Emily Prentiss One Shots

I Get It Part Two

Apologies for the delay, I've been busy with school and college applications.

The fluorescent lights of the precinct flickered as you pushed through the heavy glass doors, your coffee already cold despite having bought it only ten minutes ago. Something felt wrong this morning, had felt wrong since you'd woken up at 4 AM in a cold sweat, your heart racing for reasons you couldn't name. That sinking feeling in your stomach had only intensified during the drive in, and now your skin crawled with an anxiety you couldn't shake.

You'd learned to trust your instincts over the years. First as a profiler at the BAU, and now as captain of this precinct in Lafayette, Louisiana. A position you'd taken two years ago when staying in Quantico became impossible. When seeing her every day became a knife twisting in your chest.

Your assistant, Marie, was waiting at your office door. She was young, eager, reminded you a bit of yourself before everything got complicated. But the look on her face this morning, pale, drawn, her usual bright smile nowhere to be found, made your stomach drop even further.

"Another one?" you asked, though you already knew the answer.

She nodded slowly, her dark curls bouncing slightly with the movement. From across the station, you heard Officer Landry let out a loud groan of frustration, followed by the sound of something being slammed onto a desk.

You understood the sentiment.

Plopping down at your desk, you felt the weight of leadership settle onto your shoulders like a lead blanket. You'd wanted this position, had worked hard for it, but mornings like this made you question everything. You sighed deeply, rubbing your temples where a headache was already forming. "Let me see the file."

Marie handed it over without a word, and the moment your fingers touched the manila folder, you knew. Even before you opened it, even before you saw the crime scene photos that would probably haunt your dreams for weeks, you knew.

The photographs were brutal. A young woman, mid-twenties, blonde hair matted with blood. But it was the marking on her abdomen that made your blood run cold, a cross with an eye carved into the flesh with surgical precision. The same marking you'd seen before, years ago, when you were still at the BAU. When you still sat across from Emily Prentiss in briefing rooms and felt your heart skip every time she smiled at you.

The case had gone cold after three victims and no viable leads. The unsub had simply stopped, vanished like smoke, and the team had been forced to move on to other cases, other monsters. But you'd never forgotten those markings, that signature. None of you had.

"I'm calling the BAU," you said, your voice steadier than you felt. "This is their case."

Marie nodded, understanding without needing explanation. She'd heard the stories, knew about your past with the team, though you'd never given her details. Some wounds were too deep to share with casual conversation.