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“M-O-M-M-Y needs C-O-F-F-E-E,” JJ sang along to the Ralph’s World song coming through the car speakers.
“E-M-I-L-Y needs C-O-F-F-E-E,” Emily cut in on the next line, singing over the actual lyrics, which spelled out ‘Daddy needs coffee.’
“Those aren’t the words!” Henry giggled, nearly shouting to be heard over the music.
“Well, excuse me, but I think I deserve coffee, too!” Emily shouted back, twisting in the passenger’s seat to smile at Henry. It was one of the rare mornings she and JJ could do the school dropoff together before heading into the BAU office, and Henry had requested Starbucks to celebrate. It had been all too easy to give in. JJ turned the music down when they got to the drive-thru so she could order– breakfast sandwiches and hot chocolate for the boys, coffee for her and Emily. The rest of the ride was fairly quiet after that, everyone lost in their own world of hot drink goodness.
“I’m going to go in and apologize to Michael’s teacher for giving him so much sugar so early,” JJ said as they pulled into the parking lot. Emily hummed her agreement, and hopped out, handing Michael’s backpack to JJ before bending down to plant a kiss on the boy’s head. The two rushed off, and it was then that Emily noticed Henry had yet to move from his seat.
“What’s up, bud? Want me to walk you in?” she asked as she opened up his door for him. Henry was more than old enough to walk inside by himself, but that didn’t mean Emily couldn’t offer.
“Emily, can I ask you a question?” His eyebrows were knit together behind his glasses, making him appear deep in thought.
“Always,” Emily said, leaning against the car.
“Well, I guess I was just thinking about names,” Henry explained.
“Yeah? What about them?” Emily prompted. Henry was an incredibly bright boy, and she was more than used to him springing random lines of questioning on her at random times, but part of her worried that letting this go on too long would make him late for school.
“Like how sometimes people have two names, the name everyone calls them, and the name that their family calls them. Like I call my dad ‘Dad’, but his name is also Will, or I call my mom ‘Mom’, but her name is Jennifer, but everyone calls her JJ, which I guess means she has three names,” he sounded just like Reid in moments like these, and Emily placed a gentle hand on his knee, trying to bring him back to focusing on his point. “But I don’t have anything to call you.”
“You call me Emily,” she said. He had lost her. “And you used to call me Auntie Em.”
“Right, but you’re not my aunt,” Henry said back. It was true, the boys had stopped calling her Auntie Em not long after she and JJ had told them about the true nature of their relationship.
“I don’t mind being just Emily,” she said, squeezing his knee affectionately. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”
“But you’re part of our family,” he said earnestly. “You should have a special name.”
“Okay, do you have any in mind?” she asked as everything suddenly clicked into place, and she was surprised to find tears spring to her eyes.
“At first I was thinking that I could call you ‘Mom’, since you already do a bunch of mom stuff for me and Mikey, like make us dinner and drive us places and take care of us when we’re sick, but I already call my mom ‘Mom’, and that would be too confusing. But then I remembered my friend Taylor telling me about how she calls one of her moms ‘Mom’ and the other ‘Mama.’ So I thought maybe we could try that. Mama.” Henry finished and looked up to find that Emily had tears sliding down her face. “Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?”
“No, Henry, you said everything right. I’d love to be called Mama.” Henry rewarded her with one of the biggest smiles she’d ever seen, and finally unbuckled himself to spring forward and wrap her into a hug.
They were still hugging when JJ returned to the car, surprised to see her oldest son still there. “You two okay? Henry, you’re going to be late” she said gently, not wanting to break up the adorable moment, but also not wanting her son to get yet another lecture on punctuality.
“Yep!” Henry pulled out of the hug and grabbed his backpack from the floor of the car. “Bye, mom,” he said, coming over to give JJ a quick one-armed squeeze, already starting to run inside. Just as he reached the sidewalk that would take him to the front door, he turned and shouted “Bye, Mama!” And then he was gone.
“Did he just?” JJ asked, turning to Emily, who was quickly wiping tears off her face.
“He did.”