Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.

Full Circle
Part 12

By N. J. Borba

Everything became a bit hazy as Emily rushed toward Derek. Sights, sounds, colors... they were all muted by her determination. She didn't give her actions a second thought. As she collided with the chair, feeling one of the wooden arms dig into her side, Emily could see a flash of something in her peripheral vision. There was a blur of color that almost seemed to move in time with the resounding thud of gunfire that echoed through the room. It was all over in the blink of an eye. And then she laid there for a moment, trying to determine if she was still alive. Slowly, she turned her head toward Derek. His dark eyes were open wide, staring at her with a look that was caught halfway between a disappointed frown and a relieved grin. But the part that might have been a smile was gone before she could be sure it had ever existed.

"You okay?" Derek asked, serious facade fully in control.

She nodded. "I think so."

As Emily sat up, the world came rushing back with frightening speed and her heart threatened to pound out of her chest, adrenaline still pumping furiously. She took several deep breaths to try and calm down. The room was awash in a disharmony of activity and voices. She turned to see Simon against the ground on his stomach. Hotch had his weapon pointed at the young man's head while Rossi cuffed the boy's hands behind his back. A few feet to the left of them, Teresa was being cuffed as well. Emily could see the stunned look on her face, and a tear rolled down the girl's cheek. She followed Teresa's gaze to the floor and finally spotted the blur of color she hadn't been able to identify earlier. Kyle was sprawled on his back, blood draining from the gunshot wound in his right thigh.

Noticing that Reid had swooped in to help Morgan, she crawled toward Kyle. Emily placed her hands against his leg, using pressure to try and slow the flow of blood. She sensed someone kneeling beside her and turned to find JJ there. It was not the most suitable time for a reunion, though. "Is there a medic with you guys?" Emily asked her.

"I called EMS in after we knew for sure where you were," JJ let her know. "They should probably be here s..." the media liaison couldn't even get the words out before they heard a wail of sirens in the distance.

Emily looked down at Kyle. "That was a really stupid thing to do," she gently chastised. "What were you thinking?"

"That I..." he sucked in a breath. "I didn't want Teresa to feel responsible for killing anyone. I tried to stop Simon, but I guess my leg did most of the stopping." Another shaky breath escaped his lips as he looked her in the eye. "And I told you I wanted to help."

"Yes you did," Emily exhaled. "Thank you."

The kid glanced between Emily and JJ. "Do you know if my brother's okay? Did he make it?"

"You mean Daniel?" JJ asked, guessing that it was Kyle she was talking to. He and his brother looked a lot alike. "He's fine, it was just a shoulder wound. They took him to the hospital last night, but he's already been released."

"Is he in jail?" the young man asked.

"No," JJ answered, seeing the worry etched across his brow. "He's being charged with assault, but Hotch spoke with the police and I don't think there'll be any jail time served. My best guess is that he'll be performing a lot of community service as soon as his shoulder heals."

Kyle seemed somewhat relieved as he caught Emily's attention again. "Will you tell him I'm sorry about getting him involved in this. And tell him that I love him..."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Emily shook her head. "You're just in shock right now," she let him know. There was a lot of blood, and she couldn't be sure of his condition, but she told him what he needed to hear at that moment. "You'll be fine, and you can tell him all of that yourself while you convalesce together." Emily did her best to reassure the boy, even though she figured he would be doing some time in jail after all he'd done.

"You stupid bitch!" Simon's voice rang out over the canopy of activity, startling Emily. "You ruined everything! Everything!"

"Shut up!" Rossi shot back as he yanked on the boy's cuffs.

Emily wasn't sure if Simon had been talking about her or Teresa, but figured it was both of them he was mad at. She watched as Hotch and Rossi got the kid in line and marched him away from the scene. Casey started to move Teresa toward the exit too, but the young woman stopped to glance over at Morgan who had gotten to his feet, having been cut lose from the chair by Reid. "Don't hurt her..." the girl looked him in the eye. "Your daughter," she explained as further tears were spilled. "She's perfect and innocent. Please, don't ever hurt her."

Derek felt his stomach coil in a sympathetic knot. "I won't," his quiet promise was given. He cautiously pressed two fingers against the open gash on the side of his head, not sure what else he could possibly do or say to ease the pain of her fractured family. Morgan watched as Casey finally took her away and then he shifted his focus to Emily who was still helping the boy on the ground.

The ambulance sirens grew to a crescendo and minutes later a team of two technicians came jogging toward them. JJ got to her feet and cleared out of their way. As soon as Emily was shooed away, by the tech who took over her tourniquet efforts, JJ gave her a hand up. With things mostly under control, the younger woman leaned in and hugged her old friend. "It's good to see you again," JJ whispered.

"It's good to see you too," Emily replied, relieved to have been greeted in such an affectionate way after being absent from the team's lives for three years without word. Her side of the hug was not as genuine as she would have liked, though, given the fact she was trying not to coat JJ with Kyle's blood, which still coated her hands. She stepped back and wiped them the best she could on her damp pants. As everything finally started to slow down, Emily felt a cold shiver rack her body.

"You look frozen, here," JJ removed her FBI-issue windbreaker and wrapped it around Emily's shoulders. "It's not much, but...."

"Thank you, JJ," Emily was grateful for even the smallest warmth. She looked over and caught Derek and Reid watching them. Morgan still looked like he was trapped in a battle over whether to be angry at her or glad she was alive. Spencer just looked hurt as he stepped away and crossed the room. Emily followed him over to the table where Teresa had performed her judging duties. Behind the screen they both noticed a stack of papers, but she halted his efforts to inspect them, not willing to let things fester any longer. "Reid," Emily caught his arm and he turned toward her. "I'm so sorry for the way I left things, not saying goodbye. I really regret that. And if you can't forgive me, I'll understand, but I just wanted you to know I was sorry."

He pressed his lips together and struggled to find words. In the end there was only one thing he really wanted her to know. "I missed you."

She grinned, even as a tear rolled down her cheek. Emily didn't think anyone was more surprised by that response than he seemed to be. It certainly deserved a hug, and she gave him one, feeling the warmth of his awkward stance. "I missed you too," she let him know.

Reid slowly backed out of the embrace, his face flushed. He stared down at the table for a moment, collecting his thoughts, but curiosity piqued when he spotted some words on a page. He reached down and picked up a few of the papers. After just seconds spent reading, he looked up at Emily again. Derek and JJ had come to join them as well. "Look at this, it kind of reads like some sort of script," Spencer noticed. "Teresa's name is highlighted and there are multiple response options."

Emily read some of them aloud. "You're not to speak unless spoken to. Who I am is not important. If you're found guilty of hurting my family as a result of your actions, then you'll have to die too." She looked over at Reid again. "Teresa said all of those things to me."

"So, she wrote it out to practice?" JJ asked.

Spencer shook his head. "I don't think so. The handwriting is blocky and messy. I'd say its Simon's. He was probably directing everything she did or said. Look at this," he flipped through the pages. "These seem to be a series of notes written back and forth between them. Listen to this one." Reid read the note: "My step-mother was just like these women who hurt you. She destroyed lives, mine and my fathers. She tore my family apart with her abuse. I finally had to take a stand against her, just the way you need to. No one is going to do it for you."

"That's the blocky lettering," Derek noted, looking over the younger man's shoulder.

"And this writing..." Reid pointed to a different note. "Is curlier and much neater. It's like the writing in some of the notebooks I found in Teresa's bedroom," he pointed out as he read one of her responses. "I'm not sure about all of this; your plan. I want them to know they hurt my family and that someone cares, but... I don't want anyone to be hurt. Maybe this is all a bad idea."

Morgan sighed. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl all over again. "He certainly did a good job of commanding her. But even so, she had a choice. And, unfortunately, Teresa is still going to be facing some serious charges for her part in all of this."

"Well, maybe her parents can provide her with a better defense than they did parental guidance," JJ shrugged.

Reid sat the papers down on the table. "You can't blame everything on bad parenting."

JJ turned toward him. "But you certainly fed the blame she'd placed on her father. Why didn't you tell her about her mother's affair?" she asked the doctor.

"Because I thought she'd suffered enough." Spencer wore a mask of understanding. "I guess I figured she might need one person in her life to trust, to believe in. In this case, her mother. And also because..." he tried not to let his eyes fall upon Derek and Emily, even though he knew his words were partially for them. "I don't really think children need to know about every mistake their parents make."

Emily swallowed, feeling the weight of his words crash into her. She was glad to see Hotch and Rossi as they approached the group, providing a much needed distraction from where Reid's heavy words had left them. Dave greeted her first, a friendly and forgiving smile plastered to his lips. "Good to see you alive."

"It's good to be seen alive," she quipped.

Hotch caught her eye, almost looking as awkward as Reid had earlier. "Sorry about before, when I told you not to come back here for Morgan. I guess I forgot that I don't have the right to order you around any more. Some habits seem to die hard."

She smiled. "Yeah, well... thanks for caring enough to try."

"Speaking of which..." Derek didn't normally like to air his dirty laundry in front of the group. But his irritation finally won out as he faced Emily. "I heard what you told that kid, about what he did being really stupid."

"Right..." Emily nodded, bracing for the storm she sensed was brewing. "And now you're going to throw that back at me?" She watched him shrug and his eyes shift back and forth between calm and furious. Emily decided to counter any attack before it could even start. "I guess I figured two years without her daddy was better than a lifetime," she concluded.

Silence reigned for an agonizing minute as Derek's momentary anger dissipated all together. Neither seemed to know what else to say.

"So..." Rossi finally felt the need to lighten the moment for everyone. "Emily, there's uh... something I've been curious about. Was that personal trainer that Cynthia Hawkins was fooling around with really named Hercules?"

As ridiculous as his question was, she welcomed it. "Hercules Adonis Smith," Emily held one hand up, as if she were about to swear an oath on the bible and testify on the matter. "Seriously. That is the name on his legal driver's license."

The group erupted in a chorus of laughter that helped to dissolve the tension of the last few days, even Morgan seemed a little more relaxed. "With all the, who's cheating on who business, this whole case has been like a bad episode of Melrose Place," Rossi shook his head.

"There were good episodes of that show?" JJ countered.

Hotch arched a brow. "I'm just surprised that Dave even knows that show existed."

"Contrary to popular belief, I haven't been living under a rock for the last twenty-five years." Rossi protested the good-natured dig. He glanced around at all their doubtful faces. "Okay," he shrugged in resignation. "One of my wives liked to watch that crap. And she was all about the drama, let me tell you. That's the main reason why she became the third Ex Mrs. David Rossi."

Their laughter died off into eye-rolls and groans. And Hotch returned to protective mode in a flash as he regarded Morgan and Emily. "We should get you both to the hospital, have you checked out. And no protesting," he warned, looking mainly at Emily. "Even if I don't have the right to order you around any longer. You both look like hell."

"Yeah," Dave agreed. "I've heard of couples who get matching rings or outfits, even identical tattoos, but never matching head wounds."

Emily felt a little uncomfortable at Dave's reference to them being a couple of any sort. And despite Hotch's warning, she couldn't help protest, because the only place she really wanted to be at the moment was with her daughter. "Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks," Emily said, even as she ran a hand over the bleeding wound on her forehead. "I have a really hard head."

"We know," the others replied in unison.

xxx

Regardless of her protests, Emily and Derek had been taken to the hospital to get patched up. Amazingly enough Derek's shoulder wasn't broken. There'd actually been no broken bones between them, mostly a lot of bruises and some nasty cuts. Both of their foreheads had taken several stitches and were bandaged, but they'd been cleared of any cranial trauma or concussion diagnosis. Even the doctor had to agree they both had pretty tough heads. Rest was prescribed along with some mild pain killers. And, after several hours at the hospital, they'd joined the team at the FBI field office to make official reports on the incident. All of which ate up another few hours of their day, hours that kept pushing Emily's reunion with her daughter further away.

It was late afternoon when JJ and Reid finally drove them back to Emily's house. Emily promptly took a long, hot shower to wash away the last few days of grime and turmoil. Derek was left with a shorter, lukewarm bathing experience. But he was happy to have his bag there with fresh clothes to slip on. Once cleaned up and shaved, JJ let him know that Emily hadn't come out of the bedroom since her shower. Thinking maybe she'd fallen asleep, he was a little reluctant to knock. But worry for her managed to get the better of him, despite the doctor's all-clear. He knocked softly and then pushed the door open. Morgan found her seated on the edge of the bed, dressed in black yoga pants and a green t-shirt. Her eyes seemed to be glued to the floor as he moved further into the room.

"Emily? You okay in here?" When she sat up straighter, he could easily see the red splotches on her face and the blood-shot eyes. Morgan then spotted the framed picture in her hands and realized the source of her tears. He sat beside her and grinned as he looked at the image of his daughter caught in the midst of a belly laugh. "Now who's having separation anxiety?" he asked.

"That would be me, I fully admit it," Emily replied, swiping tears away.

"You've never been away from her this long before?"

Her head shook and she sniffed rather loudly. "Never for more than a few hours."

"Well, you talked to your mom earlier, so you know Beth is fine," he nudged her shoulder with his.

She cleared her throat and sniffed again, trying to ward off the remnants of her crying spell. "I just want to hold her. Then I'll know for sure that she's okay. And then I'll finally be okay again."

Derek's comforting nudge turned into a full fledged shoulder to lean on as she laid her head against him. His arm draped across her shoulders, fingers gently caressing the bare skin beneath the short sleeve of her shirt. Emily closed her eyes and inhaled his soapy cleanness. She was transported back to the night they'd made love. The one and only time they'd been together, which was more than she could have ever hoped for, and not nearly enough either. Her head turned to the side and she placed a butterfly soft kiss against the pulse point on his neck. His skin was warm and still moist from being freshly washed. Her hand rested against his chest as she raised her head and captured his lips for a brief moment in time.

"Hey, guys, Reid and I..." JJ stepped one foot into Emily's bedroom and then realized what she'd walked in on. "Oh, dear... I am so..." she watched Emily spring to her feet like a teenager who'd just been caught by her mother. "Um... there's something kind of important we wanted to show you, but maybe... well, it could probably wait," she shrugged.

"No," Derek stood. "It's fine. We weren't doing anything important."

Emily watched him exit the room and resisted the urge to slap him for his comment. She stomped down her fluctuating emotions and looked to JJ. "I'm so sorry, Emily," the younger woman apologized.

"You have nothing to apologize for, because... apparently there was nothing going on here," Emily sighed, dropping the picture of Beth onto her bed. "Did you check on Kyle?" she asked as they moved toward the living room.

JJ nodded. "Yeah, he's out of surgery. The bullet missed his femoral artery by a fraction of an inch. He's going to be fine."

When the entered the living room, Reid was standing beside the coffee table where a laptop was open. On the screen was the image of someone else Emily hadn't seen in three years, the effervescent BAU technical analyst. "Emily the Triumphant!" Garcia exclaimed as soon as she spotted the woman. "I heard you are a slayer of dragons and saved the day," her smile lit up the small screen.

"You always make everything sound more lively," Emily grinned. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you."

"Well, it is ubber good to see you too, sweetie. But, I do have to say I have a bone to pick with you for managing to elude me all these years. That is so not good for my ego, you know? Not to mention Derek was a real thorn in my side all that time, hounding me to find you."

"Hey," Morgan protested. "I wasn't that bad, baby girl."

Penelope smiled mischievously. "Yes you were, but I am not the baby girl you seek." She turned her head to the right and then to the left. "Oh, dear... where did she go?" Garcia rolled her chair backwards and glanced beneath her desk. "Get out from under there you little monkey," she wrestled with the willful child before hefting her up. "Auntie Garcia has got a surprise for you, look..." she pointed to the screen, but Beth had her back to the object. She was much more interested with the dangly things on Garcia's ears. "No, no, I understand those are shiny and fun, but... turn around, honey..."

"Hi, baby," Emily got down on her knees in front of the computer and called to her daughter.

Beth instantly turned around and sunk down onto Garcia's lap. "Mama!" she chirped, reaching out to touch the screen with both her hands. "Mama hug. Mama hold," her tiny voice quaked as she tried to grab hold of Emily through the monitor.

"Oh, goodness," Garcia's stomach clenched. "Maybe this wasn't the best idea."

"It's okay, she's okay," Emily's voice was calm, though her tears had returned. "Bethy, mama can't hold you right now but I will really soon. Really soon, baby," she tried to reassure the child, seeing the tears in her eyes as well. "I love you so much, and I've missed you like crazy."

"Miss mama," Beth lamented, still making grabby motions at the screen.

Emily felt a warm hand on her shoulder and knew it was Derek. She couldn't quite understand how he kept swinging back and forth between seeming like he carried about her to giving her the cold shoulder. But she pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and further tried to comfort her daughter from a distance. "Bethy, where is Thumbkin?" Emily asked the girl.

The child held her left hand up and closed all the fingers into a tiny fist, leaving her thumb out. "Mama sing?"

"Where is Thumbkin? Where is..." Emily gladly sang the tune, not caring that everyone could hear her less-than-stellar singing voice. She often sang the French melody, Frère Jacques, to Beth before bedtime. But the, Where is Thumbkin, version to the same tune was a favorite of the girl. She watched as Beth settled down and laid her head against Penelope's chest. Her dark hair was done up in lop-sided pig tails with pink ribbons, and she wore a white shirt under purple denim overalls. Big brown eyes sparkled as she listened to her mother sing. And the look on her face reminded Emily so much of Derek, the same sort of half-frown and half-smile he'd worn earlier.

"Your parents went with Anderson to get coffee," Garcia explained when the song was finished. "I said I'd get Beth back to them in a few minutes," she seemed loath to break up the reunion.

"That's okay," Emily acknowledged. "Beth, I won't see you until the morning, so you be good for grandma and grandpa. Alright, baby? I love you."

"Lub mama," Beth replied.

"Time to say goodbye," Penelope whispered to the girl. "Can you wave?"

Beth flapped her left hand. "Bye mama... bye daddy."

Derek's heart melted to realize his little girl had noticed he was there too. "Bye, sweetheart. I love you."

"Lub daddy," Beth replied.

Emily waved too. "Bye-bye, baby." A second later the image of Garcia and Beth winked out. She got to her feet again and ran both hands through her damp hair. "Credit card," she murmured to herself. "I need to find..." Emily looked up and caught Reid's attention. "Did you guys retrieve my purse? It was in the car when I was... no, never mind. I have statements somewhere I can get the number from..." she went to the desk and opened a drawer.

"Hey, Emily, slow down a sec," Derek could tell that seeing Beth had gotten her worked into some sort of frenzy. He watched her rummage through the drawer and heard a knock on the front door at the same time. Morgan was grateful that JJ let Hotch and Rossi in, as his focus was elsewhere at the moment.

"I need to have a credit card to book a flight," Emily explained. "Beth has already been through enough without having to make another trip so soon. And I need to be there in the morning when she wakes up, because I just promised her that. So, I need to go. Now."

"Emily," Hotch addressed her. "Why don't you fly back with us," he offered.

She instantly latched on to his words. "Really? Can we leave now?"

He nodded. "Sure, we've got everything wrapped up here. Just as soon as you gather whatever you need we can head to the airport."

"The only thing I need is Beth, and she's in DC. So, can we go now? Right now?"

Hotch understood that there were some moments when a parent just needed to see their child, no matter the time of day or the distance between them. He'd experienced that first hand many times, and her eagerness fueled his own desire to see Jack again. "Yes, we can leave right now."

To Be Continued...