As Emily began her work day, she did her best to focus. She loved her job, but there was just so much happening in her life that all she wanted was to just run away. What was it like to have a normal job? She couldn't remember anymore. How did they still have another week of bench time after this one? What she wouldn't give to be able to tell them they were off to a case on the other side of the country. But no. This was reality.

Even staring out the window didn't help. All she saw was the building courtyard. What had Hotch gained, all the times he had stared out at this very view? Hell if she knew.

Her thoughts did wander, but they didn't land on something pleasant.

And it caused her groan audibly.

JJ chose this moment to visit her CO's office. "Emelise, are you okay?"

She sighed as she turned to face her partner. "I honestly don't know. It just occurred to me that Monday makes it official—Andrew is off to England."

"That's a good thing." JJ drew closer. "It's what you wanted."

Emily raked her middle with her knuckles. "It is, but it also feels incredibly final. I've never been though something like this before. My feelings are all over the place."

JJ chose her words carefully—after all, she had been with Will for a good chunk of her adult life now. "Those feelings are completely normal. Nobody could be upset with you for having them."

"Thank you for telling me that." Emily said sincerely.

"What are friends for?" JJ offered her a friendly smile. "Does Ginny know what Monday marks?"

"Yes. She does."

"If you don't end up hanging out with her, I'll cook whatever you want for dinner." JJ decided. "That's a promise."

"Thank you again."

"Now," Emily walked around her desk to join her partner. "What brings you over here already? You and I aren't due to start the case reviewing for another hour."

JJ grew sheepish. "I was wondering if you wanted to go pay a visit to Penelope… Maybe even talk about the June McCann thing? It would be nice to tell Will that we tried."

Emily straightened out her suit jacket. "It would, wouldn't it?"

The walk to Penelope's lair was short, but upon arrival, both JJ and Emily were immediately wishing that it had been longer. A lot longer. Penelope was in one her rare towering moods.

"What's going on?" Emily asked her.

Penelope whirled around, ready to snipe at whoever had come calling, but she relaxed when she saw who it was.

"Pardon me." she adjusted her glasses. "Boss ladies! What can I do for you?"

JJ and Emily looked around the office. Usually, it was organized chaos, but it was just a disaster. Components and wires were all over the place.

JJ checked her watch. "We've been here at work for almost two hours. Why does it look like a hurricane blew through?"

Emily said suddenly. "This is that system update I approved, isn't it?"

Penelope nodded. "Yes, and I am a tech genius, but I did not expect it to be this hard!"

"When was the last time tech had you this vexed?"

"This was before we met you, but it was the Fisherking case."

JJ blanched. "I haven't thought about that in years. Never have I ever been able to look at birds the same way again."

"What the hell?" Emily protested.

"We're talking about the Jamaica case I mentioned the other day." JJ said gently. "From 2006."

Emily nodded in understanding.

"Never mind, then." Emily looked over at the tech expert. "Penelope?"

She looked up from her things again, startled—Emily usually addressed her by her last name in the work environment. "Yes?"

"How long do you think it'll take you to update everything on the whole?"

Penelope sighed. "Probably the rest of the day."

Emily was only slightly disappointed. "Oh. Okay."

JJ's expression also reflected Emily's train of thought. "At least you have a timeframe."

A lightbulb went off over Penelope's head as she had an epiphany. "You two need my help on something—you never visit me together!"

"Is the researching part of your network still intact?" Emily asked helpfully.

"It is, but things are going to be a little slow for the time being."

JJ shut Penelope's office door behind her. "You should sit down."

Penelope did. "You guys, what?"

"We do need your help with something," Emily said. "And it concerns Will."

"I'm all ears."

JJ asked, "Do you remember how our paths even crossed Will's in the first place?"

"Oh, yes. File 'modern day Jack the Ripper' under things that will be burned into my brain until the day I die."

"Then I'm sure you remember all the digging you had to do into Will's life?" JJ pressed. "And his father's?"

"Shockingly, yes." Penelope admitted.

"And we only covered the LaMontagne side." JJ chimed in. "Just them."

Things fell into place for Penelope. "Is this about your husband's mother?"

"Yes, but there are a few problems." Emily said.

"Wait." Penelope put her hands in a timeout gesture. "How do you know?"

"I'm going to be staying at the LaMontagne house for awhile because a whole bunch of crazy things just happened to me. In a row."

"Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

Emily nodded. "Yes, and I will explain all of it on Monday to everyone because I don't want to repeat myself."

JJ chimed in, "And you know very well that Will and I have always had… a bond with Emily."

"I should say so, what with all you three have been through over the years." Penelope said. "What problems have you two run into today?"

Emily spoke first. "Will's mother dropped out of his life completely and he doesn't remember her anymore. She was completely gone by the time he was two. His father also refused to say her name after she left."

"What about records?" Penelope tried.

"Katrina took all of them. Anything useful was in the wind—literally—after he started rebuilding."

"Talk about rotten luck. What prompted the idea to look for Will's mother in the first place?"

Emily thought about it. "All of the recents events concerning the Jareaus. That's my understanding."

Penelope was digesting all of this very well, but only because of how dearly she cared for her friends. "Then whose idea was it to involve me?"

"Mine." Emily said. "You have technological powers, and you're very good at thinking outside of the box. Can we trust you?"

"Always, but all three of us know that this team is like a family. Secrets don't stay secret for long."

JJ nodded. "We've elected to cross that bridge when we get there. There's even been a clue already."

"What was it?" Penelope felt spellbound.

Emily handed her the photograph of June. "This."

Penelope marveled over the image as she held it. "Wow. She's beautiful."

"Uh-huh. She's a knockout."

"I agree, one hundred percent. What's her name?"

"June McCann." Emily motioned for Penelope to turn the picture over. "That was shot in 1976."

Penelope read the information and scanned the image into her computer system. "I am irrevocably invested now. Please tell me there's another part to what's happening."

Emily and JJ told Penelope about the conversation they'd had with Will.

"This is all so incredible—by which I mean in the odd, fantastic way. It's all quite something."

"Major understatement…" Emily muttered.

JJ asked, "Are you with us?"

"Together or not at all." Penelope stood and handed the picture back. "I mean it. You can count on me. Will you pass that message along?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"And no pressure, PG." Emily motioned to the interior of the room at large. "We totally understand that you have other things to do."

"Definitely true." Penelope said. "If I have time before the end of the day, I will do some digging."

"That's all we ask."

JJ opened the door again. "We will leave you to it. Thanks again."

Penelope winked. "Anything for family."

JJ and Emily left Penelope's office in higher spirits. Hopefully today wouldn't be too slow, after all.

They were barely to the elevator when JJ's phone rang. She stomped her foot when she saw the name on the screen.

"What?" Emily said in amusement.

"My dad is calling." JJ came off sounding like an annoyed twelve-year-old.

"How did he get your—never mind. Answer him."

"I'm almost tempted to let it keep ringing…"

"Don't be insolent. Just talk to him and come find me when you're done."

Capitulating, JJ agreed and let herself into her old office because it was nearby.

"What's up, Clifford?" JJ greeted her father when she finally answered her phone.

Clifford sighed. "Can't you just call me dad?"

"No. You lost that chance when you abandoned me. Why are you calling?"

"I... was hoping we could go to dinner together."

Everything inside JJ wanted to say no—out of spite—but denying this olive branch would just be cruel. "Okay. When and where?"

"Tomorrow night?" suggested Clifford. "The Forest Fiddler at eight?"

"I can make that work. See you there."

Clifford nodded, even though JJ couldn't see him. "Alright. See you then. Thank you."

JJ answered more tartly than she intended. "You're welcome."

They hung up, and JJ took the steps necessary to compartmentalize. She really didn't feel like discussing her feelings about her father with about anyone else at work other than Emily. Why couldn't her family drama just be ordinary?

"What did Clifford want?" Emily asked JJ when she joined her at last.

"Dinner tomorrow night, over at The Forest Fiddler."

"Wow. Do you want to talk about it?"

JJ shook her head. "Not until we go home. What exactly did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing as astounding as you accepting an invitation to dinner with your father. Just more catch-up from when you were out sick." Emily sighed. "I think we should start that now—lest we get another interruption in the next five seconds."

"Good plan." JJ pulled a stack of brown file folders from the side of the desk to the center of it. "Where do we start?"

And for the next long while, all JJ and Emily had to do was focus on being profilers. It was the closest to normal that they had at the moment. Which was perfectly okay by them. Especially JJ.

The idea of being alone with her father made her feel very uneasy.

She also wondered what Katherine would say. That was going to be a fun chat.