#good day to those who've cleared their chats

[sequinsmile-x]

Adhesive

Emily contemplates how it feels to have her kids growing up when her pre-teen daughter calls her for help.

-x-

Hi friends,

This is a gift for my bestie @ssa-sparks, because she deserves all the good things. But also because I made her start watching Bones with me a few months ago on Disney + GroupWatch and I know that the episode we are watching tonight will upset her. (5 x 16 for those who've seen it. IYKYK)

I hope you all enjoy this - it's largely fluff.

-x-

Warnings: Discussion of periods

Words: 2.4k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Emily groans as she buries her head in her hands, the thought of doing more paperwork enough to cause a migraine. She rubs her forehead for a second before she shakes her head and reopens her eyes, blowing out a breath as she looks at the pile of papers she still had to sign off. 

It had been a few years since she’d been promoted to Section Chief and whilst she was grateful for the extra time it gave her with her kids, she could do without the paperwork and the politics. She smiles as she looks at a framed picture she took at Jack’s recent high school graduation at the start of summer. The boy she’d met when he was a tiny little thing standing tall in between his brother and sister, Oliver and Hazel, their matching grins all shining brightly at the camera. She was so proud of all of her children, of the people they were becoming, but it was hard watching them get older and feeling them need her less and less.

Hazel was 12 now, slowly becoming more embarrassed by her parents as time went on and grappling for her independence. The little girl who had once wanted to be with her everywhere she went, her little shadow, now fading away from her. Oliver was 9, and still at the stage where he loved to spend time with Emily and Aaron, and Emily knew she wasn’t alone in embracing every moment he wanted to spend with them, well aware that Aaron felt the same way, both of them all too familiar with the fact he’d outgrow them soon too.

She knew it meant she’d done a good job at parenting, something she’d once been convinced she wouldn’t be capable of. Her children were kind and empathetic. Independent and stubborn. And they made her proud every day. 

But part of her desperately missed when they were tiny little things that made her lose sleep because they were crying for her, not because she was worried about where they were like she had been about Jack all summer before he left for college. 

She shakes her head at herself and blows out a breath as she goes to pick up the next stack of papers, but she’s interrupted by her phone ringing. For a moment she thinks it’s going to be Jack again. He’d called her a lot since he’d moved away to college, either for homework advice or just to chat, and it made her smile every time, but she freezes as she reaches for her phone, and panic rises in her chest as she sees her daughter’s name and picture flash up on the screen. Hazel was only supposed to use her cell phone at school in emergencies only and Emily feels her cheeks go warm as she is overwhelmed by worst-case scenarios. She answers the phone quickly, taking a calming breath before she speaks.

“Haze, is everything okay?” 

She hears a sniff down the line, followed by her daughter’s voice. A tight, controlled edge to it that wasn’t normal for her, “Mom? Can you come pick me up from school?”

“What’s wrong honey?” She asks, biting her thumbnail as she waits for an answer. 

“I feel sick,” she replies, sniffing again, her voice shaking slightly, “Can you please come pick me up?” 

Emily sighs sympathetically. Hazel loved school usually so she knew she wasn’t faking anything, that if said she was feeling sick she really was. She thinks of her husband, who had retired from the BAU years ago, who would be at home grading papers from one of the classes he taught at the academy. 

“Honey, your Dad’s at home if you want to call-”

“No,” she says, clearing her throat before she lowers her voice, “I…I’d rather it was you. I started my period and…can you come get me?”

It all clicks into place. The fact Hazel was calling her in the middle of the day, her insistence Emily would go pick her up. The slight edge of desperation in her voice. It was a moment Emily had been trying to prepare Hazel for since she’d started middle school. They had products in the bathroom at home waiting for her, she’d talked through what it all meant, but the reality was different. 

Her little girl really was growing up.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she says, already standing up and hastily packing her things into her briefcase, “I’ll leave the office now, okay? Do you need a change of clothes or anything?”

“No it’s okay it…it started in gym class,” Hazel says, sounding embarrassed, “I was in my gym shorts. The nurse gave me some things and I got changed back into my clothes.” 

Emily shakes her head to herself, well aware of how cruel kids could be, that part of her daughter’s embarrassment would be down to the fact her classmates had likely realised what was happening.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Emily assures her as she leaves her office, her phone pressed between her ear and her shoulder as she quickly writes a note for her assistant, letting him know where she’d gone.

“Thanks, Mom. Love you.”

She smiles as she walks towards the elevator, “Love you too, honey.”

The journey to the school has never felt longer, and Emily swears her heart breaks as soon as she sees Hazel. 

She knows better than to pull her into a hug the way she wants to, well aware that if she showed any kind of affection on school property Hazel would likely never speak to her again, so she simply smiles softly, and exchanges a few words with the nurse whilst Hazel gathers her things. 

Emily decides to let her daughter take the lead and maintains the silence she has set as they walk back to the car. It’s only when they are driving away, Hazel’s arms crossed tightly over her chest as she looks out the window, that she starts to speak.

“Thanks for picking me up.”

“No problem at all sweetheart,” Emily says, reaching over the centre console to squeeze Hazel’s knee, “You’re more important than anything,” she sees a hint of a smile, the dimples the pre-teen had inherited from both her and Aaron, carved deep into her cheeks, “I sent your dad out for ice cream, chocolate and snacks.”

Hazel turns to look at her so quickly Emily is sure it must have hurt, the young girl’s eyes wide, “You told Dad?” 

She’d called him as soon as she left the office, trying to prepare him for what was probably going to be a long night of heavy emotions in their home, and he’d been the one to suggest that he went out to get all of Hazel’s food. It blew Emily away that he was still able to come up with ways to make her love him even more than she already did after all this time.

“I had to tell him why you were coming home, Haze,” Emily explains softly, “Plus, Dad does know what a period is, he’s lived with me for well over a decade, and Haley before that.” 

Hazel sinks slightly further into her seat, her shoulders so tight Emily can see the tension in them when she briefly turns to look at her, “I guess.” 

Emily has to stop herself from smirking, “I promise you he’ll be fine, the snacks were his idea.” 

Hazel hums, “What are the snacks for anyway?” 

She smiles as she stops the car at a traffic light and she reaches out for her daughter, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, “Trust me, baby, the snacks are the most important part of the whole thing.”

___

Emily sighs as she looks at herself in the mirror, her hands against the bathroom countertop as she gives herself a moment.

It had been a long evening. Hazel was insistent she wasn’t going to school the following day and that she’d go back on Monday, clearly hoping something else would have happened by then so that her period starting in the middle of gym class would be old news. Neither Emily nor Aaron could convince her otherwise, and had eventually relented, not wanting to upset her by forcing her to go. Oliver had overhead everything and, in a misguided but sweet attempt to cheer his sister up, had declared he’d started his period too - something that had led to Hazel yelling at him and him crying and immediately seeking out Emily for some comfort 

She blows out a breath as she pinches the bridge of her nose, only looking back up when she hears the bathroom door opening, a small smile spreading over her face when her eyes meet her husband’s in the mirror. 

“You okay?” He asks, walking over and wrapping his arms around her. She grunts in response and leans back against him, her hands linking with his over her abdomen. He chuckles and kisses the side of her head, “Is Hazel okay?”

Emily nods, “She’s tucked up in bed with a heating pad and some candy she thinks I didn’t see her sneaking out of the pantry.” 

He smiles and kisses her head again before placing his hands on her hips and turning her to face him, “So we’re forgetting the ‘no food in the bedrooms rule’ tonight?”

She raises an eyebrow at him, “Do you want to go tell her to put it back?” She asks, smirking when he visibly swallows thickly, “That’s what I thought.” 

Aaron wraps his arms around her tightly as she leans against him, her forehead against his chest as she breathes him in, her fists tight in the back of his t-shirt in a way that lets him know she’s upset about something. He gives her a moment, lets her take what she needs as he runs his hand up and down her back, and then he pulls away just enough so he can look at her. 

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” He asks, repeating the question she hadn’t answered when he walked into the bathroom.

Emily blows out a breath, her shoulders heavy as if he’d just asked her the meaning of life, and she shrugs before she moves her hands to rest on his shoulders, idly plucking at a stray thread at the neckline of his t-shirt. 

“She’s growing up.” 

He stops himself from smiling, well aware that moments like this were absolutely not the time to make fun of her, no matter how lovingly, and he cups her cheek, forcing her to look at him.

“Baby, she’s 12.” 

She groans, scrunching her nose up in distaste at her own mood, something she hadn’t been able to shift since the moment Hazel had called her that morning, “I know, I do know that,” she replies, sounding so sad his heart clenches in his chest, “But…they don’t need me as much anymore,” she says, pressing her lips together in a firm line, “I love them all so much, and I’m so proud of them, but I kind of miss when they were small and needed us to tuck them in or read them a story.” 

He wraps his hand around hers and leads her to the bedroom, guiding her to sit on the edge of the bed as he joins her. 

“Em, sweetheart,” he starts reassuringly, “They’ll always need you,” he says, and she scoffs, shaking her head as she wipes away a tear she feels ridiculous for shedding, “It’s true,” he says, smiling when she looks up at him, “Who is it that Jack calls every other day even though he’s in college?”

“Me,” she replies, clearing her throat in a vain attempt to push her emotions back down.

“And who is it Ollie wants every time he’s sad? And who did Hazel call earlier when she needed someone?”

“Me,” she says again, fighting a smile and failing as he smiles right back at her. 

“And who do I need every day, not to mention when things go wrong?”

She blushes, unsure how she could still be so affected by him, “Me.”

He furrows his brows together, “No, Dave,” he deadpans, breaking into laughter, the sound that always warmed her from the inside out when her mouth drops open and she playfully tries to slap his shoulder, stopped when he catches her hand, “Of course it’s you,” he says, leaning in to kiss her, his lips stamped against hers, “You’re the glue, sweetheart. The thing that keeps us all together.” 

She wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a hug that eases the last bit of tension in her chest. “How is it you always know what to say?”

He kisses her temple and smiles against her skin before he pulls back, “Well I am your husband, it would be pretty sad if I didn’t.”

There’s a gentle knock on the door and it’s pushed open, and Oliver pokes his head around the door, a concerned look in his eyes that Aaron always said was all her. 

“Ollie,” Aaron starts, turning to look at his youngest, “You’re supposed to be in bed.” 

“I know,” he says, his hands clasped in front of him as he nervously picks at his nails, “But I got up to go to the bathroom and…”

He drifts off and his parents exchange a look, and Emily turns back to their son and smiles encouragingly, “And…”

“I wondered if you’d tuck me in, Mom?” He asks, looking down at his hands as he shrugs, “And maybe read me a story?”

It had been so long since he’d asked for it she knows that he’d overheard their conversation, and it takes everything in her to not burst into tears. He was so sweet, so perfect, she often wondered how she’d made him. She swallows thickly, and feels her husband briefly hold her a little tighter.

“I’d love that sweet boy,” she says, grateful that her voice is even as she stands up and walks over to him. She ruffles his hair and he leans into her side, his smile wide as he looks up at her, clearly pleased that he’d cheered her up. She turns to look at Aaron, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

He nods and smiles at them, their matching expressions full of joy enough to make his heart swell in his chest.

“Take all the time you need.” 

-x-

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