Caution to the Wind

Chapter 2

Chapter Summary: While the BAU team adjusts to some changes, an international serial killer copies the classics, and Tara Lewis meets Emily Prentiss. Follows S11E19, "Tribute."

The team had been in a bit of a funk since Morgan left. Well, most of the team had been in a funk. Most of the team had worked with the guy for nearly a decade or more. Tara was sad to see him go, but she wasn't mourning his departure. She simply hadn't been with the team long enough for him to become a fixture in her life the way he had for the others. She missed him, of course, but not like Penelope missed him. Not like Spencer missed him. It was all starting to make Tara feel ever so slightly out of place with the team, even though she knew this funk wouldn't last forever. She knew they just needed time to process, and she would never begrudge them that, but that didn't stop her from feeling just a little bit relieved when a research assignment sent her to Atlanta for a week.

She had barely wrapped up her work in Atlanta when Hotch called her back and asked her to meet up with the team in New York. He quickly briefed her on the case: An international serial killer was copying the classics—Chikatilo in Russia, Jack the Ripper in London, De Salvo in Boston, and now Son of Sam in New York. They hadn't technically been invited in by the NYPD, but they were taking the case as a personal favor to a former BAU team member now assigned to Interpol in London. Of course, Tara knew he meant Emily Prentiss. Emily had left the BAU a few years before Tara joined, but the team had never stopped talking about her. Tara was excited to finally meet the woman she'd heard so much about.

She landed in New York and made her way to the conference room in the NYPD precinct where a dark-haired woman was taping notecards up on a case board.

"Excuse me," Tara said, "I'm looking for an Agent Prentiss."

The dark-haired woman turned around. "You found her."

"Hi," Tara said, extending her hand to Emily, "Dr. Tara Lewis. Really happy to finally meet you; I've heard great things."

"Every bit of it's true," Emily replied, "I've been looking forward to meeting you, too."

The first thing Tara noticed about Emily Prentiss was her incredibly long eyelashes, and the way they so beautifully framed her big brown doe eyes. The first thing Emily noticed about Tara Lewis was her towering height, and the way she carried herself with an elegance and confidence that made her seem even taller. Damn, they both thought, I had no idea she was so gorgeous.

"I see you got a head start," Tara said, walking towards Emily's case board.

"Two years' worth," Emily nodded.

"I heard you almost got him in London," Tara said, "I'm-I'm really sorry about what happened."

"Yeah, me too."

"Were you close to the Scotland Yard inspector that got killed?" Tara asked.

"No," Emily said, but Tara could tell it was a lie, "I mean, I knew her, of course, but, uh...No."

Before Tara could respond, the rest of the team filed into the conference room, and Emily greeted them all with warm hugs. She headed to the crime scene with JJ and Rossi, and Tara was a little disappointed to see her leave with them. She thought it might have been nice to spend some time with Emily—and not just because her pretty smile gave Tara butterflies in her stomach. Emily had been part of the team for almost six years, but she'd also been an ocean away from them for almost four now. She knew them and loved them and saw them as her family, but she was also a bit of an outsider right now. Tara could relate. The next time Tara talked to Emily was late that night when the team found two more victims shot dead in their car outside a warehouse in Queens, but at that point, Emily definitely wasn't smiling.