As Hotch is walking away Emily feels a longing so intense that she almost calls out his name to stop, come back to her, and give them both some comfort by catching the shattered pieces of her feelings and helping her reassemble herself. Instead she watches his car, and the Hotchner men inside it, drive off away from her. Away from the mess she found herself in and she is alone again.

She is tired and looking forward to going to bed, in warm pajamas, after a scalding shower. Emily tries not to think of how she wants to be with them, knowing it would all be ok.

It won't.

And that she would be safe.

Never again.

She almost calls out for them to wait for her, but she has convinced herself that things are already settled and she's better off the only one maimed in the maelstrom. Almost.

The next morning, after spending endless minutes heaving over the toilet, she has a tiny portion of dry toast and some warm ginger ale. Never as good as coffee, nothing is really, but a small bit of fuel to keep her going until her appetite returns.

She walks into the room towards her desk, not noticing the quiet, thoughtful, glances of her coworkers. Everyone notices, and no one says a thing. Her frame is becoming more slender and angular by the day, they had all murmured their concern to Hotch and Rossi, but since she's neither physically unable to do the job, and hasn't grossly fallen apart mentally, they were lacking official resources to require intervention.

Reid looks over and tries very hard to think of something positive to say. All the thoughts fly out of his head as he observes his friend moving like a woman at least 1.5 times her age, possibly twice as old. He doesn't think she was in a car wreck since they would have been informed, but he does think something is fishy and can't quite work up the nerve to ask. Reid stands up from his desk and quietly walks off to have a chat with JJ.

Emily feels very heavy, tethered to the world by feet that won't move as she'd like, is exhausted and it's only 8:00 AM. Who knew that puking, making toast, puking, forcing herself to eat a few bites, and getting ready for work would be so draining? Her coat that was so heavy on her shoulders is a relief to place on the back of her chair. The suitcase is put on the floor next to the desk and suddenly she feels much lighter. Not quite as light as normal but able to move more freely as she pulls out her chair and sits down to review the mounds of paperwork that had piled up while she was gone.

Argh! Someone had messed with her desk. Obviously there would be paper work to be completed but she hadn't imagined that much of it. And who had messed up the order of things in the top corner? Grr… Before she can linger on that though too much someone was walking up to her desk, and while not hurrying they weren't being too quiet either.

"Hey, Em! How are you this morning?" JJ asked quietly as she stood just a little outside a comfortable distance. Her friend hadn't mentioned her concern but Emily could read it in her eyes. Her clothes were a bit wrinkled, her hair a little windblown, and her makeup slightly smudged. She felt run down but she was sure she looked it. Great, something else for someone to notice. Feeling pinned down she stood up to chat with JJ.

"Fine." She faked a smile. "How was your weekend with Henry?"

Emily could feel the stress and weakness creeping up on her nerves as JJ filled Emily in on her weekend events. The words and pleasant tone of JJ's voice rippled over her like water in a rocky stream. She wanted to stay under it, enjoy the cool sensation, the blessed relief that at last for one minute, one solitary minute, she could forget her situation. Oh, she desperately wanted to give JJ a hint, an idea that things just weren't right in Casa Prentiss, but she suddenly noticed Reid standing off to the side quietly observing their interaction from a slight distance.

It was enough to push her over the edge from being pinned to being trapped. All the feelings building up that she had been staving off went for an easy target.

Reid.

The profiler in her already unconsciously calculated his anxious stance, flickering eye contact, and slight gnawing at his lip as markers of an agitated person. Interrupting JJ's talk about a party Henry had attended, Emily was on the attack. Right for the jugular.

"Hey Reid! If you're going to listen in on someone's conversation you could stand a little closer! I'm not sure if you can hear everything JJ's saying." Emily said, as she watched from outside of herself. This time she wasn't seeing stars, or the moon, or hearing crickets. She was seeing red, and hearing a dim roar of her pulse in her ears. Surprised by her own verbal assault on Reid she stood still, a bit abashed, but mostly enjoying the moment of anger.

"Emily…I...don't…know", Reid stammers. His pulse racing he starts to turn the most brilliant shade of red, like a beefsteak tomato.

"Then keep out of this conversation. It's private!" Emily barks at him. She turns back to JJ expecting to hear her friend continue her story but notices that JJ was staring at her like she had two heads. Too close to the truth. Or had suddenly turned up to work in her underwear.

"Emily?" JJ tries to get her attention quietly. Emily was as still as she'd ever seen, with none of her joking tone, or friendly glances. She looked, JJ thought, as if she had dead eyes. JJ's heart sunk in that moment; she knew something was wrong with her friend, terribly wrong.

"Emily?" "Emily!" JJ started to inch a little closer to Emily when suddenly Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan were all there too. JJ, who wasn't claustrophobic, started to feel a bit crowded. Emily felt absolutely smothered. Without warning she jumped up and ran straight to the locker room, shutting and locking the main door behind her as she held in sobs.

The ice was cracking, the glass that she encased herself in for these long weeks was giving, and she didn't want anyone else hurt. She needed to keep them out of it, for their own sakes.

The group of friends and coworkers stood in the BAU staring at each other for the longest time, when Reid suddenly announced sheepishly, to the frozen room, "I wasn't trying to listen to your conversation JJ."

"I know", JJ said, but she couldn't figure anything else to say at that moment.

No one could.