A/N: So I didn't post for Christmas but...Happy New Year! This is a bit longer than normal so I hope you all enjoy. I've been traveling for the holidays so I've been writing wherever I stop. Home now though so….

Emily watched her wife as she slept fitfully on her side. Pen was right, she needed to snap out of whatever this was. Flexing her shoulder she thought about the men that had been sent to take care of her. They didn't seem averse to hurting whomever they needed to in order to get to her so in her mind the fact that one was quite possibly dead was just fine with her. She could feel the coldness filling her heart as she recognized that she may well have to draw on her Lauren persona to handle this latest intrusion into her life as Emily Prentiss. She would do whatever it took to keep JJ safe and the others as well but she also knew that there was no way she was going to be allowed to handle this on her own. With a reluctant sigh she allowed the personas to merge a bit. She hated who she was as Lauren Reynolds, but it was partly who she needed to be right now.

Emily looked over at the woman who had fixed her, made her whole again, and drew in a shuddering breath "I won't forget I'm Emily, I promise."

Jane stayed quiet at her words, waiting just a moment before clearing her throat and alerting Emily to her presence.

"How is she?"

"Resting finally. I made her take the ibuprofen Ignacio had in his pack. Its not much but Maura says it should help with the swelling."

"How are you feeling?"

"Beat up and pissed off. So, whats going on?"

"Let's talk outside, I think we have an idea."

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"You want to do what?"

Morgan could hear the coiled anger in her voice. "Emily we need to draw him out and I'd rather have him make a move while we're stationary and not moving down this mountain tomorrow. "

"If we could get out of here with some answers and without having to look over our shoulders I'd be happy." Jane crossed her arms across her chest and looked at her friend. She had asked Maura to go back and sit with JJ while they talked. She had been part of the initial planning and agreed with the group that they now needed to control the outcome.

Looking at them she realized this group really was a force to be reckoned with. Emily almost felt sorry for him when they caught him. And catch him they would because they wouldn't settle for anything less.

"Let's do it."

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Korsak paced the floor in the confines of the small waiting room. He thanked God for the existence of a trauma center on the island and even though he knew Frost was in good hands he was scared. He and Frost butted heads regularly but he cared for the young man like he was his own son.

The beeping of his phone startled him. "Hello."

Rossi quickly explained what he had discovered and what Kevin had forwarded to him.

"Sonofabitch." Hanging up he started to drum his fingers on his thigh. Rossi was hoping to track the guy who hired the men after Emily within a few hours. If he did, he had already secured the cooperation of the local police to let them handle him.

Korsak couldn't wait to get his hands on him.

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Now that darkness had fallen, Ortega crept as close to the camp as he could. He had taken the time to care for his brother's body and once the rains had started he knew they would not be traveling quickly so he had no doubt that he would catch up to them but he hadn't expected this.

"Where are they?" He felt a bit of anxiety when he realized that the woman he was after might have slipped through his fingers. All he saw was the man from town and the skinny one. There was no one else there that he could see. He knew they had stopped, just as he knew something had happened when he heard a scream, but he didn't know if it was his prey or not. He tried to get a bit closer and stopped when he saw his target come out of one of the tents. He smiled cruelly as he watched her limp heavily toward the others. It must have been her who got hurt.

"Where are you going Em?" Spencer looked up as she limped past, making sure his voice projected.

"Need to use the woods. Did they leave already?" She looked at Ignacio who nodded.

"They should have just made it to town by now. We should be okay for the night."

"I wish I could have…"

"Emily, you are in no condition right now to walk down this mountain." Reid made sure his voice carried, for the benefit of anyone who might listening.

"I know Reid, look, I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't go anywhere?" her quip made Reid laugh. He knew what they were hoping for and it made him very nervous. He knew the others were out there, slowly making there way back but if they timed this badly it was not going to end well.

Emily took a breath and stepped into the darkness. She knew some of the others were close by but she also knew he was too. She could feel it and the shiver that went down her back was not misplaced. This was a serious long shot given how well this man supposedly knew the jungle but if they had been able to get ahead of him…

If they had read this man incorrectly, then he wouldn't make a move against her. But if they had read him correctly, then the idea of injured prey would overwhelmingly appeal to him.

Keeping the flashlight pointed at the ground, she exaggerated her injuries and walked in the direction they had agreed on. It was toward the area where JJ had come to rest after the mudslide. She trusted her team to keep her safe, she did. She was anxious though, Emily could tell from the sound of her breathing and she was sweating heavily in the humid heat. Now that it had stopped raining, everything just felt sticky. She hesitated at the sound to her left but kept walking for a bit longer before stopping.

Morgan held his breath as Emily walked past him. The darkness and his skin color helped him blend into the jungle. He knew that Jordan and Jane were just past where Emily was headed and that Hotch had positioned himself across from his location but he was starting to worry about whether this plan was the right one. What if they were wrong? What if he was waiting for them at the bottom of the hill? There had been no sign of this Ortega fellow in the area which made this a viable plan but still. If Ignacio was right about who had attacked Emily then Ortega was the man who was left and apparently the more dangerous of the two.

It had taken them a bit to map this all out and try to make it work. Ignacio had been a great help at making sure that Ortega wasn't in the immediate vicinity when they had moved out to put their plan in action and all of them had agreed that leaving Ignacio and Reid at the camp was a good idea.

He watched as Emily stopped where they had arranged and held his breath.

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Ortega circled around the camp keeping his target in sight. This was going to be easier than he thought. He'd been concerned about having to deal with some of the men in the camp but from what he could see, the two left in the camp wouldn't get to him before he took care of her. All thoughts of an accident were gone. He was going to kill her, plain and simple. A life for a life.

He stopped when her flashlight swung his way. His smile grew as he watched her favor one side wondering if his brother had done some damage to her as well. This would certainly make for an easier kill. He shifted his machete from one hand to the other and started to move forward when she stopped. He had a good view of her now; she was hunched on the ground answering nature's call, a perfect target. Her flashlight lay on the ground next to her pointing in the wrong direction. This was going to be too easy. It was dark enough that if he stood still she wouldn't see him coming.

Hefting the machete in his hand he decided not to use it. Quietly sliding it into his waistband, he continued to approach. He wanted to feel her in his hands. Ortega felt the blood rush to his head and loins at the thought. He would take her before they could follow him and find a little secluded spot where he could show her exactly what he thought about the death of his brother.

His bloodlust was almost out of control and the noise he made in the back of his throat was all the warning Emily needed. When he rushed at her, he grabbed her by the hair and wrapped an arm around her neck. She had enough warning to turn into the bend of his elbow but the grip he had on her was extraordinarily strong and she could barely take a breath. This was definitely not part of the plan as she felt herself get lightheaded from the lack of oxygen.

"Mine now bitch! You killed my brother, you belong to me." His words were more grunts than anything. He laughed as she struggled against him and he started dragging her away from the camp confidently when Morgan rammed him, taking all of them to the ground.

"Not so fast asshole." Straddling him Morgan punched him in the face but not before Ortega yanked the machete out of his belt. Morgan backed up as he took a swipe at him.

"Fuck you! She's mine!" He glanced as his target who was trying to pick herself up off the ground. He turned and tried to run but he caught sight of Hotch and stopped brandishing the machete in front of him.

"She belongs to no one Ortega." Keeping an eye on the machete Hotch backed him up. "You need to stop this. No one else needs to get hurt."

Looking around wildly he saw his prey being helped to her feet by the man who tackled him. They had tricked him. But there were only three of them.

"Mr. Morgan, is everything all right?" Ignacio and Reid stepped into the clearing as well, making sure to move to surround him.

"Ortega, give it up man." Morgan was itching to take another shot at him but they needed information.

He hid his shock at their knowledge of his name "She killed my brother!" Waving the machete wildly at them he took off down the only avenue he had left, he never made it. His lower leg caught in the wire that Jordan and Jane had strung along one of the escape routes they had preplanned. As soon as he went down they both descended on him. Jane grabbed the hand that held the machete and slammed it into the ground making him release it while Jordan took advantage of his stunned status to wrap another piece of wire around his neck. Yanking back she cut off his airflow until he stopped struggling.

"Jordan let him go…Jordan!" Jane hit her on the shoulder.

Breathing heavily she rolled off his back and stared at her hands.

"Is he alive?" Morgan ran up to help.

"He is." Jordan let him finish tying him up as she sat on the ground and tried to still her shaking hands.

"You okay?" Jane asked. "What the hell happened?"

"I…I don't know." She tried to ignore Jane's concern and got to her feet. "We got him."

"Uh…yeah, we did…" she watched Jordan walk back to their camp and shook her head. There was a hell of a lot more going on in their friend's head than even they were of.

Emily kicked Ortega in the leg, unhappy that he wasn't awake to feel it.

"Prentiss stop!" Hotch pulled her back as she brought her leg back to kick him again.

"He tried to kill me Hotch." Her teeth were clenched as she tried to get herself under control. The voice in her head was screaming at her to kill him now and she tried desperately to ignore it. Lauren Reynolds would like nothing more than to take the man's own machete and cut him open. "No!" She breathed shallowly trying to get herself and her feelings under control. The vision of JJ laying injured in the mud flashed in her head and she kicked him again.

"Dammit Emily!" Hotch's shove knocked her to the ground. "Snap out of it!"

She glared at him but she knew he was right. This was not her, not anymore.

"Sorry," she said gruffly.

Jane extended a hand and helped her to her feet. They followed in silence as Hotch and Morgan dragged Ortega back to their camp. She had never seen Emily behave that way. She understood it, but it wasn't her.

"Hey…it's done."

"Is it?"

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Ortega tried to soothe the pain in his neck and couldn't. Opening his eyes he cursed when he realized what had happened. They had set a trap for him and he had fallen for it. He looked around and locked eyes with the man who had tackled him.

"Morning sunshine." Morgan's voice alerted the others.

"Let me go." Ortega ground out. He pulled at the wire and bindings that held him.

"You're kidding right?" Emily voice was ice cold sending an involuntary chill up his spine. This woman wasn't running scared. "Who hired you?"

He glared at her and kept his mouth shut. He wasn't going to tell them anything. This wasn't over.

"Now what?" Garcia came out of the tent with Maura and looked at the man who had been hunting his friend. They had him but now what would they do?

"Well, if he doesn't want to speak to us, we'll just hold on to him and take him down the mountain. The police can talk to him." Hotch tossed a branch on the fire and wiped his hands on his pants. They would take turns speaking to him but if he wouldn't talk to them at least they wouldn't have to worry about him coming after Emily any more.

The others walked away from him leaving Reid and Morgan to speak with him first.

"Come on Emily, JJ's awake." Maura took her hand and pulled her away from him. "Emily…" she urged. Jane had told her about Emily's actions when they had caught him and it worried her. Jordan had come back shaken from the encounter as well.

"I'm coming." She turned her back on him and tried to rid herself of the images in her head. She wanted to hurt him, badly.

Ortega watched his target walk away and pulled at his restraints again. There was no way he was going quietly. He had all night, and even if they did start the walk down the mountain they still had at least four hours walk to get back to town. That was plenty of time.

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Jane wrapped her arms around Maura and kissed her on the temple.

"Is it over?" Maura murmured.

"I don't think so. Ortega's not going to go quietly tomorrow that's for sure." She had spoken to Hotch and Morgan about exactly that and they were going to make he was secured before they moved out tomorrow.

"How is JJ? Will she be able to move out tomorrow?"

"Hmmm…she should be able to. The swelling is going down and she's able to move and feel her legs. I'm just concerned about the amount of pain she is going to be in." Maura shifted a bit to look at Jane. Maura shifted a bit to look at Jane. "I will be glad to be off this mountain."

"What a difference two days make huh?" Jane kissed her tenderly and thanked the gods that Maura had escaped injury through all this.

"What a difference indeed." Settling in they let themselves drift off to sleep. Jane would be taking a watch shift in a couple of hours but right now was about them.

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Jordan sat by the fire and stared into the flames. She could have killed him. She would have and it scared her. The arms that came around her neck made her stiffen until she realized who it was.

"Penelope." The words came out almost as a sob.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Garcia pulled Jordan into her arms. "Shh…you didn't do it." Jane had told her what had happened when they caught Ortega at it had scared her a bit too. There was a wild side to Jordan that she had seen glimpses of and she wanted to learn more about them.

"I could have…I have in the past and now I'm working with the military again and it just…" That's what it was. It suddenly dawned on Pen that Jordan very likely hadn't gotten help for the PTSD she knew that she suffered from and with the prior case and now this…

"Querida," Pen used Jordan's own endearment for her, "no estas sola." She had been practicing her Spanish for a while now as a surprise and couldn't think of a better time to use it.

Jordan sucked in her breath at Penelope's words. Unashamed she let the tears roll down her face as she kissed her. This woman knew her so well. How had she ever survived without her?

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JJ woke up and reached to her side apprehensively, "Emily?"

"Right here." She lay down beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better I think. Did you get him?"

"We did."

"What's wrong?" She pulled herself into a sitting position and grimaced at the flash of pain.

"Don't Jennifer."

Waving her off she asked again, "What's wrong Em? What happened?"

"I'm never going to be rid of her."

"Who baby?" She hadn't seen Emily this despondent in a long time.

"Lauren Reynolds."

"Don't say that," the fierceness of her words made Emily look at her. "Don't you dare say that Emily Prentiss. You are not that person anymore. You have taken the best parts of her and made them part of who you are. You are the woman I love, period. Your past does not have to be who you are unless you want it to be."

"I don't"

"Of course you don't." she said gently. "We will figure out who is behind this and out this to rest once and for all." She turned Emily's face to look at her. "We will. You aren't alone in this anymore. No compartmentalizing, no going lone wolf. You're going to officially be a married woman soon and unofficially I love my wife just the way she is."

Emily kissed her then, tenderly, gently, telling her exactly how she felt with that one kiss. "Thank you Jennifer."

"Anytime baby, now help me lay down will you? I don't think I can do it by myself." Her pained grin told Emily exactly how she was feeling.

"Yes ma'am." This is why she had survived so long, this one person kept her bound, heart and soul to what was good in life.

So? Whatchathink? Thoughts? In case you are wondering. Ortega isn't done. :)