CHAPTER 132

I OVERSTEPPED ALL BEST FRIEND BOUNDARIES

"Emily, please, don't leave me. Please? Emily, you promised! Emily, please?" JJ had pushed everyone away and was now hovering on top of Emily's head, pushing bloody strands of hair off her face.

A very long and painful minute later, Emily opened her eyes. There was nothing in her stare. It was just a gaze, a blank expression. She could as well be dead, just with her eyes opened.

"Emily?" JJ put her finger underneath Emily's nose, to check if she was breathing.

"Oh, thank God you're alive!" JJ was on her knees, balling her eyes out.

"Am I really?" Emily's snarky comment was only perceived by Rossi. He knew exactly what she had meant with those words.

"Yes, you are! Where were you shot? Don't worry, don't move. An ambulance is on its way. Don't worry, you'll get through this, I promise. I'll be there for you, Ems. We all will. We won't leave your side." JJ kept on talking in nervous rambles.

Emily sighed and her eyes fluttered before they shut once again.

"No, no, no. Emily? Please, stay with me! Stay with me, Ems, please?" JJ panicked.

She knew about the fifteen seconds period between a gunshot wound and a death. She knew someone could be shot, yet still very responsive during that time period. And that was just about how long her interaction with Emily had lasted before those eyes got shut again.


"What time do you clock out?" Angie startled yet another person.

She had waited by the Bureau parking lot, for one specific car to pull up. And as soon as its driver got out, she had bombarded them with that question.

"Jesus, could you be any creepier!?"

"Is that a rhetorical question or do you really want to know just how creepy I can be?" Angie smiled.

"Oh, I've seen you with a fork in your hands. No, thank you."

"Come on, let me make it up to you. I just want to hang out. It's my day off and the BAU is on a case, so I'm stuck with just boring old you as an option." Angie shrugged, playing it off as if she didn't think the person in front of her was mega awesome already.

"Boring old me? Well, excuse you! Who taught you how to talk to me like that?"

"My momma!" Angie smirked. "Now, are we going drinking tonight or what? There's this cool Cuban bar I just Googled the other day. We can go teach them Cuban guys how to Salsa!"

"I'm pretty sure Cuban guys can teach us how to Salsa."

"Mmh, can't say I'll be mad if they taught me a thing or two…" Angie chuckled, her voice sounded playful.

"You? Really? Little Miss Chastity? I want to live to see the day you go to a bar and end up hooking up with a random guy!"

"Hey? It was my idea to go, wasn't it? Maybe I just want to have some fun! Come on, this bar is the perfect place to pull a lad!"

"Pull a lad? Angela, you're not in England anymore."

"Clara, shut up and tell me you'll be paying, alright? Ya girl here is broke!" Angie made her sweet puppy eyes, to which her conversation partner could not resist. Nobody ever could.

"Fine, we're going dancing tonight and yes, I'm paying. But just to make this clear, I'm only paying your drinks, okay!? If you offer the entire bar shots, you better have the cash to cover the tab, because I won't. Not this time!" Clara rolled her eyes. She remembered how she paid a ton of drinks when they were in Cuba, on the IRT case, but Cuba was cheap and yet, she could barely afford it.

"Ah, you used to be so cool, back in the days…" Angie said dramatically, earning herself a slap on the shoulder.

"Come on, Devil Kid, move it."

"Hey, where you takin' me, yo? This is kidnapping! Ouch, oh my God, let go of me!" Angie dramatized all the way to the building entrance.

She sure liked to make a scene. All Clara did was to give her a little push towards the door and yet Angie made it sound like Clara had a gun pointed at her. The whole scene made Clara laugh uncontrollably.

"You know, I've missed you." Clara said once they were in the elevator.

"Awwh, I'm gonna deny ever saying that, but I kind of maybe, potentially, hypothetically, might have possibly missed you, too. But like, only for a second, okay? Don't get bigheaded!" Angie smirked. "Uhm, why have you dragged me to your office?"

"Because it's your day off and seeing as you just can't wait to be done with the Academy and to join the wonderful world and live the life of an actual FBI Agent, I figured I'd give you a first-hand taste of what it feels like."

"I'm not following…" Angie admitted.

"It's my day off, too." Clara motioned for Angie to sit on a chair, in front of a computer that Clara was now turning on.

"So, why the Hell are you here?" Angie raised an eyebrow. Something wasn't making sense.

"Because, my dearest little Devil, a real FBI Agent knows no days off. It's not a concept we are familiar with. I can't plan a weekend away, a holiday, a trip. Hell, I even had to cancel my hairdresser's appointment today. For this…" She pointed at the computer.

"Damn." Angie followed as Clara opened about twelve different files, documents that needed to be revised, signed and sent out to different people.

"Yeah, paper work is a real bitch." Clara responded.

"No, I meant damn, too bad you had to cancel that appointment. Your hair do be lookin' a mess, boo!" Angie did her best not to laugh as she spoke like a little thug.

She loved doing accents and using slang on occasion, just to make the people around her smile or even laugh. If someone was in need of cheering up, Angie had no problem taking the complete piss out of herself, just to make them laugh, no matter the surroundings. If she was in the subway, packed with strangers, she'd still act out some bizarre scene, just to help one person out…and she didn't care if she knew them or not. In her twenty three years of life so far, she had always been the girl who would know how to handle a fussy kid, an upset teenager, a preoccupied soccer mom or a dad working three jobs. She just knew how to read people and how to approach people and situations. She'd often improvise on the spot and she loved doing that, but what she loved the most was that tingling sense of satisfaction when a smile would appear on the other person's face and when she knew she was the reason for that.

"God, I swear you didn't get that damn sense of humor from me, alright…" Clara rolled her eyes, replying to Angie's last statement. She could not, however, deny that it was true – she was in dire need of a haircut and maybe some color.

Angie spent the next three hours in the office, asking Clara a million questions about those documents that had to be dealt with. She even requested to be allowed to fill in a document entirely on her own, after which Clara reviewed it and corrected the mistakes. It was good practice for Angie – she learned that no matter how prepared she felt, there was just so much more to be learned about the job. And with each correction, coming from Clara, Angie tried to learn something useful for the future.

"Alright, we are officially done. We can now go…I don't know, do whatever." Clara stated when the clock hit one.

Lunch time was Angie's favorite time of the day. She insisted on dragging Clara to that healthy bar and offering her lunch. Clara found it sweet that Angie paid with two food coupons and she knew better than to decline her kind offer.

Angie hated it when people paid for her. She only let a few selected people pay for her, and not even all the time. Clearly, Clara was one of them now, but still, Clara knew that Angie wanted to feel like they were equals. In her own way, Angie was balancing it out by offering Clara lunch. Clara found that kind of cute, actually.

"Thank you. I haven't been to this place in so long. I used to love grabbing a sandwich from here, then I just stopped." Clara said as they were on their way out and to the parking lot.

"You are welcome. I would be nothing if I wasn't the good elf who allowed people reminisce about the past." Angie adjusted the straps of her bag, on her shoulders. From the looks of it, it seemed to be heavy. It was quite capacious and she surely had tons of stuff inside. Clara did not want to know what was in there, afraid it might be body parts, knowing Angie as well as she did.

"About that…" Clara's voice became a bit more stern as they sat in her car. "Reminiscing about the past is one thing. But rubbing the past, and especially people's past mistakes, in their faces, over and over again, is pure torture. Just…just so you know."

Angie gulped. She knew exactly what Clara was saying.

"I know. It's just…"

"Hard to come to terms with the reality? Oh, honey, I understand. And others will, too. You just have to find it in you to be honest. Not with them. No. Honey, they already know. You have to be honest with yourself." Clara said softly.

She didn't look directly at Angie. She knew this would freak her out, so she kept her eyes on the horizon as she spoke.

"Yeah, someone else just told me pretty much the same thing, just recently." Angie admitted.

"And I bet they've been trying to tell you those words for a long…looong time now." Clara sighed, still not making eye contact with Angie.

"But, you guys don't understand…"

"Oh, we don't understand!?" Clara laughed ironically. "I get it if you don't think I understand your reasons for…well, everything. But hey, give the other person some credit! You know they've been through way worse, don't you? If anyone on this Planet could understand your pain, yeah maybe it's not me, but it is definitely-…"

"Don't say the name!" Angie jumped in, cutting Clara off.

"No, I won't say the name. And I don't plan on ruining our afternoon by discussing this thing any further. I just want you to know that the longer you keep this going, the harder it would be for you to come back from the trauma."

"I know. I've read all the books in the world, on this specific topic anyway. But, the theory makes it sound so easy and in reality it's just…" Angie trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Scary? Angela, you're not a teenager anymore. You have to make scary decisions now." Clara spoke, knowing that those words would trigger the girl next to her.

"I've been making scary decisions for myself since I was eight! And I was one Hell of a smart and mature teenager, mind you! Apart from my occasional outbursts and well, crazy stunts, I was a pleasure to deal with. If you want confirmation, just ask-…" She cut herself off and saw Clara finally make eye contact, enough to smirk in Angie's face.

She had almost made her say that name out loud. Clara had to admit it, she was one damn good manipulator.

"I just don't want to let myself down, okay? Saying things out loud is messy, it has consequences." Angie nearly whispered.

"Yeah. It's called being a grown up. It's what people do. You speak up, you find yourself in a messy situation and then you put a smile on and deal with it. And if you are smart enough, you even let the people who love you, help you out. Now, is any of this sinking in or should I rephrase it?" Clara kept on smirking.

Angie wanted to hate her, but she could never. Clara had such a lovely, calm face. Her eyes were big and bright and Angie could feel the warmth, coming out of them, each time Clara looked at her.

Angie nodded. Oh yes, this was all sinking in quite nicely.

"Please don't talk to me about this again, okay? It's too much. I can't…I just, I can't…it's a lot. You don't want me on the verge of insanity again, so please, if you care about me, stop trying to make me say things that I'm not ready to admit." Angie was nearly begging now and it hurt Clara to see her like this.

Then again, Clara knew a thing or two about human behavior too, and she was trying to do the right thing.

"All this talk is making me crave an ice cream!" Clara groaned, as if she was annoyed, in a joking manner. Truth was, she knew how to swiftly change topic with Angie.

"Oh, that's something I'd like to discuss with you. Is there anywhere that they sell cherry flavored ice cream?" Angie's eyes grew wide instantly. Ice cream, chocolate, freshly baked pastries and any sort of sweets were the few things she could always be successfully bribed with, despite her age.

"Hmm, that's an odd flavor. I know this small artisanal ice cream shop, they might have cherry flavor. I remember seeing it was flavor of the week a while back. Let's go check it out." Clara let her lips form into a smile.

On the inside Clara was sad. She was in the middle of a very delicate situation, where two people were hurting and she was unable to help either one of them. For the moment, all she could do was respect Angie's wish to not be pushed, and just go in search of cherry flavored ice cream instead.


"Em?" JJ continued panicking.

It had not been a whole minute since the gunshot, and yet it felt like an eternity for JJ.

The team was behind her and when she turned around to see if the paramedics have already arrived, all she saw were shadowy figures. They all blended into one and it didn't matter who was who and who was standing where, because none of them was Emily Prentiss and none of them was standing next to JJ.

"Em, please? Oh my God. Please, stay with me!" A large teardrop rolled from JJ's chin and hit Emily's left cheek, as JJ was still hovering on top of her, in a way trying to protect her body from any more harm.

"For God's sake, JJ…shut up already." Emily groaned, opening her eyes.

She started pushing the UnSub from where he laid, on top of her, and JJ helped her roll him to the grass so that Emily could breathe properly.

"You…you weren't shot!" JJ stated, her hands eagerly checking Emily's arms for any wounds.

Emily tilted her head sideways, looking at the UnSub. More blood had gushed out and was now making another small pool around him. Clearly, he was the source of the blood.

JJ looked for just a moment, realizing that in the fight, Emily had managed to overpower him just enough, to be able to point his own gun at him, the moment he had shot. And thank God for that.

"Why weren't you responsive? Are you hurt?" JJ kept on asking, hearing the sirens from the approaching Ambulance.

"I just needed a freaking moment of silence. And I didn't get that, either!" There it was – Emily admitting that she was bitter about everything she did not get to have that weekend.

"Okay, I'll pretend like I didn't hear that." JJ chuckled, forcing herself to stop crying now that there was no reason for her to do so.

The harsh reality was that Emily had needed this moment of silence, so she could steady her emotions and fight back a panic attack. Speaking to this UnSub, with what she had uttered to him accidentally, had triggered something in her and as soon as the fight for dominance was over, Emily knew she needed to chill for a moment, or she would have lost it in front of her team. She had no idea that Rossi had caught on that little slip up of hers, but she hoped that even if he had, he'd never bring it up. This was her trauma and she knew she'd eventually talk to him about it, but not until she was ready to do so and when it happened it would be on her terms. Out of the entire team, Rossi was the only one she could confide into, when it came to this.

The paramedics arrived then, declaring the UnSub dead before tending to Emily, measuring her blood pressure and making sure that her head wasn't hit hard during the tackle, enough for her to have a concussion.

Emily was acting weird. She wouldn't say a word to the paramedics, or anyone other than what she had already said to JJ. It almost felt like she was…ashamed.

"Hey?" She called out for the rescued girl who walked towards her with no hesitation.

"Listen to me – I had to say things…" Emily started off. "The UnSub would have hurt you if he still thought you were pregnant, so I had to trick him. You turning out to just be sick made him lose any interest in you. I'm sorry I lied."

"Does that mean…" The girl said through tears, letting one hand caress her stomach.

"Yes, my team checked your medical records and your doctor says you are perfectly fine and healthy…and so is your little one." Subconsciously, Emily's hand rested on top of the girl's hand – on her stomach.

"Thank you." The girl muttered, continuing to cry, but this time from joy.

"Also, congratulations." Emily added. "Now, I need you to be strong and to think of your child. Listen to your doctors and avoid stress. Today has been horrible enough and we don't want to risk the health of an unborn child, do we?"

The girl shook her head frantically.

"Good. Those nice people here are going to take us to the hospital for some checks and I need you to try and relax. Okay? Breathe in and breathe out at a steady pace and if some day you think of this moment and you start to panic, please think of your baby. Your child needs you, not from the moment they are born, but from now. I want you to promise me you'll take good care of both of you and if you ever need to talk, here's my card and you can call me anytime. Okay?"

The girl took the card from Emily's hand. It was stained with blood, but she didn't care. This nice woman had saved her life and the life of a child she had wanted so much.

"Emily…" The girl uttered, with a smile appearing on her face.

"Yes, my name is Emily."

"It's a beautiful name…" The girl continued. "Emily…sounds kind of royal."

"It comes from the Latin name Aemilia. Supposedly, it means 'rival' or 'hardworking'. I shall say only the latter meaning fits my character, though." Emily chuckled, giving her a small history of her own name.

"Well, today you were this guy's rival and you worked hard to save my life, so I guess both are fitting descriptions."

Emily's cheeks felt a bit warmed when she heard the girl's reasoning. She had never thought of herself as a 'rival', as she had always perceived that word in a strictly negative way, as if she was a dictator, a person who enforced rules in a mean way and a person who had a lot of enemies, who wanted to get her spot, her job or her status – hence, their rival.

However, the girl's words made a lot of sense. In a way, Emily was every UnSub's rival, in the most pure sense of the word, driven only by the desire to help innocent people out. There was nothing negative about that.

"Emily…"

"Yes?" She replied when the girl whispered her name once more.

"I really like this name. And uh…" She rubbed her stomach before continuing. "I really want a baby boy, but if it's a girl, do you mind if I name her Emily…after you?"

"Wow…" Emily was shocked, in a good way. "Yeah, yeah…you can do that. Wow…that's quite the honor, actually. And please make sure to invite me to that baby shower, okay?"

To say that Emily was flattered would be a huge understatement. There hadn't been a moment in her life when Emily had felt more proud of her own self, than at this moment, where a rescued victim had just asked her permission to name her child after her. She felt important, in a good way. She felt happy with who she was, because surely she was doing something right in life, when someone who did not even know her until minutes ago, had decided to name their unborn child after her.

Then it was time for both of them to be taken to a hospital for a more thorough check. The girl and the baby were okay, despite the shock she had just been through. Emily figured she was a strong girl, if she was able to keep it together like that, right after their little talk. It made her proud to have guided yet one more young girl to doing the right thing.

The girl's parents and her sister arrived shortly after, to make sure she would be tended to and taken home as soon as the doctors would allow. Her fiancé, however, had been abroad for work, so he wasn't able to be there in person, but facetime was still good enough for her.

After Emily's medical check, other than a few bruises, she was fine. The UnSub had managed to twist her left hand pretty nasty, so she now had limited range of motion, but it wasn't anything serious.

The team waited outside for about half an hour before the doctor came out and told them the good news.

JJ had walked off to a corner of the waiting room, quietly sitting on the edge of a huge plant pot and biting her nails. She hated being in hospitals, especially when the reason for that unwanted trip there was Emily Prentiss. It was too much of a throwback to that one night, the night Emily Prentiss had died. JJ had known the truth all along, all those seven long months, but it never helped her feel like she hadn't lost her best friend, anyway.

"We will be checking Agent Prentiss out today. In the meantime, if anyone has clean clothes to offer, maybe?" The doctor who was following Emily, spoke to the team. "Oh and here's her blazer. She tossed it on the floor in the ambulance, on the way here."

JJ grabbed the blazer strategically. She needed something from it.

"Guys, I'm just gonna…I need…some fresh air." JJ excused herself, walking away with the blood-soaked blazer in her hands.

She did not return for the next ten minutes, but nobody found it suspicious that JJ, out of all people, would need a moment on her own, so nobody questioned where she went and what she did, holding onto that bloody blazer.

Soon after JJ re-joined the team, Emily walked out of the room, dressed in scrubs. Clearly, the team did not bring spare clothes, while out on the field, on a case, chasing a serial killer, so none of them was able to help out with fresh clothes. Luke had offered his t-shirt, but Matt had made a very on point joke about it being disgusting and sweaty after a day out in the sun.

"Lookin' good, Boss." JJ smiled at Emily, trying to cheer her up. It did not work.

Emily's eyes wandered around, falling on different random objects in the waiting room, before they inevitably fell on the one person she was now afraid of.

"It's okay. You are safe now, Emily. And the girl and her baby are safe and well, too." Rossi approached her, but not before he saw her eyes lay on him. He knew exactly why she was so freaked out to look at him.

"I lied, Dave…" Emily whispered when she saw him standing inches away from her.

Hearing her call him just 'Dave' broke his heart. She had only ever called him that when she had been extremely vulnerable and desperate to feel a connection - a stronger connection to him.

"Shh." Instinctively, he held her in his arms. It felt like he was holding Joy, it felt like Emily was just as much his daughter as Joy was. It had felt like that for a long time.

"When I told you my story…" Emily said against his ear in a barely audible manner.

He felt her body trembling in his hands, he heard her voice crack as she whispered.

"I lied." Emily added, biting her lower lip guiltily.

"I know, Emily. I've always known." He whispered back, knowing that his words would scare her even more, but also knowing that Emily deserved to know the truth.

"Please, don't te-…" She started, but he interrupted her.

"It's not my secret to tell." Rossi then tightened his grip, making it harder for Emily to keep on shaking from all the nerves.

After a while, she had no other choice but to calm down. Her breathing evened out again and she pulled back, looking at his face, with her eyes shooting him a silent "Thank you".

A minute later, JJ broke the awkward silence by letting Emily know that the case was officially closed, with the UnSub dead. His wife was now safe to come back to her home. The pregnant hostage was already making plans for her own check out of the hospital, with her parents and her sister there to take her back home and the man she loved, on facetime, but there for her in every single moment.

While waiting for Emily's final documents to be processed, Tara had driven back to the motel to check the team out and to grab everyone's Go Bags, which were now waiting for them in the trunk of the cars downstairs, but more importantly – Tara walked back in the hospital, holding a fresh pair of black pants and a nice little shirt for Emily to change into before they headed to the airport.

For some reason, JJ had pushed the document signing and filing process a bit aggressively. She had also been checking her phone every half a minute and sighing in annoyance with each minute that went by and that Emily was not yet out of the hospital. JJ had also been the one to urge Tara to go back for the check out and to return with everyone's belongings, as the hospital was on the way to the airport. She looked like she was on pins and needles, running her fingers through her messy hair after all the wind the team had been welcomed by at Moon Island earlier, and she tapped her right foot nervously on the ground, to the point where Matt had to physically prevent her from doing so by nudging her shoulder lightly, to remind her how anxious that sound always made him feel.

Best news was that Garcia had worked her magic and had managed to grant them permission to fly as soon as they would reach the airport.

It was Saturday afternoon and neither of them had eaten anything since breakfast. They decided to go grab a bite at the airport and eat it on the plane before relaxing a bit, on their way home.

"Ah, not so fast, Prentiss." JJ put her hand in front of Emily when they were lined up, preventing her from being able to board the BAU jet.

"You're heading to Gate B-02 instead." JJ added when Emily looked her up and down as if she was crazy to be stopping her from boarding their plane.

"What's…?" Emily started to mutter, her eyes quickly shooting a glance at the announcement board.

Air France - Flight Boston – Paris Charles De Gaulle – Gate B-02

Emily's heart skipped a beat. This was not possible.

"I admit, I overstepped all best friend boundaries in the world, but I'm not sorry about it." JJ smirked, showing Emily an e-mail confirmation for a round trip to Paris. Well, the flight was from Boston, but the coming back destination was Virginia, clearly.

"That's not possible. How did you…" Emily was speechless and that was not something that happened to her often, so she had absolutely no idea how to handle this overwhelming emotion.

"Oh, I have my ways! Now go, your plane will start boarding soon. Go, have fun. You deserve it, Emily."

JJ's words echoed in Emily's head. They were exactly what that inner voice in Emily's head had been trying to tell her all along: 'You deserve it'.

"But, I haven't even packed anything. There's basically nothing in my Go Bag…" Emily cringed. She may or may not have packed that awful turtle neck that Angie had teased her about just recently.

JJ kept on smirking, extracting the Go Bag from Emily's hands and pushing the small suitcase towards her instead.

"Yeah, that's one of the things I overstepped my boundaries about…" JJ shrugged.

It suddenly all made sense. When they left on Thursday, JJ had seen Emily's disappointment as they got assigned to the case, so she had requested to go to Emily's place with her. She had ignored Emily's attempt to lead her to the guest room on purpose. Then she had pretended to be sleepy and she had requested privacy so she could take a shower before bed, just to have Emily's bedroom all to herself. That was why JJ had left her work Go Bag on the couch in the living room, but she had dragged the suitcase to the bedroom, with her – she needed to pack, for Emily. All along, JJ's plan had been to bring the suitcase, just in case there might be any possibility of this weekend to be salvaged. JJ always kept that small suitcase at work. She had once had an unpleasant experience with a Go Bag when the strap had snapped and she had been forced to carry that bag in her hands, like a baby, for the entire duration of their work trip. It hadn't been fun. So she liked to be prepared and she had this small suitcase, empty, in her office, just in case.

"But Richard knows I was going for the weekend and by the time I get there it would already be Sunday. I have no idea if he can extend his leave from work until…" Emily looked at the electronic ticket again, noticing it said she had to fly back to Virginia on Thursday.

"Wow, JJ, Thursday!? This would be awesome, but it's almost an entire week off of work. I'm not sure either of us could-…"

JJ shut Emily up by showing her a document that she had already sent to the Superiors, requesting paid leave for Emily Prentiss, for the next few days. She had even gotten a reply, authorizing that request.

"Okay, but what about him? I can't just appear in his life, unannounced!" Emily was freaking out.

"I have a feeling you won't be any source of inconvenience for him. Now stop trying to grab onto any lame excuse you can possibly think of and go to your gate, have a nice coffee, sit on your butt and wait for that flight to take you to the wonderful man you deserve to be with!" JJ smiled and gave Emily a hug.

"ChayChay, I swear to God, I don't pay you enough!" Emily was at the loss of words…again. She simply could not believe the thought and preparation that had gone into this very last minute trip.

"No, you don't. But it's okay, because you pay me back with your sweet lovin' and I'm fine with that." JJ chuckled, hoping that nobody would overhear those words.

Sometimes they spoke in a manner that was either inappropriate, or made them sound like they were married and still in their honeymoon phase. Anyone who didn't know how weird Emily and JJ's friendship was, would simply think they were a little too passionate with their words, in public.

"I don't know what to say. Thank you, ChayChay!" Emily's chin quivered and it was the best form of paying back that JJ could think of.

She knew how much Emily would appreciate that gesture, how much Emily needed those few days with the guy who had managed to make her feel the fluttering of butterflies, inside of her.

"Thank me with a Chanel handbag!" JJ called out after Emily who was now walking off, in direction to where the B gates were.

Emily waved her hand in the air, as if she was saying "You are out of your mind!" to JJ and it made her smile.

JJ let the team know that Emily had some personal things to do and that she would not be flying back with them, nor be on active duty for the next few days.

After what had happened, with the way her 127 pound fragile frame had crashed against the giant man, holding a gun, it was safe to say she needed to clear her head for a few days.

She had been crazy to tackle that guy. So many things could have gone wrong. But they didn't. This time, with this case, everything turned out just fine. Emily had saved the life of the young girl, whose baby was okay and was going to be born a few months later, having the chance to grow up, experience life, have kids of their own. It was more than rewarding, for Emily to know that, alone, but then there was also the fact that this baby could potentially have her name, which was the highest form of flattery Emily could ever think of. It was worth the risk she took when she jumped to what could have been yet another death for her. And it could have been her final one.


REVIEW REPLIES:

"sweetkid45"You are right - the bullet could have gone sideways, just like it did for JJ on the show. And LOL, Emily in full on protective mode, over Angie...that's something I'd like to see too! Don't worry, Em's fine, like you just read in this current chapter. She was a bit emotional, but other than that she hasn't been hurt, physically. And thanks :)!

"rmpcmfan" Well, I'll answer with a structured list because I like everything neat and I'm a geek lol:

1) I suppose this current chapter answered your questions about JJ's suspicious behavior :P! Emily's weekend was canceled, from the moment they got a case assigned. But seeing Emily so crushed about it, JJ couldn't just do nothing (intentional double negative, just to prove my point, lol). And be very sure that you WILL be finding out just WHAT JJ packed for Paris, lol!

2) Dan knows some of what is going on, but not the specifics. Ben has instructed him on how to handle Angela during the Academy, so she wouldn't fail out or drop out, since the BAU is not an option at the moment.

3) Keep in mind that Emily did not physically touch her own stomach. In the previous chapter Emily only 'traced/followed/watched' the hand movement with her eyes when the other person touched her stomach...and in this current chapter here, the victim had her hand on her own stomach and Emily put her hand over the victim's hand, hence on the victim's stomach and NOT on Emily's! Just a little 'correction', so you wouldn't read things the wrong way. However, I won't deny that Emily feels very strongly about her own stomach and she never lets anyone touch it! In fact, she barely ever touches it, herself. It stems from her teen pregnancy, I can confirm that. It's not so much of an insecurity, but rather a source of pain and a quick trip back to her trauma (which I'll later on touch up on and explain MY version of what happened. The show only said she got pregnant at 15, but never spoke about how and why. I've already alluded to the fact that Emily did not get physical with a boy, by choice. There's more...) And overall, Emily is showing maternal instincts (as on the show) and is super good with children. I remind you (hint, hint) that Lauren Reynolds was basically Declan's 'mother figure' and she felt/feels very strongly about him! This little boy taught her how to love and care about a child, not just her friend's children, but a child she'd live with and spend all day, every day with. And even though he's not biologically hers, she had always loved him very much! Her days in undercover in that villa in Tuscany, Italy, with Ian Doyle, certainly taught her how to be a 'mother'! Also, she's being protective not only over Declan, but now also over Angela...

4) Ufff, the Cursed Case has its own little therapy session in later chapters, where Emily walks Dr. Martha Allen (and the readers, lol) through it, step by step, one more time, trying to wrap her head around its outcome as Martha desperately tries to convince Emily to strip herself off of that insane guilt she feels about it. And Rossi was spot on when he saw the signs during this case and he knew exactly how to make Emily snap out of it by mentioning Angela and how Emily had to think straight and act appropriately, to set an example for her. Also yes, Rossi was the only one to notice how at some pint Emily switched to 'me' and 'mine' when she blew up in the UnSub's face, instead of referring to what he had done to his other victims. Rossi's smart...he knows things...he also knows how to handle Emily without confronting her about said things. And Emily knows how to play dumb, as if she doesn't suspect that Rossi already knows everything *wink*.

5) The past references are all super important! As vague as they always are, they make perfect sense if one knows the story behind the story, lol. Also, hehehe I've always fancied a cliffhanger, but I rarely ever end up with one.

6) Remember when on the show Hotch asked Morgan how's Emily doing (in a hospital) and Morgan replied "She's arguing with all the doctors, apparently" and Hotch replied "That's good" ? LOL, this kind of inspired the cliffhanger and the hospital scene, but it was JJ to be pushing for an early release after her checks were done. I just can picture a pissed off Emily trying to argue her way out, bribing staff left and right, occasionally threatening a nurse or five...hahahah. Oh wait, does this happen in a future chapter? Hmm... *wink*.