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The test in your hand shook. What the fuck were you meant to do now? This wasn’t supposed to happen, this wasn’t part of the plan. It was a silly one time thing, the condom broke, the chances - and you’d defied them all. You were seventeen, far too young for a child. You couldn’t raise a child. And god, what would your mum think?
You spent the night curled up in bed, holding your stuffed bear to your chest. Your legs were pulled up too, hiding your stomach from the world. You had a baby in there- you had to protect it at all costs. You were going to tell the dad first, thankfully you knew who it was. It wasn’t a serious thing but it wasn’t exactly a toxic thing either and you were thankful about that. You wanted to make sure he knew and he was involved every step of the way. The one thing, even only hours after finding out, you were sure of - is that you’d never get rid of your baby.
The next morning, you woke up to the smell of fresh waffles being cooked. Mum was home. Jumping out of bed, you pulled on shorts and your mums FBI jumper and headed downstairs. She’d been on a case and you’d missed her. She heard you run down the stairs and opened her arms in preparation for the hug. You wrapped your arms around her neck and your legs around her hips. She laughed, her deep belly laugh and help you tight.
“Hi my darling,” she said.
“Hi mum, I missed you,” you replied, dropping your feet but staying in her arms.
“I missed you too.” She replied. You stayed like that for a few moments, soaking it up. You don’t really know what happened, or why but you began to cry. She held you tighter, not saying a word.
“One second baby,” she whispered, as you began to smell the burning waffles. She tapped your back and you let go. Sniffling, you wiped your eyes on your sleeve.
Emily turned around with burnt waffles on a plate but still put ice cream on them. You laughed.
“Mum, you can’t eat them if they’re burnt,” you said.
“I’m not wasting them,” she replied. “These are special waffles I got from the city.”
You smiled, at her smile, and lifted yourself up onto the counter. You asked her about the case and she told you what she could. You loved hearing about her work. It was something you really wanted to do.
Your hand rubbed at your stomach, thinking of the peanut in there. You looked at your mum and thought about how you wanted the baby to be just like her - to have her smile, her laugh, her light hearted attitude. She paused, looking at you with a whimsical smile.
“What are you looking at?” she asked softly.
“Just you,” you smiled back. “I love you, mum.”
“I love you too baby,” she whispered, leaning over and kissing your cheek. “Now come eat these New York waffles.”
You spent the entire day watching movies with your mum. Curled up in her bed with her blankets and hoodie. You cuddled into her closely.
“Oh babe,” she whispered, picking up her phone.
“A case?” you sighed, looking up at her with puppy eyes.
“Yeah, love,” she hugged you tight and let you go. You blinked back the tears, trying not to show how disappointed you were.
Hours later, your mum was gone and the dad to your new baby was sitting in your kitchen. You were stalling.
“Y/n, just tell me what’s going on. I’ve been here forty five minutes now and you still haven’t got to the point-”
You sighed and slid into the seat next to him.
“I don’t want you to freaak out. No one else knows but I want you to know that I’ve made a decision and you can either decide to be here for me or not-” you began. His face twisted, almost as if he knew already. His eyes jumped down to your stomach and then back up again. Your hand moved to rest there, protecting your baby already.
“You’re not-”
“I found out yesterday,” you replied, eyes down.
“Have you confirmed it with doctors?” His voice was surprisingly calm, almost as if he was prepared.
“Not yet. I’ve only done one test,” you said. You carried on before he could speak, “but, the signs are all there. That’s why I did a test in the first place.”
“Let’s go to the store and double check and then we can book you a doctors appointment,” he said. He stood up from the chair and went to grab his jacket but you grabbed his wrist.
“Wait,” you whispered. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
He sat back down quietly and cleared his throat. Your heart was pounding in your chest. You weren’t with this guy, not seriously and this could end so badly. You knew it. He turned in his chair and took hold of your shaking, clammy hands.
“Y/N,” he began. Tears welled in your eyes. “Whatever happens, pregnant or not- I’ve had feelings for a while. It began when we started that project together and then the sex and - look I’ve been meaning to tell you. I won’t lie I hoped that was why you called me over,” he said softly. You were shocked. You didn’t know he was attached.
“What about the other girls?” you asked, referring to the other girls you thought he was sleeping with.
“There aren’t any other girls. Not anymore. I know the lads joke about it - it’s funny to them. But since I realised how much I like you… I dropped them all.”
“All of them?” you were skeptical. His lads did joke, a lot. This guy was the man slag of the school - the one who slept with everyone and he had feelings for you??
“All of them. I promise. I even deleted their numbers, the lot. I only speak to my friends and the occasional girl in my class when needed. I’m serious about you,” he paused and looked at your belly. “And the baby.”
“You want to keep it?” You questioned, almost choking on the question. His eyes went wide – assuming you didn’t from your response.
“I’ll respect anything you chose-” He spluttered. “I just, it’s mine too and that’s important to me.”
“We’re still so young,” you sighed, lowering your eyes.
“We are.” he grabbed your chin and lifted up your head gently so you were looking at him. “But let’s triple confirm the pregnancy and then we can worry then, okay?”
You nodded in agreement and slowly leaned in to kiss him. His soft tone, his gentle eyes and entire person was so comforting to you. You couldn’t help it.
It was triple confirmed. As a pair, working on making things official, you had decided to keep the baby. You knew it would break you trying to abort and with a dad who was interested, genuinely invested even, you knew the baby would be okay. You just had to tell Emily.
She’d texted you to tell you she was about an hour away from home and you began making her dinner. It was her favourite. Deep down, you knew your mum would support you no matter what but the anxiety of the reaction was insane. Your palms were sweaty, you struggled to catch your breath and you couldn’t focus on the cooking at all.
Somehow, you still managed to patch something together in time for her arrival home. She walked through the front door, replaced her heels with slippers and entered the kitchen with a wide smile on her face.
“Oh this is lovely!” she praised, seeing her favourite on the side.
“Sit down mum, I’ll get you some wine,” you replied, unable to make eyecontact. As a profiler, that gave it all away. She smiled and held up her wine glass regardless then set it down, clearing her throat.
“So my angel cake,” she said softly, addressing you in a way that made you more worried - “you’ve either been suspended, done drugs or get pregnant. What’s going on?”
You knew she was joking. She said it as a joke - a common joke parents make: ‘Oh, you’ve come to tell me your pregnant’. But it wasn’t a joke, suddenly it was real life and you were ready to throw up.
Exiting the kitchen at high speed, you crashed into the downstairs bathroom. Emily was quick to drop behind you. She held back your hair and rubbed your back and then sighed. She sat behind you, flushed the toilet and then closed the seat. She stayed close to you and your head rested on the toilet in shame. She knew, no doubt about it, she knew.
“It’s ironic when a mother’s joke becomes truth, isn’t it?” she sighed quietly. Her head rested on the door frame and her eyes ran over you. She rubbed yoru back, sighing a little more and then grabbed your hand.
“Talk to me,” she encouraged. “Tell me.”
“The condom broke,” you suddenly sobbed. “I didn’t do it on purpose and I swear it was an accident-” Emily moved and took you into her arms completely. YOu clung to your mum as if you were four years old again, letting every emotion come out. The anxiety about telling her, the anxiety about the baby. The idea of even having a baby. A new relationship you didn’t know if you were ready for. The fact you were going to be a mum. The way you were only seventeen. The tears ripped through your body but Emily held you the entire time. She didn’t let go, not once.
“I was 15 when I first got pregnant,” Emily said softly, handing you a cup of tea. “
“What?” You replied, eyes wide. Your jaw dropped. Emily smiled at the reaction. “Fifteen?”
“Fifteen.” She took a deep breath before explaining. “I lived in Rome at the time, with my mum who was working hard. I had sex with boys to fit in, being a teenager is hard, I understand that more than you know. Anyway, church and religion was a big thing. My priest said that if I abort the baby, I’m not welcome back into the church. Obviously, I was fifteen, still at school - my mum couldn’t know. I had no other choice. I ended up aborting the baby but my friends helped me back into the church-” she explained. You listened intently.
“Does it make you sad?” you asked.
“What?”
“That you didn’t keep the baby?”
“All the time. I’ll grieve for the baby for as long as I’m alive but I know I made the right choice. My body was still so young, I don’t think it would have even managed to keep a baby safe, as well as me. And then the external factors - plus,” she smiled and grabbed your hand. “If I had kept the baby, I probably never would have had you.” You blushed and lowered your head.
“Are you ashamed?” You whispered.
“I’ll never be ashamed of what I did to fit -”
“No mum,” you interrupted. “Are you ashamed of me?” You saw her heart break through her eyes and she shook her head so adamantly.
“I would never, ever be ashamed of you. Y/N I am so proud of you.”
“Proud for getting knocked up at 17?” you scoffed.
“Hey, no.” she shook her head again. “You don’t talk about yourself or my grandchild like that. Ever. What happened, happened. As you said, it was an accident. Sweetheaart, you’re seventeen. You’re exploring your body and naturally boys too. These things are bound to happen. Perhaps if you were drugged up and on alcohol and got with about five men and we didn’t know who the dad was then I’d probably be a little disappointed but never ashamed.” you began to cry again and she pulled you into a hug.
It was baby shopping day. You had a bump, a cute one that everyone found adorable. Everyone had been so supportive. The entire team adored you evern more, buying you gifts, checking up on you, helping you decorate. JJ, a mum herself, had been lovely and so supportive. Giving you remedies, tips, massages - it had been amazing. Not only had your family stepped up but your boyfriends had too. Hsi family have loved you through it all. You agreed to stay living at home with your mum. Your boyfriend planned on moving in just before the baby arrived - after his exams - so he could help. Your mum wasn’t too bothered about you finishing school this time round as she knew she had more than enough money to send you back when you were ready, even if it was from home.
Garcia and JJ turned up in the car together as you and your boyfriend stood outside the house, waiting for Emily.
“She’s meeting us there, she got a bit caught up with work,” JJ said, opening the door for you.
“She’ll definitely meet us there?” You asked, sad she wouldn’t be able to shop with you. Her opinion was the most important.
“Defiently honey, now hop in,” Garcia said. You got into the car and put on your belt. Your boyfriend sat beside you and held your hand the entire drive, knowing about your new found travel sickness.
Shopping was so succesful. You were pretty sure that between the lot of you, you’d spent over a grand but you didn’t even care. Uncle Rossi had sent money, your grandparents had sent money, everyone you knew had sent you money to put towards baby Prentiss and you were so happy. It had been one of the most amazing days in the pregnancy journey. Whilst you were exhausted from being on your feet, you were even more excited for the little one to arrive.
The baby nursery was ready a few weeks before baby was due. It was under the sea themed, perfect for you and you’re little kicker. Your boyfriend’s exams were over too and he was in the process of moving his things in. Derek had helped build the nursery and Emily hadn’t left your side.
With such a supportive group, you knew the birth of the baby was going to be easy sailing. And it was.
Emily stood on one side, your boyfriend on the other. JJ and Garcia were in the room too, as well as your boyfriend’s mum.
“So go on, tell us the name you chose,” JJ smiled - she’d been in on it since the start. Holding the bundle of pink blankets and tiny baby in your arms, you looked up at your mum with tears in your eyes.
“Mum, you’ve been there every step of the way. From the moment you adopted me at five to this very second you haven’t left my side and I’m so grateful. I’m so proud of you for putting your life of the line everyday to serve the country and bring down the bad guys. I’m so proud of how unbelievably strong you are no matter what you’ve been through. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about how incredible you are. Everyone can see that. I want my baby to have your strength, determination, huge heart and the most beautiful smile.” Tears were streaming down Emily’s face as she caressed your hair. “We decided to call her Emily Hope Prentiss.”