Birds of a Feather
Summary: Emily Prentiss has endured unimaginable horrors in her life, many of which have stemmed from her career path as an agent. When given the opportunity to leave everything behind and start anew, will she be able to escape the terrors of her past, or will it come back to haunt her? Will someone from her past see the truth behind the carefully constructed mask she now wears? Will he be able to help her finally put the ghosts to rest? [Emily, Steve]
Who is Jennifer?
Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Emily Prentiss of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was a well-respected federal agent with an impeccable track record, and thanks to her mother's status as Ambassador to the UN, strong political connections around the world, but she also lived with a secret past as a covert agent for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She worked many classified undercover operations both for the CIA, and for their international counter-part, Interpol.
Her last case before leaving that world behind, in favor of working for the FBI, was a long-term undercover job with connections in the US, Ireland, and Italy primarily. Her mark, international arms dealer with known terrorist connections, former IRA Captain, Ian Doyle, more widely known in the criminal world as Valhalla. The operation was a success. Doyle was arrested, and his business shut down. Emily's alias, Lauren Reynolds, 'died', and all lose ends were neatly tied up.
But her past refused to stay buried. Ian Doyle escaped from prison and set out on the war path to destroy all those he deemed responsible for his arrest, and subsequent separation from his only son, Declan. Many of those involved in the original case were killed, along with their families, as Doyle sought his revenge. Emily was too late to save her former friends and colleagues from the CIA and Interpol, but when Doyle discovered she was in fact still alive, and began targeting her and her team at the BAU, she took the fight to him.
After being captured by Doyle and his men following an ambush in Boston, Emily was beaten, tortured, and very nearly killed, but she survives. Unfortunately, Doyle escaped before he could be re-apprehended, and as such, the Director of the CIA made the necessary arrangements to have Agent Prentiss' death faked. Everyone she had ever known, friends, family, coworkers, everyone believed she had been killed by Ian Doyle, and was never coming home.
Once she had recovered from her injuries and come to terms with the fact that she could never go back to her old life, Emily accepted her mission as laid out to her by the CIA's Director. Find Doyle. Kill him and as many of his loyal followers as possible. Eliminate any of his remaining business operations. It was a suicide mission and they both knew it, but her life as Emily Prentiss was over, and she had nothing left to lose.
After three years living as a virtual ghost, she successfully completed her mission, and returned to Langley expecting the Director to relieve her of duty and set her up with a new identity. However, he was so thoroughly pleased with the job she had done, completing a mission that would have killed any other agent, that he insisted on her remaining with the agency. She was not pleased, having never wanted to return to that life in the first place, and desperately wanting out, so after she threatened to go public with everything and return to DC as Emily Prentiss, he finally agreed to give her the needed backstop to start her new life.
On that day, Emily Prentiss ceased to exist, and Jennifer was born.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Hawaii
Jennifer stepped off the plane, and let a smile grace her lips as she felt the warm sun hit her face. She closed her eyes, taking in the warm sensation, breathing deeply the fresh, floral scent she never before would have associated with an airport. She was in Hawaii, the closest place to paradise on Earth she could think of. She had made it.
This was the beginning of her new life, and she couldn't be more pleased with how things had turned out.
Sure, there were times when she missed her old friends, especially her old team. JJ and Morgan in particular. They had been her closest friends before everything came crashing down almost four years earlier, and she still missed them terribly at times. But they were alive, out there somewhere living their lives, free from the dangers of her past. And so, Jen didn't mind so much that she couldn't see them now.
Jen.
That was still odd for her. She had worked more undercover operations than any agent should ever be asked to, and she was no stranger to living under an assumed name. In fact, while hunting Doyle, she had used dozens of different aliases in order to keep him and his men off her scent. But this wasn't an alias. This wasn't a temporary role to fill. She was Jen now. Jennifer Morgan Lawson. She would never again introduce herself as Emily Prentiss. She no longer was Emily Prentiss. And no number of classified missions could prepare her for that reality, not really.
She had reviewed the files the Director had given her thoroughly, memorizing every detail of her new backstop as Jennifer, before deleting her copy of the files and erasing any remaining evidence of her contact with Langley. The Director had been quite thorough, and she now felt confident beginning this next stage in her life.
With that thought, Jen continued to smile brightly, heading towards the main terminal. She was brought out of her inner musings by a young woman approaching her and placing a beautiful flower lei around her neck.
Her first instinct was to dodge the approaching woman. She had been living on the razor's edge of death and danger for so long now that she couldn't help the momentary need to defend herself against this stranger. But once she took in the woman's uniform, and realized she had been one of the airline attendants on her flight here, she relaxed somewhat and accepted the string of tropical flowers.
"Aloha," the woman greeted her kindly, "Welcome to Hawaii."
"Mahalo," Jen responded kindly, thanking the woman for the flowers and the greeting. The woman looked somewhat surprised at her response, likely having believed she was a simple tourist, but her shock passed quickly and she smiled at Jen before moving on to the next passenger with a handful of leis.
As soon as she had decided that she would be bringing her new identity to the beautiful islands of Hawaii, Jen had begun learning the native language. It would be quite some time before she was truly fluent, but with the extensive language background she already possessed, the work so far had been rather enjoyable, and she felt comfortable using it now, even if she didn't really need to be.
She watched quietly as other passengers made their way to the baggage claim area. She had no need to make the same detour on her way out of the airport, as she only had the one bag with her.
Three years living the way she had, Jen had grown accustomed to traveling light, and really only had the absolute necessities for survival. It had been three years since she had slept soundly through the night. Three years of constantly moving, never having a place of her own. Three years of fake names, fake trust, fake love. She had been forced to get close to more than a few of Doyle's men romantically in order to get her hands on the necessary information to continue on. Three years of death. She couldn't risk any of these men telling Doyle she was alive, and of course she had been tasked with destroying as much of his empire as possible, and that meant a great deal of killing.
It had been a horrible three years, but it was her penance for allowing her former case to endanger the lives of her teammates and their families. It was her mess and she had risked her life day in and day out to clean it up.
And now it was done. The running and fighting and hiding and lying and killing was all over. Her life as CIA Operative Emily Prentiss was over.
In that moment, Jen silently vowed to herself that next time she stepped off a plane in a beautiful tropical destination, she would have a proper suitcase full of fun vacation clothes to pick up at baggage claim. Next time.
Today however, she simply slipped through the glass doors of the airport's main exit and made her way to the bus. She wouldn't rent a car; the agency had compensated her rather generously for her work over the last three years, and for the 'inconvenience' her identity change might have created. Hush money if she was being honest, but after everything that agency had put her through, she had earned every penny.
So, she was rather well off, not that that was anything new for Jen. Even as Emily, she had never lacked funds. And with her new bank accounts set up and filled, she had already made all of the necessary arrangements for her new life here.
There was a modest, ranch style home waiting for her on a secluded private beach near the North Shore. Her back doors opened right onto the sand and she was looking forward to settling in there. There was also a new car waiting for her in her garage, a midnight blue Aston Martin Vanquish convertible. So, maybe she had splurged a bit when buying that particular set of wheels, but she couldn't help herself. She had enough money to buy herself a mansion on the hill, and had opted for a much smaller place tucked away, so she really didn't feel an ounce of guilt for buying herself a proper sports car.
There was also a full wardrobe of new clothes already waiting for her in the new home, so her current baggage crisis would be remedied as soon as she got home.
Home.
This beautiful island paradise was home now. No more sleeping in a different bed every night chasing down terrorists. No more tiny brownstone in the crowded DC center. No more moving from country to country on a moment's notice year after year. Jen had a home now, that Emily never truly had, and she was thrilled at the prospect of really being free to put down roots somewhere for the first time.
The bus pulled up to a stop along a stretch of white sand beach with a gentle surf, and on an impulse, Jen stood from her seat and made her way out. She was still quite a ways from her new place, she knew that, but she was in no hurry. She was operating on island time now, and she had a week until she was expected to report to her new job.
Jennifer was known here as Homicide Detective Lawson, the new transfer to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Her backstop included a detailed history of her time with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) in sunny Southern California and with the Denver Metropolitan Police Department (DMPD) in the mountain city of Colorado. She was here in Hawaii to continue the work she enjoyed doing, helping people, and bringing killers to justice, but she had needed a change of scenery and the islands provided that.
No one was expecting her for a week though, so she could afford to spend the day down here at the beach and just explore.
She silently set her bag down on the sand, looking out at the water as it crashed against the shore. A few other touristy types had followed her off of the bus, and they quickly made their way towards the wide open sand to her left, chatting amongst themselves the whole way. There were several others on the sand and in the shallow water that way, but she found herself instead being drawn to the large rock formation on her right. No one was headed that way, and she was sure it wasn't the usual spot for a newcomer to the island, but it was beautiful, and she could see there was another stretch of beach on the other side of it which appeared to be empty.
Jen slipped her boots off and reveled in the feeling of the warm sand sliding between her toes. She rolled her pants up to just below the knee; she would have worn shorts given where she was headed, but the obvious scars on her thighs would have drawn unwanted attention, and this way they remained safely covered. She rolled her sleeves up to just below the elbow and unbuttoned her top layer, revealing the tight black tank top beneath, but again did not remove the piece entirely, careful to avoid showing her scarred shoulders and upper back. She put her boots neatly inside her duffel, zipped it up, and swung the bag across her back as she made her way towards the rocks, ready for a little mini adventure to celebrate her first day in her new home.