25Sorry its taken so long to get this up, I have had major computer dramas spanning the last month, and the computer has only been running again for the last 3 days. Curse you Dell! Anyways, this is pretty much a filler chapter, intro 2.0 kinda
One – Thirteen Years Later: Auckland, New Zealand
"Come on, Tylers! If you don't all hurry up we're going to be late for school and work!" Jennifer Tyler said as she cleared the table of the morning breakfast dishes.
"Ever the over-organiser, my darling wife," her counterpart replied as she entered the room and greeted her wife with a kiss. "Morning, Jen. You shouldn't have let me oversleep."
"Eww!" their youngest two children, twin girls Annabelle and Amelia exclaimed in harmony at the open display of affection.
Emily turned and poked her tongue out at her daughters before grinning.
"I can't help it if I love your mum, now can I?" she asked, staring lovingly around at her entire family.
At the sappy looks their mothers were sharing, all five of their children rolled their eyes and turned back to their food.
"Seriously, that's gross," their eldest, Henry muttered.
Breaking apart from her wife, Jennifer ruffled the boys' long blonde hair.
"Oh, so its gross for us, who have been married for over a decade, to kiss, but not when you and Chelsea are 'making out' in the back of the car?" she said teasingly.
"Mum!" Henry exclaimed, his face turning red with embarrassment.
"Ooo, Henry and Chelsea, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" sung ten year old Steven.
"Now Steven, no teasing your brother," Jennifer chided.
"Yes, mum," he grumbled.
"Spence, what time do we need to pick you up from band practice?" Emily asked their middle son.
Spencer, who at twelve years old was considered to be both academically and musically gifted, looked up from the biography of Mozart that he was reading and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Ben's mum said she would give me a ride home this week," he replied before burying himself back in the book.
"Excellent, make sure to thank her for us," Emily said. "Now chop, chop, let's get going everybody!"
There was a hustle as school bags and lunches were collected and last minute homework was found, but soon the busy family was out the door.
"Have a good day at work, Mrs Tyler," Emily said as she kissed her wife goodbye.
"You too, Mrs Tyler. See you at the girls interview," Jennifer replied before getting into her car and pulling out.
After watching her leave, Emily got into her much larger car, which was now filled with children and headed off on the morning school run.
Jennifer Tyler, known as Jenny by everyone except her wife, who was the only person allowed the privilege of calling her by her full name, was a highly reputed media consultant with the Auckland branch of a multinational firm. She specialised in crisis consultancy, which generally meant she spent her time spinning stories of apologetic but ultimately not to blame CEO's, politicians and large, private sector organizations. If she was perfectly honest, Jennifer wasn't a fan of her work, but it brought big money into the company which meant her bosses allowed her a greater reign to spent some of her time on her true passion; human rights advocacy.
As the person in charge of the pro bono work her firm did, Jennifer used her skills to organise media campaigns and fundraisers for charities and not for profit organisations of all shapes and sizes from around the country. She was heavily involved with a number of charities in Auckland that helped the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and both she and her wife volunteered their time as counsellors at different shelters once a week.
All in all, Jennifer Tyler loved her life. She had an amazing wife who was, undoubtedly, the love of her life, and together they had five wonderful children who brought them so much joy each and every day. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, Jennifer Tyler would say her life was pretty perfect.
Sometimes she would think about her old life, the one only her and Emily even knew existed, and wondered what things might be like if Ian Doyle had never torn their world apart. Occasionally her mind would drift to her friends and she would wonder where they were now; did Penelope and Spencer ever get over the pain of losing Emily, and the additional pain she was sure she caused them with her faked death? Did Garcia and Morgan ever stop being so blind and see that the perfect person for them had been right in front of them for years? Did Hotch ever find someone to make him smile again?
Sometimes she wondered if Doyle had actually been a blessing in disguise for her and Emily. Would they have been strong enough to weather the storm of the FBI when they found out the two agents where not only dating, but had been in a committed relationship for quite some time? Or would or that death and destruction that they saw in their jobs one day carry over into their personal life and destroy their relationship?
She remembered with perfect clarity the day she had first realised that Emily Prentiss was in love with her. It was just after her and Will had broken up in Miami; they had just arrested Kerry Dursman's stalker and everyone was going out for drinks together. Emily had stopped by her office to ask her along, but she had declined the offer.
JJ sat there, staring blankly at the piece of paper which confirmed what she had suspected, that she was pregnant. She knew she had to call Will, but it was the last thing she wanted to do. Sighing, she picked up the phone and dialled.
The phone call had not gone well. Will had first been cold, but when he heard her news he had started planning their life together, as if they had never broken up – she would move to New Orleans, become a stay at home mum. JJ gad quickly made it clear that that was not going to happen, and that while Will was welcome to be a part of the child's life, he or she would be growing up in Virginia and JJ would be going back to work after her maternity leave. The phone call ended when the police detective started to shout abuse.
Emily must have forgotten something at the office, because she suddenly reappeared in the doorway to JJ's office looking concerned.
"Jayje are you alright? I thought I heard…" she trailed off as she caught sight of her friend bent over and weeping at her desk.
Striding quickly across the room, Emily gathered JJ in a tight hug, and rocked her gently until the tears slowly eased.
"Now do you want to tell me whats going on?" Emily asked gently.
Taking a shuddering breath to calm herself, JJ sat back slightly but kept a firm grip on her friends hand.
"I'm pregnant."
Emily was stunned, but managed to keep from reacting.
"Jayje..." she said softly.
"And at first I was so excited to be a mum, but then I remembered that I had broken up with Will and that I would have to tell him, and when I rang him he started planning our lives together like we never broke up – he just expected that I would become a stay at home mum! Can you imagine that, me, a stay at home mum? And then I got angry, and he started yelling, and I just hung up on him!" JJ flopped back in her chair as her rant ended, her tears starting again. "Maybe he was right, maybe I will be a terrible mum! What type of woman doesnt want to stay at home with her kid?"
Emily pulled JJ's chair around to face her, and pulled her hands away from her face to hold in her own.
"Jennifer Jareau, you listen to me. You are an amazing woman and you are going to be the most wonderful, loving and caring mother in the entire world, I am absolutely certain of it. And you are not going to be doing it alone; I will be there for you every step of the way – I will go with you to your appointments and I will take a photo of your belly every single week from now on and if you want me, I will be there with you when you bring your little miracle into the world," Emily promised JJ passionately.
"Emily..." JJ whispered. "Why would..."
"Because you are my best friend and my family, and I love you," Emily interupted her, still holding her hands and staring straight into her eyes.
It was at that moment, as they stared into each others eyes, that JJ realised; realised that Emily wasn't just talking about the love of a family member or a friend, but a love much deeper and stronger than that.
JJ was humbled; shocked. Unable to come up with a reply worthy of such a demonstration of loyalty, she simply reached out and hugged Emily to her as strongly as she could.
JJ shook herself out of the memory, smiling fondly. To be honest, she tried not to dwell on questions about how their life could have been, and whenever she got in one of those contemplative moods, Jennifer would remind herself firmly that she and Emily had made their choices long ago and it was much too late to change that now. And usually, with a quick glance at her cosy little family she would soon have forgotten that she had ever wanted for anything else.
It was 4:15pm on Tuesday afternoon and the Tylers had a Parent/Teacher interview with the teacher of their two youngest. They had each taken a few hours off from work so they could both be there, as they always did during Interview Week, and Emily had bribed their eldest with a promised loan with the car into picking up the rest of the kids and taking them home.
"Annie and Amy are such a wonderful addition to the class. They are both bright and bouncy young individuals with bubbly personalities," the teacher, Mrs Anderson praised. "As I'm sure you know, Annie loves sience and biology, particularly everything and anything to do with bugs. She's quite the little expert! And Amy, she just adores music, the music teacher says shes a star and that her singing is coming along wonderfully."
Jen and Emily smiled proudly as the teacher spoke, their hands grasped together in Emily's lap under the table.
"You should both be very proud of your daughters, they are going to become remarkable women one day," the teacher finished.
"Thank you," Jen replied. "We are exceptionally proud of them both."
As the two women left the school, they chatted about simple things; their day at work and what to have for dinner, but both of them where thinking about the same thing; just how wonderful their life was.
So... let me guess, not what you were expecting? Either way, let me know what you think! And in case youre wondering, I do have a rough idea of a storyline, but I am always open to suggestions, so if you have any, fire away!