CHAPTER 9

"What do you think is going on with Gumdrop and Bossman?" Garcia asked as she sat on the edge of Morgan's desk.

It was late morning and the bullpen was surprisingly deserted because none of the other BAU teams were currently in the office. One team finished a case in the Plains the previous evening however had been prevented from returning due to weather. Another was on still on stand down after a difficult case 2 weeks earlier. And the last team was consulting on a local case.

Garcia had come out of her office to hang out with the team in the bullpen. Currently only Reid and Morgan were there at their desks. JJ was discussing one of her consults with another department. When he came out of his first meeting of the morning, Hotch had tasked Rossi and Blake to meeting with Agent Lewis to gain insight about the escaped inmates from the prison break.

Agent Lewis' previous assignment had involved interviewing prisoners around the country. By some stroke of luck, she just happened to have interviewed 6 of the 7 inmates now being sought. There were her notes and either voice or video recordings along with transcriptions from each of her interviews. The Director was hoping this information would contain details that the profilers could use to hypothesize what the next steps and/or destinations of these dangerous criminals would be. Then that profile could share with those on the ground to assist in their quick apprehension.

Then Hotch had been pulled into a meeting with Strauss and Assistant Director Donaldson shortly after he finished speaking with Rossi and Blake.

Morgan turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, they definitely seem out of sync this week."

Reid looked up from the pile of paper clips, rubber bands and coffee stirrers that he had on his desk. Neither Morgan nor Garcia knew what he was trying to do with them. And they didn't dare ask. He looked at them confused and said, "how do you know? Emily hasn't been over at all this week."

Morgan looked at Garcia who gave him a 'duh' look. He chuckled and turned to face Reid before saying, "exactly kid. No matter how busy she is, Emily always comes over at least once a day, even if it's just to get coffee and say hi. Most of the time she is the one to bring us the cases and consults for our team while this week she has been sending them over with Anderson. She and Hotch generally have lunch together most days but at least twice a week when both are in the office and so far not at all this week." Reid shrugged and turned his attention back to the project on his desk.

"Plus there was how weird she was acting the last couple of team nights." Garcia added.

Reid looked back at them as he said, "yes but her mother died less than 2 weeks ago. Everyone grieves in their own way."

"But her and her mother weren't close." Garcia added.

Reid shook his head and said, "and that may be exactly what is upsetting her. They weren't close but there was always the possibility they could work out their differences. With the Ambassador death, that possibility no longer exists. All of us saw how upset she was the night the DSS agents came to the house." As he finished, neither Morgan or Garcia missed the faraway look in his eyes. It was clear that he had given the topic some thought before today.

Both knew that Spencer also had a difficult parental relationship only his was with his father. Morgan had been there a couple years earlier when Spencer had confronted his father in Vegas, 15 years after he had abandoned Spencer and his mother.

While the circumstances were different, both Emily and Spencer had a parent that they had been estranged from. The team knew the two of them had discussed it with each other though it was rarely discussed with anyone else on the team, both knowing only the other would really understand the emotional toll. If anyone was able to fully empathize with possible mixed emotions Emily was having about her mother's death, it would be Spencer.

"True." Morgan added quietly, not being able to dispute what Reid had said.

They were all quiet for a couple of minutes before Garcia looked up and said, "but doesn't explain what up between her and Hotch. Hotch did say that something happened at the will reading but neither of them has said anything about it since that day. Also usually whenever one of them is having a difficult time, they tend to be inseparable."

Both Reid and Morgan nodded at that. Hotch had mostly kept to his office this week, interacting with the team as little as possible. When he had interacted with them, he had been in a foul mood. It was not a Hotch that they had to work with since his marriage with Haley had started to fall apart.

And that fact had them worried. All of them loved Hotch and Emily. And they knew how much the two loved each other.

Morgan looked around at the nearby doors, checking for Hotch before saying, "yeah he has been walking around looking like he lost his puppy all week." Morgan said and all three chuckled.

Garcia also looked around before adding "and grouchy. He kicked Kevin out of my office yesterday." Morgan chuckled to himself knowing that Hotch's glares scared to crap out of Kevin. As much as he knew his best friend liked her fellow eccentric tech geek, Morgan could barely tolerate the guy.

####

While her colleagues were talking, JJ had slipped back into the bullpen after finishing her meeting. Before she could approach the group, she overheard what they were discussing and stopped. Frowning, she stayed in the shadows, continuing to listen.

She also was concerned about their two friends. Unknown to the rest of the team, Hotch had been getting rides home with her each day this week because Emily was leaving earlier than usual. Hotch had been quiet in the car each day on the drive.

JJ had always considered her best friend a good and attentive mother. However when they arrived at the Hotchner house where the nannies were caring for the Hotchner and LaMontagne children this week, Emily was being overly attentive to the children in a way that JJ had never seen from Emily before. The profiler in her said that this recent change in behavior indicated that Emily was trying to overcompensate for something. What that something was JJ did not know though she could tell it was deeper than her mother's death.

JJ had also noticed a difference in the interactions between Hotch and Emily, even at home where they generally were more relaxed. While they were cordial with each other, they lacked the usual passion and light-hearted banter than was typical of the couple.

She hoped her friends would work out soon whatever the issue was. It was clear to her that disconnect was making them both miserable. Maybe this weekend she would see if Emily was interested in having a girls' night. They could invite Garcia and Blake along or just the two of them going out.

Before JJ could contemplate anymore, she heard the others greet Blake who had just returned to the bullpen. While they were momentarily distracted she moved and also entered the sightline of her colleagues.

####

Dave Rossi walked down the hall and entered the bullpen from the side door, his presence blocked by the metal shelving units packed with files. He stopped, still concealed, as he heard members of his team talking. Always seeking information on the people around him, Dave stopped to listen. It quickly became clear to him that they were talking about Hotch and Emily.

Dave sighed and shook his head. He too had noticed the recent change in the couple. Unlike the younger members of the team, he didn't think there were issues with the couples' marriage. He had surmised that something life changing had happened around the time of the Ambassador's death. Something so significant that neither of them were handling it well, particularly Emily.

As he overheard what the group was saying about Hotch, he had a different interpretation of the Unit Chief's behavior. What Dave saw was overwhelming worry. What or who he was worried about Dave didn't know however he knew that Emily was huge part of it. There were very few topics that would affect Hotch this much. Emily and the kids were at the top of that list.

However, what specifically the issue was Dave hadn't been able to surmise. He had tried to talk to Hotch. The Unit Chief hadn't denied there was something going on with him, only that it was complicated and he wasn't able to talk about it yet. What struck Dave the most during that private conversation was that Hotch just looked sad when they were talking.

Dave had to agree with the team's assessment that Emily hadn't been over to visit. He hadn't seen her in the bullpen since she had returned a few days earlier. However she had greeted him warmly when they ran into each other in the hall and had waved a couple of other times when she saw him. He noticed during those brief interaction that Emily also seemed stressed. Unlike the rest of them team, he knew that Hotch had been getting rides home with JJ because Emily was leaving earlier than usual.

Dave's conclusion was that Emily's avoidance of the bullpen was being done to help her maintain the level of professionalism that her position required. While generally she didn't have an issue with that, whatever she was dealing with was making her insecure enough that she wasn't sure she could maintain a facade in the presence of her friends. So she was keeping a distance at the moment.

Shaking his head, Dave turned and walked back out of the bullpen.

####

Emily looked down and groaned at the knock on her door. She wasn't surprised at all to see Dave Rossi on the other side when the door opened.

He somehow had known even shortly after they had met when something was bothering her. He also somehow knew what she needed during those times whether it be a hug or a cup of coffee to reassurance after a tough case to the private conversation they had in empty lot so that she would open up during the case after her friend Matthew's death.

Dave's arrival in her office wasn't completely unexpected. She had changed her routine this week and that was something that a team of profilers was going to notice.

As he came into her office he quietly walked over and sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk, Emily noticed he was closely observing her. Profiling her.

Emily rolled her eyes at her mentor's obvious assessment of her and took a deep breath before saying, "Good morning Dave. What can I do for you today?" She sat up in her chair, making eye contact and crossing her arms on the desk in front of her.

"Well, you haven't been over to the bullpen to visit recently so I thought I would come over and see how you are doing." Dave replied as he sat back in his chair.

Emily nodded before she answered, "Thanks for checking but I'm fine."

Dave leaned forward and tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair. He shook his head as he said, "You know in the years that I've known you I have learned that when you start telling people that you are 'fine', it definitely means that you aren't." He made air quotes when said the word, "fine".

Emily looked at him like a deer in headlights. If anyone other than Aaron could get her to talk about how she was feeling, it was Dave. And Dave wasn't nearly as subtle as Aaron.

However Emily didn't want to have this conversation in the office. He had just entered her office 2 minutes earlier and Emily could already feel her walls starting crumble. She looked at Dave and said pleadingly, "Dave, please don't."

Dave was immediately taken aback. Emily was begging him to stop. Agent Prentiss never begged.

Looking at the woman in front of him, Dave quickly decided to change his approach. Clearly there was something larger at play here and Emily's reaction was a blinking red light that he decided to heed, at least for now. He wanted her to open up though he could see she was a few seconds away to completely shutting down and that would not be to anyone's benefit.

Dave, looking at her, said softly, "Emily, I'm not trying to hurt you. Just know that I'm here when you are ready to talk. And if you aren't going to talk to anyone else, talk to Aaron."

Emily's head shot up and she replied panicking, "Why did you say that? Has he said something to you about what happened?" She knew that Aaron and Dave were close friends in addition to colleagues and that they talked. She knew that Aaron was upset that she was keeping her feeling to herself. But what had he told Dave. Did Dave know everything? Is that why he was here today?

Dave looked at her stunned at the reaction. Knowing that he needed to clarify the confusion, Dave answered, "No but thank you for confirming that something did happen. Aaron has not told me anything and has mostly been keeping to himself this week. I did go talk to him first and all he would say is that it was complicated. The rest of the team is worried about both of you. You are avoiding us and Aaron is walking around like he lost his puppy." If Emily saw Hotch before Dave cleared up this misunderstanding, an angry Hotch would be in Dave's office that afternoon.

Emily grasped her hands on her desk in front of her before she looked up at him and answered softly, "It's not Aaron. It's me. And yes, something did happen or I should say we learned some things at the will reading that I haven't been handling well."

Dave looked at Emily and as she talked he could see the sadness and vulnerability on her face.

It was no secret on the team that Dave had a soft spot for the woman who sat before him. While he had gotten off to a rocky start when he rejoined the team, it had been Emily who had been the first one after Aaron to give him a chance to prove he could work within the team structure.

In turn, he also gave her a chance and he was impressed with her skills as a profiler based on the relatively short time she had been with the BAU. He didn't know when it happened but he had become her professional mentor.

He had also been their biggest cheerleader when her and Hotch started dating. Dave had seen the chemistry between the two within his first couple of days on the team though neither of them seemed aware at the time. At that point Hotch's marriage was in shambles and he was waiting to find out if Haley was lying about the child she was carrying wasn't his child. Over the next several months, he saw the two slowly grow closer after tests concluded that he was indeed Jack's father and Hotch's divorce was finalized.

Once Hotch and Emily started their relationship, Dave had gone all in to support them. He immediately took over as Emily's supervisor which Strauss and the Director quickly approved as Dave had been acting as her mentor for several months at that point.

When it became clear that either Aaron or Emily was going to leave the team after Jack came to live with them full time after Haley was killed in a car accident, Dave quietly suggested to Strauss that Emily would be a perfect fit for a position that they had been abstractly planning to create for months given her experience.

Emily's work with her new team had gotten him thanks for the Director for making the recommendation.

However, in all the time he had known her, vulnerable was not a word he would ever use to describe Agent Prentiss. Seeing that reaction in the office, Dave knew there was reason to be concerned as he said, "You would feel better if you would talk about it."

Emily nodded before saying, "I know. I figured that out this morning. But I need to talk to Aaron first. We're going to talk tonight. I've been shutting him out which is probably why he is upset."

Dave noticed her voice dropped and she looked down as she finished talking. Taking a deep breath, he sighed and then shook his head wondering what had happened to have Emily so out of sorts. It was unheard of for Emily not to have been talking to Hotch for what was now several days. It clearly wasn't an argument and they weren't upset with each other.

It seemed that Elizabeth Prentiss had assured that she had the last word even in death on her relationship with her daughter. From their conversations, Dave learned that Emily and the Ambassador had never been close. After the death of her father, Emily had mostly been raised by nannies and boarding schools. Even with that, her mother had strictly controlled her life until Emily had walked away when she was 18, determined to live her life on her terms.

Even then, Elizabeth Prentiss had tried multiple times to use her influence to affect Emily's education and later her career. The Ambassador's influence had had very little effect since Emily joined the BAU with Strauss' intervention as a buffer.

The Ambassador had had a huge issue when Emily and Aaron started dating that intensified after they became engaged. It was unclear to everyone what her objection had been to their relationship other than Emily was happy.

Even after their wedding continuing through to the funeral the previous week, the Ambassador as well as her husband refused to acknowledge the marriage or the existence of Emily's children.

Dave leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs he looked at her and said softly, "Emily, he's upset because he loves you and sees that you are in pain and doesn't know what to do to help you."

Emily took a deep breath and nodded before saying, "I know. We talk for a few minutes this morning. I wasn't deliberately pushing him away. I'm just … overwhelmed…"

A knock at the door interrupted followed quickly by Agent Anderson sticking his head into the office. The attention of both agents was peaked because of the worried expression on his face.

Agent Anderson walked a few feet in her office and stopped to the side of her desk. Holding a file out in front of him, he stammered, "Apologies for the interruption Agent Prentiss, Agent Rossi but we just got a Priority 1 request."

With that pronouncement both Emily and Dave quickly rose from their seat walking towards Agent Anderson. Emily took the file from him and nodded. He quickly exited the office. After opening the files and scanning the contents, she loudly exclaimed, "dammit" before handing the file to Dave and walking over a computer terminal stationed in the corner of her office.

Dave quickly opened the file and started to read. He felt sick the further he read. "Emily, who is available?" He looked up and could see she was already on the status page for all of the BAU teams. He saw her quickly switching between different pages.

As she continued to click through checking to see which team were available and closest for this urgent case, Emily responded, "Checking now. Cooper's team is an hour away and finished their case yesterday. However, weather had them grounded. Damn, they are still grounded. No planes are getting off the ground." She stopped and stepped away from the screen before looked over at him and said calmly, "your team is the only one available right now."

Dave nodded and said, "Aaron is still meeting with Strauss and Donaldson" knowing that the Unit Chief would have to formally accept the case, however there was no doubt in either of their minds that they would be taking it.

Emily nodded and took the file that Dave was holding out for her. "OK. Let me go talk to them. Can you gather the team and get Garcia started on the direct feed?" and they started to walk towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll tell the team we are on the move as soon as we get the confirmation from you. Let Aaron know I'll get his bag from his office." Dave answered and they walked out of her office into the open area where her team's desks' were located. Emily stopped and looked at him when he stopped in the doorway. "We should probably take Lewis with us."

Emily stopped and nodded to him. "Understood." She then turned to her agents and focused on one in particular, "Tara, do you have a go-bag ready?" Since their team did not travel, it was not a requirement to have one ready at this point in her training.

Agent Lewis was sitting at her desk looked up when Emily addressed her and answered immediately, "yes, ma'am." as she gestured under her desk. JJ had alerted her during orientation that later in her training when they felt she was ready she would travel on a case with one of the team. Tara had gone home that day and prepared a bag which had been under her desk since then. Today, she was relieved that it was there.

Emily smiled at her as she answered briefly remembering her own first case with the BAU to Gitmo when she joined Hotch's team. "Good. Take it and go with Agent Rossi. He will explain the situation on the way." She then turned to the other two agents on her team, "Stephen and Luke, I'll update you on the case when I return. Initiate a direct line with Garcia." Stephen nodded to her and then gestured to Luke to follow him and they both walked into the workroom next to Emily's office.

As she was walking down the hall, Emily found the agent she needed, "Agent Anderson, call the airfield and have them prep the jet for a Priority 1 case." He nodded and jogged towards his desk.

Emily continued down the hall towards Strauss' office.

AN: Next chapter will be later this week.