Chapter 5: No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank

"I put you in the BAU. I knew how badly you wanted it. Everyone did. You were never exactly shy about letting us know."

Rage. Blind, unadulterated rage.

"But there were those who didn't think assigning you to the BAU was a good idea. They thought you were too reckless."

Emily picked at her nails while the rage built up in her belly. She'd worked so hard to undo some of the damage done early in her career. Damage caused by her desire to find ways to set herself apart from her parents, from their legacy. She could have gone into espionage work, followed in her father's footsteps, and had a relatively easy go of it because of his connections there. She could have gone into foreign affairs, followed in her mother's footsteps, and had a similarly easy go of it because of her connections there. But she chose the Bureau, and she chose to set her own path. And that path was still being littered with boulders and ditches, set to trip her up and take her down.

"I believed in you, however. It's time to pay back the faith I had."

Pay back... pay back... those words ran through Emily's mind and she felt ill.

"Your team is in trouble. They've lost sight of the big picture. I believe they are reckless and, at times, out of control."

Reckless? Out of control? Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing. Unsubs were reckless. Unsubs were out of control. How do you take control back from people who derived pleasure from taking the lives of others? In so many ways, their job was to hunt these monsters, and in order to do that, they had to understand those monsters. Sometimes that meant that the team took risks, to resolve their cases and capture the monsters.

"It's time for Agent Hotchner's career to come to an end, and if you want to stay in the BAU, Agent Prentiss, you're going to help me make that happen."

Emily could feel the rage rising in the pit of her stomach as Strauss continued with her threats.

She felt like throwing up. She felt like crying. She felt like kicking Strauss in the teeth.

But she was an adult, so she decided not to allow any of those impulses to take over. She tapped into all of her training as the daughter of a diplomat and sat quietly in the office, until Strauss decided that an audience was no longer necessary. Emily knew early on in the conversation that her participation only needed to be minimal. She was there to be an audience for Strauss' monologue.

At Strauss' statement that she would be in touch, Emily stood from the chair and made her way out of the Section Chief's office.

Emily had only taken a few steps into the hallway when she felt the urge to throw up take over, so she ran… bolted to the nearest bathroom. She barely made it into the stall when the bile came flying out of her mouth. She thought she would feel some sense of relief from the act, but all she felt was grief. Emily fell to the floor of the bathroom, leaning back against the stall and leaning her arms on her shaky knees. She let her head rest in her hands and shook with sadness.

Emily was not a traitor. She had worked so hard to get to this point… to work in this unit. Everything she had worked for – the late night's studying while she balanced raising her child with college, the insane hours of training in hand-to-hand combat, missing out on Zac's piano recitals and poetry slams because she was putting in the hours as a rookie agent – all of it was now pointless. She had worked to get to where she was today, and with that one meeting, Strauss was erasing it all.

Taking it all away.

Emily sighed and wondered what her next steps should be. Should she tell Hotch, and confirm his suspicions that she was a plant? Ruin the friendship they had been building over her months in the unit? Should she just hand in her notice and leave straight away? Should she call Clyde and ask for a job with Interpol? Emily shook her head and pushed herself up off the floor, knowing that she needed to think about her next steps before she took them. She was not impulsive, and tonight wasn't going to change that.

After washing her hands and face in the sink, Emily exited the bathroom and continued down the hall towards the BAU. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and when she took it out and saw who was calling, she took a deep breath to steady her voice before answering. Emily pushed through the glass doors and made her way through the bullpen, towards her desk.

Hotch heard the noise in the bullpen and glanced out his office window, finding Emily at her desk. He checked his watch and noticed the time, astonished that she was there so late. She was speaking into her cell phone and Hotch could just make out her side of the conversation.

"Hi honey," Emily said into the phone, "What's up?"

"Hi Mom," Zac replied, "Are you still at work?"

"Yeah, just packing up my desk now," Emily replied, "How was your last day?"

"It was fine… I'll be graduating on time," Zac explained, "That's why I'm calling – just checking what the plans are for graduation."

"Uh, well Mother and Dad and I will fly up together, and then I figured I could stay to help you pack up your apartment and we could drive back to DC together," Emily replied, "I assume you'll want to stay with me until you fly out to Egypt."

"That would be awesome to have your help with moving everything, but do you have time?"

"Sweetheart, of course I have time to help you move," Emily replied, "You're everything to me."

"Can you get the time off work though?" Zac asked.

"Don't you worry about that," Emily replied, "I'll be there… I promise." On those last words, Emily felt the emotions bubbling up again, and she sniffed.

"Mom, is everything ok?"

Emily could hear the concern in his voice and tried to take deep breaths in and out to calm herself. But it wasn't working and she let out a brief sob, "I'll be fine honey," she replied, "Don't worry about me… I'll be fine."

"Mom," Zac implored, knowing that it would be in vain.

Emily cleared her throat and shook her head, "It's ok, really. I have to pack up and head home, but I'll call you later… I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

Emily pulled the phone away from her ear and clicked the button to end the call, tossing her cell to the desk in front of her. She leant down on the desk and tried to take some deep breaths, hoping to suppress her emotions for as long as it would take for her to get home. At least behind a closed and locked door she could cry and scream and punch. She took another deep breath and let her head drop, and could feel her emotions locking away into their little compartments in her brain.

"Prentiss."

Emily jerked her head up and quickly wiped away the tears that had escaped her eyes. She watched as Hotch made his way down the short staircase and over to her desk. He reached out an uncertain hand to rest on her back and at his touch, Emily instinctively jerked her body away.

"I'm sorry," Hotch said quietly, pulling his hand back and clenching a fist at his side, "Are you ok?"

Hotch had been watching and listening from his office, and was concerned at the emotion that Emily was displaying. She was usually very reserved when she was on-the-job, so for her emotional walls to be dropped in this way was a surprise to him. He couldn't imagine why she was here this late, or why she was crying, but he had to make sure she was ok before he could feel comfortable in leaving for the night.

"What are you still doing here, Hotch?" Emily asked nervously, avoiding eye contact with the man in question while she packed up the rest of her things for the night.

"I had to wrap up some last minute reports from the case," Hotch explained, "Gideon took off from the train station, so I had to finalise everything myself and you know Strauss… if it's not done perfectly and within Bureau timeframes…" his voice trailed off as he watched Emily's face fill with emotion.

Emily bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop the tears from flooding out again, and while it took every ounce of will in her arsenal, she managed to get herself under control again in moments. Even though Hotch had obviously seen the initial emotions that spread across her face at the mention of Strauss, Emily had quickly schooled her features.

"So I'll repeat… are you ok, Emily?" Hotch asked again, switching out her usual title for a less formal one. It was something that most people wouldn't pick up on, but for him, distinguishing between his team's first and surnames was something he did to keep some distance.

Emily took a deep breath and looked up from her overstuffed messenger bag to look Hotch in the eyes. She knew if she avoided eye contact while answering, he'd never believe her.

"I'm fine, Hotch," Emily replied, "Or… I will be… I'm just thinking about Jane."

It wasn't a lie… it wasn't exactly the truth either. For Emily, the distinction was important. She was thinking about Jane, although those thoughts had been superseded by her more recent conversations with Strauss and Zac. But she wasn't about to disclose to Hotch that she had a son, nor was she going to reveal that he'd been right about her all along – that she was a mole. So she stuck with the only reason she could think of to justify her emotional state to Hotch. That a victim with whom she had bonded had jumped in front of a train today. And judging by his reaction, Emily figured she'd gotten away with it.

Hotch nodded, "I know that it was difficult to witness that today," he replied, "But you did amazing work trying to connect with Jane… she trusted you."

Emily rolled her eyes, "Apparently not enough." Looking Hotch in the eyes, her face dropped, "But don't worry about me… I'll be fine. I have my favourite bottle of wine waiting for me at home…" Emily paused and tipped her head to the side, "And you have your wife and child waiting at home for you."

Hotch took a step back and nodded, "I was just about to leave," he replied, "Wait for me to grab my bag and we'll walk down together."

"I suppose you do look like you could use a bodyguard," Emily replied, trying to inject a little levity into the conversation.

Hotch huffed in appreciation, nodded and turned to walk up the stairs, pausing as he reached the top of the landing, "Are you sure you're ok, Prentiss?"

Emily nodded with a tight smile, "I'm fine, Hotch… just need a good night's sleep."

"Alright, well give me one minute and then we can go."

Emily watched as Hotch ran into his office to grab his things, returning to the bullpen and pausing while she picked up her bag. They walked in silence out of the glass doors and over to the elevator, and as the car arrived on their floor and the two agents stepped inside, Hotch turned to Emily and offered a genuine smile, dimples and all.

"Any plans for the weekend?"