don't own criminal minds
"I can take it" that's what she'd said to them, it had stopped them entering
"I can take it" that's what she'd said to them, it had stopped them entering. It had happened after the second time she had told them she could take it. They had heard the unsub say, "Yeah well let's see if you can take this…" they could hear her plead with him not to….telling him she'd follow his rules. Then they heard him tell the others to hold her. Then the screams…the screams were what broke the teams heart. They knew he had hurt her badly….they had never heard Emily scream like that before, never heard her beg. They dragged her back up to the church. It was Reid who saw her first. After the beating….he saw the blood, on her face, back and legs, the way her eyes were now blank and detached. He saw the way she flinched when he went to touch her but wouldn't answer his questions.
Then they had come in….they had gotten the women and children out but they hadn't found her until last minute. In the basement she had curled into a ball against the wall. She wouldn't answer them and when they went to grab her she screamed. It was JJ who got her out. Picked her up by the arm and practically dragged her out. JJ led her to the ambulance and then it exploded. The bomb went off but Reid and Morgan were still inside. Then they came out…they were covered in debris but they were alive. Hotch had breathed a sigh of relief. Then the focus went back to her. Reid moved the men away from her and told them what he had noticed when she had been dragged up to the church. Then it clicked with them. The screams then silence. Her begging him not to, that she'd follow his rules. Him getting them to hold her…it all made sense to them now.
They had put her in the ambulance, JJ had to go with her. They told her that they'd meet her at the hospital. Then the doctor had told them, when he attacked her, he had raped her. Multiple people had raped her, his followers….four of them. JJ had cried….Emily wouldn't speak, wouldn't show emotion. She just stared out the window. Garcia came down to meet them when she got the news. She tried to get her to talk but she wouldn't. 'Shock, from the trauma she had suffered' is what the doctor had said. There were broken ribs, cuts and bruises everywhere. Yet she had survived, and the girl didn't. Morgan had gone in to do his usual flirting with her but it wasn't there. The spark in her eyes was gone and they knew they had lost their Emily. For how long they were unsure but they had lost her.
Then it was time for the plane. It was at least two weeks later when she was allowed to leave the hospital…she had started to talk again but she still wasn't Emily, her eyes were not the same…no sparkle or fire in them anymore. She had tried to fall asleep not long after take off but they hadn't stopped watching her. Waiting for her to fully break so that she could begin to heal. She wouldn't or couldn't sleep on the plane. Her mind was going to fast. The doctor had told her that the EPT had come back positive. She was going to have a baby….she couldn't sleep with that on her mind. She couldn't sleep with the team looking at her wondering when she was going to break. It was too hard.
However, she did fall asleep two hours into the flight. Then the nightmares and memories came flooding back. The team could see her tossing and turning but they couldn't stop her…none of them could stop her memories or nightmares. They could only pray that she'd survive…that she'd get better….remember being Emily…but they didn't know…they didn't know what she knew.
She tossed and turned on the couch……the nightmares becoming more vivid by the moment….the nightmares becoming memories….memories she didn't want to remember….and Reid….sometimes she'd dream it was him that got dragged down there. To the basement…but he wouldn't have survived….not after Henkel. She had to survive….she had reasons to survive….then the nightmare returned….she was screaming in her sleep…she shouted it out loud, causing them to stop and look…at her at each other…she screamed it out loud, "don't hurt the baby, please!" she didn't know it but she had told them….they understood her silence….her reluctance to talk to them.
She had been woken by JJ before the plane landed…she saw the look in JJ's eyes…. "You know, don't you?"…JJ nodded and didn't say anything else….just held Emily….the tears finally came….she finally let the pain go….she just needed that one person to hold her….that was all she wanted….the person to hold her and tell her it would be okay….that she would survive this…JJ did that without thinking….it bought them back their Emily….not the same one…that would come in time….but some of the sparkle was back….she took time off to think….the baby…her choices….what to do……
She kept it…after finding love and support from her family…the BAU family….she found it…what she was looking for…..family…..she had broken but now she was mending.