"Mom! You're okay!"

Miranda felt herself relax as she drank in the sight of her children. Opening her arms a little, she welcomed their embraces and tried not to let them knock her off her feet in their exuberance. "It was just a little shooter loose in our building, which is why I have the panic room, bobbsies. We were all safe as a result."

"We watched things unfold on the news, once our teachers knew what was happening. There were so many police surrounding your building! But who are these people?" Cassidy asked as they all made their way into the sitting room. Miranda sank onto the sofa, her daughters taking the spots on either side of her, which left the rest of her guests to find other seating arrangement. "Sorry, Andy, you can have your usual spot when we're done making certain that Mom is okay."

Emily's eyes bugged out a little as she looked between her and Andrea, the pieces falling into place with a rapidity that didn't truly surprise Miranda, since she had always known that her assistant was quite intelligent. Still, she didn't comment on the hasty words from her daughter, which pleased Miranda no end. "All right, so, Andrea is getting the scoop for her newspaper, we're running a new spread for Runway once the Alexandra line is completed, but does anyone know how to contact Erin so that we can talk to her and make certain she's all right?"

Miranda watched Alex's head turn slowly towards Emily, a placid mask on her face as she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I am at a loss here. Would someone care to explain why a fashion magazine would be interested in a former FBI Section Chief?"

"The woman you knew has become a fashion designer in her time away from the world that she was once a part of. Miranda became intrigued by her first collection that showed here in New York, called Penelope, and as we know now, was based on your Penelope's sense of style, just elevated to high fashion sensibilities. Her next collection was shown during Fashion Week here, and Miranda featured that in the latest edition of our magazine, which is what we believe clued that Curtis person onto where Erin was, and then he used the fact that she was angry enough to blow her cover and show up in our offices today in order to read Miranda the riot act for blowing her cover to dispatch her. He wasn't planning on Miranda always being a step ahead of everyone, even years ahead, as in this case."

"Wait, so you were the reason John almost killed her again?"

Erin was not expecting that level of anger to radiate off the woman, and she blanched a little before looking between Caroline and Cassidy. "All right, bobbsies, we need to talk alone for a little while. I promise, we'll watch a movie together tonight, and you'll have my complete attention."

"As long as we have Andy's complete attention as well."

She looked over at Andrea, who was blushing, though she nodded a little in response. "I suppose that we can arrange that, so long as you leave us now, with no more fuss." The twins nodded as they got to their feet, giving everyone else a little wave before hurrying from the room, whispering lowly to each other. In that moment, Miranda saw them as the little girls who had first meet Andrea, and her heart clenched a little with the remembrance. Once the door was closed, she turned to look at Alex and gave her a placid look in return. "I wouldn't say that I was the one who alerted John to Erin's presence, no. After all, I would have no way of knowing about Erin's situation, I just made mention of the fact that the mystery designer was well connected to the BAU to create two collections based on women in the BAU."

"Which was enough to clue him in to the fact that she was still alive and in this city! You might as well have attached a neon sign to her that said shoot me!"

"And why would you care, Alex? Erin told us about the way that you treated her after your erroneous profile that fingered the wrong perp in the case that saw you demoted. Even if she did kiss you as an old lover would as soon as she saw you. And you responded as if you missed the feel of her lips against hers."

Alex's eyes narrowed even as Penelope's head darted between them, clearly waiting for the fireworks to explode between the two of them. "That was crass and low, especially coming from one in such a lofty position such as yours. I expected better of you. Though since it appears that you're in a relationship with a woman half your age, you know a lot about slumming it."

Miranda saw red at that, and she narrowed her eyes, ready to verbally eviscerate the woman when Andrea rose from her chair and scurried over to her side, taking a seat on the sofa and grabbing her hand tightly. "You are reacting from the adrenaline crash, Miranda. Do not say something you'll regret," she hissed in her ear before looking at Alex. "I would say that Erin and Miranda are a lot alike, in that they both started forbidden relationships with the women who worked under them. And while it wasn't Miranda's intention to endanger Erin, that was the unfortunate collateral damage. At least you know that she's safe and that this Curtis guy is dead. Right?"

Alex let out a huff of breath as she sank back in her chair, an almost mulish look on her face. "I suppose that you have a point there, Andy."

"Well, this is nice and all, but where's Erin? I need to catch up with her and make certain that she's really okay! She shouldn't be coming off this scare alone."

Miranda tightened her grip on Andrea's hand, trying not to retort sharply to the woman. She had a feeling that Erin didn't really want anyone to interrupt her solitude, but she also knew that Penelope would just badger her until she revealed what she knew. "Emily, would you stay here with the twins? It appears that I have one more errand to run today."

"Yes, Miranda."

She nodded before getting to her feet, pulling Andrea upwards with her. Before anyone else could say anything, she was sweeping from the room, trusting the others to follow her outside. She wasn't surprised to find that her driver was still outside, and she nodded to him as they all got back into the vehicle. "Where to, Ms. Priestly?" he asked as she slipped on her seatbelt. After rattling out the address for Erin's studio, she settled back in the seat and placed her sunglasses on her face, intent on shutting out the rest of the day. Andrea was right, she was quickly losing the adrenaline that had kept her going, and she wanted nothing more than to be curled up in bed, next to her lover, trying to decompress from everything that had just happened to her. It just might take a little extra time until that happened.