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It was a quiet drive – somewhat awkwardly so. Ashley Seaver was staring out of the window in a concerted attempt to avoid meeting the Prentiss gaze.
She felt like a fool today. She felt like the inexperienced damn kid that – compared to the rest of the seasoned BAU – she was. It wouldn’t have been so bad if this had been her first and only mistake, but she had already screwed up big time on her first foray with the BAU – nearly getting herself killed in the process. She should have been out of a job, she knew that – and were it not for Emily Prentiss (who floored her when she agreed to mentor her), she would be.
Ashley wondered exactly what it was that Emily had seen in her? Potential? But that couldn’t be true. They had barely spent any time together before Emily agreed to take her under her wing, to guide and advise her. And sometimes, over this past week or two, Ashley had seen a kind of desperation in Emily’s eyes. It was like Prentiss needed this as much – or maybe more – than Ashley herself did…but Ashley had no idea why that might be the case.
She sighed softly and frowned as she felt the car turn off the highway. “What are you doing?”
Emily glanced across at the young blonde and gave a half smile. “I thought we might stop off for a burger. It’s been a long drive.”
“But we’ll be late back.” Ashley pointed out. “Hotch is expecting us.”
“We can blame the traffic.” Emily countered easily. She parked the car and turned to look at her passenger. “Don’t worry.”
“I don’t want to give him another reason to be mad at me.”
Emily chuckled. “He won’t be. Hell, if he’s mad he can be md at me.” Emily said with a smile. “Have I told you about my first week with the BAU?”
Ashley shook her head.
“Ugh. It was awful!” Emily laughed. “So bad.”
Ashley’s jaw dropped. She imagined Emily Prentiss was the golden haired girl right from the start.
“He hated me.” Emily continued. “He knew my mom, you see, and me a little bit when I was younger. I don’t know whose bad impression lingered most – mine or my mom’s... but he thought I was just there for a way to get under my mom’s skin. He didn’t think I would take the job seriously and, yeah…” She sighed at the memory. “They were a hard few weeks – but the thing about Hotch is that he will always appreciate the best you can give him – he’ll never hold a rough start against you.”
“Was that true?” Ashley asked.
“Of course! So don’t sweat it: we’ve all made mistakes, and so long as you learn from them, then no harm no foul. Okay?”
Ashley nodded. “Are you going to tell him about today?”
“That you and I conducted a prison interview and got all the information we needed? Sure.”
Ashley scoffed. “And the rest?”
“So you got spooked.” Emily shrugged. “I have a story about that myself – but I don’t want to bore you to death before we get back. I think that might be one thing Hotch wouldn’t forgive me for!”
Ashley laughed softly.
“You don’t have to hold yourself back with me.” Emily reminded her. “Just be yourself, okay? You don’t need to be ‘all business’ all the time. Just relax.”
Ashley blew out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding, and nodded. “I just don’t want to mess up.”
“You won’t.”
“Thanks. For agreeing to mentor me, I mean. I think Dave was ready to kick me out personally.”
“He likes you.” She grinned at the disbelief on Ashley’s face. “Truly! He is a good friend – and he will be to you, too. Trust me.”
Ashley nodded, and let a smile touch her lips. “I do.”
“Wanna talk about it? What happened in there – do you want to talk?”
“It was just a stupid reaction.”
“No – it wasn’t stupid. It was a normal reaction. That’s the way folks are supposed to react when some nutjob jumps at them.”
Ashley blushed slightly. She appreciated the words, but to jump in fright during a prison interview still made her feel incredibly dumb. “I should have been more professional.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it – it worked in our favour.”
“Only because you were able to twist it to make him think he was in control.”
“And it gave us the edge. As soon as he felt powerful, he spilled his guts; boasted about all kinds of things that we might never have gotten out of him otherwise.”
“How’d you think so fast to be able to do that?”
“Just practice.” Emily smiled. “See these are things you pick up as you go along. Now you’ve seen how it’s done, it is something you can keep in your back pocket for the future.” She raised a brow. “You good?”
“I’m okay.”
“Uh huh.” Emily deadpanned. “Your father was a serial killer, wasn’t he?”
Ashley nodded. “The Redmond Ripper.”
“You ever see him?”
“No. He writes sometimes, but... but I never read them.”
Emily nodded. “I guess people have told you that it ought to make you more inured to killers? Less affected? But I think maybe it’s the other way around. Coming to the BAU, doing this job… that takes guts at the best of times. But for you? With your past? I think that must be harder than most people give your credit for.” She paused. “Have you heard of The Fox?”
Ashley shook her head.
“He was a family annihilator; a creep; a pervert; a paedophile – you name it, that bastard was it. Last year Hotch and I went to interview him in jail and…Jeez… you ever see Silence Of The Lambs? Of course you have!” Emily nodded, answering her own question. “Well…you know when Jodie Foster walked past Miggs? Yeah. Well it was kinda like that. Some guy that had ripped thirteen women apart leapt at me – he was locked up, of course – there was no way he could have touched me… but I reacted like some greenhorn on her first day. I don’t know why, I mean…I’ve seen these psychos up close for long enough… but that whole day was just… off, y’know? Just crazy.” She shook the thoughts from her head. “So I get it. And it affected me, you know, afterwards. It happens. It’s part of the job. And sometimes things affect you even if you’re usually fine. And that’s okay – you can always talk to one of us about it – Hotch or Dave or JJ…”
“Or you?” Ashley noted.
Emily looked across at her, feeling inexplicably sad. “Sure. Me too.”
Ashley saw something flicker across Emily’s face in the long moment they held eye contact. “Are you okay?”
Emily smiled tightly. “Yeah. Sure. How about that burger, huh?”
Ashley nodded, unable to shake the notion that something was bothering Emily. She grabbed her bag and followed Prentiss towards the diner, debating on whether or not she ought to ask again if her mentor was truly okay.
As they walked across the parking lot, Emily’s phone rang. Ashley didn’t miss the anxious glance that Prentiss sent her before stiffly answering the call. She listened to the cagey responses Emily gave.
“Yep. Uh-huh. No problems. No…I can’t now. I’m out in the field. Yeah. Okay. Usual place.” Emily hung up and gave a false smile.
“Was that Hotch?”
“No.” Emily shrugged, deciding she should elaborate. “Just a friend.”
Ashley followed her into the diner. She noted that Emily picked a table with a view of their car and the older woman seemed decidedly edgy – her eyes fixed on the car rather than on the menu. They ate and made small talk – and Emily received two texted messages that she glanced at before placing her phone face down on the table.
“My mom.” Emily explained. “I’m due some time off, a vacation, y’know.”
Ashley nodded, picking the lie but saying anything.
Emily shrugged and picked at her nailbeds. “So if I’m, you know, not around… talk to Dave, okay?”
Ashley frowned slightly. “Are you taking a long vacation?”
Emily shook her head. “No I just… I just need you to know that Dave will mentor you while I’m away.”
“Okay.” Ashley nodded.
Emily cleared her throat and forced her eyes to remain dry. “Yeah. Well I need to take a leak. I’ll settle the bill and we can get back on the road.”
Once in the bathroom stall, Emily took out her phone and re-read the message. She closed her eyes and sighed, resting her forehead on the stall door. “Shit.” She dialled the number and awaited the familiar voice. “Sean?”
“Emily. Are you okay?”
“Terrific.” She drolled. “Any idea where he is?”
“We’re following his trail but he is making it bloody difficult.”
“He’s coming for me, isn’t he?”
“He’s coming for all of us.”
“I think he’s already here in DC.” Emily said.
“Has he made contact?”
“I’ve had hang up calls. I know it is him.”
“Be safe, Emily. And stay in touch.”
“You too, Sean.”
“If he comes –“
“I’ll be ready. Like always.” She interrupted. “I gotta go.” She hung up and sighed again. She knew that one day he would come; that one day her past would come back to bite her in the ass. Well she was ready for him. She was ready.