"Oh my god guys look who's back!", Garcia exclaimed happy when Emily walked into the bullpen that morning so Reid and JJ turned around to see the brunette walking in.
"I missed you so much.", she told the agent when she hugged her.
"Garcia we saw each other almost every other day when you got off from work.", Emily laughed.
"Yeah but work wasn't quite the same without you!", Garcia stated.
"It's good to have you back.", Reid said when he also greeted Emily with a hug.
"Hey I see my favorite brunette is back.", Derek chimed as he walked into the bullpen and saw Prentiss.
After Emily had greeted everyone she sat down at her desk to start working on some files. She was earlier than usual today but she knew there would be a lot of work to catch up with so she'd rather come in early for a few days than taking a few weeks to get it all done. When Rossi got to work he also said hello to Emily and then went into his office. After a while Emily noticed that it was already nine-thirty and she hadn't seen Hotch come in by now so she decided to ask JJ about it. "Hey JJ what's up with Hotch? I haven't seen him all morning is he sick or anything?", she asked worried since she had just spoken to Hotch on the phone yesterday morning.
"Oh I forgot to tell you, he's not coming in today since he's moving his stuff out of his and Hayleys apartment.", JJ answered casual.
"Wait what?", Prentiss asked shocked.
"Did Hotch not tell you about it?", the blonde asked a bit confused.
"No, he didn't.", Emily replied.
"I thought you two would have talked about that I mean since Hayley and him have officially broken up and everyone knows about you two now.", JJ said surprised.
"I told him to be there for her and not even a week later he moves out of their apartment?", Prentiss was clearly upset since she felt bad for Hayley.
"Maybe you should call him later and ask him about that.", her friend suggested.
"Yeah that's a good idea.", Prentiss sighed and focused on her paperwork again.
"Hey Rossi, I think this file is for you not for me.", Emily said when she opened the door to Rossis office while she held a file up for him so see.
"Oh yeah they messed up a bit the last time when they handed them out. I also found one that was Reids in mine.", the agent explained to her. "Thanks for bringing it to me.", he said after Prentiss had handed it to him.
"Don't worry I was walking up here anyways.", she replied and was on her way back to the door.
"Wait, do you have a minute?", Rossi asked her.
"Uhm yeah of course, why?", Emily was confused of Rossis sudden voice change, he sounded way more serious now.
"Take a seat.", he offered Prentiss the chair in front of him.
"Okay so what is it?", Emily wanted to know.
"So I know that it is none of my business but I need to know what is going on with you and Hotch?", the agent asked her serious.
"Nothing has changed, except that I heard that he is moving out of his and Hayleys apartment today.", the brunette told him honest.
"Emily I need you to be honest with me because someone told me that our bosses have heard about your and Aaron's situation and they are not happy about it.", Rossi explained to her.
"You mean because of the 'relationships at the workplace' policy?", Emily rolled her eyes at him.
"Exactly. ", the older man replied.
"David there is nothing going on between me and him. At least not more than two weeks ago.", Prentiss said pissed.
"Come on Emily we both know that now that he broke up with Hayley there is nothing standing in the way of you two.", Rossi looked at her serious.
"When I got home from the hospital Hotch told me he wanted to be with me. I was the one that told him he should be there for Hayley first and we also don't really know each other since we ignored us most of the time at work, I know the Aaron he was 10 years ago and he knows the Emily I was 10 years ago. And let me tell you that Emily was a really different one than the one that is sitting in front of you right now. I think you could say the same about him. I don't even know if we will ever have a relationship that could be relevant to Strauss or her bosses.", Emily argued.
"I know that Emily but that doesn't matter to them. Because of Foyet everyone knows about your past and it didn't took long for them to find out your and Hotchs age at the time. Even if they don't bother to dig more into that there is still the fact that Foyet kidnapped you because of that and no one knew the reason since Hotch still kept it a secret at that time. They think that this past relationship got the team in trouble and right now all I know is that they are really pissed about that and there are rumors that they are having discussions about one of you getting transferred to another unit.", David told her calm.
"Wait what?", Prentiss asked shocked. "They can't do that right? Like why should a past relationship be important to them? I didn't even knew that Hotch worked here when I started this job.",she said upset.
"I know and I haven't heard of a case where that was a problem. I mean they often accept current relationships but since Strauss was already searching for a reason to replace Hotch I think she took the best she could find.", Rossi explained to her.
"They can't replace him because of something like that!", Prentiss replied.
"But they will. They will use the argument that it got his team in danger and I think they will also use the fact that you were a minor against him. They will say if the public hears about it the FBI will get bad press.", Dave told her.
"No they can't do that.", Emily was still upset about this situation.
"They can. Thats why we need to be prepared.", Rossi said calm.
"What do you mean with that?", Prentiss asked confused.
"We need to be ready for the moment when they come here and ask questions. And I think that moment will be today, since Hotch is not there to stop anything. We need to know exactly what to say and how to answer their questions. I think they will ask everyone on the team about the thing with Foyet and how he behaved. They will use everything single bit of information they have, that sounds like Hotch knowingly put the team in danger, against us. And then we also need a solution for the things that happened in the past. ", the agent told her.
"So you think we should talk to the others?", the brunette wanted know.
"Exactly.", Rossi nodded.
"Okay but then there is also the relationship between us. They don't have any proof that something happened back then.", Emily said skeptical.
"Technically they don't have any but they will use the rumors as proof.", Rossi looked worried.
"I think I have an solution for that but I need to talk to someone else first. Could you talk to the team while I am gone?", Prentiss asked him.
"Yeah I'll make sure they know what Strauss wants when she calls them to her office.", Rossi agreed.
"Alright I'll be back by lunchtime.", Emily said goodbye and rushed to the elevator where she met Derek.
"Woah, what's going on Em?", he asked confused.
"Rossi will explain it, I'll be back soon.", Prentiss replied and hopped into the elevator so Morgan stood there with a confused look on his face when the elevator doors closed.
When Emily got into her car she got her phone out to make a phonecall
"Hey Emily whats wrong? I thought you were at work today?", Hotch picked up confused.
"Yeah I thought the same about you but I heard you are moving out of your apartment but that's something we should talk about later. You need to come to the BAU as fast as you can.", Emily told him upset.
"Wait why?", Hotch was even more confused now.
"Rossi overheard someone talking about how Strauss and her bosses know about us.", the brunette replied.
"Okay but what's the problem with that? I mean right now there is nothing going on between us.", Aaron asked her clueless .
"Yeah it's not really about that. It's more about the fact that they found out that I was a minor at the time and they were already trying to replace you for a few weeks now so they will definitely use that as a reason for a transfer to another unit.", Emily said.
"Wait how did they find out?", Hotch wanted to know.
"They heard rumors and then started their research i guess.", Emily shrugged her shoulders even when Hotch couldn't see that. "And it's also about the fact that in their eyes you put the team in danger because you didn't tell them about our past and they didn't know why Foyet was after me.", she added.
"Okay yeah I get that part but I didn't think that it was important information at that time.", Hotch argumented.
"I know but you know that they don't care about that.", Emily said serious. "Anyways Rossi is talking to the rest of the team right now to let them know that they will most likely be questioned through out the day. That's why I need you to drive to the BAU immediately.", she added rushed.
"I'll see what I can do.", Aaron replied.
"Great I'll meet you there.", Prentiss said and didn't even wait for an answer before ending the phone call.
A few minutes later she parked the car on the side of the road and got out of it. She rushed to the door of the house she parked in front of and rang the doorbell.
"Oh, Emily what are you doing here?", the woman asked surprised when she opened the door.
"I need your help mom.", Emily replied and finally let the tears fall she had kept in the whole time.