7a/n: Just some drabble-y/oneshot goodness based off Emily's departure in the Season 7 finale, "Run."
The night she decides to leave for good is the same night JJ gets married. The moments are tangled together in Emily's mind simply because one of the best days of JJ's life contrasts so sharply with one of Emily's worst.
The night she decides to leave for good is the same night she finally confronts the overwhelming dismay she feels at the thought of purchasing a house, putting down roots.
The night she decides to leave for good is the same night she stands shivering on Rossi's balcony, despite the warm May weather, and calls Clyde Easter to accept his offer.
The night she decides to leave for good is the same night she breaks her teammates' hearts, yet she doesn't let their gloom snake through her brain, clutch at her senses and allow her to change her mind.
The night she decides to leave for good is the same night she finds herself pressed up against a grimy bathroom stall, Warrant's Cherry Pie blaring over the speakers, and a stranger's tongue dueling with her own.
She has less than 48 hours left in D.C. because, "Love, the job won't wait, you must come now," when she convinces a sober Morgan to drop her at Solly's after JJ's wedding. She is already unsteady on her feet when he reluctantly agrees. He calls after her to check in with him later as she saunters from his car into the bar, knowing full well that she won't.
She's on her fourth whiskey sour and refusing to let her mind wander into why the hell am I so unhappy here when the man with the leather jacket and cerulean blues sidles up next to her.
He makes her come twice against the bathroom stall and she momentarily forgets just how unbearably difficult it has been to look herself in the mirror since oh god, Doyle, for fear she'd see a woman she wouldn't recognize.
She says goodbye to Hotch last, on the tarmac, and she realizes that at least she has come full circle in some way. She said hello to him first and goodbye to him last.
At last, Emily boards the Interpol jet and is surprised to find Clyde Easter waiting for her onboard. With a glint in his eye and a satisfied smirk on his lips, he glances at her. "Ready, darling?"
"Ready."
And the night she leaves for good is the same night she leaves a piece of Emily Prentiss behind.