𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟒𝟐

"𝙱𝚘𝚢 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔?"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕠𝕠𝕟
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

     "EMILY!" Noah exclaims as she sees the woman standing inside the BAU.  She runs and jumps into Emily's arms, feeling her feet lift off the ground.

"Hi, bub!" Emily beams and kisses Noah's cheek, "How was your day?"

"Good!  We have a test on Friday in math and I need Spencer's help studying." Noah says as she hooks her arm around Emily's waist.  They walk towards the elevator as Emily tells the teen a bit about her day.

"Munchkin!" Penelope chimes as she sees her favorite kid exit the elevator.

"PG!" Noah giggles as she playfully mimics Penelope's greeting.

"How is little Sergio?" The blonde sparks a conversation as they walk to the kitchen in the bullpen.

"He's cute as ever!" Noah replies with a wide smile.

Emily watches the two interact and cannot help but grin. She has no idea why Noah has been so overly-happy lately. Emily has not spent some quality one-on-one time with the teen in a couple days, so she can only imagine that it is because of her new friends. The teen is finally settling in and that is all Emily can ask for.

"Hey, Anderson," Penelope says as she sees the agent enter the kitchen, a boy walking behind him.

"Hey," The boy says to Noah as the blonde talks Anderson's ear off.

"Oh, Noah, this is Liam," Emily says to the teen.

"Hey," Noah greets the boy, paying little attention to him afterwards.

"Why don't you guys sit at the round table and do some homework?" Emily suggests.

"Uh—" Noah hesitates.

"I'm down!" Liam obliges and goes to get his bookbag.

"Play nice," Emily warns the teen as she walks by her, ruffling Noah's hair.

"I always play nice," Noah insists and sees Emily turn around and give her a look.

Emily sits at her desk, returning to her work. Noah rolls her eyes and grabs her backpack, making her way up to the briefing room. Morgan catches sight of the girl and how she trudges up the small staircase near Aaron's office.

"Someone had a bad day?" Derek asks Emily and nods to the teen.

"She had a great day," Emily says, "That was before I told her to hang out with Liam." She adds with a chuckle.

"Anderson's kid?"

"Yeah, he's only a year older than her and I figured it'd be good if they were friends." Emily explains and looks up at the briefing room where Noah and Liam are talking.

"I know how parents can be; forcing us to hang out just because our parents are friends." Liam says with a light laugh as Noah sits down.

"You don't have to be here if you don't want to. I'm sure you have plenty better things to be doing." Noah tells him and pulls out her homework.

"I don't really," Liam chuckles at the girl's attitude.

"Well, I do," Noah smirks, "That wouldn't have sounded as harsh if you'd agreed with me."

"Maybe I only said that to be nice." Liam says, giving Noah a taste of her own medicine.

Noah cannot help but smile at the mutual banter. Finally, someone who can give it back to her.