BLACK BIRD:

Chapter 1: A Night to Forget

She sat on Morgan's doorstep, crying silently. It was three in the morning and she just didn't know where else to go, but now that she was here, she couldn't bring herself to actually knock on the door. It was snowing again, and in her hurry to escape the apartment she hadn't grabbed a jacket. She was shivering violently, which just made her cry harder.

What the hell Emily? Pull yourself together. You are blubbering like a five-year-old. Get a grip.

She raised her hand to wipe away her fresh tears, but her wrist screamed in agony with the contact.

4 hours earlier…

He had been waiting for her when she got home. Just sitting there in the dark, waiting for her. When she had pulled up and seen that the lights were off, she had allowed herself to hope that he had finally left. But he was still there, like every night for months now, empty beer bottles littered around him, his eyes lit with fury.

"Where were you?" He was angry. And she was instantly terrified.

"I had to work late," she pleaded with him, a half-truth, backing away from him, towards the door. Maybe she should just leave, just go now before this turned into a real fight.

"Liar!" He spits the word at her as he rose from the couch, knocking glass bottles to the ground around him.

"It's not a lie. Please." Her words were small, like a frightened animal. She didn't even know what she was pleading for.

"You left the office almost three hours ago!" He was completely livid now, crossing the room in three strides. She wrenched the front door open, trying to flee, but grabbed her arm and yanked her back inside as he slammed it back closed and locked it, placing his hands firmly against the door on either side of her body, caging her in.

"How did you – "Emily never got to finish her question, though she suspected she already knew the answer. Either he had been watching her, or he had somehow been tracking her phone's location again. She didn't really care either way. She was just afraid that if he had actually followed her himself, then he might have seen her with Morgan and Rossi at the bar. He was scary when he was angry, but he was downright horrifying when he was jealous.

"I saw you," he said, confirming her fears. "I got your message that you were coming home today. I had missed you while you were away on that case and wanted to surprise you, so I came to the office to bring you flowers and drive you home. Instead, I see you leaving with Derek Morgan! DEREK MORGAN!"

She averted her eyes, desperately wanting to get as far away from him as possible, but completely unable to move. He grabbed her chin roughly and pulled her face up so she was staring into his eyes. The silence dragged on as he waited for some kind of response from her, getting angrier with each passing second. "It's not what you think…" she was finally able to get the words out, though they were barely audible.

"Not what I think?!" He roared. He released her chin, only to grab ahold of her shoulder and shove her roughly to the ground. She caught her fall with her left hand, feeling and hearing the crack in her wrist, before her side crashed into the ground. *

Present...

She stared down at her wrist now, trying not to remember how it had gotten so swollen. It was turning a nasty patchwork of blues and purples now, clearly broken.

It wasn't the first time he had broken her bones, and something inside her said no matter what she said or did, it wouldn't be the last time, but her wrist was going to be hard to hide from the others at work. But then again, six months ago she thought bruises were going to be a problem, and it turns out make-up can hide just about anything. No one on the team suspected anything was wrong, and as much as she wanted, no needed, their help, she preferred it this way. They couldn't know. She couldn't bear the thought of them seeing her like this, battered and broken. She hated the thought of them looking at her with pity in their eyes, looking at her like she was damaged. But she would have endured that if it meant getting away from him for good. So why didn't she just tell them?

He'll kill them all, one by one. How many times has he said as much? You know what he'll do to them. He would do to JJ all the horrible things he did to her every night. He would torture her friends and then kill them all. He won't spare Jack, or Henry. If I say anything, I might as well be killing them myself…

No, she couldn't tell them.

Then what are you doing on Morgan's stoop in the middle of night?

She had no idea how to answer that. She began crying harder, her breathing ragged as she pulled at her aching ribs. At least a few of those were broken too she was sure. And her head was throbbing with what she knew was a serious concussion. Her lips were beginning to swell and she felt blood in her hair. She hadn't had a chance to look at herself yet, but she knew there was no way she was going to be able to hide these injuries. Not this time.

4 hours earlier…

Hunter please, let me explain," she begged him as she tried to move away. Her hip and wrist had both taken quite a hit when she fell and it was painful to crawl, but she had to create some space between them, and quickly.

"Why the hell should I do that?!" He was still screaming at her, stalking her across the floor as she moved. "Have you been sleeping with him?!" Hunter suddenly demanded as he came to stand over her in the corner.

She could only assume that the "him" he was referring to was Morgan, but she was so confused. Why would he think she had cheated on him? What was going on? She was at a loss for words.

"Well, have you?!" He demanded again, but he didn't wait for her to answer. His fists flew, connecting with her face, her chest, her stomach, her face again. She curled up on the floor, trying to shield herself from the blows, but they kept coming.

"Please," she gasped. She could barely breathe and forming the simple pleading word was incredibly painful, but she had to do something, had to stop this before it went any further. She just didn't know how to get through to him. "Please stop."

"Why should I?! Three hours! Three hours with him, instead of me! What do you expect me to think you were doing with him FOR THREE HOURS?! Playing scrabble? God Emily, how could you betray me like this?!" She let him rant. The longer he spoke, the longer she would have to think, to figure a way out of this, and the longer reprieve she would have between the punishing blows.

That's when she realized what must have happened. He didn't follow her to the bar. There was no way he could have followed her there and had time to go through that much beer. He didn't see Rossi join them. He wasn't angry because she had come home late or because she had gone out with her male coworkers. He actually believed she had gone home with Morgan, had slept with him. The truth could save her, if she could just make him believe it.

"Baby," she forced her voice into a soft coo, trying to soften him some, "Baby, please listen to me."

His hands, which had found their way to her throat, loosened as he heard her, sliding to her shoulders. His grip was still strong, but he wasn't hitting her, and she could breathe a little easier now. "Tell me why…Why would you do this to me?" He was clearly still angry, but she also sensed he was genuinely hurt by what he thought she had done.

"Shhh," she soothed him, forcing her hand not to shake as she let it fall softly on his arm. She needed him calm, receptive. "Baby, I didn't cheat on you. I would never cheat on you." She saw his eyes turning dark again, and she was afraid she was about to lose any chance of getting through to him so she continued quickly, "I won't lie to you, I left the office with Agent Morgan. You know that." She was careful to refer to him as Agent Morgan and not Derek. Maybe if she distanced herself from her friend in this small way it would help him to believe her. "The case we were working was really hard baby. Someone was killing little girls, just kids. I needed some time to recover after that. I didn't want you to see me so upset," she mixed lies and truth trying to get him to see that everything was ok, even though it absolutely was not.

The case really had hit her hard, and she knew that that rang true, but really she hadn't been thinking about Hunter at all when they got home. She had just desperately needed a drink, and Morgan and Rossi had offered to buy a couple of rounds. She had had a really good time, but now she wished she had turned down their offer.

"Morgan drove me to a bar down the street from the office," she winced when she saw his face change at the word bar. He hated when she drank, even if it was just one glass of wine. She should have lied and said it was a café. Too late now. "I wasn't drinking I promise baby," she lied through her teeth, "One of our bosses, Agent Rossi, do you remember him? He met us there and we all had a bite to eat. We all needed to take our minds off of the case before we went home. I swear baby, I didn't leave that bar until I got in the car to drive home. And my boss was there the whole time. Along with a couple dozen other patrons from the bar." It was working. Hunter's grip on her shoulders loosened, though he didn't release her or let her sit up.

"You really didn't cheat on me?" He didn't really sound like he believed her, but the fact that he was even entertaining the idea meant she might be able to salvage this, she might be ok.

"No baby," she responding, smiling hesitantly, "I would never do that to you."

His hands became soft on her shoulders, and one slid up to hold her face tenderly. His eyes were suddenly calm. Oh thank Gad, she thought, he believes me. But the moment only lasted for a few seconds before his eyes grew hard again and the hand on her cheek slid behind her head and grabbed ahold of her hair forcefully. "Then prove it." The words were like a razor blade to her heart.

No! Not again, please not again…

"How?" she whispered, fearing she already knew the answer.

He leaned in to kiss her, and not having time to think it through, she flinched away from him, showing her fear. That was a big mistake and she knew it…

"You. Are. Mine." He spat each word at her, his grip on her hair painfully pulling her head back. She was still on the ground, half sitting up now, trapped in a corner, sandwiched between him and the cold walls. This was going to be really bad. She had to remind herself to breathe as his free hand began to roam her body, sliding from her shoulder all the way to her hip, squeezing her breast along the way. "And I WILL take what is mine."

She knew better than to fight him now. She was too hurt to put up much of a fight anyway, and if history with Hunter had taught her anything, it was that when he decided he wanted something, there was nothing that could get in his way, even if it meant killing her in the process. She hated the helpless feeling that spread through her as he slid his hand under her shirt, pushing it up as he went. He found her breasts again and fondled them, releasing his death grip on her hair and sliding his other hand to her chest.

As soon as the hold on her head was released, she turned away from him, closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing. Just pretend you're somewhere else. Pretend it isn't happening.

But it was happening. His hands slipped behind her back, undoing her bra, leaving her chest completely exposed, as he leaned down to kiss her breasts. His hands found their way back down to her hips as he continued to tease her nipples with his tongue. He pulled her hips gently toward him, straddling her on the floor.

At least he doesn't seem angry anymore. He isn't being aggressive. It's ok, everything is going to be ok.

She was lying to herself, but she didn't care. She needed to stay calm, and still. If she fought back…No, she knew what could happen if she refused him when he was like this. She would not go through that again.

She closed her eyes tight, not bothering to fight the tears that were already streaming down her face, and turned her head away from him. She remained still, that is until his hands undid her pants and began pulling them down around her thighs. Then she reacted. She knew what was coming and no amount of preparation would lend her the strength to let that happen again. Rationally she knew she couldn't stop it and fighting would only ensure she got hurt even worse, but instinct took over and she couldn't just let it happen.

"Please don't," she pleaded, her voice barely rising above a whisper, yet still urgent, "Please Hunter no…" She tried pushing him off of her, but every inch of her body was searing in pain and she couldn't muster the strength to physically move him.

He laughed wickedly at her feeble attempts, "Oh baby, don't be like that," he responded huskily, his left hand gripping both her wrists and trapping them against the floor above her head. Her broken wrist screamed with the movement and she couldn't help the whimper that escaped her. "If you stop fighting this, you might actually have some fun."

"No no no…" she continued uselessly, tears still running down her cheeks.

Hunter ignored her pleas, undoing his own belt as soon as her pants were pulled down. Still holding her wrists above her head, leaving her defenseless, he made no further preparations before slamming into her, hard and fast, a moan of pleasure escaping his lips at the same time a yelp of pain passed hers.

Present…

Desperately trying to forget the horrors of the night, Emily curled into a tight ball on the front steps, and leaned her head against the door. She was miserably cold and pain radiated through her entire body, but the emotional pain was far worse, and that was what stayed her hand. She simply could not answer the questions she knew Derek would ask if he saw her here right now. And he would make her go to a hospital. She simply could not endure an examination right now…Oh God, and a rape kit! No, that was not happening. Shivering and crying, she closed her eyes and willed all of it to go away, praying she would wake up and find the last six months had been a horrible nightmare…