Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 95]

[Three days later]

Emily's POV:

I walk into the doors of the BAU. I rush up to Aaron's— my office and shut the door. I pray nobody comes in and to have a paperwork day. Even though I just had a break, I desperately needed another one. Unfortunately for me, I receive a knock at the door.

"Come in," I say as cheerfully as possible.

Rossi comes in, shutting the door behind him. I immediately tense up, feeling bad for my outburst, but also angry that he was checking up on me yet again.

"Emily I know you didn't mean what you said the other day. I gave you some space, now you need to work through this," he orders.

"Like I said, I'm fine," I insist.

To be truthful, the time I had spent with my mother was definitely helpful and even enjoyable, well, as much as it could be.

"Emily you know I do this out of love. I just don't want to see you break. I know this is more serious than you're letting on," He explains.

"Rossi, look, I'm sorry for what I said and you're right, I didn't mean what I had said. I do mean that I am doing better. I actually went to visit my mom after I spoke to you," I inform.

"Oh, how is your mother?" He changes the subject.

"She's doing pretty good. It was definitely a good visit. She was actually really helpful when it came to what happened to Alana and Aaron, and don't worry, I didn't tell her anything that I shouldn't," I assure him.

I take a deep breath before speaking again.

"You know, I think Garcia said something about a case? I'll go ask her about that," I excuse myself, feeling mentally exhausted from such a short conversation.

*time skip*

"Hey Garcia," I say once I enter her office.

"Oh, Emily, How are you?" She asks.

"I'm fine, just wanted to know if we have a case," I state.

"Well, yes, we do. I just thought maybe I'd give everyone a second. It's been... it's been a tough few weeks," she chooses her words carefully.

"Right, I'll see you in a bit then," I state more as a question than as a statement.

*time skip*

I head back into my office. Sitting down at my desk. I know I shouldn't, but I begin looking over the Peter Lewis case.

"I wanna get this son of a bitch," I mumble to myself as Rossi walks in.

I look up.

"Peter Lewis isn't just a distraction, he's a fucking terrorist," I seethe, looking at his photo with disgust.

"No doubt. Scratch waged war against the BAU. He may not know that you're deeply involved in that war, but he does know that we are all family," Rossi answers.

We walk out of the office to see everyone else conversing.

"Does anyone know when this mysterious new agent is coming, because I cannot begin my detailed rumor-based background check without a name," Garcia explains.

Her voice quiets as she sees me walk down the steps.

"What new mysterious agent?" I ask.

Everyone looks away, leaving Garcia to answer.

"I overheard Strauss talking about replacing Hotch... today," she mumbles.

I stand there, sucking in a deep breath. Instead of letting it out, it just hold it in.