nothing like getting it in at the last minute, right? LOL This is a two parter. The second chapter will be up in a few hours.

The weather forecast for that day was dark and dreary with light showers for the entire day. 'Typical weather for a funeral,' she thought to herself as she watched the scene from the top of the hill. She didn't want to do this. She was a skilled FBI agent. She could take care of herself, but it wasn't herself that she was protecting. She looked on at her friends…no…they were more like her family…as they huddled together and cried over her "grave" that her former bosses at Interpol so graciously supplied her with. It was them that she was protecting.

She thought back to how the latest interactions with Ian Doyle began.

Right after she returned from meeting with Sean McAllister, there was an envelope in her mailbox. She opened the envelope to find several pictures, all of them focused on the team and JJ. That is not what scared her though. The only picture that had her in it also had Jack and Henry. She thought back to the day that the picture was taken. They were all at JJ's house for a barbecue. Henry was just learning how to roll a ball on the floor, and she was sitting in the front yard with the two boys rolling the ball around.

They are just children. She couldn't let them be touched by this evil, especially Jack. That little boy has seen more than enough of his share of evil in the few years that he has been living. To protect them, she had to do it, and when Doyle is found, and she has no doubt that he will be found, she will return to them.

She is just worried about how they will react when they learned that she is still alive. Will they be angry with her for allowing her death to be faked? Will they be excited to see her alive? Will they understand the reasons for why she had to do it?

Her memory again drifted back to when she opened that envelope. She had called Sean right away and told him about the pictures. He informed her that everyone on her former team received the same package of pictures of their closest friends and relatives.

He also told her some sad news that he had just received. John Sanders, one of her former teammates, was shot coming out of his home last week. He survived, but after being released from the hospital, he went back home to his wife and family. Three days later, his wife's car blew up with her and the children inside. A letter was delivered the next day with one simple message. "I couldn't get you, so I chose to get them and let you suffer."

That was what solidified her decision, when the attempt to end her life proved to be unsuccessful.

A few days earlier…

They just returned from a long case at the BAU and all that she was looking forward to was a long, hot and relaxing bath. She pulled into her driveway as her phone rang. Looking at her watch she smiled. It was the same time every night that Sean called in to check on her and make sure that she was alright. He would check if there were any concerns for her safety. She chatted idly with him while she walked into her building and in the elevator and up to the door of her condo. Once inside she remembered that she left a case folder in her car. Cursing at herself for her lack of brain function, she left the condo, all while still talking on the phone and laughing with Sean. As she reached the elevator she heard and felt an explosion come from the hallways - more specifically, her condo.

"Are you alright?" Sean asked.

"Fine. Just bruises," she answered.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was the sound of a bomb going off in my condo."

"Fuck…Doyle," he said angrily. "You have to get out of there. Meet me in the garage."

"What? No. I am not running from him," she argued.

"Remember what happened when he found out John was alive? He killed his family. Do you want that to happen? Think of Jack and Henry. You have to protect them."

"And let everyone think that I am dead?"

"It's the only way to keep them safe," Sean stressed. "When he is caught, you can come back. Please just get out of there and meet me in the garage."

"One condition."

"Are you serious?"

"It's non-negotiable, Sean."

"Alright. What's your condition?"

"When they…when they find out that I am…dead, they are going to want to help with the investigation. You do whatever you have to do to keep them out of it. I don't want them being put at any more risk than they already are. They are the best minds and agents that the FBI has to offer. They will push and the FBI Director himself will push for them to be involved. I need you to promise me, Sean. Promise me that you will keep them out of it."

"I promise. You have my word. Now please, I am in your garage already and I can hear the approaching sirens."

She opened the door to the garage and joined him in the car, climbing into the back seat, hidden by the tinted windows.

That is the exact same seat that she is sitting today as she looks on at her family and friends surrounding her family plot in the cemetery. Tears ran from her eyes as she watched her friends cry over an empty casket. As John drove the car away, with her and Sean in the back seat, she turned to her friends and asked, "Do you think they will be able to forgive me?"

"In time," said Sean.

Any thoughts?