Here, we check back in with the team. Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Beginnings

The team was frustrated. Once they learned about the situation, naturally, they were concerned about Emily. None of them had any idea where she was or what was going on, and now they knew she was thought to be a murderer. There was a lot of confusion and a lot of anxiety spread throughout the roundtable room.

After the bomb was dropped that Emily was a suspect, Garcia went into back tracking Emily's recent movement. There was nothing unusual on her phone records or in her spending habits except for the higher grocery bill and fewer phone calls. That wasn't exactly a red flag.

"She lives in London. They have the most CCTV Cameras in the world. A person can get caught on camera about 70 times a day, even up to 300. So, there must be something that will help us track her movements. And I'm on it," she assured everyone, hoping that would help the glum mood.

Except, she didn't find Emily. Not at first anyway. That would come later.

In the meantime, they had plenty of other things to search and profile.

Derek, clearly wanting answers, tried to give them movement. "Let's talk more about this James guy. And who was that with him? The one that died. Who was he?"

"I had my people look into him," Clyde said. "He had multiple IDs as well, none of them real. Prints weren't in the system. DNA is being run, but the problem is that we don't know where he is from. The IDs were from all over the world."

"What's his connection to Hadley?" JJ wondered.

"They were living together. The place was cleared out. Aside from furniture, all that was found were two suitcases and rail tickets."

"Where were they going?"

Clyde showed him the pictures. Both train tickets were for opposite ends of England. The team tried to make sense of it to understand what happened better. So far, it wasn't working.

"Has Emily had contact with James recently?" Reid asked.

"Phone records show no obvious connection, but if they were using burners, it is possible. I wanted to get into Emily's flat, but there were police watching, waiting to execute a search. I am waiting to hear from one of my contacts in the force who is feeding me all the information and sending pictures. I will let you know what they find as soon as I know."

Garcia had been following all their conversations since news broke. Though she was confident that she could find something somewhere in her searches, there were so many different avenues she could take, and she needed to know which was the most promising.

"So where do I start? Am I looking more into Emily's past with this James Hadley – who, might I add, she has never, not once mentioned to us – so that I can prove that it wasn't her that attacked them, hopefully," she muttered that last part. "Or do I try to search more about James and try to figure out who the other guy really is, so that we can figure out who could be after them and potentially connect their enemies to the murder instead of Emily?"

Hotch stood up and directed everyone. "Garcia, look into James. See if you can find any recent contact between them as well. After that, try to go through security footage anywhere around the crime scene. Ok?"

"On it, Boss Man."

"Morgan, you and Dave go through the autopsy. Profile the murder and the assailant. Rossi and JJ, you work with everybody to create a timeline of events and, as much as I don't want to think Emily had anything to do with this, try to work out what her motive could have been." He said that, shaking his head.

"What are you going to do?" Dave asked, watching the younger man carefully.

Clyde stepped in. "I was hoping he'd escort me to pay Ambassador Prentiss a friendly visit."

"And that is exactly what I'll be doing. If anyone finds anything, call immediately."

Hotch and Clyde made a quick detour to his office to grab his keys before the two went down to the parking garage. They got into Hotch's personal vehicle and drove to the Prentiss estate. During the drive, the two spoke briefly, Hotch wanting to make it clear how it would all play out.

"Have you ever met Elizabeth?" Hotch asked.

"Not in person, no. I've been known to interrupt video chat on occasion. We've had minimal contact."

"This should be fun then," Hotch said to himself. "We don't want to alarm her, so don't go in their guns blazing."

"I know how to talk with women Hotchner."

Rolling his eyes, Hotch responded, "I don't doubt that." No, he was sure Clyde had a way with the ladies just like Derek did, and he was sure the Englishman had dealt with a few classier women such as Elizabeth, but he wasn't sure Clyde really understood what he was in for.

"We're not interrogating her," Clyde said. "We're paying her a friendly visit to tell her what is happening and to see if she knows anything. I'm certainly capable of handling that."

"Don't reveal too much. Follow my lead."

"Sir, yes, sir," Clyde joked. Again, Hotch just rolled his eyes.

The two worked on their strategy. If Emily used Elizabeth as an excuse, even though Elizabeth already said she and her daughter had no plans, there was still a possibility that she knew something. If there was even that slight chance, they had to roll with it.

Arriving at the estate, Hotch parked his car and watched as Clyde got another look at the Emily he knew and the one she grew up as. He was putting the pieces together, merging what Emily told him with what he was seeing.

Clyde looked at his current companion and sarcastically asked, "Shall I ring, or should I follow your lead on that one as well?"

"You're a big boy. I think you can handle it. Go ahead, it's that white button right there."

It was Clyde's turn to roll his eyes as he rang the doorbell. A housekeeper greeted them and escorted them into the house. She asked if Elizabeth was expecting them, to which they answered no, but it was important that they talk to her, was she home.

"One moment," she told them and left to get her employer.

Elizabeth walked into the room with a commanding presence and a small but forced smile on her face.

"Agent Hotchner, good to see you again," she greeted. "And you, Clyde. How nice to meet you in person."

"You as well, Elizabeth," Clyde said, taking her hand to his lips and placing a gentlemanly kiss on top of it.

"Well, gentlemen. To what do I owe the pleasure? A social call I'd hope, but given this unexpected visit and both of your manners, I know you wouldn't drop by without calling first. So it must be more emergent. Clyde, does this have to do with what we talked about? Is it Emily?"

"Yes ma'am. We are here about Emily," he confirmed.

Hotch just watched it played out. Seemed to him like he was going to be the one following Clyde's lead.

"Why don't we take a seat in the parlor," Elizabeth suggested and asked her housekeeper to bring out some tea and coffee for the guests. Once seated, she spoke, "I told you that we had no plans to meet. Is she… missing?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, I'm afraid," Clyde began.

Hotch stepped in. "Are you sure you haven't spoken to her lately?"

"I'm sure," she responded. "A few weeks ago, we discussed holiday plans, but like I told Clyde when we spoke, it's been just about two months."

She eyed them carefully and they did the same. They wanted to know if she knew more than she led on and she wanted to know if they knew something she didn't.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

The men looked to each other, silently reaffirming what they would be telling her.

"It seems there has been some trouble in London."

"Seems there has been or is…?" Elizabeth glowered. Emily had failed to mention what was going on in her life.

"Is, Elizabeth," Hotch answered. "There is some trouble surrounding Emily."

"Will the two of you just get to a point here? What is going on with my daughter?"

"One of Emily's friends recently… passed."

"Passed… You mean died," she surmised. "Which friend? Emily must be devastated. She has lost so much in her life…"

"Ma'am." Hotch tried to get her to focus. "Her friend was murdered, and another badly beaten. James Hadley is currently receiving treatment at the hospital in London."

"Oh my. And Emily… Is Emily ok? Was she hurt? What happened?"

"As far as we know, no she is alright."

"As far as you know? Whatever does that mean?" She moved to the edge of her seat.

"Elizabeth, darling, we need to ask you a few questions," Clyde tried to pull her attention and keep her from asking any questions that would lead to potentially upsetting answers, which, in turn, would keep her from doing what they needed.

"Do you remember or know anything about James Hadley?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. He and Emily were very good friends in high school, and, unfortunately, that was when Emily and I were reaching a low point in our relationship. She kept everything from me."

"Anything would be helpful," Hotch encouraged.

"He was a very outgoing boy. He befriended Emily shortly after we returned to the states so she could finish out high school here. Garfield High. They were in the same class and both… different."

"Different? Different how?"

"Emily began cycling through different phases once we got here. Every other week, there seemed to be a new Emily. It was… interesting to say the least. Things were rarely dull with that girl."

They could imagine.

"She met him soon after your arrival?"

"Yes. They were fast friends from what I can tell. She brought him home about a month after we got here. He was a good boy."

"How so?"

"Well, Emily wouldn't ever tell me this herself," Elizabeth began recounting, "But the kids weren't very accepting of her when she started. I doubt that was an only occurrence either. Emily, though, liked to deal with things herself. I was just glad she had someone to talk with. God knows she wouldn't say anything to me unless we were arguing. Thankfully we were always arguing otherwise I doubt we'd have spoken at all."

They continued to ask her questions about James' history, and she answered as best she could, but her mind wandered back to many years ago, when her daughter was still a child and James was just becoming a part of her life.

Emily was sixteen and the bane of her mother's existence… sometimes. At the very least, Emily knew how to push her mother to the very edge, and it seemed that their relationship had become more and more contentious as she got deeper into the teen rebellion.

Suffice it to say, Emily was not happy about going to yet another new school after the umpteenth move and now it seemed like she was cycling through personalities. It was driving Elizabeth insane. Every day she'd come home not knowing what to expect from her daughter. It didn't help that recently, Emily seemed more distracted and withdrawn from her than usual. Any attempts to even broach the topic or any conversation at all were thwarted by Emily leaving for school early to meet "friends" or coming home late after clubs and studying. Elizabeth had the sneaking suspicion that her daughter had a boyfriend. She was on the lookout.

Her snooping and Emily's attitude came to a precipice only a few weeks after setting foot back in Virginia. Things were starting to settle into a routine, finally appearing to calm down. Emily had taken to just silently acknowledging Elizabeth, nodding and waving, the occasional grunt. That was a step up from the continuous yelling, screaming at each other over the smallest of things, so Elizabeth was happy for the reprieve, but had the inkling that there was more to it than Emily growing up. With Emily, it was probably a boy. She was stuck on that theory.

Elizabeth's sleuthing proved her correct. There was a boy in her house, and she was not ok with that. Three days in a row, Elizabeth saw someone leaving just as she came home, a car only, but it had to be a boy. And then, she could hear a car pull into the driveway late at night. She wrote it off as just ambient noise at first, but their driveway was too long for it to sound so close from the road.

Someone had been coming and going from her home at all hours and it wasn't her daughter… most of the time. She was sure Emily, too, snuck in and out more times than she was aware of. But this was the last straw. Emily knew the rules. She could have friends over, even boys if she had permission, but not in her room and not with the door closed. And when she came home that evening, Elizabeth found a strange car in their driveway and heard music playing.

She didn't think too much of it at first. After all, Emily was allowed visitors in her own home. But upon walking into the house, she saw a young man's jacket and shoes in the foyer. It was clear as day Emily was breaking the rules and not even covering her tracks.

"Oh, that girl can be so frustrating," Elizabeth huffed. Still, she was giving her daughter the benefit of the doubt and walked into the living room hoping to find her sitting there studying with a classmate. Unfortunately, her hopes were set too high.

"Emily?!" she called out.

No one answered, so, fuming, she followed the soft melody of the music up the stairs and toward Emily's room. The fact that she didn't hear much of anything other than the jazz playing made her all the more concerned about what was going on in there and more determined to break it up.

Fists clenched, Elizabeth shook her head and prepared herself for entry. Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and found her daughter and some hoodlum boy touching… hugging, but that was still too much touching for her tastes.

"Emily Prentiss. What the hell is this? You are not allowed to have boys in your room with the door closed, and definitely no boys in the house without permission!"

"What are you doing in my room?!" Emily screamed, getting off her bed and leaving her friend there, wide eyed and worried. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"

"This is my house. I don't have to knock if I don't want to." Elizabeth engaged in a hard stare down with her daughter. "But you do have to follow the rules." Her daggers for eyes trained on the next victim. "You in the ridiculous t-shirt, learn when your exit is cued and get out."

Emily scoffed and held out her hand when her friend tried to get up. "James, stay! You don't need to go. This is my room and I want you here."

"Emily I…" James tried to speak.

"Stop talking," both Emily and Elizabeth said. Wide eyed and stunned, James held his hands up in surrender and plopped back down on the bed.

"What were you doing in here with this… this…"

"Boy?" Emily finished for her mother. "You can say it. Boy. He has a penis so he's…"

"Emily!"

"What? He does."

Frustrated and in a sense of awe, not the good kind, hearing her daughter, Elizabeth wasn't even sure how to continue, but she knew she had to say something. So, ignoring the boy practically cowering on the bed and the endless number of quips running through her mind, she addressed Emily.

"His anatomy aside, Emily, you know the rules. What is he doing in your room?"

"We're talking."

"It looked like more than talking when I walked in."

"Well then you should have walked in two minutes earlier when I was in nothing but my bra and underwear and he didn't have anything on at all."

"Emily!" James yelled, his attempt to deny that happened silenced by Elizabeth's hand gesture.

"That's not even funny, Emily." Her face changed from anger to concern. "I really do hope you're just trying to mess with me, because that's not acceptable behavior. You're sixteen. I don't want you having sex or god forbid getting pregnant. I'm not old enough to be a grandma. You could have a bright future, but not if you waste it on some hormone addled tryst."

Though it struck a nerve, Emily didn't let anything show. "God mother, you're so dramatic. We weren't having sex."

"Then what were you doing?"

"I told you that we were talking."

"About what?" she asked with narrowed, untrusting eyes.

"That's none of your business," Emily stated, her attitude out in full force. "What we talk about is between us."

James spoke, "Emily, just tell her."

"No! It's not her business," she told him.

"Oh no… are you already pregnant? I blame your father for this. What will people think? What am I supposed to do about this? Is this the deadbeat?"

"I'm not pregnant!" she yelled. She went on a tirade defending James and how he'd be a great father if she was pregnant, but she wasn't.

Elizabeth started in on the rules of the house again and told her how disappointed she was before going on to say that Emily needed to stop the rebellion. She was going to get herself in trouble that Elizabeth wouldn't be able to get her out of. She needed better friends that would help her and be there for her, and that was what she needed to focus on; that and school, not canoodling with sex crazed boys. Again, Emily moved to defend herself and James, but she wouldn't have it. Elizabeth didn't want another explanation.

Seeing the craziness escalate, James finally managed to get a word in, and not a moment too soon. "We weren't doing anything. I swear."

"No? Then what exactly was the purpose of a closed door and privacy in my daughter's bedroom?"

"We just wanted to talk… alone," he told her.

"In an empty house, you needed privacy?"

"Yes," he answered her, clearly intimidated.

"For what?"

"To talk Mother! What aren't you getting about this? We were just talking. Conversing. Parlando. Hablando. Parlant. It's the same meaning in every language… TALKING! We were talking about things that don't concern you."

"I'm gay," James finally screamed. "That's what we were talking about. I'm gay."

Both ladies stopped arguing.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm gay. Emily was just comforting me because some kids at school aren't accepting. That's it."

Emily, worried about her mother's reaction and, automatically assuming the worst, just said, "If you try to throw him out or make me stay away from him, if you say anything, or out him in anyway, I swear, I will pack a bag right now, take James, and no one will ever see us again. We'll – we'll run off and have little gay babies together in spite of you!"

Elizabeth couldn't help it. As much as she wanted to yell back or even just have a civil conversation, all she managed in that moment was to laugh.

Emily felt like she was in some weird alternate reality, asking herself what was happening. "She's laughing. Why is she laughing?"

"She's your mother," James said. "You tell me."

"Why are you laughing mother?"

"Gay babies in spite of me…" she repeated with laughter. "Oh Emily." Only her daughter. "Alright then. Carry on."

"Alright?" Emily asked, bewildered.

"Yes, fine. I don't care that he's gay. He's not my child, it's not my issue to deal with or accept. In fact, I'm happy he's gay. Trouble seems to be attracted to you Emily, and a homosexual male friend seems a lot safer to have around you than most teen boys." Elizabeth smiled. "We'll talk more later, Emily, and we'll be going over what I expect from you in this house, but right now, you have company. James, I must apologize for my behavior. Please stay and join us for dinner. I'm not often home in time to eat with Emily, so it'll be a treat."

"Thank you," he said. "I'd love to."

"Great," Elizabeth said, beginning to walk to the door. "Keep this open. And, for god's sake Emily, put on something that covers your behind. I don't want to see what kind of underwear you have on. I really, really don't."

"I'm wearing a thong," Emily antagonized as her mother walked out, Elizabeth's head clearly shaking, though she didn't give any verbal response.

Elizabeth recalled the memory fondly. There was more yelling than she liked, but it was the start of a friendship that was very good for Emily and that, to some extent, even helped them have some kind of relationship too. Emily took her lack of disapproval toward James as a peace offering and she started to mellow.

"I always thought that James was an outstanding young man. He was good to Emily and she was good for him too. He was having a hard time, trying to find a way to come out. His parents were wealthy hippies, so they didn't much care, but it was a different time then and…"

"Come out?" Clyde interrupted.

"He's gay?"

"Oh yes. Emily made that clear and, though he didn't go about flaunting it because it was no one's business, he was most definitely gay. That was the only reason I let him stay over as often as he did." Elizabeth could feel their gazes. "We had trust issues. Emily, great as she was and is, was not an easy teen to parent and I was no award-winning mother either."

The men shared a knowing look, both thinking that little tidbit was key to their puzzle. Still, they wanted as much information about James, his life, and his relationship with Emily as they could get. Elizabeth was willing to play along, but also wanted to know what they knew about Emily.

"Now boys, I've answered your questions, and I think I've been more than patient, but now I'd like to know more about my daughter's situation. How does she fit in with what happened to poor James? If Emily's not hurt, why are you asking me these questions and not her?"

What they were telling her was turning out to be a lot more than Emily managed to divulge. Hotch looked grim. "We can't find Emily. We don't believe she's hurt, but we also can't seem to get in touch with her."

"There's more," she said, reading it in their face. "What else is there?"

Clyde took over, "The London officers on James' case believe that Emily may be involved somehow."

"Involved? That seems vague. I thought you said that she was ok. Were you just saying that so I would answer your questions? Is she hurt?"

"No, ma'am. What Clyde is saying is that Emily is a suspect."

"A murder suspect?!" Shock was written all over her. "I know what my daughter is capable of and I know that physically, she may be able to hurt someone, but that's not who she is. If anything, she would have to be provoked to act in self-defense. And James… I don't care if they were estranged or the best of friends, she wouldn't hurt him. You believe that, don't you?"

"Of course," they both agreed.

"Elizabeth, we both know Emily isn't responsible for this, but we have to figure out where she went and if she knows anything about what happened. We want to help her, and we can only do that if she helps us."

"It would be much safer for her if we are the ones to find her. If you know anything…"

"I wish I did… I just… Find her. Help her. Do what you need to… Please."

"We're going to do everything we can," Hotch assured her.

Before they could talk any more, Hotch received a call. Excusing himself, he stepped just outside the room and answered. It was Garcia.

"We're talking with Ambassador Prentiss. What do you need, Garcia?"

"Uh… Hotch. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think I have something. This is… It could be big. You should get back here."

"Can't you tell me over the phone?"

"Well, I could, Sir, but this is something you'll want to see."

"Alright. We'll be there soon."

Hanging up, he returned to Clyde and Elizabeth, letting him know they might have something. They thanked Elizabeth for talking with them as she walked them to the door.

"Please, if you hear from her or think of anything, call."

"I will. And I hope you'll do the same."

"Absolutely, ma'am."

She watched them leave with a greater sense of worry for her daughter and an urgency as she retreated back into the house.

Meanwhile, the two men were conversing about that visit after Hotch filled Clyde in on the call, briefly saying that Garcia had something she wanted to share with everyone in person.

"She never once asked where Emily was or if we knew anything," Clyde told Hotch.

"And she kept checking her watch."

"She knows more than she let on."

"Definitely. I'll have Garcia check her phone records and look into Elizabeth's recent activity. If they are in contact, I'm sure some of what we told her came as a surprise."

"Elizabeth's reactions were mostly genuine. Maybe she will try to contact Emily now. We should have Ms. Garcia monitor that as well."