"No, Emily, no – absolutely not," Erik said firmly.

"I wasn't asking for permission," she replied, doing her best to remain calm while still conveying exactly how urgent the situation was. Neither of them was exactly all that good at remaining clear-headed and reasonable in the face of their anger, though...

"Did you happen to forget that you're pregnant?" he reminded.


In the bullpen, Garcia, Morgan, and JJ crowded around Reid's desk to watch Emily pace the roundtable room, phone to her ear. They were all still in shock that she was even alive, let alone alive, married, and pregnant...

"Who do you think she's talking to?" Reid asked, breaking the laden silence in which they were all surely speculating on the same thing.

"Probably whoever put that rock on her hand," Garcia said, referencing her ring, "And that baby in her belly..." She waggled her brows, smile full of mischief at the chance to make wild conjectures on a new rumour.

"Are we sure the kid's not Doyle's?" Morgan asked gravely. While he'd perhaps been the most upset about the idea of Emily sleeping with Doyle, he couldn't seem to let go of his guilt over not being able to reach her in time and the thought that that lapse may have given Doyle the chance to rape her refused to leave him alone.

"She said..." Reid piped up, eager to defend her lest he have to live with that same guilt.

"I know what she said, but would you want to admit..." he trailed off, not able to say the actual words of what he was implying. He shook his head, inhaled shakily, that guilt and anger rearing its head in his chest.

"It's not Doyle's," JJ insisted, attempting to be the voice of reason before things got out of hand.

"How do you know?" Garcia asked suspiciously. She studied JJ with narrowed eyes, attempting to read her, but JJ remained steadfast in the face of her interrogation. "What did she tell you?" Garcia pressed, "Whose is it?" She clapped her hands together eagerly at the prospect of gossip.

"She asked me not to tell you," JJ murmured in apology. "You're just going to have to trust me."


"Erik, you're going to have to trust me," she begged. "I know what I'm doing and I would never do anything to put myself at risk while..."

He cut her off, "Emily, you're talking about taking a man who very nearly succeeded in killing you into an armed standoff...and you want me to trust that you're not going to be in danger?"

"You make it sound like I'll be standing in front of a firing squad," she deadpanned, rolling her eyes, only because she knew he couldn't see it.

"Emily..." he warned, not amused.


"Trust you?" Derek repeated skeptically, the wound of learning he'd grieved his best friend's death for nothing still too fresh, too raw for him to simply let the innocent phrase slide without comment.

JJ sighed, eyes falling shut. She wasn't surprised that he was taking it the hardest, but that didn't mean it was any easier to face his anger. "Yes, I knew she was alive," she conceded, holding her hands up in supplication, "But I didn't know where they took her – she only just told me where she was, who she was with..."

"Wait..." Reid spoke suddenly, interrupting them as if the thought had only just occurred to him. "How could she have met someone and gotten married so quickly? We know she doesn't trust that easily..."

"There's no way," Morgan agreed. "It would have to have been someone she already knew. Probably someone she knew long before she met us."


"After all that time you've known me, you seriously think I'd deliberately put our child in danger?" she asked incredulously, temper flaring. "You know how badly I wanted this baby..."

"Emily, are you hearing what you're asking?"

"Not asking," she said flatly.

"If it's that important, I'll come down there and..."


Garcia's eyes lit up. She clapped a hand to her heart as if she were about to recite a Shakespearean sonnet. "A whirlwind star-crossed lovers relationship torn asunder by time and space only to reconnect when she needed him the most..." she waxed poetic.

"Baby girl, you are crazy."

"I'm a romantic!" she retorted, glaring playfully at Morgan before rounding on JJ with a look that might have been intimidating on someone else...someone who wasn't wearing a bright yellow sweater and a giant flower in her hair. "Spill," she commanded.

"I'm not going to betray her trust," JJ insisted. "She'll tell us when she's ready."

"Please..." Garcia begged, pouting a just a little. "Just give us a hint."

JJ heaved a weary sigh, wondering why she hadn't expected this exact reaction. "Let's just say, it's someone you've heard of."


"No, Erik! You can't do that!" She felt like her heart was pounding somewhere in her throat.

"I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family."

"Protect it by staying away," she begged, dangerously close to tears. "Erik, please... I died so I could be with you, to protect your new life of peace, please don't risk everything I sacrificed."

"You're asking my to stand by while you walk head-first into danger..."

"You've never had a problem doing the same," she countered. "Erik, please, just let me do this. I know what I'm doing and..."

"I won't see another person I love die," he interrupted with grave seriousness.


Jumping upon that piece of information like it was a grenade and she was the hero in an action movie, Garcia had proceeded to pepper JJ with guesses. "A member of the Royal Family? No, no...a move star? No, no..."

"Garcia, stop," JJ begged. "I'm not going to tell you who it is. You're just going to have to wait until she's ready."

"My money's on Clyde Easter," Derek interjected. "They definitely had something going on while she was with JTF-12..."

Garcia's eyes lit up. "Ooooh... They'd be so cute together – I totally ship it."

JJ just rolled her eyes.