Her Mother's Daughter - Hotchniss

chapter five: ghosting

"I've been ghosting / I've been ghosting along / Ghost in your house / Ghost in your arms / When you're tossing / When you turn in your sleep / It's because I'm ghosting your dreams"

-

Bridget and Aaron both noticed that Emily had been acting odd. They had started to connect, but not enough to be comfortable talking about Emily behind her back. Something was off, and neither knew what.

One evening, Emily returned home from a case and assumed her daughter was at practice. Sergio greeted her at the door and she smiled, picking him up and scratching his little head. "Hey, Serge, how've you been, buddy? Good? Why are you so wet? Have you been out in the rain?"

Emily put him down on her bed and noticed the open window. She shut it before a ceramic shatter rang through the apartment. Emily turned and drew her gun. "Oh, Sergio, is this how you got wet?" Her voice was raised, drawing anyone out to her.

Emily stepped through the apartment and saw a light turn on. No one should be home, Bridget was at practice. Emily saw a figure move through the dark, grabbing something from the kitchen. It was too dark there to see who or what it was, so Emily kept her gun trained on them while she flicked the light switch. Bridget, earbuds in, whipped around and instinctively went to hit her mom with the bristled end of the broom.

They both sighed and Emily put her gun away. The terror was stuck on Bridget's face. Emily grabbed her shoulders and hugged her. Bridget ripped out her earbuds and paused her music.

"Bridget, honey, thank god, oh, I'm so sorry, honey,"

"Mom, what the hell just happened?"

"I thought you were at practice, I must've gotten the day wrong,"

"Practice got canceled, what...?" Bridget's feet remained glued to the floor as Emily walked around.

"I'm sorry. Just a little on edge,"

"I'll say," Bridget exclaimed. Emily hugged her daughter again. "Mom, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, honey, I'm fine. I'm really sorry. I didn't think it was you, I think...I think I just need to get some sleep. Why do you have the broom?"

"Uh, I knocked over a vase," Bridget waited to be scolded. It never came, however. Emily just nodded.

"Okay. Be more careful next time, alright?"

-

Emily met her former colleagues the next morning, all of them around the fountain. "You cannot tell them, Emily,"

"My team can help. Clyde, I was fully ready to shoot my daughter because I thought it was Doyle in my apartment the other night." Emily heard Tsia sigh over the phone. "What am I supposed to do?"

"That's your business, Emily, this is ours." Clyde cared about Emily's safety, but her concern for Bridget rather frustrated him. "Your daughter is sixteen years old. I couldn't even tell you that Doyle was in North Korea, what clearance does a high schooler have to hear need-to-know international intelligence secrets?"

"She's in danger, too. She doesn't need to know all the details. But I cannot sit idly by and get my daughter killed because of some red tape,"

"Emily, do what you must—"

"Tsia!" Clyde whispered sharply.

"—but it's your job to protect her. We can't do anything for her, only for you,"

"I understand that. I'll keep her in the dark as long as I can, but I don't know how long that'll be." They all hung up and dumped their phones, going their separate ways.

It was utterly petrifying, waiting for Doyle to strike. Each morning before she left, Emily made certain she kissed her daughter's head and told her she loved her.

Emily left in the night, leaving a folded letter for her daughter, her name written on the outside so Emily would be sure she read it. Bridget found it, and it wasn't even five o'clock when she woke up.

Bridget,

First, please know I love you so much. You're my life. I've done everything to protect you from the world and from the perils of my job. I love you more than life itself. If anything happens, I have to make sure you never forget that I love you so much.

Remember when you were seven/eight and you lived with Grandma for a while as I worked with that Interpol task force? I remember how sad you were I missed your eighth birthday. You said Grandma was no fun on birthdays. I told you that I was catching the bad guys. I gave you white-purple flowers to make up for missing your birthday, and said that I thought of you when I saw them while I was working my last assignment. I don't know if you'll remember this, it was so long ago and you were young, but I remember.

My last assignment was to catch a terrorist. That's all I've ever told you.

I went undercover as a fellow arms dealer and romantic interest for a former IRA captain, Ian Doyle. He fell in love with me. I got him arrested, and he was interned in North Korea. He had a son, a few years younger than you, of whose murder I staged photos so the governments would all think he was dead. Doyle was presumably tortured with those photos. I relocated the son and his caretaker so they wouldn't be found by Doyle's associates.

Doyle escaped from prison recently. He's in the U.S., I'm going to handle it. This is the safest thing for everyone. Call Hotch, let him read this letter. He'll determine its usefulness to the team. I know they'll try to find me.

Bridget, honey, I love you so, so, so much. Never ever forget that. I love you.

~ Mom

Hotch, when you read this, mark me. Your top priority is KEEPING MY DAUGHTER SAFE. If I am found alive and she is hurt or dead, and you did not do everything in your power to protect her, I will not hesitate to leave the fucking FBI. Keep Bridget safe.

Bridget was in tears as she called Hotch. "Bridget, what's wrong?"

"I didn't mean to wake you up," she cried.

"Don't worry about that, what's going on, Bridget?"

"Mom's gone. She left a note." Hotch's stomach dropped.

"I'm on my way. Stay where you are."

Hotch picked up Bridget and brought her to the BAU. She'd been there before, several times over the last five years, but never under such circumstances as these. She held back her tears out of embarrassment. She hated crying, and especially in front of people. Hotch called the team on the way and told them to get to the office ASAP.