Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.

Who We Are
Part 11

By N. J. Borba

For an excruciatingly long moment all Derek could hear was the mild drone of tires against the pavement, and the soft whoosh of other vehicle passing them on the busy highway. His foot automatically pressed down a little more on the gas pedal as he tried to remain focused on driving safely. But as Morgan glanced over to see Emily silently staring out the window, he knew exactly what she was thinking. And he knew he needed to pull her away from that ledge. "Don't do this, Em. We made a deal, remember? No backward steps. This didn't happen because you weren't there to watch over your sister."

"Then where the hell is she?" her voice was thick with worry.

He sighed, sensing she wasn't ready to believe him just yet. "What exactly did your mother say?" Derek took another approach to distract her.

Emily chewed her lip as she recalled her mother's frantic voice. She'd never heard the woman so upset before. "My parents had a charity event to attend today and they asked Anna along, but she didn't want to go. Then my dad decided he should stay with her, but Anna insisted they both go. They were gone for about six hours when they got a call from Rossi who said he couldn't get a hold of Anna. When they went home she was gone. There was no note and her cell phone had been left on her bed," she released a breath. "You're wrong, I should have been there. Margaret got to her because I was here."

"First of all, I think you're jumping to some pretty big conclusions," Derek tried to rationalize things, hoping to be the grounding force Emily obviously needed. "The idea that a sixty-five year old woman was able to break into your parents house and subdue Anna is a little bit far-fetched, don't you think? Granted, Anna has been weakened by all of her treatments, but she's still not exactly a petite woman."

"And my mother said there were no signs of a break-in," Emily responded with some realism. "But maybe Margaret wouldn't need to subdue her. I think that man and woman obviously held some sort of power over Anna all those years they kept her and Eric hidden at that farm. Maybe all she needed was to get Anna alone so she could earwig her and draw her away."

Morgan could see Emily spinning off again and tried to rein her in. "Or maybe Anna just needed some time away from your parent's house. She could have gone for a walk, maybe to a park, maybe to a nearby store. She doesn't have any money, right? So, she couldn't have wandered too far."

"Actually, my parents opened a checking account for her a month ago," Emily revealed. "She has a debit card and we went over how to withdraw money and how to use it as a credit card. Mostly just in case there was any kind of emergency," she explained.

The two of them exchanged a brief look of agreement. "Garcia," they said at the same time.

Their favorite tech was immediately dialed via Emily's cell phone. "Happy New Year, darling," Penelope cheerfully greeted. "JJ, Will and Henry are here with Kevin and I, and we are all having a New Years brunch. How is sunny California treating you?"

"You're on speaker with Derek and me," Emily replied, a bit coldly. "And this isn't a social call."

"Oh, you people…" Garcia sighed in disgust. "Aren't holidays sacred to you?"

"Not when my sister is missing," Emily said, not bothering with niceties or drawn out explanations. "She's been gone anywhere from one to six or seven hours, and I really need your help tracking her down. She doesn't have her cell phone with her, but she does have a bank account that may have been accessed."

Penelope made a small noise of agreement as she realized the importance of the situation. "I hear you… I just need to put down the mimosa and shimmy on over to my laptop," she explained her actions. There were several minutes of shuffling after that before she came back on. "All right, here it is," Garcia said. "It looks like she used the account about five hours ago to buy a plane ticket."

"Why would she buy a plane ticket?" Emily was confused, realizing maybe her sister had left of her own will. "To where?"

"Airport code is ICT; Wichita, Kansas," Penelope replied. "That flight landed over an hour ago and I have record of some cash being withdrawn from an ATM in the airport terminal. After that I've got nothing."

Derek tossed out a suggestion. "How about airport camera footage?" he asked. "Maybe she rented a car or took a cab somewhere?"

"Anna doesn't know how to drive," Emily reminded him.

"Taxi cab search it is, then," Garcia spoke as her fingers danced over the keys of her computer with efficiency. "Hmm, this could take me a few, ICT surveillance system is kinda outdated and there's at least an hour and a half time-frame to fast forward through."

Emily nodded. "Get back to us when you have something more. Hopefully we can catch a flight to Wichita as soon as we get to LAX." She signed off, but stared down at her phone for a long time. Emily was roused from her thoughts by Michelle's soft voice in the backseat.

"Where's my mommy?" the girl asked.

Realizing that she'd completely forgotten about her niece, Emily turned to face the child. She attempted to pull on a reassuring smile as she spoke. "We think she went back to Kansas, probably she just forgot something she wanted there at your old place," the lie sounded even lamer as it emitted from her mouth. And Emily could see that Michelle wasn't buying it. She was a smart kid. "We'll see her soon," Emily promised.

Morgan remained silent as he took the off ramp that led them toward the busy airport. Ten minutes passed before they were finally parked at the rental return station. He grabbed their bags and took care of all the paperwork as Emily held on tightly to Michelle. Another ten minutes later they were at the ticket counter line, waiting behind a mile of other people. It seemed like an eternity before they finally reached an attendant.

"I need three tickets on your next flight to Wichita, Kansas," Emily informed the man.

"We don't fly to that city, ma'am," the blue-eyed man politely informed her. He then handed her a list of other airlines in the terminal that did.

Her jaw tightened. "I have tickets from your airline that I'd like to exchange. We were meant to fly back to DC today, but I have to get to Wichita to find my sister. It's an emergency," Emily informed him as calmly as she could.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't fly there," he maintained. "I can give you a partial refund for you tickets, but you'll need to speak with one of these other airlines about getting to Kansas. And I'm afraid New Years Day is one of the busiest holiday travel days."

She finally blew her top. "I don't care how busy you are, I need to find my sister," Emily growled. "I'm a federal agent. I work for the FBI, so I suggest you figure out how to get me on a damn plane… right now!"

"Emily," Morgan put a hand to her shoulder but she jerked away from him. "I'm sorry," he apologized to the man behind the counter. "Can you please just do the refund like you said, and then we'll leave you alone," Derek promised.

Michelle scooted herself closer to her aunt and took Emily's right hand in hers. "It's okay," she said softly.

Realizing that she'd been a complete bitch to the man, Emily apologized as he performed the transaction. He silently handed over the refund voucher, but didn't say anything more to them as Derek guided Emily and Michelle away. They received some nasty looks from other people in line and Emily pretty much wanted to crawl in a hole. But Morgan remained a pillar of strength as they waited in another long line.

Finally they spoke with a young woman. "I have exactly three seats left on our 1:30pm flight to Wichita; two in first class and one in coach."

"We'll take them," Emily replied, handing over a credit card. When everything was paid for the three of them headed straight toward security since they only had a half hour to get to their gate. "You and Michelle can sit up front," Emily said, trying to hand him the first class tickets.

His head shook. "I'm not leaving you back there by yourself."

"I'll be fine," she said taking a few deep breaths to prove her point.

"I still think you and Michelle should sit together," Derek insisted, hoping the girl would have a better chance of calming Emily at the moment.

Emily managed to smile softly at his offer. "What about your legs? What if you get stuck in a middle seat?"

Derek wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her forehead while Michelle walked a few paces in front of them. "My legs will recover." His phone rang just as they were about to step through the metal detectors and he cringed, feeling bad for not answering since he saw that it was Garcia. He heard Emily's phone start ringing a second later even as it slid through the conveyor toward the other side.

Thankfully they had no troubles and quickly gathered their things. Morgan's phone rang again and he flipped it open while trying to put his shoes back on. "Sorry, Penelope," he apologized. "We just got through security and our flight leaves in about fifteen minutes, so talk fast."

"I found Anna standing in line outside the airport. She had a winter jacket on but no luggage. No sign of Margaret anywhere either," she relayed. "Anna got into a City Express Cab. I contacted them, but they told me they can't give out any information. Little do they know, you two are on your way there," Garcia concluded.

Morgan grinned upon hearing her final comments. He also felt some of his panic subside about the news of Margaret not being seen with Anna. But it was still worrisome to think she'd taken off on her own for some reason. "Thank you, baby girl. You're the best."

"Just keep me informed, please, or call Rossi," the tech implored. "I've already had him call me three times. Apparently he's trying to deal with Emily's parents."

"Understood," Derek hung up and glanced over at Emily. He explained everything Garcia had told him. "You should call your parents and let them know what's going on," he insisted, imagining the poor people were out of their minds with worry.

"Rossi or Garcia will tell them what's going on," she replied dismissively.

He frowned at that response, but kept giving her a wide berth, knowing how upset she was. "It should really come from you," Derek insisted. He was glad when she finally agreed, but her call was quick because their flight was already in the final boarding stages by the time they reached the gate. Morgan walked them to their seats and kissed Emily, just a brief brush of lips to convey his support. "I know you're upset, but it's almost a two and a half hour flight, so try to rest a little."

Emily indulged him with a small nod, even though rest was the farthest thing from her mind.

xxx

The woman behind the cab company counter at the airport had her hair pulled back in a high ponytail and there was a soft drawl to her tone as she spoke. "I'm sorry, sir… ma'am," she looked from Derek to Emily. "I'm not able to give you that kind of information."

"I work for the FBI," Emily practically growled.

"Yes, some woman called and said you'd be demanding information. But I watch all those cop shows, you need some kind of warrant, don't ya?"

Morgan knew he could try to throw his weight around if he really wanted to, but he was working on a theory that he decided to share with Emily. "There's really only one place she'd go in the area, right? To the farm," he guessed.

She shrugged. "But we don't have an address."

"No, but we do have someone who grew up there," his eyes slid to Michelle, sorry that he hadn't thought of the idea before. Derek squatted in front of the girl. "You used to walk to town, right? Do you think you can still remember how to get back to your old house?"

"Not from here," Michelle replied. "I've never been here before."

Emily knew exactly the place to start from. "How about the library you visited," she suggested, recalling all the research Eric had done and how Anna's only real connection to the outside world had been through the library and books. "Do you remember the name of that library?"

The girl smiled. "ACPL," she told them.

Derek spun around and faced the cab service woman. "Do you have any maps to show us where that library is, or at least give us an address?"

"ACPL," the woman looked a little confused for a second. "Shoot, I think the girl means the Arkansas City public library. That's not in Wichita, it's in Arkansas City, which is about an hour south-west of here," she explained. "But no libraries will be open today since it's a holiday."

"Doesn't matter," Morgan replied curtly as he promptly ushered Emily and Michelle toward the nearest car rental service.

They were on the road within a half hour, but it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the winter sun was already starting to set. Michelle didn't seem to have any problem directing them, though, even though it was completely dark after they reached Arkansas City. GPS had found the library for them and from there Michelle sent them north-west on a two-lane road for about eight miles.

Only one dim porch light was on as they approached a two-story white clapboard house. The rental car's lights illuminated part of the grounds and Emily could see a small shed to one side of the house, but there was no barn nearby from what she could tell. After they parked behind a beat up red extended-cab truck, Michelle jumped out and took off for the front door. Derek had to stop her from just walking right in. "You don't live here anymore, remember, sweetness?"

Michelle nodded morosely as she stood silently between her aunt and Derek. Emily knocked on the door, noticing the hour on her watch. It was very likely they were about to interrupt someone's dinner meal. Seconds later the wood and glass partition swung open part way with a loud squeak. "Can I help you, folks?" a man's deep voice asked from the shadowy interior.

"I hope so," Emily replied, flashing the FBI identification she always kept with her. "I'm looking for my sister who used to live here, her name is Anna," she said while fishing a picture out of her wallet. It was the photograph her father had taken of the four of them on Thanksgiving night; all crammed into the one bed watching a movie. That memory seemed very distant at the moment. "She's a little taller than me with hazel eyes, and probably a scarf tied around her head.

"Yep, she was here," he said. "Why don't you come in out of the cold," the man offered, waving them inside.

The living room was small, with an antique rug and very little furniture; nothing more than a short sofa and a wooden coffee table. A stone fireplace dominated one end of the space and a blaze was burning brightly, which warmed the area nicely. A woman entered from a doorway to their left. "Jimmy, who's there," she called out. "Did Tyler forget his keys again?"

Emily noted they were both in their late forties or early fifties. "No, Lila. It's someone says she's the sister of that Anna lady who was here earlier," he answered.

Lila quickly approached them and took Emily's hands. "I do hope you've found her," the woman spoke with concern laced through her tone. "I wished she'd stayed a bit longer; let us feed her or something. She sure seemed upset."

"Was she with someone else?" Morgan asked. "An older woman in her sixties?"

"Nope," Jimmy replied. "Just had that cab driver waiting for her, didn't see anyone else. All she wanted was to walk around the house and then out in the yard. She sure was surprised we'd torn the old barn down. But I told her Lila took one walk around inside that building and found some cellar that chilled her heart near to ice. She had me and my boy, Tyler, tear it down straight away. We've got a new one planned to go up in the spring."

"Would you all like some tea?" Lila asked.

"No, ma'am. Thank you, we don't have the time," Emily responded. "Did my sister happen to mention where she was headed?"

The man and woman both shook their heads. "I'm sorry, no," Jimmy was the first to speak a reply. "She just got back in her cab and took off."

Morgan once again looked to their best resource at hand. "Michelle, do you know anywhere else around here that your mom might go?" he asked.

"Maybe to see daddy," the girl spoke softly. "At the spring cemetery."

"I think she means Geuda Springs," Jimmy piped in. "That's only about two miles west of here. I'll drive in front of you, lead the way in the dark," he insisted.

Derek nodded. "That would be great."

"Why don't you let the girl stay here," Lila offered.

"Thank you, but no," Emily held fast to her niece's hand. She didn't believe Lila would harm Michelle in any way, but she wasn't about to let the girl out of her or Derek's sight for a second.

Before they could leave the house, Michelle tugged gently on the man's arm. "Mr. Jimmy? Did you find any bikes when you moved here?"

"Uh, come to think of it, yeah. There were two bikes in the shed," he informed her. "But we needed to clean that out for some things, so we took them to a charity shop in town about two months back."

Michelle dipped her head. "Oh," she lamented, staying close to her aunt as they exited the house.

It was a short trip to the cemetery. The headlights of their vehicles revealed bits of a low wood fence that could've used a coat of paint. And a metal gate hung open, swinging back and forth in the frigid breeze. Emily went with Jimmy, insisting that Derek stay with Michelle in case Anna was hurt, or worse. The man swung his flashlight around the pitch black yard and finally spotted a heap in the western most corner.

Emily stopped him and asked for the light. "Please, I'd like to do this myself," she told him.

Jimmy handed over the flashlight then produced a small pin light attached to his keychain as he wandered back to the vehicles. She proceeded forward and sunk down in front of her sister's body, which was curled up on the frozen ground. "Anna?" the name was a shaky breath as she gently prodded her shoulder. "Anna, please… wake up," Emily's voice broke. She was about to search for a pulse when she finally spotted her sister stirring.

A groan escaped Anna's lips as she pulled herself up into a seated position. "Emily?" she shielded her eyes from the beam of light. "How did you find me?"

"Finding people is what I do for a living," Emily stated in relief.

Anna took her sister's left hand and placed it against something hard and cold. "We did not have money for a grave marker, so Michelle and I laid out rocks. This is not the way I ever wanted you to meet Eric," she swallowed a sob. "I still miss him so much. I needed to feel close to him," Anna took a deep breath. "You are much too persistent, little sister. I wish you had not come."

"So, you did do this on your own? Flying out here?" Emily asked. "Margaret Wilson had nothing to do with it? You ran away?" Anger began to well up as her worry dwindled. "Do you have any idea how upset our parents are right now? Do you have any idea what it was like for me listening to mother as she told me you were missing? How could you do that to us?" she demanded, disappointment evident in her tone.

"I did it for Michelle," Anna replied with conviction, just as bold in her words as her younger sister. "She had to watch her father die last year. There was nothing I could do about that, but there is something I can now. I don't wish for her to watch me die too."

A fearful lump formed in Emily's throat as she listened to her sister, but defiance still flared brighter than sorrow. "You're not going to die," she replied, still stubborn enough for both of them if she had to be. "Didn't we already hash this out? I told you I'd help you fight this and I still plan to follow through with that."

"But you cannot fight this, Emily," her sister sighed. "The day you all left for California, I sat in Dr. Lynnwood's office and listened as he told me that the last round of chemo was virtually ineffectual," Anna relayed. "I have been sick so long the cancer is resistive to treatment. He believes I have no more than three months."

Emily clenched her teeth. "He's wrong."

"He is a very good doctor," Anna replied. "You said so yourself when we found him."

"Well, then I was wrong," Emily was quick to lay the blame on her shoulders. "I've made a ton of mistakes in my life and this is just one more to add to the stack. But we'll find another doctor, a better one. There are other options, I've read about them. There are transplants. You can have my stem cells, or bone marrow. I read that AML can be cured by that sort of transplant. You can have one of my kidneys if you want it, or a lung, part of my liver… anything you want, Anna; it's yours."

"Emily," Anna sighed. Her left hand was boney and cold as it pressed against her sister's cheek. "You cannot fix everything," she lamented, hating to have to be the one to disappoint her sister. "I do not wish you to do those things for me. It's too much. But there is one thing you can give me, the most important thing. I need your word; I need you to promise me you will watch after Michelle when I'm gone."

"No," Emily stated loudly and forcefully. "I won't. She needs you. She needs her mother."

Anna sighed again, in frustration. "Please, Emily."

An uneasy chill worked its way down Emily's back as she stared dumbfounded at Anna. "Why on Earth would you want me to take care of Michelle? I can't even follow a recipe to make pancakes."

The night air caught Anna's soft laughter, stopping it from being a merry tone. "So you did not succeed on your first try," she acknowledged. "Do you think I did everything right by Michelle the first time? I had no idea how to be a good mother to her. I did not have the best mothering example growing up. But the point is that you tried, Emily. You tried making those pancakes because you love us, because you wanted to do something that would make us happy. And that is exactly the kind of person I want to raise my daughter."

"I'm not having this conversation with you," Emily maintained her obstinate stance.

"I do not want to be having it either," Anna agreed. "But I need to know you'll be there for her if anything does happen to me. That is why I left my home here, why I left Eric behind, to find someone for Michelle when I'm gone. Please, promise me."

"You also left here so that she could go to school, to graduate from college some day," Emily reminded her. "Well, Monday is the day that all starts. It will be her first day of school. Do you want to miss that?" she challenged. "I know I don't. I want us to run around at the last minute on Monday morning searching for socks and her backpack, and making her a peanut butter sandwich. And I want to be right there when she walks through that classroom door."

"She wants to walk to the classroom herself," Anna replied.

"I know," Emily nodded. "But I plan to sneak in somewhere and watch her anyway. And you'll be there with me, won't you?"

Anna smiled. "You see, you are already a good mother," she pointed out. "If you promise me to look after her when I'm gone then I will go home with you right now and do all of those silly things with you on Monday," Anna proposed a deal.

"I think that's called blackmail," Emily pretended to be upset.

"No, more like coercion," Anna countered.

Emily finally laughed, realizing she'd been bested. "You're a mean big sister. Such a bully," she teased.

"I have many years of picking on you to make up for," the elder smiled to hear her little sister playing along, but her tone grew serious again. "Please, Emily. Promise me you will do this for me; for Michelle."

The smile slipped from Emily's face as she took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay," she finally agreed. "I promise." With both her hands at Anna's waist, Emily helped her sister to a standing potion. Anna took the first step toward the gate, but Emily actually stopped her. "Wait."

"You said you wanted to go now," Anna reminded her.

"I know, but…" Emily shinned the light down upon the rocks marking Eric's grave. "I just feel like I should say something," she breathed out, thinking about the man she knew only from the words he'd written in his journal. "Thank you," Emily whispered. "Thank you for looking after my sister, and for loving her. Thank you for being her family when I couldn't," she concluded.

Anna leaned more heavily against her sister and kissed Emily's cheek. "He would have liked you," she whispered.

They slowly made their way back to the others, Anna supported by her sister the whole way. Michelle leapt from the rental car when she spotted them. "Mommy!" she called out as her arms clasped around her mother's waist. "I had lots of fun in California, and Ellie is my best friend. But I missed you," the girl kissed her mother's hand as Derek and Emily helped her into the back seat. "And I can't wait to get home so I can go to school on Monday," she said as they both buckled up.

"I'm looking forward to that as well, baby," Anna assured her daughter as she shared a smile with her sister.

xxx

Emily balanced two paper cups of coffee, one in each hand, as she made her way back to the others. The Wichita airport was pretty quiet at eight o'clock at night and when she returned she found Anna was asleep in one chair, her head resting against a balled up sweater. Michelle was out, too, her head resting on Anna's lap and feet on Morgan's knees. The quiet was disturbed by the ringing of her cell phone as she was about to retake her seat. She tapped Derek on the shoulder and handed him one of the coffee cups then slipped into the seat beside him and answered the call.

"Hello."

"Hi, Emily," the caller greeted. "It's Dave… uh, Rossi," the profiler clarified.

"I know who you are," Emily exchanged an amused glance with Morgan. Derek appeared curious about the call but she dismissed him to pay attention to her other co-worker. "Isn't it pretty late back there? Garcia was supposed to call you and let you know we found Anna. We're heading back to DC, but our flight doesn't leave for another hour so we won't be in until late."

"Garcia did call," he replied. "I'm thankful that Anna is all right. I was worried, well… I mean, we were all worried. I stayed with your parents for a while until we got Penelope's good news."

Emily was pretty sure she'd never heard him sound quite so relieved before, or flustered. He was always suave and level-headed, but his anxious behavior caused her mind to jump to a surprising conclusion. She kept that wandering thought to herself, though. "Was there some other reason you called?"

"Unfortunately, yes," the man answered. "I'm at your place right now, well… outside your door," he explained. "I decided to stop by and talk to the lobby attendant on the off chance that Margaret might have been around with all of you gone. He said everyone in the building had been given a copy of Margaret's photo, but no one fitting her description had been seen. I decided to head up here just to be double sure everything was secure. And I found something taped to your door."

She instantly felt chilled again, much the same way she had while talking to Anna in the cemetery earlier. "Is it from Margaret?"

"I took the liberty of opening it and, yes, it is," he confirmed.

"What's inside, Rossi?"

His sigh was audible over the line. "There's a picture of Michelle and you at Sea World. It looks like maybe you're standing outside a restroom," he relayed.

"And what does it say?" Emily knew the woman had so far always left a message with the pictures.

"There's an X over your face, but no words," Rossi informed her. "Beside Michelle it says: The future generation will pay for the mistakes of the past."

The steam from her coffee rose in a steady flow and Emily imagined the waves of furry radiating off her would have looked very much the same if made manifest. "Is that all?" she asked after a short beat.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm so sorry to tell you all this now, but I figured you'd want to be cautious on your travels back considering she must have been in California watching you, which means she could be anywhere right now."

"Right," she sighed in frustration. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Rossi responded. "But, perhaps you could tell Anna that I'm glad she's all right."

Emily's emotions were all over the place, but for some reason that small bit of sincerity caused a smile to form. "I will," she said before they both ended the call.

Morgan was staring intently at her as she let the phone fall to her lap and sipped the hot coffee. His eyes finally got her to talk and she spilled everything Rossi had just told her. "I don't understand what she's after, Derek. It all seems so random and…"

"Maybe she's just a confused old woman trying to hold on to the past," he suggested.

"A confused old woman who flew all the way out to San Diego in order to take a picture of me and Michelle," Emily sighed dismissively at the idea. "All I know is that if she tries to touch one hair on Michelle's head, I will kill…"

"Hey," he quickly shushed her while motioning his head toward her sleeping sister and niece. "Let's not do this now," he whispered as one of his hands went to her shoulder and then moved to rest at the base of her neck. He gently stroked the fine hairs there as he spoke again. "We have been through too much today to try and figure this woman out right now. But we will. I promise you we will."

"When, Derek?" Emily asked, reclining further into the warm strength of his hand. "Before or after she rips my family apart again?"

To Be Continued…