"Don't you ever miss it?"
"I do, New York was my home for the entirety of my life, but change is good. You, of all people, should know that. You've travelled everywhere."
"Not without struggle."
Cheryl, Leila and Isabelle were stepping onto the crowded subway platform, eager to head to Manhattan. Although Downtown Manhattan was considered one of the safest places within New York due to constant cop patrol and high alert by-passers, but for Belle - a runway - she felt it to be the worst place to live, and yet she has for two years. Continuously, police officers would search the streets for her and some even asked her if she had seen 'Belle Keys', but she always managed to get away with no notice. She was sneaky, and she liked the thrill.
"I'm sorry for shouting at you. You didn't deserve that." Leila apologised, wanting to make amends for whatever was holding Belle back from trusting the younger girl.
"Don't apologise. You were hurt."
"Girls. Come on. We have a busy day." Cheryl said, stepping onto the cramped carriage, following closely behind were the two mini brunettes. Standing side by side, they looked like twins, but the girls were extremely different personality wise. Street smart and book smart. Travelling the country and staying in one state. It wasn't hard to realise why they were polar opposites once you understood their individual stories. "We are going to Manhattan to collect Isabelle's things, then we have to go to East New York-"
"No." The girl's said, longing out their 'o'.
"I know you guys hate it, but we have to, and then we fly back."
"Not gonna be a fun day, is it?" Leila whispered to her sister.
"Nope."
Shortly after, the muffled intercom rang through everyone's ears. Some understood, other's looked baffled at the conductor's words, but before anyone could get a word in the train hurriedly started and they were on the move. Counting the multiple passing stops, watching people get on and off and hearing people worry if they were on the right train or not was Leila and Belle's favourite game, although they felt bad when people missed the doors by just a millisecond and were stuck waiting for another 5 minutes for the next train to pass.
When they got to Belle's residence, Leila realised how lucky she had been for most of her life to live in at least a real house or building, for Belle lived in the loft of a vacant apartment, in which she had to climb through a hole in the wall to get in and let in her sibling and social worker. Her minimal things collecting dust, and the bat she said she named 'Perry' were the only things in the room. No bed, not even a mattress. She had 1 box full to the brim of poorly printed photos, a blanket, a teddy and a trash bag of clothes. Was this life better for her than being in abusive homes? Leila thought.
"I tried to make her go to a shelter at least-" Cheryl began.
"But I said no. They would have stolen everything. No one wanted the apartment that multiple people were murdered in, so I took it. They just don't know. Plus, I would have moved out if someone did buy it. I'm not that rude." Belle interrupted sternly, packing the rest of her things into the tearing bag.
Leila began to help, starting with the 'bed'. It was a teddy bear as a pillow and a ragged, dirty and clearly stolen blanket, on the floor. It didn't take long to pack up everything. Belle said her goodbyes to Perry, and they left, waiting on the curb for one of the many cabs to pass to whisk them away. As Cheryl hailed one, the girls picked up the bag and box and hoped in, all squeezing in the back. Going across to East New York was one of the girl's mutually most hated things. Crime rates were higher than the rest of the city, and even though they grew up around constant criminal activity, they felt most unsafe here - for this is where they were both born. It was also the home to Cheryl, and no matter how much they would refuse, they knew they had to go there.
Cheryl, although having multiple children to visit on a daily basis, liked working from her home office. Even though the location and memories weren't ideal, Isabelle and Leila both adored the cozyness of her 2 story apartment. With an open loft area as her bedroom, Leila and Isabelle would sit up there whenever they would be stuck in between homes or whenever Belle got in trouble with the law and needed to sign documents. How they never crossed paths more than once was beyond Cheryl, knowing how much they had to visit.
Cheryl's errand only took half an hour, and the jet wasn't ready to fly for another half an hour, so the three began talking about Emily and routine visits that Cheryl would need to do for the first year or so. Every month she would come to Virginia, have separate talks with all three of them and then group discussions, and assess how they were doing. Big changes, like being taken in by an actually nice family, was a shock to the system, both girls and Cheryl, for she wouldn't have as many papers to sign anymore.
Time struck once again, and the girl's headed off, 10 minutes before the jet was scheduled to leave. Cheryl living so close to the airstrip was a bonus. The three boarded, all belongings packed and ready to head back to Quantico.
-
"They'll be here soon." Emily said to Hotch, as she looked up from the text she just received from Cheryl. They sat in his office, talking on the couch, about schooling and how to explain the situation to Jack. He's a smart 6 year old, but having another identical Leila randomly pop out of nowhere would scare the child sleepless.
"Do you need to go? I can move things around and get Anderson to help more. I'm not even sure what he does anymore."
"No, it's fine. Cheryl said they'd go back to mine, and the day's almost over. Plus, if I leave, who will give you attention?" She joked, leaning over and lightly kissing him before standing up.
"I have Dave." He teased back, walking over to his desk.
"Ouch. Way to go, hurting me." She clutched her chest and sarcastically eye-rolled at the man. "I have to get back to work, because surprisingly some of them don't trust me anymore after faking my death and I need to earn it back." She said, referring to the team who sat in awkward silence in the bullpen, sometimes glancing up at the office with it's shades down.
"Uh wait, yes the Houston case, three weeks ago. I'm missing the coroner's supplemental for victim number three." He passed the beige file to her, and she began looking through it.
"This is supposed to come in this aftern- I just turned that in last night. Did you sleep?"
"You know I didn't."
"Aaron-"
"I know. Fix the case please. I can't validate it until it is fixed." He asked, avoiding the inevitable conversation to come.
Emily nodded, and left walking back, nervously, to the bullpen. She wanted her friends to trust her again, and she of all people knows trust is earned, but when they interfere with personal relationships, she doesn't believe she's at fault entirely. Penelope digging deep into Leila's family life was an invasion of privacy, although it's her job, and knowing about Isabelle's connection to Leila for longer than anyone at the BAU without giving a warning, of what was to come, was beyond trust-breaking. Morgan having issues with Aaron and Emily seemed as if he was upset more than protective. It all seemed very faulty and planned, almost.
Emily's clouded mind was cleared when she heard Derek say, "Prentiss, can we talk?"
"Are you going to shout at me, because I'm not in the mood." He said nothing, and just pulled her along by the arm and into the round table room. Whilst Emily was complaining about not needing, nor wanting, to talk, he was going around closing all the shades on the windows to obstruct Reid from lip reading the conversation about to occur. "Derek, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry, and I know I don't deserve forgiveness for how I've acted these last few days but I miss my friend. Emily, there's a lot about you being back that's unresolved. You now have ten hours of arrest procedure training till you recertify." He said, taking the pot of coffee and pouring himself a cup, as well as Prentiss.
"What? Since when?" She took the cup, blowing away shadows of steam as they floated upwards into the air.
"The hearing. You were away for 7 months."
"I guess I can't complain." She looked at the floor, guilt ridden.
"Not to your trainer at least." He took a sip of his coffee, slightly burning his throat, waiting for her to catch on. When she did, he continued, "I know you and I haven't been great, but I miss you and I missed you for seven freaking months, and Hotch is just my way of anger release. He shouldn't be because he makes you happy, and that's all I want for you but he-"
"Morgan, stop. You're rambling. I just want you to stop shouting at him or making comments. I missed you more than life itself when I was in Paris. Just promise me instead of shouting at us, you'll train with me or punch something?"
"Of course."
"Thank you. This coffee changed whilst I was dead, didn't it?" She said, converting the tense subject as they walked out back down the catwalk. The two continued talking, both glad they were able to resolve issues, even though it took longer than it should have. That's when Emily realised one mistake in her mission of anger when it came to her team; Penelope - the woman who had done nothing for years except try and uplift everyone. She couldn't be mad at her. She could be hurt, but Emily faked her own death and left her whole team grieving in agony. Penelope just told Hotch something that, legally, she had to. It brought Emily a new person in her life, and gave Leila the chance to know her sister. If anything, she helped. "I need to talk to Pen." She blurted out, stopping Morgan from talking about his usual weekend plans - drinks and ladies.
"Check her lair." Reid said, butting into the conversation.
-
"I don't understand why you're so nervous. Emily is really nice, and she actually cares."
"Trust issues, I guess." Belle replied bluntly.
"Isa, you don't need to worry-"
"Isa?" She looked up from her cracked, old phone at the 9 year old, shocked by the name. No one had called her 'Isa' since her parents abandoned her at age 5. The single memory from that year was being left in a packing box in the middle of the road after being awoken in the middle of the night.
"Sorry, it's just a-"
"No, I like it. No one's called me that for years." She looked back at her phone, trying to hide the emotion swelling in her heart; safety. "I'm excited for Emily's, I think it will be fun."
The pilot, over the speakers, mentioned their descent and told the 3 passengers to buckle in for landing. Leila, on the way to New York, was absolutely terrified of flying - just like when she was first coming to Virginia - and had no support such as Emily to hold her hand, except for Isabelle who noticed the tenseness and changed seats from next to Cheryl to sit next to her sister. She held her hand the whole landing, and when there was a slight ounce of turbulence, Leila squeezed Belle's hand so tight her knuckles went white. The older girl planned on doing the same thing for this landing, even if it ended in a broken hand.
"Have you messaged Emily?" Leila asked Cheryl, wanting to know if they would be going to the BAU or not.
"Yeah, she said you guys have a key each and know the security pin to her apartment, so we're going there." Cheryl said, barely looking from her phone as they stepped off the jet stairs and into the issued standard black SUV.
"Ok."
"Hey, as you said, she cares and she'll be done soon. It's almost 5 PM so I'm sure it won't be long. We can do something fun." Belle said, trying to reassure Leila. Really, in her thoughts, she was terrified. Emily, in the first week of knowing Leila, had done everything in her power to make her happy and within 1 day of knowing her sister, her mood changed and it was obvious to Belle that she was the reason. Nonetheless, she would at least try.
"Yeah. Emily said we could do something with the rooms soon. She has a lot of space in her apartment. Oh, and her cat is supposed to be home tomorrow!"
"What? Does it have a curfew or something?" Belle joked, not understanding the Paris situation and not realising Penelope had 'custody' of the cat.
"No, silly. Penelope has him for today!" She clearly missed the joke. "Do you have Emily's number?"
"Yeah, she gave it to me after you fell asleep last night. How come?"
"Could I call her?" She asked timidly.
"Yeah hold on." Belle scrolled through her not so many contacts, easily finding Emily's and called her. It took a few rings to connect but soon enough the girls were talking.
"One second, Pen." She said muffled before Leila heard the steps of Emily's heeled boots and the word, "Hello?"
"Hey, Em. We landed."
"Hey, I'm glad you're safe. Is Belle ok?"
"Yeah, she held my hand during landings because there was turbulence but we are all good. Just wondering what time you would be back?" The 9 year old said, plaintivily.
"Oh, kid I'm not sure yet. I messed up a file and forgot to add something so it's invalid until Hotch looks over the new copy, but I'm sure it will be soon." There was a pause, and just as Emily went to continue, Leila replied.
"Ok. We'll be at home." Her disappointment was so obvious to Emily, even through the phone but little did the kid know, Emily was just as upset.
"Hey, can you put Belle on the phone?"
Leila replied saying yes, and passed the phone over to her sister in the front seat. "Hey."
"Hey, uh, make sure she's ok please? She seems down and I don't think me having to stay late is helping."
"We had to go to East New York, it's been really rough and a lot of memories came up but I'll make sure she is distracted. Around what time would you be back?"
"Not sure right now, but I won't be extremely late. She told me about the East side, I'm sorry you had to go there."
"It was for Cheryl. There's worse places. I'll see you soon."
"Yeah, ok stay safe. Bye." With that the phone hung up, and the two went back to their plans. Emily's being talking to Penelope. "Hey, sorry. That was the girls."
"Look, Em I am really sorry. What I did was so wrong and I feel terrible."
"What you did compared to me faking my own death is nothing. You brought me Belle, and now I say 'girls' instead of just Leila. You know how much I've wanted a family, and I was just mad because I thought you tore it apart before it could even begin. I shouldn't have blanked you or been rude. It was childish. Honestly, I can't believe you aren't hurt more. I faked my own death, it was pretty extreme."
"I was but I knew that you did it for us, and no one else would ever take that sacrifice. Are we good?"
"We're good."
"Good, because you never told me what happened between you and Bossman." Garcia said cheekily.
Emily chuckled and sat down, going back to the beginning until now, explaining everything. She was more than glad to have both her friends back to being friends, for she hated arguing yet was so good at it. Their conversation was put on hold when Hotch called for Emily to go to his office and, as Garcia - with a smirk - put it as, "When Bossman calls, you've gotta answer."
"You wanted to see me?" She said, entering the taupe walled room.
"Go home." Hotch said nonchalantly as he took more things out of his briefcase, causing Emily's brows to furrow. "You heard me. Go home. Spend time with the girls. Get some rest, it's Saturday night."
"Are you?"
Aaron just stared at Emily, not surprised he ran himself into this conversation. "I have things to do."
"Aaron, come on. Go home, see Jack, sleep."
"Jessica has Jack the rest of the weekend, there's no point in going home when it's empty and sad." He blurted out, almost in a snappy tone.
Taken back, but not surprised by his words, Emily made him an offer. "I'll drive you home, you can pack things and come to mine."
"What?" He looked up at the woman in front of him in disbelief, as her hands rested loosely in her pockets with her now-longer hair falling on her shoulders perfectly.
"Come home with me. I'm not going to make you spend a night alone in your house, but I'm also not letting you stay awake for another day." She held her hand out, across the desk in order for him to grab it. "Come on."
"Ok." He grabbed it, made his way to face her properly after packing his things away, and brought her in for a soft kiss in which she giggled into but happily accepted. "Lead the way, Ms. Prentiss."