Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Criminal Minds, it belongs purely to CBS; I do however own Emily's siblings and father (as well as any other family members I choose to bring in later) and the foster kids she takes in and eventually adopts.
Author's Note: Ok, so I've recently become addicted to this show, the storylines, the characters and just the whole of it; I really wanted to write a fic for it and I decided on Emily's motherly nature playing a part in it, I gave her a younger sister to give her that sisterly support in raising children and wanted to explore her and Hotch as a couple, because I truly love this couple with all of my heart (not that I have anything against Beth, I just love Emily more) and wanted to add their relationship as one of the vocal points.
Rating: T for minor language, some suggestive comments and, of course, tiny bit of violence that comes with this being a crime show.
Pairings: Hotchniss, JJ/Rossi, Morgan/Garcia, possibly Reid/OC
Spoilers: Starts in Season 4, before Foyet's attack on Hotch and after Cyrus.
Cassandra Reeves
June 1st: Sunday
Emily let out a loud sigh as she looked over her shoulder at Cassandra Reeves, the three year old foster daughter of their Unsubs Karen and Michael Bann; the couple had been kidnapping children between the ages of 5 and 10, holding them hostage for days as they beat and raped them repeatedly before they slit their throats, mutilated them and dumped in a creek a few miles away, there were nine children taken in the past two weeks and only two were rescued.
I don't think I can let her go back into the system, not when she could end up with someone like or worse than the Banns…
Emily shook her head as she made her way over to Cassandra; she was a truly beautiful girl with dark curls framing her face and big brown eyes that were wide in fear, she wore pink footie pajamas with red hearts that were slightly torn and faded.
"Hey there Angel…"
Emily said in a soft tone as she crouched down next to the girl; Cassandra looked at her and lifted her arms up, causing Emily to chuckle as she picked the girl up, the girl buried her face into Emily's neck as she let out a whimper.
"I don't want to go, I want to stay with you Mommy…"
Emily felt tears prick her eyes at Cassandra's words; she was the one to rescue Cassandra, who had promptly called her Mommy and clung to her until the paramedics came and checked her out, it had taken two paramedics to pull Cassandra away from Emily and even then she had wanted Emily to stay close to her.
"I know sweetheart, I know…"
She soothed as she rubbed her back, rocking her gently; she saw a sleek white car pull up out of the corner of her eye, a middle-aged woman with light brown hair and dull gray eyes stepped out, the heels of her pumps clicking as she made her way over; Emily was terrified now, because she knew this was Cassandra's social worker and she was going to be separated from this little girl she had fallen for in less than an hour.
Lucy Devon had been a social worker for twenty-two years, she'd seen horrible things done to the children in her care but no matter how hard she tried they'd always end up in another home that abused them and neglected them, the case of Cassandra Reeves was a tragic one, she had entered the system when she was one after her alcoholic and abusive father shot her mother execution style on her birthday, and was promptly placed in over fifty homes over the period of two years; it was one of the worst cases Lucy had dealt with and she feared the girl would never get a happy ending.
Perhaps I was wrong…
Lucy thought as she analysed the woman Cassandra was clutching as if her life depended on it, the woman held some similarities with Cassandra's deceased mother Marissa in terms of appearance but she had a feeling this woman wasn't as delicate or docile as Marissa Reeves had been, she certainly didn't think this woman would've allowed her husband to harm her or their child and quite possibly could've taken care of Cassandra's father easily.
"Excuse me, are you Cassandra's social worker?"
Lucy was brought out of her thoughts as Emily approached her; she noticed the woman's hesitation and realised she was having trouble with the idea of parting with Cassandra.
"Yes, I'm Lucy Devon and you are…?" Emily held out her other hand, keeping a firm grip on Cassandra with the other.
"Agent Emily Prentiss, I'm with the BAU." Lucy frowned deeply, concern wrinkling her forehead as she shook her hand.
"May I ask why the FBI is here?" Emily bit her lip, knowing she would have to explain what happened but not liking the memory.
"Cassandra's foster parents have been arrested for the abduction, rape and murder of six children; they are also facing charges for the abduction and rape of two more." Emily watched as Lucy Devon's eyes widened in horror, her face paling.
"My God I…I suspected they were up to no good but I just thought it had to do with Cassandra, I never…oh…" Lucy shook her head, swallowing and fighting the bile she felt rising up in her throat.
"I guess you'll want Cassandra back so you can take her to her next home." Emily stated in a bitter tone; Cassandra's eyes widened as she shook her head rapidly.
"No, I don't want to go! I want to stay with Mommy!" Lucy's heart broke at the girl's painful cry; Emily tried to soothe the child but felt like crying too, a thought suddenly entered Lucy's mind.
"Have you considered becoming a foster parent Agent Prentiss?" Emily flushed, her eyes wide.
"Actually, I, um, registered as one two weeks ago." She admitted as Lucy smiled softly.
"Would you be willing to take in Cassandra?" Emily blinked, feeling tears fill her eyes as she nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Good, I have some paperwork in my car you'll need to fill out…" Emily tuned the rest of the conversation out as she looked at the sleepy girl in her arms, a smile crossing her face at the realization that Cassandra was going home with her.
"Emily!"
Hotch raised an eyebrow when he saw a brunette waving to Emily as the group walked over to her; Emily smiled widely, her eyes conveying her confusion.
"Eve, I didn't know you were meeting me here." Emily exclaimed as she adjusted Cassandra; Evelyn grinned as she carefully hugged her sister, mindful of the sleeping girl.
"What kind of aunt would I be if I didn't greet my big sister and my new niece?" She asked as she pulled back to glance at the sleeping child in her sister's arms; Emily turned to face her co-workers who had looks of confusion on their faces.
"Guys, this is my sister Evelyn Prentiss; Eve, these are my co-workers." Emily stated as she began to introduce everyone.
"This is our media liaison Jennifer Jareau." JJ smiled as she held out her hand for Evelyn to shake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, please call me JJ." Evelyn grinned.
"Can do, you can call me Eve." JJ returned the grin.
"This is—"Evelyn cut her off her sister with a smirk.
"David Rossi, I met him at a conference three years ago." Rossi laughed as he shook her hand.
"It's good to see you again, I thought Emily looked familiar." Emily rolled her eyes.
"This is Derek Morgan, our resident charmer." Morgan smirked as he brought Evelyn's hand to his lips, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"It is a pleasure to meet such an exquisite woman."
"I have contacts who could easily get rid of you as well as a black belt." Emily shook her head as Morgan quickly released her sister's hand.
"This is Dr. Spencer Reid." Reid shook her hand.
"And finally, this—"Hotch interrupted her.
"I do believe we already met, about eighteen years ago I believe?" Emily blinked, realization dawned on her as Evelyn laughed.
"I was eighteen and absolutely convinced you were a stuck-up prick." Emily glared.
"Yet you still tried to set me up with him." Evelyn snorted quietly as Hotch's face flushed.
"Honey, no offense but you were dating creeps back then; at least he was somewhat normal." Emily let out a loud sigh as Rossi coughed.
"So what exactly brings you to Quantico Evelyn?" Evelyn sighed exasperatedly as she rolled her eyes.
"I divorced my lying scum-bag husband with a wandering eye and as a result lost any rights to his money; thankfully I have a wonderful sister who was willing to let me stay with her if I promised to help her with being a foster parent."
Emily frowned as she took notice of the bags on the floor beside her sister; her eyes widened in horror as she whipped her head to look at Evelyn who was whistling.
"Evelyn…" Emily said in a warning tone; Evelyn looked at her sister with an innocent look.
"Emily…" Evelyn mocked as Emily let out a groan.
"Please tell me you didn't go out and buy a whole lot of stuff by yourself."
"Of course not sister dearest." Emily let out a sigh of relief, not noticing Evelyn's grin.
"Your darling friend Penelope assisted me; we got Cassandra's room ready and bought her clothes, books and toys, we also picked up groceries, including Ben and Jerry's ice cream." Emily blinked in shock as she looked down at her sleeping foster daughter before looking back at her sister.
"You guys didn't have to do that."
"We're family Em, we help each other out."
Hotch smiled a bit at the warm exchange as Emily waved goodbye to her co-workers, she and her sister walked towards her car and Hotch stopped them quickly, whispering into Emily's ear that she had two weeks off to get settled, and smirking a bit when she flushed and thanked him before hurrying off.
"My my, what did you say to the Ambassador's daughter that caused her to blush you sly dog?"
Hotch whipped around and shot Rossi a dark glare, barking that everyone was to head home immediately (causing Reid to jump out of fright) and stormed off as Rossi's laughter echoed behind him.
"Agent Hotchner looks attractive, I guess looks do get better with age don't you think?"
Emily glared at Evelyn as they entered her apartment; Evelyn placed the bags on the table by the front door to remove her boots before picking them up again and making her way into the kitchen.
"He's my boss Evelyn!"
"You're not denying you find him attractive." Evelyn sang in glee.
Emily sighed, adjusting Cassandra before making her way up the stairs, she opened the door to Cassandra's bedroom and let out a soft gasp as she took in the room, the walls were painted a baby pink with a brown tree, birds and butterflies and baby pink carpeting decorated the floor, the furniture was walnut and the bedding was the same as the walls; the first three shelves on the bookshelf were filled with children's books while the bottom shelf contained a brown stuffed bear and dog.
"Oh my …"
She whispered as she made her way over to the bed and tucked Cassandra in; her gaze landed on a pink stuffed bunny and after contemplating for a moment placed it beside the sleeping girl who quickly snuggled the animal.
"Goodnight sweetheart…" Emily cooed as she kissed Cassandra's forehead, quietly shutting the door behind her as she exited the room; she made her way downstairs and hugged Evelyn.
"You and Pen didn't have to make the room so…" Evelyn smiled as her sister trailed off.
"Beautiful? That girl's probably never had any nice things, so we wanted to make her room special." Emily returned the smile.
"So when will I get to start corrupting her?" Emily glared at her smirking sister.
"Not for a week, thank god; Hotch was kind enough to give me time off to help get Cassandra settled and adjusted." Evelyn cocked an eyebrow as she leaned on the island.
"So your boss, who's only about five years older than you and a handsome male, willingly gave you time off? Hm…" Emily flushed before shooting her sister a look.
"It's not like that Eve, there is a strict no-fraternization policy for the Bureau and even if there wasn't, we're not attracted to each other; we are co-workers and, at most, friends." Emily stated in a firm tone.
"Alright then, I suppose we should head to bed since we'll most likely have a busy day tomorrow." Evelyn said as she made her way to the stairs; Emily looked over her shoulder and called out.
"How did you pay for everything Eve? I thought you were broke and I know Penelope doesn't make that much."
"Oh, uh, we used your credit card."
"What?"
"Sis, next time don't use the last name of your favorite movie star as your passcode!"
Alright, the first chapter of my first Criminal Minds fanfiction is finished! For those unaware, I recall hearing that Emily's favorite actor was Cary Grant so she essentially used his last name as her passcode (which Evelyn knew due to her being Emily's sister); a few things of note regarding the story and such;
Cassandra Reeves: Cassandra means "prophetess", a female who is able to foresee the future and is insightful; of course Cassandra cannot actually tell the future but as the story goes you will notice she is very observant for a young child and, to say the least, tends to foretell certain things; I've read a lot of fanfiction involving certain characters adopting and/or fostering a young girl, therefore I drew a lot of inspiration from these characters as well as based her upon Annabelle, the youngest foster daughter of Temperance Brennan from my previous Bones fanfiction; she is the youngest of the five children (yes, I do realise it's a lot but it was really the only idea that worked in my head) that Emily will be fostering and (eventually) adopting, she is also (ironically, given how we're introduced to her) the one with the most innocence and the quietest, though at the same time is a bit more childlike.
Evelyn Prentiss: Ah, Emily's younger sister, for those who want a picture I imagine her portrayed by Jill Hennessy (I loved her snarkiness on Crossing Jordan and I think they make a good sister duo); she's essentially the opposite of Emily, who's very collected and private, as she is impulsive, tending to lose her temper easily, and will have a running gag of blurting out facts about either her and/or Emily's personal (read: sex) life which will both annoy and fluster Emily; she is the optimist to Emily's pessimist, is willing to try anything once and tends to be very nosy when it comes to her sister's relationships, especially her love life.
Ok, that was a bit longer of an Author's note then I expected but oh well! Please drop me a line in the reviews and tell me what you think ;)