Well here we are. The last chapter. Before you all starting reading I just want to thank everyone who have reviewed and stuck with this story from day one. It has meant a lot to me. I have to send out a special thank you to RJ Russell and kp4377 for allowing me to use them as sounding boards and for the suggestions they gave to fix some minor holes. Without their help I don't think the story would have been as good. Now enjoy.

"Before everyone gets comfortable, we need to have a discussion," Hotch informed the team after the pilot had announced that they were free to move about the cabin. They exchanged puzzled looks but gathered together at the back of the plane.

"JJ, could you ask Garcia to join us?" he asked the blonde.

"Sure."

Within in minutes the puzzled face of the technical analyst appeared on the monitor.

Hotch took a deep breath and plunged in. "We need to talk about Emily and what her future role with us might be."

"Isn't that up to Emily?" Morgan asked.

"It is," Hotch agreed. "But this morning Strauss dropped by the hospital to see her."

"That should have made Emily's day," Dave said drolly.

"I'm sure it did," Hotch said with a small smile. "Strauss offered Emily her old job back."

"What did she say?" Reid asked in a voice tinged with worry.

Hotch looked at each one of them. "Emily asked for some time to think it over. Strauss believes, and I concur, that Emily is hesitating because she is unsure if we want her back on the team."

"That's ridiculous," JJ huffed.

He held up his hand. "It may seem like that to us but to Emily it is very real. We need to let her know how we feel so that she can make the right decision for herself."

"Even if it means she leaves?" Reid swallowed heavily.

"Yes, even if she chooses to go. We'll have to convey to her that we will support her in which path she chooses to follow."

He paused to watch the team absorb what he had just said. A wide range of emotions flirted across their from disbelief on Garcia's to simmering anger on Morgan's.

"I have to point out a few things before I ask for your opinions. The Emily we knew before Doyle is gone. We can never get her back. The last five months have intrinsically changed Emily just like it has changed us. We cannot simply pick up from where we had left off. We can only move forward and try to get to know the new Emily."

"And it won't be easy," he continued. "We all know that she is suffering from PTSD even though she is not admitting to it yet. In the up coming months she is going to have good days and bad days," he said, speaking from experience. "And some of those bad days are going to be hard not just on her but also on us. Are all of you prepared to deal with that?"

"If yes then you must also be prepared for the long siege. Right now Emily has completely retreated behind her walls that are now higher and thicker than before. But they are also riddled with cracks and could crumble at any time. Will you be able to handle what comes pouring out?"

Hotch paused again and looked from face to face. "I am. I'll be there ready to lend a helping hand when she finally asks for help. It's just a few things I wanted you to consider before giving me your answers."

"I don't need to think about, Sir," Garcia piped up immediately. "Em is family and family sticks with each other through thick and thin, the good and the bad, feast and famine…"

"I got it, Penelope," Hotch said with a smile. "You're in."

"Damn tooting I am."

"JJ?" he asked, turning to the blonde profiler.

"I want her back," she said flatly.

Hotch nodded and turned to Rossi. Dave cocked an eyebrow and said, "Do you even need to ask, Aaron?"

"I guess not. Derek?"

Morgan looked up from his hands. "I have no problem with Emily rejoining the team. I'm already looking forward to having her at my side and watching my back. What I do have a problem with is how the whole situation was handled."

Hotch nodded. "I understand. We'll deal with that issue as well. I'm sure you are not the only one." Finally he turned to the young genius. "Spencer?"

Reid looked at him with a pained expression. "I miss her."

"That a yes?" Hotch asked and the young man nodded. "Then it is unanimous," he announced with a broad smile. "We will ask Emily to stay with us. I knew you wouldn't disappoint me."

"Woohoo!" Garcia shouted over the computer, clapping her hands in delight. "We need to tell our lost sheep the moment you guys land." Her eyes grew wide. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I know. We can throw Mighty Miss Em a 'Welcome Back' party." She grabbed a post it note and started scribbling furiously. "We'll need a banner, balloons, streamers…"

Chuckling, Morgan reached over and tapped the screen. "Baby Girl," he said and when she didn't look up he called out again. "Penelope!"

"What?" She blinked at him confused.

"Let's keep it simple, shall we?" He looked around at the group. "Some delicious food and fine wine?"

"Sweet Cheeks, you know our Em can't drink alcohol while she is on pain meds," she scolded him gently.

"Sparkling cider then."

"That works," she agreed. "Oh and make sure whatever food you pick up isn't spicy. It will upset…" Garcia broke off, realizing she had almost spilled the beans about Emily's ulcer.

Morgan caught the slip. "Upset what?" he asked.

"My stomach," she said quickly. "It's been off the last couple of days."

"Okay," he drawled. "No spicy food." He could see the visible relief on her face.

"Great. Garcia out." She cut the feed and vanished from sight.

"Should we tell her together as a group?" JJ asked.

"No. Lets not overwhelm her," Hotch said decisively. "Let me talk to Emily first. She should hear it from me since I am her boss after all."

After Strauss had left, Emily tried to resume her walk thinking it would calm her. It didn't. Her mind kept replaying the conversation. When she found herself constantly stumbling she deemed it was safer to return to her room. There she tried to distract herself with reading, television and taking a nap. None of them worked. Her brain kept repeating Strauss' opinion over and over like a broken record. Frustration eventually drove her to her feet and back out into the hallways to pace. The nursing staff paid little attention to her having grown use to her haunting the corridors for hours on end.

Eventually she found herself back in the lounge. She collapsed into the nearest chair that happened to be at the table with a half completed jigsaw puzzle spread over its surface. She randomly picked up a puzzle piece and slowly rolled it between her fingers. My life is like this puzzle. It's been shattered into a thousand pieces. Some of the pieces are part of my old self and some are new. Will I be able to figure out where they are supposed to go and become whole again? Or am I destined to have one or two pieces missing and remain forever incomplete?

Hotch stood just outside the lounge watching Emily staring off into space, mindlessly playing with a puzzle piece. The head nurse had told him where to find her and had also confided in him that they were getting a little worried. Apparently Emily had been sitting there for hours looking at nothing, seemingly lost in her head. When they had kindly brought down her dinner she didn't notice their presence.

Slowly he made his way over, heeding Rossi's warning about coming up behind Emily and touching her. He walked around the table to pull out the chair directly across from her. She remained oblivious to his closeness. As he sat he noted the dinner tray was untouched. He picked up a piece and studied it.

"I didn't know you liked jigsaw puzzles."

"Hmmm?" Emily said, blinking several times to bring him into focus. She smiled tiredly when she recognized him. "I'm sorry, Hotch, what did you say?"

"I asked if you if you liked jigsaw puzzles," he repeated, placing the piece in its proper place.

She glanced down at the puzzle as if seeing it for the first time. "Generally I do but it just happened to be the first seat I came upon." Realizing she had a piece in her hand she set it quickly back on the table.

Hotch carefully selected another piece. "I heard you had an interesting visit this morning."

Emily's shoulders sagged and she exhaled loudly. "Strauss called you."

"She did."

"She told you everything?"

"Pretty much." Once the second piece had found its home he folded his hands on the table. "What is stopping you from accepting Strauss' offer?" he asked gently.

Emily shrugged her good shoulder and looked away.

"Emily tell me what is going on in your head," he pressed.

She bit her lip and shook her head.

"Talk to me."

She closed her eyes and bit her lip again. When her eyes reopened they were full with hurt. "I don't think the team wants me back," she whispered.

Hotch remained quiet, letting the silence urge her on.

"I know the team is overjoyed that I am still alive, that I'm not dead and that I am back. But…wanting to hang out with me as a friend is a whole lot different then wanting to work with me."

Emily looked up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. "I shattered their trust in me by simply walking out that door. My actions have changed the way they look and feel about me." She fell quiet.

"How so?"

She sighed and looked at him, left hand now rubbing the sling. "Reid feels that I abandoned him just like Gideon did. Morgan has been struggling under the heavy guilt of not saving me." But he did, she added silently. He refused to let me go even after I asked him to. "I've made Garcia so afraid of people vanishing that she's trying to control everything so that they can't."

She paused to take a calming breath. "I laid on JJ the heavy burden of making medical decisions on my behalf and that she had to lie to everyone about what she was doing. I stuck you in an impossible position, forcing you to make decisions no boss should have to make for an employee. Then there's Rossi. He's felt more like my father than my own. I feel I have let him down by not being a good daughter, that I'm not living up to the dreams he had for me."

She sniffed. "I screwed up royally, Hotch. I can't right this wrong."

Hotch wanted to reach over and take her hand in hers but he knew she would recoil from his touch. He could already see her hunching into herself to make herself smaller and less vulnerable, gazing unseeing at the floor.

"Emily, look at me," he said firmly. When she hesitated he repeated it with more force. "Emily, look at me!"

Slowly her pain full eyes came up. "Now listen carefully. You did not screw up. There is no wrong to right. Everyone knows that you were trying to protect us, your family. They are so proud of you. When I posed the question of having you rejoin the team, they all said yes without any hesitation."

"They did?" she whispered.

"The team and I never gave your return a second thought. We want you back. The team hasn't been the same without you." He held up a puzzle piece. "A piece of us was missing. That piece is you, Emily." Hotch placed it in the hole in the middle of the sky filling it in. "You make us complete."

She gazed at the spot he had inserted the puzzle piece. Her back straightened and her hand stilled. She looked up at him.

"You've made your decision," he concluded.

"I have"

"And?"

Emily shook her head. "I have to tell the team. Can you get them over here?"

Hotch smiled. "Shouldn't be too hard. They're lurking just outside of the lounge."

"They are?" Emily turned just in time to see Garcia peeking around the corner.

Hotch waved his hand and the team cautiously entered. They gathered uncertainly around the table. Emily looked up into their eager faces and let hers split into a broad smile, eyes dancing in merriment.

"I'm in."

There was a pause then everyone started talking at once. JJ and Garcia rushed over to give her a hug while Morgan slapped Reid on the back so hard he almost fell over. Rossi nodded his approval.

Morgan clapped his hands together. "Lets get this shindig rolling."

Emily looked up. "Party? What party?"

"Why your welcome back party of course," JJ said, pulling out a table cloth from one of the bags that Emily hadn't seen them carry in and spreading it over the table and the puzzle.

"Geez, you guys, you shouldn't…" she broke off when they all stared. She held up her hand in surrender. "I'll just shut up now."

"That's probably a good idea," JJ chuckled as she set out the dishes and glasses.

Garcia turned to Reid and handed him a foil wrapped pan. "Boy Genius, be a dear and take this down to the nurse's station."

"Why?" he asked.

Garcia rested her hands on her hips. "Because we are thanking them for taking such good care of our Emily and for not tossing her off the roof when she got too annoying."

"Hey!" Emily protested.

Garcia rounded on her. "Did you or did you not pester them to let you start walking?"

"Well…just a little," she hedged.

Penelope smiled smugly. "I rest my case." She gave Reid a shove. "Now shoo or no dessert for you."

When Reid returned from his errand Dave set about serving the meal.

"What we are having?" Emily asked after fending off Garcia's attempt to tuck a napkin under her chin.

"I have prepared for you one of the finest meals you shall ever taste," Rossi said, beaming. "We shall start with a salad of wild arugula with cherry mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. For the main dish we have fresh zucchini and porcini mushroom ravioli with a creamy butter sauce splashed with only the best white truffle oil and for dessert tiramisuo."

From the around the table there came moans of delight and 'sounds delicious' and 'how heavenly'.

Dave continued. "Now normally I would serve a Pino Grigio with the main meal but since we are not allowed to bring alcohol into this fine establishment and a certain someone is on pain meds, we'll have to settle with sparkling cider." He gestured to Hotch who was uncorking the bottle.

After Hotch had filled everyone's glasses, Rossi stood back up and raised his. He turned to Emily. "Oggi di fronte a voi si apre la porta a una nuova vita. Per sempre insieme circondata da un'immensa felicità."

"And for those at the table who cannot speak word of Italian which pretty much includes everyone," he winked, earning a few chuckles. "Today in front of you opens the door to a new life. Forever together surrounded by an immense happiness. Cin! Cin!"

Emily stared at Dave overwhelmed by an array of intense emotions. She wanted to cry with happiness and felt the tears begin to blur her vision. The warmth of love that enveloped her brought to her face a smile that she had thought would never return. She choked out a thank you as she raised her glass of sparkling cider to connect with those she loved and missed dearly.

"Cin! Cin!" Everyone echoed and clinked their glasses together. The toast done everyone dug into his or her dinner.

Emily sat back in her chair, took a sip of her cider and looked around the table over the top of her glass. She smiled at Morgan and Garcia teasing Reid about getting him a bib after dripping butter sauce down the front of his shirt. Hotch and JJ were laughing at something Henry had done. When she glanced over at Rossi she found him watching her. He raised his glass and nodded and she did the same.

This is what she had been missing over the past five months: a sense of family and a sense of belonging. She was home.

"Emily, are you sure about this? You've only been out of the hospital for two weeks," Hotch asked, glancing briefly from the road to the woman sitting in the passenger seat.

"I'm positive, for the umpteenth time," she said with a hint of exasperation. "I've been looking forward to this."

He shook his head. "Promise you won't over do it?"

"I promise."

"You'll take plenty of breaks?"

"Yes, Hotch."

"If you get tired you'll let me take you home?"

"Yes, Hotch."

Hotch pulled into a parking space and shut off the engine. He hopped out and trotted around the front of the car. He had the passenger door open before Emily even had a chance to unbuckle the seat belt.

"Need a hand?" he asked, offering to help her out.

"No, Hotch," she said through gritted teeth. She grabbed her crutch and leveled herself out of the car. "I don't see why I still have to use this. I can walk pretty good without it," she groused.

"Because the physical therapist says so. You may get away with not using it while at Rossi's but here you have to. Therapist and Boss' order."

"Yes, Hotch."

"Do you have everything you need in your bag?"

"Yes, Hotch."

"You have your pain medication?"

"Yes, Hotch."

"Did you take them before I picked you up?"

"Yes, Hotch."

"Did you…?"

Emily had had enough. "I swear to god, Hotch, that if you don't stop acting like a mother hen I am going to beat you senseless with my crutch."

"Yeah, Daddy, stop acting like a mother hen," Jack piped in, hopping out of the back seat.

Hotch held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you had all your bases covered."

Emily rolled her eyes. "You're acting as if I am about to trek up Mount Kilamanjaro. It's only the zoo."

"I know but…"

"I know what I am doing, Hotch. I know my limitations. The zoo does have benches that people can sit on when they get tired," she pointed out.

"And they have a tram you can ride so you don't have to walk the whole place," Jack chimed in.

"See?" Emily asked, gesturing to Jack. "Even Jack knows what we are doing. Jack is going to carry the backpack that has a bottle of water for him, my beer, my pain meds and the lunch Uncle Dave made for us. I have on me my phone, the passes, money and my glock."

Hotch's eyes bulged. "A beer? You brought a beer? You can't drink that. You're on pain meds and the zoo doesn't allow alcohol on the grounds."

Emily and Jack stared at him. "Seriously? You seriously thought I would bring a beer to the zoo? I still may be suffering from the effects of the concussions but I'm not that daft."

He threw his hands up in the air. "I give up. You're incorrigible."

Jack squinted up at Emily. "There's that word again. What does it mean, Em'ly?"

She winked at him. "It means that I am driving your father up a wall."

"Oh. Cool!"

"I going to leave you two to it then. By the way when you get to the red panda exhibit ask for Michele. I arranged with the zoo director for a behind the scenes tour."

Jack rushed over to his father and gave him a big hug. "Thanks, Daddy."

"That's nice, Hotch," Emily said.

"Now go and have fun. You have my number. Call me when you are done or tired. Remember, Emily, don't over do it."

Jack and Emily exchanged glances. "Yes, Daddy!" they said as one.

Hotch glared at them. With a shake of his head he headed back to the car.

"So, Jack, you ready?" Emily asked her young escort.

"Yup. Can we go right to red pandas?"

"Of course," Emily said. "I figured you would want to. But afterwards I want to see the tigers. Oh, wait. The hippos. No the elephants. No the zebras. No the cheetahs. No the hyenas. Oh, oh the sea otters."

Jack laughed. "Pick one Em'ly."

She laughed. "Okay, Sweetie. I'll pick the sea otters and depending on how I feel we can try to see the rest. Deal?"

"Deal."

Jack rested his hand on top of hers that was wrapped around the grip of the crutch and side-by-side they headed off into their new adventure.

That's all folks! Hoped you enjoyed it. I certainly had fun writing it. Now do not fear I already have another in the works. I have it tentatively scheduled for posting of the first chapter of 'Perceptions' for mid August. Hope to see all of you readers then.