A/N: Thank you to everyone for voting this story as the Best Criminal Minds Crossover in the Criminal Minds Profiler's Choice Awards. I'm touched and honored that folks have enjoyed this story so much. It's been a blast to write and like I said earlier, it's at least a three story arc (there might be some one-shots along the way and an idea for a fourth story is in a bit of an embryonic stage). This first story is almost over so thank you for hanging in and providing feedback, etc. I hope you enjoy this part!

"McKnight is the dominant personality," Emily informed Gibbs as she continued to gently stroke his hair, calming and soothing him. He found he quite enjoyed the sensation and allowed his eyes to close as he willed the lingering effects of the taser to go away. "Jacobs is frightened of him."

"He brave enough to help us get out of here so there aren't killing federal agent charges against him?" Gibbs murmured.

"Doubt it. He's terrified of McKnight. I think we're just going to have to get out of here on our own."

"Then we'd best try to find a way out of here before he starts on us," Gibbs grunted as he lifted himself up from Emily's lap. His muscles shook and felt like jelly and he wobbled so badly that Emily had to catch him. She gently helped him sit down, propped against a wall.

"You need to take it easy!" she chided him. "McKnight held that taser on you for a lot longer than he's supposed to. Who knows what it's done to your nervous system and it's obvious you don't have full control back of your muscles!"

"We can't just be sitting ducks," Gibbs snapped back. "We don't know when McKnight will come back. We have to get out of here first."

"Well, we're not going to do that if you fall over and crack your skull open," Emily shot back as she settled down next to him. "And like I said earlier, you're pretty heavy so don't expect me to keep catching you." She gave him a slight smile.

There was something about Emily's smile that Gibbs couldn't resist and he found himself reluctantly smiling back at her despite their circumstances.

Gibbs closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, taking slow breaths.

"I called you Shannon, didn't I?" Gibbs asked quietly after a few silent minutes had passed by.

"Yes," Emily's voice was measured, even.

Gibbs paused, the memory of Shannon telling him to let go of her so fresh and painful in his mind. He couldn't let her go, not now, maybe never. No, Gibbs was certain he would never be able to do that.

"How long has it been?" Emily's soft voice reached his ear.

"Eighteen years," Gibbs bit out.

"And the pain is still as sharp as ever." It was a statement, not a question as Emily turned her head to look at him.

He simply stared straight ahead, the subject of Shannon and Kelly one he never talked about with anyone, not even those who knew them. So he surprised himself when he allowed the conversation to go on.

"Yes."

Silence fell between them and then he heard himself say,

"People think I should move on."

"Those types of people are usually full of shit."

That got his attention and he turned to stare at her. Emily gave him a faint smile.

"Well, it's well-intentioned shit," she acknowledged. She let out a sigh. "The way you say her name, she was The One, wasn't she." Again, not a question and Emily didn't even bother to look at him for confirmation as her attention shifted to the door. She shook her head. "Getting over The One, I think that takes a life time. If you try to force it, you just make mistakes you regret later."

Gibbs thought back to his three failed marriages, all attempts to capture a semblance of what he had with Shannon, and all were doomed from the moment he said, "I do."

"No, you may not ever get over it. You learn to cope. You learn to live. And maybe at some point, you learn to love again, but it'll never be the same. You'll find a measure of peace and happiness. But it can't be on a timetable. It'll happen when it happens."

Gibbs simply stared at her. Emily was the first person who hadn't told him to move on, expected him to move on. It wasn't as though she gave him permission to continue grieving. Gibbs was never looking for permission or validation. What she was doing was offering understanding, simple, unadorned, genuine compassionate understanding. And for the first time since Shannon, he felt as though someone finally, actually got him.

Without realizing what he was doing, Gibbs reached out a hand and placed it over one of hers which was resting on her bent knee. "Thank you," he said softly.

She turned to look at him and smiled softly, once again patting his hand gently with her free one. "There's nothing to thank me for." She cocked her head and looked at him and a worried frown wrinkled her brow. "How are you feeling now?"

He still felt weak, but Gibbs thought he was in more control of his body. Gingerly, he tested his limbs and then with Emily hovering anxiously by his side, maneuvered himself up into a standing position. He leaned heavily against the wall.

"I think I'm okay," he said as he took a few steps. Gibbs walked over to the door and then slowly got to his knees so he could examine the lock. The room they were in was an old storage room and the only way in and out of it was an equally old, but unfortunately solid door. It also had a very old-fashioned lock that the more Gibbs examined, the more he thought he could get it open, if he had the right tools. He let out a growl of frustration as he looked around the completely empty room.

"What?" Emily asked.

"This lock," Gibbs sighed. "I think I can force it open from our side, but I don't have anything to work with. There's nothing in here!"

"What do you need?"

"A long, thin piece of metal and then some sort of string at least. The metal I can use to get the lock open, but I'll still need something to open the latch handle on the other side." There was a small slot in the door that something could be shoved through and where he could just see the edge of the large handle on the other side. "If I can get something hooked onto the other side of the handle, it'll open. But there's nothing here that we can use!" he finished in disgust.

Emily thought for a moment. She had seen Gibbs carrying a knife in his belt, both of which McKnight made sure to take. Their shoes were gone so they didn't even have the laces on Gibbs' shoes. Where would they get a thin piece of metal and something they can use to pull the handle up from their side? Then it hit Emily.

"Wait, McKnight didn't take everything," she said.

Gibbs looked up at her hopefully thinking maybe she had some tool stashed away in her sock. What she did next rendered Leroy Jethro Gibbs completely speechless.

He watched as Emily reached back behind her and fiddle with something before she hunched her shoulders forward. One hand went up one sleeve of her turtleneck to grasp something under it and pull it down to her wrist where she slipped her hand out of the loop that appeared. She did the same on the other side and then reached up under her shirt and yanked down. A lacy, black bra appeared.

Gibbs gaped at her.

Emily ignored him and began to pick at the edge of one of the bra's cups. Gibbs could only continue to watch her in stunned silence until she smiled and then began to pull something out of the bra: a long, piece of thin metal. She held it up triumphantly and said,

"Underwire."

A/N 2: Yes, it's Emily's MacGyver Moment.