Family is Everything

Knocked Out

With a stretch of her arms, Emily Prentiss woke up to find herself alone in her bed. Last thing she remembered was reading to Juliet at two in the morning. She got out of bed and checked Juliet's room, only to find it empty. When she got to the living room, she sighed. On the couch was Juliet and her mother laughing about something.
"What's going on here?" Prentiss asked walking into the room. She was surprised to see Juliet cuddled up to her mother, and even more shocked to see her mom perfectly comfortable with an arm around the girl.
"Oh nothing. Juliet just woke up and I was already up, so we sat down and talked for a bit," Elizabeth said smiling. Prentiss was happy to see her mom happy. She looked over at Juliet who had quickly warmed up to her grandmother.
"Mom, what are we going to do today?" Juliet asked excitedly. Emily didn't know what to say. Should she tell the girl her grandmother was leaving to go to Italy and would probably never come back to visit, or should she lie? The silence was broken by the ambassador who said,
"Well, you see, I have to go to Italy today for work, but I promise to come back and visit you as soon as I can." Juliet looked sad but said,
"Oh okay."
"You know, you could always come visit me sometime." Juliet's face lit up. "Really?" She shrieked.
"Of course. As long as it's okay with your mom," Elizabeth said, eying her daughter, who nodded in response. Juliet was ecstatic and happy to finally have a grandma that was nice and good to talk to. She never had one before, so this was all new to her.
"Sorry to ruin this, but I have to go soon, or I'm going to miss my flight," Elizabeth said smiling down at her new granddaughter. Juliet reluctantly got up to let her grandma go. Then, she crawled over to where Emily was sitting and joined her.
"How did you sleep, Juliet?" Prentiss asked as she watched her mother exit the room and get packed up.
"Eh it was okay, I guess," Juliet replied snuggling up to Emily. Elizabeth returned soon after with her bags and she was ready to go. She walked over to the girls and placed a kiss on both of their head then said,
"I love you both. I'm so happy I got to meet you, Juliet. Thanks for letting me stay, and stay safe you two." She then walked out the door, and left for Italy.

"So I see you got to warm up to your grandma," Emily said smiling.
"Yeah, she's actually not as bad as I thought," Juliet giggled and said.
"Well that's good," Prentiss replied. Then she said,
"I gotta start making breakfast. Oh and JJ texted me. She wanted to know if you were interested in going to the park later for lunch with her and Henry." Juliet beamed with joy and said,
"Yes! Of course. Finally, I feel like everything is falling into place." Emily smiled even bigger at her child's last words, then got up and began breakfast.

After eating, Juliet went to her room to work on homework, and Emily went back to her room to read. When one o'clock rolled around, Juliet sprang out of bed to get Emily.
"Mom!" Juliet screamed from down the hall. Emily quickly shut her book and got up to see what the problem was. "What's wrong, honey?" She asked as she met Juliet out in the hall.
"Nothing, but you need to get ready to go soon," Juliet told Emily, making her smile.
"Okay, just give me like five minutes and I'll be out soon." Juliet nodded her head and went to wait in the kitchen. Emily was finally ready, and she drove Juliet to the park to meet up with JJ and Henry.

When they arrived, JJ and Henry were already at the play ground. Juliet ran off to play with Henry, and Prentiss took a seat next to JJ.
"So how was your mother this weekend?" JJ asked.
"Honestly, better than I thought. Today I found Juliet on the couch with her laughing," Prentiss replied.
"Em, I swear, that kid brings out the better side of everyone. She can really charm someone when she tries. Just wait until she starts dating," JJ said jokingly.
"Dating? Ha! No way. I'm not letting her date until she's twenty. No boy is ever going to be good enough for her," Emily replied only half kidding. JJ just laughed. Deep down though, Emily did worry about her daughter dating. She knew what the world could do to a girl that only saw the good in it. She was taken out of her thoughts by Henry running towards them.
"Momma!" Henry screamed crying. "Henry what's wrong, where's Juliet?" "He hit her, and now she won't wake up," Henry said with a scared tone. Immediately, Emily was out of her seat and on the move.
"Where is she, Henry?" Prentiss asked. Her pulse was racing and she was freaking out. Henry led her to the bushes and Juliet was lying down with her eyes closed and a slash across her face. Emily knelt down beside Juliet and checked her pulse. The girl was still alive. "Juliet, wake up," Emily said gently shaking the girl. The child was out cold and JJ knew it, so she called 911. Within three minutes, the ambulance arrived and loaded Juliet up. JJ tried getting Henry to tell her who the man was, but Henry said he didn't know. Emily climbed into the ambulance with Juliet and held her hand. The medics were quickly working on Juliet and got her heart rate and pulse back to normal. She woke up and was scared because she didn't know where she was. The girl felt a lot of pain in her head and started to feel dizzy. "Juliet, lay back down, we're almost at the hospital," one of the medics said, and Juliet obeyed and rested her head back on the pillow. Her vision was getting blurry and soon, she was totally out.