The Usual Rules

Chapter 6

Rachel woke up early. Her father had always liked to be up and checked out of their hotels and on to the next one first thing; so it had become routine for the little girl. The apartment was quiet, and Rachel wasn't sure what to do. Realizing she needed to use the bathroom, she finally crawled out of the warm bed and went to go look for it. Emily and JJ's door was closed slightly, so Rachel tip toed past it and into the bathroom. She couldn't find the light switch, so the curly haired girl opened the door a little to let in some light. Once she was done, she flushed the toilet and was going to head back to her room until someone came to get her. As she padded back down the hall, Emily walked up the stairs.

"Hey Rachel." She whispered. "You're up already?"

"I'm sorry, I had to go to the bathroom." Rachel whispered as she stepped back away from Emily. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the profiler. Emily sighed, she hated having a little girl afraid of her.

"That's fine, I was just surprised is all. JJ is not an early riser, I'm usually all alone in the morning. Want to come downstairs and get some breakfast?" Emily asked with a smile.

Rachel bunched up the edge of her nightgown and twirled it around in her fingers. Emily waited patiently as the girl deliberated. "I thought Agent JJ said not to eat any food you cooked." She finally answered. Emily feigned being upset and laughed lightly as Rachel fiddled with her nightgown.

"Just JJ sweetie, you don't have to call her agent, and cereal I can handle, even some toast, plus we've got frozen waffles!" Emily motioned for Rachel to follow her so they wouldn't wake up JJ. "If you want pancakes or eggs however, that might taste a little funny, but for you, I'll try."

The duo reached the bottom of the stairs and Rachel trailed along softly behind Emily. "Can we have waffles?" She whispered, fearful to ask for anything. Asking meant you cared, and things that you cared about always got taken away.

"Yes we can!" Emily said in a cheerful voice. "Pop up at the table and I'll get them." Emily got the waffles out of the freezer and poured her second cup of coffee as she waited for them to pop up out of the toaster. Emily bent forward over the table and sipped her coffee. "Did you sleep okay?" She asked. Rachel nodded shyly and continued to fiddle with her nightgown. "JJ and I have off work today, is there anything special you want to do?" Emily turned to get the waffles as Rachel gave her normal shrug of an answer. Emily was determined to get her to speak freely with them, she just wasn't quite sure how to go about it. "We could go shopping? I sort of hate shopping, but JJ and Garcia love it and can't wait to get you a bunch of stuff for your room. Some new clothes, books, whatever you want." Emily placed the plate of waffles in front of Rachel and went to get maple syrup for herself. "Do you like syrup or no?"

"Yes please." Rachel whispered. Emily smiled and gave her a significantly large amount of syrup, doing the same to her own waffles, she sat down next to the little girl and dug in. Rachel ate mostly in silence, which Emily was learning to expect, so she just chatted on about anything that popped into her head. Emily figured the more she talked to the girl, the more Rachel would grow comfortable with her. When they were finished, Emily dropped the plates into the sink and grinned at Rachel.

"What'd you think? Should we go force JJ awake?" She asked Rachel.

"Does she like to sleep?"

"Oh god yes." Emily laughed.

"Than we can let her sleep." Rachel said seriously.

"Well isn't that nice of you, I usually bother her until she wakes up and keeps me company. Maybe you're gonna be a good influence on me."

Rachel gave Emily a tiny smile, and fidgeted with her nightgown again. "How come you don't have to work?" She asked after a minute. Emily motioned for Rachel to follow her to the couch and plopped down. Rachel sat as far away and into the corner as she could.