Thursday, November 2, 2011, 10:57 a.m.

Emily spends the entire trip staring at the blood on her hands. It disturbs Morgan and Hotch how quiet she is being. When they arrive at Quantico Morgan lays a hand on her shoulder.

"Emily, before you go see your wife, wash the blood off your hands."

Emily raises cold eyes up to her best friend. She nods. "Right. Sure. Thanks. Um, go on up and, uh, start on stuff. I'll be up soon."

He frowns. "I can wait."

"I need a few minutes, Derek. Please," she whispers.

He studies her a moment. "Okay. Anything you need, Emily, anything at all, I am here for you."

"I need Tom okay and Declan back," she says bitterly.

"You know what I mean, Emily. Don't try to push me away. It won't work. I'm here for you no matter what until we bring Dec home to his dad."

Emily quickly looks away, trying to will her emotions under control. "Thanks. Excuse me."

She pushes past him, staring at the sidewalk as she storms towards the building. Hotch looks at Morgan.

"She trying to pull away?"

"I think she's at war with herself over how to handle all this. Can't say I wouldn't be the same way." He steps to his boss. "I'll take care of her, Hotch. Don't try to take her off this case. She'll go rogue and you know it."

Hotch nods. "I know. And it's already crossed my mind that we might have to let her."

"What?"

"Come on, let's go look at those files," he says, ignoring Morgan's desire for an explanation.

Emily runs her hands under the water until it runs clear once more. She scrubs her hands twice but it's no use. The blood might be gone but the guilt remains. She lifts her head and stares into the mirror over the sink.

"You're just another fucking Lady MacBeth," she accuses the reflection. "You did this to him. To both of them. Make it right, Emily. Make it right even if it kills you."

"Don't you fucking dare make that deal with the devil."

Emily turns to find Garcia standing behind her. The agent hadn't even heard her walk in.

"Morgan said you needed a few minutes to collect yourself. I wanted to make sure you weren't going to do something to cause your wife, my best friend, any more stress than she's under." Garcia stomps towards her. "And let me warn you right now, Emily Prentiss, I'll steal your gun and shoot you in the fucking leg before I let you track that woman down alone. You know as well as I do she'll kill you and STILL take Declan so don't you DARE go running out of here half-cocked on some sort of pointless suicide mission! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

By the time she is done, Garcia is breathless, her face red with fury. Emily stares at her a moment then finally loses the tenuous hold she's had on her emotions. As she cries, Garcia pulls her into a firm hug.

"We're going to find him, Emily. We'll track that bitch down and save your son. I know that's how you and Jayje both feel about him. We'll bring him home and we'll do everything we can do to help Tom get better. For now just cry out the fear so you can go upstairs with me and start the process of finding Declan."

After a few minutes, Emily's sobs cease. She takes a deep breath and leans back. "Thanks, Pen. I needed the cry and the scolding."

"Anytime, Emily. Now, wash your face and let's go find your boy."

Emily gives her a small smile before turning to the sink to follow Garcia's instructions. As she wipes her face dry she stares at herself a second.

"You can do this, Emily Prentiss, without losing yourself. Without…without bringing her back. You can do this."

Garcia steps up behind Emily and stares at the woman in the mirror. "Emily Prentiss is stronger than Lauren Reynolds; smarter than Lauren Reynolds. You're damn right you can do this without that insufferable bitch."

Emily can't help but chuckle. "I never quite thought of Lauren as an insufferable bitch."

Garcia shrugs. "It's how Clyde Easter described her."

Emily stiffens, her eyes hardening. "He'll know. He'll know who this woman is."

"Already trying to find him. But most likely his notes will be more helpful. Hotch and Morgan are already going through them. Let's go give them a hand."

Emily nods. "Right."

Together the two women go up to the BAU floor. They go right to the round table room that JJ had already started turning into a task force-style room before the team had even started back to the BAU. Emily shivers as she sees Declan's picture on the white board. She walks over and strokes a hand down his cheek.

"We'll find you, Declan. I swear it."

She has no idea how glad Garcia and Hotch are to hear her say "we". Their Emily is still with them.

For now.

She turns to look at Hotch. "Where's Jen?"

"She and Morgan are grabbing some of the hard files from the storage room. Her name could be in the coded information we had issues with then ignored once we found what we needed."

Emily nods and goes down the hall to the file room. She sees Morgan walking out with a large box. She shivers when she sees "Prentiss/Doyle" written on the outside of it. She had thought this was all over. She pats him on the shoulder as she walks past him into the room. She closes the door behind herself, staring at the back of her wife. JJ leans on a table, obviously trying to collect herself.

"I never thought I'd have to look at those boxes again," JJ says quietly. "For two weeks I was mad as hell when the phones weren't ringing with leads and then petrified when they did ring because I was sure I was about to hear you were dead."

"Jennifer…I'm sorry…"

"You brought the horror of Ian Doyle and everything that goes along with him into our lives. Until now…I could forget the bad. You were alive and he was dead. We had…have Declan in our lives. And now it's all back again. I sit here wondering if that bitch is going to steal Henry or Rocky just to get back at you. I wonder if…if she'll kill me and the babies for revenge. I wonder if…if you're going to let her kill you for a chance to save any of us. And I am just. So. Fucking. Mad."

Emily shudders. "What do…" her voice cracks. She clears her throat. "What do you want from me, Jen? I will do anything to make this right."

JJ laughs humorlessly and stares up at the ceiling. "Right? What the fuck can you do to make this right? Nothing. It's me, Em, not you."

Emily frowns in confusion. "I…I don't understand."

JJ slowly turns and walks over to her wife. She pulls Emily into a hug, holding the brunette like she will never let her go.

"Emily Elizabeth Prentiss: you do what you have to do to save Declan. I will not judge, I will not try to talk you out of it." She leans back and stares into her eyes. "So many years ago you risked your life, risked arrest, risked so much to save him from the life Doyle planned for him. You couldn't have known it was lie about Declan's mother. Now we do. And now we will fight to stop her the way we stopped Doyle. Declan will live in peace with Tom once more because of what you do the next couple of days. If you…you…" JJ takes a deep breath. "If you die, I will hate it but I will be so proud of you because I know you will have died to save that little boy one more time."

Emily pulls her close. "Oh, Jen…I…I won't…I swear I'll…I…"

"I know, Em. I know you'll do your best to stay alive. But I need you to go into this without worrying about my feelings. Whatever you do, however this ends, I support you, Emily. Now and always."

Emily lays her forehead against her wife's. "Te amo, Jennifer. Te amo. Tiene mi corazon."

JJ smiles. "You have my heart, too."

Emily gives her a deep kiss, trying to put into all the feelings she has for her wife and children. When it ends she pulls JJ close once more. They stand there for a few minutes, drawing strength from each other to help steel themselves against the fear in their hearts. Emily finally sighs.

"We need to go."

"I know." She steps away and takes Emily's hand. "Let's go get our boy back."

Emily smiles and leads her wife back to the conference room. They find Hotch, Morgan and Garcia spreading out the files as Straus watches them. The section chief looks up as the women enter.

"Agent Prentiss, a word please?"

Emily nods. "Yes, ma'am."

Emily follows her down the hall to the older woman's office. Inside, Straus gestures to her sitting area as she closes the door behind Emily. The chief sits and takes a deep breath.

"Dave has explained to me who Declan is and how he came to be Tom's son. Let me just say how impressed I am that you risked so much to save a little boy all those years ago."

"Thank you, ma'am. But he saved me first. I was just repaying the debt."

"Be that as it may, how do you wish us to…to…address that particular point as it pertains to this unit's involvement in the case?"

Emily is confused. "Ma'am?"

"Emily, if it goes into an official report who Declan is and how he came to the U.S. you could conceivably lose your badge, not to mention face charges of kidnapping."

Emily slowly nods. "I knew that when I set this plan in motion. I'm still willing to face that possibility to save him again."

"So, you won't ask us to cover-up your deception?"

"No, ma'am. All I ask is that Tom be protected and Declan be allowed to stay with him."

Straus chews on the arm of her glasses a moment. "I promise to do everything in my power to make that happen and to protect you, too. I can't even imagine what you went through back then. It says a lot about your strength of mind that you risked so much for that little boy instead of just walking away from him."

Emily clenches her hands together. "Clyde Easter would have used Declan. He would have taunted Doyle with the child. It would have been horrible for Doyle. It would have been torture for Declan, who would never understand why he couldn't go to his father. I couldn't allow that to happen. I couldn't. I would face all the hardships again to save that little boy. And I'll face any consequences our government deems appropriate to save him once more."

Straus nods and stands. "Then let's go save that boy."

Emily stands. "Thank you, ma'am."