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JJ blinked at Henry as he stood in front of her, coat and boots on, a determined look on his face.
“What’s going on, baby?” She asked, glancing over at Emily for help but only receiving a shrug in response. Clearly, her fiancée wasn’t in on whatever Henry was planning.
“I want to go outside,” the seven-year-old announced seriously, clumsily wrapping a scarf around his neck without breaking eye contact with JJ. “You said we could go outside today, right?”
“Buddy, it’s pouring,” Emily piped up, sliding in next to JJ and slipping her arm around the blonde’s waist. “Are you sure you want to go out right now? We could always wait a few hours to see if the weather gets any better, or we could go tomorrow. We might even be able to convince Aaron to let Jack come along if we do that, you know?”
“I don’t want to go out with Jack and Aaron,” Henry pouted, looking like he was seconds away from stomping his foot on the ground. “I want to go with you.”
JJ might have found it adorable if it wasn’t for the fact that she was completely confused by her son’s demand.
After all, Henry hated the rain. As a toddler, he had stubbornly refused to so much as step outside if the clouds looked too threatening, and he’d been that way ever since. JJ, who had rather liked the rain, had been disappointed, but it had helped her keep Henry away from common colds so she had never really complained about it.
The point was Henry hated the rain, and something had to be very wrong for him to want to go out when they were seconds away from a full-blown storm.
“What’s this all about, baby?” She crouched down to meet her son’s gaze. “Did someone say something to you about you not wanting to go out in the rain? Did you forget something outside yesterday?”
“No,” Henry sighed loudly. “I just want to go outside.”
“In the rain,” Emily raised her eyebrows.
“Yes, in the rain,” Henry confirmed, looking at both of them like they were the crazy ones. “Can we go, please?”
For a second, JJ thought about pushing the matter some more, just to make sure that everything was truly okay with her son, but she knew better than to try that. Her son got his stubbornness from her and forcing an answer out of him would never work. Besides, he didn’t look upset or angry or anything of the sort, just a little frustrated at how long it was taking her and Emily to get on board with his plan.
“Alright, alright,” she caved, mouthing an ‘I don’t fucking know’ in Emily’s direction as they put their shoes on and grabbed their coats, both of them wincing at the sheer amount of rain they were about to step out into. “Are you sure about this, baby?”
“Oh my god, yes,” the boy groaned, his voice sounding eerily like Rossi’s when he had the spent the night out and got called into the office early.
And so, with one last helpless glance at Emily, JJ took one of Henry’s hands while her fiancée took the other, and the three of them walked out of the house. Only to end up drenched within a matter of seconds.
However, instead of making Henry run back inside, the water only made him smile softly, as though this was exactly what he had been hoping for. JJ had no idea what was going on in that brain of his, but she would have payed good money to see his thoughts right then. If the flabbergasted look on Emily’s face was anything to go by, she would have too.
“O-kay,” Emily said slowly. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Now we have to dance!” Henry grinned excitedly, tugging them into their front yard before JJ could truly process his words.
Once she did, though, she felt her heart break into a million pieces at how perfect her son was. It took all of her self-control not to crouch down into the mud and hug him until both of them could barely breathe. When she looked over at Emily, wondering if her fiancée had also caught onto what this was about, the remaining shards of her heart melted at the pure love she found on her fiancée’s face.
God, what had she done to deserve such a perfect family?
“Buddy, why did you want to dance in the rain today?” Emily asked him quietly, swaying her hips to a rhythm only she could hear and smiling at JJ over the top of her – their – son’s head.
Henry didn’t answer, but JJ wasn’t about to have any of that. Her son was the sweetest boy in the world, and she wanted to hear the words straight from him. She also wanted to know which one of her friends had spilled the beans, because there was no way Henry had heard about this from her, and she was almost certain this wasn’t Emily’s doing either.
“Baby, you hate the rain,” JJ pointed out. “So Emily and I both know there has to be another reason behind this, and I think we know what it is, but we want to make sure.”
“It’s just-” Henry huffed. “It’s just something Uncle Spencer said.”
“And what did Spencer say, exactly?” Emily raised an eyebrow at Henry, twirling elegantly and getting a small smile out of their son. “Something about dancing in the rain?”
“He said it was how you and mom fell in love,” Henry explained matter-of-factly, looking down at his shoes and avoiding both of their gazes. Even then, he didn’t stop bouncing his knees up and down to what JJ assumed was his own internal song. “He said you were on a case once and it was raining and mom was sad, and you took her dancing in the rain. And he said you always dance in the rain together, but you never do it when I’m around because I don’t like the rain. So I wanted to dance with you too, because I love you.”
“Oh, baby,” JJ murmured, scooping Henry up and holding him close, letting some of his weight rest on Emily as she stepped closer and gathered them in her arms. “We love you too, our sweet boy.”
Silence descended upon them for a grand total of thirty seconds during which the three of them swayed slowly, smiling at each other through their chattering teeth. JJ was just starting to enjoy the feeling of rain on her skin when-
“Okay, but can we go back inside now?” Henry whispered, looking at her with a sheepish smile. “I’m all wet.”
“Wonder how that happened,” Emily chuckled, ruffling Henry’s hair and taking him out of JJ’s arms and shifting him onto her back before running towards the house. “Where to, my fearless knight!”
“To the house!” Henry squealed delightedly. “Are you coming, mom?”
“I’m right behind you,” JJ assured them.
And if she admired her family for a minute longer before actually following them back inside? Well, no one had to know but her. Besides, it wasn’t every day that her son and fiancée raced around the front yard with mud on their shoes and water dripping from their hair.
Watching them was more than worth the few extra seconds she spent in the rain.