They'd been trying to pick up either Emily's or the unsub's trail for three days now. Unfortunately, both of them seemed to know how to hide their tracks very well, so all the agents had stumbled onto were unsuspecting campers and hikers.

A day ago, JJ and Garcia had flown out to Phoenix where they'd meet Carrie at Prentiss' apartment, hoping to find something her new team might've missed. It was likely that they'd find nothing at all but if they wanted to find her, they'd have to be thorough and not miss any clues. It was strange for an unsub to concentrate so much on a single agent and maybe the letter hadn't been all that Emily had received.

Morgan stretched before taking a sip of his coffee as he looked out of the window of the ranger station and into the darkness of the forest.

He hoped the two blondes had more luck. This was becoming frustrating. Soon, if they didn't find anything new, Strauss would inevitably call them back to Quantico. They needed something – and soon.


"Carrie," JJ smiled at the girl – or rather young woman – and briefly hugged her. "It is good to see you again. This is Penelope Garcia, our tech analyst and-"

"-eighth world wonder," the girl finished, shaking Garcia's hand before stepping aside to let the two women into the apartment. "That's how Em always used to call you whenever she told me stories about you guys."

"Well, she is right, Penelope is nothing but," JJ shortly squeezed her friend's shoulder, smirking as she found her to be blushing under the praise. It wasn't easy to get one Penelope Garcia to blush.

"So, do you have any news on Emily?" Carrie asked, her voice small, obviously already expecting a negative answer.

"No, but that's why we're here, my little Latina Sunshine," Garcia was back in full-blown adorable geek mode, knowing exactly what to say to cheer the girl up. "Don't worry. If Emily's hid something in here, we'll definitely find it. You could help if you'd like," she added, knowing too well the feeling of not being able to help. It was part of her job, usually perched behind a desk while the others were hundreds and thousands of miles away, often facing the danger face to face.

"Yes, I'd like that," Carrie perked up at the chance of being able to help. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything really," JJ piped back in from where she was already browsing and searching through the living room bookshelves. "But especially for letters, maybe? We know he's sent her one, so it wouldn't be unlikely for the unsub to contact her that same way again."

"Did you notice anything off about her?" Garcia asked as she was searching the entertainment center drawers. "The last times she called, or before she left on the goose chase five months ago?"

"Not really," Carrie said, her face scrunching up in thought shortly after. "But-"

"But?" JJ prompted the girl to continue. "It might not seem important to you now, but it very well may be."

"Well, I mean Em's always been really careful and worried and stuff… But. But a week before she left, she was acting almost as if someone was following her… I thought it was because of our neighbor…"

"What did she do?"

"She uh, she told me to not take the same route into town on two consecutive days. Practically forbid me to ride the bus. I was mad at first because that meant I had to take my bike or walk… She gave me taxi money though."

The two agents exchanged a meaningful look.

"Do you think she was really being followed? I told her she was overreacting and we had a huge fight and..."

"Shhh," JJ consoled the girl, seeing how her eyes turned wet. "It's perfectly normal for a teenager to clash with their..." She broke off, not knowing what to call Emily.

"'Mother' is fine. She's legally adopted me almost two years ago. My last name is still the same but on paper Emily is my mom. Even though I rarely call her that."

"I think you just gave us one of the missing puzzle pieces, Carrie," JJ went on. "I'm pretty sure he really did contact her again-"

"And he probably threatened you, not her," Garcia finished JJ's thought. "Our Princess always cared more about others than herself."

'Yeah, just not when it counted,' JJ added in her mind. 'When Hotch needed her.' "Well, let's find this letter or whatever it is we're looking for. There has to be something. And Prentiss wouldn't hide it too well; in case something happened to her, someone had to find it to know you were in danger."

"Why did you call her 'Prentiss' just now?" the sudden change had not gone unnoticed by Emily's adoptive daughter. "You're not mad at her, are you? For leaving? She couldn't be the one to destroy Hotch's career, so she left. I've always been wondering about what that Strauss woman had on her to make her leave. She really didn't want to. I know. Because she always talks about all of you with that sad glimmer in her eyes."

"Carrie," JJ began, sighing. "I know you love Emily, but-"

"No 'but'," the future Columbia student said fiercely. "I told her to call you guys, you know? And I know she did but none of you had the decency to pick up and let her explain. You immediately thought the worst of her instead of listening to what she had to say!" Carrie was getting visibly angry now. The girl remembered Emily's pained face every time she'd tried again. Soon, Emily had simply stopped trying. Maybe, Carrie always wondered, maybe she would've tried harder to explain if she didn't have her to take care of. She'd been 14 back then, 14 and traumatized. Carrie knew how much her old team had meant to Emily and she couldn't help the feeling of guilt that she might've been one of the factors playing into the missed reconciliation. "You didn't listen!"

"Hotch was suspended for four weeks right after Emily left," JJ tried to explain even though a part of her wanted to believe the girl. "They investigated him and-"

"And he came back to work, didn't he? He only could because Emily didn't deliver anything at all to Strauss."

"Jayje..."

"Not now, Garcia," JJ hissed through her teeth, knowing what the tech genius was about to say, knowing she wouldn't like to hear it.

"Jayje… Would you please stop throwing Emily's books out of their shelves and listen to me?"

JJ looked at her feet, finding a mistreated pile of books, and immediately felt guilty. She hadn't even realized how the anger had built up in her, how she'd swiped the books onto the floor with a frustrated sweep of her arm. She was angry at herself. Not at Emily. Or maybe a little. She could've tried harder! Damn it.

"I know, Garcia," she finally breathed out, her voice sounding defeated. "I already know what you're going to say."

Garcia raised a brow at her friend.

"That maybe she's right? That we should've given Emily the benefit of the doubt?"

The tech analyst nodded.

"I'm sorry, Garcia," JJ sighed, looking at her friend as she knelt down to clean up the mess she'd made out of Emily's personal library. "You know, for making you ignore her calls... I know you really wanted to talk to her. – God, what if Carrie is really right? We've turned our backs on her and..."

"You make it right," Carrie said, picking up one of the fallen books and pulling an envelope from between its pages. It was Emily's favorite, 'Slaughterhouse Five'. "And I think we've just found you the tools to do it," Carrie added, holding out the book and the rather thick envelope to JJ, Garcia quickly joining them on their side of the room.


"You found something, JJ?" Hotch appeared on the screen of Garcia's laptop, Rossi and Spencer behind him. He seemed to notice their questioning looks, so he supplied: "Morgan and Alvez are searching another perimeter of the woods, together with Ranger Evans. I'll brief them once they get back. – So?"

"We found an envelope filled with photos and a note, Sir," Garcia butted in, knowing that JJ was still somewhat shaken up from their recent discovery. "I've already scanned all of it and sent it to your email address, boss man."

"I'll open it as soon as we've hung up. So, what exactly was it?"

"The note had another quote," JJ seemed to have found her bearings, even though her voice sounded more dull than usual. Garcia placed a hand on her leg and gently squeezed, letting her know she was by her side. "Garcia has searched the internet for the author. It's from the Scottish poet Anne Grant: 'Just as the body goes into shock after a physical trauma, so does the human psyche go into shock after the impact of a major loss.' Coupled with those photos-" JJ broke off, unable to continue. First there had been fear. Fear for Henry mostly. But then, then there had been the excruciating pain of guilt as she realized, that a woman who cared so much that she went after a highly dangerous killer on her own, would never have betrayed them.

"Garcia? Is JJ all right?" Spencer wanted to know, his eyes showing the worry he felt for one of his closest friends.

"She'll be fine. Once we find Emily," Garcia added with a glance to her right. JJ had walked away from the laptop and was now sitting on the couch next to Carrie, staring at the wall as the girl tried to talk to her.

"We uh, we made another discovery but that can wait until we're back at Boise," Penelope said to the team. Then she took a deep breath. "You'll see for yourself soon enough but mainly the photos were of the people Emily loves most in ordinary everyday situations. There are photos of her girlfriend as well as Carrie and her mother. But there is also a pile of photos of JJ. Sometimes with her family, sometimes with one of us."

"So he's threatened Emily's loved ones," Rossi stated, making a note on a piece of paper in front of him.

"And she obviously didn't tell her team," Reid jumped in, seeing the bigger picture. "Was there anything else?"

"Oh, yeah… I almost forgot!" Garcia whirled around on her chair and picked up the envelope from the table behind her, holding it close to her computer's camera.

In bold lettering, on the back of the envelope was written:

'SSA E. Prentiss.'

And in smaller letters, on the edge of the envelope:

'Don't tell'.

"JJ thinks that Emily either found the letter on her desk at her unit's office or that it was delivered to her there. You know, because of the 'SSA' part."

"Yes, JJ's probably right," Hotch nodded. "Good work. We'll see you back in the morning?"

"Definitely, boss man."

"All right. Take care of JJ, Garcia."

"I will."


"Sooo," Garcia looked at the girl sitting opposite of her. They were back on the plane to Idaho and had, after long consideration and a phone call to Hotch, allowed Carrie Ortiz to come with them. Under the condition of course, that she'd stay under the constant watch of one of them or the police. She didn't even try to imagine how mad Emily would be if they found her but had gotten her daughter into danger in the meantime. "Tell me."

"Tell you what exactly?" Carrie asked, looking from JJ to Garcia, JJ only shrugging her shoulders.

"Everything, of course," Penelope grinned. "About you, about living with our Princess, about Emily, how she met Rachel, how-"

"Okay, okay," Carrie giggled, the laugh reaching her eyes for the first time in months. "Take a breath, Garcia. I'll tell you everything you want to know." She looked out of the window for a moment before she began to talk. "Em and I have movie night every Thursday – at least when she's home – and she let's me choose the movie every time even though she knows it's just going to be another Disney film or one of those 'chick flicks'." The girl rolled her eyes. "That's how she calls them. I think she's come to appreciate Disney, though. Did you know she hadn't seen The Lion King, Cinderella or even Beauty and the Beast? Nothing."

"If only I'd known!" Garcia exclaimed, even earning herself a small smile from JJ who'd been very contemplative and quiet since they'd left Emily's apartment. "Oh the girl's nights we could've had!"

"When she's back and you guys talked… maybe you could join us the next time? We're scheduled to watch Tarzan and after that Moana... If, if we find her, of course..."

"We will find her, Sunshine," Garcia patted the girl's knees. "Scout's honor!"

"You were a scout?"

"No," Garcia laughed. "But I like the phrase. Now, tell me about Rachel. How did they meet? Have they been together long? Does she live with you guys?"

"She doesn't live with us," Carrie shook her head, her raven locks beautifully flying through the air before once more settling on her shoulders. "They've only been dating for a year if you count the almost six months Emily's been gone already. And Em's not really fast in love matters."

"Oh, I know that," Garcia briefly glanced at JJ who was absent-mindedly staring out of a window and into the blue sky. She leaned forward and whispered: "I'm still pretty sure that our Princess had a huge crush on Blondie there," Garcia covertly nodded towards JJ. "But before she could even decide to try and make a move, Jayje had already been swept away by Will."

"You know," Carrie whispered back conspiratorially. "Em keeps a photo of herself and JJ in her wallet. She sometimes takes it out and fumbles around with it. Usually when she's stressed. It's really worn out already and the color is starting to fade in the corners. She thinks I don't know but I've seen her do it plenty of times already."

"Huh, who could've known… But back to my question, how did they meet?"

"Oh, I forgot I hadn't answered one. Emily was working on a case during which the unsub shot the dog of the victim. It was still alive when they got there and Emily took him to the closest vet which happened to be Rachel. The dog had to be put to sleep and Em stayed by its side until it took its last breath. The dog had bitten the unsub and the DNA in his mouth was what lead to his arrest. She's actually wanted to get a dog ever since but with her crazy work times and me moving to New York soon…"

"So instead of a dog she got herself a pretty veterinarian," Garcia chuckled. "Didn't think she had it in her."

"Oh it wasn't Em who asked her out," Carrie smiled, already feeling comfortable around Garcia. It usually took her a lot longer to warm up to someone ever since her little brother and parents had been killed. "Rachel can be rather persistent."


AN: This is for you, Guest J. Couldn't leave you and everyone else reading this hanging.

Next up: A breakthrough in the case!