"How's your breathing?" Emily asked, sitting on the table as Riley zipped up the fly of her jeans.

"It's better, I think," Riley said, pushing some of her frazzled hair aside. "I told them an X-ray wasn't necessary, but they wouldn't listen."

"Well, better safe than sorry," She replied. "I couldn't even remember how to walk the first time I got shot in a vest. If you had known how bad it would hurt, do you think you'd still have gone along with it?"

Riley let out a slow, painful breath. "Yes, I would have."

Her decision was so determined, Emily couldn't help but be curious. "Why?"

"Why do you think, Em?" Riley matched her gaze with shining eyes. "I couldn't let him go alone. Even if I didn't love him, that's not fair."

Emily obviously didn't understand, and Riley explained. "It was my turn to save him."

She looked away, pushing more of her hair aside in an embarrassed way. "Please don't tell Spencer I told you that."

Emily brushed her bare shoulder, "It's our secret." She agreed.

They both turned as the click of the door handle sounded, watching as Reid stepped inside. His hand hung onto the door, staring at Riley a moment in awe, looking right back at him. He couldn't help but adore how her tongue absentmindedly brushed over her lips in the way that still tantalized him so.

She didn't need to be asked. "I'll leave you guys alone." Emily said with a smile. She gave Reid a brush on the arm as she stepped out. He easily closed the door behind her.

"You wasted your time with med school." He stated, almost sounding bitter.

"Oh, I did, did I?" She asked, going on the defense.

"Yeah… you should have gone to Juilliard." His face spread into a teasing grin.

She gave a small laugh, "Thank you,"

Reid stepped closer to her. She stood in her jeans and burgundy bra, the rest of her torso bare. Normally, the sight of her like this would drive him crazy, but his eyes focused to the center of her chest, where a large purple bruise had already formed.

His hand landed on the mark. Her heart beat was beneath his fingers, speeding up at his touch. Reid didn't want to get emotional, willing himself not to think what the bullet would have done had a vest not been there. "Does that hurt?"

"A little," she mumbled. "I'm not as big a baby as you were, if you notice."

He was in no mood to make light of this. "Are you going to be okay? What did the X-ray show?"

"Just some muscle bruising from landing on the floor so hard." She nodded. "Nothing that won't heal itself in a day or so."

Unable to speak, he nodded, "Okay…" With the exception of her fingers, he seemed reluctant to touch her, like she were some porcelain doll that would break if he didn't handle her delicately.

Riley's hand landed on his cheek. "Are you alright?" The emotional toll was more evident on him than any physical injury could be.

He wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. "I shouldn't have let you go down there. I put you in danger, and I'm supposed to protect you."

Her fingers slid up into his hair, "Spencer… I realize you think of yourself as my knight in shining... whatever, and you are, but I chose to go down there. You and your monstrous brain don't seem to comprehend just how much you mean to me." Arms went around his neck, reaching up to press her forehead against his. "I may have just been a diversion, I may have just been putting on a show… but that doesn't make what I said any less true… I love you."

He smiled, his body betraying him as a few tears dripped down. Reid's arms at last went around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder, holding her as close as possible, never wanting to let her go. He felt her lips on his temple, finally feeling like this was over.

Emily headed down the hall in search of coffee. It was late and she assumed even with everything getting back to normal, she wouldn't be going to bed for a long time. She took a glance into the second room, her steps slowed as she smiled.

Morgan came around the corner, grabbing her attention instantly. "Hey, Prentiss… what are looking at?"

"JJ," she pointed into the window. Morgan came to see for himself, just as pleased to see the young woman holding her son with Will's arm around her, holding her close.

"Another family reunited," Morgan said. "I spoke to Hotch. He said for everyone to call it a night, but we have to be back at the unit in the morning, just to clear everything up."

"Fine with me," Emily announced. "After a month on this case, paperwork never sounded so good. This case was… intense."

"Yeah," Morgan agreed, both still observing the family in the room, all so ecstatically happy to be together. "Something like this really puts your priorities into prospective…"

Emily nodded in agreement, oblivious to the fact his attention had left the window and was focused on her. He knew what he wanted; it was just the matter of admitting it.

"Well, I'm going to call it a night." She said, meeting his eyes. "See you tomorrow, Morgan."

"Prentiss, wait," Morgan called before she could get away. She stopped, looking back at him. Even worn and tired as she was, he thought she looked beautiful. He did not want to go another night without her. "You want to get a drink?"

"No, I'm going home." She continued her departure. "Alone."

As Reid came in the next morning, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Nathan Harris was caught now, his team and family were safe, Riley was on the mend, and his parents would be returning home today. He should be joyful, or at least relieved. But he wasn't. All he felt like was he postponed the inevitable.

His desk was messy with papers from yesterday. They were no use to him now, and went to clear them away. But his hand stopped, spotting a white envelope with his first name scribbled on it. He recognized that handwriting.

"Morning, Reid," Morgan exclaimed, coming in with a cup of coffee. "Riley didn't come in with you?"

"No… she's packing." He said, distractedly looking over the paper. "She'll be here this afternoon."

"I'm surprised she's letting you out of her sight," His eyes landed on the object of Reid's attention. "What's that?"

"He just left…" He muttered, "Again."

"What are you talking about?" Morgan asked.

Immediately, Reid ripped open the paper. He extracted a piece of college ruled loose leaf, folded thrice; the handwriting matching that on the envelope. Within seconds, he silently read.

Spencer,

My return to Quantico was never to be permanent, I'm sure you know that. I feel there was no better time to leave than now. I fulfilled what I intended to do and feel confident in what I leave behind, even more than I had before. And like before, the only way I can say goodbye is in a letter.

As I said, you are a much stronger man than I. You've handled the stress and horrors of this better than I could at your age, better than I could after years of experience. And yet you've managed to keep an innocence about you that sees good in the world. That's why you still have faith that Nathan can change. I lost that a long time ago. I'm sure a lot of your teammates have as well. I hope, as you grow and learn, that part of you – that light – will never burn out.

There's not much wisdom left I can leave you. In fact, I think you could teach me a thing or two about this place. What I can tell you is how proud of you I am, as I've always been. You've met and exceeded every expectation I had of you, as a profiler and as a man.

I don't believe this will be the last time our paths cross. I do hope the next time will be under much happier circumstances. With Riley in your life, I believe the chance of that is good. You don't have to be a profiler to know how you feel about that girl or where the two of you are heading. So I send you both with all the best wishes and happiness the world can offer. You truly deserve it.

Gideon

"He's gone." Reid uttered, taking a seat. "I didn't see him when he arrived… and I didn't see him when he left."

Morgan didn't know what to say. He knew how hard he took it when he first left. "I'm sorry, kid. Are you mad?"

"No…" He said truthfully, looking up. His expression was soft and sincere, "I understand now… this isn't his place anymore."

Still, even though he assured he wasn't upset, Morgan had a suspicion there was something he wasn't saying. "Reid… seriously, what's wrong? Everything okay with you and Riley?"

"Yeah, we're great…" Reid nodded. "I just… do you ever get the feeling… a case isn't over?"

"Like we caught the wrong guy?" He wondered.

"No, like… you've got the right guy and he's going away, but…" His fear finally bubbled to the surface, "Do you ever feel like this isn't the last time you're going to see him?"

"Sometimes," He explained, "but none of those cases ever ended like this one. We got the guy. It's over."

Reid still wasn't convinced. "Then why do I have this feeling? Why do I feel like we're not done yet… that there's still more to do."

"Reid, you've been through a lot. More than you've ever been in a case and hopefully never will again. It's just nerves. It'll go away. And Nathan Harris? That boy is going away for a long time, more than likely, the rest of his life. You are never going to see him again."

With a reassuring grin, Morgan patted Reid on the arm. He stepped away; Reid clutching Gideon's letter, "We'll see."

The morning was calm and slow, just what the team needed. They did their paperwork in peace, enjoying the serenity so much, they didn't even seem to mind it was a Sunday. Morgan was heading to Garcia's office as he ran into JJ.

"I thought you'd be taking the day off today," Morgan called, more than happy to see her.

"I'm not staying long, I just wanted to fill out my reports and get things ready for the next case. You guys are heading to De Moines in the morning."

"We'll be working while you get the week off." He playfully whined. "I wish I had gotten kidnapped, too. I could use a vacation."

They laughed for a moment, only stopping when Elle crossed their paths. "I'm out of here, guys. Take care." And with that, headed to the elevators.

Excusing himself from JJ, Morgan chased after her. "Elle, wait." He called.

Thankfully, the car was slow. He caught up with her in plenty of time. "Just like that, you're leaving? And you're goodbye is 'take care'?"

"I just want to get out of here." She moaned, folding her arms.

"I realize that, but you could give us a real goodbye this time." Morgan stated. "Why don't you meet us for a drink later?"

"No," She shook her head. "I've been here much longer than I intended. Trust me, Morgan, if I had any doubts about leaving this place… after spending a month here, I don't anymore."

"Elle… you're struggling with a lot of internal demons." Morgan pointed out. "Sometimes you can't deal with that on your own. You wouldn't look for help before and you killed a man."

"It was self-defense." She snapped.

"You can keep saying that." He wasn't fooled. She could see that in his eyes. "If you don't do something about this, who knows what you'll do next time. You could harm someone else, or worse, yourself. You need help, and I'm not giving up on you until you do."

The doors slid open and Elle stepped in. Morgan put his arm over the door to stop it from closing. She had such a bitterness about her, so much hate and anger and torment that had taken control of her. Elle couldn't help but be cruel, even to one who had been one of her best friends. "You think I have a problem? Well, maybe I do, but honestly, who's got the bigger problem, Morgan? The one who left her problems behind… or the one staying here while he's struggling with his?"

"What problem am I supposed to have?" He asked in doubt.

"Well… I'm not the one who's in love with his partner."

Stunned, he backed away, removing the block from the door. "If you're referring to Prentiss, you don't know what you're talking about."

"You can keep saying that…" She said with a pleased sneer as the door closed, removing her from the BAU once again.