Erin had been discreetly watching Emily for two weeks, trying to figure out if there was any truth to what Aaron had been feeling from her. There wasn't anything that she could really put her finger on, but there was still something a bit shifty about her behavior. Now, Erin just needed to figure out how to talk to her without making it obvious that Aaron had put her on that track. Sighing, she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee before settling behind her desk and starting to go over some reports that she needed to know before heading up to a meeting at eleven.

"You can't just head in there, Agent Prentiss. Chief Strauss has asked not to be disturbed this morning, as she's preparing for an important meeting with the Director in a few hours."

She frowned as she laid the report she was holding down on her desk and tried to compose her features into as neutral an expression as possible, since she didn't want to do anything that would set the woman off. "It's fine, Helen. I have a few moments to spare," she called out before watching Emily enter. They hadn't truly spoken since the inquest into the Foyet incident, and she wasn't certain what to be prepared for in that moment. "What can I do for you, Agent Prentiss?"

Before the woman responded, she closed and locked the office door, which caused Erin to frown a little as she watched Emily cautiously approach her desk and take a seat. "I know what you're doing, and that Hotch probably asked you to do some digging around me, but I need you to stop that."

Erin was surprised to hear the real concern in Emily's voice, and she frowned a little deeper as she slipped her glasses off her face and set them aside. "There have been concerns raised about your behaviour here and in the field, yes. As your Section Chief, I needed to follow those concerns to make certain that you were not endangering your team."

Emily's face tightened into a grimace, which told Erin that there was definitely something going on with her that she didn't want anyone else to know. "It's nothing, I'm just under some personal stress."

Erin cleared her throat as she leaned back in her chair, still watching Emily closely. "I'm afraid that I have to call you out on that lie, Emily. I've read the reports from your work in the field, and one thing that Agent Hotchner has stated over and over again is your ability to compartmentalize and not allow the outside world to affect your performance in the field. I witnessed that first hand in Wisconsin a few years ago. So, would you kindly tell me what is really going on? Because someone who is just under personal stress does not lock an office door to discuss that with her supervisor."

The grimace on Emily's face deepened before she looked up into Erin's eyes. There was a look of deep sadness there, and Erin licked her lips before reaching for her coffee and taking a sip of it in order to not start crying at the look. "Please, do not push this any farther than what I've told you, ma'am. You have children, and so do Hotch and JJ. What I am doing is the only thing I can do in order to keep everyone safe. You've been through the worst that an unsub can do, and I would never feel right if your children truly lost a parent this time. Please, drop it before you draw the wrong sort of attention onto yourself."

Erin watched as Emily glanced over at the picture of all the children that was behind Erin's shoulder, and tried not to comment on the fact that she swiped viciously at her undereye before looking at her once more. "We can protect you, Emily."

"The way that the FBI protected you and Haley? No. There are some unsubs who are too wily to get caught until it is too late, and they do not care about collateral damage as they zero in on their target, especially when they know that inflicting the most damage will destroy the target before they enter the endgame. And I do not want Jack or Elise to be that collateral damage once more."

Erin sighed as she shook her head lightly. "Aaron is not going to like that answer, I hope you know. But I will drop this for the moment if you agree to a few conditions."

"Go on."

"You need to act a little more like you normally do at work. That's what clued him into the fact that something is going on here. I know that you think you're like me, an unreadable, inscrutable, woman who keeps everything close to her chest, but the funny thing is that when you let people in and see you for who you really are, then they can read you in a heartbeat and call you on your bullshit. Or use their supervisor to do that work for them. That is my first condition."

"What other hoops do I need to jump through here?"

Erin felt her lips twist up wryly on one side of her mouth as she regarded the younger woman. "You need to come to me with any developments that might harm the team. I am expendable, the others are not, and I need to know how best to protect them."

Emily scoffed a little as she shook her head. "That, I'm afraid, I can't do. And before you protest, you and I both know that Hotch and Dave would hurt me if anything bad happened to you. Ever since Haley died, we've watched the way that Hotch has become more protective of you. And if something were to happen, I don't want to be the cause of it."

"Can you at least tell me what we're dealing with?"

Emily sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I hate that you push and dig, Erin. Because I can't tell you what's happening, not even who might be after me, because one wrong word in the wrong ear would spell disaster for too many people that I care about. Just know that I am handling it with the support that I can depend on, the people who have dealt with him before."

"Emily…"

"You and Dave both say my name in the same exact way. Though given how long you two have been together, I suppose that is to be expected. And I promise, I am looking out for myself. I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone, including me."

"And I suppose that that is where we have to leave things?" Emily nodded. "All right. Though I do not like it."

"I don't, either, but there are times when we have to do the things that we don't like because they are the only things that can keep our loved ones safe. That's all I want, Erin, at the end of the day." Erin looked deep into Emily's eyes as she nodded. "But if something should happen to me, something that I can't predict, I want you to know that I respect you much more than I ever thought possible. Look out for them, if I go."

She shivered a little at the finality of those words, and then gave Emily a small nod before getting to her feet and reaching across the desk. Emily got up and clasped it firmly, shaking it a few times before leaving her office, and Erin knew that nothing good would come from this situation that Emily found herself in. She just had to hope and pray that it didn't effect the rest of the team, if it was truly as dire as Emily had hinted.