The Usual Rules

Chapter 20

"When are they going to call?" Rachel whined as she kicked her legs back and forth in annoyance. She was currently sitting on one of the island stools doing her homework.

"Soon sweetheart, remember they are actually working." Mary reminded her as she made dinner. Emily and JJ had been gone for three days so far and Rachel was not exactly loving it. She had been rather irritable and had gotten into trouble at school more than once for not paying attention. She wasn't behaving badly exactly, she just clearly wasn't happy. Mary and Andrew had been doing everything they could think off to cheer her up. They read her stories, they had taken her to the library, the park, out for ice cream, rented movies, and to the BAU to visit Garcia, but nothing seemed to work. The little girl wanted one thing and one thing only, Emily and JJ. In a way, Mary was a little happy that Rachel was this upset; it meant the little girl finally allowed herself to show how much she cared about the women.

The ringing of the phone pierced through the almost silence of the apartment and Rachel's face lit up. She jumped off of the stool and ran in a full on sprint to the telephone.

"Hello, Prentiss residence, this is Rachel speaking is this Emily or JJ?" Rachel said the greeting so quickly that all the words mushed together. Mary grinned from over by the stove.

"Hi honey."

"JJ!" Rachel yelled in elation. "I miss you! Did you get the bad guy? Is Emily there? When are you coming home? I didn't wet the bed last night!" She sputtered out questions and comments faster than JJ could follow, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Slow down sweetie." JJ said with a bright smile on her face. Emily was standing right next to her, her ear pressed as close to the cell phone as she could get. A look from Morgan made JJ realize how ridiculous they looked. She took her wife's hand and pulled them into one of the empty interview rooms and switched the phone to speaker. "Yes, Emily is here, we miss you too, no we haven't caught the bad guy just yet and we'll be a few more days. Congratulations, we're proud of you!"

"Very proud." Emily added.

"You're not coming home?" Rachel whined. Both women could hear the tears and the tantrum waiting behind the seven year old's words. Emily glanced at JJ and gave her wife a knowing look, they needed to do something, or Mary and Andrew were going to have a very sullen girl on their hands.

"Rachel, what did you, Mary and Andrew do today?" Emily asked gently.

"How much longer do you have to be gone?" Rachel whined, ignoring Emily's question. The raven haired woman sighed and glanced at her wife. As she assumed, the blonde profiler was pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand in frustration. JJ had been having a hard time being away from Rachel, Emily had as well, but the brunette had always been better at hiding her emotions. They both had been working hard, to keep their minds off the bubbly seven year old and to get back to her sooner. The whole team noted their discomfort. Hotch in particular had done his best to offer some from of comfort to both women; knowing how hard it had been for him at first to leave Jack.

"We have to stay and do our jobs Rach, we never know how long it will take remember?" Emily prodded.

"I hate your jobs." Rachel grumbled as she kicked the wall.

"Rachel!" Mary scolded her. Rachel looked at her grandmother with a scowl and held her leg up to kick the wall again. "Don't you dare young lady." Mary warned. "If you're upset, use your words." Instead of kicking the wall, Rachel stamped her foot and slammed the phone down on the tabletop in front of Mary and ran upstairs. "RACHEL!" Mary yelled after her.

"Mom?" JJ asked, still on the line. "What's going on?"

Mary picked up the phone with a sigh and motioned for Andrew to follow Rachel. The man somewhat reluctantly rose from the couch and made his way upstairs. "Jenny? She's a little upset and I think she'll talk to you tomorrow."