Garcia shook her head and smiled mischievously, "I'm going to make it my life's work to find out who this boy is, so you might as well…"

"Stop," Emily remarked bluntly, almost deterred by the hurt look on her friend's face. But she did not want Garcia to snoop any further. "Just stop. We have enough to worry about already don't we?" Emily finished, before storming out of the conference room.

"Then she just walked off," Garcia mumbled, finishing her recount to Derek.

He wrinkled his brow in confusion. Sure she'd been moody and told him on more than one occasion to stop his probing, but to talk like that to Garcia… This was even worse than he thought. Those two were close friends and Morgan couldn't remember a time before when Emily had snapped at her.

He reached over and squeezed her shoulder, "Don't worry Baby-Girl," he said lovingly, "I'll take care of it."

Garcia nodded and smiled sadly, sure that her Adonis would indeed make sure that Emily was ok. Garcia had been surprised at the tone in her friend's voice. Sure, she'd definitely had moments where she may have overstepped the mark and pushed a little too hard, but Emily had always just made a joke. But not this time. This time something was really wrong.


Emily read the text on her phone and slipped it into her coat pocket, a frustrated groan escaping from her lips.

"You ok?" Rossi probed, assuming that it wasn't a usual response to a text.

Emily rolled her eyes and quickly glanced at her friend, "People text like it's not as intrusive as a phone call."

Rossi nodded and the two agents were silent for a moment.

"You know you haven't had a vacation in a while," he started, "Weren't you talking about Italy?"

Emily huffed and shook her head, "My mother extended her trip there. It wouldn't be much of a vacation."

Rossi shrugged, "It's a big country."

Emily shook her head again, "Not big enough."

"Did you see who the text was from?" Hotch asked, questioning his friend for further information.

Rossi shook his head, "She put her cell back in her pocket before I could look." He paused, noting the look of concern on Hotch's face. "Is there something we should be worried about?"

Hotch shrugged his shoulders and stood from the lounge. He slowly moved back to the other side of his desk and sat in his chair. "There might be," he started, "But I'll have to get some more information before we step in." Rossi nodded and started towards the door, "But Dave," Hotch paused until Rossi turned to face him, "Not a word to anyone. Not until we know more."


Hotch pulled the SUV up to the curb and jumped out of the car. He made his way to the steps of Delaney's home, and breathed a sigh of relief to see the two agents unharmed.

"You guys ok?" he asked nervously, staring at Emily. Morgan nodded and stood, Emily joined them all on the footpath as Rossi walked over.

"A group of four men. One's dead," Morgan started.

"Automatic weapons, black clothes, white masks, unmarked car," Emily continued.

"Did you get a shot at the car?" Rossi probed for more information. Emily shook her head. "No… I didn't want to take the chance and hit a civilian." Rossi nodded and the three agents turned to their Unit Chief.

"Rossi, you and I will check the house. Morgan and Prentiss- try and ID the kid," Hotch instructed sternly. The three agents nodded and started to walk away. Hotch grabbed Morgan by the arm and pulled him away from the congregation of officers and paramedics on the footpath.

"She's hiding something Hotch," Morgan started, looking towards Emily as she stood over the body. Hotch nodded and lowered his voice as he explained what Rossi had told him. Morgan raised his eyebrows and returned the favour, telling his friend about his conversation with Garcia.

"She was wondering if these guys are doing all of this to get a BAU commitment," Morgan added, explaining the conversation with Emily in the car. Hotch breathed deeply and looked over at Emily.

"Emily came from Interpol," Hotch remarked, invoking a surprised look from the younger agent, "Judging by what we've found so far… that is a possibility."

Morgan nodded and pat Hotch's arm. "If this does involve Emily in some way, we just need to hope that she'll be smart enough to come to us," Morgan started, "In the meantime, we just need to focus on the information that we have."


"I need you guys back here," Hotch explained, "We're starting the presentation."

Morgan looked up at the building and sighed, "We're on our way back now Hotch." He kept the fact that he was waiting outside of Emily's building to himself.

"How's she doing?" Hotch probed, hoping Emily was getting ready to share what she knew. He heard a deep sigh into the phone.

"She's struggling Hotch… but she's still not telling me anything."

"Just get back here as soon as you can," Hotch stated, "We'll start and you guys can add anything when you return."

The two agents said goodbye and hung up, just as Emily approached the car.

"Everything ok?" Emily asked Morgan, reaching back to pull her seatbelt on.

Morgan nodded and tapped his phone on the steering wheel as he pulled away from the curb. "Hotch checking in."

Emily rolled her eyes and nodded, trying to keep her emotions in check. The way this case was heading, she would need to rid herself of those feelings if she wanted the people she loved to stay safe.


Emily waved down the cab, climbing in and looking up at the large concrete building that had virtually been her home for the past four and a half years. She sighed as she thought about those she loved who, as Hotch had said himself, were now on Doyle's list of targets. Emily frowned as she thought to herself, finally coming to the conclusion that in order to save her family, she would need to sacrifice herself. She would need to give her life for theirs.

"Uh miss..." the driver called out louder, "Where to?"

Emily blinked away the tears and smiled sadly. "Dulles," she replied, sitting back and watching the building disappear as the cab drove away.

Now or never, she repeated to herself.


A/N: This is only a short chapter, saving the bulk of it until "Lauren." Please read and review.

DISC(LAME)ER: I don't own Criminal Minds.