Emily Prentiss could say that at 41 years old her life had mostly evolved around her career. Since she was a little girl she remember her own mother being a career woman and being proud of getting up in the morning and being able to provide for her family.

Her father was a college professor, and early on decided to change his career path due to her mother's job. He would either get temporary jobs lecturing wherever they were at the time or devote his time to study civilizations and ancient texts. That way he would stay close to Elizabeth and Emily at all times.

Emily's love for language had come from her father and later become a hobby to get her more excited over the fact that she grew up all over the world. She would spend hours on end locked in her room with books dictionaries, tapes and sometimes private tutors if the new language was harder to learn.

Although Emily didn't appreciate it as a kid or a teenager all those moves and having to pack up her life without much notice, she had always seen that her mother had always been proud of her accomplishments and always striving for more.

That had never diminished the dream of being a mother in Emily. She had such a good relationship with her father and he was such a big support when her mother couldn't be there, that she never felt a kid deserved to be raised with her alone, she wanted her child to have a father as dedicated as hers. Besides that the pregnancy scare in her teenage years had firmly set her mind on the fact that if she couldn't get a good man as the father of her child, maybe that was a sign of its own on the subject.

So even though she had never consciously decided to be a career woman instead of a mother, that is what life had ended up to be. She was raised by a career woman, one that had done both, but she had only done the career part until now, which had never been a decision. Time had just gotten away from her.

And in this exact moment it felt a bit like a slap in the face. Just this morning she had been advised by the director that Aaron Hotchner had decided to come back to the FBI and that the Bureau had offered him the position of Unit Chief of the BAU.

She was being thanked for her services but it was time to go back from where she came from.

The team had mostly been off for 6 weeks. Some cases like Matt and Penelope they had been doing half days, and in Reid's case focusing on recertification.

Apparently the FBI didn't want to wait for her and the team to be back to start the conversations of what to do now that the 'situation' had been resolved.

The ordered vacation had been given to help them get centered again, after the Reid's release, the accident and Scratch they all needed time to rest, heal and recuperate.

For Emily it hadn't been different and after all the guilt and pressure she had felt over Reid's arrest, Scratch's case, then the accident and hallucinations. The hospital had admitted her for a week to make sure all drugs were out of her system and that her heart was back at a normal pace.

She had truly taken the time to build back some of the foundation on her mind that had been knocked out over the last few months, the amount of fear, guilt, stress and worry had taken a toll on her. She hadn't felt that empty in a long time. She had taken the time to focus on her mind and reset her compartmentalization skills …her shields.

"Hey Wonder Woman you!" Penelope entered her office with a big smile, her bag over her shoulder and Rossi right behind her.

"Hey you. How had the first day back with everyone been?" She relaxed her facial expressions and tried to keep a natural face as much as possible, she new Rossi would be analyzing her.

"Oh it was great, all my computers are up to date, thanks to all the half days that I came and worked on them, so it's all ready and tuned for my furry friends crime fighting."

"Well, I'm sure we will appreciating all those hours you spent on it soon. From the amount of files Matt brought in this morning of cases he has consulted on we will be traveling somewhere sooner rather then later, the B team is swamped." Emily knew Rossi had seen the director going in her office first thing this morning when he got in, and she didn't want to get into it now. Or give signs something something was wrong.

"Everything okay?" Rossi asked enigmatically.

"Yep, everything is good." She knew she could talk to Rossi and Garcia, but she needed time process and then tell the team.

"You almost over ? Everyone has already gone because they wanted to stop by their places before but Rossi and me wanted to check in with you and see if you wanted to come with either of us." Penelope offered with a smile.

"I'm sorry what ?" Had they previously agreed on family dinner and she forgot ?

"Hotch's dinner, it's today! Have you forgotten?" I'm sorry what? He was already back? And he had invited everyone over ? Emily's brain was having a hard time keeping up with all the news.

"I.. yes, sorry. A lot on my mind." Emily gave an awkward laugh. "I have to finish up a couple of things, so you can go ahead." What was she supposed to say? No, it seems like our old boss who I considered a friend reached out to everyone except me. She was actually not invited.

"Okay, but promise you won't take too long?" Penelope's happy energy could be felt from miles as she started pushing Rossi to the door.

"I promise." She would invent an excuse tomorrow and no one would remember it by the time she mentioned the news to the team.

Rossi took one last look at her. "We will talk tomorrow?" Damn Rossi and his ability to read her.

"It's a date." She replied as Rossi left her office leaving the office door open.

What the actual fuck was happening? Why hadn't he reached out? Had he forgotten to send her a message? Had she done something wrong?

Emily couldn't understand, it seems from the way Penelope talked that they had been in contact probably since Scratch's take down. So why would he exclude her from any communication? She couldn't understand.

They hadn't talked since the last case she had asked for the BAU help, but things had gone fine and they had even exchanged messages. He had personally asked her to come back to the team when he had to leave. Her eyes filled with water.

Did he want to talk to the team about coming back and decided it would be weird to do that in front of her? She would never be upset that he wanted to come back, but she thought when he was ready they would have a conversation and things would be decided.

With everyone together, Hotch, the team, the Bureau. She never thought that after the case was resolved the decisions would be made and she would be left out of the conversation of what happens next.

It seems like not all of the storm was over for her.

She now needed to find a way to tell the team the big news and then look for what other options were available for her.

What a great start of the week back in the BAU.

Author's note: I'm adjusting Emily's age to fit the story, and the changes I'm making are effective season 13 episode 02. No beta.