Thank you everyone for your reviews, favorites, and story alerts! It means a lot to me as I'm still pretty new at this whole thing!

I'm not sure I stated this in the first chapter, but I do not own Criminal Minds or any of it's characters.

May 2011

It had been almost a month since Emily had been in France. She stayed in a hotel in Paris that night JJ and Hotch had come to see her. Now, she lived in Bordeaux as Natasha Moreau. According to the brief story JJ had included, she was born in Russia but was adopted by a nice French couple as an infant. When she was nineteen, her adoptive parents were killed in a car accident, and she had been on her own ever since.

Life as Natasha Moreau was simple. She was alone, save for a little black dog who followed her home one day that she had taken to and had named Shadow. It reminded her very briefly of the life she used to lead, except this one was much less busy. Instead of taking down UnSubs and making profiles, she was a guidance counselor at an elementary school. Her hours were shorter, but she did not make friends. She knew that she shouldn't risk getting close to anyone for any reason whatsoever. She had already mentally condemned herself to a life of solitude with the only company being the occasional house pet that may follow her home.

Just as Emily began to accept that fate, she realized she was pregnant. She tried to deny it when she realized she was late and grew tired more easily. But once morning sickness set in around late May, she knew she couldn't deny it any longer. She took three home tests just to be sure. All three tests confirmed what Emily already knew. She panicked. She didn't know what to do. Her entire body shaking, she went to her bedroom at her current place of residence. Slowly, she opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. She dug through the random clothing items she placed there to get what she was really after: a small safe. It took her five times to put the combination in properly due to her shaking hands and watery eyes. She opened the safe finally, lifting all the files out to get to a phone. JJ had called it "the emergency phone." She was supposed to keep it hidden, but only use it if there was a serious emergency. She turned it on and opened the only contact in the phone's contact list. JJ also had an "emergency phone" she would keep with her, just in case it ever rang. It looked exactly like the one she already had, so no one would find it suspicious if one day she answered it near the team.

As the phone rang in Emily's ear, she leaned up against the wall and slid down it into a sitting position. She wouldn't allow herself to cry. That wouldn't solve anything.

"Jareau," JJ answered finally.

"JJ… it's me. We have- we have a problem." she said, not knowing what else to say.

"Hold on, Will," she said. Then Emily heard her say distantly, as if JJ had placed her hand over the speaker. "It's Will. I'm going to take this in my office, be back in a minute," So she was with the team. Emily closed her eyes and but her bottom lip, trying not to think about them. She missed each and every one of them more with each day that passed, and it killed her to think they were only feet away from the woman she was on the phone with.

A few seconds later, she heard JJ's voice speak again. "Okay, I can talk now. What's wrong? Are you hurt?" JJ asked quietly.

"No. I'm… I'm pregnant, Jayje," Emily said honestly, knowing there was no way around admitting it.

"What?" JJ hissed.

"I'm pregnant," Emily emphasized. "I need a permanent identity. I'm not going to raise a child who has to change his or her name every few months,"

"I don't know. What about the father? Have you told him yet? I hope you haven't. We can't drag anybody else into this mess,"

"I haven't told him. I can't tell him, JJ. You already know who he is,"

JJ froze. "Oh…oh," She said, "When did you… how did he… what?" JJ asked.

"Aaron came to see me the same night you gave me the three identities," Emily admitted.

"I specifically told him not to do that! Jesus Christ!" JJ said, Emily could tell she was frustrated. "I told him going was a bad idea, it could have jeopardized your location! You could be being watched right now!"

"It's a risk we were obviously willing to take, JJ. But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that I am pregnant with his child and he can't be here,"

"I know, honey," JJ said, her tone softening. "This is an impossible situation, you know,"

"I know. But I'm keeping the baby. I know it's not the smartest option but, it's what I need to do,"

"Or," JJ said. "You can put it up for adoption," She knew Emily would never agree to something like this, but she was trying to be rational.

"No," Emily said firmly, regaining some of her composure. "I won't do that. I've wanted this for as long as I can remember, and I'm not just going to give it up. Just… just get me a permanent identity. That's all I need. I'll be safe. If at any point anything seems strange I'll do whatever it takes to keep me, the baby, and all of you safe. Okay?" Emily pleaded, feeling tears stream down her face again. She knew keeping this baby was a risk. Part of her knew that letting the baby be adopted would be safer for everyone involved. But Emily wanted to be selfish just this once. Not only had she dreamed of motherhood for years now, but she would be the mother of hers and Aaron Hotchner's child. The man she grew to love in the five years she had been with the BAU. She didn't know when, or if, she would ever be able to see him again. This child would be a part of him she could keep with her forever. She knew it was a selfish thing to do, and she shouldn't, but she was going to. No matter what JJ "advised" her to do, she was keeping the baby.

JJ sighed on the other end of the line. Emily was stubborn, even if she wasn't legally Emily anymore. JJ thought about Henry and how never in a million years would she have given him up, even if she was scared at first. She knew she had to handle this quickly and efficiently, keeping Emily and her unborn baby's best interests in mind at all times.

"Okay, well. If that's what you need then I'll do it. We've talked long enough, if we go any longer we might get tracked or tapped into. I'm throwing this phone away but someone will be in touch with you by the end of the week. Good luck," JJ said sincerely.

"Thank you," Emily whispered. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be, and Em? Congratulations," JJ said quietly, hanging up the phone and tucking it away in a desk drawer, making a mental note to throw it away once she left the office.

Emily, too, hung up her own phone. She kept it, though. Knowing that someone would be in touch with her later on in the week. She found herself growing increasingly nervous. What if she couldn't pull this off?

She found herself dropping a hand down to her still flat stomach. She vowed that no matter what happened, the tiny person growing inside of her would be safe. She would make sure of that.

Just as JJ had said, by the end of the week, someone had called and had given her strict instructions on where to go so he could give Emily everything she needed to start over yet again.

Emily met the mystery person at a nearby park. They didn't speak a word. He walked by her and handed her the envelope discreetly, which she tucked in her jacket and briskly made her way back to her small cottage.

Once inside, she tore open the envelope. All the instructions were there. She immediately discarded the phone, knowing she would no longer be needing it. She was now Marie Blanchard. The goal was to keep herself as invisible as possible, so she was instructed to find an apartment in Paris and get a job doing something small. As far as a back story for her new identity, all that was there was that she was raised by an aunt from an early age, but had been on her own since the age of nineteen. She knew she would have to think of an excuse for her baby's father at some point, but she wasn't showing yet so she knew she had time to come up with a story.

Taking in a deep breathe, she packed everything she would need and got rid of everything she wouldn't. She quickly left the cottage, without a word to anyone. The dog who she'd named Shadow was nowhere to be found, so she didn't have to worry about him either. She disappeared for the second time in almost three months to become someone else. Except this time she knew she wouldn't be alone. In a few months, she would be responsible for not only keeping herself safe, but another life as well. She was terrified and ecstatic all at the same time.

March 7th 2021

Emily slowly opened her eyes to glance at the clock, it was nearing noon and both she and Gabrielle were still in bed. She sat up and gently shook the nine-year-old's shoulder.

"Gabby, wake up sweetheart," she said softly. Gabrielle rolled over to face Emily.

"What time is it?" she rasped.

"It's almost noon, we've almost slept the whole day!" Emily said. Not that Emily minded. If it were up to her, she'd sleep away every March 7th.

Gabrielle sat up and threw the covers off of her. "Can we go for a walk in the park today? It's so pretty outside!" she exclaimed, pointing out the window. The mother-daughter duo's favorite thing to do was take a walk in the park near their apartment. Gabrielle liked to feed the birds, much to Emily's protests.

"I think that's a great idea," Emily smiled. "We'll go get ready and then we can go, alright?"

"Okay, Mama!" Gabrielle said happily, jumping down from the bed and running to her room at the back of their apartment.

Emily quickly got herself ready, then made her way into the kitchen to make something that she and Gabrielle could eat before they finally grabbed their coats and walked down to the park.

Gabrielle skipped a few feet in front of Emily and began to walk backwards, telling her mother one story after another about school, her friends, her new favorite foods, and even her piano teacher.

"Be careful, sweetie. I don't want you to fall!" Emily warned her daughter. She had faked a slight French accent when she first moved to France, but by now it was almost second nature for an accent to be heard when Emily spoke.

"Sorry," Gabrielle said, walking beside her mother and grabbing her hand, continuing on with the story she was telling previously. Emily couldn't help but smile at Gabrielle at the light in Gabrielle's eyes as she talked excitedly. It was the same light her father's eyes would get that only very few people got to see, and luckily Emily had been one of them.

"Oh!" Gabrielle said suddenly, letting go of Emily's hand to run ahead of her as she began chasing some of the birds in the park around. For as far back as Emily could remember, Gabrielle had always been determined to catch one of the birds to keep as a pet. Emily had tried to discourage Gabrielle at first, but after watching her and noticing the determined look on her face that resembled Hotch's, she could never find it in her to say no. Plus, it was quite amusing to watch Gabrielle slowly and cautiously try to catch a bird, but resort to wildly chasing them around much like she was doing now.

Gabrielle was laughing and waving to Emily. "Come with me!" she called. Emily hesitated. Normally she just watched Gabrielle chase the birds, she'd never actually done it with her.

"I don't know, Gabby. Why don't I just watch you?"

But Gabrielle persisted, sticking out her bottom lip into a pout. "Please Mommy?" she asked, knowing there was no way her mom could say no to that.

Emily playfully rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Why not?" she said, running over to her daughter, chasing around birds in the park and ignoring the stares from strangers.

Ian Doyle had finally found her, after all these years. He had been searching and coming up empty for so long now. However, he finally figured out where Emily Prentiss, or Lauren Reynolds, or whoever the hell she was- was hiding. He carefully watched the team. He watched their behavior and he knew by watching the blonde and the leader that something wasn't quite right. He ran into many dead ends before finally noticing that the two of them had made a trip to Paris at the same time. He dug further, learning that there had been no case, in fact, they hadn't even used their real names when they traveled. They stayed no longer than one night each.

Ian Doyle had found that suspicious. So he started in Paris, looking for anyone who might possibly be the one he had once called "love." Ian Doyle had trusted Lauren Reynolds. He had loved her, he even asked her to marry him. He had let his child grow attached to her, and in the blink of an eye it had all been ripped away from him. She had never been on his side. Then, he discovered her true identity. Emily Prentiss. He thought maybe he really had killed her in the warehouse ten years ago, but when he realized he hadn't, his hatred and anger only grew. He wouldn't stop until he found her now that he knew she was alive.

He had actually found her by accident. He had been walking down the road, not really sure where he was going when he just so happened to look up into a department store window. There, he saw a woman setting up a display of whatever the latest fashion was the store now carried. He almost walked right past her, but then he noticed her finger nails. They were bitten down as far as they could go, just like Emily's. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the woman's face. Yes, she was older now. That was to be expected. Her hair was a lighter shade of brown, and much longer than he remembered it ever being.

But her eyes, her eyes had not changed at all. They were exactly the same as he remembered them. He knew now that he had her, and before she looked directly at him, he quickly walked away. He wouldn't do anything just yet, he wanted it to go exactly as he planned. He wanted to see what she did on a daily basis, and who she came in contact with regularly before making his move.

So, for nearly two months, he had been watching her. Her noted she really didn't have much of a life. She went to work at the department store all day, and she came home to her apartment. She didn't seem to have any friends or a boyfriend. Soon, he realized the reason for it all: the dark-haired, brown-eyed little girl that looked exactly like Emily. The girl was small, she couldn't have been any more than eight or nine. From the looks of it, the girl and her mother got along very well.

As he watched them from behind a newspaper sitting on a bench in the park on this March 7th afternoon, he realized just how true that was. It seemed to him the girl was the most important part of Emily's new life.

"See you soon, Love," he said softly to himself, folding the newspaper and walking away, desperate to make a plan. He knew exactly what to do and he wouldn't rest until he did it.