Journey On
Chapter One: Beginnings, the Prentiss Version.

Summary: This is a total AU story about the beginnings of JJ and Emily.
Chapter Summary: Introduction to the Prentiss family, and when I say introduction, I didn't say it was a nice, happy introduction.
Warnings: Domestic abuse for the first two chapters, language warnings throughout the whole story. Will give more warnings as chapters come.
Spoilers: None.

XxX

Location: Moscow, Russia

Date: November 13, 1972

She jerked awake, but she wasn't quite sure why. Listening closely, she heard a distinct roar that sounded a bit like her father, and the oncoming sobs of her younger sister. Padding silently down to her sister's room, she stopped short, stunned at what she was hearing.

The cry of the two-year old toddler pierced the night, as her father advanced on her holding a silver knife. He had been drinking the whole night and had gradually grown violent, and in his current state, was murderous.

Brandishing it at the child, he growled, "Shut up!" The cries increased exponentially in volume.

Ignoring him, the toddler cried on, her distress apparent, because no child would like a sharp knife shoved in her face, but her father, in his drunken state, did not pick up on it. He grew only more angry and implusive.

Shaking the child roughly, he shouted, "Shut up, you little piece of shit or I'll slash your throat!" And he almost did, if it weren't for the blur of red and black that pushed him.

"You son of a bitch, she's only two!"

Jessica Prentiss snarled at her father, "What right do you have to kill a two year old for crying? She's only a child! She's your own flesh- and-blood and you're going to slash her throat because she's crying?"

Christopher Prentiss pushed his eldest daughter back, pinning her to the wall from the throat, with his knife pointed at her face, "I don't give a fuck! Child or no child she has to shut the hell up!"

Slapping her rather inebriated father across the face, she yelled back, "She's two! Did you cry when you were two, Father? Did your father brandish a knife at your face and threaten to kill you when you cried, Father? Did he?"

Releasing his grip on his eldest child, he turned back to the youngster and raised his knife, murder evident in his manic eyes, and there was a shout of, "No!"

The knife plunged, once, twice, thrice.

A groan of pain echoed through the room, and Christopher Prentiss recoiled, staring at what he had wrought upon his child. Her furious chocolate brown eyes stared unflinchingly at him, still defying with her eyes, but not in body.

As Elizabeth Prentiss' shocked eyes witnessed the scene before her, her daughter's prone body dropped amidst the shrill screams of the sobbing toddler.

As her security detail piled into the room, they arrested her husband, the man she'd lived with for fifteen years, the man who just about murdered his daughter in cold blood.

And for the first time in fifteen years, tears ran down her face as she approached the barely moving body. She brushed away the stray strands of black hair, and she felt a hand encircle her wrist, and as she looked up into Jessica Prentiss' dark eyes, she heard the haunting words.

"Take care of her, Mother."

Her brown eyes burned into her own, "Promise me."

She bowed her head, squeezing her fallen daughter's hand lightly, "I promise, Jess."

With that, the girl's hand thudded to the ground, her eyes closing for the last time.

Allowing a few more tears to fall before withdrawing into the famous Prentiss mask, Elizabeth stood and looked at her now only child. She had quieted, sensing that something was seriously not right, and her slightly chubby arms reached for the comfort of her mother.

She picked up the little girl, whispering soothingly in her ear, and hurried her out, before the youngest and only Prentiss child could see her older sister… her late older sister.

"It's okay, Emily, we'll be okay."

The toddler quieted in her mother's arms, and twisted around to look at the body of her older sister. Her lower lip quivered, and the tears poured freely, once again, but she didn't make a sound. Emily Prentiss was still too young to understand what had just happened, but the nightmares would plague for a very long time. Her mind stored this night forever, and even though she was only two, she pushed it back into the back of her mind so she didn't have to think about it. Even though she would never know the person as she aged, she would remember what the girl did for her.

Elizabeth Prentiss knew that she had a very intelligent child, a child proficient in the art of compartmentalization already. It was ingrained into the Prentiss blood, and her mother who relied on compartmentalization for her job. Perhaps she'd make a good politician, walking in her mother and father's footsteps. But she wasn't sure she could box this scene that just happened, and go on like nothing had happened. Her own husband had just killed their daughter, and the son of a bitch was smirking like he'd just won the lottery. One day, she vowed, she'd make him pay.

Christopher Prentiss remained impassive as he was led down to the Russian police station where he would be held, but he smirked, because he knew he would be out of here by the morning. His contacts were more than capable of getting him out of here without fuss. He could return home soon. And hopefully, he'd teach both of them a lesson. He wanted to feel that thrill again, the thrill of having taken a life. He wanted to feel that again.

As the techs in the Prentiss home zipped up the black body bag, they each whispered a prayer to the gods, that this child would find peace above, the precious child who sacrificed herself for her younger sister. And, yes, Jessica Prentiss was at peace, observing her broken, dysfunctional family from above, hoping that her beloved little sister would be fine. And as she faded, she smiled. She would send someone for her sister.

Someone would properly take care and love her younger sister. Someone Emily could lean on and tell her secrets to. Someone she could trust and relate to.

But, Jessica Prentiss knew, her sister would have to suffer through a lot more before she could get there. Also, Jessica knew, the person she would send would have to suffer through much too, like a dark parallel path to her sister. Someone just as strong as she was and would survive through it.

And somewhere, in the darkness in Russia, Emily Prentiss cried as she felt something, someone, she loved, disappeared.

A/N: Something different than I'd usually write. And, for the record, there is a lot of JJ and Emily 'whumping' in here. So... enjoy. Will be updating soon. Dedicated to my dear friend, 4/19/95 - 5/2/11.

Next chapter: Beginnings, the Jareau Version.

~S12