Hanging up with Penelope, Emily headed out into the hallway and cast a look around for Will, and the people he had been with. It was no coincidence that this many people had shown up to the station at once… and it was definitely not a coincidence that they looked like Elle. A changing in the tides was happening.

Emily found everyone in a lounge-type room. The guests were camped out on a long sofa, while Will stood near them. He approached Emily first.

"These are the Greenaways." he indicated each person as he continued. "We have Missus Greenaway, and then her son, Robert, and her daughters, Tess, Harlow, and Maisie."

Emily introduced herself to the Greenaways and shook hands with each of them, before sitting in a chair, opposite the others. Deciding that since Will had made it this far without losing his cool, he could sit in on this interview. When she invited him to, he sat in an empty chair beside her.

"Thank you for coming in." Emily told the Greenaways. "How did you know to?"

Maisie spoke first. "We were supposed to get together today to plan a trip to Atlantic City before Christmas break is over. We were all gathering at our mother's house, but Elle never showed up, and she knew to come."

Harlow chimed in, "We saw Elle earlier this week, and she seemed jumpy."

"How so?" Emily asked.

"It was like she was preoccupied about something. It was Tess and I who saw her."

"Where, if you don't mind my asking?"

"At the big shopping plaza, over on Ridley Road. Tess and I are teachers at George Washington Middle School, and we go to the café in the plaza to grade homework."

Will spoke to Tess. "Did you notice anything in particular about Elle that day?"

"She'd been shopping, but it was at REI, or something—I couldn't see the logo because the bag was turned to opposite way."

"Why is shopping at REI unusual?"

The Greenaway children immediately turned to their mother. Aleja Greenaway sighed sadly.

"Elle does love the outdoors, and always has, but after she departed the FBI, she was unemployed for about a year or so, and she didn't want to live in the house where she was shot. She used the time off to gather herself, and then to look for a job."

"Did she get a new job?" Emily asked.

"Yes. It was as a late-night security guard at Broderick & Worthington. Do you know the place?"

Broderick & Worthington was a high-profile law firm in Downtown Quantico.

"I do know it, yes. Didn't they just have a round of lay-offs there?"

Missus Greenaway sighed. "Yes, and Elle wasn't exempt, even after nine years."

Emily wrinkled the bridge of her nose at the misfortune. "When did this happen?"

"Four weeks ago, and she's been on a fixed income, ever since. Shopping at a big place wouldn't be in her best interest because it would put a hole in her budget."

"I see. Please pardon my forwardness, but if money was tight for Elle, why would she agree to go the casinos?"

At this, Robert finally spoke. "My sisters and I have always been close, but we wanted to something fun for Elle to cheer her up, especially since she's the youngest of us by a landslide. This was just the first day when all of our schedules aligned."

Emily took this in stride. "What happened when she didn't come to your mother's house?"

"We waited for a few hours, and then when we saw the bull item on the TV with our sister's old service record picture, we came here because it's the closest station to where our mother lives."

"We appreciate it." Emily said sincerely. "In these kinds of circumstances, the family of a suspect doesn't always come to the investigators voluntarily, much less everyone, all at the same time. There is another question I have, but first—is there something you would like to ask us?"

Tess nodded. "Did either of you know Elle back then?"

"No." said Will. "I'm a detective, not an FBI agent. My squad is working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit on this case right now."

"I didn't know her, either." Emily added. "But if you want to get technical, I was hired at the Behavioral Analysis Unit to replace Elle."

"I see…"

Robert filled in the blanks. "I'm sure your whole team is close, and that you're getting on well with these detectives, but there's a special reason that the two of you in particular are talking to us, isn't there? That bulletin had a picture of your colleague, but also of a little girl, too, right? Are you two personally related to one of them?"

Emily pulled no punches. "Aemiliana Thistlewaite is the daughter of a family we questioned the other day about all this. She's very bright, and just turned ten. But she also has a few special needs."

"What kind?"

"Cerebral Palsy, and trouble walking."

"Oh, God…"

Emily just nodded and continued speaking in a professional tone. "As for Supervisory Special Agent Jareau, she is my partner, and my pregnant sister-in-law."

"And she's my wife." Will tacked on. "She's also missing two specific chunks of memory because they were erased."

As a collective, the Greenaways were aghast, but still, the matriarch spoke up.

"I don't know what I could begin to say, because I'm both upset and horrified at the situation. What makes you so certain that my Elle is involved?"

"To be honest, Missus Greenaway, we don't have any concrete proof that she took SSA Jareau, but she was already taken and then returned once, late last week."

"And her memory has been erased? What did SSA Jareau say when you asked her what happened?"

"She told us that her abductor was female, and that she was dumped in front of the hospital, by the emergency room. This being said, we have a room full of witnesses, including my teenage daughter and her three best friends, who all saw Elle take Aemiliana Thistlewaite and hurt her mother."

From there, each of the Greenaways connected the dots about why Elle was being suspected of having taken JJ, too.

"Do any of you know a family called Thistlewaite?" Emily asked.

The others shook their heads, and Aleja Greenaway spoke again.

"I don't know why she would even do this. She was always a normal child, even after her father was gone."

"Would you have any idea of where she could have taken SSA Jareau and Aemiliana? An old property, maybe?"

"We have a cabin on Shoshone Road, in Manassas. It's along the byway, in the woods, and the backroads can be treacherous, this time of year. We also have the house that we lived in after we left New York…"

Emily recalled what Penelope had told her over the phone about the missing chunk of the Greenaway family history. "What year did that happen?"

"It was 1985. My husband, Robert Senior, was a cop in the NYPD, and he was killed in the line of duty. After that, though, I lost the house we had, so we found the one out here and I bought it."

"Who lived there with you?"

"Everyone at first, but eventually just Elle and I, because her brother and sisters were living away from home by then. Elle moved out when she was eighteen, and then I left, too, because it was just too big."

"I see." Emily said as beside her, Will was making rapid-fire notes with a notepad and a pen he had pulled from his pocket. "Missus Greenaway, who owns the house now?"

"I still do—Elle resides there and calls the place home. It's a little outside town, though."

"That's fine. What is the address, please?"

Missus Greenaway gave the address for both her old cabin, and the old family home. After Emily recorded the information on her own notepad, she thanked the families for coming, and then asked for Will to show them out.

He did as asked, although Missus Greenaway hung back.

"Your name is Emily, right?" she asked.

"Yes." replied the woman in question. "Did you need something?"

"You said you replaced my daughter, correct?"

"Yes, but it was a few months later."

"Just be on your guard when you go looking for her, alright? She's very smart, and can make a weapon out of anything, especially in the woods."

Emily arched an eyebrow. "I'll bear that in mind, but is Elle registered to carry a firearm?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't begin to know what she carries, other than something like what she carried when she was an agent."

"This is really helpful, Missus Greenaway. Thank you."

The older woman just nodded, and then bounced slightly on the balls of her feet. "You also said, when you were talking to us, that you have a stepdaughter? Do you have any more children?"

"I've got little twins, and there's another baby on the way."

"Wow; many returns on your littlest one. About all of them—you would love them, no matter what, or no matter what kind of shape they were in, when they came home to you, right?"

"Of course I would, especially because not too long ago, I didn't think I'd be a mother at all."

"Then understand this, Emily: I love Elle because she's my baby girl, but ever since she spun out, all those years ago, things have been…"

"Different?" Emily suggested.

"Precisely. Nothing will ever change how much I love her, but I want you to know that I don't condone her behavior."

"I understand."

"Good. I also want you to know what this is the former cop wife in me talking, but should she turn up on my doorstep, I won't hide her."

"Thank you. You've been really helpful."

Miss Greenaway bobbed her head and then looked around. "Where did my children go?"

Emily motioned for her to follow her. "This way, please. They'll be in the lobby."

After seeing the Greenaways off, Emily stared after them, her hands plastered over her lower middle as she allowed her thoughts to drift. She had all the faith in the world that JJ and Aemiliana would both be recovered and alive, so she paused for a moment to think. Aleja Greenaway's words had really gotten to her.

She did have a dangerous job that she loved, and had once even died for, but being a mother would always come first. Always.

Isobel, not even twenty-one yet, was a cross between an angel and a unicorn, because Emily had never before met a young person as giving and as loving and selfless as her stepdaughter. Emily had always considered Isobel a friend, and that was before she'd married TJ. Now, their bond was even stronger.

Milo and Kiley. Her two rainbow babies. Her proof of true love, and her proof that miracles definitely could happen. There would never be enough words to say how in awe of them she was, or that her heart was fit to burst with love whenever she looked at them. Emily loved giving them hugs and kisses, and she loved watching them learn about the world around them. Her little babies were perfect, and she wouldn't have them any other way.

Last, but not least, was the littlest Jareau. Delilah or Elias. Whoever it was that Emily was carrying, this would be it, so she was really soaking things up. The pregnancy was new, yet, but she loved this kid, all the same.

Being a parent and an agent wasn't easy, and Emily would admired that she had always admired people who could do both. Now that she was in the position, she loved it, even in spite of all the ups and all the downs. She also couldn't wait to hug her children when she went home.

She just hoped they'd find JJ and Aemiliana first.

And she hoped that they weren't in the woods.