Stand In The Rain

Seventeen

Just before dinner time, Elizabeth went in search of Emily and JJ, and found them in the study, playing checkers against each other.

"Hey!" Emily was complaining. "How the hell do you already have a kinged piece?"

"Archer and Rosaline taught me how to play checkers when I was old enough to understand the basic concept of the game." JJ explained smoothly, laughing when she saw Emily move one of her pieces forward a single tile. "They also taught me how to play chess, and I've seen you play Spencer before."

Chess was more Emily's cup of tea, so she asked, "Have you, now?"

"Mhm, and I could easily smash your King's Defense with the Sicilian Defense Dragon Variation."

Emily opened her mouth and then promptly closed it, not knowing what to say to that. JJ had never once before mentioned that she knew how to play chess, but here, she had basically said, "I see your complicated chess opening and will see up two more." This must have been the legendary Jennifer Jareau competitive streak she'd only ever heard about coming into play.

Amused, Elizabeth kissed JJ on the top of the head and said, "That's my girl!" before using her newly crowned playing piece to jump three of Emily's open pieces for her.

Flustered, Emily sat back in her chair and turned to her mother. "Was there something that you wanted to tell us?"

"We are expecting a guest for dinner, and they'll be here in about twenty minutes."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Who is it?"

"Erin."

"Mer..."

JJ began to swear, although not in English, but Elizabeth intervened before she could finish the word. "Max and I are polyglots, Jennifer, and Emilia is a hyperpolyglot. Do you know what that means?"

"That you and Max are fluent in several foreign languages and that Emily is fluent in at least five of them?"

"You got it. All three of us recognize French swears when we hear them, and Erin would recognize one, too."

"Would she recognize a Russian swear?"

A twinkle of mischief appeared in Elizabeth's eyes at that question. "Erin is the daughter of two former ambassadors, meaning that she grew up all over the world, and she's British, through and through, but she was born in Moscow and lived there with her parents, brothers, and sisters until she was five, so I can safely say that she'd recognize not only recognize a Russian swear, but also know how to respond to it if she was in a silly enough mood."

JJ furrowed an eyebrow in thought. "Just how many languages is she fluent in?"

"English, Russian, German, and Italian."

"And I'm fluent in French and Russian, but what about you and Max?"

"Besides English, we're proficient in Italian, French, Arabic, and Mandarin."

JJ looked over at Emily. "And what about you?"

"I know seven foreign languages, actually."

"Seven?!"

Emily nodded. "I can actually give Spencer a run for his money in that department because I know Italian, Spanish, Arabic, French, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. I've also lived in London, Rome and Venice, Mexico City, Saudi Arabia, Paris and Bordeaux, Seoul, Beijing, and even Tokyo."

JJ knew that Emily was a well-traveled woman, but she never would have guessed that she had that much knowledge or experience in her arsenal.

"Wow," was all she could manage.