Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! We'll see another team member near the end of the chapter! And for once I do not have a novel for you to read before the chapter, so here you go!

Disclaimer: I do not own CM

-kbrewster

Doyle had finally landed in DC, and now he was seated in a chair in Paul Connolly's hotel room. It was conveniently located just 10 minutes from Hotch's house.

"So," Paul started. "What do you plan to do?"

"I'm going to get the girl," Doyle replied matter-of-factly. "But we need to lay low for awhile. They're going to be expecting me, and they're going to be extra careful. They'll get comfortable and mess up, though. We wait for that, and then we get her,"

"You're not gonna… hurt her, are you?" Paul asked skeptically, glancing up to make brief eye contact with Doyle as he ran his finger around the top of his glass that had been full of whiskey previously.

"Not too badly. I want Lauren," he spat the name before continuing, "To know what it feels like to lose the most important thing in her life,"

"Okay," Paul agreed though he was hesitant. "So that's it, then? We wait?"

Doyle nodded, taking another swig of the whiskey he'd picked up before arriving at Paul's hotel. "We wait," he confirmed. "And we keep our eyes on them. That'll be more your job, though. Can't risk them seeing me,"

"Got it," Paul said, nodding in understanding. He wished he wasn't in the position he was in. Sure, Paul had done some things he was less than proud of doing in the past. He'd helped Doyle make some deals, among other things- some more serious than others. But never, ever in his life had he ever considered kidnapping a child for any reason whatsoever. Paul had a niece and a nephew of his own back him, and even though he wasn't close to them, rarely even saw them, he couldn't imagine someone just taking them. He couldn't imagine someone sitting, waiting for the perfect moment to just rip them away from everything they've ever known.

Their plot to kidnap Emily's daughter just wasn't sitting right with Paul, and he wanted out. However, he knew if her voiced this opinion, Doyle would sooner kill him than have his plan foiled. So he kept his mouth shut, and promised himself that he would do whatever Doyle said, as long as he didn't have to cause physical harm to the girl they were taking. As long as, in the end, she was okay, that this wouldn't be too big of a deal.

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It was nearing 3AM, and Emily was still awake. She was exhausted, but she couldn't bring herself to be still long enough to fall asleep. She was the only one still awake in the house. She and Hotch had planned on taking turns being awake that night, watching out for Gabrielle. It was an attempt to keep Emily's nerves calm, but it was obvious it was not working. She had yet to fall asleep, she found herself unable to do anything but think about the worst scenarios possible. She knew what Doyle was capable of and she knew he wasn't one to just give up on things he was after; finding Emily and Gabby even after 10 years was proof of that.

Emily felt someone grab her shoulder, and she had to bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from screaming as she spun around in the recliner she had been sitting in. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"You scared me, Aaron," she whispered.

"Sorry," he whispered back. "You need to go to sleep,"

"I tried already, remember? I can't. I'm too… paranoid," she said, beginning to pick at her nails. Hotch took his hand in hers, to prevent her from doing so. She met his eyes.

"I promise you, it's going to be okay. I'll call Morgan first thing in the morning," he said.

"What if he can't do anything? Or worse.. What if he won't? You and I both know there's all sorts of red tape we would have to go through to get his team on this case. Is it even a case yet?" she rambled.

"He'll do whatever he can, you know that Emily,"

She sniffed, not even aware she had begun to cry. "I'm just so tired of this. He's been ruining my life for almost twenty years,"

"I know," Hotch sympathized. "But you're going to be fine. Gabby's going to be fine. I'm going to be fine," he tried soothing.

"How do you know?" she asked, her stubbornness showing fully.

"Because," he said, leaning down to kiss her lips softly. "I know everything, okay? Now come on, you are getting up from this chair, and you are going to sleep. I'll stay up and make sure you and Gabby are okay, okay?" he offered.

Emily sighed, and reluctantly let Hotch help her stand from the chair, knowing he wouldn't let this go. Without a word, he led her by the hand into the room Gabrielle was sound asleep in. Earlier in the day, JJ had gone shopping for clothes for Gabrielle and Emily, and they hadn't packed anything to bring with them from France. Gabrielle was thrilled at the prospect of new clothes, and once JJ returned, she immediately threw on a pair of purple pajama pants with white polka dots, and a white t-shirt with purple lettering on it. Emily was also happy to be out of her work clothes she still donned by that time, and she too threw on a pair of more comfortable sweat pants and t-shirt.

Emily had to smile at the girl. She was curled up under the blankets that were pulled all the way up to her chin, so only her head was exposed. Her dark hair was in her face, sprawled about the pillow.

"The plane ride wore her out," Emily commented quietly, brushing Gabrielle's wild hair out of her face, knowing she was sleeping too soundly to be awakened by that movement.

"She's beautiful, Em," Hotch noted.

"She looks so much like you. And she has your personality. It's scary sometimes," she told him, straightening Gabrielle's blankets.

Hotch came up behind Emily, bringing his arms up over her shoulder, lacing his fingers with hers.

"Thank you," he breathed, kissing her temple.

"For?" she questioned.

"For being so persistent in keeping her. JJ told me she advised you to put her up for adoption, but you refused. And even if I've only known her a few hours, I can't imagine life without her now. Thank you for giving me the chance to be a father again,"

Emily could have cried, but instead she turned in Hotch's arms to face him and kissed him.

She pulled away, and led him to the other side of the bed. She laid down beside Gabrielle, a yawn escaping her mouth.

"I think I'm finally relaxed enough to sleep," she said quietly, getting under the blankets.

"Good, you need your sleep," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Can you stay here?" she asked.

"Why would I go anywhere else?" he asked, laying beside Emily. It was a tight fit, but all three of them fit in the bed.

Emily fell asleep nearly instantly, her arms wrapped around Hotch. He, however, stayed awake for the remainder of the night, just as he promised.

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The next morning, Hotch decided to let Emily and Gabrielle sleep in. It was a Tuesday, so he wanted to be up to see Jack off to school. He quietly got out of bed just before 7, making his way into the kitchen to start coffee and make Jack breakfast.

Jack had continued to be distant, he hadn't come out of his room since they'd gone to get Emily and Gabrielle the day before. The previous day had been a teacher in-service for Jack's school, so he hadn't missed anything by coming with Hotch and JJ.

Just as Hotch had finished fixing breakfast, he heard footsteps come into the kitchen. He turned, not surprised to see Jack there, already dressed and ready for school.

"Hey," Hotch said, handing him a plate of food. "I made breakfast,"

Jack took the plate, but sat it down on the counter. "Thanks but I'm not hungry," he said. "I'm gonna leave earlier today- meet up with Sam before school,"

Hotch frowned. "Jack, you can't hide from this forever, we're going to have to talk about it eventually,"

"What's to talk about? You lied to me about Emily, and now you're expecting me to just welcome her and a little sister into my life with absolutely no warning? Let's also throw in the fact there's some psycho dude after her, and you're letting them stay here," Jack said bitterly.

"Can we sit?" Hotch asked, taking a seat on the chair by the counter, motioning for Jack to do the same. He did so, but not without an over dramatic eye roll.

"What?" Jack said, tapping his foot against the floor.

"I'm not blaming you for being upset with me. I would actually be a bit worried if you weren't affected by this. But you have to remember, you were barely seven when all this happened. How was I supposed to explain it all to you? I couldn't tell you the truth, because as much as I love you, let's face it, you've got a big mouth," he joked, noting Jack try to hide a smile.

"Then if you're not mad at me, why don't you just leave me alone?" Jack pressed.

"Because, you need to give Emily and Gabby a chance. Emily thinks you hate her. Gabby asked me if you were ever going to come out of your room yesterday. You don't have to be attached to their hips, but I am asking you to be a bit nicer, okay? This whole mess, it wasn't either of their faults. It was mine. So if you want to get mad and be upset, direct it toward me," Hotch informed, watching Jack's touch expression soften lightly.

"Emily thinks I hate her?" he asked quietly.

"That's what she told me yesterday. Now you and I both know that isn't true, but she thinks so,"

"I didn't mean to make her feel that way… it's just, it's weird. I thought she died. Like Mom. But she never was," Jack processed.

"I'm sorry," Hotch said. "If there had been any other way, I would have done it,"

Jack nodded. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay," he said, sighing in relief internally, happy to see he was able to get through to Jack, even just a little.

"Can I go now?" Jack asked, already standing from the chair.

"Yeah, you can go," Hotch dismissed, as Jack hurriedly walked out the door.

Sighing out loud now, he took the plate of untouched food, noticing it was too cold to be edible for anyone, so he disposed of it, and began cleaning up the kitchen.

Once the task was complete, he decided he couldn't put off calling Morgan any sooner. He wanted to call him and talk about the situation at length, and he knew the best time would be early in the morning, or later in the evening after he returned home.

Hotch looked up the number to Morgan's office, hoping he wasn't out on a case.

"Unit Chief Derek Morgan," Hotch heard after a few rings.

"Hey, Morgan," Hotch greeted. "It's Hotch,"

"Man, hey! How you doin'?" Morgan asked on the other end of the line. "It's been forever, man," he added.

"I know, it really has. I hate to bother you at work, and I hate to tell you this over the phone… but there's something you need to know, and something I need your help with."

"I'm listening," Morgan said, a more serious tone to his voice than he had previously.

"It's…" Hotch trailed off, running a hand across the top of his head, not sure how to break the news gently, while also letting Morgan know this was a serious matter.

"It's what? You okay? Jack okay?" he could hell Morgan was getting antsy, so he decided to just bluntly say it.

"It's Emily," Hotch said.

"Em-Emily?" Morgan sounded dumbfounded. "What about her, Hotch?"

"Emily's alive, Morgan,"

"Hotch," Morgan said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I assure you this isn't funny. I have things to do, so if you're just calling to screw with me, then I suggest you hang up,"

"No, Morgan," Hotch said firmly. "She really is alive. JJ and I faked her death ten years ago, after Doyle got away. It was the only way to keep her safe, while also keeping all of you safe. He would've killed us all to get to her," Hotch explained, trying to keep calm, but also wanting to get the initial explanation over with.

"You're lying," Morgan said, clearly upset now. Hotch could hear rustling of papers in the background, then the sound of something falling to the floor. "I helped carry her coffin, Hotch,"

"Derek," Hotch said, using Morgan's first name, a rarity even after all this time. "Please listen to me for five seconds, okay? I understand you're angry-" before he could finish, Morgan cut him off.

"You don't have any idea how I'm feeling," Morgan spat.

"Please," Hotch said. "I know it's a lot to take in, believe me, I do. But I need you to listen to me. I need your help. Emily needs your help," he said.

"If she's really alive," Morgan said. "Then where is she? What's she been doing for ten years?"

"She's at my house, sleeping upstairs. She's been living in Paris all this time, under a different name. We have a daughter, Morgan. She's nine. Her name is Gabby, and she and Emily are both in trouble. Doyle found them. That's why JJ and I had to bring them back," he explained.

"I don't believe you," Morgan said. "I don't for one second believe you would lie to not only me, but the other four people who loved her just as much as you and JJ did. I don't believe you would have lied about her existence. You would have told us," Morgan said in disbelief. "Second, you and Emily have a kid? What'd you do, have secret meetings with her and the kid all this time? Have you seen Emily regularly? Did you talk to me about how I felt about losing her, then go home and call her up?" Morgan said angrily, obviously trying to keep his voice down.

"We had to make it believable, Morgan," Hotch said. "We knew hw would be watching all of you closely, JJ and I included, so we couldn't tell anyone. It was top secret. And no," Hotch emphasized. "It was nothing like that. I didn't have any sort of contact with her until yesterday. I didn't know about Gabby until yesterday, and I didn't meet her until she and Emily landed in DC,"

"So you thought playing with the emotions of your friends was the best option," Morgan said as a statement, not as a question.

"You can blame me all you want, but we couldn't risk Doyle coming after her again. I wasn't going to risk that,"

"Look, man, it's been ten years. We've all moved on, or at least tried to. Do you really think bringing back up a ten year case is good for me- good for any of us- right now? Have you told anyone else?" Morgan rambled.

"I wouldn't be asking you to help me if I didn't think it was the best option. The only other person I've told is Jack. He's taking it a lot like you are. He's angry at me, I would be angry at me too. But I need you to look past the anger right now, just until we're sure Em and Gabby are safe. Think about Emily. Think about how close you used to be. Do you really want to leave her in danger?" Hotch asked.

He heard Morgan sigh. "I can't do anything until it becomes a case. We have to be invited in, you know how this works," Morgan said. "You'll have to take it up with your local PD first,"

"How is that even possible?" Hotch said/ "Doyle was on everyone's radar! FBI, CIA, everybody wanted him. You mean to tell me that nobody cares anymore?"

"Like I said, it's been ten years. He's been inactive all this time up until now. For all anybody knew, he could have been dead. I don't know where he falls in terms of being wanted anymore, but I guess I'll look into it and let you know what I find," Morgan said.

"Thank you," Hotch said sincerely, relieved he would be getting some sort of help from Morgan. "I think Emily's awake," Hotch added. "Do you want to talk to her,"

There was a long pause from the other end of the line. "No," he heard finally. "No… I don't think that's a good idea. I'll get back to you in the Doyle thing but you also need to take this up with locals," Morgan said quickly before the line went dead.

Hotch sighed again, worried for Morgan's sake. He turned around in the seat he had been sitting in as he talked to Morgan, seeing Emily standing in front of him now.

"Was that Morgan?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Hotch replied.

"He hates me, doesn't he?"

"No, he doesn't. He's mad. Everyone's probably going to have that reaction at first," Hotch reminded her gently. "But it's going to be okay, he's going to talk to some people and figure out where Doyle is on people's watch lists. But he also suggested contacting locals. I'd rather just get an FBI team here to work it, but apparently we have to do this the normal way," Hotch huffed.

"I told you," Emily said, sighing as she threw her hands up in the air.

"It'll be okay," Hotch said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Emily said, taking the seat next to Hotch.

"Gabby still asleep?" Hotch changed the subject quickly, hoping to ease the tension slightly.

"No, she's up now. She woke me up an hour ago, actually but I kept putting her off. She's going through all the clothes JJ got her yesterday deciding what she wants to wear. Also, she's taking a shower. I hope that's okay,"

"This is yours and Gabby's house now too, of course that's okay,"

"Thanks," Emily said flatly.

Hotch wished there was more he could do to lift Emily's spirits, but he knew that would be an almost impossible feat until Doyle was dead. Instead of saying anything else to her, he simply enveloped her in a hug, letting her know that he was always going to be there for her, no matter what happened.