Actonaire
It was the middle of 2010 when Elle breezed through like a cloudburst in July, with a single phone call in the aftermath of Haley's death.
"Prentiss," she answered her cell.
"Wow," Elle's voice wove through like smoke. "You never changed your number."
"Hey! How are you?'
"I'm okay. I heard about Mrs. Hotchner through the grapevine."
It took a second for Emily to connect 'Mrs. Hotchner' to 'Haley'. "Yeah. Hotch is a mess."
"And Jack's okay?"
"As well as he can be. Hotch beat Foyet to death," Emily found herself saying.
"Good. He was a right goddam bastard."
"How'd you hear?"
"I do freelance detective work now, so I keep in touch with some people."
"Are you back in New York City?"
"Yeah. And Jason's here, too, in Westchester."
"You guys figured yourselves out, then?"
She was still a little angry with Gideon for abandoning Reid like he had.
"We did," Elle confirmed. "Mom's overjoyed. She keeps wanting to plan the wedding."
"I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, you know all about pain-in-the-ass mothers. I hear you're quite the action hero at the BAU."
"Not true. I almost quit."
"In future, don't let Strauss get to you. She's a power-mad bureaucrat in the finest tradition of governmental lunacy."
"I haven't and I won't ever again, believe me."
"But," Elle added with the sneaky tone preceding a delighted attack on someone. "If you ever need another job, look up Greenaway Investigations."
"Smartass. How's the knitting?" "Low, Em. Really low, honey."
"I make an effort."
"Any good dates?"
"Still the same losers."
"Go find someone who isn't. Hell. Ask Garcia to set you up. She knows how to pick 'em like a champ. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Bye-bye, beautiful."
Elle hung up before Emily. Maybe she'd ask Garcia if she knew a nice girl looking for a date.
Author's Note: And done! Just under the wire, too. I wanted to resolve the 'Whatever happened to them after they left the BAU?' question. How'd I do?