Lauren

Part 7

At about 9:00 JJ and Lauren were curled up in the living room watching tv. Henry had fallen asleep after his bath and Will went out grocery shopping. Lauren had her head rested on JJ's chest and hadn't said anything to JJ since dinner.

"Do you want to talk about it?" JJ asked softly looking down at Lauren

Lauren just stared down at the ground as tears fell from her eyes. "Do you think she really loves me." she asked quietly

"Yes. I know she does. I also know that she never wanted you to go though what you did." JJ replied stroking Laurens hair.

Lauren felt herself tensen up and want to kill her mother once again but Henry's words rang in her head. "But....." Lauren started

"Shhhhhh.... Sweetheart calm down. There is no but. What happened, happend. Your mother would never purposely hurt you."

"JJ." Lauren said softly

"Yes Lauren."

"I have never told you this but I have always looked at you like my mother and I just can't imagine anyone else doing the things you do for me. I don't want anyone else to do them for me." She cried

"I have always seen you as my daughter as well and you know what we can still have sleepovers and watch tv. But Emily is your mother and you should give her a chance. She is an amazing woman and you are so much like her so please just give her a chance."

Lauren lied there and cried in JJ's lap until she had cried herself to sleep.

"Hey sweetheart."Will whispered as he put the grocery bags down. He leaned over Lauren to give JJ a kiss. "I'll carry her upstairs. Did she cry herself to sleep?" He asked wiping the tear stains from her face. JJ nodded. Will picked the small girl up and carried her to the guest bedroom she had slept in every other day for the past 6 months. JJ kissed the girl on her forhead and tucked her in.

-About 1 am that night-

Lauren heard the bedroom door open and turned over to see who it was.

"Henry whats wrong?" She yawned

Henry walked over to her bed and crawled under the covers holding a book in one hand and a blue stuffed dog in the other. "Can you read me this." He said handing Lauren the book

Lauren immediately recognized the book, Will read it to Henry every time JJ went out on a case. It was a children's picture book the FBI gave to parents to make the jobs seem less scary to young kids. "Why? Your Mom and Dad are just down the hall." Lauren asked confused

Henry shook his head "No they're not." Laurens heart started to race

"Let's go look. Ok?" Lauren said taking the little blond boys hand

They headed down the hall. Lauren pushed JJ and Will's bedroom door open and looked inside

"They aren't here." She whispered under her breath. She then made sure all the windows were locked and sure enough they were.

"Don't worry bud they must be down stairs." She wispered but grabbed on of Wills poket Knifes anyway. As they tiptoed down the stairs in the dark she flipped the knife open.

"Stay here." She said to the frightened little boy. Henry nodded and sat down quietly on the bottom step. "Scream if anything happens." Lauren whispered and headed of to check the whole first floor. She walked around and checked every closet, window and door but didn't find anything out of place or unlocked. She walked back to the foyer where Henry was sitting and helped him up.

"Let's go to the basement and check there." She said trying to sound reassuring. Once again she checked every door,room, and closet but didn't find anything.  Henry was starting to fall asleep again so she put the knife in her pocket and picked him up. She almost sprinted back to JJ's room terrified. She Laid the sleepy boy down on the bed and found JJ's gun safe empty in the corner of the room.