Chapter 1
As she stared out the plane window, Emily thought back to her friends that she was leaving behind. She thought about the party that they'd thrown for her just before she left for England. The team had decided to throw a surprise party for her at Rossi's home.
She had arrived at the place where just a few weeks before her friends had gotten married, thinking that the reason she was there was for another one of Rossi's cooking parties. All of her friends were standing around the large island in Rossi's kitchen, awaiting her arrival. "There she is, the guest of honor" announced Rossi as he came around the island to greet her. "Guest of honor?" Emily asked, with a puzzled look on her face. "Yes, guest of honor. We wanted to have a little get together before you left. Something small, just the team." Rossi said. "Guys, you didn't have to do that," Emily replied, looking at all of her friends. "Well, we wanted to get the chance to say goodbye this time, since we didn't exactly get to the last time you left," Reid said.
She'd remembered what Spencer was talking about, how she had fled to keep herself safe from Ian Doyle and everyone except for JJ and Hotch thought she was dead. "I'm only a phone call or Skype away, Reid. Besides, you can come and visit any time you want to," she said reassuring her friend that this wouldn't be the last time he would see her. "Does that include Skype calls with my little furry love too? I can't exactly use my visitation rights all the time if you're on a different continent." Garcia added. "Yes, I'm sure Sergio would enjoy that too," Emily responded. "I am going to enjoy those couple of weeks with him while you're getting settled in. I really do miss having him around. He is just adorable, you know," Garcia said reminiscing on the several months that she had taken care of Sergio. "I might have to spoil him a little too, I think JJ is getting sick of all the things I've been buying for Henry," she chuckled. "It's not that I'm sick of the things, it's just that sometimes his fairy godmother goes a little overboard with the gifts," JJ responded, sipping her glass of wine.
She joined her friends around the island as they all watched Rossi cook another Italian dish, as he always did. The room was filled with laughter and the feeling of love. She knew that this was her home and although she would be leaving her friends, she would always have a home when she needed it, or a shoulder to cry on. She might have been going away for a while, but she wasn't leaving them forever.
Emily was awoken from her daydream by the announcement from the flight attendant and the dinging of the seatbelt light. Soon she would be landing in London, where she would start her new job. Years before, she had been here, doing something that had taken such a toll on her. This time would be different though, she wouldn't be going undercover and she would be leading a team.
After landing, she disembarked from the plane and headed for the line to passport control. She stood in a relatively short line for only a few minutes and when she got to the front of the line, handed her passport and form to the officer. "What is the purpose of your trip?" the officer asked in an enthusiastic voice. "I am moving here for a job. I currently work at the FBI in the United States, however, I came here to run the Interpol office in London," she answered, matter of factly. "Very well. And where is it that you intend to stay while you're working here?" the officer asked. "I have a small apartment that I'll be renting right inside of London, in Southwark," she responded. "And your job," the officer said, "what exactly is it that you'll be doing? You said something about Interpol?" "Yes," Emily said, "I'm starting as chief of the London office. Running a team that will help with police with transnational crimes and terrorism." "Aye, very well." the officer said and handed her back her passport and the form.
She then began heading toward the luggage carousel to retrieve the rest of her belongings. Duffle bag in hand and backpack on her back, she waited for her other three bags to come along the carousel, muttering to herself about how long it was taking. When her bags finally came along the moving belt, she reached for each of them, struggling to get them off the belt due to how heavy they were. "Wow, I didn't realize how much stuff I actually had," she groaned softly as she piled the bags beside her. Once she had all of her bags, she looked around and spotted a luggage cart nearby. "You look like you could use a bit of help there," an older gentleman said as he tugged his own suitcase off the carousel. "Well, maybe just a little. I spotted that cart over there," Emily smiled at him. She remembered he was sitting just a few rows away from her on the plane. "Here, let me get that," he offered, stepping away and pushing the cart back in her direction. "Thank you," she replied as she began stacking the bags. "This makes it so much easier," she said just before he nodded and walked away. Emily watched him go before she followed him, now easily wheeling the cart in front of her instead of attempting to drag all of them alongside her.
When she came around the corner, she saw the long, chaotic line that she now had to wait in, in order to get through customs. "Jeez, you'd think they would have this more under control, or at least have more people working to make these lines go faster" Emily muttered to herself, now annoyed thinking about how long it was going to take her to get through this line. She stood in line for about a half an hour, checking her watch every few minutes, seeing how slowly time was going by.
When she reached the next officer, she handed him the form and again, answered the questions she was being asked. Luckily, she was not chosen to have to have her bags searched. "Phew, that would've taken forever." she thought to herself, thankful for the luck she had had.
As she exited the terminal, pushing the luggage cart, she saw her old friend, Clyde Easter who had offered to pick her up once she arrived in London. He waved to her and she did the same, happy that she had seen a familiar face. She began to walk towards him, and he to her when suddenly a loud noise bellowed through the airport and everything came crashing down around them. They were thrown back, pushed apart by the force of the blast and the beams falling down around them. Chaos was everywhere, people were running around in a panic like a flock of sheep being chased by wolves.