the new year," He replied knowing she wouldn't like that answer.

Mattea crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Figures."

Matthew took a few tentative steps towards her. "Wait, you didn't let me finish. I have some business after the new year, but I'll be back this time. If things go as planned I should be back before your birthday. You know I wouldn't miss something as important as your 18th birthday."

Mattea sighed turning around but not meeting his eyes. "My 10th birthday was important but you were so high Mom threw you out and I ended up crying the whole day. You didn't even bother for my 16th birthday."

"I'm really sorry for letting my own problems affect your life. I've seen the error in my ways and I'm trying to fix things."

"What's the business that's taking you away for a month?" Mattea asked uncrossing her arms.

"I'm going to visit my parents and then to see an old friend. I have some apologies to make."

Mattea nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry for getting mad."

Matthew shook his head. "No, don't apologize. Your anger was completely justified. I would much rather you tell me when something is bothering you than hold it in. Okay?"

"Kay," Mattea replied leaning in for a hug.

Mathew hugged her and kept one arm around her shoulder as they continued walking through the tunnel. "Now you need to catch me up. Like what is this thing with Em and Dr. Blake?"

Mattea chuckled. "I'm not sure, but Mom invited her to Christmas."

"And you and Luca?"

Mattea shook her head. "He's a good guy, but just a friend."

"Anything else big that I've missed?" Matthew asked.

"Well..." Mattea started before filling him in on everything that happened with Ethan and the bullies. She then told him about meeting her grandparents for the first time and the first case Emily had got hurt on. After that, she moved on to lighter topics and funnier things like the first day of French.

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Soon they were all seated at a little restaurant on the outer part of the aquarium. "Did you have fun today?" Matthew asked as they ate their food.

"Totally," Mattea replied.

"Yeah," Elise replied.

"Best Day Ever!" Chloe shouted gaining them a few looks from other patrons.

"Indoor voice," Emily reminded her.

Matthew laughed and asked his next question, "What was your favorite exhibit?"

"All of them," Chloe replied to no one's surprise.

"I think mine was the shark tunnel," Mattea said.

"Turtles," Elise replied.

"What about you Em?"

Emily bit her lip in thought. "The open ocean was pretty cool. What about you Matthew?"

"I think I'll have to agree with Mattea on this one," Matthew said with a smile.

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It had been a long day full of fun. They had to practically drag Chloe out of the aquarium and were finally in the car on the way home. It was late and the sun was starting to set.

Matthew was driving and Emily took the chance to glance in the backseat. Elise and Chloe were both out like lights. Elise had a stuffed sea turtle clutched in her hand that she had refused to let go of since seeing it in the gift shop. Chloe had a new book on sea life to add to her collection that was opened in her lap. She had dozed off before she could even reach page 5. Mattea was in the very back with her head leaned against the window and earbuds in. Emily could see her mumbling lyrics from Fleetwood Mac while absently running her hand along the stuffed shark Matthew had gotten her.

Emily turned back around glancing to Matthew who was lightly tapping on the steering wheel as they were stopped at a red light. She smiled to herself. This was not where she had seen her life ever going, but she liked it. Matthew turned briefly to give her a smile. The light turned green and the car moved forward.

Emily didn't see what happened next as screams overtook her senses before they morphed into ringing and then everything faded to black.

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"When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you."