Caution to the Wind

Chapter 7

Chapter Summary: Emily wants to keep things as professional and uncomplicated as possible, but her first case as unit chief throws her right into the middle of Tara's personal life. Follows S12E7, "Mirror Image."

Emily accepted the unit chief job. She came clean to the brass about her history with Tara, and they still wanted her for the job, anyway. She went back to London for two weeks to tie up loose ends, and then she was back in D.C. for good. She and Tara both knew that this transition to unit chief might not always be smooth sailing, but they were both doing their best to keep things as normal as possible, and so far, they'd been doing pretty well. Emily arrived at work for her first official day as unit chief, and got settled into her new office. She heard a knock at the door, and she looked up to see Tara holding a plant in her hands—a fake plant, of course; they both knew Emily couldn't keep real plants alive.

"I come bearing office warming gifts," Tara said.

"Oh, that is so nice! Thank you," Emily said.

"So...how's it going?" Tara asked.

"Weird," Emily admitted.

"Yeah?"

"I mean, it started with the 'I'm gonna hurl' first-day jitters, but now there's this: I was able to increase the budget to hire a new agent."

"That's great," Tara said.

"Yeah," Emily replied, "Anyway...what's up?"

"I was just checking to see if we had a case," Tara said.

"We don't."

"We don't?"

"No," Emily shook her head, "I can double check, but...uh, Garcia!" She flagged down Penelope as she passed by Emily's office.

Penelope stepped inside. "Ma'am."

"Please stop calling me ma'am," Emily said, "Uh, we haven't been called in anywhere, have we?"

"No," Penelope replied, "As of 9:27 Eastern Standard Time, all serial killers have taken the day off—maybe they went to therapy."

"Frankly, I could use the time to review these resumés," Emily said.

"Well, if we're good here, I need to take the day off-campus," Tara said, "Is that a problem?"

"No, not at all," Emily replied.

"Thanks."

Emily couldn't help but be a little curious as she watched Tara leave. Tara hadn't mentioned anything that would take her off-campus for the day, and that was weird. She'd seemed a little antsy about something, but if something big were going on, she would have told Emily about it, right? Because she was the unit chief, sure, but also because they told each other everything—or, at least, they used to. Emily waited until Tara was out of earshot, then turned to Penelope.

"Is she..."

"Don't!" Penelope insisted, "She has sworn me to secrecy."

"Okay, fair enough. Never mind," Emily said.

"Alright!" Penelope huffed, "Twist my arm, I'll tell you. Follow me."

Penelope led Emily into the conference room, where she brought up the screen as though she were briefing Emily on a new case.

"Let's face it: We don't really know much about Dr. Tara Lewis," Penelope said, and Emily struggled to keep a straight face, "We know she's an army brat who was raised all over the world. I know, because she told me yesterday, that her mother died of breast cancer when she was in college, and then her dad was honorably discharged, and he started an auto repair shop in D.C. But what I just learned is that her most complicated family relationship is with this guy: Gabriel, her younger brother. Every bit as smart as Tara. He got a 1600 on his SATs, and he didn't go to Yale, despite having a free ride."