Just barely made it on this one! XD hope you like.
Alex Blake had worked for many years, trying to salvage a reputation shattered by Erin Strauss, and yet, now, after this last case, she was ready to give it all up. The paperwork was a formality; she'd quit when she "forgot" her badge at Reid's.
As she fell into James' arms, kissing him with fiery passion, she realized that no, she wasn't giving something up.
She was accepting something new.
As they pulled apart, Alex smiled, breathing in the scent of her husband, something she'd missed during his brief time in South Sand-istan.
"Is that offer still open?" Alex asked, out of the blue. James smiled the same grin he'd worn when they'd finally gotten married, the same dopey smile that lit up his features and made her remember how they fell in love.
"Of course it is, Alex," he replied. "Of course."
She was mostly excited as she packed, until the panicked call from Garcia came through, but Alex managed somehow to convince the rainbow whirlwind that everything was ok, even though everything really wasn't quite right. She knew she was leaving, but somehow, it felt like running away.
No, not running, she realized, just going.
She began to pack her bags, and realized, though she loved the BAU, she wouldn't miss the mutilated bodies, the broken lives, the stolen children. But she would miss her pseudo-family, no matter what.
They were as much her family as the real one, and for that… She didn't know how to thank them.