As she sat in her office JJ sighed as she thought about what she was going to do. She had made plans for the team's time off. Will was flying up and they were going to talk more in depth about her pregnancy and the baby. She had been relieved that he had been excited when she told him she was pregnant. However, now she is going to have to tell him that they needed to postpone his trip after she had been called into work because of a case.

She and Will had really needed the time. Many of the worries she had when she found out she was pregnant hadn't been fully resolved yet. They had needed the time to work through some logistics as well as make future plans. But even with all of the issues unresolved, she felt more positive than she had in weeks. The excitement had radiated off of Will since she had shared the news that she was pregnant was palpable.

For work, her plan had been to tell Hotch about her pregnancy during their daily 1:1 meeting when they returned to the office next Monday. At that point she had expected to have more details about her plans. To have gotten some of the reassurances that she needed from Will so she'd have something concrete that she could share with Hotch.

But this case was putting a huge wrench into those plans. While she couldn't regret waiting it had already been longer than she had wanted to wait to tell Hotch. And she wouldn't be able to wait much longer. However it now looked like she would need to tell Hotch as soon as they got back from this case without some of the decisions her and Will needed to make.

####

When Emily arrived at the office with Spencer, there was already chaos in the bullpen as the team and other agents were processing the new reports from New York.

When she had come out of her room after showering and dressing, Hotch had been prepared to leave as well, having gotten ready in the other bedroom. Given the circumstance it started awkward but hadn't turned uncomfortable when Emily's phone beeped with a message from Reid asking if he could ride into the office with her. Hotch had kissed her on the cheek saying he would see them in the office before taking his bag and leaving. Emily had quickly collected her stuff and locked up before stopping to pick up Reid.

After dropping their bags off at their respective desks, Emily and Reid had headed up to the conference room where JJ and Rossi were already waiting. Moving over to the table they sat down and started to go through the file for the case. Emily sensed Hotch's presence before she heard his voice as he stepped into the room. Emily didn't look up from the file as she could feel her body reacting to him.

When Garcia and Morgan came into the room, Emily took the time to take a couple of deep breaths and calm herself. To put all of the personal stuff aside and focus on the professional. If they both can't do that then a relationship while they are both on the team wasn't going to work.

Looking up, she tossed a comment to Morgan and Garcia about better late than never as they both sat down at the table. As the rest of the team laughed, she glanced over at Hotch and gave him a smile before focusing on what JJ was presenting about the case.

The basics of the case the team was already familiar. They had been tangentially following it for the last several days though the New York office had said they had things under control. Something had to have changed that brought them all back in and they needed to know what that was.

As JJ was presenting there was suddenly a lot of chaos in the bullpen. When the team stepped out of the conference room to find out what the commotion was about they learned that there had just been an additional shooting in the last hour. With that announcement Hotch accelerated their planned time of departure before stating that Garcia was coming with the rest of the team to NYC.

####

While Hotch had spoken to Kate several times since the shooting in NYC had started as he looked out at the bullpen watching his team preparing to leave, he thought how this would be the first time he had seen her in several years. And he wasn't sure if he was ready for those two worlds to collide.

Hotch had initially met Kate during his assignment to the international taskforce just after he had finished his assignment with Ambassador Prentiss. Since his time in the Academy, he had made it known that he was interested in an international taskforce. And then the opportunity had been dangled in front of him just as he was led to believe that Emily had walked away from their relationship.

Given what they both now knew of the efforts of Emily's parents to separate them by arranging for him to be offered the taskforce assignment, he couldn't get over the irony of his connection to that taskforce in the form of Kate had come back into his life just as he and Emily were rekindling their relationship.

While on the taskforce Hotch and Kate had worked closely together. Then when the time came they had been placed undercover together. It had been his first time undercover. He had always been grateful for the guidance of the seasoned agent during that time. They had been successful in their mission though he had gotten himself pinned down before all was said and done. A situation where he had nearly been killed and probably would have been with Kate's intervention.

When that mission was complete, they continued working closely together on the taskforce and after some time they found themselves in bed together. She was the first one he had been with after Emily back then. As he sighed as he thought back to his insistence that he and Emily not talk about any of the relationship they each had when they were apart.

He had made the request because after the case in Roanoke where he worked with Cece Emily had wanted to talk about their respective past relationships. But he hadn't wanted to hear about who she had been with after they separated. Even thinking about it agitated him after learning the truth about how they had been broken up.

As had been the case with Cece he hadn't seen Kate in years. Given the nature of the work they did together and that most of the details from that assignment weren't in his official job history, he rarely mentioned that time to others. He and Kate did still speak on occasion and they were aware of the changes in each other's lives and careers.

He shook his head as he hadn't come into contact with either of them during his marriage to Haley. What were the chances just as he was starting a relationship with Emily that he really wanted that within a few months that both of these former lovers would come back into his life?

He wanted to explain to Emily. Had planned on mentioning what he could about his past with Kate during the days that they had off. The parts of that assignment that he was allowed to share. Given that some of their history was classified which was going to be a separate and awkward conversation.

But their time off had been cut short and now there wasn't the time to speak to her privately before they left on the case. The additional victim only accelerated their departure, barely giving him time to do the tasks he needed before heading to the jet. He just hoped that she would trust him until he could explain later.

####

Dave shook his head as the jet prepared to land in NYC. Of the details they knew about this case, there was going to be a high potential for mass panic. Multiple victims already. No consistency with area or victim type. NYC had been through this before and the team knew they were going to need to hit the ground running when they arrived.

And that was before the conversation on the jet about Kate Joyner. Derek had already been suspicious about her, having heard rumors about her that Dave had heard as well though had taken what he heard with a grain of salt.

Given the size of the NYC field office, gossip wasn't surprising. Despite improvements since before his retirement, women in many departments weren't readily accepted. Women in leadership positions were frequently judged more harshly than their male counterparts. Add to that that Agent Joyner was British and an outside hire.

But then Hotch had opened his mouth about her. It hadn't been surprising for Hotch to attempt to dispel the rumors about the head of a field office. In order to be most effective on the case, they needed everyone to go in with an open mind.

But Hotch hadn't stopped there. And in doing so he revealed that he knew Agent Joyner. After confirming that he had met her, Hotch had gone on to start uncharacteristically rambling, revealing to the team more than Dave expected Hotch planned. Revealing that he knew more about her than they generally would know about other agents. Dave watched as the others observed him curiously about how he knew all of this personal information particularly about her parent's nationalities.

And then he confirmed for all of them a detail that not one of them had been willing to connect on their own.

We liaised when she was with Scotland Yard.

A euphemism for they had been involved that most people would have gotten let alone a group of profilers. So at that disclosure the plane became silent. Dave hadn't missed a look from Emily that clearly indicated that Hotch hadn't spoken to her privately about his connection to Agent Joyner or whatever their past relationship had entailed.

Dave shook his head again as he thought about that oversight. This wasn't a brand new case that had landed on his desk that day. But while Hotch should have told Emily they couldn't focus on that now. They had to focus on the case.

And that is where Dave had concentrated his attention. At least until they walked into FBI HQ and were greeted by a taller doppelganger of Hotch's ex-wife with a British accent.

A quick assessment of the rest of the team showed that the resemblance wasn't lost on any of them. Neither were the looks of concern in light of the disclosure on the plane. No sooner had they been introduced then Agent Joyner requested to speak to Hotch privately and he agreed, leaving the rest of them in limbo about getting started.

####

While Hotch had revealed what he could, what could be officially verified in their official records without outright lying to them, he knew he had messed up the delivery about his past with Kate Joyner. He was used to being straight with his team.

And from the delivery he could see on their expressions that they had gotten what he could share. Yes they knew each other, they met during work and yes they had slept together. And unfortunately he couldn't add any context to the statement since that was all classified and not in either of their official job histories.

When they arrived at FBI HQ, Hotch was anxious to introduce the team to Kate. He was hoping over the course of the case they would see why she had gained his loyalty and respect years earlier even if he couldn't share how she had gotten it. But even that hadn't gone smoothly.

As Kate came out to join them, he hadn't missed JJ's whispered statement about how much she looked like Haley. And while he hadn't recognized it before he could see it now. As he was introducing the team he noticed Kate focus in on both Morgan and Emily when he said their names.

####

Emily sighed nervously as she walked over to get a cup of coffee as the team waited for Hotch to give them their assignments after he finished meeting with Agent Joyner. The team had just met briefly with a suspicious pair of detectives. And after what Cooper had described Joyner's actions so far on this case, Emily couldn't really blame them for being wary of the BAU team.

As they waited, she shook her head at what she had learned since they left DC. She had felt since this case had first come onto the team's radar that something had had Hotch on edge. Her stomach had dropped when it was revealed on the jet who the head of the NYC field office now was. However that was nothing compared to hearing Hotch come as close as he did to singing her praises. He must have seen a different side of her than the agent Emily had known or what Morgan and apparently Dave had heard.

But nothing had prepared her for his comment about how they had 'liaised'. Just like the rest of them on the jet, she knew what that meant. And she had so many questions about how they knew each other and why had he not said anything to her when this case had come up.

But as she waited for the coffee to be ready, she sighed as she recalled the comment JJ made as they arrived – 'she looks just like Haley'. And she did for the most part. Taller for sure but other than that very similar to Haley just had according to Reid's description the prosecutor from the case in Roanoke.

And again Emily found herself unsettled at the revelation. If that was his type then why did Hotch want to be with her?

And if he was going to have a past relationship with someone why did it need to be her–

Kate Joyner

That was a name she hadn't heard in a while and honestly could have gone the rest of her career without hearing again. Unfortunately Emily had her own history with Kate Joyner and her memories of their interactions weren't nearly as pleasant as the ones apparently Hotch had about her.

They had met when Emily was on JTF-12. Emily had found Kate ambitious, cocky, and rude the first time they had met. Future interactions hadn't improved her opinion of the other woman.

When Emily came to JTF-12 she found that Kate had thought that her previous working relationship with Clyde Easter would increase her chance of being assigned to the taskforce that had been dubbed the 'best and the brightest'. But it hadn't and Kate hadn't taken that well. It hadn't surprised Emily that Clyde and Kate had wanted to work together as they were both brash, cocky and arrogant to a fault. Luckily, the mission, at least at the beginning, had limited Emily's interactions with her.

In the aftermath of the Doyle mission Kate had been judgemental of Emily while directing all of the blame for how things went down as well as the breakup of the taskforce onto Emily. In doing so Kate had made what had already been a difficult experience even more so. While she was officially involved in the inquiry, Kate wasn't a decision maker.

Emily did however come to blame Kate for having a role in no one ultimately being held responsible for the breakdowns within the team while she was undercover with Doyle. It had taken some time afterwards to work through with Alicia some of the blame Kate had dumped on her and come to terms with it.

With that history Emily just wanted them to solve this case and get back to DC as quickly as possible. She didn't trust herself right now to stop and process Hotch's past with Kate.

####

As Hotch caught his breath later that day, he thought back to his conversation with Kate when the team first arrived..

What can you tell me about Derek Morgan?

Hotch had looked at her suspiciously. She was the head of the FBI's NYC office. He knew she still had connections from her time with Scotland Yard and MI6. He was sure basic information about his agent could have been obtained from any of those sources. But no, she was looking for personal information. He hadn't answered but instead asked her why.

That is when she shared that she was getting push back from the Bureau. Pressured to quickly solve this case or risk being reassigned. That if she did lose her position, she had learned that Morgan was on the shortlist to replace her.

To Hotch the whole thing sounds ludicrous yet political enough to be believable. While Derek Morgan was a good agent it would be a huge jump to go from being a member of an elite team to suddenly being put in charge of a field office in a major metropolitan area. That promotion would have him pole vaulting several levels to an equivalent rank as Strauss. And past many other career agents in the process.

And that was separate from how he felt about the team losing Morgan when Hotch's own future plans were based on Morgan taking over as Unit Chief of the BAU. Hotch had only been working intensively with Morgan on leadership skills for a few months. Morgan could be ready now for a leadership role in a smaller capacity somewhere where he could grow into the role.

But not New York City. There was no way he was ready given the size and scope of that office. Not to mention Morgan would need to be in a much better place with his trust issues in order to be successful with the amount of delegation that that role would require. And trust from others for him would be in short supply given how many dedicated yet ambitious agents who had worked for years up the chain of command would be angered by this promotion.

Hotch tried to tamp his anger down as what he learned reeked of Strauss' interference. He should have expected that she had been up to something as she had been quiet lately. Much too quiet.

After Milwaukee Strauss hadn't been able to transfer any of them. Firing anyone would take evidence that didn't exist. So it appeared she was working to transfer members of his team to roles they weren't ready for and then wait for them to fail.

Rumor had it that she had made sure just that had happened with colleagues when they worked the Amerithrax case years earlier. Those two agents were still slowly crawling their ways back up the ladder within the FBI after their demotions and transfers to the Midwest.

Hotch shook it off the ramifications, at least for now. He couldn't worry about Strauss at the moment. He couldn't control what she did. What he could control was the effort that he and his team put in to solve this case as quickly as possible. But the pressure to solve this case quickly just accelerated. In addition to being the best for the people of New York City now it looked like it was what was best for both Kate and Morgan albeit for different reasons. And he sighed for the future of the BAU.

He was brought out of his contemplation when Kate then asked,

What do you know about Emily Prentiss?

Confused, Hotch looked back at her; however, before he could ask her to clarify why she wanted to know, they were interrupted by an update about the case.

Now that he had gotten a moment, Hotch worried about how Emily's name had come up. Was she also on the short list to run the NYC office? Was Strauss attempting to have Emily transferred to OPR again? Or was Strauss working on a different plan to sabotage Emily's career?

As much as he wanted to ask, for now they needed to focus on this case as tensions were rising. To that end he was going to need to keep Kate focused on this case instead of spending time questioning him about members of his team. He would plan to circle back to it with Kate once this case was solved.