She's Back

Do I Wanna Know?

 Emily didn't wait to hear Hotch's response as she turned away from him and left to get on the jet. She laughed to herself as she walked through the jet's doors and saw Spencer and Derek arguing with each other yet again in their seats. Some things never change, Emily thought. However, she most definitely was not in the mood to talk after what just happened with Hotch in the hallway, so she tried to quietly sit down in the furthest seat away from Derek and Spencer. Unfortunately for her, Derek saw Emily before she could hide and called her out, cutting Spencer off in the middle of his sentence as to why cats are superior to dogs (Derek disagreed and was clearly a dog person for life).

"Nuh un, Prentiss! I see you trying to hide. Get your butt over here and come catch us up on what's new!" Derek patted the open seat next to him. "Yeah, Emily, how are you?" Spencer followed up. Internally, Emily sighed in frustration; externally, she pasted a smile on her face as she shouldered her go bag and made her way over to the boys. Sabrina, JJ, Rossi and Hotch entered the jet just as Emily had settled into her new seat. JJ took the final open spot in the four seater with Derek, Spencer, and Emily, while Rossi and Sabrina took the double seater across from them and Hotch took the single seat behind them. Hotch did not spare Emily a glance as he took the case files out of his bag and started to review the case for the umpteenth time.

"Ah, perfect timing, you guys. Prentiss here was just about to tell us all about her life for these last 2 years," Derek announced to the group. "Come on, you know I can't say anything about my assignment. Unlike you, some of us actually listen to the rules," Emily rebuked jokingly. Derek clutched his chest dramatically. "Oof, harsh!" Everyone chuckled, including Emily. Emily's fingernails subconsciously gripped the arm rests just a little tighter as she tried to figure out how to get out of this. Luckily for her, no one on the plane noticed this subtle shift in Emily's demeanor.

"So, Em, what can you tell us then?" JJ asked. Although Hotch was facing away from the group and not in the conversation, he stopped reading the case files to hear Emily's response. Strauss had refused to tell him where Emily was or what she was doing for the last 2 years, so he wanted to see if Emily would give any hint to that answer.

"That I missed you all, of course! Especially Dave's homemade pasta, which maybe we'll get to have some of once we finish this case?" Emily gave Dave her biggest smile as she asked him. Rossi laughed at her behavior. "Anything for you, my dear Emily," Rossi acquiesced. The rest of the group cheered as Emily raised her arms in victory. It seemed that Aaron was the only one who noticed that Emily had twice now dodged answering the question. The Emily he knew from 2 years ago would've at least made some sort of teasing hint as to what she had done or where she had been to torture Derek, but it was clear that Emily didn't exist anymore.

After the cheering died down, Sabrina spoke up. "Well, I am very excited to get to know you better, Emily. I've heard so many stories about you and would love to pick your brain on some of the cases you've worked on. I'm not sure if you've heard, but I'm preparing to take the test to become an official profiler," Julia declared proudly. She glanced to Aaron's seat for a second, but he was back to reading the case files.

"I would love that, Sabrina," Emily said. She hoped her insincerity didn't come across in her response. There was a brief silence before Aaron stood up.

"Ok, we're almost there. Let's go over the plan once we land. Morgan, Reid, you two are going to head to the morgue and take a look at the recent victims. JJ and Dave, you are going to the families' houses and see if they have anything useful to offer. Prentiss, you're coming with Sabrina and me to the station to talk with the captain and get the press under control," Aaron said. This is just turning out to be the best day ever, Emily thought. Everyone nodded their heads and started to get their bags together.

JJ nudged Emily's shoulder as they were making their way off the jet. "Hey, are you ok? I know this isn't how you pictured your first day back at all," JJ sympathized. She couldn't imagine how hard it was for Emily to find out that Aaron had started a relationship with another woman while she was away. Everyone had known that Prentiss and Hotch had feelings for each other from the moment Prentiss joined the team, even if the two of them had refused to acknowledge it.

"I'm just great," Emily smiled stiffly back at JJ. Not wanting to talk anymore, Emily turned back around and quickly walked off the jet, leaving JJ confused on the tarmac. JJ and Emily had always been able to talk to each other about any problem they were having, whether it was something with Will and the boys or Emily's overbearing mother. Even though it had been a while since they had spoken, JJ assumed they would always be able to be honest with each other, but it seemed like the last 2 years changed Emily more than her.

Although she felt bad for ditching JJ like that, Emily was relieved to not have to talk to anyone for a moment. She knew it was going to be difficult to jump right back into work, but the day had brought unexpected challenges - mainly in the form of a communications liaison named Sabrina Whitley. But Emily was going to try her best to keep her head down and figure out her place among the team again.

"Prentiss! Let's go," Aaron's voice shook Emily out of her thoughts. He was standing on the driver's side of a black SUV; Sabrina was getting into the back. Come on, you got this, Emily reassured herself. She picked up her bag and walked over to the car, getting into the passenger's seat. Aaron's eyes didn't leave her once. Before he had called out to her, Aaron saw Emily scratching her thigh while she was standing on the tarmac, but she hadn't seemed to notice it once he got her attention. If he wasn't an FBI-trained profiler, it would've just looked like Emily was itching something on her leg. However, Aaron Hotchner was trained to study people's behavior, and to him, Emily's scratching looked like a habit of someone who was nervous or had something to hide. Although he didn't mention it to her once they were in the car, Aaron decided to pay extra attention to Emily during the case, just to make sure she was capable of doing her job. Nothing else.