"Where are my kids? Has a doctor examined Marie yet? I want a doctor to look at her." Cheryl could hear Emily's tear-filled voice anxiously plead the detectives with her to tell her that her little girls were okay, as she made her way down the hospital hallway.

"Ms. Lehman, before we can get into any of that, we need to know what happened with your husband this evening." The cop patiently explained.

"I told you already, he's dead, I did it. I haven't denied that. Now please, where are my children?" She sounded exhausted, about ready to break down, and Cheryl swallowed, shock giving way to nausea. Her friend had changed so much after leaving LA, but she'd didn't see it, didn't allow herself to see how broken Emily had become. And, now she was admitting to murder.

"Gentleman, have you offered Agent Lehman an attorney?" She pushed her way through the door, standing tall, staring square at the cops.

"I don't need a lawyer, just somebody tell me what's happening with my girls," Emily pled, staring deep into Cheryl's eyes.

"They are upstairs with a social worker, and Matt. Why does Marie need to be examined?" To her knowledge, the only person who got hit was Emily.

"Eddie, he shook her. You know what happens to babies after their shaken, and I know she's older, I just need to know she's alright." Marie was two years-old, and Emily was right, that was still young enough for shaking to cause serious damage.

"Is that what started this, Emily, he hurt Marie?" Cheryl asked, made more upset at the idea of the man hurting his own children.

"I'll tell you all exactly what happened as soon as I know my girls are alright." Emily wasn't about to budge, her girls were two important to her.

"Okay, give me twenty minutes. Gentleman, can I see you in the hallway a moment?" She motioned the cops to follow her; Emily wasn't going anywhere, she was handcuffed to the hospital bed.

"Sorry, SAC Carrera, and Emily's supervisor. Is Emily injured?" There were so many pieces of this story missing, she didn't even know where to begin.

"Bumps, bruises, cut to her head, but the docs say she's fine." One of the two suit clad men informed her.

"Okay, then forgive me for being presumptuous, but how about we move this interrogation to your station house? Let her see the girls, then take her over, and somebody will call after Marie has been examined, if she hasn't yet." She didn't want to sound like she was giving orders, that would make them resentful, but Emily clearly needed some time to calm down. And, Cheryl needed to figured out what the hell happened tonight.

"Alright, what floor are the kids on?"

"One floor up, by the emergency room." Matt had called her, and told her what was going on, or at least as much as he knew. Bridget, Emily's four year-old had apparently called him.

"Fine, tell them we're bringing her up, and we'll be up shortly.

"Thank you, I really appreciate this." The two men simply nodded. As far as they could tell this was a battered wife finally getting freedom from her husband, so they'd give the woman the benefit of a doubt.


"Cheryl, thank god. Have you seen Emily yet?" Matt looked almost as frantic as Emily had.

"Yeah, just came from there. Has a doctor examined Marie yet?" The young female social worker was on her phone nearby, and the girls were clinging to Matt, which surprised Cheryl. How did the girls even know him?

"Yeah, Bridget said Eddie shook her, I didn't want to take any chances." Cheryl watched her friend of over ten years, stroke the girls heads affectionately, almost as if they were his own. But, they weren't.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Bridget suddenly shouted, leaping from her seat beside Matt, and rushing over to her mother. Her voice woke little Marie, who slid eagerly from Matt's lap, running to her mother.

Emily crouched down and hugged her daughters, kissing their heads, holding them tightly. Both girls looked like their mother: curly red hair, shallow little dimples visible as they smiled seeing her, and hazel eyes, only a shade darker than Emily's. She looked up at Matt and Cheryl.

"Did a doctor look at Marie yet?" There was a fear in her eyes as she asked, imagining what her husband might have done to her baby.

"Yeah, they gave her an MRI, and said it's clear, no bleeding or bruising they could see. She's fine," Matt reported, seemingly relieved by the news.

"Okay, you know now. We have to get you over to homicide so we can talk about what happened tonight." The cop looked uncomfortable breaking up the family, but didn't really have a choice.

"What's going to happen with Bridget and Marie tonight?" Emily's head swung wildly around as she searched the faces, finally landing on the social worker, who just hung up her phone.

"There's a couple vacancies at Hope House, I'll take the girls there for the night."

"What? You can't put them there, their little kids, they'll be instant prey to the rest of those kids!" Emily's eyes had grown frantic again, with a mother's desperation to protect her children.

"You have anybody they can stay with?" The social worker was clearly not impressed, and likely too bogged down with kids in worse situations to exercise that much empathy for these two.

Emily's gaze darted to Matt for only a few seconds, but long enough for them to come to an agreement. She turned to Cheryl. "Can you call Lia?"

"Sure." Cheryl nodded, surprised at the request, figuring she'd send the kids home with Matt, who they seemed comfortable.

"Okay, then time to go. Are you going to follow us?" The cop turned to Cheryl.

"Yeah, I'll meet you out front."

"Great, time to go Ms. Lehman." Emily had never changed her name, everybody knew her as Lehman.

"Okay girls, Mommy has to go somewhere tonight, but Aunt Lia is going to come take you home okay?" She kissed her daughters, who nodded. Bridget was crying, afraid of what was happening, while Marie just held on to her mother, not really understanding anything. Cheryl pulled the little girl off, and handed her to Matt, who she clung to immediately, and Bridget soon went to him. The two detectives led Emily out, without any handcuffs on, mindful of her children, and not really perceiving any threat from her.

"You'll wait with the girls for Lia?" Cheryl asked Matt, already dialing the analyst's number; he nodded, already whispering soothingly to Bridget. Cheryl wondered again about his relationship with the girls.


"So Ms. Lehman, can you take us through your day, starting with breakfast." She was sitting with Detectives Hamilton and Perdue in an interrogation room, a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I got ready for work as usual, and got the girls ready for daycare. Eddie was already at the office when I got up; he has, had rather, a big case that's about to go to trial. I drove the girls to Bright Beginnings, their daycare, and then went to work. It was an average day: I did paperwork, taught my class, reviewed some old cases with my coworkers that Washington had sent back down for us to analyze and improve on. I left work just after five, picked the girls up, and was home by six. I put on a Care Bears tape for them, while I got dinner ready. Eddie got home just after we finished dinner, I was cleaning up, the girls were in the living room, playing." She took a deep breath, this was where it got messy.

"How was work?" Emily was washing the dinner dishes when Eddie walked in the door, looking none to pleased.

"Judge let the plaintiffs get in some evidence that hurts my clients, so really fucking bad." He was a corporate attorney, defending huge companies against law suits by irate people.

"Can you keep your voice down when you curse, the girls are in the other room?" She hated that it didn't matter to him when the girls saw him upset, because it scared them.

"I don't really give a shit, they've heard it before, they'll hear it again, they should just get used to it." She could sense he was in one of his moods, and her body immediately tensed.

"Where's dinner?"

"There's a plate for you in the fridge." Emily didn't look up from her dishes, her body already quivering in anticipation of the first blow. She heard the door open, and him take the dish out, and close it.

"It's cold."

"Heat it the microwave then, it won't take more than two minutes."

"Couldn't it just once be hot when I get home? Or hell, I'd even take warm at this point."

"The girls are hungry when we get home, and I want them fed early so I can get them to bed at a descent hour."

"Do you purposely get them in bed before I get home?"

"What? No, of course not." Eddie was always home late, and the girls needed to be in bed before then.

"Don't fucking lie to me, Emily!" He grabbed her arm, hard, digging his fingers in.

"I'm not!" She insisted angrily, trying to twist away from him.

"Yes you are! You bitch, you're trying to keep my kids away from me!" He yelled in her face, twisting her arm behind her.

"No, Eddie, I swear I'm not," she whimpered, hating how weak she was.

"Damn it! I told you not to fucking lie to me, you bitch!" He pushed her up against the nearby wall, resting an arm against her throat.

"Eddie…Eddie please," she begged.

"Mommy?" Bridget's voice startled them both, and they turned to door to see both of their daughters staring in fear.

"Hey, there's my girls!" Eddie said gleefully, releasing Emily, and going over to the girls, crouching to their level.

"Hey Daddy," Bridget did as she was expected and hugged, him watching her mother with fear in her eyes the whole time. But, Marie was too young to know how to hide her fear, to know to lie, so when her daddy came toward her, she backed away.

"Come on Marie, give Daddy a hug?" He held his arms to her, and Bridget tried to push her baby sister toward him, but she just backed away further, clutching a stuffed dog to her chest.

"Damn it, Marie come here!" Eddie yelled angrily at the frightened child, and grabbed her up, just as she began to cry.

"Eddie, stop it, you're scaring her!" Emily yelled at him, rushing over.

"Shut up Emily! Marie calm down, it's okay…damn it, you calm the fuck down!" He screamed and began shaking her violently when she wouldn't quiet down.

"Eddie! Eddie stop it, now!" Emily yelled back at him, grabbing the hysterical child from his painful grip and cradling her to her chest. Eddie was seething, but she ignored him, and bent down to Bridget.

"Sweetie, Mommy and Daddy need to talk okay. Come on, upstairs." She took Bridget's hand and walked toward the stairs, Marie still in her arms, sobbing. Once again, she bent to her daughters level, setting Marie back on her own feet, and whispered to them.

"Bridge, I need you to take your sister upstairs, you remember what Mommy told you, you might need to do one day?" She had prepared her older child for the day her husband's anger got out of control, and tonight she had disobeyed him, yelled back, and taken his child away from him. Tonight would be back, and tomorrow she might not see.

Bridget nodded, tears pricking her eyes, more scared than she'd ever been in her short life. Emily kissed both her girls, and sent them hurriedly off upstairs, before turning back to face the wrath of her husband.

He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her over to the living room. "Don't you fucking ever tell me no in front of my children! No wonder Marie is so scared, you turned her against me!"

"Marie loves you Eddie, but not when you get angry." She spoke so calmly, though her scalp burned, just like the fury in his eyes. She twisted away from him, clutching her sore head.

"Eddie damn it, I told you, I told you, you can hit me as much as you like, I'll survive. But, so help me, I will not watch you hurt the girls! You lay a hand on either one of them ever again, and I will leave you, and take them with me, and you will never see them again." She knew she was playing with fire, but she had to make it sink in, make sure he understood she was serious.

"You fucking worthless whore! I was right, you're trying to take them from me!" He launched himself at her, grabbing her wrists, pinning her to the wall. Chest heaving, he roughly yanked her away from the wall, and threw her to the floor, her head hitting the glass coffee table behind them. She sat on the floor, holding her now bleeding head, body quivering.

"Get up." She didn't move, but glared up at him.

"I said, Get Up." He didn't wait for her to even try, but yanked her up by another patch of hair, and stood her up in front of himself.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that! Don't you ever fucking think you can threaten me!"

"Fuck you." She used the last once of courage she had and spit the words in his sadistic face.

"Oh yeah? We can do that." He grinned and tossed her half onto a chair, moving toward her belt buckle.

"Please, please Eddie don't!" She begged him, but he just ignored her, even as she swatted at his hands. He slapped her hard to stop her, and resumed his work on the button of her jeans.

"Please, Eddie…Eddie, I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant…" she pled breathlessly with him, finally getting him to stop.

"What?" His eyes suddenly lit with something other than anger.

"I'm pregnant, we're having another baby." Her bottom lip shook, and she bit it to make it stop, covering her eyes so he would see her tears.

"A little boy?"

She nodded, "Maybe, we won't know for a while."

"This is great news!" He pulled her off of the chair and into his arms, holding her tightly, even as she shook and wept. Emily stood in his arms, wondering how her life had become what it was, wondering how she could protect three children from him.

"Why are you crying?" He pulled her back and stared at her.

"I'm, I'm not," she struggled even as she felt the tears fall down her cheeks.

"Don't fucking lie to me! Why do you always have to fucking lie to me?!" He bellowed, kicking the glass coffee table and watching it shatter against the wall.

Emily took his distracted moment, to run to the kitchen and yank her gun from it's lockbox on top of a cabinet. Eddie ran in just as she was bringing it up in his direction, tears still streaming down her face, body still quivering, but hands still as a stone statue in the familiar stance.

"What the hell are you doing with that, Emily?"

"Stay back Eddie."

"You friggin idiot, what hell do you think you're going to do with that? I bet you have the worst aim in the whole fucking Bureau." He stepped toward her, taunting her.

"Stop it, I told you to stay back!"

"Since when do I take orders from you, you dumb bitch? I swear I don't even know why I married you sometimes." He again moved closer, now only two feet from her.

"Eddie goddamn it, stop moving!"

"You weak, pathetic, coward of a bitch, you don't have the guts to shoot me." He went to take the last step, hands reaching out towards her. Emily pulled the trigger in a triple burst, just as she been taught, and watched red splotches appear on her husbands shirt, just before he fell to the floor. Finally, she heard sirens coming toward the apartment.


I know I said I wouldn't do anymore chaptered fiction, but I get very bored at work, and need something to occupy my mind. And, I miss the show. Thanks for reading and please review!