𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒.

Shaky, out of breath pants left Melanie's lips as she raced across the roof of a dodgy apartment building, her eyes locked onto a specific person of interest: Ian Doyle.

Melanie rounded a corner with her gun on her hip only for Doyle to tackle her to the ground, a groan leaving both of their mouths. After the frenzy, Melanie immediately realized that her gun had been knocked from her grasp. She regrouped as quickly as she possibly could, taking the neckline of Doyle's shirt into a balled fist and sending multiple punches into his jaw with her right hand.

"Shit!" Melanie yelled as Doyle used the strength of his legs to kick her off of him. She army crawled towards her gun that rested on the floor, only for the man who hovered above her to send a heavy blow into her ribcage with the side of his foot.

Melanie sprung to her feet, sending her elbow flying back towards Doyle's nose, allowing her enough time to repossess her firearm. When she turned around, Ian Doyle had begun to make a run for it towards a rusty ladder that led to the sidewalk.

"I've got the shot, agent," a sniper spoke into Melanie's earpiece, his target narrowing onto Ian Doyle's back.

"I got him!" she exclaimed, pointing the flashlight on top of her gun at Doyle before he could descend from the ladder.

Ian released the railing of the ladder and turned towards Melanie with his arms in the air, flailing his white flag. "Wanted to kill me yourself, Agent?" he taunted.

"You fucking wish I'd let you get off that easy," Melanie hissed as she made her way over to the man, pinning his arms together behind his back with metal handcuffs and shoving him against the metal ladder. "You're going to wish you jumped off of this damn roof by the time I'm through with you," she whispered into his ear as she tightened the handcuffs around his wrist, earning a groan of distress from the man.

"Mel," JJ spoke to the back of Melanie's head, "we need to get him back to headquarters for questioning."

Melanie nodded, tightening the handcuffs even more; silently wishing that she'd began to draw blood.

Melanie and Derek stood side-by-side in front of Ian Doyle, the man looking up at them from the comfort of his seat in their interrogation room.

"Forgotten where I've been, agents?" Doyle said through a subtle smirk. "Places far worse than this."

"Doyle, where's Declan?" Derek asked, his stern facial expression remaining.

Doyle scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air but wincing in pain from the tightness of the handcuffs. "Don't play dumb. You found him a month before I did."

Melanie only had a few days to familiarize herself with the amount of information that both Derek and Penelope had found on their search for Declan and Ian Doyle. She knew very well that the investigation had been taking place, but she didn't speak a word of it to any of her superiors - Hotch included. Melanie knew that the state would have brushed over Ian's whereabouts for as long as they possibly could have, and the thought of locating Emily's killer meant more to her than following standard protocol.

"He's living in that lovely little house that our friend set up for him," Ian taunted. "I should've found him sooner, but I finally remembered that she liked cul-de-sacs."

Melanie tilted her head and stepped forward. "Cut your shit, Ian. I've met smarter men than you, and even their mind games never quite do it for me. So we'll ask you again: Where is Declan right now?"

"I'm not playing any games with you."

"You expect us to believe that you had nothing to do with his abduction?" Derek added.

"And you expect me to believe that this isn't a part of the strategy? Are you telling me that my son is missing when I know that he was safe a few hours ago?" Ian asked, the genuine nature of his speech throwing both agents off guard. "You'll just have to get more creative."

Melanie took a seat in the chair across from the scruffy man, resting her forearms on the table. "I'm only going to say this one more time so you better listen well. If you care about anybody besides yourself, you'll give me a list of names who would have done this to your son."

The playfulness in Ian's gaze faltered as his smirk dropped. "Why would anybody want to take Declan? Nobody even knows he exists."

"Somebody does. When we followed your little rat trap, somebody took him from his house. Somebody else was watching you, Doyle. Tell me who," Derek chimed in, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know!" Doyle exclaimed. "I really don't."

"Yeah? Well, you better get to thinking," Melanie leaned forward, inching closer to Doyle. "Because your son is missing and I'd imagine that you know how the likelihood of his survival decreases with each goddamn second that passes. So think."

Melanie exited the room, coming face to face with Jennifer and Strauss who were watching the interrogation from behind the glass.

"How long has Agent Morgan been looking for Doyle?" Strauss asked, turning her head towards Jennifer.

"The night he killed Prentiss in Boston," JJ answered with a sigh. "He refused to believe that Doyle just vanished."

"He's been investigating Doyle for seven months?" Strauss asked, narrowing her eyes.

"We're lucky that he was," Melanie chimed in, crossing her sleeved arms over her bruised rib cage. "Without the work of Agents Morgan and Garcia, you wouldn't have an international criminal sitting in that room."

The three women stared into the interrogation room as Morgan continued to pick at pieces of Doyle's complex brain.

"He seems genuine," JJ said, placing her hand on the curve of her chin as she watched through the glass.

"Of course he does," Strauss dismissed with a snarky attitude lingering in her tone, almost as if she was unimpressed by the work that her agents had been doing. "He's a master manipulator."

"Look at his carotid," Melanie said, pointing towards Doyle. "His heart began to race when I told him about Declan's disappearance. His eyes began to dart and his confidence faltered. All show signs of genuine concern."

Strauss fought the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes as Melanie proved her incorrect. "Well if he didn't take his son, who did?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Melanie replied.

Melanie entered the conference room, finding Hotch with his back facing her as he added to their ongoing investigation board.

"Welcome back," she said with a hint of confusion in her voice. "I didn't know you'd land so early."

"Thank you," he said as he turned around, his freshly grown beard covering his lower face. "What do you have?" he asked, looking at the tablet in her hands.

"A list of Doyle's enemies," she replied as she handed him the information. "Richard Gerace has been in the states as of recently. He's a low-level gun runner who had an angry encounter with Doyle. Penelope found a video of him at Declan's house, identified through the scar on his neck."

"All right, get me everything you can on Gerace," Hotch ordered as he stormed out of the room.

Melanie took out her phone, typing a quick message to Morgan as Garcia entered the room. 'Suspect is Richard Gerace' it read.

"Do you have anything new on Gerace?" Melanie asked Penelope as she tore her eyes away from her phone screen.

Penelope shook her head, worry coating her features. "I gave you all that I've found so far."

"The key words in that sentence were 'so far'. I know that you can work me some of your magic and find everything that there is to know about him."

Penelope let out a stifled laugh. "You give me the motivation that I need, sunshine. Too bad Hotch called us away from our assignments to have an emergency meeting."

"Emergency meeting?" Melanie questioned.

Soon, the remainder of the team piled in through both entrances of the conference room. JJ and Hotch made their way to the front of the room. An uneasy look spread across Jennifer's face but Hotch was unreadable.

"Everybody have a seat," Hotch demanded. The team followed his orders.

"What's going on? Is everything alright?" Derek asked, his gaze darting toward all members of the team.

Hotch sighed. "Seven months ago, I made a decision that impacted this team. As you all know, Emily had lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle... but the doctors were able to stabilize her. From then on, her identity was strictly need-to-know and she stayed in the hospital until she was well enough to travel."

Melanie's eyelids fluttered as she turned to look at Morgan only to find that he was already looking at her. She turned to look at Hotch, his scowl angering her as she let out a disbelieving laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"She was reassigned in Paris and was given several identities; none of which we had access to for her security," Hotch continued.

"She's alive?" Garcia said through a broken voice, her wide eyes brimming with tears.

"But we buried her," Spencer added, the confusion burrowing in his mind.

"I take full responsibility for the decision," Hotch said, his eyes darting to Melanie. "If anyone has any issues, they should be directed toward me."

"Yeah, I have issues," Melanie said, tears nearly breaking the barrier of her waterline as she frowned through her shock.

"And so do I. Hotch-" Morgan began to speak, only until the sound of clicking heels in the distance distracted him.

The team turned around in their seats, finding Emily standing alive and well in the center of the entryway. Melanie's world froze for three agonizingly long seconds, her long eyelashes forcing her tears to fall down her cheeks.

Emily's uneasiness was apparent. Her eyes searched the floor, almost as if she was unable to look her own family in the eye. Melanie shook her head as she stood from her seat, wiping away the boiling hot tears that coated her face.

A gasp left her lips before she spoke. "No," she said through a fragile voice, clearing her throat before she continued. "You died. What- Why would you-"

Melanie began to recount every memory she had from the night of Emily's death. She distinctly remembered that Hotch pulled JJ into the hallway, separating them from the rest of the team. Melanie's heart sank even deeper than it ever had, her hands shaking and her vision blurring as she began to hyperventilate.

Jennifer came up from behind Melanie and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, only for Melanie to tear herself out of the blonde woman's grasp. "You-You knew!" she cried, taking a step away from her.

"Melanie, I-" JJ's eyes watered with each word she spoke.

"I'm sorry," Emily said to the room. "I really am."

Each team member stood and embraced Prentiss with a warm hug, welcoming her back into their lives almost as if she hadn't ever left. Only Derek and Melanie stood a small distance away from the group, their emotions getting the best of them.

Emily's gaze locked on Melanie as she crossed the room, pulling her friend into an embrace. "You didn't deserve that. I'm so sorry, Melanie," she whispered into her ear. Melanie stood still, placing her fingertips on Emily's back - almost as if she was afraid that if she hugged her too hard, she would disappear again. Emily embraced Derek who shared the same hesitance that Melanie had, although he was a bit more welcoming to her touch.

"There's so much that I want to tell you guys, and I will, but right now I really need to know what's going on with Declan," Emily said, approaching the front of the room.

The team managed to narrow down their suspect pool to a single woman who Doyle revealed to be Declan's mother - Chloe Donaghy.

With a revengeful spirit of breaking even with Doyle after he forced her to have his child and chained her to a bed for seven months, her motive was as great of one as Melanie had ever seen.

"Forgetting international ties for a minute, what would these unsubs do?" Hotch asked his team.

"Statistically, the abduction of a child by its mother no matter the psychosocial disposition of said mother would be one of low risk to a child," Spencer said, inferring that there was a good chance that Declan was still alive.

"She's got plenty of connections. She could just go underground," Derek added.

Emily entered the room with a list and handed it to Hotch. "Doyle came up with associates of Chloe's who have healthy bank accounts."

"He thinks it's a trade?" Melanie questioned.

"For what? Weapons, drugs?" Penelope added.

Hotch handed the paper to Penelope. "Run these names, see if you can find any local connections."

"What should I be looking for?" Penelope asked the room.

"Secluded properties," Melanie shrugged, naming a generic characteristic that property belonging to an unsub of this caliber often had.

"A legitimate business that requires national bank accounts," Derek added. "Try Irish backgrounds, too."

Penelope typed away on her computer, revealing a long-lasting feud between Doyle and a rival family. She discovered a secluded location of an import company that the team believed to be the location of the unsubs.

Melanie shook her head, staying back at the office and rushing towards the interrogation room that Doyle had been located in. "Keep me posted!" she shouted back at her team members who rushed to the location.

Melanie stared at Doyle from the safety behind the double mirrored glass. Spencer soon came to her side. They stood in silence, a comfortability measure that they'd both grown accustomed to.

"Are you... Are you okay?" he asked, his gaze darting to her. "I can tell your head isn't with us. I mean, you'd never pass up the chance to go into the field. You live for it."

Melanie craned her neck to look at the man beside her, his eyes glancing to the bruise Doyle left on her cheekbone. "Don't profile me right now," she ordered. Melanie paused for a few seconds, immediately upset with the rashness of her response. "Are you okay?" she added.

Before he could respond, his phone rang. "Declan has disappeared," he said, relaying the information he'd been given. "They had him at the warehouse but now they're gone."

Melanie took no time before rushing into the interrogation room, slamming the door behind her. "Your ex is working with Lockland McDurmant. How would he leave the country?"

"I don't know. He's got endless funds, you'll never stop him," he says, raising his eyes to meet hers.

"And he hates you, doesn't he?"

"More than you do," Doyle sighed.

"I find that hard to believe," Melanie spoke before an idea formed in her mind, her eyes widening as she looked at the man ahead of her. "We should give him what he wants then. You."

The events that followed Melanie's proposition were anything but peaceful.

Ian Doyle had been shot and killed in front of his son's eyes, along with Chloe and Lockland. Doyle shared his final breath with his fingers intertwined with his son's.

Melanie sympathized for Declan, but held no emotion in her heart for Ian Doyle. She couldn't care less that he died and considered it to be one of the moments that made their fight worth it.

Their team had been placed on suspension for two weeks after taking so many unapproved risks. Though by the grace above, Emily had managed to convince the board that oversaw their case that the BAU team were correct with every single decision that they made.

Melanie stood by the office's coffee pot, brewing up a pot for the office. She poured a serving into a mug and laced it with her favorite toffee nut flavoring.

As she made her way towards Emily's desk, she attempted to make all of her worries disappear with every step she took. But they didn't. Truth be told, Melanie was unsure if she'd ever be able to erase the past seven months of grieving from her life.

"Is that for me?" Emily asked, already smelling the cup as Melanie approached.

Melanie nodded with a thin smile, placing the mug on her friend's desk. "Now you know that I keep my promises."

"That is so not true," JJ chimed in from her seat. "Remember when you promised to restock the cheetos after eating the last bag? I haven't had any since."

"Or when she promised to pay me back for that ten dollar burrito I bought her in Orlando," Derek added.

"Or that time when-" Spencer began to chime in, but Melanie held her hand up to silence him.

"Alright, alright!" Melanie threw up her white flag with a laugh.

"Maybe she likes me more than you guys," Emily joked, causing the team to have a laughing fit.

Melanie was unsure of where life would take her from that moment on, and she couldn't help but selfishly think about if Emily had unknowingly been crossed with any information about rising criminals in Paris. She knew she needed to ask.

"Em, can I ask you about something?" she asked, French easily rolling off of her tongue. Emily nodded.

The team watched as the two women exited through the glass doors of their office and into the hallway, where no one could hear their voices.

Notes.
*had to republish because many people didn't get the notif the first time 😩😩 sorry if you got it twice!*

my mother emily is back!! don't we love a happy family reunion : ) well... the family is happy for the time being, that's for sure

there was a huge lack of spencer moments in this chapter but i PROMISEEEEE that they will be back and better than ever reallyyyy soon 🤭 trust me on this one. i'm pretty sure i've planned the last few chapters of this act and let me tell y'all... you're going to love and hate me SOO bad i can't wait

as always, thank you for reading and interacting!!! <3333