Chapter 2

As soon as the Hotchners plus two stepped off the plane in London's Heathrow Airport and made it into the airport, several men and women suddenly surrounded them. They all froze. Rossi shot Hotch a look and Hotch shot Kahlan a look. What the hell?

"You will have to come with us, Ma'am," the man directly in front of Kahlan told her.

"What's this about?" Kahlan asked as her hand slowly made its way to the opening in her jacket.

Hotch quickly grabbed her hand and held it in his as he fixed the man with his stare. "Is there a problem?"

"Sir, this doesn't concern you," he told Hotch and then turned to Kahlan. "Now, please."

Kahlan wanted to tell them she wasn't going anywhere with them until they told her what it was about, but she didn't want to cause a scene in front of her children or her mother, so she took a deep breath and clamed herself down.

Hotch looked at Kahlan questioningly; she shrugged slightly. He turned to the man. "If you need to see my wife, then I will be going with you," Hotch told him in a tone that told him he wasn't going to back down.

The man shared a look with the woman beside him and then nodded. "Very well."

Hotch looked back to Rossi and then glanced at the kids. Rossi nodded his understanding. "How about we go get a drink and a snack, huh?" Rossi asked the kids with a big smile. They all looked at him with knowing looks, shot looks to their parents, and then Wyatt grabbed Joey's hand and led the way away from the group of strangers toward the café court. Kahlan chuckled and watched them walk away. Rossi and Cindi quickly followed the kids.

"Follow us, please," the man told the couple and turned to go farther into the airport.

Kahlan shared a look with Hotch and they both noticed the group of guards fall in behind them. Hotch leaned over and whispered into Kahlan's ear. "Jesus Christ, Babe, are you armed?" He wasn't sure if she truly had a weapon or if her hand went into her coat unconsciously.

Kahlan winced. "Yes."

"How the hell did you get that through security?"

She looked at him sheepishly. "It's not made of metal."

He shook his head. Another horrible thought hit him. "You're not wanted are you?"

She shot him a look and he wasn't sure if it was one of fear that she was or shock that he thought she was. She shook her head slightly. "I don't think so," she told him weakly. "My God. I haven't been here since 2001." They can't still be mad about that!

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. And exactly what did you do when you were here? He shook his head and followed the man in silence the rest of the way. He didn't even want to consider what kind of charges could be brought against her for having smuggled a weapon into the country.

The security team took the couple to an interrogation room and left them alone. Hotch and Kahlan both knew the mirror taking up most of one wall was a two-way one. They also figured there was probably some sort of camera and listening device in there, so they didn't say anything. Kahlan huffed and sat down at the long table. Hotch chose to lean up against the wall behind her and folded his arms across his chest.

After several long minutes, the door opened, and a smiling man walked in.

"Clyde!" Kahlan yelled as she stood up.

"Easter!" Hotch yelled at the same time.

Clyde stopped in his tracks. They could both tell he was surprised to see Hotch in the room.

Kahlan and Hotch both shared a look of surprise. Hotch opened his mouth to say something, but Kahlan beat him to it. "Alright, it's obvious how I know him, but how do you know him?" she asked her husband. Clyde laughed at the couple, and Kahlan fixed him with a deadly look. "And you shut up! I will get to you in a second!"

Hotch noticed Clyde swallowed hard and he almost chuckled. "I know Easter because he is the one who took Emily away from us," Hotch explained.

"Did you tell her we were coming?"

"No. I wanted it to be a surprise," Hotch told her.

Kahlan considered it a moment and then looked at Clyde. "What the hell is this about, Clyde?"

"Why are you with Agent Hotchner?" he asked instead of answering her.

Hotch took a step towards him. "Because she's my wife. What is this about?"

Clyde slowly looked back and forth between them. "You're serious? She's your wife?" he asked and they could hear the disbelief in his voice.

Kahlan took a deep breath. "Clyde, if you don't explain this to me by the time I count to three, I'm going to kill you," she told him flatly. Hotch shot her a look; he wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

Clyde chuckled. "Even you couldn't get away with that here," he insisted.

"One."

"You wouldn't dare!" Clyde yelled as he took a step back.

"Two," she said calmly as her hand went behind her.

Clyde shot a look to Hotch, and Hotch could see the fear in his eyes. Hotch tensed. Christ, she has two weapons?

"Thr. . ."

"Alright!" Clyde yelled as he held up his hands in submission. "Facial recognition software caught you coming off the plane and alerted us. We wanted to see what you were up to," he told her quickly.

She shook her head. She knew it had to be something in the actual plane or from when she got off it because she knew her face wasn't in any database back home. "You could have just come up and asked. You didn't have to scare my whole family with your goons!" she told him as she sat back down.

Hotch and Clyde both finally relaxed. "Your family?" Clyde asked as he took a seat across from her.

She held up her left hand. "Married, kids, mother, you know, family!"

Clyde looked back and forth between Hotch and Kahlan some more apparently still not convinced that they were indeed married.

Kahlan shook her head some more. "Jesus Christ! We're here on a family vacation!"

The door opened and a young woman walked in with a handful of pictures. She gave them to Clyde and left without a word. Kahlan snatched them out of his hand before he had a chance to look at them. She looked through them and slammed one down on the table in front of him. "See! Aaron, Wyatt, Jack, Joey, Mom, and Dave!" she yelled as she pointed each of them out in the picture. Hotch was also holding hers and Joey's hands in the picture.

Clyde sat up a little straighter as he looked at the picture. "Isn't that Agent Rossi?" he asked Hotch.

Hotch sighed deeply. "So what if it is?"

Clyde looked at Kahlan again. "So you're not here on a job?"

She ran a hand down her face. "No, Clyde, I've been out since '02."

He studied her face and finally smiled apparently believing her. "You can understand our concern."

She huffed. "If you would have read the passenger manifest and did a little research before you jumped to conclusions, you would have seen I was traveling with kids. No matter what you thought of the adults with me," she continued as she shot Hotch a look. "You should have realized I wasn't on the job."

He smirked. "It wasn't until after you landed that we were alerted to your presence. We didn't have time for that kind of research."

She gave him an evil smile. "And what do you think would have happened if I was on the job and your goons surrounded me?"

He swallowed hard but then smiled. "You wouldn't kill innocent people."

She stood up. "We're leaving," she told him flatly and started for the door.

"We'll be keeping an eye on you," Clyde told her with a smile as he also stood up.

Hotch shot him a look and then followed Kahlan out the door.

As soon as they were out into the main airport, Hotch pulled Kahlan to a stop. She shook her head quickly. "Not here," is all she said and went in search of her family.

Hotch shook his head and then quickly caught up with her. They found the kids enjoying ice cream and they quickly collected them and their luggage and then grabbed a taxi.

Within minutes they were at a hotel in downtown London. They weren't due to check in at the castle for a couple days so they all decided to stay in London and see some of the sights there first. Hotch and Kahlan's room connected to the kids' but Hotch shut the door after telling Wyatt he needed to talk to their mother. Wyatt nodded his understanding and turned on the TV.

Kahlan took off her coat and Hotch saw the gun hanging in a shoulder holster. As soon as she took it off and laid it in the drawer in the nightstand, he went and took it out to inspect it. "What the hell is this, Babe?"

Kahlan smiled. "I never travel out of the country without at least one weapon," she told him plainly.

"You know that's not what I meant," he told her as he turned the pistol over in his hand.

She smiled deviously. "It's made out of a mixture of plastic and rubber," she told him as she took it from him and took it apart. "The clip only holds five shots, though, because that's all the heat it can stand before it deteriorates enough to make it not safe to shoot." She smiled as she handed him the pieces to inspect. "Great for going through metal detectors, but it sucks in a really bad situation." He shook his head and put it back together and put it in the drawer and closed it. "And who are you to judge me? I saw you put your back-up pistol in your bag."

He huffed. "Yeah, in the checked luggage. I didn't have it on the damn plane." She shrugged. "You have another weapon, too." She tried to look innocent, and he laughed. "It's in the back of your waist. I would think it's a knife, but I couldn't tell you what it's made out of."

She smiled as she drew it. She flipped it in her hand and handed it to him. "I never leave home without one," she told him with an evil smile.

"Porcelain?" he asked as he inspected the throwing knife.

"Yep. And be careful, it's sharp." He handed it back to her. "It's funny, they've just now gained recognition for kitchen knives but they been around a lot longer," she told him as she put it back in its sheath.

He sat down on the bed and fixed her with a look. "So what was that back there at the airport?" he asked as he pulled her into his lap.

"I am sorry about that. I had no idea they had my face in their computers."

"Have you done anything here that I need to be aware of?"

"No," she told him as her face scrunched up. "I can't believe you thought I was wanted."

He laughed. "And yet your face showed fear that you were."

She huffed and got up. "I might have pissed off a few people the last time I was here, but I didn't do anything to make me actually wanted, not here."

So you're possibly wanted somewhere else? My God, Babe. He shook his head. "Easter was apparently one of those pissed off people?"

She winced and cut her eyes to the side. "Not exactly."

He stood up and sighed heavily. "I'm waiting," he told her as he put his arms around her neck.

She smirked and he could tell she was trying to decide if she wanted to share the story or not. She pulled away from him. "The squad tracked a target here, and Interpol, Clyde and his team in particular, insisted that the man wasn't here; that there was no way he could have gotten into the country without them knowing. I chose to ignore him and the rest of Interpol, and we tracked him down without their help or blessing. When we found him, we also exposed several officials and Interpol agents that were working with him. It was all rather embarrassing for them."

He smiled. "He apparently knows you well enough to be scared of you."

"I have work here many times. We are allies, you know."

He studied her face. "I guess this means we will have a problem no matter where we travel?"

She smiled deviously. "Not after we get back home and I have Cameron work his magic."

His face showed his shock. "He can do that?"

She laughed. "How do you think known criminals travel between countries? They have a computer expert that can hack the systems and either erase pictures or do whatever that stops facial recognition from being able to pick them up. I was just foolish enough to not realize they would have me in their databases." She shook her head at her own lack of foresight. "But Cam will fix that," she assured him. He laughed. "Computers have come a long way since I got out," she tried to defend herself.

He laughed some more. "So you really think he will be watching us or you specifically?"

She cringed. "Probably. Sorry, Hun."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We're here to have fun and relax," he told her as he pulled her into a hug.

"That's right," she told him with a smile and pulled away from him. "Let's get the kids. Big Ben is beautiful at night," she told him as she grabbed her coat.

He laughed and then went to the kids' room to get them.

By the time they had explored some of the city and had eaten dinner, Joey was asleep in Hotch's arms as they made their way back to the hotel. They turned in and Hotch told them all to sleep in so they could enjoy their vacation.