Title: Broken Faith
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Morgan, Prentiss, team - gen
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship
Summary: "Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath." ~ Solon.
Warnings: Spoilers for 6x18.

…

Part Six

It was no coincidence that Penelope Garcia happened to be at home on a Saturday night. Emily had wheedled JJ into convincing the technical analyst to stay home. Of course, Garcia wasn't stupid; she had to know the reason why she was staying home. In fact, Emily wouldn't be surprised if Garcia was waiting with pizza and a movie.

She was wrong; Chinese food, and a movie, which was still close enough that Emily counted it as a win.

'I sent Kevin over to his parents' place for the evening,' she revealed. 'We have Star Wars – the original and the best trilogy, chicken with cashews, beef with broccoli, fried rice, popcorn, and an ungodly amount of diet soda. Talking is not a prerequisite. I just want to spend time with my favorite female profiler, in case she ends up dead again.'

There was a long pause. 'I'm sorry – that came out a lot harsher than it was supposed to.'

'It's okay,' Emily assured her. 'I get it.'

'We could also make cocktails,' Garcia said brightly, in a remarkable effort at changing the subject. 'I have vodka, and a lot of fruity stuff, and—' She stopped. 'Sweetie, is everything okay?'

'Yeah.' Emily gave a smile that was only around sixty percent fake. 'I just haven't really been big on the drinking lately.'

'Of course,' Garcia said with a nod. 'Well like I said – I have a lot of diet soda; it comes in very handy for all the WoW raiding.'

In spite of the circumstances, a dark cloud of tension hovered over them. Even if Garcia said she didn't need to talk about it, Emily knew that they did. The situation was eerily similar and yet somehow completely different to her conversation with Reid. If asked, Garcia would absolutely not shy away from voicing her opinion on the matter at hand.

Emily waited until they were both sated with (admittedly, pretty freaking amazing) Chinese, and reveling in the glory of successful Death Star destruction before she said anything.

'I only did it because I had to,' Emily said. It took a few moments for Garcia to process that comment, and, as expected, it was nowhere near enough.

'Why is it that profilers are so into self-sacrifice?' Garcia asked, furiously, at which point Emily realized that the moments spent processing had actually been moments spent trying to hold back the tears. 'Is it so goddamn hard to just not run off after insane people alone, or drive ambulance bombs, or…accidentally get infected with anthrax?' Garcia was sobbing violently through her words now, so Emily leaned over and wrapped her in a tight hug.

'Hey…it's okay,' Emily murmured, even if she didn't quite believe the words herself.

'It's not okay,' Garcia insisted. 'Because one day, one of those things is going to be a little too much, and I'm pretty sure we're not going to get ushered into Hotch's office and told that it was all a ruse for a second time.' She pulled away slightly. 'I understand why you did it…well…I understand why you think you had to do it, but…sometimes I hate our line of work so much.'

'I don't think we can do anything else,' Emily said, both to herself, and to Garcia. That, she did believe. Even if she had handed in her badge, she wondered how long it would last.

'I need to tell you something,' Garcia announced. Emily raised an eyebrow. 'Maybe it'll help you change your mind.'

Emily stared at her. 'What is it?'

'Well…JJ and I have been uh…rattling some cages. Nothing illegal,' she said hastily, apparently noting the look on Emily's face. 'I just…we know how much you needed this.'

At Garcia's words, Emily let herself feel some small amount of hope – not just because she might actually see Declan sometime in the next decade, but at the fact that her friends cared about her so much that they would actually go to the lengths to find him. It simultaneously made her overjoyed, and saddened, because she had almost left all of this behind.

'Thank-you,' Emily said sincerely. 'I know for a fact that I only survived so long because I knew that the friends I was coming back too were pretty much the best people in the world.'

'Not to mention I would have kicked your ass if you didn't,' Garcia said, her tone serious. 'Morgan's been giving me self-defense lessons.'

Emily gave a grim smile. 'He's a good guy,' she said, half wistfully. He was a good guy, and she really needed to tell him that.

She needed to say sorry.

'I kinda get the feeling you're about to do your Wonder Woman thing where you run off without telling me where you're going.'

Emily shot her friend an apologetic look.

'I'm coming back this time,' she said solemnly.

And she meant it.

…

Outside, it was raining.

Morgan found himself flipping through the TV channels. Clooney was at his feet, half asleep. Die Hard was on, but he'd seen it almost half a dozen times already, so he didn't stop flipping.

Truth told, his mind was elsewhere.

As if on cue, the doorbell sounded. Clooney started, and then hurriedly got to his feet, giving a low growl.

'Calm down, buddy.' Morgan patted the dog reassuringly, and made his way to the door. It wasn't often that people called on him in the dead of the night, but he was pretty sure he knew who it was going to be. He was waiting for this visit.

Wordlessly, he opened the door and stepped back to let Emily inside. Clooney greeted her, excited.

'I think he's sick of having just me for company,' Morgan said with a grin.

'Probably because I was giving him treats when your back was turned.' There was a long, almost awkward silence. 'I'm sorry,' Emily said, finally. 'It's something that I never said…and I've come to realize that I really, really should have. '

She paused, swallowing. 'I know I had a reason for doing what I did…but that doesn't make it okay that I did it. I should have trusted that you – that the team could help me. I will spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn't, and the rest of my life hoping that maybe one day you'll forgive me.'

He put a hand to her shoulder. 'Emily…you already have my forgiveness.'

She stared at him, confused. 'Morgan, I—'

'Let me finish,' he interjected. 'I can forgive you because I trust you. Because you have always had my back, and all I need to do is make sure you remember that I will always have yours.'

Emily smiled. 'Always,' she said.