Please accept my apologies for the long delay in posting this epilogue to this story!

I hope you enjoyed it! Do let me know what you think!

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Acceptable Risk

Epilogue

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The BAU team was flying home to Virginia; they had been on one of their never ending cases.

Settling in their leather seats, they sighed in unison.

"Ah…at last! Case close, scumbag caught, survivors reunited with their families, all is well…well, except for the four dead victims," JJ said sadly. "But they will not be forgotten by them."

Alex Blake nodded, "That's right, a memorial is being erected as we speak, most apt to an end." She closed her eyes but her mind was still swirling over the last few days' events.

"Those folks in the town of Perry will always keep them in their hearts, especially little Norma." Dave Rossi added. "She was the heart and soul of the town."

"Only seven years old…but larger in life." Morgan muttered; he was the one who found her decomposed body.

The team became quiet after then.

Hotch looked at them; once again his team had done it, they had caught another serial killer using their skills as profilers and prevented more deaths. He was proud of his team.

But inwardly, he was not thinking of them; his mind was on something else.

Emily Prentiss.

It had been one month since he had heard from her.

He was worried. He was very worried.

Yes, he shouldn't be. After all, this was Emily, she was with the best team; the INTERPOL.

They were on an extraction mission in Turkey, in the driest part of the desert.

And communication was spotty.

Actually it was impossible. Even INTERPOL had a difficult time trying to lock in on their actual location via satellite tracking.

His conversation with Clyde Easter had also been frustrating; the Frenchman had virtually nothing to report.

As for Dr. Wong Mei-Lin, she and Spencer Reid had been in constant contact, so much so that Hotch had to stop them while he was in the field as he felt she was a distraction – a good distraction but one nonetheless.

The team saw a drastic change in him when he came back from London; they saw that he had gotten over the death of Dr. Maeve Donovan and had moved to Dr. Wong. They knew that he had not completely gotten over Maeve; he had visited her grave when he came back once when he returned.

They saw he was quite loosened with the team and not as aggressive as before and he was more opened with the team; he was more or less back to his normal self before Maeve's death.

The team sighed with relief… for now.

Until this latest problem; Mei-Lin had gone incommunicado.

It happened right when they boarded the jet in Dayton, Ohio.

"Reid." Morgan reached over to tap on his shoulder. "Reid!"

The young man snapped his head up, "What?"

Brow arched, Morgan frowned at him, "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing Morgan." He bent his head down, eyes on his phone again.

Morgan, in the meantime, looked up to see JJ and Blake staring back at him with a questioning look; what was that about?

He shook his head and shrugged.

Rossi leaned over and whispered to him, "I think I know the problem, it's Mei-Lin. Reid's been trying to get ahold of her for the past four hours since we closed the case – when Hotch gave him the green light to call her but she's not answering his calls. He's in panic mode."

Brows furrowed, Morgan thought for a moment before he answered, "You think she's mad at him?"

Dave shrugged, "Could be." He shrugged. "Hey, I don't interfere with matters of the heart…I have enough problems of my own…never mind." He quickly clammed up.

"Okay…But if you want to talk, Rossi, I'm uh, here." Derek offered lamely.

Dave gave him a skeptical look but hesitant to reply just nodded.

Reid sat for a moment before he stood up abruptly and walked towards Hotch's usual seat and plopped beside the Unit Chief.

"Hotch…got a moment?"

Looking up from his work, Hotch nodded, "Sure, what's on your mind, Reid?"

"I can't get a hold of Mei-Lin."

"Maybe she's asleep?" He offered.

Reid shook his head, "She told me she'd always be there for me no matter what."

Hotch nodded for a moment, "When's the last time you spoke to her?" He quickly added, "Not including the case."

"…8 hrs, so if she's asleep, she should be up by now. She never sleeps for more than six hours."

Hotch smiled at him, "You know her pretty well." He teased.

Reid reddened for a moment, "Yeah, yeah…not as much as I…oh…." He paused when he saw Hotch held up his hand for him to stop providing personal information. "Have you heard anything from Emily?"

Hotch stopped smiling as he shook head, "No, no communication at all."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Of course I am but this is Emily we're talking about; she can take care of herself…" His voice faltered as his mind wandered away at the thought of her…

"Hotch, what's wrong?"

Hotch looked at Reid for a moment and pulled out a small black box and handed it to him, "I…bought this while we were in Ohio."

Reid opened it and saw that it was an engagement ring.

"This is …very …real." He looked up at Hotch. "Do you really mean to?"

Hotch nodded, "It's time I settled it with her. She's the one."

Reid smiled, "Yeah…she's the one for you. You two will be great for each other and Jack will like her very much."

Hotch nodded, "Jack loves her a lot. I didn't know that until I talk to him the other day; he told me he liked her." He smiled as he remembered the conversation.

"I…I think Mei-Lin's the one for me too." Reid said miserably.

"You think?" Hotch smiled at the young man.

Reid nodded miserably. "Hotch, I miss her very much. I can't stop thinking about her."

Palming the small black box, Hotch nodded, "Yeah, I miss Emily too."

Together they sighed as they thought of the women they fell in love and were far away.

Dave and Morgan shook at them, "Look at them, they have it bad, don't they?" Dave observed.

"Oh…very, I wish the ladies live close by…they're looking pathetic." Morgan was grinning.

Dave turned to glance at him, "Wipe that grin off your face, Morgan, your day will come and when it does I'll be more than happy to remind you of this moment."

The younger man shook his head, "Oh no, my friend. Not me. I'm not going to fall in love like those fools over there. Love is nothing but trouble."

Dave shook his head, "I'll remember you said that."

…

At the tarmac, in one of the black SUV;

"Boy, are they gonna have a heart attack when they see us!" Emily grinned.

Mei-Lin giggled, "Spencer is going to have a double attack when he finds out the news."

Emily glanced over to her, "I can't wait to see his expression!" She looked out at the runway and saw approaching lights and began to bounce happily on her seat like Jack, "Oh….here comes their jet!"

Mei-Lin grabbed Emily by her arm, "Oh! Emily! What if Spencer rejects…"

Emily spun her head, "No, no, no! Hey, he's going to be ecstatic! Listen to me, Mei-Lin, he's going to be happy. More than happy!" She grinned.

The younger woman nodded, "I wish I have your confidence, Emily."

"I wish you'll stop worrying. He's going to be so happy to see you and when you tell him the news, he's going to be overly…" She began to wave her hands all around her as she was lost for words.

"Should we get out and receive them?" Mei-Lin suggested.

Emily shook her head, "No, let's surprise them." She smiled. "We'll wait till the jet pulls up nearer."

….

Hotch glanced down and looked over the oval window, "The cars are early." He stood up and began to retrieve his bags. "Not that I'm complaining…I'm ready to get home to see Jack."

Reid was doing the same, "Yeah…I'm going to try again on my laptop, better Wife."

"I'm sure she's wrapped up in her latest research project, Reid." Hotch paused for a moment before he continued with his bags. "You know you nerds and techies are alike; once you're consumed with work, the outside world ceases to exist." He gave Reid an encouraging smile. "Ready?"

He nodded as they walked out of the aisle, the others followed them out of the plane.

As the descended the steps and headed the SUVs, Hotch saw the first vehicle was not empty.

"What's going on?" He muttered, frowning.

Reid glanced at him, "What's going on, Hotch?"

"I don't know…someone's in the SUV."

Reid tried to peer into the tinted vehicle but he couldn't make out the occupants until the doors opened and saw who it was that came out. "Impossible…that's impossible…she's in London…" He stuttered as he stopped walking and dropped his bags, staring at the form before him.

Unknown to him, Hotch had stopped as well, unmoving as well. He was staring at the other figure who had stepped out of the driver's side of the SUV.

"Oh my god!" JJ uttered. "Is that Emily?" She squealed as she laughed as she dropped her bags as she ran towards her best friend for so many years. "EMILY!"

Pretty soon, Morgan began to hurry after her as well as he too gave her a bear hug. "What are you doing here?"

Emily was laughing as she returned his embrace, "Just missing you sorry people!"

By this time, Dave Rossi had caught up with them and crushed her into his fold, "Howdy kiddo?"

"Hey, Dave!" She laughed heartily as she hugged him back gratefully, "I miss you, old man!"

"Hey, watch it with the old man euphemisms! I still have a few more years, young lady!" He grinned. "How are you?"

Emily leaned back to look at him, "I'm doing okay, Dave." She glanced over to Hotch and saw his reaction which was still in stunned mode, Reid as well. "I see he's not expecting me."

Dave chuckled, "Well, last we heard, you're supposed to be in the Middle East and unreachable. And he's been a bear because he's worried about you." He jerked his head towards Hotch, "You better head over there."

Emily nodded, "Yeah…I have lots to tell him." She gave the older profiler a peck on his cheek, "I miss you."

He smiled at her, "So have I, mi bella!"

He then approached Mei-Lin as did the others as they introduced themselves to her.

Emily walked hurriedly to Hotch, not taking her hungry gaze from him; she had missed him very much!

Recovering from his shock at seeing her at the tarmac, Hotch walked to her, his smile began to widen, dimples deepened.

"Hi!"

"Hi, yourself." He returned. "I see you made it out of Turkey."

Her eyes checking all over him, she nodded, "Yeah…we did, we made it out…five days ago."

He nodded as he moved slowly closer towards her, "Why didn't you call? I was worried…"

"I wanted to surprise you, Aaron."

He nodded again, "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded, "Oh yeah, I'm fine, you?"

He nodded, "Yes, I miss you."

She smiled, "I miss you too."

"I love you." Hotch declared.

Smiling happily, she walked to him but he stopped her. She frowned at him, "Aaron?"

"You never did reply the last time I asked you." He held the box to her, showing her how serious he was.

She did not look at the ring but nodded as she rushed to him, "YES! YES! Yes, Aaron, I love you! I want to marry you too!" she flung herself at him as he caught her happily.

They laughed as he kissed her.

The team grinned like fools as they watched them, "Well, I take it she's coming back home." JJ remarked happily. "She belonged here anyways."

"They do make a lovely couple." Alex observed wisely.

The team nodded in agreement.

"Where's Reid?"

The team turned to look about them and saw Spencer Reid and Mei-Lin in the SUV talking privately and sitting closely together.

"I'm so glad she's here." Morgan shook his head. "I'd never hear the end of it from him!"

"Leave him be, Derek." JJ admonished him. "Your day will come when you find the right one."

"I told him that earlier." Dave said. "And I hope it'll be soon."

Derek smiled widely, "Relax people, I'm not easily bitten by the love bug or cupid or whatever. Derek Morgan is a confirmed bachelor." He said confidently. "I like the wide open space." He spread his hands for emphasis. "And all the honies all around me."

Blake and Rossi began walking towards the second SUV.

JJ rolled her eyes, "Oh please spare me that speech, Derek." She retrieved her bags and walked towards the SUV when suddenly Reid rushed out of it shouting.

"GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!" He began waving his hands. "You're never gonna believe this!"

They turned to face him.

Emily whispered to Hotch the happy news, his eyes widened as he began to chuckle out loud, "Spencer Reid, a daddy? No way!"

…..

The End

P. Muse.

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