Thirty minutes after she hung up with Karen, she heard a number of vehicles come to a stop outside the cabin, and she knew that the cavalry had arrived. Unconsciously, she tensed before moving closer to Alex, wanting to almost disappear into her side. She didn't know what had elicited that reaction, since she knew and liked everyone else on the team, but she still wanted to run and hide in that moment. Alex and James gave her sympathetic looks before James and Grant went to the door to let the others inside.

"Everything will be all right, Erin."

"I know, but this suddenly feels all too real. It was easy when it was just the four of you, but I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. Is this what happens when you've been held captive for a year? You suddenly don't want to be in crowds of people?"

"I would say yes, especially since you were isolated in your captivity, only having John to physically talk to. But you have me right here, and I promise that nothing bad will happen to you from this moment onwards, as much as I can protect you from it. And we'll find you a good counselor who deals with trauma like this, and get you well. Even if you hate opening up to people, you're going to need to allow a professional to help you build back what you lost in that den of horror."

To Erin's surprise, Alex leaned over and kissed her forehead softly, reminding her of their time together in the Academy, when they could be gentle with each other. Before she could respond to her friend, she heard familiar voices enter the cabin, and she reached out for Alex's hand, clutching it tightly as she waited for them to come barging into the living room. Instead, it was just Aaron who stepped into view, and he looked at her intently before drawing in a deep breath. "I didn't want to believe what James said, it seemed too fantastical, but here you are, in the flesh. And you've managed to find Alex, too. Welcome back."

Her lower lip trembled as she gave him a small smile. "Thank you. Who all came with you?"

"As if wild horses could drag me away from that room, Anderson! You need to let me go and see that they're okay!"

Aaron lifted an eyebrow at them as Penelope barreled into the room, a concerned look on her face that caused Erin to blanch and push her body further into Alex's space, welcoming the feel of her arm around Erin's shoulders. "Garcia, you need to wait. Sit in the chair over there by the window and use these next few minutes to calm down." His voice was sharper than Erin had ever heard him with anyone on his team, and she shuddered a little to watch as Penelope nodded hesitantly before doing as ordered. "All right, where are Dave and John?"

"Downstairs, locked in the room where I was held captive for over a year. I don't know if they have any weapons, but I'm assuming that they don't, since I haven't heard any shots fired. There's only one way into the room, despite the small window at the top of the wall, so you'll have to be careful when entering the room. Take Grant with you when you head down there. I, I would go with you, but I think that I used up the last bit of my bravery when I pulled Alex out. Please, be careful, there are some things that are very dear to me in that room. John and David had access to my life and my belongings, and it is clear that had I not escaped, I would be there for the rest of my life."

He nodded before coming over to her side, crouching down to look directly in her eyes. "We will make certain that they are both prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, Erin. Now, once we have them in custody, we're going to take them back to Quantico. Do either of you need an ambulance?"

She shook her head in time with Alex, and Aaron gave a small nod in response. "I take it you'll be using the jet?"

"That is the plan, yes. Do you want to come back with us?"

"No, our cars are here. But do you think that we can bring my belongings home when we start the drive tomorrow? Even if I can't bring everything right away, there are some things that I don't want to appear as evidence."

"If you let us take pictures of the room in its entirety before we leave, I believe that you should be fine to bring some of your more personal belongings home. We just need to document everything so that the charges will stick and that they'll both face time for this."

"I understand, Aaron. And really, all I want to bring with me are my notebooks, and a few bits of clothing. The rest can be packed up by a professional mover and brought to Quantico."

He nodded as he rose to his feet. "And that will be paid for by the Bureau. Director Shepperd has already been briefed as to the situation, and you will have carte blanche for whatever you need to move forward from this."

She nodded as he left the room, knowing that Grant would show him how to get down to the basement. That left her and Alex alone with Penelope, and she took a deep breath before looking at the woman, feeling like she would start talking the moment she knew she was being watched. "How come you didn't reach out to me? Why did you choose Alex?"

Erin was not expecting that question, and she squeezed Alex's hand a few times before starting to answer the woman. "You won't like this answer, at all. There was only one way I had to reach out, and that was through exploiting a loophole on the website that hosts Alex's papers. They offer a discussion forum, of sorts, with the papers, and I didn't need a log in to write to her. John made certain that I couldn't access my email, Facebook, anything that was a way to interact with the outside world was blocked. But even if I had been able to contact you, I wouldn't have."

A hurt look passed over her face and then she cleared her throat before speaking once more. "Why?"

"Because John kept showing me pictures of you and David together, kissing, at my children's activities. All these little moments that told me you were a couple. And if you were close with him, how could I trust you to save me? I needed someone that I could trust to reach out to, and thank God that Alex was open to believing that it was me, and that John had enough pride to think that my children wouldn't recognize my knitting style in the gifts that I made for them. I'm surprised that he didn't listen to David, though, since I know that he would have told John that my children would have known that the patterns were ones that we had chosen together. That was a risk that I felt good enough to take. Trusting you if I had had access to you? Would have been a high risk situation, and you know that we don't deal with high risks in the line of work that we do. I know that you won't understand, but when you're trapped in a room for as long as I was, you have to do whatever it takes to keep yourself safe."

Penelope gave her a tight nod, which told Erin that she was indeed hurt by her explanation, but knew that there would be no way to make things better, since she knew that she couldn't turn back time to make different choices. Alex cleared her throat, about to speak, when they heard a loud commotion downstairs, which clearly indicated that they had broken into the room in the basement. "What do you think will happen to Dave? I fell in love with him, Erin."

"He helped kidnap two women and would have killed us without remorse, Garcia. He'll have the book thrown at him, and even though he's richer than God, I'm going to do everything in my power to make certain that he never leaves prison. You can visit him there for all I care," Alex spat out as feet started to pound on the stairs, telling them that the end was truly at hand.