Hey everyone.
This was an idea that I had been playing around with for a few nights so, like always, I decided to run with it. It is going to end up as H/P but there's going to be a lot of Emily interaction with the others as well. I pretty much have this story's backbone planned out and it will go day by day with each person staying a day with Emily. I wanted to an Emily centric fic with the rest of the team supporting her as well so I'm very excited about this fic. I hope to post the second chapter (good luck guessing which team member will spend the day with Emily) and the 8th chapter of The Changing Tides tomorrow.
I do NOT own Criminal Minds (& I never will) but I do enjoy borrowing the characters for my own amusement.
Please enjoy and review.
"Caring about others, running the risk of feeling,
and leaving an impact on people,
brings happiness"
~Harold Kushner
It was warm: too warm to be considered comfortable.
It was almost like the temperature was preventing Emily from breathing properly: Well, it was either the thick smog that floated around her head or the nasal oxygen tube that felt unnatural. Emily felt her eyes flutter under her eyelids that felt like lead. She was numb which meant she was drugged heavily. Emily could hear the beeping of her heart monitor and knew it would soon get on her last nerve. Emily sensed the many different presences in her room and rolled her closed eyes. She wasn't ready to face them just yet.
Emily tried in vain to search her memories for the slightest hint of why she was currently in a hospital bed, against her will. Emily had disliked hospitals before she joined the BAU, but since then her dislike had turned into a main course of loathing with a side dish of fear; peppered with contempt. She blamed her colleagues for being admitted so many times, though it wasn't really their fault. She happened to know they hated hospitals as much as she did.
Emily let out an inaudible sigh of resignation as her consciousness was greeted with a black wall of forgetfulness. Drugs always messed with her mind, but she had the feeling it wasn't just the drugs that was causing her temporary amnesia. Some days, Emily Prentiss truly hated her job. Today was one of those days.
Emily felt someone next to her shift and knew that chair they were sitting in couldn't be too comfortable. She decided to spare her team any more unnecessary worrying and let them know she was awake. She faintly wondered how long she had been out as she slowly cracked her eyes open and let the unflattering light dilate her pupils and cause her to squint. She moved her hands in case her guests failed to notice her fluttering eyes, which they had.
The first thing Emily saw made her heart skip a beat.
"Welcome back." Hotch said gently feeling relief wash over him like a cooling wave on the ocean sands. She had scared him beyond all measure. Emily smiled quickly and scanned the room to see who else was in there with her. Reid was playing chess with Morgan just to pass the time as Dave, who had heard Hotch's voice, looked up and smiled warmly at Emily. He spoke quickly into his phone and snapped it shut as Reid put Morgan into check.
"Cheater…" Morgan mumbled. Before Reid tried to defend himself he saw Emily shake her head with a smile on her lips and immediately jumped from his seat. "Emily, you're awake," the genius said and greatly let go of the tension and anxiety he had been hoarding since she had been admitted into the ER.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty, how you feeling?" Morgan asked joining Dave and Reid at Emily's bedside. Emily attempted a laugh but it quickly turned into a painful coughing fit. Reid poured Emily a cup of water from a pitcher on her bedside table and handed it to her quickly. She whispered her thanks and drank greedily from the pink plastic cup. Her lungs and throat were on fire. The guys waited patiently as Emily took a few rough breaths in and out.
"Never better." Emily replied earning small smiles from the guys around her bed. She noted their pallor and the circles under their eyes and wanted to tell them to get the hell out and go home to sleep. She doubted they'd listen: They were like misbehaved children in that aspect. "Do you remember anything?" Hotch asked gently, not wanting to pry too terribly, but curious all the same.
Emily shook her head. "Nothing, not a damn thing," she said irritated. She hated partial amnesia almost as much as she hated hospitals and that was saying something. They guys exchanged looks that didn't go unnoticed by the injured woman in the bed. Her desire to know overpowered her independent tendencies. "What happened?" she asked eying the four men cautiously.
Reid looked anywhere but her face, Morgan's lips tightened into a thin line, Dave suddenly looked ten years older and Hotch's knuckles turned white as he squeezed his fist. 'Oh, it must've been pretty bad' Emily thought taking her lower lip into her mouth in habit. No one said anything and the guys let out a sigh of relief as a nurse entered the room.
"Well looks like she's finally awake," the nurse said smiling sympathetically at the men in the room. They all nodded as the nurse addressed Emily. "I'm going to tell the doctor you're awake." And with that she hurried out of the room, almost knocking into a red haired woman and a blonde with a baby on her hip.
"There's my dark haired beauty. How you feeling sugar plum?" Garcia asked pumping up the pep to lighten the grave mood that seemed to hang over the men like a dark cloud. Emily smiled gratefully at Garcia who stood next to Hotch on Emily's left. Garcia hugged Emily as carefully as she could. "I've been better, but it's nice to be awake." Emily replied honestly as JJ and baby Henry took their turn hugging her.
"He was worried about his aunt Emily weren't you sweetie?" JJ asked looking over at her son who nodded his head jerkily.
"Aw, he's just the cutest thing. Well Henry, your concern touches me, but I'm fine. Honestly you guys, I'm fine." Emily said reaching out to grab Henry's baby hand. Henry grasped it and shook it up and down happily. The team smiled but didn't say anything. They knew Emily would insist on being okay to prevent becoming a burden upon them.
Emily turned to look at the doorway when her doctor entered.
"Miss Prentiss it's good to see you conscious." Dr. Jackson said smiling kindly at his patient. "It's good to be conscious Dr." Emily replied.
The team stepped away from Emily's bed, except JJ due to the fact Henry didn't want to let go of Emily's hand, to let Dr. Jackson do a quick look over. Dr. Jackson smiled at Henry who giggled a little. Emily took a few breaths in as Dr. Jackson listened to her heartbeat and checked her vitals.
"BP's returned to normal, or what I'd guess was normal for someone in your profession," Dr. Jackson said taking a few notes on Emily's charts. "Heart rate's stable, no irregularities in your breathing other than the slight hitch which I expected. Normal pupil response…any pain?" he asked Emily. She shook her head no and watched him take another quick note.
"I need to look at your stitches, if you men would step out for a minute?" Dr. Jackson said addressing Hotch and the others. Reluctantly the guys acquiesced to his request, but only after Garcia physically shooed them out.
"You don't have to stay." Emily said to JJ and Garcia as the nurse and Dr. Jackson lifted Emily up so they could untie the back of her gown. Emily let them move her body whatever way they needed, not really carrying about decency in front of JJ and Garcia who had seen her naked before. Spa days were lovely and didn't happen nearly enough anymore. Maybe she'd schedule one for her and the girls after she was released. but before she was cleared for work.
"We want to Em." Garcia said moving to stand on Emily's right side with JJ and Henry. "Suit yourself, I have a feeling it's not going to be pretty." Emily shrugged lightly and winced. Dr. Jackson 'tsked' her and moved the left side of her gown to still cover as much of her breast as possible and used her blanket to cover her hips and lower. Emily looked down and gasped at the damage. Apparently she had been shot not once, but twice before the guy either ran or someone took him out. She couldn't remember which it was.
There was a hole stitched together just above her heart. Emily looked at JJ and Garcia horrified. "By how much did he miss?" she asked, her voice hesitant.
"Barely." JJ replied quietly as Garcia nodded. Emily's throat tightened: No wonder the guys were so quiet when she asked what had happened. She could've died. She looked back down at her second stitched up bullet hole and winced. It punctured her side so Emily guessed since it didn't hit anything that it was a through and through. Yikes. She bet there had been a lot of blood. Emily shuddered, suddenly she didn't want to remember what happened. Ignorance is bliss they say.
Dr. Jackson looked her over a little longer before helping Emily right herself. He didn't want her moving too much for fear that she'd pull her side stitches.
"How long do I have to stay Doc?" Emily asked once her gown was properly in place and she watched JJ and Garcia take a seat in the chairs Reid and Morgan had occupied not minutes ago. "Miss Prentiss, I cannot in good conscious release you for at least another five days." Dr. Jackson said sternly knowing how agents got when forced to stay in a hospital. Emily just stared. Five days in this plain room that smelt like sickness and medicine? That was not going to fly with Agent Prentiss no way, no how.
Before she could open her mouth to protest though JJ cut in.
"Thank you doctor, I'm sure Emily understands due to the severity of her injuries that five days is perfectly acceptable." JJ said in a pointed tone that told Emily no complaining or bargaining was getting her out of the hospital until Dr. Jackson saw fit. Emily tried not to pout but she did allow herself a bit of sulking as her doctor shot a grateful look towards JJ and told Emily he'd have her nurse, Nurse White, check on her in a few hours. Emily nodded and thanked both her doctor and nurse before they left. The men entered shortly after with coffee for the ladies, except Emily whose frown deepened.
"This is ridiculous. Five days, five days in this hospital bed? I'll go stark raving mad! Emily exclaimed using her right hand to gesture emphatically for fear of using her left one and pulling stitches.
"I don't know if you noticed Emily, but you were shot…twice. You need this time to recuperate." Hotch said sternly shooting her a look, but he might as well have been staring at a brick wall. Hotch rarely intimidated Emily these days since she had pretty much staked her claim as dominant female in the group. Emily let out an indignant huff of air.
"Five days is too long in here. Honestly I think I'd do much better at home where I actually want to be." Emily said brushing off Hotch's commanding tone. "And yes Hotch I did happen to notice the two bullet holes in my body."
Everyone in the room winced at Emily's harsh words and Garcia whimpered. Emily immediately regretted what she said and took a deep breath to calm herself. Hospitals did anything but sooth her.
"Well if I'm going to be stuck here for five days then you all need to go home and get some sleep. You look like you haven't slept in days and quite frankly there's nothing you can really do here." Emily said taking on her role as compassionate female caregiver of the team as if it were someone else lying in the hospital bed instead of her.
"Not likely pretty girl, we're not going anywhere." Morgan said and to emphasize his point, he grabbed the chair Dave had been sitting in and moved it to the foot of her bed.
Emily resisted the sudden desire to kick him upside the head.
"No, you all need to go home. I am perfectly capable of staying in a monitored hospital bed by myself without company. You all have work tomorrow and you can't let the world stop just because I was shot, you all know that." Emily said meeting the eyes of everyone in the room, letting her eyes rest last on Hotch who stared back intensely.
"Then one of us will stay with you each day: We'll take shifts." Dave said determined not to make Emily face this on her own. That wasn't how they functioned. They were so much more than a team, in fact if they had learned anything while doing their job it was that they were a family.
Emily was about to protest until Reid stepped up and took her left hand in his large one.
"Emily don't fight us on this. It's not fair. You're always doing something for us whether it's picking up Morgan from a bar because he's too drunk or babysitting Henry so JJ and Will can have some fun time. You volunteer with Garcia and are a great listener to Rossi when he goes on about the 'glory days.' You don't hesitate to defend me or even stop me from letting my brain get in the way of the more personal things in life. Let's not forget how you ran point from Hotch's apartment and refused to leave his side at the hospital when Foyet attacked him. You always take care of us Emily: Let us take care of you for a change." Reid said tenderly squeezing her hand. Everyone nodded, agreeing with Reid's little speech.
Emily looked around the room at her family and felt her eyes water. She smiled up at Reid who bent down to kiss her cheek without making it too awkward, which he was famous for doing.
"Okay, but only one of you at a time and I'm warning you, it's going to get pretty boring. I'll probably mostly sleep." Emily said to which Morgan laughed. "Em, watching you sleep is way better than doing paper work any day" which caused the entire team to laugh aloud as the tender moment permeated the comfortable warmth in the room. Maybe this time Emily wouldn't hate her stay in the hospital, as long as the people who currently surrounded her kept her company.
"I feel the capacity to care is
the thing, which gives life its deepest significance."
~Pablo Casals
So, has anyone noticed that I happen to put Emily in danger a lot? *laugh* That seems to be like my vice or something, Emily getting hurt or almost dying (and in once case actually dying) Maybe the next fic I write I'll mess with JJ or something. I feel kind of bad putting Emily in these situations and Hotch has been through too much this season for me to even think about putting him back into the hospital: That's just plain mean. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this fic, I do plan on going back and explaining how Emily was injured and maybe even I'll have flashbacks to the team's separate reactions when she was shot? Feedback on that idea would be great.
Peace out.
