Wind whipping through her hair as her feet pounded the gravel pavement, she narrowly avoided the dumpster jutting out of the alley their perp had just darted down. Risking a look behind her, Special Agent Emily Prentiss saw her team close behind her. She turned her focus back to the Unsub they were currently chasing. They had planned for this, profiled that he would flee. Unfortunately, they had not expected him to be packing heat – his preferred method of torture and murder being rather large knives instead. So when the sound of a gunshot being fired echoed around the alley, it took Emily a moment to put two and two together, and realize the pain she now felt was connected to the deafening sound. The adrenaline rushing through her veins muffled the pain from searing to aching, long enough for her to tackle him to the ground.

Footsteps ricocheted around them, and Emily knew her team had her back. More specifically, Special Agent Derek Morgan. Focused as he was on cuffing the murdering bastard, he hadn't spotted the blood gushing from Emily's wound. Their guy now detained, Emily rolled off him, her adrenaline high quickly giving way to a blinding flash off pain and her vision started to fade at the edges. She laid flat on her back in the middle of the grubby alley, breathing heavily, the rest of the BAU catching up to the scene. It was Dr. Reid who first processed the terrifying sight, his mind working at warp speed, statistics and textbook passages flitting through his head. The rest of the team quickly caught up however, when they heard their Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau scream Emily's name, and drop to he knees beside her.

Tears welled up in Jayj's eyes, spilling down her cheeks. Angrily brushing them aside she stared despairingly down at Emily – who for her part, was staring upward, confusion clouding her dark brown eyes. All Emily could focus on was Jayj. Sounds of sirens from the local cops who had shown up to take their Unsub to central booking, the rest of their team looking worriedly down at her, the shouts for medics, flashing lights, all of it had faded away into the distant background, leaving Jayj in startling clarity as Emily struggled to fight off the impending darkness.

"Don't you dare shut your eyes Emily, stay with me, come on dammit! Stay with me…" Sounds of Jayj's pleads rang through Emily's ears. The feel of Jayj's fingers stroking her cheek, brushing her bangs from her face, before squeezing her arm, and interlocking their fingers together gave Emily the motivation to slur out a whispered, " I'll never leave you." She drew in a breath, looking deeply into Jayj's eyes. As she exhaled, a breathy "I love you Jennifer," tumbled out. A second later, Emily's eyes closed, and she succumbed to the pull of unconsciousness.

Jayj held Emily impossibly close, cradling her bleeding head in her lap, crouching over her, whispering, "I love you too Emily," over and over, in an almost frenzied fashion. Medics arrived, and she was pushed to the side as they hurried and hovered over Emily. She felt a hand of support on her shoulder, but she was too focused on Emily to react, snatches of conversation infiltrating her mind, words such as, "gun shot wound to the head," and, "thready pulse," reverberating inside her brain.

The next few hours rushed around Jayj as she disconnected from the world around her. She sat, unmoving, in the waiting room, as nameless, faceless people came and went. Tears of joy, sadness, desperation and pain permeated the air, saturating the atmosphere, weighting down the space around them. None of it touched Jayj; she had retreated too far into her own mind – thoughts of Emily rushing through her mind, memories and fantasies colliding together.

Hours became days, days turned into weeks, two to be precise. Changes were made, different medical decisions, different staff, a move to a different hospital closer to home – and yet there was no change in Emily's condition. Sure, she was in a stable coma rather than crashing on the operating table, but Jayj didn't want 'stable coma,' she wanted Emily to get better, to wake up, to just be Emily Prentiss again, not patient 437,02.

The team had been given the first week off work – compassionate leave Strauss had called it (though she hadn't seemed able to summon up much compassion, a simple, "hope she recovers," being all she had managed to say on the matter). The team had spent the week rotating who was at the hospital, who was resting at home and who was on Jayj watch. Four days ago however, their unit chief Aaron Hotchner had received news of a case, and reluctantly the team had left for Florida, bodies had been found on the beaches of the sunny state. Unsurprisingly, Jayj had not joined them. She had not even left Emily's hospital room; she had barely even left her bedside, simply flashing her badge at any and all hospital personnel who had tried to convince her to do otherwise. This meant that Jayj was now alone in Emily's room, although technical analyst Penelope Garcia did check in whenever she could, fretting and fussing over her.

It was the fifteenth day when change finally washed over them. Like a scene from a horror movie, Emily sat bolt upright, screaming, her eyes glazed and unseeing. The flat tone of the now disconnected heart monitor provided a terrifying backing track, and prompted the room to fill with nurses. Hands attempted to push Emily back down, and pull Jayj away. Words of security and comfort filled the room, but Emily did not cease in her struggles. It was not until she heard the words leave Jayj's lips that she finally calmed, and as Emily looked into Jayj's eyes, the panic in both women finally disappeared. The nurses pushed Emily back down once more, and a ghost of a smile crossed her lips, before she closed her eyes once more.

As panic and chaos gave way to a serene calm, Jayj allowed herself hope.

Hope could be a dangerous thing.