Hello my friends! Sorry about wait for this chapter - sadly sometimes real life gets in the way.
Just a couple quick things - first otff I got a few messages that people miss the other universe, so I just wanted to make sure that everybody was aware that they other universe is still happening. This story is the parallel universe where it was JJ going back in time was a dream. The story that is the sequel to "The Road Not Taken" where she really did go back in time is called "The Road Before Us".
I find it's easiest to think of it this way - this story basically picks up from the end of chapter 1 of "The Road Not Taken" with everything in "The Road Not Taken" having been a dream. "The Road Before Us" picks up basically right where we left off at the end of "The Road Not Taken" as everything that happened in "The Road Not Taken" was real. Hope that helps make more sense of it for anyone that was confused why there were 2 stories after "Two Roads Diverged" and why I was calling them both sequels and companion stories. "Two Roads Diverged" actually takes place the same night (date wise) as chapter 1 of "The Road Not Taken" so that the story comes back full circle on itself and then splits into the two universes.
So in effect 'The Road Before Us' and 'Though The Road Was Never Smooth' are running concurently with each other (meaning they take place at the same time) so that you can compare one universe against the other. Basically the whole point is really what changes with JJ and Spence having been together as long as they were in "The Road Not Taken" and then to compare what changes when JJ and Spence get together after she wakes up from such a vivid 'dream' in "Though The Road Was Never Smooth"
If you guys have questions, feel free to leave your question in a reveiw (I do respond to all reviews - I feel you guys deserve it) or drop me a PM - I'm always happy to answer questions or clear up confusion, or explain my thought process.
I don't own Criminal Minds - sad but true, at least in this universe.
Thanks to my lovely and wonderful beta DetectiveNikkiBenson040709 - thanks for being my sounding board when I need it and helping me keep on track :D Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and setting up alerts. You guys are all so awesome.
And now that I've rambled on much longer than I had any intention of - onto why you actually pressed the handy little link that brought you here.
Happy reading and enjoy :D
JJ smiled as she watched Spence help Henry get ready for bed and thought about the last 24 hours. It had been a busy day. Two-year old Henry had kept them running the whole day, except of course while he napped briefly in the afternoon.
Emily and Garcia had quietly excused themselves the night before after walking in on them wrapped in each other's arms in the kitchen. JJ had extracted herself from the comfort of Spence's embrace to walk Emily and Garcia to the door, bid them goodnight, and thanked them for getting Henry put to bed. She'd come back to find a weary Spence attempting to do the dishes and load the dishwasher.
"Baby, you're exhausted, and so am I. Leave it. We'll cleanup in the morning." JJ murmured as she wrapped her arms around Spence's waist and buried her face in the soft cotton where it stretched across the space between his shoulder blades.
Spence had nodded and turned, taking her hand as she led him through the house and up the stairs to bed. It was all they had been able to manage to get themselves changed and brush their teeth before falling face first into bed and into a deep sleep as physically and emotionally exhausted as they both were.
Spence had been happy to wake up without a headache. The lack of a headache meant he got to enjoy spending the day with his godson while they sat on the floor and played together all day.
While Henry had napped, he and JJ had curled up together on the couch and read. He'd enjoyed reading without his eyes bothering him due to a headache.
Perhaps that was why it was so disconcerting that he could feel a headache coming on now as he sat a freshly pajama clad Henry on the bed as he thought about how they'd spent the day. The headache that he'd had for the better part of the last week had just gone away sometime in the night last night. He'd enjoyed the sweet relief of a headache free day today. Now after that short blissfully headache free time, the headache making its presence known again, as if it was concerned that he'd forgotten about its existence after one pain free day.
"Mama, 'tory time" Henry said as he held up their bedtime story that his Mommy read him every night.
JJ smiled and crossed the room. She took the book from Henry's outstretched little hand as she sat down on the edge of Henry's big boy bed.
Spence smiled at the sight of mother and son together and then turned to head out of the room to allow JJ and Henry their nightly ritual.
"Unca 'Pence, you 'tay." Henry called out as he noticed that Uncle Spence was leaving the room.
"I…" Spence spoke unsurely, not wanting to intrude on JJ and Henry's time together at bed time and their nightly bedtime ritual.
JJ smiled. "Come on Spence, come and read with us."
Spence's feet shuffled against the carpet as he turned and headed back to the bed.
"You sit here. Den you tan see da pictures too." Henry chirped as he patted the spot on the bed next to him on the opposite side of the bed from where Mommy was sitting.
Spence smiled as he sat down next to Henry.
"Ready Henry?" JJ asked.
Henry nodded eagerly.
"Ready Uncle Spence?" JJ asked with a smile as she made eye contact with Spence over the top of Henry's head.
Spence smiled and gave a brief nod of his head.
JJ bent down and kissed Henry's forehead and gently brushed his soft baby fine blonde locks back from his face after she closed the book and set it on the night stand. She reached over and turned on Henry's nightlight and turned off the lamp. Then she reached over and took Spence's hand to lead him out of Henry's room.
Spence reached up and rubbed his temple as he followed JJ out of Henry's room. At that exact moment JJ paused in the doorway for one last glance back at her sleeping baby boy. After seeing Henry peacefully sleeping, with his cheek resting on his pillow, she glanced up at Spence and noticed him wincing and rubbing his temple. "Headache?" she whispered as she pulled Henry's bedroom door most of the way closed, leaving it open just a crack as they crossed the hallway to her bedroom.
Spence nodded as he followed behind JJ, wincing and rubbing his eyes with his free hand at the brightly lit bedroom.
JJ winced sympathetically. Then she realized she might have just the thing to help Spence with his headache, at least for tonight. "Baby, I've got an idea." She said as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out an old t-shirt and pair of cotton shorts. "Strip down to your boxers, but don't put on your pajamas. I'll be right back." She continued as she disappeared into the bathroom.
Spence sat on the edge of the bed in his boxers, idly and nervously scratching his shoulder when JJ came out of the bathroom with her hands full.
Under one arm she had a heating pad. A towel rested over her arm. In one hand she held a bottle of vanilla lavender scented massage oil that she'd picked up on a whim at Bath 'n Body a couple of weeks ago at their after Christmas sale. Her other hand held a few instant ice packs. She sat the bottle of massage oil on the nightstand and then tossed the heating pad into the chair in the corner of the room so that it would be handy in case they needed it. She handed the instant ice packs to Spence and then took his other hand to pull him to his feet. "Stand up for a second baby."
Spence rose to his feet and looked down in confusion at the plastic packs in his hands while JJ spread the towel out across the bed. "What are these for?" he asked holding one of the packs up as JJ turned back to face him.
"These are for your head. Sometimes icing a headache helps." She replied as she took the instant ice packs back from Spence. "Lay down on the towel on your stomach."
Spence looked from JJ to the ice packs she held in her hands and then to the towel. Then he decided he wasn't going to argue. He was willing to try just about anything to get his headache to go away.
While Spence lay down on the towel, JJ turned off the overhead light and turned on the bedside lamp on the far side of the bed from Spence and turned it to the lowest setting so that it gave off a soft glow to light the room.
Then she twisted one of the instant ice packs to activate it and handed it to Spence. "Hold this to your forehead." Then she tossed the rest of the packs in the middle of the bed in case they needed them. She grabbed the bottle of massage oil and climbed on the bed and knelt above Spence on her knees with the palm of one hand resting in middle of Spence's back. "Are you comfortable?" she asked as she peered down at him.
"Uh huh" was Spence's muffed response from behind his arm as he held the ice pack to his forehead.
JJ nodded and then she lifted one leg over Spence's waist and straddled him. She flipped open the cap on the bottle of massage oil and poured some into one hand. Then she flipped the lid back closed and set it off to the side. She rubbed her hands together briefly and then she leaned forward and pressed her hands into Spence's back.
"Ugh" Spence's groaned.
JJ froze. "You okay baby?"
"Yeah, feels good." Spence murmured.
"Just let me know if it's too hard, okay?" JJ asked as she moved her hands, her fingers and thumbs seeking out the knots in Spence's back.
"Uh huh" Spence sighed.
JJ continued working her hands over Spence's back, pausing occasionally to add more oil. She slid her hands up the length of Spence's back, pressing the heels of her hands into the muscles running along the length of his back. Her fingers dug into the tight muscles of his shoulders and neck, hoping that loosening up his neck, shoulders and back would help his headache.
JJ continued rubbing, hearing only the occasionally sigh or groan from Spence. Eventually, she noticed his breathing had deepened and he'd fallen asleep. She leaned over from where she was perched above him and kissed him on the temple as she pulled the ice pack out his hand.
She carefully climbed off the bed so as not to wake him and put away all of the supplies from Spence's massage other than the towel on which he was still lying. She paused as she came out of the bathroom from putting the supplies away and grabbed the quilt from the arm chair in the corner of the room, shook it out, and spread it across Spence to cover him up.
Then she slipped out of the room and across the hall to check on Henry. She peeked her head in the door of Henry's room, she and smiled. He was still sound asleep in the exact same position he'd fallen asleep in with his head turned to the side, his cheek resting on the pillow, and his arms up above his head.
She pulled the door of Henry's room mostly closed again after stepping back from the door and slipped back across the hall to her own bed. She smiled as she looked at Spence sleeping peacefully in the middle of her bed as she leaned back for a moment against the inside of the closed bedroom door. She walked over to the nightstand; turned off the lamp, pulled back the quilt, crawled into bed, and snuggled in next to Spence and quickly fell asleep.
Spence shifted and stretched as he woke up in the middle of the night. Then he blushed. He was tangled up with JJ under the covers in nothing but his boxers and her thigh was pressed against his middle of the night erection. He pulled away from JJ just a little and then stretched again, amazed at how wonderful he felt.
Spence's stretching woke JJ and she blinked in the dark bedroom and tipped her head back to look at her boyfriend. "Hey, how do you feel?" she asked in a husky just woke up voice.
"A lot better, thanks JJ." Spence answered his voice cracking from not being used for a few hours.
"You're welcome baby." JJ murmured leaning in to kiss Spence and then she buried her face in the space between his neck and collar bone as she snuggled closer and ran her hand up and down his side, where her hand had been resting.
Spence groaned at the feel of JJ pressing closer. "JJ…" he gasped as her thigh brushed against his erection.
"Spence?" JJ questioned softly, licking her lips as she felt the mood of the room changing from sleepy comfort to something else.
"Hm?" Spence murmured in reply as he leaned forward kissing his girlfriend. He gripped the back of her thigh and rolled them to the side so that JJ was underneath him on her back, and then wrapped her thigh around his waist.
JJ moaned as Spence settled in the cradle of her thighs and deepened the kiss. His fingertips traced random patterns as they danced teasingly along the length of her thigh from her knee to just inside the gaping opening of the leg of her shorts.
Spence acted on the little bit of first-hand experience he had, a bit more on the vast knowledge from books stored in his brain, and mostly on instinct as his hand teased the skin of JJ's thigh, he ground his erection into JJ, and he braced his weight above her on his elbow while his fingers threaded themselves into the golden halo of her moonlit blonde locks as he deepened their kiss.
"Spence, baby…" JJ purred as they parted and she tightened one thigh around Spence's waist, while she ran the toes of her other foot up and down his calf. Her hands alternated between gripping and running up and down the length of his back.
Spence planted kiss after kiss along the sensitive column of skin on JJ's neck from her jaw to the collar of her t-shirt. Then he slid his hand up her thigh, past her hip, and under the worn cotton of her t-shirt.
JJ shivered as she felt Spence's hand skim the skin of her belly as it moved toward its ultimate destination. She'd been left wondering more than once whether or not Spence was still a virgin this time around or not, after some of their heated make-out sessions that hadn't led any further up to this point for one reason or another.
Now though, she could say with almost absolute certainty that this was not Spence's first time… coherent thoughts were left behind, however, as Spence's skilled hands continued to work their magic; his lips lingered over what he had discovered in the course of their many make-out sessions over the last five weeks to be the most sensitive spot on her neck, right at the base of her neck where it met her shoulder; and his hips, god his hips, for someone who claimed they didn't dance, he sure knew how to move his hips in perfect rhythm.
Spence pulled his lips away from the soft sweet haven that was the crook of JJ's neck and lifted his head to look at his beautiful girlfriend. She was flushed and breathless as she lay on the pillow. Then her brilliant blue eyes popped open and took his breath away.
JJ opened her eyes at the loss of Spence's lips on her neck to see him hovering above her, his eyes studying her as if he was trying to memorize the moment and hold a picture in his genius brain for later. The man after all did have an eidetic memory. Then she smirked, 'might as well give him something memorable to think about on all those long flights on the jet,' she thought as she reached down and pulled up on her t-shirt while simultaneously using the leg wrapped around Spence's waist as leverage to lift her upper body up off the bed. 'Thank god for Yoga and Pilates,' she thought as she tossed her t-shirt off the side of the bed.
"God you're gorgeous JJ," Spence murmured, his eyes never leaving hers, "absolutely breath-taking."
"I love you Spence" JJ said as ran her hands up and down his sides, her fingernails raking lightly across his skin.
"I love you too JJ. Always have. Always will." Spence replied leaning down and brushing his lips across hers at first, and then the kiss picked up in intensity.
JJ nipped lightly at Spence's lower lip with her teeth and then moaned as his tongue slid between her lips and traced the roof of her mouth.
Spence's tongued tangled with JJ's in an abrupt but ardent kiss. Then he kissed her chin and along the length of her jaw. He nibbled on her ear. He nuzzled at her neck. His tongue flickered along her collar bone. He paused pressing a solitary kiss on her chest directly over her beating heart. Then he paused to look up at JJ, making eye contact with her as he wiggled his hips free from JJ's grip and slid down her body.
JJ gasped as Spence's soulful brown eyes looked up at her. She hoped that she remembered this moment forever, because she saw a world of promise and forever in his eyes. Not to mention he looked incredibly sexy sporting his sexy bedhead hair. Then she felt him wiggle his hips free from the cradle of her thighs, sliding down so that his belly now rested on her pelvic bone and her chest was now at eye level for him.
She whimpered softly as he kissed his way down her belly and his fingers played with the waistband of her shorts, and lifted her hips as Spence slid the cotton shorts down her hips.
Spence groaned as he pulled down JJ's shorts and realized that she wasn't wearing panties. He kissed her hip while his hands pushed the shorts down to her knees. Then he pushed himself up to his knees and pulled the shorts the rest of the way downs her legs and off over her feet. With a flick of his wrist JJ's shorts flew off into the darkened bedroom.
With her legs freed, JJ quickly rose to her knees in front of Spence and pulled down his boxers with a quick tug so that they pooled on the bed at his knees. Then her fingers flitted eagerly over the skin of his thighs and danced across his tight toned ass as she leaned in close to Spence, his erection pressed in between them against her belly.
"JJ" Spence gurgled in a momentary loss of control as his head dropped onto her shoulder. "Don't you want me to… oh god JJ." He whimpered in pleasure as one of her hands snuck between them.
"Don't I want you to what baby? Go down on me?" she murmured huskily in his ear as her hands continued to tease his flesh.
Spence moaned and nodded his head against JJ's shoulder, too turned on for words at the sound of JJ talking dirty in his ear.
JJ smirked as she breathed in Spence's ear. "I do want you to go down on me. I've wanted you to do that for a long time. All the times I've watched you lick your lips when you were talking… I always wondered what your tongue would feel like… watching your fingers trail down the pages of a book or a case file while you read and flipped pages I wondered what your fingers would feel like on my body… teasing me… pushing me over the edge… but do you know what I wondered about most of all baby?" JJ murmured in his ear and then nibbled lightly on his earlobe.
"What?" Spence croaked in a scratchy voice, his voice cracking.
"What exactly you could do to me with this." JJ said, dragging her fingernails lightly over his skin.
Then Spence growled low in his throat and tightened his grip on her hips as he pulled her close.
'God I love it when he does that.' She thought as she bit her lip, wondering what Spence was going to do next. She could almost hear the gears turning in his genius brain as he weighed his options.
Genius that he was, Spence was perfectly capable of multi-tasking, so that was exactly what he was doing. While his brain contemplated all of the possibilities, he kissed her neck and shoulder and ran his hands up and down her body.
He momentarily contemplated reaching down and pulling her legs out from underneath her, but he quickly calculated the physics of the situation and determined that it wasn't safe from where they were positioned on the bed. All it would take is one wrong bounce and JJ would hit the headboard or the nightstand. Not to mention her squeal of shock would probably wake Henry. No, that playfully fun idea was best saved for some time in the future, along with the hundreds of other creative possibilities that were dancing through his brain… after all he was a genius.
In a split second Spence reached a conclusion about how best to proceed. He pulled JJ's hand from him and then sank down onto his knees and pulled JJ down into his lap. One hand reached up brush stray hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear and then trailed down her back. He rested his other hand on her thigh, his thumb stoking the soft sensitive skin of her inner thigh. "I think it behooves me as a benefactor of knowledge to ensure that all of your questions are answered to your complete and utter satisfaction no matter how long it may take." He spoke in a low voice in JJ's ear.
JJ moaned at Spence's words, the tone of his voice, and his hot breath on her neck. "Spence… baby…" And then Spence's lips crashed down on hers, silencing her. Spence leaned forward, maintaining his hold on JJ until she was safely lying on the bed again with himself hovering above her, braced on his arm that was wrapped around her back.
"Spence, baby, please…" JJ groaned, not wanting to wait any longer. She was very glad at this moment that they'd had a mature, responsible discussion weeks ago about birth control and all of the other issues that needed discussing, as this was definitely not a moment when she wanted to stop what they were doing to have the necessary conversations.
Spence had made it clear that after he'd gotten clean and off of dilaudid, he'd been tested. He'd also explained that even in his weakest moments during his few months of drug abuse he'd observed the most stringent of safety precautions. He'd never shared needles. He'd never re-used needles. He hadn't shared his vials of drugs with anyone else, so there wasn't any danger of accidental cross contamination. All of his tests had come back clean. All JJ had needed to share was that she was on the pill.
Spence rested his forehead against JJ's watching the emotions dance and flicker in her eyes. He'd never really understood before why the eyes were called the window to the soul before, but now he did.
JJ lifted her hand to Spence's head and ran her fingers through his hair. She mused once more, although much more coherently this time, over the fact that clearly Spence had not been a virgin this time around… although, considering 6 years had passed, she supposed she really shouldn't have expected that to be the case any longer… she was left wondering exactly where Spence had picked up his skills.
When Spence caught his breath a short while later, he propped himself up on his elbows to look down at JJ.
"Hi there" JJ said with a soft smile.
"Hi" Spence responded.
JJ leaned up and kissed him. As she settled back on the pillow, she tipped her head and looked at him thoughtfully, biting her lip as she attempted to figure out what was on her mind.
"What is it?" Spence asked running his fingers lightly up and down her side.
"Where did you learn that?" JJ asked curiously.
"Learn what?" Spence asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Everything" JJ replied drawing the word out dramatically as she traced her finger up and down her boyfriend's chest. Then she shivered as her body started to cool down from their rather heated activities.
Spence noticed JJ shivering and rolled to the side, pulling her with him and into his side. Then he pulled the quilt they'd slept under earlier over them and turned to look at JJ as he wrapped his arms around her. "Do you really want to know? I'll tell you if you do, but I know that I don't like thinking about the almost 4 years that you were with Will or any of the other guys that you might have dated before Will."
JJ ran her hand down Spence's chest and his stomach and then wrapped her arm around his waist as she snuggled into his side and thought about what he was saying. He was right; she definitely didn't want to know any of the details about the relationships he'd been in previously. What mattered was that they were together now. "You're right baby. I don't want to know. I'll just be glad that it ended up being to my benefit." She paused and leaned up to kiss him. "But just so you know, the last guy I went on a date with before Will was you." she murmured against his lips as their lips parted.
Spence smiled as he thought back over the his dating days prior to starting his relationship with JJ. He was never quite as hopeless as Morgan made him out to be, or the rest of the team assumed he was.
There'd been a really nice librarian that he'd dated for a while. They'd bonded over their mutual love of books, especially the classics, and coffee. However, she'd visited his apartment once and he had unfortunately, or at least so he thought at the time, left a case file open on his desk. The reality of his work spread out in full color photos was just too much for her to handle and the relationship had been as dead as a corpse in a morgue by the time she left his apartment minutes later.
When a friend of a friend set him up on a blind date with a few years ago with a forensic anthropologist with multiple PHDs who was a certified genius, he'd thought perhaps that things would work out. On paper they were a perfect match, both geni, both having multiple PHDs and inherrently interested in the world of academia purely for knowledge's sake. She even worked as a consultant for the FBI on some rather gory cases, so her accidentally seeing a case file would be a non-issue. Bein a man of science, he'd taken an interest in her work. It had been refreshing to have someone take an interest in his background and experiance in the hard sciences and mathematics. However, what on paper had appeared to be a good match, in reality it turned out not to be the case. She viewed his life's work as a profiler as hokum as she was a firm believer in the hard sciences. The statistics he was able to provide combined with the stories about the team's cases hadn't even been able to sway her opion. In the end, they were too much alike to form a real connection with each other beyond their love of academia and had decided to part ways. It was true in science and in love. Opposites attracted. In a moment of random curiosity he wondered if life had been as kind to her as it had to him. He hoped she'd found someone who complemented her as well as JJ complemented him.
Then he'd met Austin on that case in Atlanta. He'd used a little sleight of hand to impress her. She in turn had impressed him enough to hold his interest for a time, but the combination of cases and the distance put a strain on the relationship. In the end he'd realized he'd rather spend a weekend visiting JJ as friends and playing with his godson Henry than traveling to Atlanta to spend a non-platonic weekend with Austin. And then he realized that JJ deserved to know that.
"You know" Spence said clearing his throat, "while Austin and I were dating I realized that I would rather spend time with you as a platonic friend than spend time with Austin doing non-platonic things… and that told me something. I… I decided that I couldn't be with anyone else until I was over you… that I shouldn't be with anyone… that it wasn't fait to be with someone who I couldn't give my heart to. Everyone I dated, they never stood a chance. I compared them all to you. JJ, you've had my heart all along."
"Spence… I… "JJ paused, her eyes searching Spence's as for the first time words failed the communications liaison. Then she reached up and kissed him, unable to think of any words that would be as equally powerful at expressing just how much she loved him.
JJ rushed down the hall of the Pentagon dodging in and out of the hallway traffic to get to the emergency meeting she'd been called into with high ranking members of several governmental agencies. Going into a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security, Interpol, the CIA, the FBI, the ATF, and who knew what other groups or agencies… she just really didn't know what to expect. She took a deep breath, opened the door of the conference room, and raised her eyebrows as she found the room being swept for listening devices.
JJ pinched her nose as she sat on the couch sifting through the highly redacted file for escaped terrorist, Ian Doyle. She wasn't sure how the task force that was being put together was expected to gather information and track down a fugitive when most of his file was redacted or withheld. She also had to wonder what they were thinking by leaving out the one group of people who she knew for sure would be able to track down Ian Doyle. The BAU. They had been strangely missing from a task force involving searching for an escaped terrorist – but she supposed the FBI had been represented and that if the time came the information would be funneled to the BAU so that they could be included in the man hunt. She just hoped it was before Doyle had caused too much mayhem around the world.
Then JJ heard the sound of Spence's key in the lock and gathered her files, returning them to her briefcase and locking it before she pushed it off to the side. Just in time too as Spence entered. "Hey baby, how was the case?" JJ asked as Spence paused in the entry way to hang up his coat and set his go bag and messenger bag off to the side.
"We basically chased them all the way across Montana to Washington, and after a several hour standoff at a gas station in Spokane, it ended in a shootout. Actually you couldn't even really call it a shootout from what Derek told me." He said as he sat down on the couch next to his girlfriend.
"They never even got a shot off, but the vehicle they were in was riddled with bullet holes. It was like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, but without them being heroes to the public… and I lost count of how many victims after the third crime scene when they killed everyone at an AA meeting." Spence said as he tipped his head to rest against the back of the couch. "How are you? Busy doing paperwork?" Spence asked nodding his head at JJ's briefcase.
JJ shrugged. She really hated the top secret nature of her job at the Pentagon. "Yeah, just reading up on some notes from a meeting. Are you hungry?"
Spence shook his head. "No, just tired."
JJ smiled and took Spence's hand and stood up. "Well come on, let's go to bed then."
"Sean, how are ya?" Emily asked as she pulled back from her longtime friend Sean McCallister's friendly hug in greeting.
"Good" Sean replied as he released Emily from his hug and they both moved to take a seat in the booth at the back of the dimly lit but classy bar he'd asked Emily to meet him at. Naturally he sat facing the door, knowing what he knew.
"So, I was going to call you back, I just got busy on a case." Emily said after she and Sean were comfortably ensconced in the high backed leather booth.
"I… I had to be in DC anyway." Sean said softly in his Scottish brogue.
Emily grew concerned as she watched Sean and his mannerisms at the moment.
"Ian Doyle vanished from prison."
Emily's eyes went wide as she sat in shock.
"Interpol can't find him."
"What are you saying?" Emily asked in a concerned voice.
Sean looked down, realizing how much the system had failed them, failed Emily after all she'd sacrificed seven years ago to capture the man in the first place. After a moment of contemplation, his eyes snapped up to meet Emily's. "He's off the grid Emily."
"Do you think he's headed here?"
Sean sat speechless as he looked at Emily. This wasn't supposed to have happened. Ian Doyle should be nothing more than a story they never told anyone. If he found out how the bastard escaped… well that wasn't the issue now. He'd attended a meeting regarding Ian Doyle's escape and the task force being put together to capture him. He was warning Emily now, and then he was going to go home to take his own precautions to protect his family.
"Am I in danger?" Emily asked with a slight waver in her voice.
Sean paused as he looked down to gather his thoughts and then looked back up at Emily again. "We all are."