Hello everyone. Once again it is Tuesday. Almost said Friday and I don't have a clue why. Well this here is the second to last chapter of the story. Glad you all have been enjoying it and sticking with me. So deeply appreciated on many levels. Now I shall shut up and let you dig in. Have fun.

It was a beautiful summer day. Crisp blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds. The temps were in the low eighties without a lick of humidity in the air. It was the perfect day to sit in the shade under the boughs of an ancient oak with an entertaining book and a glass of good wine. Emily sighed deeply looking longingly out through the hospital room's window, chin resisting in the cup of her hand. If she had her way, she would be outside enjoying the feeling of the sun on her face, not stuck inside gazing out.

"This sucks."

"What sucks, Em'ly?"

Emily's head whipped around to find Jack Hotchner standing innocently by her chair.

"Sweetie, how did you get here?" she asked, glancing around the room and finding it empty except for the two of them.

He jerked a thumb at the door. "Aunt Jess brought me. She was right behind me," he said, his eyes glued to the bandage on her nose. He was dying to ask what she did but he remembered the warning he got when he had mentioned her face before so he kept his mouth shut. Instead he repeated, "What sucks, Em'ly?"

Geez, did I just teach Hotch's son a new swear word? She thought. I hope not otherwise he's going to kill me. She smiled. "Oh, that it looks like a beautiful day outside and here I am cooped up inside."

"Why don't you go out?"

She sighed. "Because they won't let me."

"Why not?" he asked, forehead puckered in puzzlement.

"They're afraid I'll run away."

Jack's eyes widen. "Would you?" he breathed.

"In a heartbeat," she said with a snap of her fingers and Jack giggled. "So what brings you by, Jack?"

"With Aaron and the team away on a case, Jack here thought you might be lonely," Jessica supplied from the doorway where she had been observing them. She came up to her nephew and ran her fingers through his sandy brown hair. "Jack, honey, could you go wait in the hallway? I would like to have a quick chat with Agent Prentiss."

"Okay."

"And stay where I can see you and don't touch anything," she called out to his departing back.

When Jack was gone, she turned to Emily. "I'm Jack's Aunt, Jessica." She started to extend her right hand then quickly switched to the left when she saw the sling on Emily's right.

Emily shook hands. "I remember. We met briefly at Haley's funeral and please call me Emily."

"Emily," she acknowledged and took a seat in the other chair. She rested her hands in her lap. "I wanted to personally thank you for saving Jack."

Uncomfortable, Emily looked away and absently started to run her hand along the sling. "There's no need to thank me. If I had done my job properly the first time, Jack never would have been taken."

"What you did nor did not do in your past is of no concern of mine. What is important is that you came back, regardless of your safety, to rescue my nephew." It was Jessica's turn to look away. "I had already lost Haley. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost Jack too. Thank you."

Emily leaned forward and placed her hand on Jessica's. "You're welcome," she said sincerely and with a nod.

The two women smiled at each other, knowing each loved that little boy. Jessica would have no trouble sharing him with Emily. Jack would benefit from both of them.

Suddenly there was a loud crash out in the hallway. "Oh dear," Jessica swore, jumping up. "What has he gotten into?"

She dashed out and a few seconds later a red face Jack sidled in.

Emily cocked an eyebrow and restrained herself from laughing. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, peering nervously at the door. "I didn't touch it. It just fell over by itself. Honest."

"Uh huh." She couldn't resist smiling.

He fidgeted in place before blurting out, "I brought some games to play. If you want to."

"I love games. What did you bring?"

"A whole bunch: Uno, Candyland, Sorry…" he rattled off.

"Sorry is my favorite."

"Cool. We can play it first," he said excitedly.

"All right. I'm pretty good," she teased.

"Me too," he said returning the challenge.

"Why don't we go out to the garden and play it there?" Jessica asked, entering the room with a wheelchair.

A slow smile spread over Emily's face. "How did you get them to say yes?" she asked, excited at the prospect of going outside.

"It was rather easy. Aaron said you would probably be going stir crazy about now and when you did you would start annoying the staff. So I simply offered to get you out of their hair for a couple of hours. They readily agreed on one condition."

"What was that?" Emily asked warily.

"That I don't let you out of my sight for one second," she said with a laugh.

"Anything to get out of this room," Emily agreed with Jack quietly snickering.

"Jack!" Jessica called out. He immediately clammed up thinking he was about to get a lecture. "Please fetch Emily's slippers while I help her on with her robe. If that is alright with you?" She asked quickly, remembering that Aaron had mentioned that Emily could be extremely stubborn in regards to doing things for herself.

"It is." Emily slowly got to her feet and let Jessica help slide her left arm through the sleeve and drape the right side over her bad shoulder. Jessica then stepped back and let Emily settle into the wheelchair on her own. Jack popped up with the slippers and with a big grin helped her put them on.

"All set?" Jessica asked while shouldering the bag of games.

"Yes," Emily said and then turned to Jack. "Do you want to ride or push?"

"Push," he said without hesitation. He hurried behind the wheelchair and grabbed the handholds.

Emily pointed to the door. "Home, James," she intoned in a posh voice.

Jack paused. "Em'ly. My name is Jack, not James."

That evening Emily had just settled in for a night of mindless reruns when Garcia breezed in like a breath of fresh air. "Evening, Emily the Strange and Great."

Emily glanced at the clock on the wall. "You're here rather late. Shouldn't you be hibernating in your lair helping the team?"

"They caught Mr. Creepy Pants this evening," she said, flopping down at the foot of the bed. "So I thought I would come hang out with you."

"The team is on their way home?"

"Nope. They're stuck in Tempe. Engine problems."

"That sucks."

"It does. Heard it's hotter than Hades there," Garcia said with a chuckle. She grabbed the rolling table and pulled it over. She placed a large Styrofoam cup and box on it. "I kind of figured you had poked at your dinner tonight so I stopped at Maxine's Deli and picked up for you a chicken salad sandwich and cream of broccoli soup. I made sure that there wasn't anything spicy in either because of your…never mind."

Emily's eyes narrowed. "Never mind what?" she pressed.

"You're…you know," Garcia said vaguely, wishing she had never brought it up.

Then it dawned on her. "My ulcer. Penelope, have you been poking around my medical records?"

Garcia looked and felt guilty. "Only a real teeny tiny bit," she demonstrated with her index finger and thumb. "I only wanted to make sure that there nothing the doctor was holding back," she finished lamely.

Emily closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten twice in French to stop herself from saying something that she would later regret. Meanwhile Garcia shifted uneasily at the end of the bed.

When Emily opened her eyes again, she was calm and in control. She poked the analyst with her foot under the blanket. "Penelope, the ulcer stays between us. The team does not need to know. Got it?"

"Loud and clear. I'm sorry, Em. I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

Emily could see how upset she was. "I'm not angry. Just a little annoyed." She gave her a more playful push with her foot. "I'm over it anyways." She popped the lid off the soup. "This does smell good," she observed.

She picked up the spoon and dug in while Garcia looked on, pleased that she was enjoying the food and that she was no longer in hot water with her friend.

Without warning Garcia's hand was pressed firmly against Emily's forehead causing her to wince in pain when the tech's fingers grazed the stitched up gash. "Em, are you all right?" she asked worriedly. "You're face is a little red."

"What?"

"Oh, God!" You're warm!" Are you running a fever? I better get a nurse." Garcia franticly searched for the call button. "It could be a sign of infection or something worse. Here it is," she said with a sigh of relief, reeling in the remote.

Emily chuckled. "Relax, Penelope. It's probably a little sunburn."

Garcia paused with her finger hovering over the button. "Sunburn?" she asked in disbelief. "How could you get sunburn from overhead lighting?"

"I was outside today for a couple of hours," Emily explained between spoonfuls.

"Outside?" Garcia screeched, dropping the remote like a hot potato. "You got outside? They're supposed to be watching you. When I get a hold of them…"

"Aha!" Emily exclaimed, slamming the spoon down on the table causing Garcia to break off in mid sentence and flinch. "You're the one who ratted me out to the staff," she accused her.

Garcia took a step back wringing her hands. "I just wanted you to stay put and rest," she said meekly. "You do have a tendency to sign yourself out before you are ready."

Emily shook her head in wonder. "Penelope Garcia, you are amazing, frustrating and sometimes down right meddlesome at times. Don't ever change, you hear me?"

"I hear you." She inched closer to the bed. "You're not mad at me?" she asked hopefully.

"I could never be mad at you for long because I know you have my best interest at heart." Emily waved the spoon at her. "Now I am officially annoyed so you are going to have to come up with something special to make it up to me."

Garcia's eyes lit up. "I think I do," she said, resettling at the foot of the bed and opening her oversized bag.

"Figures," Emily muttered as she pushed away the empty bowl and grabbed the sandwich box. "You should get a patent on that bottomless bag of yours," she said around a mouthful of chicken salad.

Penelope made a face. "Ha. Ha." Emily smiled as she continued chewing. "A little bird told me you might like this."

"Scrabble!" Emily said in delight as Garcia set the travel size version down on the table. "Did the same little bird tell you I'm really good at this?"

"She did," Garcia said with a grin. "So I came prepared." She pulled out a scrabble dictionary the size of a large tome.

"Wow," Emily exclaimed. "You couldn't find a bigger one?"

Garcia merely smiled and started flipping over tiles. "Be prepared for an ass whupping, Emily Prentiss."

"Bring it on, Penelope Garcia. It will be you and not me who will be bleeding all over the board when this is done."

"Agent Prentiss!"

The voice resonated down the corridor and froze Emily in her tracks. Her shoulders hunched and she grimaced. "Oh shit," she muttered under her breath. "Please don't be her. Please don't be her."

Slowly she shuffled around while plastering the fakest smile she could on her face. She also thanked her lucky stars that she was wearing the solid blue pajamas instead of the pair with the cats on it.

"Ma'am," she said, trying to keep a hint of disrespect out of it and failing miserably.

Erin Strauss did not seem to notice as she briskly marched down the corridor. "The nurse on duty told me I would find you here."

So this is how they get their revenge, she thought. They sic the Dragon lady on me. "Just out for my morning constitutional," she said casually when Strauss had reached her side.

"How are you doing, Agent Prentiss?"

"I'm healing."

"That is good." Strauss looked around the corridor. "Is there some place we could talk more privately?"

Emily gestured with the crutch. "There is a lounge at the end. You can wait for me there. At my current pace I should be there in ten minutes."

"If you don't mind I would like to walk with you."

"Not at all," Emily said through gritted teeth. She made it to the lounge in five.

Emily eased into a chair by the windows while Strauss chose one directly across from her. She rested the crutch against the chair and stopped herself from rubbing the hip she had just over exerted. Strauss was not going to see any weakness in her.

"What would you like to talk about, Ma'am," Emily asked, getting directly to the point.

Strauss sat back in her chair and studied her carefully. She appeared calm and composed, at least, on the surface but how emotionally scarred was she underneath? Only time would tell.

"Not going to waste any time beating around the bush are you, Agent Prentiss?" she asked drolly.

"No, Ma'am. And it is Emily. I'm no longer an agent."

Strauss leaned forward, crossed her legs and rested her folded hands on her knee. "Actually you are. For the first three months you were on medical leave and for the remainder you were on an unpaid leave of absence. And according to the Director you have been on active duty from the moment you stepped onto American soil."

Emily blinked in surprise. "That is good to hear." Well that was one question she no longer needed an answer for.

"Must be nice to have a patron among the higher ups," Strauss said coyly.

"I wouldn't know, Ma'am," she replied blandly.

Strauss gave her a knowing smile. "Agent Prentiss, have you given any thought to your future plans?"

She actually had given it a lot of thought over the last couple of days but she wasn't going to let Strauss know that. The only person she would talk to about her future was Hotch. Her decision would have a direct impact on him and the rest of the team. Strauss wouldn't give a damn if she left or stayed.

"No, Ma'am. I've been focused on getting better so that I can get out of here and back home," she lied smoothly.

"That is understandable. Did you know your position in the BAU is still open?"

"No, I did not."

"Well it is. Agent Hotchner has been stonewalling me for months in regards to filling your position and now I know why. He's been waiting for you to return and you have. How convenient."

Emily said nothing. She simply sat still and gazed at Strauss unblinking.

"It's yours if you want it, Agent Prentiss."

"Thank you, Ma'am. May I have some time to decide? I have to weigh all of my options."

"Of course." Strauss stood and straightened her skirt. "But don't take too long. I can't hold it open indefinitely."

"Understood."

"It's good to see you up on your feet."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"Take care."

"I will."

Strauss took a few steps away before turning back to Emily. "Agent Prentiss, would you like to know my opinion?"

"Certainly," Emily said even though she really didn't.

"You need the team and the team needs you."

That said she turned and headed for the elevators leaving in her wake a stunned Emily. Did Strauss just give me her approval? I think she did. She shuddered at the thought. Uneasy she bit her lip and looked out the window. That was the crux of her dilemma: did the team really need her?

Hotch was just tucking his toiletries into his go bag when the phone rang. He scooped it off the off the dresser, looked at the display and sighed. Strauss. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her today. The case and engine delay had made him a grumpy man. He just wanted to get home and unwind with Jack.

He sat on the bed and put the phone to his ear. "Chief Strauss," he greeted her.

"Agent Hotchner," she said in return. Are you and your team on your way back?"

"Almost. We will be leaving for the airport in thirty minutes."

"Excellent."

"Is there something I can help you with, Ma'am?" Hotch asked, hoping to move her along so that he wouldn't have to delay the departure. He knew everyone was as eager as he was to get home.

"Yes. We need to discuss Agent Prentiss."

"Certainly."

"I stopped by the hospital this morning to see her."

Oh, Emily must have loved that, he thought smiling to himself. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's looking better than the last time I visited. I found her walking the halls."

Hotch smiled. "That's where you'll find her most days."

"When is she going to be released from the hospital?"

"Unless the doctor finds something during the examination to keep her for a few extra days it should be this Friday."

"So two more days."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Does Agent Prentiss have a place to stay afterwards?"

"Yes. Agent Rossi has graciously offered Prentiss the use of his guest suite and she has accepted." He didn't mention that Dave almost had to twist Emily's good arm to get her to say yes.

"Have you discussed with her what her future plans may be?"

Hotch frowned. "No, Ma'am, I haven't. I've been waiting until she was back on her feet before broaching the subject with her."

"Well, I have," Strauss smugly said. "I informed her that her position was still available and offered it to her."

Wonderful. Just wonderful. She doesn't leave it to me to do, he thought grimly. "What was her response?"

"Agent Prentiss requested some time to consider the offer."

"I see."

"I may not be an expert on reading human behavior like you, Agent Hotchner, but I did sense some hesitation on her part."

"You have?"

"Yes. I believe her hesitation to accept can be attributed to not knowing where the team stands in regard to her return."

"What would you like me to do?"

"You need to discuss this situation with the team immediately. Agent Prentiss needs to know so that she can make an informed decision."

"I will once we are in the air," he said, for once in agreement with her.

"Excellent. Agent Hotchner, let me know what the team decides."

"I shall."

"Have a safe flight."

"Thank you, Ma'am," he said and hung up.

He remained sitting on the bed staring at the phone in his hand. This was not the way he pictured the flight home to be like. He had been planning on a nice mindless ride with nothing on his mind but what to do with Jack but that hope just went out the window. Instead he was going to have to have a tough conversation that he was unprepared for. He already knew his answer. He wanted Emily back. The team wasn't the same without her. They still functioned well as a unit but the camaraderie was missing. He was pretty sure he knew what their responses would be but he has been surprised before. Five months can change a lot of things.

Well? Do you think the team will surprise Hotch with their answers? And what will be Emily's final decision? I know and I'm not telling. You will just have to check in next week for the conclusion. Till then.