Chapter VII

"What's past is prologue." ~ William Shakespeare

A couple of hours earlier Hotch and Emily had picked up Jack from Jessica's and gone home. They had the dinner that they had bought on the way – no time to cook. Light conversations and Jack's enthusiastic narrating of how his team won the small soccer game during the gym class thanks to Dad's and Uncle Dave's practice were enough to make them forget that they had some case in their hands that could end who knew how.

Emily tucked Jack in bed. The little guy was out since the moment she turned off the lamp to light the small one. Before closing the door she stood for a while watching the boy smiling in his sleep. She could hear Aaron tidying up a few things around the kitchen. There were days that Emily couldn't have asked for more. She was lucky to finally be able to feel that tender, caring side of Aaron Hotchner that she always knew was there, see him smiling and even laughing and she had the honour to be around that beautiful, kind boy.

There were days that this all was new to her. There were other days that this was familiar, too familiar. Some years ago, somewhere in Tuscany, a powerful man in his own dark world cared for her –before he had realised that that was the trap– and she cared for another little boy. The three of them had shared family time and that had felt casual and warm, despite the twisted conditions around. But, at the same time, all that felt like some other life. 'Some other life'... She had said the same thing for many other parts in her life, for sleeping around at sixteen, for 'rocking' that gothic look in high school, for her days in Interpol. She had those compartmentalising skills, that ability to detach herself from situations, because Emily Prentiss was good in one thing: splitting her life into 'lives'. She wasn't just putting feelings into boxes, she was putting years, like a different person did everything just to be accepted in school, a different one chose to play and played Lauren Reynolds and another one was there. When Doyle escaped, she had realised that those 'lives' could turn against each other. At that moment, standing in a child's room, sensing a man's, that was hers, presence, she couldn't make herself not to notice that her 'lives' became similar and that last wasn't less scary than the first. Adding to that, that she was again in Interpol, thinking about undercover ops and dealing with political situations again looked like rather all her 'lives' became one.

"Emily, whatever you do is gonna stay with you. We don't choose who we are. We are what we choose to do. That's the only thing that you have to accept."

Gloria had told her that before she went undercover for Doyle. That came from an agent that she ended up having accepted every single toll of her actions to the point that she couldn't sleep eight hours straight anymore –psychological valuations can be damned, if you know what to say, you pass. However, Emily didn't know if ending up with a mixture of 'lives' was actually better.

Emily shook her head out of her thoughts. There was one thing that in that mixture that was sure: her love for the man in the other room. So she closed the door and went to him.

"Jack is out like a light. Quite energetic day for him today.", she said.

"For all of us.", Hotch answered filling a glass of water.

She checked her phone for any reply from Gloria, no answer.

"I should have passed from Ria when we left.", she admitted.

Aaron had his concerns about that whole situation with the two women but it wasn't a good time to start analysing. Probably Emily just avoided telling her friend about her intentions on the case. So he decided to lighten the subject.

"Don't worry. Dave won't let her to sleep over the files.", he said casually.

"For sure not.", Emily replied grinning playfully, "I bet he prefers to do some other things to her over the files and she looks like she wouldn't argue."

Hotch almost choked on the water he was drinking. Emily had a way to say things like that and all of a sudden. She burst in laughs.

"Can I have Rossi's extra-curricular activities out of my head, please?", he asked coughing.

First with Rossi's 'hugs' and now with Emily's jokes, seriously, Hotch didn't need any kind of weird images.

"You know, we never got to meet that other part of Rossi.", Emily commented.

"Which part?"

"Aaron, the guy got three wives. He is the reason of the half of the fraternisation rules. Female agents still whisper behind his back. We never got to see 'that' David Rossi."

"You wanted to?", he asked playfully but a bit jealous, hugging her.

Emily laughed kissing him.

"I would rather not.", she replied, "Simple curiosity."

"You did meet him the first day in BAU while he was checking out all the female members of my team."

"Really?", Emily frowned.

"He stared on JJ through my office window. He spared Garcia just because she shocked him. He looked you up and down during that handshake, if you remember."

"I didn't even notice."

"I did.", he said more seriously, for one more time admitting that he had feelings for her buried for a long-long time.

Emily smiled warmly. For her it was enough, finally, that at least her feelings weren't in vain all that same time.

"And what did you do? Did you scare him with the famous Hotch's glare or did you slip him pills?", she joked.

Hotch laughed.

"I didn't need to till now, if he turns the BAU into a soap opera. Strauss is somewhere in that story."

Emily shook her head to the side acknowledging his point.

"He knows how to handle his ladies, I guess. But I had him for a romantic.", she said.

"You know what they say that there are two sorts of romantics? Those who love and those who love the adventure of loving? Dave is the latter.", he smiled, "At least what he used to say."

"Philosophical explanation for messing around.", Emily replied, "I have no clue what's up with the two. Ria wouldn't fall for any skirt-chasing techniques, though. But there's that way they look at each other from time to time...", she winked, "I wasn't exactly kidding, you know."

Hotch raised an eyebrow. Sometimes he could be too oblivious to these matters. He could notice that cosy body language the two people in discussion had, but the tension, which Emily was referring to, no.

"Anyway. Ria doesn't talk much about these things. To be honest these last days she doesn't talk at all.", Emily finished getting serious and concerned.

She escaped his hug and was ready to flip the switch so they could go and have some sleep. But Hotch thought that finally he should raise that issue.

"Emily, I've noticed the situation between you and her. Is something else up?"

"No... Eehh, I don't know, Aaron.", she let a breath, "The situation around me isn't good. I have troubles with my position. I am not normally forced to start cases over just a blue notice and some terror alert with unknown origin and persuade the FBI to co-operate.", she started.

"Yes, I understood that."

"And there is all this constant rise of Ria's name around.", she carried on.

"In a good or bad way?", he asked getting confused. Was Emily considering her friend a threat?

"Seeming good and I'm glad, don't get me wrong. She should have moved up ten years ago. It would have saved her too much of a toll, too. The matter is that they had an agent that got permanent, physical problem on the job and they ignored her. You saw it. And they suddenly remember that she is valuable while they target me at the same time?", she carried on getting tense.

"So you think that they use her as a pawn.", Hotch concluded concerned.

Gloria didn't look like a person that was ever going to play along with any type of political game but he decided not to say it out loud. Emily knew from herself that people can be pushed into things.

"Since this case started, she is behaving strangely.", she admitted.

"Probably because she feels you questioning her."

"I forgot to ask the expert...", she raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

The Ria she knew she would have just faced her directly, a little bit aggressively but she would have and on personal level, not just about the case, like that morning. She wouldn't have withdrawn and just accepted her Emily's attitude so passively.

"Clyde told me tonight that he put in that blue notice for Peters a month after the taking down of the Paradise Demons. Ria worked on that. How come that she hasn't even mentioned that Clyde did it and why? A blue notice just for a seemingly legal candy seller? And why did Clyde get into that investigation at first place? He was still dealing with Doyle back then, offering him to the Koreans apparently.", Emily argued.

"Is there any possibility that she just doesn't know?"

She shook her head negatively. There was no such a possibility. Gloria was part of that team for Paradise Demons, not to mention that she was involved with the leader.

"I don't want to think of her that way but Gloria has things to hide and they can use them to manipulate her. Even if she doesn't co-operate, they can use them to bring both of us down and to save herself she will."

Hotch had pretty good knowledge of what 'things' Emily was referring to.

"Only Clyde is aware of these things, isn't he?"

"And Clyde is the one managing the positions. He offered me the London job, remember? He doesn't pick sides. He can sell his own mother if he has to, even if he tells 'I love you' to her every day.", she continued getting more and more unnerved, "Damn it. That's what I hated and I'm in the middle of it, all over again."

"Emily, we will figure it out.", he said.

"Ria needs the job, Aaron. With her particular experience and the problem she can't jump to another agency. If she plays along, I can't say that I blame her. I did the same to her and I had less to lose."

"Emily...", he started wanting to comfort her, the other woman had cleared up too often that nothing was Emily's fault.

"I blew her trust off back then. Everything seems fixed now but...", Emily tried to cut him off convinced, guilt and stress in her voice.

She always had that gut feeling that she had provoked something when she ratted Gloria and her former boss to their superiors. She didn't get her career destroyed, because of the events afterwards but she had done something. When Emily had first joined the London office again, Gloria had avoided her. Now everything seemed fine and Emily knew that her friend wasn't playing it. She had moved past it, but this didn't mean that Emily wasn't guilty of something.

"Em, you'll deal with everything but you need to relax.", he said smoothly and he hugged her, his only priority her wellbeing, like so many time in the past.

"I know...", she agreed and she took a couple of deep breaths nesting her head on his chest.

Those days she had all the pressure, all that mixing of 'lives' but she could sense that she was getting too emotional sometimes and she didn't use to be to that point. Aaron bent his head dropping a few kisses on her neck and he could feel her calming down. As they were about to go to bed, Hotch's cell started ringing. This wasn't for good...

In the FBI parking lot, the explosion came from somewhere on their right. It was in some distance but it was close enough to throw all three of them on the ground. Strauss fell on the side of the car face down, thanks to her hands she didn't scrape the floor, while Rossi hit on the slightly open passenger's door. Gloria's back collided with car and she fell on her right side beside it and thankfully her head landed on her arm.

It took a few moments for everybody to register what had happened, between the alarms having gone off and the ringing of the ears. Rossi was the first to gather himself. Some years in the army have given him enough experience. He had hit his head on the door because he could feel a little bit of blood trailing at the side of his face. He looked anxiously at the two women. Erin was holding her body up, trying to sit up and looking around. She was in shock. Gloria was trying to get up, but she was obviously in pain.

"I'm OK.", she said, when she saw him looking at her, and he could hear annoyance in her voice.

She wasn't injured. She couldn't feel any more pain than the normal. 'Interesting remark when you feel your whole right back side throbbing.', she thought. She had hit it and then she had stretched it abruptly, the worst combination.

Rossi went for Strauss.

"Erin?", he asked worried, helping her to sit by the car, "Are you hurt?"

"My ears are ringing.", she replied.

"It will pass after a while. Just breathe.", he said calmly.

"A bomb in the FBI parking?", she said surprised the situation sinking in, as the shock subsided, the normal body position and Rossi's hands on her shoulders helped.

Agents rushed to their side and they helped her stand up. Rossi didn't need assistance. Gloria was already up but still her face was expressing discomfort.

"What's wrong with her?", Strauss asked more out of concern that time than out of curiosity. She had barely hit and she was hurting like that?

"She will be fine.", Dave answered.

He could guess that Gloria apart from aching was pissed off and she was. She had never made amends with her injury. Not only had it taken her out of any action, obliging her to stay behind a desk, but it had to be a constant reminder of whatever had happened, not just as scars and pretty ugly ones, but as a pain, too.

Dave knew that if he had tried to console her at that moment, she would have snapped and gotten aggressive. She hated the attention about this particular matter. So he didn't say anything to her and stayed by Erin as they walked out of the parking for precaution reasons, to an ambulance. They had only scrapes. A bandage would do the job.

Gloria followed them but she didn't even go near any paramedic. The pain had started to subside and she could pay more attention to Rossi and Strauss. He was all soft with her. Something was going on between them. Rossi wouldn't be too open and touchy with her if he was actually with another woman but something was up, nevertheless. Finally, she could definitely explain the older woman's behaviour. Gosh... Erin Strauss was really considering her a 'competitor'. Yeah, nice competitor... an emotionally screwed up and handicapped woman... But she could feel something deep in her. Was that jealousy? 'What are you thinking? You are just another friend for him to help. Nothing else. What is past is past, he told you so. Even back then, you were a charity case.', her mind hissed again, 'He is a gentleman and you are... what? a...'

Thanks to Emily's voice, behind her, she stopped driving herself to even darker thoughts.

"Are you OK, Ria?", Emily asked worried jumping out of Hotch's car, as he followed her.

"Yeah, I just landed on the wrong side.", she replied indifferently, "A car exploded. Just Strauss, Rossi and me were in the parking. We're fine. They are searching the place.", she briefed them motioning towards other two agents at the ambulance and Hotch went towards them.

"Did you notice anything?", Emily asked her.

"I haven't been here too often to actually being able to notice anything different. I stood over there for a while, checked my phone, Dave offered to drive me home, we chatted by the car, Strauss passed by and then bang."

"They are moving too quickly.", Emily commented, "But no victims."

"But it's gonna hit the papers.", Gloria said pointing towards the reporters' van stopping by the police tapes.

"FBI was able to make them retain the letter but this can't be hidden.", Emily remarked concerned.

"So the cat is out of the bag..."

"We all tend to make zealous judgement, and thereby close ourselves off from revelation." ~ Madeleine L'Engle

Long time no update. I had to deal with some things and I actually wrote some scenes forward t get the feeling of some characters. I really want to thank davidrossi for helping me enlighten Strauss' character to get her relation with Rossi to make it closer to the show. It's not much obvious in this chapter but I'm working towards it.

So a chapter with Emily contemplating on her own past, a little bit of contemplation on Rossi's character (Emily is right I think, we never got to see 'that' part of him), some justification for Emily's behaviour and Rossi and his ladies surviving the explosion.

Spoiler: Revelations are going to emerge and sometimes it's not gonna be too nice. And one more spoiler (consider it a Christmas gift): Something is going on with Emily...

Let me read your views!

P.S. I'm not sure if I am able to update again this month. I don't think so but no one knows. Just to be safe I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 8-)