Chapter 3 – Emily's Family Tree
Emily was pacing on the catwalk outside the briefing room, fighting with someone on her cell phone in French while the rest of the team sat inside, trying not to listen as they began reviewing the case files.
When she walked back into the room, she looked right at Hotch before speaking in a clipped tone, "I am not happy about this, but it appears my family is determined to drag me into their nightmare this year." Her tone softened some as she took her seat and looked down at the file in front of her, "I am sorry you are all being pulled into this."
Morgan didn't know what to say to that. They all understood that she wasn't close to her family, and even that she would prefer not to see them. There was clearly a history there that they weren't privy to, and that was fine. Everyone on the team had parts of their lives that they kept to themselves. He just hadn't expected an apology. It wasn't her fault her uncles were meddling in her affairs. And it certainly wasn't her fault that her mother had decided to put Emily in this position in the first place. So why was she apologizing?
"Let's just get started," Emily continued before anyone could respond to her previous statement, "If you want to delve into the Prentiss-Trent family tree, we may be here a while."
"Ok," JJ starts, looking down at the file in her hands, "Honestly, I can't make heads or tails of this."
"What do you mean?" Emily asks.
"These backgrounds are all at least partially redacted, and none of them explain their familial relationships. I can't figure out who is related to who." JJ isn't the only one. Reid and Morgan are nodding along with her as she speaks.
Emily sighs, closes her file slowly and says, "I can give you a breakdown of who's who before we touch on anything else, but it may take a while, and it likely won't be any easier to follow than what you're looking at right now."
Reid stands and walks to the whiteboard on the far wall, "You explain. I'll try to get a family tree going as you do."
"You're going to need a bigger whiteboard," she grumbles quietly.
Penelope jumps in, "And I can start running backgrounds on everyone as we throw them out there. Hopefully we can have a pretty complete picture of who is going to be the most likely to attract possible trouble by the time we get through everyone."
"You'll have an easier time deciding who isn't a potential target," Emily half-joked. She knew all too well that being a member of this particular family carried with it a tremendous amount of potential danger, but that was not something she wanted to delve into with them, not now, and preferably not ever.
"Emily, stop stalling and just start listing," JJ cut in, and to everyone's surprise there was no further complaint from Emily. She took a deep breath, blowing it out loudly, and then started into her explanation.
"Alright. You've all met my mother so I suppose we can start there. Elizabeth Prentiss is an American Ambassador to the UN. She has been involved in international politics for most of her life, and is currently posted at the Embassy in Turkey.
Her first husband will be there. His name is Cole Jeffers, and before you ask, he is not my father. They were married, and divorced before I was born. He is a translator with the UN. My mother left him when she felt that his career had stagnated and he would no longer be helpful in furthering her own career.
He has since remarried. His wife's name is Erica Jeffers, and she teaches linguistics at Cornell, where their daughter, Serena Jeffers, is currently studying pre-law. All three of them will be in attendance, and in all likelihood, Serena will be bringing her long-standing boyfriend, Jordan Nole, who is also a pre-law student at Cornell.
Mom's second husband, and my father, is Jonathan Trent, the Director of the CIA. He left us when I was eight, and I have only seen him once since, when I was first recruited to the CIA.
He also remarried. His second wife's name is Carrie Trent, formerly Carrie Connors, and she comes from old family money. They had two children together while they were married, Anna and Alex.
My half-sister, Anna Connors, is a United States Congresswoman, and she is not on speaking terms with our father.
My half-brother, Alexander Trent is an analyst with the NSA, and he is not on speaking terms with his mother or our sister.
Alex's wife, my sister-in-law, is Tasha Trent, formerly Tasha Benkov, and she is a prosecutor, but her family have long standing ties with the Russian Bratva.
They have a son, my nephew, named Emilio Trent. Emilio is now an undergrad at Yale.
Carrie and Jonathan didn't stay married for long, and my father remarried again shortly after the divorce was finalized. So, step-mom number two is Aria Trent, formerly Aria Dillan. She is an Epidemiologist with the CDC.
Their daughter, my half-sister, is named Eliana Trent. She is only fifteen and is currently studying abroad, so I'm not entirely sure if she will be in attendance, but knowing my father, she will not have much of a choice in the matter.
You all know my father's brother, my uncle, Jeremy Trent is the Director of the FBI. His wife Nicole Trent, formerly Nicole Summers, is a Best-Selling Author who writes Crime Fiction under the name Georgina Callen.
My mother has two sisters, Chloe and Amanda. Chloe Prentiss, now Chloe Nicholls, is the Unit Chief for Interpol's office in Barcelona, Spain.
Her husband, my uncle, is Patrick Nicholls, a former combat surgeon with the British Special Forces. Now he works out of a private hospital in Barcelona.
Amanda Prentiss, now Amanda Clemmons is the First Lady, and obviously her husband, my uncle, is Michael Clemmons, the US President.
Their eldest daughter, my cousin, Celia Clemmons is a medical student at Harvard.
Their son, my cousin, Collin Clemmons, is a graduate student at Oxford.
And their youngest daughter, my baby cousin, Casey Clemmons, is pre-law at Stanford.
Last, but certainly not least, my mother's third ex-husband, James Tuller. He is a US Senator, and his new wife Julia Tuller, former Julia Potts, is the CEO of a large oil company.
Their son, Jason Tuller is an undergrad at Princeton.
In addition to the immediate family, everyone is permitted to bring a guest, which usually means three or four guests, as well as their personal security staff. My mother also has a habit of using this event to rub elbows with every political figure she can find so invites extend far beyond the family. Since this year's reunion is being hosted in the White House, I expect the world leaders will be even more receptive than usual. You can expect every spy agency, government, and major political party in the western hemisphere to be represented, and guests will range from undergrads to Prime Ministers. Which will undoubtedly make security a nightmare.
We have less than a week until the reunion, and we are going to have to work around the clock until then if we expect to have a thorough threat assessment and security plan in place by then."
There. That wasn't so bad. They all looked completely at a loss for words, and several jaws were hanging open, but other than a few quiet gasps, no one interrupted her explanation.
She glanced over at the white board, choking back a laugh at the intricately patterned family tree Spencer had constructed as she spoke. It looked like a massive spider web, and she knew all too well that the web was full of lies, political backstabbing, and potential targets. Her family was a mess, and this reunion wasn't just going to be a miserable experience for her. It was going to put her skills as an agent and a profiler to the test.