damage || [continuation of heather]

epilogue.

- f o u r y e a r s l a t e r -

The sun was shining brightly and one could hear the sizzling of the food being turned on the grill. Heather was looking at Spencer's back as he handled the grilling with Derek's and Will's support.

Emily, JJ and Garcia were trying to convince her to drive away for a spa weekend at the end of the month and she laughed, telling them they didn't need to convince her because she was already up for it.

She excused herself to get another big vase of iced tea, JJ offering to help her and trailing into the kitchen with her.

"So for how long do you know now?", she asked Heather once they were out of earshot, drawing up one eyebrow in question.

Heather chuckled in disbelief, "How could you tell?"

"You're beaming! What do you mean!"

"We planned on telling all of you today, we've only known for a week or so." Heather tells her friend, placing one of her hands onto her stomach whilst preparing the drink.

"I bet Katy is excited, hasn't she told you she wants a sibling to play with ever since she began to talk?"JJ smiles and Heather nods vigorously in confirmation.

"She insisted that she would get to tell everyone today." Heather says, getting ice cubes out of the icebox. She puts a few in the vase and they stand there for a bit longer, both of them turning to look out of the window to see the children run around in the garden.

"They grow up so fast." JJ says and Heather agrees, "one day you have to potty train them and in the blink of an eye they go to school, sending you away because they don't want to be embarrassed in front of their friends."

"Katy's always bored at kindergarten so she always begs us to come rescue her as soon as we can." Heather says in hopes of her daughter not being embarrassed of her in the near future though she wouldn't want her to not have fun in school.

"Just wait another year or two." JJ says, "trust me."

JJ takes the vase in her hand to get it back over to the table, but right when she does, Rossi meets both of the women half way and takes it out of her hands.

"I'll gladly take that." He says, before putting it onto the table, JJ and Heather following after thanking him.

They take in their formerly abandoned places on one of the two wooden benches and feel the hot sun on their exposed arms.

"You missed something funny while you were gone." Emily informs them and they turn to look into her direction, waiting to be informed.

"Henry's girlfriend just came by," Garcia said, "to give him back his jacket that he gave her because she apparently lives in this neighbourhood."

"Henry!"JJ said, her mouth open wide in shock.

"And now Spencer, Katy and Michael are chasing him because he didn't invite her to stay and eat with us." Penelope added.

Heather looked at Henry racing through the garden, Spencer jogging close behind him, a goofy grin on his face, while Katy and Michael have their small arms in the air, laughing and trying to keep up with them. Katy's pigtails bouncing up and down with every step she takes. Heather then looked in Will's direction, who was just observing the situation in front of him, shaking his head, Derek next to him turning over the food on the grill before Steve comes along to release him of his grilling job.

Heather notices how Penelope's eyes stay fixated on him while he stands there in the direct sunlight.

When Spencer caught up with Henry who had slowed down, apparently exhausted, he tickled his side which resulted in both of them tumbling down on the grass, Katy and Michael falling into Spencer's arms about a minute later.