The Hunting Hour - A Criminal Minds Fiction

Chapter 55: Moving On

Emily carried the girl to the bedroom and placed her down on the bed. Bella got under the covers and Emily tucked her in.
"Sleep tight." Emily said and placed a kiss on the child's forehead.

"Night mom" Bella said. Emily walked to the door, turned the night light on and the ceiling light off and went to the living room.
The three friends watched a movie and then went to bed. They were pretty tired too. It had been a long day.

Emily laid next to her daughter and felt like she could breathe a bit better that night. Things were going great.
She just hoped she would have a great and peaceful night.

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Emily woke up that Friday morning with the alarm clock. She smiled as she noticed she didn't have any bad dreams. She looked at the little girl fast asleep next to her and instead of getting out of bed she wrapped her arms around Bella.

After a couple minutes she decided to get up. She went to the kitchen and found Derek there.
"Good morning" she said.

"I just made coffee" Morgan said.

"Can I make some pancakes for Bella?" She asked.

"You don't have to ask" Derek smiled and walked out of the kitchen.
Emily made pancakes and then went to wake the girl up. It was 7am and Bella had the last ballet rehearsal before the recital later that day.

"Bella" Emily sang running her hand on the girl's back. "Bella wake up" she said and the girl moved a little. "Time to wake up, sleeping beauty" she said and Bella opened her eyes and smiled. She loved when Emily woke her up like that.
"Hi" Emily smiled too. "Happy recital day" she said holding the plate of pancakes.

"You made me pancakes?" Bella said.

"Sure. A ballerina needs to eat well. Especially on such an important day" Emily said with a smile. "Come on. Sit up" she said and Bella sat. Emily handed her the plate and asked "do you want chocolate milk?"

"Apple juice?" Bella asked.

"Apple juice it is. I'll be right back" Emily said and went to get it.

Penelope was having breakfast in the kitchen.
"Good morning first lady Prentiss" Garcia said.

"Morning" Emily smiled. "Aren't you working today?" She asked when she noticed Penelope was wearing pajamas.

"We got the day off. Thank goodness" Garcia said.

"Oh good" Emily smiled and got the juice.

"Is Bellie awake?" Penelope asked.

"Yeah. The ballerina got breakfast in bed today" Emily said.

"Oooooh" Penelope said.

"And she requested apple juice so..." Emily said and Penelope laughed.
Prentiss went and took the juice to Bella who drank and finished her pancakes.
"Do you want more?" Emily asked.

"No thanks" Bella said.

"Alright so I need you up and running or you're gonna be late" Emily said and Bella made a tired face and laid back down. "Come on Bell" Emily laughed.

"It's too early! It's not even 8" Bella said.

"Come on! You gotta get you tights on and your leo. I need to do your hair. Come on. Up up!" Emily said pulling Bella out of bed. The girl walked to the bathroom and started getting ready.

After a while Bella walked in the living room holding a hairbrush and some hair ties. Emily and Penelope were watching tv.

"Mom, can you?" Bella asked. Emily nodded; Bella walked to her and sat on the ground in front of her. She did a bun and then told Bella to go brush her teeth so they could go.

.

"I'm done" Bella said walking back in.

"Have fun, bunny" Penelope said.

"Bye" Bella said with a smile and kissed Garcia's cheek.

"Where's Derek?" Bella asked. She wanted to say bye.

"In the garage" Penelope said.

"I'll be right back" Bella said and ran to the garage. She found Derek fixing the back wall.

"I'm heading to rehearsal" Bella told him.

"Oh hi. Good morning" he said and opened his arms for a hug.

"You're all sweaty" Bella said with a disgust face and took a step back.

Derek laughed.
"Have fun. And you own me a hug when you get back" he said and she smiled.

"Bye Da- ... Derek" she said.
A dad almost came out but she covered it with his name. She walked back in the house and her heart was beating so fast. She didn't know if he noticed. She felt like he didn't but she wasn't sure. She walked to the living room and Emily wasn't there.
"Where's my mom?" She asked Penelope.

"Waiting for you in the car, Madame" Garcia said.

Suddenly Bella realized that was the perfect moment.
"Okay. Bye" she said and ran to her bedroom. She got the letter she had written to Morgan and went to his bedroom and placed it on the bed. She had written "Derek" in big letters on the envelope and she let that facing up.
She walked to the car and took a deep breath once she sat down.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asked. She could see the kid was nervous.

Bella nodded yes but it was not convincing at all.

"What happened honey?" Emily asked worried.

"I left the letter on Derek's bed" Bella said.