I hope you all enjoy the chapter and have a good weekend!

I do not own Criminal Minds

Emily stared out the window.

She could no longer see the house in the side mirror, although she doubted she would ever forget what had happened in there. Her forehead stung and her head ached, but god, it was over. It was over...

Emily didn't look away from the window until the car pulled into a driveway and stopped.

"No," she said, "I can't go in there, I'm still a fugitive."

Derek turned to look at her from the driver's seat. "I don't care," he said, "Hotch is bringing Easter in and then he's going to the office. He's going to get this figured out, okay? Until then, you stay here. Got it?" He tried to give her an encouraging smile.

Emily sighed. Derek and Aaron had already risked so much for her.

Morgan turned off the engine and got out of the car, walking around to the other side. He opened the door, "come on, Emily." He held out his hand.

They walked to the house side by side. The light was on in the living room and Savannah opened the front door and stood in the doorway.

"Are you hurt?" She immediately went to Emily, seeing the blood that had now dried on her face.

"I'm fine," Emily pulled away from her touch.

"Let me look at your head, it's bleeding," Savannah said.

"No," Emily ducked her head, "it's okay."

"What's going on?" Savannah turned to look at Derek.

Derek gave his head a slight shake, indicating they would talk later. "Let's go clean off the blood," Derek led Emily upstairs and into the hall bathroom.

"I'll be right back," Derek left the bathroom and went to his room. Savannah was there already.

"Derek, what's going on?" She asked again.

"I can't give you any details right now," he said, "but Emily needs to spend the night." He paused, "she–"

"Derek," Savannah stopped him, "if you can't give me details, I trust you. I just need to know, are we safe? Is Hank safe?"

"Yes."

"Okay," she nodded. "I'll go get the first aid kit and you do what you need to do."

Derek turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. "I love you, Savannah."

"I know," she kissed him, "I love you too."

When Derek got back to the bathroom Emily was standing in the doorway.

"Is JJ okay?" She asked quickly.

"Yeah," Derek told her, "JJ's okay."

"Did the FBI arrest her?"

"They took her in for questioning after your escape, but she's at Tara's right now. She's safe."

Emily let out a shaky breath at the news, "I want to see her."

"I know you do Princess, but you can't. Not yet."

And Emily knew he was right, of course he was. She had been the one to tell JJ not to contact her. Not to contact DeMarco. But that didn't stop the aching in her chest.

"Hotch and I know that you didn't do anything wrong," Derek continued, "and JJ knows that too. But until everybody else does, you need to lay low. Now, will you please sit down?"

But Emily couldn't.

Because for a moment she couldn't move.

Because, god, she had brought all of this here. She had brought Easter here and she had brought Doyle here and every single time the people she loved got caught in the middle. Because it always came back. The monsters always came back.

But now they were disguised as friends.

As colleagues. As mentors.

And it had taken her too long to realize. Because he had tricked her and manipulated her. And the only other time she had been suspicious of him it had gotten Tsia killed. And after that, after that she had never questioned him or doubted him. And now that had gotten people killed. Because she hadn't seen that he was a traitor. She hadn't seen until it was too late.

"Emily, Emily look at me," Derek said.

Her head was down and her eyes averted.

"Come on, Princess," Derek used his hand to raise Emily's chin. She met his eyes but he could read nothing in them. After everything that had happened she was still so guarded. "This wasn't your fault, do you understand that?"

She couldn't answer him, at least not the way he wanted her to, so instead she walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bathtub. She could hear him sigh, she could hear him open a cabinet, and she could hear him turn on the sink.

"This might sting a little bit," his voice was gentle as he crouched beside her. He wiped the blood from her face and dabbed at the cut on the side of her forehead.

Emily kept her eyes on the ground, biting her lip instead of flinching at the pain.

"Hi, Emily. Can I look at that cut?"

Emily glanced up and saw that Savannah had entered the bathroom with a first aid kit in hand.

"Yeah," Emily said, "sorry," she added quickly.

"Don't be," Savannah smiled. She opened the first aid kit on the counter and opened it. "This will sting, but it's going to clean the cut," she said.

And it did sting, but Emily didn't move. And she didn't move when Savannah placed a piece of gauze over the injury. And when Savannah placed two pills in her palm she swallowed them obediently.

"I set up the couch downstairs for you," Savannah said, "you should try and get some rest."

"Thanks."

Derek walked downstairs with her to where Savannah had placed an extra pillow and a comforter on the couch. Emily sat, exhausted, but already knowing she would be unable to sleep tonight.

"How're you feeling?" Derek asked, sitting beside her.

"Like I got pistol whipped."

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

And she did. Because the thought of being alone right now terrified her. But instead she said, "you should go be with Savannah."

Despite her words Derek knew. It was the first time he had been able to read her eyes all night. So instead of getting up and walking up stairs he leaned back and pulled the comforter over the both of them. Emily leaned against him, silently thankful that he hadn't left.

"I'm so proud of you, Princess," he kissed the top of her head, "I've always been proud of you."

XXX

Neither Emily nor Derek slept that night and four hours later they were up for a meeting at the Bureau. They were given visitors badges and directed to Hotch's office. As they walked down the familiar halls Emily could feel eyes on her. She counted herself lucky that none of the agents tried to physically arrest her.

The bull pen was quiet; Emily was surprised not to see Rossi, Reid, or Tara at their desks.

"You good?" Derek asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

They walked across the bullpen and up the stairs to Hotch's office. Derek knocked and when they were called in he gave Emily a reassuring smile before opening the door.

Hotch was sitting behind his desk and indicated for them to take a seat at the chairs across from him. He cleared his throat before speaking, "I hope you were both able to get some rest," he said, knowing full well neither of them had slept in the past 24 hours. "I spoke with the director today and in lieu of the information you provided us with, Emily, the charges against you have been dropped."

"What about Easter?" Emily asked.

"He is in Interpol custody and they will be investigating all charges against him."

"And the escape?" Derek asked.

Aaron looked from Derek to Emily, "the FBI is willing to look the other way on this due to the extenuating circumstances of the situation. However, I do stress that it would be best for the both of you to stay off of the FBI's radar for now."

Emily nodded, "how's DeMarco?"

"Once Easter was transferred to Interpol, DeMarco was picked up by some of our Agents. He will likely be returning to London in the next few days."

Emily sighed in relief.

"Another thing," Hotch opened his drawer and pulled out a box, "I was able to get these for you. I can get the rest of your items later today."

Hotch handed her the box and Emily removed her wallet, cellphone, and belt.

"Thank you, for everything," she said.

Hotch nodded, "you both are free to go, but keep in touch."

"Will do, man," Derek said as he stood.

"Of course," Emily said, she and Derek walked to the door.

"Emily," Hotch stopped her, "one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Tell JJ that I'm sorry."

Emily looked at him in question.

"She'll understand."

They left the office and as Derek shut the door behind them, Emily couldn't help but think of the symbolism it held. Closing the door to the past and walking away.

Closure. Freedom. Escape.

But she wasn't naive enough to believe any of that.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I promise that JJ will be in the next one :) I'd love reviews!