AN: Originally this was the final chapter but once I started posting something didn't feel right so I wrote chapter 25 which will be the next and final chapter.

In a coordinated effort between Scotland Yard and Interpol, several locations across the UK were raided by police today. Ghanaian billionaire Edwin Akufo, along with Premier League club owners Rupert Mannion, Nicolay Alexiev, Alfred Tomson-Pritchard and Paul Bartlett were taken into custody with charges pending. Robert Parker, Rebecca Welton and Cedric Rogers, who were meeting with the above mentioned men at the time of their arrest were briefly detained and then released with Scotland Yard's thanks for their cooperation.

Representatives have been contacted for comment.

"Fuck me…" Rebecca hadn't even managed to get home before the news broke. She was in fact just pulling up to Keeley's house, knowing they would need a media response in place and she trusted the younger woman's instincts when it came to things like that.

She also couldn't go home yet, she was still waiting for the call that the house was secure so she hoped Keeley wouldn't mind two guests for a couple of hours. If she wasn't home or it was an issue, Rebecca would just have to go and hide at the club. Or possibly the Higgins house, Leslie and Julie would never turn them away..

Giving the driver instructions to wait, Rebecca released Addy from her car seat and just as the two of them were walking up to the front door, it burst open and a panicking Roy and Keeley came running out only to stop short at the sight of the Welton's walking towards the door.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Roy recovered first "We were on our way to your fucking house to check on you."

Keeley couldn't actually speak, she just threw herself at Rebecca as Roy picked up Addy.

"Do you think we could go inside?" she asks "I wouldn't be surprised if, when I don't appear at home, reporters start trying my friends and mothers house."

As they are closing the front door, all three of their phones start to ding with constant incoming texts.

"Fuuuuuck" Roy swears long and low as the team's group chat is a constant stream of the boys wanting to know if Rebecca is ok.

Boss is with me and Keeley. She's fine, calm the fuck down

Later, he'll blame Jamie (rightfully so) for what happens next.

~Tartt: Do we need to get her out of here? I know a couple of places where no one will find her, secret like.

~Bumbercatch: Out of the country is better

~Rojas: My mother would take good care of her and the bebé

~Obisanya: Despite what the media would have you believe Lagos is very safe. My parents would be happy to host them

~Hughes: To far, Pwllheli would be easier to get to without anyone knowing

~McAdoo: Everyone get as much cash together as you can. Get it to me in an hour in case they freeze her assets or some shit like that

~Montlaur: Le patron apprécierait les vins de Cordon et c'est un endroit bien plus approprié pour une femme comme elle

~Zoreaux: Richard said Cordon has better wine and the Boss would be happier there. Also, there are places in Canada that no one will find her in.

~Bumbercatch: Best option is Costa Rica, they don't extradite to the UK

~Obisanya: Now that I'm thinking about it, they will be very distinctive in Nigeria. Perhaps it is not the best place for them to hide.

~O'Brien: I have a friend with a boat, he can get her across the channel without being seen

~Lasso: These are all mighty fine ideas boys, but maybe a little premature. Roy Kent, does the Boss actually need to be smuggled out of the country?

~Tartt: I was just talking about hiding from the paps.

~Kent: No she doesn't, the only problem she has right now is she fell off her fucking chair laughing at you twits. SO CALM THE FUCK DOWN.

"How was it you described our boys once?" Rebecca asked Keeley between giggles "they have one brain cell to share and the one talking is never the one with the brain cell?"

"And no matter what, it's never with fucking Tartt." Roy finished "Right, fill us in?"

"There's not a lot to tell you that wasn't in the news. I went to the meeting about the Akufo League, discovered it was a bunch of selfish pricks wanting to make even more money than they had, managed to convince some of them to pull out and then the police showed up. I hid under a table for a while, everyone was detained and then Robert, Cedric and I were released. They told me very little about what was actually going on, only that I wasn't under suspicion and I could go."

"The ultimate wrong place wrong time" Keeley breathes.

Rebecca decides not to tell them about the incident at the house.

"I came here because I need to talk media response… and I needed to see a friendly face." Her gaze slid to Roy. "Although I didn't expect to see two friendly faces?"

Keeley decided to not acknowledge the last point "my day hasn't been anywhere near as fucked as yours, it can wait a while. As for the media response the way I see it we have a couple of options. One, you say nothing, when people ask, direct them to the police and then say no comment. Two we release a brief statement confirming their version of events and leave it at that or 3 pull in someone you trust to do an article. Personally I think you should go with a brief statement on your socials and leave it at that."

45 minutes later a post goes up on twitter and instagram

Shout out to the men and women of #ScotlandYard. Thank you for the work you do keeping people safe. I had the pleasure of dealing with some of your people today, the integrity and commitment they showed to justice and the law was wonderful to witness.

"What are you hiding?" Roy asks, both he and Keeley had noticed there was something else she hadn't shared with them.

Before she can answer a message drops through from Emily

Repairs complete, the house is secure and I've got agents watching you just in case.

Tears start to gather in her eyes as the events of the day catch up and before she can stop them words start pouring out of her mouth.

"I've known for years he was into something… something illegal and I've just been waiting and hoping we would get here and now we're here I don't know what to do… I don't know…" she attempted to heave in a deep breath and try to calm her racing heart."

Reaching over, Keeley pulled a sleeping Addy out of Rebecca's lap and moved them to the other end of the couch so Roy could pull her into a tight hug. He didn't ask anymore questions, just let her cry and babble out anything she needed to.

"Ever since that day… I knew I needed to protect her… she's more important than anything… I did what I had to… and it was almost for nothing… I thought she was finally safe… that he wouldn't try anything…"

Roy tenses up as her words penetrate and start to coalesce into a terrifying picture.

"I thought he was done with us… he never wanted her but he wanted to hurt me… so he tried to take her…"

"Hey, he's in prison" Roy finally speaks, he doesn't know what good his words will do but he tries anyway. "He can't get to you and he can't get to her… not now."

Rebecca wishes she could believe him. Wishes she could believe Emily that it's over, that Rupert will never stain their lives again but there's a part of her that knows she is scarred for life. The mark he left on her is indelible.

Rebecca skips the team dinner at Ola's and doesn't go home that night, instead she and Addy end up in her escape flat. Just the two of them and she feels safer for it. While Emily and Clyde will know where she is, no one else will. She can hide and simply exist, even for just a little while.

After a long conversation with Emily and before she goes to bed she sends out a message to a few chosen people.

My office, 9am tomorrow

Hopefully they would all take it as a hint that she wouldn't be discussing the events of the day until then.

Admittedly it was a long shot as within moments her phone was ringing as multiple people tried to call her.

Instead of answering she resent the same message.

It wouldn't surprise her if they were all early.

And she was right, when she, Addy and Emily were climbing the stairs to her office, Ted, Beard, Trent, Keeley and Roy were already there.

"You ok babes?" Keeley throws herself at Rebecca, after her breakdown the day before, Keeley had been reticent to let Rebecca leave her house. She wanted her friend close just in case, but she could also see just how fragile Rebecca was and knew well enough to give her the night to sleep.

"I'm fine."

Rebecca gestures them all into her office "We're just waiting on Nate and Higgins" and she busies herself pouring tea and coffee for everyone.

By the time everyone has their drinks, the other two have arrived and Rebecca seats herself behind her desk. From where she stood by the window Emily smiled in encouragement.

"I'm sure you all saw the news last night. The charges Rupert is facing are not a surprise to me, I have been aware of Interpol's investigation for nearly four years and have assisted them where possible." she let that sink in for a moment and then pushed on "Now that the investigation has wrapped up and arrests made, I can fully explain some of the decisions I've made. Hurting Rupert wasn't the reason I worked to get Richmond relegated" Emily cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows "Well not the only reason. Rupert was using the club to cover his illegal business dealings. Relegation let me fully clean house and get rid of staff and players who were on his payroll."

"Hi everyone, Inspector Emily Prentiss, Interpol" Emily waved to the room. Holding back a chuckle at the wide eyed astonishment.

"Umm, Nathan Shelley Interpol" Nate waved as well.

"Are you fucking joking?" Everyone was astonished by the announcement, but Rebecca was the loudest. She'd had no idea. In the background, Beard decides to let Rebecca know in private he was retired CIA and he'd never actually been to prison.

"The investigation into Rupert Mannion has been ongoing for over a decade" Emily picks up the story "We placed Nathan here 5 years ago in an attempt to work his way into Mannion's inner circle, Agent Shelley's move to West Ham was part of that, he was tasked with finding out if he was doing the same there as he had at Richmond. When Rebecca took the club in the divorce and forced all of Mannion's people out he was forced to start over."

In the background Higgins stood by the window, realisation dawning.

"Every move you made when you first took over" he stared at Rebecca in astonishment "The changes to the business model, restructuring the support staff, bringing in Keeley, who you let go when we got relegated, even your reaction to Dubai Air pulling their sponsorship… I was under investigation wasn't I?"

The whole room turns to stare at Rebecca expectantly.

"You'll stop me if I'm saying something I shouldn't?" she asks Emily first.

"Yep"

"Roy, do you remember that day in the Crown and Anchor? I was waiting for Lauren… Emily… and you sat with me?" Roy grunted and nodded "That was the day I left Rupert, I'd called Emily to come and pick me up, I'd met her 7 years before when she attended a match as one of Rupert's guests and we became friends. It was then I found out that Emily was law enforcement and Rupert was under investigation. I found out that they believed he'd been using the club as a cover for his illegal activities and I'm sure you can imagine I wasn't overly impressed." The room chuckled at the understatement, they'd all seen Rebecca angry and it was an impressive and terrifying sight even when not directed at you.

"I knew something Emily didn't though and that was every single person employed by the club from players, to managers, support staff… everyone has a relegation clause in their contract. In other words, relegation means downsizing and I could get rid of anyone in the club without any type of legal consequences."

Trent was the first to catch onto her meaning "That's why you didn't make any big moves for the first few months. You, along with Interpol, were investigating the staff, who was a part of his illegal network and who wasn't… I'm guessing he was also paying off a number of them to report back on your activities?"

"This is why I hate reporters," Emily grinned but didn't correct the former reporter.

"Emily is the one who found Ted and Beard for me, we brought them in on purpose to ensure Richmond was relegated but with the idea of them building us back up better than before. Hiring Keeley was a way to protect the clubs and in turn the players' incomes. Even with the balloon payment there were gaps. It also gave me someone I could trust implicitly on staff. I'm sorry to say Leslie, you were not on the list of trusted people until after you quit… it didn't take long for Interpol to clear you but…"

"It's alright…" Higgins understood without her having to explain. "We've already hashed all of this out and we don't need to discuss it again."

"Some of you already knew parts of what I was working towards. For the sake of disclosure, Sassy was read into the investigation not long after we reconnected for her and Nora's safety. Please don't think it reflects on my trust in you…" she trails off unsure of how to explain.

"Ms Collins stumbled across some information by accident and we needed to fill in some blanks" Emily rescues her "There was also a threat made against Nora that she needed to be made aware of."

Keeley had been aware of the time Rupert tried to hurt Nora, but she hadn't known it was an ongoing thing.

"That's the other reason we didn't allow Rebecca to tell any of you what was happening. The fewer people who knew, the less likely it was to get out that Rebecca was assisting us. Her silence was to protect her and Addy. We couldn't risk Mannion finding out she had given us evidence against him."

Trent raises his hand again with another question "Precisely what has he been arrested for?"

"Are we off the record?" Emily responds, Trent nods his agreement.

"You'll start to see news reports from around the world of some very rich and powerful people being arrested over the last 24 hours. Mannion was at the centre of a human trafficking ring that's been in operation for 3 decades, we also have him on quite a number of other charges but that's currently the biggest one."

The discussion goes on for hours and Rebecca ends up ordering food to be delivered. At the end as they're leaving Ted pulls her into a tight hug.

"Those high fences are all finally coming down." he whispers in her ear "I'm so proud of you!"

Once it's just her and Addy left in the office she picks up her phone and makes a call.

"Sarah? Rebecca Welton. I once offered you an exclusive. Are you still interested?"

Watching Ted walk onto that plane was one of the hardest things Rebecca ever had to do.

He was more than a friend now, he's become a piece of her soul… like Addy and Keeley and Roy and Sassy and Emily. He'd blown into her life with his love and joy and positivity, his unfailing belief in them all.

But he was leaving with a promise to be back for the transfer window in January. He would happily help any new transfers settle in, and spend some time with the team.

As she made her way out of the airport she spied a little girl skipping along, happy and free and she smiled until the girl trips and falls over.

Instinctually she runs forward to check on the little one as a man, presumably her father runs up from behind.

"Little love, are you alright?" she asks as she helps the girl stand. If the smile is any indication she's fine.

The man reaches them and leans down to check on his daughter, and as the rapid dutch leaves his mouth, Rebecca looks up in shock.

She knows that voice.

When Rebecca finally leaves the airport it's with a name and a phone number.

She knows the universe isn't done sending good things her way yet.

In her office Emily looks down at her phone with a sad smile at the text message she just received from Hotch.

It was incredibly tempting to return to the BAU but something was stopping her.

She wasn't sure exactly what it was but for now her place is still in London.

Maybe one day.

END CHAPTER 24

123a456e: It never felt right having Rupert go after Addy before this point in the story. He was never desperate enough until now.