A/N: Wow, you guys. This has been such a great journey. A huge thank you to EVERYONE who has taken it with me. But special thanks to the following people: 12wallflower, Afroza-IX, Amelia, Aradatm, blackandblueangel, BrandSpankingNew, Cadens Stella, CandyMater, colours and carousels, craftygirl11, Cribellate, CrimStudent47, ..Now, Daisyangel, Delia Page, dino-dog83, ginshi-chan, HoWi, hxchick, j, Jada Ryl, Jen, JillR, kdzl, kim, Kuria Dalmatia, Liberty Girl In the Sky, Likethewolf, musewars, NancyL915, narwhayley, Once Upon a Femmeslash, patbor, Rach5, rainbowlouise, RLD Flame-point Callie-co, R0CKSTARM0NST3R, Shannon, stayshiny, susannah2000, Tara621, Thalia The Huntress, theangelsarecoming, Thistle of Liberty, twilightfan888, Waffles Of Doom, Whatif-ifonly, x-Alice Queen of Hearts-x, xxiicesweetiie and Yanirose for your words of encouragement and support. For letting me know what you were enjoying and what was making you mad. Hearing from you really spurred me onto finish this story. Thank you all so much. And of course, thank you to bowlerhat_girl for the prompt that inspired this story in the first place. Without you, the story would not exist.

I chose to end the story at this point so that there would be avenues for possible follow-up stories. As this story was about the creation of a family, from the ground up, I felt it best to close here. Enjoy the last chapter!

"Derek, this is JJ. Over?" JJ paused, waiting while the walkie-talkie crackled in her hands. These were by far the best Christmas gifts they had gotten. Two sets - one for each of them - from Penelope. For the last three months, JJ had rarely been without hers. It was a cool way to communicate with downstairs when she couldn't actually go downstairs. Technically, she was allowed now, but definitely not at 2 AM. That would scare the crap out of her brothers.

She paused, her heart stuttering a little in her chest. Her brothers. Tomorrow - well, today actually, Derek, Aaron and Spencer would become her brothers. That was weird and kind of freaky because it meant her whole life was changing. There was no going back. The last few days, it had been really hard to keep herself on track. JJ was making it her own personal goal since November to not steal anything until her adoption day. Despite a couple shaky moments, she had actually made it. She carried around a little notebook like Dave, and marked her progress. Each day was a tally mark. Now, she was into months. Four months exactly since she had stolen anything. She was proud of herself, even though she felt herself going backward in other areas. Bad didn't cancel out good, according to Emily…according to her mom… JJ smiled even though her stomach twisted nervously. What would it be like to have a mom again? A real mom, responsible for her? Would she get tired of JJ just like her first mom had?

"What do you want?" Derek's tired voice asked.

JJ was silent a minute. What did she want from her big brother? Though he was only eleven months older, he seemed a million years more mature than her. She hesitated. He seemed pissed off. But her thoughts hadn't stopped racing for the last four hours. She couldn't settle down.

"What was it like when you were adopted?" she asked quietly, depressing the button and waiting.

"You nervous?" he asked, but not like he was teasing her. Like he was serious.

"Yeah. Kinda," she allowed.

"It was pretty cool. It was less scary I think because I had the other boys with me. But we'll all be with you, too. And Emily and Penelope, Dave and Carolyn, Nathaniel, Cary and Matthew."

"But I have to go in by myself," JJ objected.

"Emily'll go with you," he reassured. "It'll be okay. They just ask if you understand that she has all the rights and responsibilities of a mother towards you and if this is really what you want. Then you sign your name on this form and Emily signs and the judge, like, announces you. Didn't Emily already tell you this?" he asked, a little irritated.

"Well, yeah, but she never got adopted. I want to know what it's like. I want to know how it feels," JJ insisted.

There's a silence and JJ pictures Derek shrugging his shoulders or pacing or anything, just to occupy her racing thoughts. "I don't really remember a lot of it," he admitted. "But when it's over? It's like you finally have a place…"

JJ was silent, thinking. She wanted to ask him so many things, but they felt way too personal. He was so private. And if JJ turned things around, she knew she wouldn't want him asking about her personal business. She knew he talked to that specialist, Anna, once a week, and sometimes more. Six months had passed since those creeps had taken Derek, and he was up and down and all over the place. Sometimes, he acted fine, but sometimes he lashed out if she got too close. JJ could handle herself, so she didn't mind. It just made her feel so bad. And it made her wonder. Derek had felt like he belonged and his old life still came back for him.

"This won't fix everything, will it?" she asked.

"Nope. But hey. You'll be a Prentiss. And you'll have three brothers and a mother who will all have your back."

"Ten-four," JJ responded, because she didn't know what else to say. She set the walkie-talkie down and tried to sleep.

"Love you, JJ," Aaron's voice said, sounding static-covered and sleepy.

"What are you doing up?" she asked, masking her emotion with questions. "I know you're the president and everything, but you shouldn't eavesdrop. Besides, I bet the president has people to spy for him anyway. He should get to sleep."

"You spy on people," Aaron said, and JJ could hear him smiling.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm actually good at spying. You always give away your position…" JJ trailed off as she saw Emily standing there, her hand out.

"Looks like he's not the only one who gives away his position," Emily said wryly. It was dark, but it sounded to JJ like she was trying to keep a smile off her face.

"Mayday. I love you. Over and out," she said quickly to Aaron, handing the walkie-talkie over.

"You need to sleep. And so do I. Good night. I love you," Emily said, giving JJ a kiss.

The silence was too quiet and JJ forced herself to ask the question before Emily was all the way gone. "Can I still go see Janet after tomorrow? Or will being adopted like, change all that?"

Emily turned. JJ could sense it. And see it in her silhouette. "Of course, honey. Any one of us will take you anytime."

The next day, JJ was super crabby and not even French toast and hot chocolate could make it better. Mostly because she'd started her day by puking her guts out. Her stomach wouldn't chill out. She felt sick. The prospect of dressing up, or seeing any of the boys or Emily dressed up just increased JJ's nervousness.

"I'm not wearing a dress," she maintained, scooting her chair as far from the table as she could. "Can't I just wear this?" she asked, gesturing to her baggy gray sweatpants and orange tee shirt. Besides, you're adopting me because of who I am inside, right? Not because I look good in a dress."

"You're right," Emily answered. "I want you to dress up because we're going to court and it's a special day."

"So?" JJ pouted, feeling much younger than thirteen. "My biological dad went to court and he looked like shit. The judge didn't care."

"Your dad got you taken away from him," Aaron pointed out. "The judge probably saw he didn't care about his own appearance and couldn't care about you."

JJ glared at him.

"I always feel best about myself when I'm dressed nicely," Spencer interjected, though no one asked him. "You would look nice in a dress, JJ. More like a girl," he added the last part helpfully, taking a large bite of French toast.

"Oh my God…you guys aren't helping anything!" she exclaimed.

"JJ. Come on. Just hurry and get dressed. I'll play ball with you later. You can bat," Derek promised, just as Penelope barged inside like she owned the place.

She took one look at JJ and sighed with relief. "Oh, thank God… You're not dressed. I've got the perfect thing for you to wear," Penelope told JJ.

Breathing a sigh of relief, JJ excused herself, disappearing into the bedroom with Penelope. When she prepared to emerge twenty minutes later, JJ felt almost human. Thanks to Penelope, she was dressed in a knee-length floral print dress, with a white open shirt over the top. She had brought jewelry, too. Earrings and a bracelet, which JJ reluctantly put on.

"You look so fantastic. There's one more thing," Penelope added gently. Then, she withdrew a box from the bottom of the bag.

Tentatively, JJ opened the box and gasped. Her sister's necklace sat there. The one Janet had given to her that last day, which JJ hadn't kept, and always wished she had.

"Where did you get this?" JJ gasped.

"I did a thing," Penelope admitted softly, taking the necklace and carefully putting it around JJ's neck.

JJ's breath caught and she waited for the panic. For the fear that used to live in her, at the thought of being strangled - at having anything around her neck - but it didn't come. This was Janet's last gift to her. And with it, JJ was able to remember her sister's last words. She had said that no matter what happened, Janet loved her. At the time, JJ had shrugged it off. Pushed Janet away. Now, she clutched the necklace, grateful for all of Penelope's strange ways of getting her hands on things.

"Thank you," JJ breathed.

The courtroom was a place with a lot of bad memories, but the judge seemed kind and tried to put JJ's mind at ease. It helped knowing that Emily was in here with her. That she had nine people waiting outside, rooting for her. It helped that this would be short. In minutes, the paper was placed in front of her. Carefully, JJ signed her new name. Emily signed as well.

"The minor shall henceforth be named Jennifer Janet Prentiss…"

Emily's arms closed around her. JJ felt tears falling. She remembered the more serious conversation about her name they'd had in the months between November and March. JJ had paged through books with baby names in them, caught by the ones with cultural significance: Bella, from Twilight and Rachel from Glee, the show she and Emily sometimes watched together when they had a girls' weekend. But none of those names fit. She flipped past her own name, Jennifer, in the book, and her heart skipped a beat. Jennifer meant phantom. Phantom meant ghost. It was exactly how she had felt in the eighteen months since Janet died.

It was talking to Emily that convinced JJ to keep her given name. "You know, a synonym for phantom is spirit. You've got such a strong spirit, and I think your name suits you. It's your choice. Just something to think about." So, JJ had. She had studied the book, and eventually, when she had the courage, found Janet's name in the book. Beside it, were the words: God is gracious. If she were Jennifer Janet instead of Jennifer Ann, she could still go by JJ. Then, maybe, it would be a way to remind herself, and other people that she had a sister once. It would be a way to keep Janet close to her heart, even years after she was gone.

The family picture was beautiful as any painting. JJ, beaming with red eyes, holding her adoption certificate. There were a slew of pictures. One of her in the judge's chair. One with her brothers. One with Dave and Carolyn, where Dave kissed her cheek and welcomed her to the family like it was the mafia. One with the boys and Penelope. One with the Barrett-Mackeys. And one with all eleven of them, JJ in the center.

Afterward, they returned home and threw a small party. Dave and Cary cooked. Carolyn and Nathaniel helped Emily organize. Penelope let Matthew ogle all of her shiny jewelry to his heart's content. Derek - with Aaron and Spencer in tow - had asked if they could give JJ her adoption gift. They didn't want it to be a big deal, and figured she wouldn't either. Emily agreed to let them do what they felt was right. To hear all three of them tell her "Thanks, Mom," as they turned to walk away, warmed her heart. It had taken them a little longer, but once JJ made the switch, all three followed suit. Derek was last.

It made her heart skip a beat. How many mothers could say the first time their children called them mom wasn't when they were toddlers, but so much older. Emily felt sure she would never get tired of it.

She watched from a distance as, Derek walked up to her, the present concealed behind his back. She was close enough to overhear the conversation, and didn't back away.

"Thought you might wanna use this instead of the ugly bat," he said motioning to the heavy metal one that had been around ten years. Then, slowly, he showed her what he'd kept hidden behind his back.

Emily knew what JJ would see. A brand new wooden bat, inscribed with her name: JJ PRENTISS, #4. All three boys had come to her on Christmas Eve asking if they could get it for her as a gift on Christmas morning, but when Emily saw the price and how little money each boy had saved, she suggested waiting until March. They had reluctantly done so, growing increasingly excited, as the day grew nearer. Emily often caught them grinning at each other when JJ dragged the old bat out to hit the ball around.

"You did such a good job not stealing, we wanted you to have it," Spencer said, squeezing her around the middle. "It was going to be a Christmas present, but we didn't have the money. Actually, we still didn't have the money, so Mom covered the rest. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's awesome," Emily heard JJ saying.

"Do you see your name? And we put number four because you're the fourth one of us to be adopted, but it's not a ranking of how much we love you," Aaron reassured.

JJ laughed and held him tightly. "Thank you."

"I'll, ah…I'll go get the tape…" Derek said, excusing himself.

Emily busied herself moving chairs inside but JJ stopped her short, plowing into her with a hug. She was sure she knew what it was for, but again, JJ surprised her. "Thank you for adopting me," she said, emotion closing her throat.

Tears came to Emily's eyes as she let go of the chair she was holding and held JJ instead. "Thank you…" she managed, "for being my daughter."

Is a mother still a mother without children? Is a child still a child without parents?

The thought came, unbidden, into Emily's head as she looked around the table at her family. JJ sat on one side, and Spencer on the other. Then Aaron and Derek. Then Dave and Carolyn. Penelope, Matthew, Nathaniel and Cary. They talked and laughed. Dave kept toasting. Things still went wrong. Matthew could not be torn from staring at Penelope's numerous bracelets to eat. Spencer fed his pizza to Sergio under the table because he didn't like all the ingredients. When Dave started sharing stories about JJ, she got embarrassed and tried to leave the table.

Still, the thought persisted. Though it had been more than a decade since the question first entered Emily's mind and refused to go away. At the time, she had feared the answer was no. She had been sure, if she remained childless, she could never be a mother, and if children were parentless they would remain directionless. But Emily knew better. And as Penelope brought out the giant cake in the shape of the sun and set it down, Emily felt sure. As long as there was love, there was hope. As long as someone, somewhere was willing to take a chance and love these children, everyone could grow and reap the benefits and challenges of loving without condition, of giving beyond what seems reasonable.

Taking in the faces around her one by one, Emily sighed, perfectly content, for the first time in years. This was her family - a beautiful mosaic - the family Emily had always dreamed of. Dave and Carolyn, the warm Italian and his wife, who were true parents when Emily felt anchorless in her youth.

Nathaniel and Cary, true friends, who loved each other, their son and her family with equal intensity. The kind of friends who would drop everything to come to her aid. Their son, Matthew - the nephew she never had - like a wonderful mystery, he amazed her with what he knew, and how much he had learned.

Penelope, a nineteen-year-old young woman who shone like the sun, despite so much heartbreak. Derek, at almost fifteen, battling bravely to overcome the demons in his past. Aaron, her sweet nine-year-old, who had the ability to stop her in her tracks with his insight into fairness, justice, and the human condition. Spencer, her exceptional six-year-old, who had gone from fearing colors and emotional immaturity to a stunningly bright and articulate boy, who remained unflinchingly honest. And, last but not least, JJ. Her strong, quiet thirteen-year-old who fought her compulsive urges daily, and battled academic deficits because she truly wanted something better. Her daughter, the athlete. Her daughter, the fighter.

This was her family…and Emily couldn't wait to truly begin their life together.

The End.