A Second Chance

Garcia's Findings

Eight months later...
It was the first week of December and everyone was all excited for Christmas.
Sophia had been with JJ and Will for nine months and she absolutely loved it. In September she started eighth grade. Sophia was one of the youngest in her class, but she was also one of the smartest. Her best friend, Danielle, was pretty intelligent too and they were in all the advanced classes together.

Snow covered the ground and was falling as Emily Prentiss stepped out of the car and thanked the taxi driver. She looked up at the building and took her first step towards it. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Leaving the building was a small brunette that looked very familiar. Emily squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them, the child was gone. It must've been a figment of her imagination she thought. Prentiss stepped inside the warm building and made her way over to the elevator.

When she reached the sixth floor she walked over to her friend's desk and tapped her on the shoulder.
JJ turned around and her face lit up when she saw Emily Prentiss.
"Emily!" she exclaimed and got up to hug her.
"Hey," Prentiss said with a smile and returned the hug.
"What are you doing here?" JJ asked excitedly.
"Penelope called me-" Emily said and tilted her head.
Just then, Garcia came running out.
When she saw Emily a smile appeared on her face.
She ran over to say hi to her friend.
"It's so good to see you," the happy blonde said and hugged her.
"Your message sounded urgent on the phone. Is everything-" Emily started to say.
"What message?" Penelope asked.
Before Prentiss could reply.
Morgan and Reid walked over and spotted their old college.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Reid asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Emily said and eyed Garcia, who looked very guilty of something.

After everything calmed down, everyone went back to work and JJ invited everyone over for a family dinner. The team was to meet at JJ's in an hour.
"Wait till Emily meets Sophia," Reid said and nudged Morgan, who smiled. Prentiss cringed at that name. She always did.
"Sophia?" she asked back stiffly.
"It's the little girl JJ and Will are fostering," Penelope said and stared straight at Emily.
"You're fostering a child?" Emily asked and turned to JJ.
"Yeah, she's great. You're going to love her," the blonde said and turned back around to work.
Before Emily could really process anything, Garcia grabbed her arm and said,
"We need to talk."
Emily nodded and followed Garcia down the hall.

"Penelope what's going on? You left me a message but-" Emily tried saying.
"Shh," the blonde said and shut the door behind them. Then she went over and sat down at her computer.
"Garcia-"
"Don't interrupt me when I'm thinking," the tech ordered.
Emily stopped talking and when she realized what was popping up on the screens she nearly fainted.
Garcia was pulling up everything on Sophia. From when she was left at the park, to now.
Instantly, Emily recognized her two year old baby girl in the first picture.
"I don't understand," Prentiss tried to say.
"I think we both know that's a lie," Garcia said lowly and then turned around.
"Sophia Beth, or should I say Sophia Beth Prentiss, Found on February 26, 2006. She was abandoned by her mother at a park in Chicago, Illinois," she said and waited to see Emily's response.
"I- what do you want from me?" Emily asked.
"The truth. She's been living a lie and she's miserable. She drives herself crazy trying to figure out why you left her after two years," Penelope said seriously.
"You don't know that," Emily said and bit her lip.
"Yes I do," Garcia said and pulled up one more picture. It was of Sophia with the whole team and JJ's family at thanksgiving.
"I've gotten to know her over the past nine months and she's a great kid. She deserves better."
"JJ is fostering my Sophia?" Emily asked and her voice cracked.
Garcia nodded.
She watched as Emily looked at all the pictures.
"How did you figure out it was me?" Prentiss asked.
"Well when JJ first got Sophia, she wanted to find her mother. I've been working on it since."
"How long have you known?" Emily asked.
"Right when I found out, I called you," Penelope told her.
"Does JJ know?" Prentiss wanted to know.
Garcia shook her head.
Emily looked awful. Just five minutes ago she was fine, but now it seems that all the life was sucked out of her.
"Do you want to sit down?" Penelope asked.
"No, I'm fine. I just can't believe it's her."
"Why did you leave her back then? You started working for us a few months after you left her. Why?" Garcia asked.
Emily sighed and closed her eyes.
"It's complicated. I really don't want to get into that again."
Before Penelope could say anything Emily added, "And I didn't just leave her or abandoned her. The guy that found her was a friend. It was all a set up. I would never leave my daughter at a park to fend for herself. I wasn't that bad of a mother."
"Why didn't you ever tell us you had a daughter?" Garcia asked.
"It's hard for me to talk about. She's a very touchy subject for me and only a few people knew she existed."
Prentiss sighed and shook her head.
"Well, you get to see your little girl again tonight," Penelope said to brighten the mood.
Emily quickly shook her head.
"I can't."
Garcia's face dropped.
"Why not? Haven't you been dying to meet her?"
"Penelope, to her, I'm the birth mother that abandoned her ten years ago. She's going to hate me," Emily said.
"But you want to meet her?"
"More than anything."
"Then why don't we introduce you as Emily Prnetiss, our old friend who moved to London. She doesn't need to know who you are yet. Then once she gets to know you, we'll tell her."
"Another lie?" Emily asked and scoffed.
"What's your plan?" Garcia asked back with some sass.
"Fine. I just hope she doesn't hate me."
"She won't. She's going to love you. Believe it or not, Sophia is a lot like you in many ways," Penelope told her with a smile.
That made Emily smile a little.
"I hate to ask, but who's her father?"
Before Prentiss could answer, JJ walked in to say she was leaving.
"I'll see you guys at my house in an hour," she called and smiled at them.
The two women smiled and waved.
"Penelope."
The blonde tilted her head.
"You can't tell JJ I'm Sophia's mom, okay? I need to talk to her about it."
"Okay, I won't."
"And you can't tell anyone else. Not even Morgan, got it?"
Penelope pretended to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key.

There was a knock at the door.
"Sophia, can you get it? It's probably Spencer and Penelope," JJ called as she finished feeding Michael his baby food.
The girl set her book down and got up to answer the door.

Emily took a deep breath right before the door opened. She was expecting it to be JJ, but was instead faced with a small brunette girl. Instantly, Emily knew who she was. She knew exactly what her daughter looked like and the young girl that answered the door was her.
"Sophia," Emily whispered under her breath.
The child's dark eyes started into her mother's identical ones.
"Do I know you?" the kid asked.
She was lost in Emily's eyes and could've sworn she met her before.
Suddenly JJ appeared behind her.
"Emily, hey," she said and welcomed her guest in.
Emily kept her eyes locked with her daughters and they were just having a staring contest.
"This is Sophia, I told you all about her," JJ said and put her hands on the child's shoulders.
"It's nice to meet you, Sophia. I'm Emily," the older brunette said and held out her hand.
Sophia hesitated at first but then reached out to shake her mother's hand.