Summary 2 (Continuation of the Summary before Chapter 14)

When Clyde, Rossi and Gloria return – Clyde to the FBI building to fill Emily in fully and the other two to Interpol Office to get Whelan's notes – a paper is sent from MI6. Gloria can't access the classified part of the system to get it, so she leaves it for Emily.

The others learn that the only connection between Blackmore and what has happened till now is that the police officer who manipulated the young boy, according to his family works for Blackmore's security. But Hotch and Gloria agree that this a suspicious, far too obvious link.

The team with Emily have now concluded that the terrorists and the gun traffickers is the same group with strict hierarchy and a leader with financial means. As Morgan notices that the bomb in the parking lot doesn't make any sense and Emily starts talking about creating a bait to lure the leader of the group out, Garcia spots James Hathaway in a camera feed around the area of the explosion outside the FBI building. The move looks dumb and inexplicable and the agents think that Hathaway probably tries to send some message.

In the meantime, Rossi and Gloria are working on Blackmore's profile based on Whelan's notes. Rossi can't figure out the exact motive of the Interpol agent's murder, though. Gloria is apparently struggling emotionally and when David tries vainly to make her talk again, she throws herself at him. He manages to stop her, even if he responds, and as she leaves his office, Hotch and Strauss hear them. Strauss ignores it for the time being, but Hotch confronts his friend about his unprofessional behaviour only to face a rather confused Rossi.

Emily and the others go through the paper of MI6. It has a coded message sent from a Black Cross security ship providing security to an Irish diplomat's yacht. They think about private spying while JJ gets to the conclusion that Hathaway maybe an agent of some kind. Since he was spotted around Paradise Demons there is the possibility that he works for law enforcement. Gloria suggests that the only way he could do it was through acting on an operator basis for some agency, a policy used when the agencies employ someone from the private sector or someone with a shady past.

Garcia finally spots Hathaway getting in a car in another feed of the cameras and following the clues the team gets to an address. Even though everybody fears the worst, there is no trap or conflict. Hathaway is simply waiting for them and he has a story to tell.

After asking for the person that replaced Richard Whelan, Hathaway says to Hotch and Easter that, while on a relevant mission as a private spy around Paradise Demons, he provided information to the dead agent and he proves that he knows inside details in the case. He says that Richard Whelan insisted that a boat captured but sunk was transporting more than regular guns because he had information from him. But Hathaway is not going to reveal more. He claims that he gave himself to the FBI because he is in danger. He knows who put the bomb in the parking lot but he is only going to speak if he gets a deal for full protection.

Hathaway seems to know too much without proper explanation. Whelan wouldn't work with this man and not say anything. Also, Henry Fidget seemed to know that Gloria and Richard weren't allowed to go in the farm together, it was either him or her. So Clyde puts two and two together and concludes that they have a snitch in Interpol, fact that can endanger Emily's plan.

Emily is convinced to proceed, though. She is convinced that, since the group they are dealing with is involved with the NPD, too, it has to be approached by someone the Paradise Demons had encountered: Lauren Reynolds. Gloria whose emotional state worsens panics. She gets in a heated argument with Emily during which her tongue slips and she accuses Emily of Richard's death. Emily was the one that ratted the affair out resulting in the uppers splitting them in the field and she left Gloria without a chance to protect him.

Emily gets shocked and guilty, while Gloria is left devastated by her own action.

But the case runs and Emily has to make her decision known to Hotch. She explains in detail that, apart from Lauren Reynolds' previous encounter with the Paradise Demons, while with Doyle, she has met the Irish diplomat that Black Cross was protecting when they sent the coded message, Gregory Murphy, who is suspected for facilitating the transport of guns. Hotch has to accept her decision, even if his heart doesn't approve it.

(Now I understand your confusion, guys. Oh my days! The previous summary of 13 chapters is almost as long as this one which is only for 5…! Anyway! I hope things are clearer now.)

Chapter XIX

"There is no present or future. Only the past, happening over and over again." ~ Eugene O'Neill

"Seriously? Do you want to go down there again? And alone, without any backup!", Morgan protested.

Emily had just revealed and explained her plan for the undercover job, how Lauren Reynolds could approach Gregory Murphy and start her moves from there to lure the head behind the group that orchestrated the transport of the MQ-300's and the attacks. Her idea caused concern to everyone. Her plan could be a good shot but that didn't stop old memories from coming back and mainly for Morgan.

"And you agreed to this.", he turned to Hotch.

Hotch hang his head. He had to agree, even if he didn't want to.

"You are unbelievable, Hotch! You know that!", he carried on.

"It is not a matter of personal feelings.", Rossi tried to cover for his mentee.

"We have to stop what is happening.", Hotch said to Derek cutting the older man off, "I don't like the idea as any of us doesn't. So better solve this before Emily has to stay down there for long."

Everyone could acknowledge the fact that the decision was one of the hardest ones for Hotch. Even if his voice was decisive the hurt could be heard in it. All they had to do was to support him and just get that case done before it was too late for anyone. Morgan shook his head, unhappy with the plan but knowing he had to respect it.

For Emily, though, probably it was the very first time that she actually saw right in front of her how much her life had changed since the first time she had voiced her decision to go ahead with the Lauren Reynolds identity. She knew it had changed. She wasn't the same woman anymore, too. But when that same scene unravels to you twice, the differences emerge more strongly.

Emily, Clyde, Whelan and Ria were in that conference room of the London Interpol Office that morning. It was too early and winter time so it was still dark outside.

Whelan listened patiently to Clyde and Emly talking about the plan.

"Are you sure?", that was the only thing he asked her in his deep voice.

"I am.", Emily replied simply.

He looked a bit concerned but she didn't know if his concern was about her decision - at the very end he didn't know her that well - or because of the worried and nervous woman at the corner of the room. Emily noticed for a moment that Gloria's opinion, even her mood, always had the tendency to affect Whelan, thing quite strange for a rather strong-willed and opinionated man but she quickly dismissed it thinking that it could happen after working with a stubborn colleague like her for a long time.

Emily's focus was in Gloria's reactions, though. Glora was the only person in her life that, apart from having to, she wanted to announce her decision to. Actually, even if she could tell something to any other person or family member, Gloria would have been the only one. Who else? Emily's mother was still angry with her daughter's career choices at her new post in Moscow. Her father was on the other side of the Atlantic, too busy doing business that no one would inherit. As for her recent date, she cancelled last night, the moment the Clyde told her that they had to have a serious discussion.

"Just like that, eh?", Gloria finally spoke, "In how long did you make this decision?"

"I know that you have your objections…", Clyde started.

"Thanks for stating the obvious.", she cut him off, "I asked a question."

"My decision was immediate.", Emily answered.

"That's the point.", the other woman said.

"Ria, it's not our position to judge", Richard interrupted her.

"I'm not judging.", she protested, "All I say is that when someone thinks they have nothing, it's very easy for them to get burned in various ways."

Emily hadn't understood back then what Gloria meant. She had thought that it was one more of those times Gloria used to exaggerate. Emily didn't fit into any of that. She had things in her life. She had her career, she had the adventure. And after she came back, she wasn't 'burnt'. It took her many years to realise the meaning of those words and at that moment it was more than obvious. Back then she had only one person obviously worried in front of her. She didn't have seven people, including that same friend – even if she didn't know if she could still call Gloria her friend – deeply anxious. She didn't have a young boy who was going to miss her. The career itself couldn't stand for 'something'. As for the second, 'burnt' part, it took Emily years of failed relationships, watching Doyle dying and a shrink voicing 'you probably lost someone you love' to understand it. Emily let a breath. What was she thinking with Aaron standing just beside her? With that whole operation thing, that whole bringing up of the past was an opportunity for Emily to meet that 'other' Emily all over again. Since the 'other' Emily and Lauren Reynolds were both the same person, Emily had to close any open matters of her heart from that past. That past should be revisited and something was telling her that it was more than urgent, as well.

"Interpol, JJ and me will work on the strategic part.", Hotch ordered, "The rest of you will focus on all the other parts of the case."

Gloria standing at the corner shook her head. She could recognise the importance of this whole thing. But that hadn't stopped her from thinking that Emily was acting on pressure. The plan was far too dangerous, resurrecting a supposing dead woman, reviving ten year old contacts and without someone to have her back.

As everybody was getting ready to retrieve to separate rooms, Gloria approached Easter.

"Let me go with Emily, even with her not knowing.", she murmured.

"No, Gloria. And that's an absolute no.", he replied strictly.

"Clyde, I can…", she tried but he cut her off.

"What you can do is to provide your 'full' assistance in the strategy with what you know too well.", he said in the same tone.

"You don't need to remind me of this.", she got cold.

Was he really thinking she wouldn't co-operate just because she was disagreeing? That she really meant what she said?

"Ria…", he spoke softer knowing that she had misinterpreted him.

"You 'Ria' me again? Really?"

"Instead of trying to play the hero, talk to Em. Please.", he said in pleading voice.

She was stunned with Clyde actually saying 'please'. That guy was a story of his own sometimes. After so many years she had come to know him even if she didn't look like it. She was against his ways but she knew how he was thinking and mainly when it came to Emily and his 'soft spot' for her. But that wasn't the matter now or ever. Maybe she had to talk to Emily. But she was sure whatever she could say was unable to undo the damage.

Clyde kept his eyes on her back as she turned to go without replying. That 'please' wasn't only for Emily's sake. It was for her, as well, so as not to expose herself to a danger she couldn't fight, while her mind wasn't clear. He doubted, though, he was able to keep her in line. She would try to find a way to do whatever she was thinking. And the worst thing of all was that there was a way, if she looked for it, because Clyde hadn't changed one thing his friend had left behind, even without knowing the reason of it and even if lately he was in pressure to change it.

David kept looking for Gloria's eyes. She hadn't spoken at all during that whole conversation and David hadn't missed it. She looked worn off and lost. She was trying to conceal it but she was and that wasn't like her at all. She wasn't like that in the observation room. The suspicion of an informer and Emily's decision weren't that much compared to the rest she had faced those days to bring her to this state. What had happened in between? The look she finally gave to him was so cold that he froze on his tracks. Dave could see that there was no sparkle in her eyes. She was losing the battle with whatever pain and whatever else was torturing her. But she slipped away quickly. David could feel Erin and Hotch's eyes on him. So he just stood there.

Strauss, from the other side of the room, had noticed Rossi watching the other woman. Many times throughout the whole thing his attention had been on her and on nothing else. Even the lines around his eyes had grown thicker with worry. On the other hand, the younger woman may have looked like she was dismissing him, but Erin was a woman, too. She could see that was when Gloria needed him the most and Dave was just suppressing the urge to run after her. For a moment, she thought that maybe whatever was going on between those two ran deeper than any sexual attraction or fling or whatever between an old playboy and some woman without so strong ethical restraints. If that was the case, it had to be sorted out, even if there was the possibility that it wouldn't be for her own good.

In the corridor outside, Garcia rushed to catch up with Emily.

"Gumdrop, are you sure-sure that you are OK to do this?", the tech girl spoke anxiously.

"Of course.", Emily replied a bit startled with the question.

"Are you sure that you don't risk anything?", Garcia dared to ask, Emily's dizziness never left her mind and actually it had gotten an idea fixed in her head.

"I can take care of myself.", Emily got even more confused.

"It's just after what happened that other time, I'm scared... Every time something happens… It's like we can't catch a break…", the blonde mumbled hugging Emily all of a sudden.

"Pen, I'll be fine.", she smiled reassuringly, returning the hug.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Till the afternoon the plan was made. Gregory Murphy was spotted in New York. Thankfully, Emily, or, to be straight, Lauren Reynolds, didn't need to go to another country to make contact with him. That would have complicated things. The story that she was going to say to him was ready, too. Easter and Gloria had provided a believable background, a reason for Lauren Reynolds to have faked her own death based on other operations and other undercover agents were able to provide any confirmation, if Murphy started asking questions around. Emily was pretty confident that he wouldn't. Murphy had the habit of not asking too many questions when the information came from a woman.

Emily, Hotch and JJ would fly to New York that evening. JJ was going to stay there to be the Emily's contact. Hotch wanted to do it himself but he was very much aware that first he had to stay with the team. The whole operation needed coolness and he couldn't trust himself that he was able to stay objective. JJ cared for Emily but at the same time she knew how to handle the situation.

'And let's hope we don't have any other surprises.', Gloria wished in her head when they finally finished. They had done all that they could have, herself as well. She wasn't allowed to do anything more. Suddenly her eyes, though, noticed something on Emily. Was she a bit swollen or was it just her idea?

"You still don't agree with it like the previous time.", Hotch's voice took her out of her thoughts.

Gloria took a breath.

"All I've ever wanted, Hotch, was for Emily not to get dragged in the mud, because I know what it does to people. I never had any other objection.", she said quietly and turned to Emily who was already listening to her, having stopped her discussion with Easter, "Be careful, Emily, and… I'm sorry for whatever I said.", she headed towards the door.

"I'm the one on that should be sorry. It can't change anything but I am.", Emily spoke, taking a couple of steps towards Gloria who stopped.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I shouldn't have said what I said and I don't deserve any forgiveness.", she replied weakly.

"You just voiced what you've been holding for years and you were right."

"If I was blaming you for something like this, do you think I would be here? Do you think I would have let you help me? Do you think that only for my profit I would have gotten along with you?", she asked in the same tone.

Emily didn't answer. The woman in front of her had saved her life two times. She couldn't accuse her of something like that. But what she had said a few hours ago made sense.

"You do, don't you?", Gloria said, regret heard in her voice., "Like you've been thinking all this time that I could hang you out to dry during whatever political game is going on."

She hang her head and turned to go. She was even more disappointed, not with Emily, with herself. It was so easy for the people around her to think so low of her. No one else was to blame. It was down to her own behaviour and choices. It wouldn't be strange for Emily to believe that Gloria could have simply used her to pick up her career that had become a mess after the last operation in Rome, which had left her with a disability and not an exact position, as Clyde had decided to change posts and not to make any reference about her. No, it wouldn't be difficult for Emily to believe that she had used her. At the very end, during her whole career as a spy, that was what Gloria had done, using people for information, for clues, for whatever. Why wouldn't she have done it in her real life?

"No, Ria, I don't.", Emily said steadily stopping the other woman for one more time, "As for the other matter, I never thought that you would do anything against me willingly."

"You do or don't," the other woman answered in disbelief, "nothing was ever your fault. As for the latter, if you consider that there is a single one reason for which I can be forced into anything, you are optimistic.", and she threw a glance at Clyde, too.

Gloria was disappointed when he had threatened her in London. It wasn't just because he himself had thought low of her. It was, also, because he had forgotten that she didn't care about any career so as to screw people over any ambitions. She had screwed her career long time ago. Come on. She had even screwed her own life.

"Ria?", Emily said surprised and concerned with the woman's tone of voice.

"Me, I have nothing to lose, gain or save. You had reasons. Take care, Em. For everyone's sake just take care.", she repeated and finally left.

Emily stared at the closed door. 'You had reasons.', she had said. Was she really recognising the 'career' a serious reason for Emily to screw her over? No, of course not. So was there any chance she knew the real one? But Emily didn't analyse it. What had her scared was that Gloria sounded a lot like someone giving up.

"Let's head to the airport. We'll keep an eye on her. She'll be fine.", Hotch encouraged her and Emily nodded really wanting to believe him.

Hotch put his hand on Emily's shoulder, looking briefly towards Clyde. The former Interpol spy always gave him some serious vibes from something wrong. Even if she looked better after London, those last days she was far worse than when he had first met her. But Emily was his priority and honestly with all that she didn't need extra worries.

Clyde shook his head. He had to find the chance to talk to a particular someone. Gloria's signs weren't good, not good at all.

With the three team members already in New York and whatever to come already on the way, with the rest of the team trying to locate Balckmore's bodyguard and Clyde considering of leaving Hathaway waiting for his deal for some hours, Garcia couldn't sit still in her chair. She should have said something about that idea in her mind. It wasn't like Penelope to stand still and not voicing her worries what it came to 'her babies'. She was deeply regretting it. So she finally decided to look for the one person that was still around and probably knew something more.

Garcia found Gloria in the small smoking area outside the building. She was sitting on a short wall, her knees close to her chest and a cigarette in her hand, lost in her thoughts.

"These things can kill you.", the tech girl remarked as a strong anti-smoker.

"I have done things in my life that could have killed me faster.", the other woman replied drily and then regretted it seeing Garcia's face turning concerned, "What's up, Pen?"

"I'm worried about Emily."

"Me, too.", Gloria admitted.

"Has she told you anything before all this?", Penelope started tentatively.

"Like what?"

"About her, about her and Boss Man trying or thinking about...", she started but she was hesitating.

"About what?"

"Glory…", she looked for the proper words.

"Penelope, spit it out, please.", the British woman pressed, already in a bad mood she was getting annoyed.

"Glory, I'm afraid Emily is pregs.", Garcia finally expressed the idea in her head abruptly.

"What?!", Gloria got shocked, "How?... How do you think that?"

"She hasn't told me anything. But she is too tired and emotional. She got dizzy the other day. I know that with all this stuff she might be stressed...", she explained in a quick pace.

"Penelope, if she was pregnant, she wouldn't do what she was about to do. She wouldn't risk it. Hotch wouldn't, too.", Gloria tried to reason with her.

"I don't think she has even realised it. Probably they don't try. She doesn't think that's a possibility. I know her and Emily was never like that. Something is changed on her."

"Have you asked her at all?", the redhead asked again trying to regulate her breathing. No, this thing couldn't be happening all over again…

"No… I tried but I didn't finally. It looks like every time Lauren Reynolds comes to the surface, I ask the same question…", Pen replied guiltily remembering that moment in the bathroom when she had misinterpreted Emily's tension about Doyle for her being pregnant.

"And she wasn't before.", Gloria said.

It wasn't possible, was it? If Emily had the smallest hint, she wouldn't risk it. But what if she had blamed all the signs to stress? What if she hadn't thought about it because she was too scared of considering it?

"But before the things weren't like that. Glory, I know I sound crazy, but I can tell. Oh, my Gosh, I should have mentioned it earlier..."

Gloria looked at her up and down, balancing if she had to believe the tech girl's instincts and she had learnt in her life to trust people's instincts and her own. Pen's idea had a base. She remembered her own notice a few hours ago. Her mind went into overdrive. She had to do something. Allowed or not, she had to.

"Pen, could you check something for me?", she dropped the cigarette and stepped on it.

"Sure. What?", Penelope replied confused.

"Me."

That inability to access the sensitive part of the Interpol system was stuck in Gloria's mind as they walked up the stairs to Penelope's office. It just didn't fit. But there was another thing, too. For some reason she could feel there was something hidden behind it. That feeling was just like the one she had before figuring out that Hathaway was Fidget's shadow, that feeling of a clue left behind.

"I am not a fan of what we are about to do.", Garcia taking her seat in front of her screen.

"I would do it myself, if I knew how. Don't worry. You'll just check me and I'm here. We won't snoop around anyone else.", Gloria replied bending over the other woman's shoulder.

"This doesn't exactly make the fact of hacking into Interpol classified personnel less illegal."

"Good or bad that's where I am."

"Gloria, have you done what Emily has?", Penelope took advantage of the few minutes it took for the system to load to turn to the agent.

Gloria looked on the floor. Garcia was asking out of pure worry, no curiosity, no surprise, no criticism.

"And more…", she admitted, "Too many times."

"Why don't you ask Easter?", Penelope tried.

"He won't give me an exact answer. I can avoid him, but it will take long."

"But if he doesn't want you to…"

"Clyde is not going to understand that if something happens while I'm sitting here, that's what I won't be able to handle."

"Glory…", Garcia got worried.

"I have to know how to manoeuvre. I can help her, Pen. I owe it to her. I owe it to myself.", she said finally looking the other woman straight in the eye.

Gloria had to help Emily. If she was still looking for a last reason to give her life and existence a bit of meaning, she had to keep Emily safe. No, she wasn't looking for any redemption for her mistake, even if thinking that Emily was probably pregnant while she had hurt her was making her even guiltier. It wasn't about any vendetta, any ghost, and any past anymore, as well. It was for Emily herself. It was for that possible baby. Gloria couldn't let a baby get lost around the same story, not another baby, not one that had every 'chance to survive'.

"OK...", Penelope agreed and started doing her things with her computers.

She finally managed to find her in the system. Gloria's simple details appeared on the screen. That was expected.

"There should be some encrypted files somewhere.", Gloria said.

"There is nothing."

"That's not possible...", she got surprised, "There should be at least one MI6 file somewhere."

"You are getting me scared, Miss 007, but I'm better than Q.", the blonde said, working on the keyboard when the scan of a paper with the proper British agency's logos opened.

'Status: Agent on operator basis in transition.' Was written in the proper box among the rest of regular details, not specifics still.

"What is this?", Garcia asked confused.

"I can't be in transition for a decade. Go down the page, to the history of that.", the other woman said without explaining.

"It started in October 2003 and froze in January 2004, just before it was completed.", Garcia read, "The authorising signature is the same.", and Gloria knew that signature far too well.

She was stunned. She had been liased to Interpol by MI6 as an undercover agent on an operator basis. That was how she had been working for Interpol at the start. After her trackrecord and Richard's efforts, as her boss, he had managed to start the process of her becoming a proper agent of both agencies. But apparently she was left hanging in between the two agencies and a freelance job for almost ten years. Why no one ever told her anything? She hadn't asked, to be honest, and that vague position was making her appear normally in the Interpol database and even get a promotion apparently. The operator basis was already rare but the in between status wasn't designed to stay for so long, it was a six to twelve months period. Did Richard stop the process one month before he got killed? Why? It took him a lot to manage to start it wanting to finally take her out of the too dirty jobs, in between everything else he had done to protect her. What had suddenly made him change his mind? Only one thing could have: Another danger and everything pointed that they had already one back then, a snitch.

"Richie knew…", she murmured, almost sure in her head that his knowledge of the informer was the reason he died.

Freezing her status in transition kept her half out of the comfort zone of that snitch and her profile and any information about her jobs hidden below double security. At the same time it was giving her enough space to move around, dangerously but it was. That last was what was the most important at this particular moment, though.

"And Clyde is talking to me about politics. Bloody bastard.", she said decisively heading towards the door leaving a confused tech girl behind.

"What do you mean?"

"What you see there, Pen, is what can function out of any politics of this world."

The woman was for one more time already gone before Garcia had the chance to tell her to be careful.

Richard knew the snitch or at least he was suspecting someone. They had a person in that building at that very moment that knew the snitch, too. But Hathaway needed to be tricked in order to lead them to the people they were looking for. Gloria rushed through the corridors and the stairs. She walked up to Strauss' office and she knocked.

"Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all." ~ Lawrence Hill

It took me long to update, I know.

Sorry guys but my life is on a rollercoaster…! Anyway!

I want to thank you for the feedback I'm getting! And I promise that I'll carry on with the summaries to make your life easier!

Spoiler: Emily is not going to be undercover alone.

Don't forget to let me know your thoughts!