Welcome to another Criminal Minds story from me! A little about this story: it takes place after Emily 'dies' but before the team actually discovers she's alive. Yes, JJ and Hotch are the only ones that know about it, but that's about to change in this story. Garcia uses her fabulous hacking powers and discovers a very big secret…and she decides to do something about it.

Enjoy!

"What can I do for you, Garcia?" Hotch asked when the newly-dyed redhead slipped into his office after knocking.

"I was wondering if I could take a week off, vacation time," She asked, sitting in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.

"Not a problem, considering you have nearly a month of vacation time stored up. Going anywhere in particular?" He asked, and she smiled, saying,

"I'm going to Italy for a friend's wedding. We used to be inseparable in high school, and after graduation she went to study in Italy and stayed there. Now she met this hot Italian guy and they're getting married on Saturday, but I want to fly out tomorrow to help with the wedding,"

"Sounds like fun," Hotch said, and then commented, "Short notice though,"

"Yeah, well, I just now got the invite because she kept getting my address wrong. She invited me over by e-mail at first and I originally told her I couldn't go because you guys needed me, but,"

"We still need you, Garcia, but you deserve some time off," Hotch said quietly, and Garcia nodded before going on and saying,

"But I need a vacation, especially after Emily, I really just need a change of scenery for a while. I don't think it'll be longer than a week but I'll let you know," She said quickly and he nodded. The colorful, bubbly tech had become subdued and less giggly lately, and Hotch hated that this was happening to her when he could stop it. But at the same time, he knew he couldn't. It was either the team suffers through the hell of losing a teammate and a friend or Emily Prentiss gets killed for real.

"Completely understandable," He murmured and she stood up, saying,

"I'd better get going. I've got a lot of packing to do. Mind if I stop by on my way to the airport and say goodbye to your adorable little boy?"

"No, I don't mind. I'll walk you out," He offered, getting to his feet.

"Only if you promise me that you won't come back in here and work," She countered, and he sighed, saying,

"All right. Give me a few minutes; I'll meet you down the stairs,"

She nodded and slipped out of his office, going down to sit on her Chocolate Adonis's desk. "Are we still on for tomorrow night?" He asked and she nodded, saying,

"I'll be finished packing by then. Don't forget, you're driving me to the airport,"

"I haven't forgotten. I'll just pick you up early."

"You do that. And I want to stop by Hotch's before I leave, say goodbye to Jack, and I can't forget my little godson Henry," She said thoughtfully and he made to grab her arm as she got up.

"Whoa where you going?"

"Hotch is being a gentleman and walking me out to the parking lot, Hot Stuff. He's also leaving here at a normal time for a human being for once. Two birds, one stone." She told him as she began walking over to meet Hotch.

"You know I love you right?" He called, and she shot back,

"What's not to love?"

Morgan chuckled as he stretched and got ready to leave himself. Garcia chatted Hotch's ear off about her trip to Italy as they rode the elevator down and walked to the parking lot together. She had her hand in the crook of his arm the whole way and when they reached her car, they realized that they had parked next to each other that day. Hotch actually smiled and laughed and Garcia commented,

"You should smile more, Aaron, it looks good on you,"

"Thanks, I think,"

She grinned again and opened her car door. "I'll see you tomorrow Hotch,"

"Good night Penelope," He said and raised his hand as she drove away.

As she drove home she couldn't get the images out of her head that she had found when she went digging last night. Penelope Garcia wasn't a hacker for kicks, she knew how to go deep and how to cover her tracks. And the information she had found wasn't out in plain sight, it was hidden deeply in cyberspace.

She didn't know what had prompted her to do it, she really didn't, but last night when she couldn't sleep for fear of dreams of Emily dying, she opened her computer and went digging into Emily's death.

What she had found was disturbing.

It was so simple she wondered why she hadn't looked before. Emily's bank accounts, seemingly still full, had in reality been empty and transferred a good hundred times to confuse a would-be hacker. However, Garcia wasn't a would-be hacker, she was a damn good one and she found the funds had been funneled into a bank account in France in the name of a woman, Celeste Amelia Benoit. There were two other accounts with different names as well, but when Garcia kept digging first on Celeste, she discovered that she actually lived in Italy, and when she found her driver's license, she enlarged the picture and swore she felt her heart nearly stop.

The picture was Emily Prentiss, with her hair cut and dyed and her eyes were a different color but there was no doubt in her mind that it was her supposedly dead friend. The other two women were the same picture only differed in hair style and hair and eye color. Garcia knew that the one she was looking for was Celeste Benoit as she remembered Emily saying once that she had always wanted to go see Italy.

Her first instinct was to go to Hotch and show him the evidence that Emily was alive, but suddenly she realized that while the rest of them were grieving in the waiting room, JJ and Hotch were standing outside in the hallway, not looking so devastated.

They knew.

There was no other explanation. They had kept the secret from the rest of the team, putting them through hell. She couldn't go to him, and she sure as hell couldn't go to JJ. Without really thinking she bought a ticket to Italy and sent her friend an email, saying that she actually would be in town for the wedding.

It had actually been difficult not to slap her boss across the face when she walked into his office and saw him sitting there, pretending to grieve like the rest of them but in reality, he knew Emily Prentiss was alive and he wasn't suffering like the rest of them. The bastard.

That night she packed all of her clothes and stuff and in the morning she packed her toothbrush and everything else, setting everything by the door so it would be easier to load into Morgan's car the next night. That was something else she couldn't do, tell the rest of them until she knew for sure whether or not Emily Prentiss was alive and breathing.

But Penelope Garcia wasn't stupid. She knew there had to be a good reason why Emily faked her death. And that reason had two words: Ian Doyle. While she purchased her ticket and made hotel reservations she was well aware of someone watching her. She quickly figured out that Doyle was watching her movements and the rest of the team's movements too. He was probably making sure that Emily wasn't dead, or he knew, somehow, that Emily was still alive and he was hoping someone in the team would lead him straight to her. Well, she wasn't going to be the one to lead him straight to her.

She didn't do anything except make Doyle think she was surfing for a wedding present when she was really digging deep into the FBI to find Emily's exact address. She erased everything she had done with Emily and shut her computer down.

And if Doyle followed her to Italy, well, she knew how to ditch a tail. But she would be bringing the gun that Morgan had forced her to buy and then had taken her to go the gun range so she could learn how to shoot it. He commented that it was too bad that she hated guns because she was a natural markswoman.

Penelope Garcia didn't intend for her team to lose anyone else to Ian Doyle

The next day, Garcia walked into the BAU and Morgan immediately got up to escort her to her office. "So, new Harry Potter movie at 5?"

"That works. I have to be at the airport at 8 because my flight leaves at 10 and I'm supposed to land at 3am our time which is actually 9am Italy time. I've already told Emma that I am napping when I get to the hotel and that I'd meet her for dinner,"

"All right. You packed?"

"Eh. Mostly. I'm hopefully going to get out of here at 3 and finish packing everything."

"Just ask Hotch, I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with that,"

"Yeah, I will, later. Right now I've got a cyber-date," She said, settling herself down in her chair.

"Excuse me? Cyber-date? With who?" Morgan demanded, and Garcia chuckled.

"With my sightseeing company in Italy, oh jealous one,"

"Yeah whatever," He muttered, pulling up another chair and helping Garcia pick out places to visit while she was in Italy. While they were doing that, in the back of Garcia's mind she was thinking, there you go, Doyle, I'm going for a wedding and sightseeing. Satisfied?

Yes, Doyle is in this story, since it takes place before he was caught. So Garcia has found Emily, and she's going to find her, to see if her cyber-info is completely accurate. And she's safe-guarded against Doyle, so nothing can go wrong, right? Wrong! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you like this story!