Erin hastily dried her hands before leaving the bathroom, knowing that she was going to be burning the midnight oil that evening, as they finally had Ian Doyle in custody, and she didn't want to head home before knowing if it would be safe for Emily to return back to the land of the living once more. The team just needed to figure out where his son was being held, and then they could send that weasel faced bastard to the highest security prison that they could find. As she stepped out into the hallway, she felt a short gasp escape her lips as she watched a very familiar figure step out of the elevator. "Emily? What are you doing here? It's not safe."
The woman looked at her, blinking in surprise as she approached Erin, a frown marring her lovely features. "You don't seem surprised to see me. Does everyone know about me?"
Erin shook her head as she reached out to rest her hand on Emily's upper arm. "No, I just happen to know Aaron a little better than he thought I did, and was able to read his microexpressions at the hospital the day that you died." She pursed her lips together a little in an effort to keep from crying. "It is very good to see your face once more, and I hope that it's for longer than to just put Doyle behind bars for the rest of his life."
Before she could embarrass herself further, Erin turned and hurried into her office, frowning a little to see that Helen was still there. "Before you even say it, Erin, if you're here tonight, I'm here. I know that Alpha is close to breaking this case, which is why you want to stick it out for as long as possible. Jessica called in food for you, and it just arrived. I set it out at your table."
"What would I do without you, Helen?" she asked, beckoning her assistant to follow her into her inner office, smiling to see that Jessica had sent over sandwiches from her favorite shop. "And she ordered for you, too. She really is like a sister."
"I would hope so. The two of you are as close as the real thing." Helen took a seat across from her, digging into her food while Erin took time to get everything situated to her liking before she started to eat. "Do you think that this will help them avenge Agent Prentiss's death?"
Erin couldn't stop the smile that came to her lips as she shook her head. "No, I think that this will help the team bond with her once more, now that they can finally know the whole truth."
"Erin?"
"There has been a rather large lie that three of us have been keeping since that horrible night when Emily was attacked. Doyle would have kept going after her if he had known that she survived, so Aaron and Agent Jareau decided to secret Emily away into WitSec. I think that they didn't plan on my being there, or the fact that I could watch them with a little more of an impartial eye than the rest of the team who were grieving for their friend. I talked to Aaron about it, but he impressed upon me the need to keep it quiet, which I agree with. But it's hard to be silent for seventeen weeks. Emily's home now, and the team is about to get the shock of their lifetime."
"I should think so, because I have just received the shock of a lifetime! Aaron and JJ really pulled off that soap opera trope of someone coming back from the dead?"
Erin laughed as she nodded, feeling so much better for telling Helen the truth of what was going on. "I know, it's a bit outrageous, but there was really no other way to make certain that she was kept safe. I wish that I had been read into the situation, but I understand why they kept that circle tight and small. The more people who know a secret, the greater the likelihood of that secret becoming public knowledge. Just like I knew that Emily was in danger before she went on the run in her attempt to take Doyle down herself."
"And you didn't say anything?"
"Don't act so shocked, Helen. She was quite clear that the knowledge of what was going on was dangerous, and the way that Doyle reacted proved that in spades. If I had been able to let the team know without any of us being in danger, I would have. But now we have the chance to heal and move on from this ordeal. So long as they can find Doyle's son, since he's an innocent in all of this."
Helen looked like she wanted to say something in rebuttal when her phone rang. Frowning, Helen answered it, never taking her eyes off Erin. "Hello? Yes, Agent Hotchner, I'll let her know. She'll be right there, I promise." After hanging up, she pursed her lips a little before addressing Erin once more. "Agent Hotchner needs you in the briefing room, Erin. I guess that the others are having a similar reaction to me, and he would like you to do some crowd control."
"All right. Helen, I know that you don't understand what we did, but it was a necessary evil. Think about all those shows where that happened to keep their loved ones safe. Yes, it was a shock when they returned, but it was ultimately a good thing."
Helen nodded, looking a little mollified. "I'll try to keep that in mind," she replied before shooing Erin from the office. As she stepped out into the hallway, Erin shook out her shoulders a little and affixed a cool look on her lips, knowing that she had to control her reactions to the news of Emily's resurrection. There were few people who would believe that she was glad about this turn of events, since it had to appear that she had been kept out of the loop. Agent Anderson gave her a shocked look as she approached the stairs, and her mask faltered for a moment as she gave him a little smirk that he returned before relaxing a little in his chair.
The moment she stepped into the briefing room, she could understand why Aaron had called her. The team was all in various states of shock at seeing Emily alive, and she knew that she had to control the situation before it devolved into chaos. "Well, I see that rumors of your death were somewhat exaggerated, Agent Prentiss. It is good to see you back in this room, where you belong."
From the shocked look on Emily's face, Erin knew that she had surprised her with her reaction, and she gave David a small wink before making her way over to his side, slipping her arm around his waist as she waited for the other woman to address her. "It, it is good to be back. Now, what do you all need me to do?"
Aaron looked around the room at them, and Erin had to suppress her automatic reaction to giggle at the sight of his facial hair. In person it looked so much scruffier than it had over their video calls, and a part of her wanted to go over and touch it, just to see if it was soft. Which was thoroughly inappropriate, and she just hoped that he would allow her to indulge desire when he came over to see Elise.
