Kate Harper - The West Wing

"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light." Helen Keller

February 2005

It was a day... and if CJ ever put her in the same room as Lord John again the Brits were going to have to replace their ambassador.

The man was an absolute nightmare and yet brilliant in his haze of alcoholic britishness.

She almost threw her cell phone away when it went off just as she stepped foot outside the gates.

Except it wasn't her official NSA phone that was ringing, it was a personal pre-paid phone that wasn't registered under any name the West Wing staff would know.

Well... Nancy probably knew but that woman knew everything.

The number was familiar, but not showing up as a contact.

"Hello?" she answered, anyone calling this number would not expect her name in the greeting.

"It's Emily, I need help."

While Kate had left the CIA years before Emily had only gone deeper. After a mission in Columbia went south in 2000 Kate had gone back to the mainstream Navy and promised Emily if she ever needed anything all she had to do is call.

"Where are you?"

"Look up..." Kate could hear it... something had finally broken Emily Prentiss. Letting her eyes flicker over her surroundings she took in the late evening foot traffic. Across the road in the shadow of a tree she stood, thin and sallow, shivering in the early February chill.

Hanging up the call Kate quickly crossed the road and greeted her friend with a strong hug.

"God it's good to see you" Emily murmured almost crying in relief at finally being with someone she could trust with this.

"I'm guessing this is a conversation you don't want overheard?" Kate pulled back and looked at her old friend. There was a deep set weariness written all over her and a sadness Kate had never seen before. Even more worrying was how thin Emily was.

"Yeah"

"You got your agency ID?" Emily nodded "Come on" Kate lead her back across the road to the gates and pulled her own ID back out.

"Kate... this really isn't a conversation for the West Wing..." Emily stuttered as she pulled out her own ID.

"You're right" Kate grinned as she got Emily signed in as her visitor "but the grounds are perfect. There's one spot in particular where we can talk and no one will disturb us."

Leading her around to the portico Kate found the bench she wanted. It seemed to be an unofficial meeting spot, nestled between the CJ's office and the oval there were marines in sight but not earshot, same with the security cameras.

Neither of them noticed CJ watch them wander down the portico.

"What do you need?" Kate's pretty sure Emily's going to ask for help getting out of the CIA.

"My last assignment..." Emily chewed her bottom lip nervously and steeled herself "Valhalla..." Kate's eyes widened she gasped in shock, she'd known there was an OP but she hadn't known it was Emily. The reports she received stated the operative had worked Valhalla for nearly 2 years. At first it had been the occasional meet up and sale, over the course of a year building trust and gaining intel. After that things got more intense, until the final brutal 6 months where Emily was with Doyle 24/7.

"I got close... too close... to a little boy, the son of Doyle's housekeeper... or so I thought." she can't even look at Kate. "I found out towards the end that he's Doyle's son. After the take down and my cover was killed I went back for them, got them out of Italy and here to the US. Declan and Louise are happy and settled but Interpol wants more on Doyle... I've given them everything but Declan... he's five years old and he deserves a chance to live. If anyone finds out about him... the things they'll do to that little boy to get his father to talk... I can't let that happen." Kate wanted to reach out and grab Emily's hand but she knew it wouldn't be received well.

Down the walk way movement caught her eye and she saw CJ glaring at her.

"It's been 6 months... I've been floating from OP to OP providing support but I'm done and I... I want out..." Emily closed her eyes against the burning pain behind them. She still felt so dirty... she'd been Lauren for too long and couldn't shake the arms dealer from her head.

"What do you need from me?" Kate knew the disconnect Emily was going through right now... the dirtiest jobs in the CIA required you to strip the most important parts of yourself away. Getting it back was a battle that had resulted in more operatives than anyone would admit diving to the bottom of a bottle or eating a gun.

"I have a plan for Declan and Louise... it'll break Ian and protect them. I can deal with that and it's better if you don't know all the details." Telling the deputy NSA that she was planning on faking their deaths and setting them up with illegal identities she purchased from a forger was a really stupid idea. "I need a background written for me... Before the agency recruited me I was looking at the FBI, thinking about trying to get into the BAU. I have the knowledge, skills and training for it I just need a Bureau work history." she looked up at Kate with dead eyes "Can you put me in touch with someone who can organise that?"

"That I can take care of no problem... give me a week and I'll call you with the details" Kate smiled gently "You look like crap... do you have somewhere to stay here in the city?"

"Yeah, Mom's in London so I'm staying at her place tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to get everything sorted with Declan, I'll call you when I'm back in the city." Emily stood, she was too dirty for this place… she didn't deserve to be anywhere near here. As she was walking away Kate called out causing her to stop.

"Em… come stay with me when you get back to DC…" Emily glanced over her shoulder "The first weeks are the hardest and your gonna need a friend when you hit rock bottom."

Emily nodded once and kept walking.

Before she had even disappeared around the corner CJ was standing in front of Kate, furiously glaring.

"Do you want to tell me why at nearly midnight you're sitting in a dark abandoned corner of the White House grounds with the daughter of a US Ambassador, who last I heard was a translator for Interpol?"

Kate studied her friend… and smiled… CJ would understand and had clearance for the basics. Emily could do with a friend like CJ.

"Interpol translator? That's her current cover?" Kate grumbled. "Emily and I have been friends for over decade…" she starts "I was helping with an op in Cairo, she had originally been recruited for linguistics but… damn she could become anyone she needed to… That woman play's dumb tourist better than anyone I've ever met. We kept in touch but it was 2000 before we got a chance to work together again, we were in Columbia and she took a bullet for me. Literally pushed me to the ground. After that I left the agency but she went deeper…" Kate sighed "I promised her and myself… anywhere anytime if I could help I would. She wants out of the agency and I'm going to help her…"

CJ was smart enough to know there was so much more to the story than Kate was telling her, but her words weren't about a fellow agent... it was the sisterhood.

"Talk to Ron..." CJ smiled "He can probably fake a Secret Service assignment for her."

"Hmmm" Kate considered it "Maybe… but she wants FBI."

Four days later Kate arrived home late in the evening to find Emily sitting on her stoop seemingly fast asleep. Kate let her foot fall heavier causing Emily's eyes to pop open. Eyes that were bloodshot, dull and completely devoid of any life.

Not saying anything Kate grabbed her hand and hauled her upright, noting the wobble and sway. She wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion or vodka causing it. Most likely a combination of both. She got Emily upstairs and poured into a bed.

Kate isn't surprised that Emily has crawled into the bottle... she'd managed to get a copy of the reports on JTF-12 and the read wasn't pretty.

There were two ways this would end... Emily would eventually drag herself out of the bottle and start to function again or she'd put a bullet through her brain.

Kate has no idea which way she'll go.