Coming back from cases was a blessing and a curse. The blessing was the ability to sleep in one’s own bed. The blessing was the fact that one more disgusting pervert or sadistic murderer was behind bars. The curse was the mounds and mounds of paperwork it entailed. And Emily Prentiss was no less happy about doing it than her colleagues. Still, it was a welcome change from the hectic nature of their away cases.
“You know, I could do with a routine consult right now,” Derek Morgan, her colleague and probably best friend in the whole entire world groused.
“I don’t know why, it would be no less stressful than any of our away cases,” Spencer Reid contradicted. “In fact, an interview would probably be less intellectually stimulating for you-“
“Reid, I didn’t ask for a breakdown,” Derek said with amused exasperation.
Emily grinned. “I’m with Reid. We’ve had too many away cases. It’ll do us all good to take some time to cool down.” Well, it didn’t make a difference to her, but JJ was being worn down by the mixture of cases, flying and her pregnancy. There had been many times over their last trip to Des Moines that Emily had found herself holding back her colleague’s long blond hair in the bathroom. She didn’t mind it, she just hoped JJ would take some time to relax.
Rossi needed to make a run for his cabin too. The man was getting too cynical and Emily would bet her month’s rent on the problem being his constant time in the office. She tried to get him to go home at night, but he’d fooled her the first few times. Then she’d started staying until he left. Then, until Aaron Hotchner, her supervisor, left. It was just what she did.
Which brought her to another person who was desperately in need of a break. Even though the divorce was finalized, Haley seemed to find it endlessly amusing to harass Hotch about anything and everything. He’d already moved out of the house into his own childproofed apartment and given up almost everything he’d once owned, just to make the break a little bit cleaner and easier to deal with, but Haley seemed to want to pick fights with him. And that didn’t even touch on the things she’d been pulling with Jack, Hotch’s son. Emily had finally almost forced him to call a lawyer about it.
“She can’t break a custody agreement, Hotch, you know that,” she’d said, trying to convince him.
“Ha,” Derek laughed, bringing Emily’s attention back to the present and her colleagues. “We’re going to be spending the next two weeks trying to keep up with this paperwork. It’s like every time we have to draw our weapons we have to fill out a form.”
“Three, actually,” came Rossi’s voice from the doorway. The younger members of the team had taken up the conference room, preferring to work in close proximity to each other. It often made paperwork go by faster. It looked like Rossi was prepping to join them.
“See, now that’s just bad for the environment,” Derek groused as he signed another piece of paper and tucked it into the appropriate file. “Half of the time we don’t even fire them.”
“Bureaucratic red tape. Ain’t it a bitch,” Rossi quipped as Emily’s phone trilled.
“Agent Prentiss,” she said, her customary greeting when she hadn’t checked the caller ID.
Derek and Dave watched as Emily’s entire body stiffened and the pen fell from her hand. Something or someone on the other end of the phone had really hit a nerve in their usually unflappable colleague. And they wanted to know what.
“Whoa, sweetie, slow down.”
Derek arched an eyebrow at his brunette colleague but didn’t get a response.
“Honey, breathe, okay? You need to stop panicking.”
Now Derek looked to Dave, to see if there was a piece of Emily’s life he’d missed. Dave looked as clueless as he did.
“Where are you? I’ll come and get you.” She was already moving, phone pressed between her shoulder and her ear as she frantically piled papers into folders with no care as to which went where. That in itself sent up a red flag. Emily was always anal about her file organization.
Derek smacked her hands out of the way, concern in his brow as he went about organizing them again. When he looked up at her she had on the stone face he saw during cases.
“Okay, I’m on my way but I’ll be a while. Do not move, whatever you do, hear me? I don’t care if you are about to wet your pants, you do not move from that spot. Not even for security. Name drop if you have to…”
Derek wished he could have heard the end of the conversation, but Emily had all but sprinted out the door. He hadn’t seen her move that fast in a long time.
“Wonder what that was about,” Dave said, watching the glass door close behind her. Emily had almost bowled Hotch over as she raced down the walkway.
“Everything okay?” the dark-haired man asked.
Derek and Dave both shrugged. They had no idea what had sent Emily running to the hills, but whatever it was, she was seriously panicked.
Leah was anxiously looking around Ronald Reagan National Airport, watching the faces of people pass. There were a few times she’d actually thought she saw her surrogate aunt in the sea of faces, but it hadn’t been her. She was getting anxious, itchy and it was driving her crazy. She hated having to look over her shoulder. She’d thought that was finished when she moved to Seattle and started her new life away from Chicago, away from the living hell she’d experienced.
“Leah?”
It took her a few minutes to spot the concerned dark eyes of the woman she probably trusted most in the world and she felt herself start to break down. It had been adrenaline that had gotten her on the plane that morning, adrenaline that had kept her moving, walking, stoic when she knew there was a serial killer in Seattle that had stalked her across the county.
Emily felt the same way she had when Leah had said goodbye to her eight years prior. She even smelled the same, the faint scent of roses almost completely overridden by the vanilla-lavender mix she associated with Emily. It was enough to bring the tears down her cheeks. Her body shook with silent sobs as she clung to Emily tightly, hands balled in fists in Emily’s suit jacket. It was a while before she could calm herself down.
It was Emily that pushed her away when Leah had calmed down substantially. The older woman’s hands moved to cup Leah’s cheeks in her palms.
“Are you okay?” she asked, brushing hair away from Leah’s tear-stained cheeks.
Leah shook her head, biting her lip. She instantly regretted it at the panic that popped into Emily’s face.
“Are you hurt? Did he get to you? Are David and Liz okay?”
“Mom and Dad are fine,” Leah was quick to reassure, though her voice was hoarse and scratchy. “I’m fine.”
“Physically,” Emily agreed, understanding.
Leah nodded, chewing her lip to keep more tears at bay. “I’m scared.”
Emily wrapped her in another hug. “I know, sweetie.” They held onto each other for a few minutes before Emily pulled back. “Do you have everything?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Leah answered, grabbing the handles of a nearby duffle bag. “I wasn’t sure how long I’d have to stay or even if I could stay or if you’d be sending me-“
“Stop,” Emily commanded. “I’ll call Agent Spring tomorrow morning and get it ironed out with him. He told you to leave Seattle?”
“He thought that was the best thing I could probably do,” Leah agreed. “Mom called him for me. Or Dad.”
Emily smiled, trying to be reassuring, tucking hair behind the sixteen-year-old’s ear. “You can stay for as long as you want, as long as you’re safe.”
Leah nodded, her throat choked with tears. “Thanks, Aunt Em.”
Derek wanted to ask what had happened when Emily returned looking haggard and exhausted. When she’d come in that morning she’d looked well-rested and had been in a very happy mood. The woman who walked into the bullpen now was a completely different person. And Derek was more than concerned.
“Everything okay?” he asked as she plopped down on her chair. “You raced out of here like your pants were on fire.”
Emily tried for a smile. “Personal emergency. Did Hotch miss me?”
“Em, you almost ran him over on your way out of the War Room.” He didn’t bother to hide his concern now.
She swore softly. “Did I really?”
She looked so incredibly upset at the thought that Derek’s heart went out to her. It wasn’t often Emily was so caught up in something she forgot the world around her. “He’s worried.”
“Damn it.”
“What’s up?”
She rubbed a hand over her forehead. “Nothing,” she replied. “Do you think Dave would let me use his phone?”
“Uh…?”
But Emily was already up and moving. “Dave?”
“Hey. Everything okay?”
“Fine,” she answered with a tight smile. “Can I use your phone?”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “My phone?”
“The one in your office. I have to make a private call and-“
“Of course.” It wasn’t difficult to remember that not too long ago, Dave had been the one keeping secrets. He knew Emily Prentiss. When she was ready, she’d talk.
Emily smiled as he passed. “Thanks Dave.”
“Sure thing.”
She blessed his tact when he closed the door behind him. This was a call she wanted to make as far away from Leah as she could. She didn’t want their guy to be able to trace the call back to Leah.
“Agent Spring.”
“Bob, it’s Emily.”
“Hey Em. I take it our girl left.”
“Hightailed it is more like it. What does it look like?”
“Looks like he’s repeating himself in Seattle. We’re on it. Is she safe there?”
“Unless he gets hold of some sort of leak she’ll be fine. Keep an eye on Liz and David, okay?”
“Will do. Thanks for calling. I’ll keep you updated.”
Emily blew out a sigh of relief as she hung up. Bob Spring wasn’t one to beat around the bush, something she admired about him. Their conversation was straight, short and to the point, the way Emily preferred business conversations to go. Still, it took a lot of Emily’s control to maintain her calm. Leah was like her daughter, a younger sister, someone younger she took care of because she loved them.
She dropped her head into her hands, trying to keep her mind straight. It was difficult to keep her mind objective, to look at this like she would without her emotions to cloud her judgment. What was she supposed to do with Leah? How was she supposed to consider this without thinking about Leah? What on earth was she supposed to do if this became one of their cases? With the state lines and the sheer number of murders this guy had committed, it wouldn’t be a far stretch. All logic said she’d have to step away from the case if it came to that point.
This was a royal mess.