Spencer calls JJ as he, Rossi, and Bedelia get to the house.
"Can't find him." He tells her. "The headmistress said Declan got sick and went home." He says. "We're already here." He says. "Their car's out front."
"The lights are off." Rossi says, taking his gun out as does Bedelia.
"I'll call you back." Spencer hangs up and gets his gun.
They keep their guns at the ready and have flashlights to see. Spencer opens the door and they quietly go in. They split up and soon Bedelia goes to the kitchen and finds Rossi next to one of the agents' bodies.
The two go upstairs and find Spencer kneeling next to the other agent who is also dead.
"I'll check the back. You two take the hallway." Rossi says, walking off.
Bedelia and Spencer leave the room and go down the hallway. At the end of the hall is a closet and the door is ajar. Bedelia opens it, flinching back and doing her best not to scream as a body falls out and onto the floor.
Spencer kneels down and checks for a pulse, but doesn't find one. They both look up when Rossi walks over.
"Must be the nanny." Spencer says.
"3 bodies and no kid. Doyle's got him." Rossi says.
+++
Rossi hangs up with Penelope.
"She didn't see a team on the footage." Rossi says.
"This was well-organized. One could have cut the camera while the other started in here." Spencer says.
"So they cut off the power, but no signs of forced entry." Rossi says. "So how do you overpower two armed agents?"
"A male and a female. Maybe whoever did this posed as the next shift?" Spencer suggests.
"Makes sense. Everything about them seems efficient." Rossi says.
"Except they took the time to shove her in the closet." Spencer says.
"So it's personal and professional." Bedelia says.
They go back to the closet where they found the nanny.
"Only Declan and his caregiver live here, so whose stuff is this?" Spencer questions, looking at the men's jackets in the closet. Rossi checks the size on one of the jackets.
"40 long."
"You still think Doyle's behind this?" Bedelia asks.
"He's capable of a lot of things, but being two places at once isn't one of them." Rossi says.
+++
JJ and Bedelia meet Hotch in the hallway.
"Hey. Got your message." JJ says.
"It's time." Hotch states.
"Why? Morgan may be able to break Doyle without her." JJ says.
"Declan tried to make a call. She's on the way." Hotch informs.
Bedelia takes a deep breath, attempting to mentally prepare herself for what the reactions will be.
"All right. I'll get Morgan." JJ says.
"I'll tell the others." Hotch says.
~ ~ ~
Penelope and Spencer are in the round table room. They look over at footsteps and Derek, Bedelia, JJ, and Rossi walks in.
"You get anywhere with Doyle?" Spencer asks Derek.
"Doyle doesn't think Gerace has the guts to take him on." Derek says.
"But that's definitely Gerace on the tape." Penelope says, sitting down.
"Welcome back." Derek says as Hotch walks in.
"Thanks. Everybody have a seat." Hotch says. Spencer, Penelope, and Rossi sit down.
"Why?" Derek asks, still standing. JJ and Bedelia stand by Hotch. "What's going on? Everything all right?"
"7 months ago I made a decision that affected this team." Hotch says. "As you all know, Emily had lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle. But the doctors were able to stabilize her."
Bedelia avoids everybody's gaze, especially Spencer's.
"And she was airlifted from Boston to Bethesda under a covert exfiltration. Her identity was need to know. And she stayed there until she was well enough to travel. She was reassigned to Paris where she was given several identities, none of which we had access to for her security."
"She's alive?" Penelope quietly asks.
"But we buried her." Spencer says.
Bedelia looks down at the pain in his voice, her heart breaking all over again.
"As I said, I take full responsibility for the decision. If anyone has any issues, they should be directed toward me." Hotch says.
"Any issues?" Derek asks. "Yeah, I got issues."
Bedelia looks over at the door as Emily walks in.
"Oh, my God." Penelope whispers making the others turn to see her.
Emily pulls out of the hug with Spencer after already hugging Penelope and Rossi.
"I am so sorry. I really am." Emily tells them. "Not a day went by that I didn't want to..." She trails off as she looks at Derek. "Really, I-- you didn't deserve that. And I'm so sorry." She tells him, hugging him. He only lightly hugs her back, a hand resting on her back.
"There's so much I want to tell you guys, and I will. I promise. But right now, I really need to know what's going on with Declan." Emily says.
"Emily, was there a man living at the house?" Spencer asks.
"Yes. My friend Tom Koehler." Emily says. "He was raising Declan as his own."
"Where is he?" JJ asks.
"I never saw him go in or out of that house." Penelope says.
"He was on assignment overseas." Emily states.
"But he's all right?" JJ asks.
"Yes. He's on his way back now." Emily says. "He got a call from Declan, he called me, and when I landed, Hotch told me that you had Doyle in custody."
"And because of Tom's line of work, that's why you enrolled Declan in a boarding school." Hotch says.
"I made sure that he, Louise, and I were the only ones allowed to take him off campus." Emily says.
"Louise took him home last night because he was sick." Spencer says.
"Food poisoning." Hotch says.
"A few of the kids had it, apparently. So whoever did this got to him on campus. They knew they only had one chance." Spencer says.
"Current suspect is Richard Gerace. He's the most recent arrival into the states. We've been tracking his progress through the city, but we came up empty." JJ says.
"But we know it's him because he has the scar." Penelope says.
"That doesn't make sense. Gerace gave up on Doyle a long time ago." Emily says.
"He said you were the only one who knew Gerace." Rossi says.
"Which is why I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the balls to pull this off." Emily says. "There was no forced entry at the house?"
"I had two agents working security." Derek says.
"We think Gerace and his partner posed as the next shift, and one of the agents is a woman." Spencer says.
"She's the alpha." Emily says.
"So we're looking for a woman who's getting back at Doyle." JJ says.
"And our suspect list just got a whole lot longer." Emily says.
+++
"These women are associates of Doyle's who may have crossed paths with Gerace." Emily says.
"Anyone have a deeper personal connection with Doyle?" Derek asks.
"Whoever took Declan shows a lot of rage at the nanny." Hotch says.
"She had been with Doyle since before Declan was born." Emily says.
"The nanny represents a caregiver, a mother figure." Spencer says.
"Who is Declan's mother?" Hotch asks.
"Doyle told me she was dead." Emily says.
+++
"She brought tainted cupcakes to the boarding school and just walked right in." Derek says
"Oh, that is creepy." Penelope says.
"We thought Doyle was bad. Check her out." Rossi says.
"Yeah, she ran an international prostitution ring before moving on to chemicals." JJ says.
"Distribution and trafficking, manufacturing, possession, weapons charges?" Spencer lists.
"Went away for 3 years." Derek says.
"That's it?" Bedelia asks.
"She hardly seems like the mothering type." JJ says. "Why would she take Declan?"
"It isn't love." Hotch says.
~ ~ ~
"Forgetting the international ties for a minute, what would these unsubs do?" Hotch asks.
"You know, statistically the abduction of a child by its mother, no matter the psychological disposition of said mother, would be one of low risk to a child." Spencer says.
"She's got plenty of connections. She could go underground." Derek says.
"Is there anywhere in the U.S. where Chloe and Doyle had a history?" Rossi asks.
"No. But they do have a lot of ties in Europe." Penelope says as Emily walks in.
"Doyle came up with associates of Chloe's who have healthy bank accounts." Emily says, giving Hotch a piece of paper.
"He thinks it's a trade?" JJ asks.
"For what, weapons? Drugs?" Penelope asks.
"Does it matter?" Emily questions.
"Garcia, run these names. See if any have local connections." Hotch says.
"Yeah. What else should I be looking for, you guys?" She asks.
"Secluded properties." Rossi says.
"A legitimate business that requires international bank accounts and trade." Derek says.
"It could be mundane. They survive under the radar." Spencer says.
"Garcia, start with Irish backgrounds. This type of feud could go back generations." Derek says.
"Oh. It looks like the Doyles and the McDermotts have a thing." Penelope says.
"What kind of thing?" Derek asks.
"Ian Doyle murdered Jimmy McDermott, but his younger brother Lachlan owns an "import" company." Penelope says.
"Do they ship internationally?" Hotch asks.
"You know it. He has 3 warehouses, one of which is slated to be demolished." Penelope says.
"Where?" Hotch asks.
"Inner Harbor, Baltimore." Penelope says.
"Let's go." Hotch says.
+++
Bedelia, Emily, and Spencer are standing outside of the interrogation room Doyle is in. Spencer's phone rings.
"Yeah." He answers. He hangs up. "Declan's disappeared. They had him at the warehouse, but now they're gone." He goes into the room.
"Your ex is working with Lachlan McDermott." Spencer tells Doyle. "How would he leave the country?"
"I don't know." Doyle says. "He's got endless funds. You'll never stop him."
"He hates you, doesn't he?" Spencer asks.
"More than you do." Doyle says.
"Then I think we should give him what he really wants. You." Spencer says. Emily opens the door, Bedelia standing behind her.
"No, we are not letting him out of here, Reid." Emily argues.
"Emily, I will chain myself to him if I have to." Spencer says.
"He'll find a way to escape." Emily says.
"No, he won't, and we're running out of time. If we find McDermott now, we have a chance to save Declan." Spencer says.
+++
The cars pull up to a plane and the chopper lands in front of it. They get out of the chopper and keep ahold of Doyle as they stand outside.
"Lachlan McDermott and Chloe Donaghy, this is the FBI." Hotch says into the megaphone. "We know you have Declan. To ensure his safety we would like to trade. We will give you Ian Doyle and you send us the boy."
The plane door opens and Lachlan walks out, dragging Declan with him, keeping him in front of him.
"Bring Doyle here!" Lachlan orders. Spencer and Emily lead Doyle over. "I want him here on his knees!" Bedelia stands behind Rossi and Hotch.
"Hotch, are we really gonna do this?" Derek asks into his mic.
"No one leaves here." Hotch states.
"You bastard. How's it feeling?" Lachlan asks Doyle. "It's your bloody time now, isn't it? Now hand him over."
"Gun!" Derek screams, seeing Chloe exit the plane. She starts shooting, hitting Doyle and Lachlan, and Spencer shoots at her, hitting her and she falls down the rest of the steps and to the ground.
Spencer rushes over and checks Lachlan's pulse while JJ goes over and checks Chloe's. Emily goes to Declan, keeping a hand on his head as he lays on the ground by Doyle.
Doyle pulls his bloody hand away and looks at Declan. He holds his hand out and Declan grabs it.
"I remember you." Declan says.
"Sorry, son." Doyle tells him. His head slowly falls to the ground as his eyes droop shut and light grip on Declan's hand disappears.
+++
It's been two weeks and they were all suspended for what they did. They're currently at the courthouse.
"Why aren't we in there?" Spencer asks since JJ is in the courtroom alone.
"They're just trying to intimidate us." Rossi says.
"Well, that's not about to happen." Derek says.
"I'm not okay with this." Penelope says.
"You may not even be a witness." Rossi says.
"Sir, I'm not worried about me." Penelope says. "Don't they have anything better to do than--"
"Baby girl, this is just what they do." Derek says.
"Anything?" Rossi asks as Strauss walks over.
"It doesn't look good." She says.
"How long is she gonna be in there?" Spencer asks.
+++
After all going in separately, the entire team is sitting at the long table in the courtroom.
"This team took many unprecedented risks. None were approved. The DIOG has rules, and you chose to ignore every last one. That's blatant disrespect to the bureau and to authority of law in general. What I find interesting is that you are the experts in behavior but find nothing wrong with yours."
"May I?" Emily asks. "The journey was not traditional, but this team neutralized 4 international criminals and saved the life of a young boy in the process."
"You started a war with Ian Doyle years ago that this team and the U.S. government had to finish. The rest of you are dismissed. Agent Prentiss, we're not done."
+++
They're at the BAU and Bedelia walks up to where Rossi is taking Emily's photo off the wall of fallen agents. Everybody else gathers and Derek stays for a second before starting to walk off.
"Morgan." Hotch follows him.
After a few moments, Strauss passes them.
"We need to talk." She says, continuing her trek to the round table room, the team following.
"The committee made it clear they will not support a rogue team." Strauss says. "Agent Prentiss convinced them you were not that. They will be watching you closely. So I suggest you play by their rules."
"So we're okay?" Penelope asks.
"Suspension is lifted for everyone." Strauss says.
"Thank you, ma'am." JJ tells her.
"There may be more paperwork, considering your... situation, but the team is lucky to have you, if you're interested." Strauss tells Emily.
"May I think about it?"
"Of course."
"I'm in." Emily says, gaining small smiles and laughs.
"I have a stack of cases on my desk. I'm happy to pass them all off to you." Strauss says.
"I'll pick them up in the morning." Hotch says. Strauss nods and leaves.
"Emily, uh... what did you tell them?" Derek asks.