"𝙿𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚄𝚙 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕤𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥

     "YOU PROMISE to talk to her?" Jess asks as she opens the front door.

"I promise," Noah nods as she walks outside into the cold morning air.

Noah peers up at Jess and can see her smiling wide.

"Why're you smiling like that?" Noah asks.

"Because you listened to me," Jess chimes, "And you said you needed me."

"You think I didn't?" Noah questions her with a smile.

"Need me? Oh, you definitely need me." The blonde giggles and sees Noah look away with a grin, "But I've never had a friend that needed me."

"A friend?" Noah asks. Jess' stomach does flips at the question.

"Best friend," Noah corrects the blonde and watches Jess nod with a laugh.

"Best friend," Jess repeats, "Eternally?"

"Eternally," Noah beams and hugs Jess' waist tightly. The two stay in the embrace for a moment, not wanting to let go. When Noah pulls away, Jess puts her hands on Noah's cheeks.

"Don't cause any more trouble," The blonde tells her, "Now, get home before Emily wakes up."

"I'll text you when I get there," Noah says and walks away with a wide, beaming smile.

Jess watches Noah get on her bike. She waits outside until Noah is out of her sight, awaiting her text that she got home safely.

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵

Emily is staring at her reflection in the mirror. Anyone could see that she is mentally and physically exhausted. It may be the profiler in her, but it seems obvious to her by her dark under-eyes and still frown.

Emily finishes brushing her teeth and walks out to her bedroom. She changes into her clothes for work and quickly throws on her usual black boots. She takes one last glance in the mirror in her closet and straightens out her blazer.

The mother leaves her bedroom and quietly walks down the steps, not wanting to wake Noah. Normally, she would have Noah coming along with her and she misses it. Having a mini partner in crime is something that Emily always dreamt of.

When Emily nears the kitchen to make herself a coffee, she hears glass shuffling against the floor. She frets that Sergio found his way around the glass, but hears a sniffle.

"Noah?" Emily exclaims as she finds her daughter on the kitchen floor, "Honey," Emily says softly as she stares at Noah's back.

"Noah?" Emily asks again and comes around to see her daughter's face.

"I didn't mean to," Noah sobs as she shows her bleeding hand to her mother.

"Oh, bub, what happened?!" Emily exclaims and rushes to wet a paper towel. There is blood all over Noah's hand and it is spattering onto the floor.

"I was trying to clean it up and I was picking up the pieces and I don't know how but..." Noah trails off to take a breath, "It won't stop!" She wails out as Emily crouches down beside her and holds the paper towel to her hand.

"Noah," Emily tries to calm the teen, "Okay, honey, look at me."

Noah peers up and stares into Emily's deep brown eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Em," The teen mutters through her tears.

"It's okay," Emily assures her and uses her free hand to hold Noah's cheek.

"It's not okay.  I could've hit you and I wasn't even that mad, I—"

"I know.  It was just a bad moment, it's okay, honey." Emily calmly replies and tries to calm the teen down, "Stop crying, babe.  It's okay."

"I'm sorry, Emily—" Noah sobs.

"Noah, it's okay—"

"No, I'm sorry about everything. Ignoring you and being mad and throwing the glass and saying those awful things."

"Why don't we talk when I come back from work?" Emily suggests and lifts Noah's chin up with her finger, "Yeah?"

"Okay," Noah nods and sees Emily show a small smile.

"I don't think you need stitches," The mother notes as she looks at the cut on the teen's hand.

"You're gonna be late," Noah replies and Emily watches the teen put her walls up right before her eyes, "Go, I'll be here when you get home."

"Put a bandage on that," Emily says as she stands.  Noah nods and watches Emily leave.

Once the teen is alone, she feels tears fall down her face.  She finds the bandages in the cupboard and stick a large one on her palm.  With tears still streaming down her cheeks, she feels numb to everything around her.

She thinks of what Jess said.  You will feel happiness again.

Noah grabs the broom from the closet by the front door. She sweeps up the remaining glass, slowly picking up the pieces of her mistakes.

—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

"Hey, still no partner in crime?" Morgan asks as he sees Emily sit at her desk.

"She's at home," Emily replies.  She immediately dives into her work, but Derek finds it strange.  Emily usually chats with everyone about their weekends.  She rarely comes in on Sundays anyways because she spends the day with Noah.

"Everything okay?" Reid asks as he finishes analyzing Emily's body language and tone.

"All good," Emily says and fakes a smile.

"Penelope's been asking about her," Derek continues grilling Emily.

"I'm sure they've been texting,"

"No, Garcia said she hasn't heard from her in days." Derek argues.

"Morgan—"

"Sorry, guys," JJ frowns as she shows a stack of files, which means a new case.

"You gotta be kidding," Emily mutters under her breath.

—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵

A knock comes to the apartment door before Noah hears someone unlocking it.  The teen sits up from her slouched spot on the sofa and looks towards the door.  She feels her heart beat pick up for a moment, knowing Emily would never knock.

"Noah?" A voice calls out.

"Penelope?" Noah asks.

The blonde comes through the door and sees the teen in the living room.  She drops her purse on the dining room table and studies Noah's confused expression.

"What're you doing here?" Noah questions her as she slouches back on the couch.  She keeps her focus on the TV as Penelope answers.

"Emily got called for a case," Penelope replies and catches Noah rolling her eyes, "Do you wanna stay here or go to my apartment?"

"I'm fine here," Noah says.

Penelope feels herself tense up at the awkwardness that floats in the room.  Penelope hates tension and the fact it is coming from Noah makes her hate it even more.

"Munchkin?" The blonde says as she sits on the sofa, "Can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Noah responds as she sits up to grab her phone off the coffee table.

Penelope sits in silence as she watches the teen text someone.

—
𝐞𝐦 <𝟑

how long will you be gone?

Not too long

I'm sorry, I promise we'll
talk when I get back.

ok

I'll call you later to check
on you. Okay?

ok

—

"Look, I'm sorry, Noah—"

"You're not sorry," Noah tuts, "I did something wrong and you got upset with me. So, you're not sorry."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Penelope says and sees Noah peer up at her.

"I deserved it," Noah shrugs.

"Then, why have you been ignoring me for the past few days?" Penelope asks.

"Because I never thought you'd be mad at me," Noah admits, "You're the one person I always thought would never talk to me like that. I guess I underestimated how many chances you'd give me to make a mistake."

"I'm mad at myself for making you upset," Noah continues, "I was stupid to think that you wouldn't be mad at me for that."

"You were curious—"

"But you told me I shouldn't have been," Noah argues, "You told me that what I don't know can't kill me."

"I shouldn't have said that," Penelope mumbles as she looks down at her lap.

"But it's what I needed to hear," Noah admits.

"It doesn't matter anymore.  You know now,"

"Yeah and sometimes I wish I didn't." The teen tuts and slouches into the sofa.

"Why?"

"Because I look at Emily and all I see is the person who sent me away—"

"But she's also the person who took you in." Penelope says, making Noah nod.

"And that's why I wish I didn't know,"

"How come?"

"Because I don't know what to think," Noah sighs, "One second I miss her and want to make up, then the next I remember everything and I just wanna run away."

"You can't run away," Penelope frowns and puts a hand on Noah's arm.

"Yeah, 'cause then I'd never see you." Noah replies with a soft smile, but it quickly fades.

"Then, you'd never see Emily..." Penelope trails off, "And you love Emily."

"I do,"

"Sometimes, with family, you have to let things go. Even if it hurt you a lot. Because, at the end of the day, you love your family and you'd never want to lose them." Penelope advises Noah and wishes for nothing more than the teen to hear her out.

"I have a hard time believing that," Noah mumbles.

"Noah, it's Emily."

"I know," The teen groans and puts her face in her palms.

"Alright!" Penelope stands and takes the TV remote from the teen, "We're having a movie night with lots of popcorn and candy and a comfort movie."

"Well, my comfort movie is the Titanic," Noah chimes with a smirk.

"Then, we've got a long viewing ahead of us," Penelope giggles as she goes to pop some popcorn.

━━━━━━━━

a/n: seeing as i've turned into a night owl, this late update is for those of you who are hangin in there with me!  this book has been BLOWING up with views and i've just now noticed! it's lovely to see all of you read this book and i promise i will try to get better at updating! love u! <3