"i'll drive you two. Jeremy and Marley can go with my wife" Shepherd told Emily.

Emily just stayed there hugging her girl. They had decided the day before to gather at Shepherd's house because they didnt want any more bad memories of the appartment.

Shepherd went back to the car and drove them.
By the time they got to the house Isabella wasn't crying anymore but she was still hugging her mother. She just wished it was all over.

They walked inside to find the nanny with Shepherd's kids. His little girl ran and hugged Bella.
"Bella" she said happily. She was to little to know exactly what was going on.

"Hi Zo" Bella said.

"why you sad?" she asked looking worried.

"i just don't feel very good. But it's okay" Bella said trying to sound okay. Zo gave her a sweet smile.

"Zozo can you help daddy with something in the kicthen?" Shepherd asked.

"yeah" Zo said happily and ran to the kicthen.

"Bella you can go to my room if you want to, okay? or you can watch some tv." Shepherd said.

"Is everyone coming here?" She asked not sounding at all happy about it.

"not everyone. it will be a small gathering. Just the closest friends." Shepherd said.

"So all the doctors?" Bella asked.

"not all of them." Emily said giving her a sweet smile. "but look you can just hang out with me. Forget everyone" Emily said.

"like that's possible" Isabella said heading over to sit on the couch.

Shepherd looked at Emily slightly smiling thinking at least she wasn't super mad at everybody.
"So you'll watch tv?" He asked.

"yeah. i dont want to sleep." Bella said turning the tv on.

Shepherd headed to the kitchen and Emily sat next to Bella.
Isabella put on the history channel. A show about the creation of movies were on. She thought in her mind that her dad would have loved watching it. She smiled as tears filled her eyes. Emily looked at her wondering what was going on.

"I'm glad you're here mom" Isabella said and snuggled her mom on the couch.

"me too" Emily said. She decided not to say anything about the tears. So they just snuggled and watched tv while Shepherd was heating some food in the kitchen with Zo. Around 10 minutes into the show Emily realized Bella was asleep. She tried not to move so Bella could sleep a little. After about 5 minutes Marley and Jeremy got to the house with Shepherd's wife. They were followed by the others, including Emily's team.
Jeremy couldn't believe Isabella was sleeping but he was glad she was.

When everyone was in, they started talking and eating a little. After about 20 minutes Isabella woke up. Callie and Shepherd's wife were sitting on the couch beside hers. Penelope and JJ were on the other in front. Bella sat up and then laid her head down on her mother's lap. She was awake but she was still really tired.

"How are you doing sweetie?" Callie asked.

"I'm okay now" Isabella lied.

"Do you want to eat something?" Emily asked.

"no" Isabella anwsered.

After that the rest of the day was alright. People stopped talking about John when they talked to Bella because everyone noticed it was making her uncomfortable and sad. Her friend Cameron got there a little after Bella woke up. She had to have some time away because she was crying a lot and she didn't want Bella to see her like that. When she got there she sat next to Emily on the couch.

About an hour later Isabella sat up and started paying attention to the tv. She seemed better.

"I'm going to the bathroom" Emily said. "I'll be right back" she kissed Bella's forhead and left. Cameron scood over closer to Bella.

"Do you wanna watch a movie?" she asked.

"sure" Bella said. JJ saw how much Bella was like Emily. No matter what she was always trying to play it cool and act like nothing was wrong.

"Do you want some water?" JJ asked Bella.

"No" Bella said.

Cameron got up and started going through the dvds. There were mostly kids movie. She picked up 'Alice in Wonderland', she knew Isabella always liked that movie.

"sure" Isabella said giving Cameron a little smile. Cameron put the movie on and sat next to Bella. As soon as it started Emily came back. She was standing behind the couch close to Bella. Isabella looked over at her. Emily smiled and went down to whisper something on Bella's ear.

"Do you want to go out with me?" She whispered.

"Yes." Bella said as if all the weight was being taken off her shoulders.

"come on" Emily said. Isabella got up and went to Emily's direction. Emily held her hand and dragged her to talk to Jeremy and Shepherd, who were talking close to the kitchen island.

"hey" Shepherd said when she saw them approaching. "everything okay?" he asked.

"yeah. unm. We're gonna go for a drive." Emily said. "I'll meet you back in the appartment Jeremy."

"okay." Jeremy said.

"and i see you later?" she said to Shepherd.

"I'll drop Jeremy and Marley off" Shepherd said. "Take care." He said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"see you later bella" Jeremy said with a warm smile.

"see you later" Isabella said.
They headed out without talking to anyone else. Emily just wanted to get her and Bella out of there. They got in the car and Emily asked "How about some ice cream?" she smiled.

"okay" Bella said with a tiny little smile. She wasn't feeling like eating anything but an ice cream shop sounded like a much better place to be then there so she said yes.
They were quiet for the entire ride. Emily drove to the mall.

"weren't we going to get ice cream?" Isabella asked confused.

"The only ice cream shop I know in Seattle is in there." Emily said smiling. Isabella let out a breathy laugh. That made Emily smile even bigger.

"Come on Let's go" she said. They got out and walked towards the entrance. Isabella was holding her mother's hand. She felt weird to be out and about with Emily but She was glad she was away from all those people now and just her mom was there.

.

They went straight to the ice cream shop. They both got the same two flavors, their favorites, chocolate and mint. They sat on a table close to the entrance.

"So is it good?" Emily asked.

"Yeah" Isabella said. And that was all they said till they finished eating.

"Do you want to walk around for a bit?" Emily asked. She wanted to give Bella some time away from it all.

"Sure" Bella said giving Emily a sweet little smile.

They walked for a while, holding hands the entire time. Isabella spotted the movie theater and asked "do you wanna watch a movie?"

Emily was surprised.
"Sure" Emily said with a warm smile. They walked to the movie theater. The next movie playing was 'Despicable me 2' an animation. Emily thought it was a better idea to watch something light like that so they went in.

About 30 minutes into the movie Isabella was fast asleep resting her head on Emily's arm.
Emily was glad at the way Bella was handling things. She knew Bella was hurt and scared and probably just wanted to be at home in her room but she could see the kid was trying. She let Bella sleep and woke her up when the movie was over.
"Hey. Wake up. We gotta go" Emily said softly. Isabella opened her eyes and was surprised she fell asleep in the movie theater, she never ever did that before.

"Is it over?" Bella asked confused.

"Yeah. Come on let's go" Emily said getting up. Isabella looked a bit embarrassed.

"How about some pizza now?" Emily asked trying to get Bella's mind off of it.

"Sure" she said getting up. They got out and went to Pizza Hut, still at the mall.

.

"So pepperoni?" Emily asked.

"Sure" Bella said. She looked tired.

"Are you alright?" Emily asked worried.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired" Bella said.

"Do you want to go home?" Emily asked.

"No it's fine. I like doing this" Bella said.
Emily knew Bella didn't like shopping, not the kind of shopping most girls like, you know walking around forever and looking for something interesting. Bella never had enough patience to do that. If she went out thinking of buying something she usually just went to the place she thought might sell it. The truth was that what she meant was that she liked going out with her mom. They never really did that because Emily and John thought it was dangerous. They didn't want Emily to be seen with Bella so every time they saw each other was either in the apartment or in a hotel when Bella traveled with her dad. So they always just hung out, talked and ordered in. Isabella also liked that but being out with her mom was nice.

"I like it too" Emily said smiling.

"We can do this sometimes, right? When we're in DC " Isabella asked. She knew it would be different. She knew her mom would be working a lot but she was trying not to think to much about that.

"Of course we can" Emily smiled.

"Maybe your friends can go with us" Bella said.

"Sure"

"Penelope seems very fun. Even more than you told me" Bella said.

"Yeah. She's cool right?!" Emily said.

"All your friends are mom" Bella said making Emily laugh. "You all work for the fbi that already makes all of them and you cooler than most people I know" Bella said.

"I'm glad you think I'm cool" Emily said.

"You're the coolest mom ever" Bella said smiling. Emily smiled too. She squeezed Bella's hand and said "you are the coolest kid ever". They were interrupted by the waitress. They ordered and it didn't take long for the food to get there.
They chit chat about the food and the mall. Isabella pretty much just played around with the food. She barely ate. Emily saw that but chose to ignore it. When they were done they headed to the car. Once again holding hands.

"So do you want to go anywhere else or just home?" Emily asked.

"Home is fine" Bella said.

Emily could see that Bella was tensing again.
"We could watch a movie tonight. Maybe ask JJ and Penelope to stay over" Emily said.

"Sure" Bella said not looking to excited.

"So let's stop to get some snacks" Emily said driving to the parking lot of Walmart. They went around the store and grabbed some things. They were in there for about 30 minutes. Then Emily drove to the house.

When they got there no one was back.
"I'm going to my room, okay?" Isabella said when they walked in. She walked fast.

"Okay." Emily said as Isabella was already starting to go upstairs. When Bella was halfway up Emily's head pooped on the beginning of the stairs.

"I'll be right up" she said. Emily sat on the couch to give Bella some time by herself.

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Upstairs Bella laid on her bed. Tears started to fall. She still couldn't quite believe that all of that was happening. She was so scared. She didn't know what to do or what to say to people. She also was happy her mom was there but she was scared about it at the same time. She couldn't stop thinking of everything her parents did to protect her and now she was with her mom like none of that happened. She was scared someone could hurt her and her mom too. She was scared of her mom's work. She knew what her mother did and she knew people could get hurt on the field and she was so scared something would happen to her mom. She couldn't even begin to think about it without crying. She couldn't lose her mom too. She just couldn't.

Isabella was trying her best not to sob.

Emily went upstairs and opened Bella's bedroom door. When she realized Isabella was crying she didn't say anything. She walked in and laid next to Bella. She wrapped her arm around her and just stayed there quiet. Isabella silently cried herself to sleep.

Emily couldn't believe all of that was happening to her baby. She tried to put herself in Bella's shoes in a way to help her.
She thought it could help her to understand why Bella was holding it in so much. But she already knew why.

Isabella was just like her.
Emily was a stone. She never broke in front of Bella and she knew John never did too. She knew Isabella always tried to be strong. She always tried not to let her feelings show. She could only let her guard down with Emily. And that was what was scaring Emily.

Isabella was crying about all that was happening but she didn't break down. She didn't really admit her dad was gone and that she missed him. She just wouldn't talk about it. Emily knew Bella would explode sooner or later and that was breaking her. She knew all she could do was be there for her kid. But all she wanted was to make Bella's pain go away. That was all she wanted.