When Emily and JJ arrive at the office they can tell the events of the weekend have made the rounds of the building.

"Good. They can't sweep it under a rug this time," Emily says bitterly.

JJ just nods, not trusting herself to speak. As they get on the elevator, a hand stops the doors from closing. Jordan Todd leaps on with them. She studies their bruised and cut faces.

"Holy shit. It was worse than the rumours, wasn't it?" she says with concern.

JJ nods. "Yeah, it was."

"Can I do anything for you? For any of you?"

Emily gives a half smile, mostly in deference to her split lips. "Know a way to magically heal us?"

Jordan grins. "I wish, Em. If I did I'd give it to you. Seriously, if any of you need anything let me know."

JJ nods. "Thanks, Jordan. We appreciate it."

As JJ and Emily get off at their floor they see Hotch and Rossi have already arrived and are talking in the chief's office. As they set their things down, Rossi gestures to them. The Prentiss women make their way up to Hotch's office.

"Hey, Hotch. How's Jack?" Emily asks.

Hotch smiles. "He's good. He has no clue how much danger he was in or I was in. I'll let him keep that innocence until he's older. Like 40 or 50."

The others laugh.

"We're meeting at 10 to debrief about this whole thing. As you can probably guess there was no way to pretend this was just a drill. Too many people were involved in the rescue," Hotch explains.

Emily stares at her hands a minute before glancing at Rossi. She then looks at Hotch. "Um, Hotch…about…what should…what do we…shit…"

Rossi reaches out and places a hand on Emily's arm. "She knows it will come out that she keeps booze in her desk, Emily. Hell, a lot of people do. That's not uncommon."

"But Straus had to stop drinking since Phillipe was using it as a weapon. And then she…she…she had some to even out once we all started to play by our game plan instead of his. Is she really ready for all that to come out, Rossi? I don't want to see her career torpedoed because of this. She did a damn good job considering."

"Thank you, Agent Prentiss," Straus says from the doorway. Everyone turns to look at her. "I appreciate your kind words and your eagerness to protect me. Rest assured, I stand here willing to accept whatever consequences come out of this report. And despite pleas being made by the CIA, this time nothing will be hidden. The whole story will be told. There won't be any crap about a drill this time."

Emily smiles as best she can. "Good, ma'am. You did a hell of a job during this whole mess. And I never had a chance to thank you for what you told me without telling me. I was losing it until you did."

Straus smiles and nods. "I'm glad I could help. I'll see you all at 10."

She turns and leaves. Emily and JJ look at each other and grin. "Pod person," they say with a chuckle.

Hotch and Rossi exchange a grin. JJ looks at Hotch and asks the one thing that has been bugging her since she heard who held them captive.

"Hotch? How did Phillipe escape the CIA's clean up of the last mess?"

Hotch sighs. "We may never know. My guess is either the person that was supposed to kill him died instead or was bribed. I'm just glad that this time we finished things on our terms, not his."

JJ nods. "Me, too. Uh, about Elle…does her captain know?"

"Yes. I talked to him yesterday. He knows she didn't dive off the wagon. She has his full support when she goes back should she have any after-affects from all of this."

"Good," JJ says with relief.

Hotch glances towards the bullpen. "Morgan and Reid are here. Can you ask them to come in when you go to your desks?"

Emily nods. "Sure."

As they turn to leave, JJ suddenly stops. "Hotch, what about the killings in Miami?"

Rossi answers. "I checked that out. Phillipe set that all up. There were no killings. When Garcia and Hotch called to confirm a few points and let them know we were coming they called numbers Phillipe had set up. It was all just part of his game plan."

"Son of a bitch," JJ mutters.

The women leave. Emily goes to Morgan's office to let him know Hotch wants to see him. JJ goes to Reid.

"Hey, Spence. How you feeling?"

Reid smiles. "I'm okay. It's not as bad as it was before. I'll be fine by the weekend."

JJ nods. "Good. If you need to stay with us you can. Henry likes having his Uncle 'Pence around."

Reid chuckles. "I like spending time with him. But you have to help Em. She still looks pretty bad."

"Yeah. She feels like crap, too. Even regretted not taking a pain pill last night."

"Really?" Reid asks in surprise. JJ nods. "Wow. Well, that's just proof you need to worry about her and your kids for a few days. I'll be fine at Morgan's."

"Okay. But your bed is always there if you need it. Now, Hotch wants to see you before our 10 a.m. meeting."

Reid frowns. "They can't hide it, can they?"

"Nope. This time it all comes out."

"Good," Reid says as he stands and makes his way to the chief's office.

When Emily gets to her desk she stares at the electronic picture frame on it for a moment. She looks up and sees JJ staring at her.

"He wouldn't let me take it with me," Emily says quietly. "He sent me to sleep in Hotch's office but said I couldn't take the pictures because you didn't have them and it wouldn't be fair."

JJ snorts in derision. "I wouldn't have cared."

Emily smiles. "I know. He just did it to stab my heart twice. Once by not being able to look at them and twice by making me feel guilty that I would look at them when you were denied the same comfort."

"He's a fucking bastard."

"Yeah, he was. But he did screw up regarding other pictures. When he sent me the one showing you holding Garcia as you all slept he thought it would hurt me; make me jealous. Instead it just made me happy. I knew you were emotionally supporting each other. It helped settle my heart so my head could work."

JJ smiles. "I'm glad. But I don't think I'll be saying thanks to his spirit anytime soon."

Emily chuckles. "I second that."


At 10 a.m. the team along with Kevin, Straus, Commander White, and Elle Greenaway meet with John Hammond and Rebecca Brouse from IAB. Hammond immediately starts to question Emily's actions, virtually accusing her of being too emotional and endangering lives when she confronted Phillipe. Emily leans forward, glaring at him.

"And what the hell would you have done?"

Hammond rolls his eyes as if it's obvious. "I would have let Commander White take down Phillipe."

White sits forward. "So you saying I was remiss in my job, Agent?"

Hammond has the grace to blush as Brouse hides her grin behind her hand.

"No, sir!" Hammond says. "I'm just saying that maybe she should have, uh, well…"

"Agent Prentiss came up with the exact same entry plan I did. The basement was a tight entry situation. We subdued 4 men without a shot being fired because we were trained to work together in close quarters. No offense to Agent Prentiss or Detective Greenaway but they couldn't have done that simply because they have not trained to do so as much as my teams have." Commander White sits back in his chair. "Now, what other issues do you desk jockeys have with the final takedown?"

Brouse grins. "I have no problems at all. I'm impressed with the skill the team showed both here and on the island. Even split up the way you were you acted as one. My only question is for Detective Greenaway?"

Elle sits forward. "Yes?"

"Did you call out a warning before you shot Phillipe?"

Elle shakes her head. "No. Agent Prentiss was hanging off the side of the roof and he was preparing to stomp on her hands. The fall would have killed her or seriously injured her at best. I made a split second decision that her life was worth more than his and fired. And I would do it again."

Brouse makes a couple of notes on her legal pad. She nods. "As I thought. Well done, Detective."

Elle nods, breathing a sigh of relief. Hammond stares at his partner incredulously.

"Just like that? You're accepting that excuse?"

Brouse slowly turns to him. "Look, it's no secret you hate the profiling teams since you flunked your certifications to be a profiler. Get your head out of your ass and do the fucking job with them you would do with others."

Hammond blushes, hating the dressing down in front of the others. "You can't talk to me that- -"

"I outrank you now, Hammond. Yes, I can talk to you that way. Now, what other questions do you have?"

The team doesn't even try to hide their smiles. They remember how Hammond had tried to railroad JJ after she killed Doyle. He has no friends in the conference room. Just as he is about to admit he is done, the door to the room opens and Reginald Cervantes steps in. The whole BAU team glares at him.

Reid stands up and decks the man, who hits the ground hard.

Morgan and Hotch leap up to grab the genius as Rossi reluctantly checks on their visitor.

"I told you I'd practice my hand-to-hand drills on you if your actions hurt my friends," Reid says viciously.

Hammond leaps up and looks at Brouse. "SURELY you saw THAT! Surely you think that needs to be addressed!"

Brouse stands up, packing her files into her briefcase. "Saw what? I was looking at my paperwork." She grins. "And don't call me Shirley."

The team chuckles at the "Airplane!" reference as she walks out of the conference room. Hammond reluctantly follows her, still incensed that the profilers were not going to be punished for any aspect of the case.

In the conference room, Hotch glares at Cervantes.

"How the hell did he survive the supposed accident he had?"

Cervantes stands, stepping away from Reid. "I honestly don't know. As we speak his grave is being exhumed. Two men were pulled from the burned wreckage and- -"

"Were they alive when it burned?" JJ interrupts, horrified.

"No! No, Agent, they were dead."

"Oh, so murdered beforehand. Much better," she says snidely.

Cervantes sighs, knowing nothing he can say will make things better. "Two men were pulled out of the wreckage. Both are being exhumed for DNA testing."

"Too bad you didn't think to do that before," Reid growls. "Maybe then Emily wouldn't have gotten the shit beaten out of her and Elle wouldn't have had to lose her sobriety. Not to mention what we went through on the island."

"I was told- -"

"I don't fucking care what you were told!" Reid states.

Hotch pats his shoulder. "Easy, Reid. You'll pop a rib or something."

Reid reluctantly sits down, mostly because his chest was throbbing, making it hard to breathe easily. Hotch turns to the CIA chief.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just came to offer my apologies and promise you I will track down what exactly happened."

"You could have done that over the phone. Either way your words are hollow and meaningless. You can go now," he says dismissively.

Cervantes goes to say something more then stops. "I…I'm glad you are okay, Agents. And I'm sorry."

The man leaves. Hotch closes the door behind him with slightly more force than necessary. Hotch leans against it a moment then looks at Straus.

"Debriefing over?"

Straus nods. "Yes, I believe it is."

"Good." He looks at everyone in the room. "Get out of here. You have the rest of the day off. And all of you will be getting commendations for this. Reid, you may get a fucking medal for punching that CIA asshole."

Reid chuckles. "An ice pack for my hand will be sufficient thanks, Hotch."

Hotch grins. "Done. Now, get out of here and try to heal. Kevin, I've cleared your day off, too."

Kevin nods. "Thanks, sir."