She strangely found herself blinking at the light in her office, even though it wasn't any brighter out there than it had been in the panic room. Andrea was right outside the door, a pensive look on her face before she met Miranda's eye. From her expression, she knew that the younger woman wanted to throw caution to the wind and embrace her, but was holding back so that she wouldn't embarrass Miranda. A part of her heart cracked at that thought, and she closed the distance between them with a few steps before reaching out and taking hold of her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"You're okay."

"I told you that we would be. The panic room is bulletproof. In fact, once we were inside, we couldn't even hear anything that was going on. What happened?" she asked as they all took a seat around her glass table. In moments, there were fresh cups of coffee passed around to them by her second assistant, and she gave the younger woman a soft smile, feeling magnanimous in that moment.

"Shortly after you called me, I called the people you told me to, and then rushed over here. Like you had thought would happen, police had cordoned off the building and were evacuating it floor by floor until they reached Runway. John Curtis was found pacing the halls, looking for Erin, and when he pulled his weapon on them, they used appropriate force and dispatched him."

"He's dead, then?" Erin asked, and Andrea nodded. The relief was palpable on Erin's face, and she slumped in her seat a little as she wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee. "It's over, it's finally over."

"Sort of. The police are going to want to talk to you all, because of how things happened. But the BAU is on their way, and someone named David Rossi is going to explain as much as he can."

Erin gave Andrea a small smile as she licked her lips. "And did Penelope tell you if she got ahold of Alex?"

"She said that she would try, but made no promises. They should arrive in the next twenty minutes, though. You were in there for a long time."

"It didn't feel that long," Miranda said quietly as she slipped one hand off the table to rest on her thigh. Andrea took the hint and softly clasped it as they continued to talk. A sudden flurry of motion outside her office caught Miranda's attention, and they all looked towards the doorway to see a group of professional looking people enter, Penelope at the forefront.

"Gumdrop! You're alive!"

Erin nodded as she shakily rose to her feet, allowing Penelope to hug her tightly as she struggled not to cry. "It was hard, not being able to say anything. At least John is finally dead?"

"There is that, Erin."

The low, husky, voice caused Miranda to shiver a little, and in that moment, she knew that Alex had managed to get away from wherever she had been to join the rest of the current BAU team in New York. Erin pulled away from Penelope and took a few steps towards Alex before reaching out and pressing her hand against Alex's chest as she stared into her eyes, not saying anything. It seemed like that moment would stretch out into infinity, but then Erin was leaning in and kissing Alex deeply. Miranda had never expected that, and she found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from the tableau being played out in front of them. It only took a few seconds before Alex was returning the kiss, and that seemed to be what popped the bubble around Erin.

Pulling away from the embrace, she took a deep breath, looked back at Miranda desperately, and then pushed her way through the gathered crowd before anyone could say anything or stop her. Penelope's mouth was open comically as she stared at Alex, and Miranda chuckled a little as she stepped closer to Andrea. "Now that is how you leave people talking," she whispered in her lover's ear, feeling her nod a little against her cheek. "It's just too bad that we can't really report about what just happened, because I highly doubt Erin or Alex would consent to have their private details splashed about the front pages of any newspaper."

"There is that," Andrea replied as she craned her head to look out into the outer office, probably trying to see where Erin went to. "Do you know where she might have fled to?"

Miranda was about to answer when Penelope dragged Alex over to their sides. The older woman appeared to be about Miranda's age, and she gave her a small nod before focusing on Penelope. "Why did you let her just run out like that?" she demanded, and Miranda shrugged. "That isn't an answer!"

"Erin Smith is a grown woman who can make her own decisions. If I could have stopped her, it wouldn't have been fair. Maybe she was embarrassed that so many people saw her kiss another woman?"

"Or maybe she was embarrassed to realise that everyone on her former team now knows she didn't really die the last time we were all in New York together."

Miranda turned her focus to a man with almost completely white hair and goatee angrily looking at her. She knew his type, always thinking that they had to know everything, and from the look of his clothes, he had more money than he knew what to do with, as they were well tailored, but gauche. "New money is so outré," she said, giving him a withering look before turning her attention back to Penelope. "I take it that is David Rossi?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Erin told us about her history and why she was in Witness Protection while we were stuck in the panic room. We learned a lot about her former life in the hours we were inside." Miranda gave Rossi another derisive look as she glanced around at the rest of the team assembled. "Though I don't see anyone that resembles Aaron Hotchner or Derek Morgan."

"They're no longer with the team, the makeup has changed since Erin was our Section Chief. Though if she's been in WitSec all this time, she probably didn't know about the changes. I just wish that there was a way to contact her, to let her know that everything is going to be all right now, and that she can come home."

"Maybe she is home," Emily piped up, and Miranda smirked a little to see Penelope look at her assistant in astonishment. "She's been here for a long time, it seems, and put down roots. Why would she want to leave this place for somewhere that's no longer hers?"

"Because we're all there. Why wouldn't she want to return to us?"

Miranda knew that they weren't likely to get through to Penelope, so she just shrugged. "I have no idea, Penelope. Now, do I need to give any statements to the police or your team? Considering the fact that we never saw this John Curtis before barricading ourselves in the panic room, I don't think that there's anything I can add to the details of what happened here."

Her head of security stepped forward, giving her a short smile. "No, I've already spoken with the NYPD, and you're free to go home and take the rest of the day to recover. They do want us to clear out of the building, though, since there is some cleanup work to be done. I've taken the liberty of calling your driver, Ms. Priestly, and he's waiting for you out front."

"Thank you, Tony. Andrea, Emily, you're free to ride with me, as I have the feeling that we have a lot to discuss about what happened today."

"Wait! If you're going to talk about Erin, we deserve to be there, too!" Penelope stepped into their personal space, a firm grip around Alex's wrist, who looked like she wanted to just melt into the ground. "Does your car have room for two more people?"

Miranda exchanged a quick look with Andrea, trying not to chuckle when she rolled her eyes. "We can make it work. Somehow. Seeing as how you probably won't take no for an answer." Penelope nodded as she grinned at Miranda, and she just sighed, wondering if this was such a good idea after all.