Blind Eye

Surprising revelations

"- Emily, I'll take you to dinner," Elizabeth announced without too much ado, a smile on her face, a gesture that surprised everyone and even more so Prentiss and Nora who, knowing the ambassador well, knew how insincere her smile might have been.

Prentiss nodded, not wanting to embarrass her mother in front of her whole team. Then she had to face the fact that, even though she was exhausted, she hadn't seen Elizabeth for several months. Their relationship was virtually non- existent and, although she would never admit it to herself, Emily hoped deep down that she would be able to have a normal relationship with her parents. A mother figure she could count on, rely on, confide in; something she had never done with her own mother until now.

She greeted her colleagues and Nora, leaving her files on her desk for the next day, and made her way to the lift. She was a little worried about the evening ahead. How would it go? Would she learn the real purpose of Elizabeth's visit? She suspected that, as a very busy ambassador, not to say overbooked, her mother would never have travelled just to say hello to her daughter and share a meal with her.

Before joining Prentiss, the ambassador turned back to Nora.

"- Here are the keys to your room, the name of the hotel is written on them. Come in whenever you like, I don't know how much longer I'll be with Emily.

- Understood, Madam. Good evening!" shouted Nora to Emily and Elizabeth as the lift doors closed.

That left Reid, Rossi, JJ, Garcia and Nora in the BAU lobby. Reid looked away from the lift, still surprised by the ambassador's visit given how little he'd heard about her. Prentiss, their friend and colleague, had never been very tender when it came to her mother and she hated talking about her childhood, a period of her life which was not the most tender. A voluntary silence that the members of the team were busy respecting. Then her eyes drifted towards Nora, this stranger who had appeared a quarter of an hour earlier but who seemed to be someone close to Emily. A little genius in his own right and, above all, a profiler by profession, it didn't take Reid long to realise that Nora must work for Elizabeth. This woman of power had always had people to serve her and that was likely to continue for many years to come. Emily's determination and independence were in stark contrast to the many assistants her mother surrounded herself with day and night.

"Anyone fancy a nice restaurant? It's on me!" suddenly announced Garcia, snapping Reid out of his wandering thoughts.

"I'm not going to be shy about this one," laughed JJ, announcing that she was obviously on board.

"- I'm coming," Spencer smiled as Rossi nodded to join the small group.

Only Nora dared not reply. When she finally decided to open her mouth, it was to greet them and thank them for the invitation, which she apologised for refusing, not wanting to seem too intrusive. But Penelope, with open arms, insisted that Nora join them. The latter, unsure at first, hesitated before smiling back at Garcia and accepting this unlikely invitation.

Before leaving, the small group just had to go over two or three small details of their file, something very quick so as not to keep their guest waiting too long. They headed for their respective offices. Rossi sat alone at Morgan's desk, not wanting to end up alone in his office at the top of the Open Space.

For her part, Nora followed them and came to sit on an empty chair, a desk next to that of a pretty blonde she now knew as Jennifer, or JJ. She looked at them for a long time, one by one, all at the same time attentive to what they had to do but also in a collective good humour which let appear from time to time little smiles and little jokes. It was then that she realised, to her great delight, how lucky her little Emily was to be working with people like them. Earlier, she had looked so happy when Nora had seen her. Now she understood why. It was all there in front of her. The new life of Emily Prentiss, the little girl she had partly raised and watched grow into a wonderful, beautiful young woman.