Jemily One Shots

Adoption Day

Today marks a big day for the Jareau-Prentiss household. After a grueling year and a half, they are officially adopting Cameron Matthew Jareau-Prentiss (His moms quickly gave him a more masculine middle name). Cameron was sure to not show it, though, he was very nervous. He'd never made it this far, and to be honest he never thought he ever would. He had the perfect family. Two brave, loving, passionate moms supporting his every move. A brother to always fall back on and trust with his every being. Not to mention the entire BAU, or FBI more like it.

Unlike Henry, Cameron doesn't have a favorite, truthfully he can't believe so many people love him, so why choose a favorite when they've all entrusted themselves to you. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a favorite quality of all of them.

For Penelope it's easy, now Cameron isn't one for touch that doesn't consist of his moms but every now and then he allows Penelope to hug him for a grueling 7 seconds (10 was just too much for his limber body). Penelope to him could make anyone in the room feel like the center of attention, something Cameron quickly had to get over (He hated the attention). Though, he quickly came to love it, seeing it as a love language from the energetic women.

Penelope Garcia was truly the worst person to keep secrets, however when the two worried moms came to her with Camerons file and asked that he no longer ever be known as his assigned gender or dead name she knew this wasn't some willy nilly everyday task. She made sure that his old life was to never see the light of day again, and he was never deadnamed or misgendered in school ever again. At first he blamed it on being moved to a different school, but when every teacher addressed him as him and Cameron, he was dumbfounded, none of them knew. He cried that day, and when his moms confronted him after school he could only embrace them in a hug that definitely lasted longer than 7 seconds.

Uncle Reid was an interesting being. He was certainly Henry's favorite and he didn't want anything to disrupt that. Cameron made a promise to himself that he would steer far from the genius. He knows what it's like to have foster siblings turn against you and that was the last thing he wanted after finally having a good family to fall back on. Spencer though, was perplexed, he couldnt read this boy like he could read others. He initially had gone to the boy's parents and asked if he had done anything to offend the 8 year old. The moms chalked it off as nerves. Being in a 2 woman household they truly didn't know how he'd react around men and they thought it was normal for him to be distant with Reid.

They only all were engulfed in confusion when Cameron warmed up to his other uncles wonderfully. Reid decided to take it slow, he knew what it felt like to be the kid left out and now isn't the time to cry over it. Though his thoughts changed when he overheard a conversation between the boy and his brunette mom,

"Is everything okay with you and uncle Spence, baby?" She runs her fingers through his hair, she really had no idea where this conversation could lead. Had he offended him, hurt him in any way? One thing she was sure of is she would take her son's side without a second thought. No matter the issue, she had made that clear from the beginning. Her son had a support system whether he liked it or not.
"Yeah why, does he not like me? I tried to stay away." He fidgets with the string on his sweatpants as he leans into her touch. He thought he'd done everything right. Did he think he was taking too much attention from the Genius? Was Henry mad at him?
"Why Cam? Did Spence say anything or do anything that told you to stay away?
"No, but Henry really likes him and I don't want Henry to hate me for taking Uncle Spence's attention away from him" He sounds sure of his answer.
"Baby I don't know what made you think that but Henry doesn't have an ill bone in his body. If anything Henry wants to share the attention, and uncle Spence certainly does too. I don't want you to walk in eggshells around anyone okay? You're safe here and we certainly aren't getting rid of you ever. Not even if you're 30 and living in our basement." They both laugh, she always knows how to make him laugh in moments like these.

It takes a couple of weeks but the boy starts to open up to his uncle. It surprises him though when Henry starts to enjoy their time together too, purposefully including his brother with him and their shared uncle.

Derek knew what it was like to have a bad childhood and so he treaded carefully around Cameron. However, it was only one sided, Cameron saw right through him and easily warmed up to his uncle. He knew Derek was a protector and that was enough to convince Cameron that he was a chill guy. The two of them bonded over a lot of weirdly unsettling childhood traumas and experiences. Derek was more of the male dominating role in his life. They didn't talk about Camerons transition much but Derek made sure he would grow into a respectful young man teaching him the basics of what to do and what not to do. Derek was a leader, a teacher to him. Sure he was this to Henry also but it hit harder for Cameron because of their shared past.

He couldn't tell you much about his two older uncles. Uncle Dave was a rich Italian that said few words, and his uncle Aaron did not smile much but he knew he always had his back. Aaron put his whole heart into raising his son, he knew if his real parents even put an ounce of the love Aaron put into Jack he would never have been taken into foster care.

His brother Henry was one of his favorite people in the 8 year olds whole world. Henry didn't treat him like a broken object, fragile and less than. No, Henry treated him with what they called ~sibling love~ The two boys could go from bickering and fighting to playing and being best friends at the snap of your fingers. Truthfully the two moms didn't know what to do with this information. On one hand they rejoiced that Cameron could open up so much and show his love and trust for them in his emotions, and on the other hand they hated it when they bickered. There was nothing more annoying than being woken up at 7 am to then fighting over who gets the last of the milk for their cereal.

Okay, maybe he wasn't being entirely truthful when he said he doesn't have favorites. Cameron was a mama's (mama and mom) boy through and through. He could go on and on about how much he loved them, and they certainly could too. His favorite thing about his older mom (mama) was how patient she was with him, with everyone really. In all his time with the Jareau-Prentiss's he can't recall a single time she raised her voice at anyone. Emily was known to be the level headed of the two parents. She always knew how to calm him down or cheer him up. After learning about his frequent nightmares she and him made an agreement that he would always wake her up when he had one because she knew how scary they could be, and in return he got to spend the rest of his night in his moms' bed between the two people that loved him most.

His blonde mom was much different from her wife. She wore her heart on her sleeve. She was sure to teach both of her children that they were allowed to show their emotions, in fact sometimes she even encouraged them to cry. She swore to herself a long time away that she would not create another Roslyn situation in her family. Her children were going to be allowed to ask for help and express themselves how they really think.

Thankfully, both her and Cameron loved physical touch, not to say the remaining two in the family didn't, but sometimes they just felt trapped whereas Cameron and JJ felt connected and longed for touch. Countless times Cameron has fallen asleep on top of the blonde, held her hand at the dinner table, and on the really hard days resorted to his weird emotional attachment of touching her ear. At first he was ashamed of such things, but his mom explained to him that many children did this and it was just like having a baby blanket, his was just a little different.

He looks back on all of these times and smiles as he walks into the courthouse. He's holding both of his mom's hands to help ease his nerves.
"What if the judge says no" He knows he's being unreasonable and the nerves are talking but he finds that he can't help it sometimes. His collard shirt itches his neck and he swears he can feel the seams on his socks.
"Baby you know they aren't going to do that, we love you too much to let that happen" JJ reassures him

One small wait later and it's their turn. He's not sure he's even listening to anything anyone is saying but soon enough his family is all hugging him and clapping, and suddenly he is the fourth Jareau-Prentiss.