When the door to the room Emily and Gabby were still held up in opened, Emily felt her heart stop. When she saw that the person coming in the room wasn't Ian, but Paul, she relaxed a little bit, knowing he wouldn't do anything to hurt them.
"Hey," Paul said quietly.
"Hi," Emily returned the greeting. "Do you know where he went?" Emily asked, referring to Ian.
Paul shook his head. "He looked real pissed though. Er- mad," he corrected himself, noticing Gabby was awake and paying attention.
"I know what that word means," Gabby said seriously, Emily laughed a little at her.
"Anyway," Emily continued. "He didn't tell you when he'd be back?"
"No, he just told me to be ready. That we'd leave as soon as he got back," Emily frowned at the news, but Paul continued. "I got an idea, though. If you're okay with it. If you think it'd work," he said.
"I'm desperate. What do you got?" she asked, perking up a bit at the possibility of getting out.
"I know you don't want to be away from Gabby right now, but, we could hide her somewhere else in the warehouse. We could say she got out somehow. That we've looked the place over a million times, but she's not here. He'd leave me here to watch you, and go out to look for her," he said quickly.
"Or, he'd sense it was a distraction and look for her here. I'm not letting him get to her again," Emily said firmly.
"I won't let him get to her," Paul promised. "You and I will both know where she is,"
"I don't want her to be alone," Emily argued again. There had to be a better way than separating them again, didn't there?
"I wanna do it," Gabby spoke up. Both Emily and Paul dropped their eyes to the small girl.
"Gabby, no," Emily said softly. "There's got to be another-" but Gabby cut her off.
"I'll be fine. We have to stay here and this might be the only way we can do it! What if he takes us somewhere else and Daddy comes here but we're already gone?" Gabby asked. "Then he might never find us,"
Emily sighed. She knew Gabby was right about them needing to stay in the warehouse. She knew somehow, someone would figure out where they were.
"Where would she hide, though? Ian's probably got the entire layout of this place memorized. He'd know where to look should he want to. I really don't think this is the best idea- separating us like that. If he found her..." she trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.
"You could go together, then," Paul compromised. "That way, should he somehow get by me and find you, you'd be there to protect her,"
"That's a little better," Emily admitted. "But still, like I said, there aren't many hiding places here. There's a few rooms, and some closets,"
"There's a hidden door," Paul said.
"What?" Emily asked.
Paul pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, smoothing it out before handing it to Emily. "This is an updated blueprint of the place. I gave Ian the original, and I told him that it hadn't been renovated since the last time he was here. But, actually, it was used again for about six months by a power company. They built in this room," he pointed to a spot in the middle of the blueprint. "Kind of like a safe house, I guess. I'm not sure what the point of it was. To get to it, you have to know it's there. He doesn't. You'd both be safe," Paul told her.
"Wow," Emily breathed. "Was it your plan this whole time to get us out?" she asked.
"I told you, I never agreed with this plan to begin with. I only went along with it because I was afraid for my sister and her kids. But as much as he hates you, he could have already killed you and Gabby both, but he hasn't. I don't think he can do it," Paul said.
"At one point, Ian Doyle was ruthless. He killed innocent people and called it a job. But I saw the other side of him. The side that came home and was a father to his son. If there's one person in this world he loved, it was Declan. He even admitted to me once long ago he could never bring himself to kill a child. He wasn't always nice to Declan- sometimes he was quick to lose his temper, but I know he'd never kill him. He killed my old team members and their families years ago, but I know the child that was murdered, Ian didn't pull that trigger. I don't know why he hasn't killed me yet. I'm not going to question it, but I think something about him has changed," Emily said to Paul. It was true, though. It was hard to look at Ian now and think of him as someone who could blow people up, shoot them when they weren't expecting it, take lives from people without even a second thought.
Sure, he'd given Emily quite the bruising. But there was something different about him. Something she didn't remember seeing before. His eyes were just- sad. Emily knew it was because she was responsible for Declan being taken away from him. She was the person who caused Ian Doyle to fall apart at the seams. When she saw Ian now, when she looked in his eyes and saw the sadness, she remembered the man she once knew. Despite his job, despite all the things he did and saw on a daily basis, he was happy. He was happy because he had Declan- and he had Lauren. She wasn't proud of her past, especially the patch of her life that involved Ian Doyle. She wasn't going to let him win, not this time.
Paul nodded and said: "So what do you say, you up for some hide and seek?" he slightly joked.
"Minus the seek part. Unless it's someone telling me it's safe," Emily said.
"I don't know how long you guys will be down there, so don't worry if it's awhile. I'll come check on you every chance I can, when I know Ian won't follow me," Paul promised.
Emily rose from the floor, pulling Gabby up with her. She bent down slightly, so she was eye-level with the smaller brunette. She put her hands on Gabby's shoulder.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" she asked.
Gabby nodded her head. "Yes, Mama. I'm sure,"
"If you change your mind at any time, you let me know," Emily said.
"Okay, but we'll be fine," Gabby smiled.
"I'm supposed to be the one telling you that," Emily said, returning the smile.
"Beat you to it!" she said, grabbing Emily's hand and pulling it. "Come on, let's go!" she said.
Emily laughed, but followed as Paul led them to the middle of the warehouse. Emily looked around, knowing she should be able to detect some kind of secret door. She'd had to look for them before, after all. She was beginning to think this whole thing was some kind of set up when suddenly a door opened seemingly from nowhere.
"How-" Emily started.
"I know, you can't even tell it's here," Paul said. "I think this was used for security, or safety maybe. It was a power plant for a very short while. Maybe this was a safe place for people to go that couldn't get out in case of an emergency?"
"Maybe," Emily agreed. "How big is it?" She asked.
"It's nothing special. You just go down the stairs right there, it's a little smaller than the room you were in up here, but it's decent," Paul told her.
"Okay," Emily said, still a bit skeptical of the plan.
"Oh," Paul said. "One more thing," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, yellow radio.
"A walkie-talkie?"
"If I hear anything from Ian but can't get to you, this way I can still tell you,"
"Ah," Emily nodded. "Okay,"
"Or... if things go bad on your end you can let me know," he added.
"Right..." she said slowly.
"But it'll be fine, right Gabby?" Paul asked.
"Right!" Gabby agreed. "Can I talk into it?" Gabby asked, taking the radio from her mother.
Emily smiled. "Sure, once we get down there you can tell Paul we got there safe, sound good?"
"Okay!" Gabby agreed. "Come on," she pulled Emily by the hand again.
"How in the world do you have so much energy?" Emily muttered, following the girl down the small flight of stairs.
Once they got into the room, it reminded Emily much of an average basement. There was a light switch, but the electricity wasn't on in the warehouse, so that did them no good. There was a couch, some chairs, a small television, and a telephone in the room. Paul was probably right about this being a safe place, though Emily wasn't sure why a power company would need something like this. Maybe it was an undercover power company, Emily thought. She was too tired and too anxious to think too much into it now.
"Can I tell him now?" Gabby asked excitedly.
"Mhm," Emily confirmed. "Do you know how to work it?" Gabby shook her head, so Emily showed her what buttons to press.
Gabby pressed the buttons Emily showed her and spoke into the little radio. "Paul? We're here,"
"Ten-four," Paul's voice buzzed in. Gabby laughed, recognizing the terminology from movies.
"We need code names! Oh, and we're supposed to say 'over,' after everything, right? Over," Gabby said.
"What do you want your name to be? Over." Paul asked, playing along with Gabby.
"Mama what should it be?" Gabby asked. "You have to have one too!"
Emily had to laugh. "Hmm. What's your favorite color?" Emily asked.
"Purple," Gabby said.
"Animal?" Emily asked again.
"Hmm...alligator!" Gabby said.
"Okay," Emily said. "That's your name. Purple Alligator,"
Gabby laughed. "What's yours?"
"Mine would be Blue Cat," Emily replied.
"Mama and I made our code names be our favorite color and our favorite animal. I'm Purple Alligator, and she's Blue Cat, so, what's yours?" Gabby asked. "Over." she added quickly.
"Hmm, I guess that's make me Green Monkey. Over," Paul responded.
"Okay, good. We'll let you know if we need anything Green Monkey!" Gabby said into the radio.
"Okay, Purple Alligator," Paul said back.
"Over and out!" Gabby said.
"Copy that," Paul said.
"I like these things!" Gabby said, handing the radio back to Emily, who sat it down on the table in the middle of the room.
"Yeah? Maybe your Dad and I can get you some. Then you can play with them at home," Emily told the girl.
"Do you think we'll be down here long?" Gabby asked.
"I hope not, but I don't know," Emily said honestly.
Gabby sighed. Emily knew she wanted to go home- Emily felt the same way. She wished there was some way she could do just that, get the both of them home safe and sound where they belong.
Emily led Gabby over to the couch, knowing there wasn't much else for them to do except sleep, something they both needed to catch up on, since the majority of their sleeping had been on the hard floor. The piece of furniture was just large enough for both of them to lay side by side, Emily protectively wrapping an arm around Gabby.
"Wake me up if you hear anything," Emily said.
"Okay," Gabby replied, though her eyes were already beginning to close, as both of them drifted off into a restless sleep.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The sun was setting, and Hotch, Morgan, Declan, and the team were gearing up to go to the warehouse. Morgan had studied the layout of the place all afternoon. There were three entrances, one in the front, one in the back, and one near the side. They would split up into teams, one team at each entrance. They would then proceed to clear the rooms as necessary, and search for Emily and Gabby in the process. If they encountered Doyle, which they knew they would at some point, then they were to take him down. No questions asked.
They took two SUVs, pulling up to the warehouse several feet back. They wanted to surprise Doyle and catch him off guard. They broke off into teams: Hotch, Declan, and Morgan were to go in together, and the remaining five of the team broke off into their usual partnerships or groups.
"We'll take the front entrance," Morgan said. "Dunham, you, Burke, and Harlan take the back, and Greene, you and Monroe take the side. Remember, our main priority is getting Emily and Gabby out and to safety. If you see Ian Doyle, take him down," Morgan instructed.
Everyone agreed, and just as they were all about to suit up and go in, Declan spoke up.
"What if I went in alone?" he asked.
"What?" Morgan asked. "No. You're not ready for that, kid,"
"I'm the whole reason Emily's in this mess in the first place. Because she put me before herself. I know I was just a little kid at the time, but now I'm older. This can be my way of thanking her," Declan continued.
"What do you mean?" Morgan asked.
"Well obviously, he thinks I'm dead. That's why he's so pissed at Emily. If I go in and show him I'm alive, maybe it'll distract him enough to let you guys in to get Emily and Gabby," Declan said.
"I don't know," Morgan told him. "There's no reasoning with him. You know that, don't you?"
"I know," Declan said. "I'm not looking for some kind of weird happy family reunion with him. I just want to help Emily," Declan said. "I'll wear a vest. I'll have my gun. I'll tell you if I need back up. You guys can stand right outside the door for all I care. Just- just let me do this. For Emily." Declan requested.
All eyes were on him when Hotch spoke up. "Let him do it,"
"Hotch-" Morgan started.
"No, listen. He's got a point. Doyle won't hurt him. We'll all be standing outside ready if it goes bad. He might be new to this job, Morgan, but I think he knows what he's doing,"
Morgan sighed. "Okay," he agreed. "But," he added. "We'll be outside all the doors. You better let us know if anything goes wrong. Hotch, you and Burke go in the back way after Declan's been in there a few minutes and start looking for Emily and Gabby," he instructed. "The rest of us will split up and wait to go in. If they bring Emily and Gabby out before anyone gets to Doyle, whoever isn't with Emily and Gabby will go in and we'll take him down from there. Understood?" Everyone nodded, and began to get ready for their respective jobs.
Hotch caught Declan alone, and tapped on his shoulder lightly, causing him to turn around to face him.
"Thank you," Hotch said. "For doing this. It has to be hard,"
"I'll be okay," Declan said. "Like I told you guys before, Emily's out her own well being before mine plenty of times. Now it's my turn to do the same,"
"Well, thank you," Hotch said. "That means a lot to me, and I know it will to her, too,"
"We'll get them back," Declan said. "I promise you that,"
Hotch smiled as best he could in return, sending up a silent prayer that Declan was right, that in just a few minutes everything would be right with the world again.