Emily

Chapter One

Jamie and Eddie were about to meet their foster daughter, Emily for the first time. They knew very little about her except for the fact that she had been through hell and back. She was thirteen and suffered from a few mental health disorders. Eddie and Jamie had been briefed on those and on her symptoms yesterday. They sat in the social worker's office and waited, anxiously. Eddie was bouncing her knee Jamie was trying to calm her nerves, by telling silly jokes.

"What if we can't help her Jamie?" Eddie asked and Jamie took her hand.

"We will do our best, that's all we can do babe." Jamie replied as the door opened to reveal the social worker and Emily. They stood and smiled, letting Emily initiate contact, and she did. They all shook hands and they introduced themselves to her. Emily smiled.

"It's nice to meet you both." She said shyly.

"It's nice to meet you too." Eddie replied, her nervousness had subsided.

"Do any of you have any questions for each other before we move on to the paperwork?" The social worker asked.

"I have one, what do you both do for work, just out of curiosity." Emily asked.

"We both work for the NYPD. He's a Sergeant and I am a Senior Patrol Officer. We both work at the 29th precinct." Emily nodded.

"Is that all you want to know about them Emily?"

"Yeah, I was just a bit curious." She smiled. They signed the necessary paperwork before helping Emily gather her things and loading them up into the car.

"Emily, are you hungry or anything?" Jamie asked.

"I could eat." She replied and Eddie grinned.

"Okay. You ladies want to stop somewhere on the way home or just order in when we get there?" Jamie asked. They looked at each other and back to him and replied in unison.

"Whichever you prefer." They all soon busted out laughing.

"We'll order in after we get home and get settled in." Jamie replied and they all climbed into the car and made their way home. They helped Emily carry her stuff inside and mentioned that they hadn't done much decorating in her room because they wanted her to be able to decorate how she wanted. She nodded. Jamie unlocked the door and let them in, and they showed her to her room and gave her a mini tour of the apartment.

"So, what do you guys want tonight?" Eddie asked as she settled on the couch and turned on the tv. Emily plopped down next to her and smiled.

"Pizza?" She suggested and Jamie nodded in agreement before they decided what they wanted and then he ordered it online and sat with them on the couch as they watched some comedy show.

He and Eddie noticed Emily visibly flinch when the comedian made a particularly crude joke about sexual assault and Eddie was furious herself, being a survivor, so she quickly changed it and they had settled on reruns of Friends.

It became obvious at that moment to Emily that this would be the first and last foster home she was ever placed in. She knew they wanted her here and that they were going to fight with her, rather than against her. And for the first time in years, she felt safe and happy. Jamie answered the door when the pizza arrived, and Emily helped Eddie get plates and drinks out for them.

They ate in quiet as they sat at the table. They enjoyed a light conversation but were more focused on eating than chatting. There was a knock at the door, and they looked up. No one was expecting it and silently, Eddie hoped it was either a Reagan or the social worker dropping off something they had forgotten. Jamie motioned for them to stay there and went to check it out. He had gone into cop mode and let his hand rest on his weapon. Emily noticed this just as quickly as Eddie.