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Once they finished their paperwork, or at least a majority of it, the team headed out for dinner. The restaurant was small and dimly lit, it was run by an older couple and known for its amazing food. JJ, Garcia, Hotch, Rossi, Reid, and Lewis sat around the only large table in the restaurant.

"Is someone else joining us?" Rossi asked, nodded toward the empty chairs.

As if on que, Morgan and Savannah walked into the restaurant.

"Hey!"Derek grinned as they walked toward the table. Garcia jumped up and hugged him immediately. Derek had to take a step back to steady himself and laughed. "You'd think you'd missed me or something!"

Garcia stepped back, "how dare you wait this long to come visit!"

"Good to see you too, Babygirl."

"And where's your adorable little boy?" She asked.

"It's a little past his bedtime, so we got a sitter." Derek explained.

"Why don't we let them sit down," Hotch suggested.

"Oh, yeah, okay," Garcia returned to her seat and Derek took the empty seat next to her. Savannah took the seat next to him and Derek took her hand.

"It's good to see the both of you," Hotch smiled.

"You too, man. It's been too long."

"And how are you doing Savannah?" Rossi asked.

"I'm good," she smiled, "I'm back at the hospital part-time. Between that and the two boys, I'm pretty busy."

"I imagine this one can be quite the handful," JJ glanced at Derek.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, "I am very helpful!"

"Of course you are, honey," Savannah smiled at him and then she and JJ broke into laughter.

Rossi laughed too, "I guess this surprise was worth missing out on my 2007 Sassicaia."

"So what would you say if I told you there was another?" JJ asked.

"Another?" Garcia asked, "what could be better than seeing Derek?"

"Oh I imagine you'll really like this next one," Derek said.

"You know what this surprise is?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," he made to lock his lips and throw away the key.

"Derek Morgan, tell me what is going on!"

JJ's phone buzzed, "I'll be right back."

JJ walked out of the restaurant and saw Emily getting out of her car. She struggled with her cane, maneuvering her left leg carefully. When JJ got to the car Emily was standing and shut the door behind her.

"How was your day?" JJ asked, forever stunned at how amazing Emily looked in a turtleneck.

"It was good. Jam packed with reading and daytime television," she smiled, " yours?"

"Just lots of case files."

"I know the feeling."

"Should we go see the team? They're all in the restaurant already."

"Let's do this." They walked side by side to the restaurant and JJ held the door open for Emily as she walked in.

"Emily!" Penelope's shout filled the restaurant as she jumped up and threw her arms around the other woman. Emily took a step back with her left leg and was close to falling down when she felt JJ's arm around her back supporting her.

"Hey there, Pen." Emily laughed, but the weight she was putting on her left leg to keep herself upright was starting to hurt.

Garcia finally let go, "I just can't believe you're here! It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too, it's good to see all of you," Emily looked at the table with the rest of the team.

"Here," JJ pointed out the chair next to hers, "sit. Is your ankle alright?"

"I'm fine," Emily waved her off, but took the seat gratefully.

"What happened to your ankle, are you okay?" Spencer asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Oh, I'm fine," Emily said, "don't worry about it."

"Bad enough for you to need a cane," Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"When I needed a cane it was because I had been shot in the leg," Reid pointed out.

Emily sighed and gave them the same story she had given JJ and Morgan. Or some variation of it. "Now can we stop worrying about my ankle? I want to hear all about everyone! I've missed you all so much."

"I want to hear about you!" Garcia exclaimed, "how's London? How's Mark?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"London's good," Emily said, "Interpol's been keeping me busy."

"Still running the London office?" Hotch asked.

Emily nodded.

"And Mark?" Garcia repeated, missing JJ's signal for her to stop.

"We're not together anymore." Emily responded, keeping her voice casual.

Penelope looked horrified, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked, I wasn't thinking!"

"Don't worry about it," Emily smiled, "it just didn't work out."

"Is there any chance we can convince you to come back to the BAU?" Rossi asked.

"Not this time," Emily shook her head, "sorry."

"Darn," Rossi said, but he smiled.

They all continued to talk after they ordered their food. Emily got caught up on all of their lives. She asked about Jack and about Spencer's mom, and was told countless stories about Sergio with the promise that she could visit him as much as she wanted.

It felt great to be back with the team. It was one of the few places that Emily had ever felt comfortable. The few people she had ever really known and cared for. It was almost too easy to slip back into the role of SSA Emily Prentiss. To tell jokes and laugh with the team. She almost felt normal.

When Emily turned to look at JJ she saw that she was already looking at her. JJ had a smile on her face. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes that same gorgeous shade of blue that made Emily feel like she was looking into the ocean. Emily smiled back and JJ held her gaze for a moment before looking away.

Derek and Savannah told stories about Hank. Reid did a magic trick with a fork and a napkin. Hotch put Jack on speaker phone so that everyone could say 'hi'. Tara and Emily struck up a conversation in French. Rossi poured her a glass of wine from the bottle on the table.

It was almost enough to make her forget why she had come back.

XXX

Emily spent most of the next day while JJ was at work looking through files. She didn't have her Interpol access, but she had managed to get a hold of a few of their written reports. She had to figure out what happened. What had gone wrong. What she had done wrong.

She stared at the words that she had already read a half dozen times, she nearly had them memorized. But maybe if she read it again, this time she would see something, this time would be different. She stared at the words of what had happened that night.

It had been Emily's first case as a handler.

She had been assigned a team of four undercover agents, three women and one man. Their mission was to infiltrate a human trafficking ring in Romania. Her agents had been deep cover for over four months before the first was picked up by the traffickers. Within the next three weeks they were all in.

Emily had been monitoring their work from the outside. She had four other agents working with her. Their mission was to find the people running the human trafficking ring. If they had just taken out the lower level workers, the ring would have built up in a new location.

She had been up for over 36 hours, but kept listening to the audio they were picking up from a bug that had been placed a few weeks earlier. Most of the conversations were in Romanian, but every once in awhile a word or phrase would pop up in English or Russian. Everything was being recorded, but Emily jotted down notes as she listened.

But then she had heard it. What changed everything. It wasn't her agent's cover name that was being said. It was her name. Her real name. That's when Emily knew that their covers had been blown. When she knew they had to go in. They had to get the agents out.

And when they had gotten inside everyone was gone. Except her agents. They were there. Gagged and on their knees.

Emily heard the front door open and closed the file. She slid it into her bag and tucked her bag away. She took a few deep breaths, trying to push the image away. The image of her agents, the image that haunted her mind.

That always brought back the smell of dust and burning flesh and the taste of blood.

She gripped her head with her hands, bent down, trying to forget. Trying to forget.

But needing to remember. Needing to know. Needing the ability to do something.

But she heard JJ walking down the hall so she pushed it away. Pushed it down, keeping it hidden away for later. Later, alone, she could analyze and agonize. But not now, not with JJ. Now she had to be okay, she had to smile, she had to laugh.

And she could, she could push it away for now. Because JJ made her laugh and made her smile and made her, for just a moment, feel like it was okay.

But then it came back, it always did, when she was alone, when she couldn't distract herself.

It always came back.

But now, now Emily opened the door from the guest room and walked out. She smiled at JJ who was standing in her room, setting her bag on the floor and her jacket on the bed. "How was work?" Emily asked, leaning against the doorway.

JJ smiled back at her, her sweet, beautiful, smile.

And for just a moment Emily forgot everything else.