Serendipity

Chapter 6

Emily went straight to the shower when she got home. Once she was feeling refreshed, she dug out an old shoebox from the very back of her closet, and took it over to the bed. She sat cross legged with the box in her lap and slowly started packing out the contents. They were momentos from her travels. Little things that had made her happy at one point, that she didn't want to let go. At the bottom was a folded piece of paper. Emily carefully picked it up and unfolded it. She looked at the grainy black and white picture of her baby; that was the first sonogram she got in Rome after she found out she was pregnant. It wasn’t even a baby yet, it was just a splotch of static, but she knew she loved that little life from that very moment.

Travelling the globe as a child had its pros and cons. On the one hand, she got to see and experience amazing things that normal people never get to do. She learned to speak 5 languages, and she took part in a variety of different cultures. The downside, however, was that she was always the ‘new kid’. She never spent more than a year in one place, at one school, and that meant she never really had any friends. Her rebellious streak made her do stupid things to fit in with whatever crowd she picked that time, ranging from shoplifting to sleeping with whomever was the most popular person around. That is what got her in trouble. Her mom was stationed in Rome, they had been there for 6 months, and the awkward outcast daughter of an Ambassador was doing just about anything to fit in. One night, early January, she had snuck out to a frat party at a college. Not that you could really call what she had done ‘sneaking’; she simply walked right out the front door. Her parents never cared enough to notice that she was gone. She had gotten wasted, met up with the resident jock, and ended up having sex in the back seat of his dad’s BMW.  It wasn’t romantic, she didn’t even like the boy. He was an absolute asshole, but getting in his good graces meant she was part of the popular kids. A month later, she got sick. Stomach flu, she had thought, but it went on for over a week and the housekeeper, Maricelle, had insisted she call a doctor.

She had argued with said doctor for 20 minutes after receiving the diagnosis. It wasn’t until he had tapped a few buttons on the sonogram machine that resulted in a steady beating sound flooding her ears that the reality had sunk in. There was really a little life growing inside of her. She had wanted to tell her parents, she was planning on it, but she quickly realised that it would not end well . It wouldn’t be too hard to keep it from them, they were the most un-attentive people she had ever met. She had told Matt; he was the only real friend she had ever had, and he promised to stand by her. It hadn’t worked out that way though. Their parents had been sent to different places not long after, and she had to cope without him in Chicago. Matt called her everyday, he sent her letters, and offered as much support as possible from a million miles away. She was beyond thankful for him. The housekeeper they had in Chicago was a sweet lady called Maragret. She had realised something was up with Emily the day after they moved in. She had caught her throwing up one morning. She had fetched a hair tie to keep Emily’s hair out of her face, made her ginger tea and toast, and sat holding her for half an hour. Emily had broken down at the kindness and told her the truth. Margaret had helped her from then on; she got her vitamins, gave her more nutritious meals, she even snuck her the caramel ice cream she craved after her mom had told her to lay off the sugar because she was getting fat. Margaret was truly an angel.

Her water broke at around 9pm. With a rare bit of luck, her parents weren’t home that night. She had called Margaret, and she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl at 2am on 24 September. She had cried the whole time; only in part because it hurt like hell, but mostly because she knew she would have to let go of the little life she had been caring for for the previous 9 months. It broke her heart to know she couldn't keep her. She had thought of telling the Ambassador more than once over the months, but Elizabeth Prentiss had made it abundantly clear that she cared too little about her daughter and too much about her reputation. Emily realised quickly that Elizabeth would not take kindly to her teenage daughter being a mother and she couldn’t imagine bringing her perfect little baby into a life of constant disappointment. Her mother cared nothing for her, she wouldn’t care for a granddaughter who ruined her picture perfect family in the media. Emily knew she needed to give the little girl a better shot at a happy life. A happier life than she had. She had sat with the baby in her lap, writing a letter, telling her how sorry she was, and how much she loved her. She had wanted to name the baby Amelia, it was close enough to Emily and she thought it was pretty. She knew that whomever adopted her would most likely change the name, but she didn’t care. It was her little Amelia. Margaret had gotten Amelia an outfit to wear, and Emily had wrapped her in the green blanket Matt had bought before they found out it was a girl. When she had finished the letter, Maragret had helped her get dressed, and had taken her to an orphanage she had checked out a while back. Margaret had determined that it was the best one in the area. They put Amelia on the steps and rang the doorbell, then ran to the car on the other side of the street. From there they watched as a lady opened the door and picked the sleeping baby up. Emily cried the whole time. She had left her heart on those steps with Amelia that night.

Now, Emily sat crying again, clutching the sonogram picture to her chest. That is where JJ found her 2 hours later; curled up in a ball.

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JJ had seen Isabella and Emily have a brief chat before Emily went into the building. Isabella didn’t move. JJ watched curiously for a few moments before deciding she should see if the woman was okay. She clearly wasn’t, so JJ had offered to drive her home. Isabella had spent the drive silently staring out in front of her. JJ could see the silvery tear lines on her cheeks when she glanced over, she had no idea what was going on, but this was her girlfriend’s daughter, so she would do whatever she could to help. They stopped in front of Isabella’s apartment building, but she didn’t make a move to get out of the car. JJ put a hand on her arm. “I’m here if you want to talk.” Isabella looked at her for the first time since getting off the plane, her eyes were full of tears, and her bottom lip looked red and swollen from being chewed on. “Tell me what happened.” Isabella had simply nodded and opened the car door. JJ followed her into the apartment. Once inside, Isabella went straight to her bedroom, motioning for JJ to go with her.

Isabella opened the black and gold jewellery box and took out an envelope. “Emily dropped her notebook.” she said in a small voice. “I told you I was left on the steps of an orphanage. This was left with me.” She gave the letter to JJ and JJ unfolded it slowly. She would recognise Emily’s handwriting anywhere, sure it had changed some since she was 15, but it was very clearly Emily. It felt too personal to actually read the words, although she already knew what it said. JJ looked up from the paper to find Isabella’s teary blue eyes curiously studying her reaction. “You already knew.” It wasn’t an accusation, simply a statement. JJ sighed and patted the spot next to her on the bed. “Only since last night.” Isabella nodded in understanding. JJ couldn’t begin to imagine what must be going through Isabella’s mind. JJ put her arm around the redhead’s shoulders and Isabella leaned against her. “Thank you.” JJ gave her a squeeze. “I can’t speak for Emily, but I think you should talk to her. It would be good for the both of you.” “Yeah, I think I will. Thank you JJ. Really. You don’t even know me, and you’ve been so nice.” JJ laughed, “You’re part of the team, now more than ever.”

“Can I make you some tea, or coffee?” Isabella offered. “Coffee would be nice, thank you.” After they finished their coffee, JJ had said goodbye to Isabella with a hug. “Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”

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JJ let herself into Emily’s apartment and was met with dark and quiet, the only light coming from Emily’s bedroom. She softly made her way up the stairs, “Em?” she called out, but she was met with silence. She entered the bedroom and found Emily asleep atop the covers. She touched the sleeping woman’s shoulder and called her name again. Emily opened her eyes, looked at JJ sleepily, and started crying. “Oh, baby.” JJ laid down next to her girlfriend and hugged her close. “It’s going to be okay.” Emily buried her face in JJ’s chest, her whole body shaking as she sobbed. “Sweetheart, look at me.” JJ tried to get Emily to lift her head, but the woman was being stubborn. “Baby, I need to tell you something. Can you look at me?” She cooed softly. Emily slowly lifted her head and blinked the tears away. “Where were you? You disappeared after we landed.” “Yeah, sorry. I gave Isabella a ride home.” Emily stiffened at the name. “Emily, she knows.”

Emily shot upright, almost knocking JJ off the bed. “How?” Emily was pacing up and down like she did in the hotel. JJ just sat on the bed. “She has the letter, Em. She recognised your handwriting when you dropped your notebook.” Emily froze. JJ took the opportunity to get up and wrap her arms around Emily. “They gave her the letter?” Emily was dumbfounded, JJ just held her tighter. “It’s going to be okay, baby.” she kissed Emily’s temple, “I need to shower, we can talk while I do that.” Emily followed JJ to the bathroom, and sat on the toilet as JJ showered. “I don’t know how I feel, Jen. I want to be happy, I think. I have dreamt about meeting her so many times, but now…” Emily folded her arms around herself, “She is so beautiful, and smart, and everything I wished for her to be, what if I’m not good enough?” Emily was crying again. JJ turned off the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and tugged Emily up and into her arms. There was nothing she could say to the dark haired agent to make her feel better, so she just held her. Emily clung to JJ like her life depended on it, and, JJ supposed, in some way it did. They separated for only as long as it took for JJ to shut off the light, pull down the covers and, forgoing sleepwear, crawl into bed. She had barely put her head on the pillow when Emily was wrapped around her again. She knew the woman needed extra comfort, and she was all too willing to provide it.