I can't promise the next chapter will be up on Wednesday per the norm, but I will try.

Chapter 15: Progress

After tucking Nate in and make sure he was out for the night, Emily quietly made her way to her room through the dark hallway. As she entered the door and went to flip the light switch, a chill ran down her spine and a voice made her freeze.

"Hello Emily. You're a hard person to track down."

Eyes wide and stunned, she stood there and looked at the man. That voice was very familiar. No longer frozen, she turned on the light and asked, "How did you get here?"

"The genius wasn't half bad playing pretend spy, but he's no Emily Prentiss."

"You followed him," she surmised. Damn Reid.

"Don't blame him. I'm just good at what I do."

"Don't I know it." She sighed and limped over to the bed, crutches left downstairs. "Why'd you follow him, Clyde?"

"For the same reason that he came. To see you, to ask some questions, and to make sure you were well."

"And you had to do that by nearly giving me a heart attack sitting in my dark room like that? It's a bit menacing." She punched his arm and told him never to do that again.

"I always enjoyed the element of surprise."

"The circumstances don't fit that fancy, Clyde."

Not saying anything yet, he kicked off his shoes and moved deeper onto the bed until he was comfortable leaning into the pillows. "Where's the kid?"

"The kid's name is Nate, and he's sleeping."

"Good, then we can talk freely."

Sighing, she joined him by the pillows, the two lying side by side on top of the made bed. "Go ahead."

"That was one nasty crash," he began, jumping right into their fast-paced banter.

"It was."

"How are you feeling?"

"Good."

"The leg?"

"It'll heal."

"Do you know who it was that attacked you after?"

"No clue. Wasn't really cognizant enough to catch his face."

"His name was Christiano Perini. Employed by the Scarlatti family."

"Italy based?"

"Yes."

"Involved with Bardolino?"

"Definitely."

"Wonderful," she huffed. "You came to my team."

"They're not really you're team anymore, Emily. And I wouldn't have had to go to them if you had just come to me the moment you knew what was going on."

"Clyde. I didn't think the situation was going to come to this. If I had…"

"If you had, you still wouldn't have come to anyone because you're too stubborn," he cut her off, speaking a little forcefully. "You never know when to ask for help before it becomes a matter of necessity rather than prevention."

"Says the man who's no better than me about that stuff."

"I know why you chose to do what you did. There's usually love at the heart of it, whether for a child or just someone you care for, but that doesn't change that you can't simultaneously save everyone and keep everyone out of a situation. Success often requires a team of people. If you came to me, I could have offered you a whole team of people who work to make other people disappear. It's like Declan all over again. Why do you keep going at things alone? I don't understand it. Why can't you trust anyone?"

"It's not like that, Clyde," she found herself questioning her words.

"Then please, tell me what it is like. How is this different?"

"Nate is… It just is, Clyde. With Declan, I was hiding him not only from Doyle, but from becoming a pawn in a game you and I were forced to play. He had no business being part of the profile and if I didn't do anything, then his parentage would have been found out eventually and he would have become nothing but a tool for the government. I was responsible for his situation when I made the choice to fake his death and give him a new life on my own."

"And with Nate?"

"Nate had two loving fathers who came to me for help. They asked me to help them figure things out and, when I knew I needed more time, I offered to help them disappear for a while… maybe forever. But I hoped that helping them do that would allow me to turn to you and open an investigation. Things just took a turn."

"The normal Emily would have planned for that."

"This wasn't a normal situation."

"No?" He saw something in her look that made him wonder what else he didn't know.

"No. It wasn't."

She wasn't going to tell anyone else about Nate until she knew what the future held for them, so she wasn't going to go blabbing then. The fact didn't change, though. This was different because Nate was her son and she would do just about anything if it meant he'd be safe and happy. That was exactly what she thought she'd been doing for the past several years by not forcing the issue and staying away. She would have done anything for Declan too, and she did, but it still felt different. She didn't know whether to be angry at herself for that, but she couldn't change it either.

"We are where we are, Clyde. I did what I did, and I can't change that. Though, this time I didn't intentionally set out to leave everyone out. There was no reason to involve anyone in the beginning. I didn't want to make anyone complicit. When the time came that I could've used some help, it was too late. I had to keep going and get to safety before reaching out to anyone."

"Yet, you never did."

"I called my mother," Emily explained. "That's how I ended up here."

"Yes. I can see where you get your lying abilities from."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"I thought we had an understanding after Doyle. I'm on your side. I'd go to hell and back to help you. Pains me to say it, but you have all of your BAU friends who could have been just as helpful as I could, and you went to no one."

"I planned to reach out to you, but then I realized that something wasn't right. No way could someone have found me in Paris that fast."

"Quite the quagmire that was."

"No. We both know it's a mole. Someone from my unit at Interpol has to be a watchdog in their organization."

"Someone who knows you well enough to understand how you work."

"But not close enough to raise suspicion."

"We've crossed out quite a few names," Clyde told her.

"Reid told me."

"I've been looking through the office employee records."

"Anything stand out?" she asked.

"Yes and no."

"Elaborate please."

"Darryl Ingram stood out to us."

Her face scrunched and her head shook.

"I gave Reid my thoughts, though I admit we got distracted." Nate sidetracked mole talk. "It's not him. He told me a while back that he was having money trouble. He had a gambling problem and had to go to family for help. Because he was honest about it, I told him to take a little time off, find a gambler's anonymous program, and when he came back, he would be on probation. I didn't give him clearance to do much of anything except for basics. Though he could still hack things and look at cyber-attacks, he didn't have the access to find me in Paris."

"I didn't know that."

"He's a decent guy. I didn't want him to get in more trouble. He needed the job and was good at it, so as long as he stayed with the program and didn't get in trouble, I told him it would remain between us and he could work. A problem like that could be helped and didn't need to ruin his career."

"Are you sure the money was from family and not a pay off?"

"I'm sure. I talked with his mother who was giving him the money."

"That's… thorough."

"Yeah, well, it needed to be done."

"If not him, then who? You know your unit better than everyone. No one else had obvious signs or any red flags."

"The last few cases I've worked on all had something happen. There were roadblocks and setbacks that were way too coincidental to be coincidental. And that last case ended with McGowan taking a bullet and Dower in the morgue. I don't know who it is, but if we can find out how all the cases in the last few months were all connected or, better yet, how they were connected to Bardolino, we can narrow it down at least."

"We?"

"Don't be an ass, Clyde. I'm not hanging out here for a vacation. I want to figure this out."

"Good, because your trouble has become mine. As of a few days ago, I am wanted for questioning."

"What?" she asked with surprise and guilt. "What happened?"

"They were looking into known associates of yours and apparently, I fit the bill. Though, I've heard the call you made and the description you gave. I don't believe I look like either of the men at all."

"You don't." She groaned. "I'm sorry Clyde."

"I'm positive it's not the first time I've been or will be suspected of something. The BAU thought me responsible for selling out you and JTF-12. I'm going to think of this as a game we play."

"That's a terrible game."

"It is. Oddly enough, it's also motivating. When Hotch and your friends thought I was responsible for the Doyle situation, it just motivated me to get to you sooner and to do whatever had to be done to get there."

She smiled and put her head on his shoulder.

"Let's not allow this to come to the point where it's a retrieval mission."

He laughed, but she turned more somber.

"Honestly, Clyde, if it comes to that, I think you'd be retrieving my dead body and searching for Nate."

"Don't talk like that."

She shrugged. She knew she'd go down fighting to protect Nate.

"I suppose since you're here and a suspected accomplice, there's no chance you can get my laptop or anything from my London flat."

"Depends. What's on it and where in the flat is it? Techs combed your place for any evidence and found nothing."

"That's because they didn't know where to look. A girl's got to have her secrets," she playfully responded.

"Tell me where to look and I'll have one of my trusted people get everything."

She gave him very specific instructions on how to access her secure safe and exactly what to take out. She wanted her laptop as well as all the Nate files and documents.

"When you get them, promise me that you won't read the files. They're not relevant to the case," Emily begged. "They're personal."

"Ok," he agreed. "What about the laptop?"

"It's encrypted. When you get it, bring it to Penelope," Emily added in a very specific coding system that he should tell Penelope to use.

"Were you always such a good techie?"

"No, but London got lonely and I picked up a few things."

"Other than men?" he teased, lightening the mood.

"Yes, Clyde. Other than men."

"That's worrisome."

"How so?" she asked, laughing a little.

"You're the true superspy… and these criminals were still able to track you. Whoever is working for them has to be the best."

"My laptop is the key to figuring that out."

"I'm going to get it. We're going to figure this all out."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I hope so."

"Are you falling asleep on me, Darling?"

"What?" her eyes snapped open. "No. I'm awake."

"Liar. It's ok. Rest now. I'll keep watch tonight," he told her, reaching over her body to the nightstand where the security feed was playing on a small hand monitor that she put there before checking on Nate. "You'll be safe. Rest easy."

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Clyde squeezed her body toward his. There was so much more that he wanted to discuss, but it would wait. For now, he just wanted to do what he was sure she hadn't been doing, and take care of her, even if that meant just being there to play watchman.

Unfortunately, when morning approached, he got a call from his retrieval specialist that he sent to Emily's place, disturbing their sleep. Emily moaned at the intrusion, but remained there, half asleep while he got up to answer.

He came back toward the bed when he was done, sitting next to Emily's curled up body.

"Emily, I know you're awake."

"Not."

"Wakey, wakey," he said, gently shaking her.

"You're going?" she mumbled, eyes squinting.

"My source tells me there might be a witness to your friends' attack."

"Who?" She jumped up now, suddenly awake.

"One of the neighbors," he said. "Not sure who exactly, but I'm going to find out."

Stretching out, she moved over to face him.

"It's been over a week since it happened. Why hasn't this person come forward?"

"I can't answer that for sure. Maybe the men got to them and pressured them to stay quiet. I don't know. But this is the best, most direct route to clearing your name and mine. I want to finish our talk, but I need to share this with your team and then I may be on a flight to London to take care of this in person."

"Keep me informed," she made him promise.

"Do you have a way I can reach you?"

"Of course."

They shared contact information before he made his leave. But, even before that, he made her promise to take care of herself – and not in the typical Emily fashion. He wanted her to eat well, rest, and care for the kid. She agreed, readily. That was what she was doing anyway.

From there, Clyde went straight to the BAU office, calling Hotch on his way.

"Meet me in your office," Clyde said.

Hotch hopefully asked, "Did you find something?"

"I think so. I'm on my way to speak with you in person and discuss my next move."

"I don't suppose you're looking for my approval," Hotch said.

"Of course not. I just want you to be aware in case things go wrong. Someone needs to take over."

"I'll be there shortly," Hotch agreed. "Try not to do anything reckless between now and then."

"Who? Me?" Clyde joked. "Relax. I can't do anything from here. We'll talk soon," he said, hanging up and making his way there with no more delay.

Hotch, who had been closer to Quantico than Clyde was, beat him here.

"Took you long enough."

"Yes, well, I was a bit further than originally anticipated."

"Dave's place isn't that far."

"No. It's not. Keeping tabs on my whereabouts Agent Hotchner?"

"Can't be too careful."

"Let's get down to business, shall we."

Hotch nodded and motioned for Clyde to sit and tell him whatever he had to tell. The Brit began by informing him about the potential witness.

"Really? And what did the authorities get from them? Enough to clear Emily?"

"The witness is scared to speak up. I'm going to head there and see what I can find. Maybe I can convince them to talk and offer safety."

"Or get yourself arrested," Hotch threw out there.

"Possibly. Hence me telling you this. Should that happen, someone must get to the truth. This person didn't speak up for a reason. I'm going to find out why and clear her name, and, by extension, mine as well."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're not telling me something?"

"Don't you always have that feeling regarding me? You probably should," Clyde said with a smirk. "I've got a ticket booked and am on my way to London in the next few hours."

"Do what you need to do," Hotch encouraged.

Clyde nodded and, once again, reiterated that if things didn't go his way, someone needed to take over the job. Hotch promised he would. He was as determined as Clyde was to clear Emily and pave the way to getting her there with them, safe.

Before leaving, Clyde just said, "Tell Penelope that I'll have something for her when I get back and to take it easy until then."

"What will you have?"

"We'll see once I have it."

Hotch wasn't a big fan of Clyde's dramatics, but he knew the man brought results. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. He felt that this was one of those times and simply wished the other man luck while asking to be kept informed.

Once Clyde left, Hotch didn't have much time to dwell on things. Spencer came in early, a bit more put together than he seemed the previous day.

"How are you, Reid?" Hotch asked.

"Good… Better. Thanks."

"Want to talk about yesterday?"

"Not really."

Hotch nodded. "Ok. Well, get your head in the game today. Alright?"

"I will."

"Good. The rest of the team should be here soon, and we'll start looking a little more into Emily and do our normal briefing."

"Actually, I have something."

"You do?"

"Yeah." He pulled the notebook from his bag. "I've looked over everything and worked out a more accurate timeline of events."

He passed Hotch the handwritten timeline that the older man eyed carefully. It was filled with altered, more detailed versions of what they already knew, and completely unknown things.

Forehead wrinkled, Hotch looked to Spencer and asked, "How did you come up with this?"

Spencer shrugged. "When I was here helping Garcia and Clyde, I went through Emily's last few weeks very meticulously and came up with this."

It did start that way, but most of the details he was able to correct because of what Emily told him, starting from months ago when there was mention of cases with one too many coincidences and ending with the attack in Paris and her extrication to Virginia to hide out in a secluded rental cabin. Of course, that last part was left out, but he knew it to be true.

Hotch wasn't sure that he was completely buying it, but if it helped, the how wasn't as important as the result. At least not in the moment. "Ok. We'll share this with the team once they get here. I have some news too."

"You do?" Spencer asked, wide eyed and hopeful.

"I'll fill you in when everyone gets here. Take me through this timeline."

Spencer did. He went through every detail as much as he could without giving his contact with Emily away. The team showed up midway through and gathered around to listen to the rest.

"How did you figure this?" Derek asked when they all arrived to learn about the timeline.

"I spent a lot of time combing through all we found on Emily and based on all of our last communications, this seems to be a more precise picture," he told them.

"This should be able to help us fill in the blanks a little. You even profiled what her potential moves in the blank spots were," JJ added.

"I can look into that," Penelope offered.

"Hold up on that," Hotch ordered. "I wanted to talk about something Clyde informed me of this morning."

Everyone gave Hotch their full attention as he began to explain exactly what Clyde told him.

"So, if it all goes well, Emily's name is cleared and the Bardolino family takes a hit," Penelope happily surmised.

"I don't think it's that easy, Baby Girl," Derek said.

"Yeah," JJ agreed.

Dave added, "The witness may, hopefully, give them reasonable doubt with Emily, best case clear her, but it's unlikely that they'll incriminate the Bardolinos. I think finding that tie and taking them down is going to be our responsibility."

"But…" Penelope looked over her friends' faces. "That means Emily's still not safe. She won't be on the lamb, but she still can't come out into the world much either."

"We know," Hotch consoled. "We're going to work on that… Together. We just have to see how things pan out and do our part in the meantime."

That was exactly how their day went. They put their heads together and scoured through every little thing they had on Emily, on the crime families, on anything, and looked for something to stand out. They weren't having the best of luck, but, thankfully, things seemed to go better in London.

As soon as his plane arrived, he met his contact in a covert rendezvous spot where he gathered all the intel he could. Clyde managed the where, what, and who of the situation. Turned out, the witness was the neighbor right next door from them. She was home that night, woken from her sleep.

"When they questioned her at first, she said she wasn't home, but the security footage from the victims' home showed her walking to her apartment around nine that evening and not leaving again until late the next day."

"And what has she said since she was told that they knew she was there?"

"Nothing. She refuses to speak. Seems afraid, I'd say."

"I want to talk to her," Clyde insisted. He knew that he could compel the woman to talk, not physically, but through an emotional plea. While his motives weren't one hundred percent altruistic, his intentions were to clear Emily's name, to give her that freedom, and to free him from investigation. His boss was already on him about the situation. He and Emily both tied up in this mess… It wasn't good. Even though he convinced the man to give him time to fix it and made him believe in their innocence, there was only so much leeway he could be given.

"You know that may be difficult. You can't intimidate a witness, nor should you be anywhere near the situation unless you want to be questioned yourself."

"I'd like to talk to her and then we'll see. If I have to be taken in, fine. I didn't do anything and there is absolutely no connection to me and the case unless you count that I know Emily."

The other man nodded and gave Clyde the name and address. Her name was Mathilda Calhoun and she was a recovering addict supporting a young child. Clyde could think of a multitude of ways that the goons could have threatened her to keep quiet. Now, it was about approaching her the right way and convincing her staying quiet would be worse than speaking up.

After thanking his contact, he made his way through town, opting to go to Emily's apartment first. Though his retrieval guy found everything exactly where Emily said they'd be, he wanted a quick look himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, because he did, but he wanted to see if anything was missed. They thought there was a mole in Interpol and one that tied Emily into his or her mess, so who was to say that Emily wasn't already on the radar before this and that was how they found her so quickly.

When he got there, the door was unlocked, the place was torn apart by the investigators, and looking around seemed almost pointless. But he had to anyway. He had to make sure for himself that there was nothing there. Had he known the place would be such a mess, he might have thought differently. Clyde trekked through it as much as he could before calling it. There was nothing to be found. He had what he needed, but it was clear to him that more people than investigators and his guy tossed the place.

Straight from there, he went to visit the neighbor, Mathilda. It was late in the evening already, approaching too late for an unexpected visit, but he saw that as the perfect time. It would catch her off guard and he'd be able to gage the situation a little better by her reaction.

Her orange-red hair looked unbrushed, there were bags under her eyes, and she appeared frightened.

"Mathilda Calhoun?"

"Who are you?" she timidly asked.

"My name is Clyde Easter. I'm an agent with Interpol. I'd like to speak with you for a moment. May I come in?"

She poked her head out of the door and peered around making sure no one was watching before quickly waving him in.

"Thank you," he said and walked in.

Wasting no time, he told her that he was aware that police think she may have witnessed something.

"I did not," she insisted.

Sighing, he went in for the hard sell. "There's a woman. Her name's Emily. She is taking care of your neighbors' son right now, and they're hiding from some terrible people. The same people, I imagine, that have threatened you."

"No one –"

He held a hand up to stop her from lying. "Don't. Emily is my friend. She had done nothing but help those men and that child. Now she's in hiding, scared for her life, for the child's life, and afraid of being wrongfully imprisoned for a crime we both know she has not committed."

Mathilda looked away ashamed.

"And you have the ability to help her and that boy who has already lost one of his fathers and may very well lose the other." He could see he was getting to her, but he hadn't quite sold her yet. "You have a kid, yes?" he asked.

She quietly answered, "Yes."

"Single parent?"

"Yes."

"Imagine, if you will, what your child would feel if the one person he or she had left was in jeopardy of being taken away from them for something she didn't do, leaving him all alone when there was someone who, with just a few honest words, could prevent that."

She was silent.

"Hurts to think about, does it not?"

Still, she said nothing.

"Think about what staying quiet is doing to them. That little boy has people after him. They're trying to get to him, and I'm willing to bet the same people have threatened you."

"I wasn't…" she insisted.

"Oh… So you're just a wretched person then? You wish to see people harmed?"

"What? No!"

"What did they say to you? Tell me what happened, and then I can help you."

"You can't help me," she harshly whispered. "They said they'd take my son. They'd take him just to keep him from me. To taunt me."

Clyde shook his head and put a friendly hand on her shoulder. "These men, they're cowards. They will continue to threaten you unless you speak out. If you tell the authorities what you know, clear my friend's name, I promise I will get you out of here. You and your son…"

"Caleb," she told him.

"You and Caleb can live a better life without the stress of being threatened."

"I don't know if I can do it…"

"Let's start small," he said and guided her to sit so that they could talk comfortably. "Just tell me what you know first. Be honest."

She nodded and began to tell him all she knew. The woman, Emily, she said, had been coming over often, sometimes not leaving for days. The walls were thin and, sometimes she could hear them laughing or talking. The family never left the flat except for the woman. She saw them once, when Emily was leaving. They looked happy.

"And the night of the attack?"

"Those poor men," she said. "I heard the woman leave with the child. Through my window, I could see them get into a car. It wasn't one I had seen before."

She began to explain how she heard a commotion outside her flat that sounded like someone banging on the door.

"They broke it down. I froze. Someone was breaking in and I was afraid. When I got myself together, I was about to phone the police, but it was too late."

"Too late?"

"There was someone at my door. I wasn't going to answer. I tried to head for the window, but somehow, the man was in my home. He grabbed me by my hair and told me keep my mouth shut. If I called the police or got involved at all, they would take my son and make me suffer. He tied me up with duct tape and told me he'd let me go if I followed the rules. I could hear the screaming from their flat… I don't know how everyone didn't hear it."

Her eyes looked far away as she relived it. Clyde tried to keep her present and asked where her son was that night.

"At a mate's home, thankfully."

Clyde asked for as much detail about that night as possible before offering one more plea for her to go to the police. He offered her protection, to help her disappear after… whatever she wanted. It took some convincing, but, eventually, she agreed.

All that she shared with him, she told the police the next morning. He was relieved and called Hotch to let him know right away. The news passed through the team quickly and, for the first time, it felt like they were making progress; real progress. In a matter of days, Emily and the entire team would be in contact, but that definitely didn't mean things were better, just that Emily was no longer wanted for assault and murder.