The Usual Rules

Chapter 15

Emily looked up from her file as she heard screams of delight behind her. Rachel and Jack came running through the bullpen at top speed, Morgan chasing them. Emily frowned. Morgan had been told to keep them calm, running around through the bullpen was not Emily's idea of calm. Rachel squealed as Morgan almost grabbed her. To Emily's surprise, Rachel side stepped him with a twirl and crashed herself into Emily. She clawed at Emily trying to climb up her and out of Morgan's reach.

"Safe!" Rachel yelled. "Emily's safe!"

"No she's not." Morgan said with a grin. "JJ is."

Emily watched as Rachel's face fell in horror as she realized she had gone to the wrong woman. Morgan wriggled his fingers and inched closer to them. Rachel screamed – shattering Emily's eardrums – and leapt off of Emily's lap. In a full on sprint, she ran to JJ's desk and lunged herself at the blonde woman. Luckily, JJ had more of a warning then Emily and was ready for her. While Morgan was preoccupied with trying to catch Rachel first, Jack slipped around the other way and latched onto JJ from behind.

"We're both safe!" He declared happily. "You lose!"

"Yeah! We win!" Rachel cheered as she turned herself to be able to face Morgan and found herself staring at Emily's glare. Immediately Rachel pointed to Morgan. "It was his idea." She said, making sure the blame was off herself. Morgan scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You little traitor." He said, offended at how quickly she would sell him out. Rachel just shrugged and leaned back into JJ comfortably. Jack figured it was safe enough to release JJ, as the game appeared to be over, and the angle at which he was holding her was sort of uncomfortable. He walked over and sat by Reid's desk, eyeing the book he was reading. Within a minute Jack deemed it boring and went to go find his father.

"Where are you going?" Rachel yelled after him.

"To find my dad, want to come?"

"No thank you." Rachel said reaching up and playing with JJ's hair. Jack shrugged and went up the stairs. JJ smiled and scooted her chair back to the desk, shifting Rachel slightly. The little girl had grown considerably more comfortable with Emily, JJ and the team; but Hotch and Rossi still made her nervous. She was alright if they were all together, she would stay near Emily or JJ, but in small groups, with just them, she got panicky. There hadn't been a new case in the last few days, and Rachel had almost completed a full 180 with Emily and JJ. She had taken her grounding in stride, even gone and apologized to the girl she hit; though Emily and JJ had realized the apology was practiced with Morgan, and not so much of an apology as a warning.

Rachel took a deep breath and stood up straight not allowing herself to look frightened in anyway. Calmly, she strode over to the fourth graders and tapped on Karen's shoulder. The older blonde turned around and scowled down at Rachel, her friends doing the same.

"What do you want freak?" Karen spat out at Rachel. For a nine, almost ten year old, she had already blossomed into quite the little bitch.

"I wanted to say that I am sorry that I hit you. It wasn't nice of me and I shouldn't have done it."

"Go away loser, I don't care."

Rachel frowned as the other girls laughed along with Karen. She had apologized. She had done what Emily and JJ told her she had to do. Now, she was going to to what Morgan – and Reid – thought was a good idea. "I'm sorry Karen." Rachel said firmly. "I'm sorry that you are so insecure and pathetic that you feel the need to lash out at others to make yourself feel more superior." Karen and her friends all listened, confused as Rachel beamed and continued on. "I'm sorry that you are going to grow up to be a bitter, ignorant, rude person. I feel sorry for you, but I won't hit you again." And with that Rachel turned around and walked slowly back to the swings. Rachel smiled to herself. Morgan and Reid had rehearsed that speech with her until she had the entire thing memorized. She had remembered it all. Rachel hopped onto the swing and kicked her legs out, going as high as she could. For the first time since she started school, she was feeling rather good about herself.