Emily walks into Hotch's office and hands over her cleared slip from the shrink. He lifts a brow.

"Seriously? He didn't require a follow up?"

"Nope." She sighs. "I admitted to him I see Dr. Westfallen and that she helps me deal with my emotions and any anger I have with cases. Told him I wish I had started seeing someone sooner or had been treating these required appointments more seriously. Truth is, I thought he wouldn't clear me because of that honesty. Turns out he was happy I was more open with him than I've ever been."

Hotch rolls his eyes. "Well who'd have believed it?" He places the slip to the side to send up with the others as he gets them. "Liberal Leave has been announced. Go ahead and go if you weren't in the middle of something before your appointment. Weather should be okay tomorrow and we can debrief the case then."

Emily nods. "Sounds good. Thanks, Hotch. Drive safely."

"You, too."

Emily goes out and grabs a couple files and slides them into her briefcase. She sees Reid is already gone. She then notices Rossi is gone. She slips her purse on her shoulder and goes back up to Hotch's office.

"Hey, Bossman, you do realize you can't drive well on ice either, right? You are part of the Liberal Leave group."

Hotch grins. "I know. I have one last report to file and then I am gone. Ten minutes tops."

"Good. Don't think I won't get Garcia to check surveillance footage tomorrow to check on you."

He laughs. "Your kids are in SO much trouble when they become teenagers."

"The way I was as a teen, you better believe it!" Emily agrees with a smile.

She makes her way to the parking lot, hitting the remote start for her Lexus as soon as she clears the building. Though the sidewalk had been treated it had already iced over again and it is a slick trek to her car. She shakes her head.

"This is gonna suck," she mutters.

She scrapes the ice off her windows and climbs in. To give herself time to warm up, she texts her wife.

"Headed home. Will be slow going as this shit is ugly. See you soon. Love you."

Just before she puts the car in drive, she gets a response.

"Slow and steady wins the race, baby. Love you."

Emily smiles and puts the car in drive. She is glad to see the scrapers on Quantico 2 cars ahead of her so she knows that road, at least, will be clear to the gates. Once through them she sees Route 1 is as ugly as she imagined it would be. She is creeping along at about 10 mph and feels the tires wanting to do their own thing.

"I fucking hate ice," she grumbles as she comes to stop at a light. She glances in her rearview mirror and tenses up. "Son of a bitch!"

Someone driving too fast for the conditions is catching up to her. Considering the patch of road she has just crossed she knows this is not going to end well. She sees the large SUV hit that patch of road and start to fishtail.

"No. No. No. NO!"

Emily looks forward but the two cars in front of her give her no place to go. She closes her eyes as the SUV slides side first into her Lexus. Even with her foot on the brake, the icy road makes it a moot point. She is pushed into the car in front of her and that car slides into the next car. And the weight of the SUV drives them all forward. Emily can only watch in horror as the first car is then T-Boned by the cross traffic.

"FUCK! Hopefully how slow that car was going will minimize injury," she mutters.

Once her car comes to a stop, she puts it in park and turns it off. Grabbing her credentials out of her purse, she gets out and carefully makes her way to the double-hit car. She pats the window covered with blood.

"HELLO! HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

The man driving slowly nods his blood covered head.

"GOOD! STAY AWAKE!" she orders. She pulls out her phone and hits 911. "This is Agent Emily Prentiss of the FBI. We have a multi-car accident on Route 1 at Brady's Hill Road. We need police and EMS stat!"

"Yes, Agent Prentiss, dispatching now. Any idea of how many injured?"

"At least 1 that I have seen with open blood wound. Not sure how many others. Looks like a total of 5 cars involved including mine."

"Understood. You should be hearing first police responders now."

"I hear them." She looks at the injured man and his head is slumped forward. She bangs on his roof. "HEY! HEY WAKE UP!"

The man groggily lifts his head.

"Hurry on the EMS. This guy is in bad shape," Emily orders over the phone.

"ETA for first EMS is 4 minutes."

"Okay. State police are here. I'm going to get off here to help."

"Understood. Thank you, Agent Prentiss."

"Thanks." Emily pockets her phone and waves the cop over. "SSA Emily Prentiss, FBI," she says by way of introduction. "This man needs EMS immediately."

The officer nods. "I'll get traffic moving and make sure EMS goes right to him."

"Good." Emily pounds on the man's door again. "SIR! UNLOCK YOUR DOOR!" The man's head lolls to the side but he can't seem to understand what Emily is saying. "SIR! POR FAVOR! ABRE LA PUERTA!" she tries. She tries a couple other languages but he is so out of it no dialect is registering with him. Emily looks up as a paramedic runs towards her. "His door is locked and he can't seem to understand what I am asking. Not sure if it's the head injury or he speaks a language I don't."

The paramedic nods and sets his medcase down. He pulls an expanding baton out of it. "Not standard issue but helpful in these types of cases he says with a grin then smashes in the rear window. He reaches forward with the baton and hits the door unlock button.

"Nice," Emily praises.

As soon as that man is being treated, Emily starts to check on other drivers. She finds the driver of the SUV and glares at him.

"What the HELL were you thinking driving so fast?"

The man shrugs in confusion. "I have 4 wheel drive! I should have been fine!"

Emily steps into his space. "Four wheel drive in ice means 4 wheels spinning independently of each other! You made your vehicle a weapon on wheels in this weather! Where are you from?"

"Florida. I just moved up here for a job and- -"

"Fucking figures," Emily mutters. "Learn the capabilities of your vehicle before getting behind the wheel again. So far you're lucky no one is dead but you very well could have killed that man!" she points out, gesturing to the man being loaded onto a stretcher. She waves a cop over. "This is the idiot that caused all this. Driving too fast for road conditions in 4 wheel drive."

The cop rolls his eyes and starts to take the man's statement. Emily now walks over to the remains of her beloved Lexus. Having taken the brunt of the impact from the heavier SUV the back end is crumpled almost to the back seat. Her front end doesn't look bad but sits off at a weird angle making her think the frame is damaged.

"Son of a bitch," she mumbles, her mind suddenly picturing the two car seats in the vehicle occupied. She runs her hands through her hair. "Oh, God…what if…oh, God…"

Her mind flashes back to a time she had been in a worse accident.


Emily swings her service weapon around to order the prisoner to sit up. The next moment she has the sensation she is flying as the car is rammed and sent down a steep embankment. It rolls more times than she can register. When it finally comes to a stop her head is throbbing, her vision blurry and her whole body radiating pain.

"What the fuck?" she thinks to herself.

She hears a strange noise and turns her head to see Detective Bunting being strangled by their prisoner. She tries to help him but an elbow to her temple nearly sends her into unconsciousness.

"Gun…gotta find my gun. Not in my holster. Shit…right…I had it out. Gotta…be…here…somewhere," she thinks as her hand feels around the floor.

Her fingers finally brush the familiar metal and she fights to pick it up. She glances towards the driver's door, begging for help from a man running down the hill. She fights to drag the gun where she can pick it up. She doesn't understand why the man is freeing the prisoner not helping her. He is saying something but her pounding head can't quite understand what. As the men run she finally gets her hand on her gun and manages to push her way out the shattered windshield. She gets off a few shots (she thinks) as she scrambles up the hill after them. But she is too slow. They are gone.

"Phone…gotta call…help," she coaches herself. She grabs at her hip but the phone isn't there. "Fuck."

She tries to stand but can't get her wobbly legs under her. She crawls to the edge of the road, praying someone will see her if they happen to drive by. She drops her head to her chest.

"Jen…so sorry…you're going to be so scared. Henry…please know I'll be okay. Just…fine. There is no other option," she says by way of prayer.

She looks at her jacket and sees the blood pouring out of a long gash in her arm.

"Strange…that should hurt," she notes.

She winces as headlights suddenly blind her. Her heart trips in fear as she registers it's a big vehicle. Was the guy that caused the accident back?

"PRENTISS!"

Emily sighs in relief. Morgan. Things will be okay now. Things would be just fine.


"PRENTISS!"

Emily starts a bit at the déjà vu. She turns and sees Hotch hurrying towards her. Okay, so not exact déjà vu but close.

"Hotch. Hey."

He looks at her Lexus then at her. "Are you okay?"

She gestures towards her car. "Better than she is." She tells him what happened.

He turns and glares at the man still being questioned by the police. "Idiot. He better lose his license for this shit."

"He may. Or he may get off due to the storm." She looks up at the ambulance taking off. "I just hope that guy is okay. He was hit from behind, pushed into the intersection, then T-boned."

"Damn."

"Yeah. Look, I'm okay. Get out of here before you get sick or something."

"No way. You'll need a ride home after all this is done. How about we get the car seats and anything else out that you'll want to keep. You are definitely getting towed tonight."

"No kidding. Thanks, Hotch. I need to text Jen, too."

He nods. They get the car seats and a few other things into Hotch's car. Emily then texts her wife.

"Had a fender bender. Am okay. Running late. See you when I get there."

Hotch chuckles. "You know she won't believe it is that simple."

Emily chuckles. "I know. I half expect…" Her phone rings. "Yep, this is what I expected." She answers. "I'm okay, Jen. I swear."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. The Lexus, however, is done. Luckily Hotch worked late and came up on the wreck. He'll bring me home as soon as the police are done with us here."

"The Lexus is done?" is what JJ had latched onto. "How fucking bad was this 'fender bender'?"

"The ice made it worse than it should have been. I swear, I will tell you all about it when I get home. I promise you, honey, I don't even have a scratch on me. I'll probably be sore as hell tomorrow but I am fine."

"Text me as soon as you start home again."

"I will, Jen. I swear. I love you."

"I love you, too. Tell Hotch thank you."

"I will. Bye, baby." Emily hangs up. "She sends her thanks."

Hotch nods. "Never thought I'd be happy about staying late to finish a prospectus."

Emily chuckles. It is nearly an hour later that the police finally release them from the scene. The Lexus had been pushed to the side of the road with the other vehicles. Due to the weather, it would be a while before they can be towed away. Emily sighs.

"I hate car shopping."

"Doesn't everyone," Hotch commiserates as they get in his car for the drive to Chateau Prentiss.


A/N: Emily's flashback references the car accident at the start of episode 5x11 Retaliation.