I hate politics

Lauren

"Emily- It's Emily." You said getting everyone's attention.

"What?" Aaron turned to you.

"Lauren Reynolds is dead. Emily said that 16- no 17 days ago." You were stumbling over your words. "We were walking to the briefing room and you were rambling on about your weekend." You were looking at Spencer. "You Penelope and I were supposed to go to some cyber-crime conference, but Jack had a last-minute soccer game so I stayed with Aaron." You looked to Aaron whose eyes hadn't left you. "We walked in and Emily said Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident, Spencer you were too caught up in the conversation I don't even think you noticed."

You shut your eyes trying to remember what else had happened. Her posture was tense. One hand was balled into a fist. She was biting into her cheek. Her voice.

"Her intonation wasn't surprised or grief." Aaron pulled out his phone and started dialing Emily's number. "It-it was like a mantra-like she was reminding herself." You were trying to catch your breath from rambling.

Aaron passed you following the sound of a phone ringing. It ended right at Emily's desk. He leans down and opens the drawer to find her phone, badge, and gun.

"If Prentiss is the last name on that list, she's on Doyle's list too," Derek said.

"That explains her behavior the past month. The secrets, the evasion." Rossi said.

"She has been biting her fingernails again," Spencer added. Aaron walked back over with Emily's stuff in his hands.

"She left her badge and gun? Why would she do that?" Derek asked no one in particular.

"That doesn't make sense. Why run? We're her family. We can help." Spencer was hurt.

"Doyle's killing families." Rossi started. "She is not married, not close to relatives. He was ready to wipe us out."

"She ran to protect us." You finally spoke. Your mouth was dry. Everything was spinning which made it hard to breathe.

You're just panicking-take a deep breath.

You repeat that to yourself. There was a hand on your lower back. Following the hand, you were met with Aaron's eyes. From the little contact, you felt more stable.

"She's a trained spy. She doesn't want to be found." Rossi said.

"She knows all of our tricks. We don't know any of hers." Derek said.

"That's not true." You stepped to the evidence board. "We know Emily, she's headstrong. She is not gonna stop till she gets what she wants. What does she want?"

"Doyle." Aaron walked up to stand beside you. "Ian Doyle is our unsub, Emily is our victim. We profile their behavior and we treat it like any other case." He paused. "Because terrorism isn't an area we specialize in, I've reached out to an expert from the state department. Someone who can also shed light on Prentiss' past."

"Who?" Spencer asked.

"Let's get to work." JJ was standing behind the whole group.

~~~~~

Excusing yourself from the group you walked to the bathrooms. Turing on the sink you splashed your face with cold water. Inevitably rubbing off whatever makeup was left on your face. Looking up in the mirror you saw your eyes were red.

"She's gonna be ok. She's gonna be ok." You mumbled to yourself.

After drying off your face, you walked back to the briefing room.