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They were both awaken by a cell phone going off at 7 A.M.
"Agent Morgan," Derek answered, as Emily slowly woke up.
"Hey Morgan," JJ's familiar voice said over the phone, "How's Emily doing?"
"She's doing alright," he said, "What do you need Jayj?"
"We have a case," JJ said sadly, "And Hotch is wondering where you two are."
"I'll be there in ten minutes," Derek said, getting up and grabbing his go bag.
"Alright," JJ said, "I could tell Hotch you are sick, and you could take care of Em."
"No," he said, "I'll be in."
"Ok," JJ said, hanging up.
"What's going on?" Emily asked her voice raspy from vomiting and sleep.
"New case," he said. She got up and started pulling on a clean shirt. "What do you think you are doing?" Derek asked, toothbrush in his mouth.
"I'm getting ready," she said, "We have a case."
"Emily," he said, "You spent all of yesterday throwing up and haven't kept any food down since." He placed a hand on her forehead, "You also are still really warm," he said, "You need to stay home."
"You're not my mom," she said, angrily, "I'm going to work and you are not going to stop me. Now let's go. We are going to hold the whole team up," she said, throwing the Advil and three bottles of Gatorade along with a box of crackers in her go bag and grabbing her purse.
He sighed, knowing that she wouldn't listen to him. The only reason she had allowed him to take care of her yesterday was because they had the day off. He grabbed the keys and followed her out the door.
They drove to the BAU and went in. "Good morning," Hotch said, "Are you alright, Prentiss?" he asked, seeing her pale face and tired eyes.
"Just fine," she said managing to hide her grimace at the sound of her raspy voice. She hoped the rest of the team wouldn't notice.
"Alright," Hotch said skeptically, "Go ahead Garcia."
"Well, three weeks ago the sheriffs department in Acton, California, was notified of a missing woman, Samantha Chase, who had failed to pick up her son from school. Two days later, she was found in a burning car outside of a gas station. She had signs of being bound and beaten. The next week, Samantha Preston, same situation, only in front of a different gas station. Then five days ago, Jenna Andrews, found the same way. All three were brunette, between twenty- five and thirty. Also, the cars did not belong too these women. They had all been stolen from a local junkyard. One more unique thing, all the cars were wired so that the doors couldn't be opened."
"That could mean that he has been in a fire," Morgan said.
"Or that someone he loves has died in a fire and he blames a gas station for it," JJ offered.
"With the knowledge that he would need to know how to make a car start on fire, I would say we are looking for a mechanic or someone with a degree in the field," Rossi said.
"Is there anything connecting the victims besides hair color and age?" Reid asked.
"Not that we know yet, but I will get on it as soon as I'm in my office," Garcia said.
"If this guy sticks to pattern," Morgan said, "We have less than two days before another woman is abducted."
"Exactly," Hotch said, "Wheels up in ten."
The team dispersed to grab their laptops and go-bags from under their desks. JJ, however, grabbed Emily's elbow and held her back.
"Why in the world did you come in?" JJ asked in her mothering way.
"I'm fine," Emily said, trying to pull away and stumbling a bit.
"You are not," JJ said, putting her hand on Emily's head, "You still have a fever."
"No," Emily said, "It's just warm in here."
"No, it isn't Emily," JJ said, "You're sick."
"You guys ready?" Reid said, poking his head in the door.
"Yep," Emily said, giving JJ a glare, telling her to lay off. They got into their separate cars and drove off to the runways.
As soon as they got on the plane, Emily sat down in a chair and closed her eyes, realizing how exhausted she way.
"Are you alright Emily?" Reid asked.
"Yeah," she said, "Just didn't get a ton of sleep last night."
"You know that sleep deprivation causes roughly 1,150 accidents a year," Reid said, taking a seat across from Rossi.
"We have a long flight," Morgan said, hoping it didn't sound too much like a boyfriend "Why don't you take a nap, Emily?"
She nodded and was soon fast asleep. Derek kept shooting worried looks at Emily, knowing she was not in good shape.
"How long?" Rossi asked, sitting down next to Morgan.
"Since what?" Derek asked, confused by what Rossi was talking about.
"Since the two of you," Rossi said, pointing at the sleeping agent, "My guess is just about two months."
"Well," Derek said, "You would be correct. We wanted to keep it quiet, but if you know, I'm sure everyone else does too."
"Oh we all know," Hotch said, barely looking up from the file he was looking over.
"Well," Derek said, "I guess it's true. You can't keep a secret from a profiler."
"Yeah," Rossi said, laughing, "So what's going on with her?"
"She caught JJ's flu," Derek said, "She was sick all day yesterday and hasn't eaten anything since."
"Did you know that the average person can go between 46 and 73 days without eating depending on body weight and genetic differences," Reid said.
"When we land," Hotch said, "JJ, take Prentiss to the hotel. Even though you two are together," Hotch said, looking at Morgan, "we still have to follow protocol."
"I understand," Derek said.
"JJ," Hotch continued, "Once you get her settled, meet me and Reid at the station. Morgan and Rossi, go to the latest crime scene. Once you get back, JJ, you and Reid will take the second scene. We are working one man short on this one so everyone needs to be flexible." They all nodded.
Morgan got up and sat next to Emily. He wrapped a blanket around her and brushed a hair off her still extremely pale face. "Wha…?" she said, opening her eyes.
"Sh, sh, sh, Sweetheart," he said, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, "It's alright."
"Derek," she said her voice raspy, "What are you doing? Everyone else is going to find out."
"They already know and have for two months," he said, chuckling a bit.
"Of course they did," Emily said, "So how far out are we?"
"Still about two hours," he said, brushing a air out of her face.
"Good," she said, "I'm still tired," she said through a yawn.
"Well," Morgan said, "You'll have plenty of time to sleep once we get there. Hotch is sending you to the hotel once we land."
"What?" she exclaimed, "I'm absolutely fine, Hotch," she said, looking at her boss.
"How about if we make a deal, Prentiss," Hotch said, getting up, "I'm gonna get the thermometer. If you temperature is below 100, you can come to the sheriff station with me. If it isn't you will go to the hotel and stay there until it is."
"Fine," she said, grumbling. Hotch grabbed the thermometer and handed it to her. She turned it on and placed it in her mouth. Thirty seconds later, it beeped.
Derek took it and sighed, "102, Em," he said, "You are not going to anywhere except to the hotel."
"Alright," she sighed in defeat, realizing that she probably shouldn't be working.
She got up from her seat and went to lie in the couch. Derek wrapped a blanket around her and went back to the team for the debriefing. They landed an hour and a half later and Derek helped Emily off the plane and kissed her forehead before getting into one SUV with Rossi to go to the first crime scene.
JJ took Emily's arm and guided her into a second SUV. Once they were inside, Emily closed her eyes.
"I know you haven't had anything to eat since yesterday," JJ said, "But you've been drinking right?"
"No," Emily said, giving JJ a sheepish look.
"Em," JJ exclaimed, "You are probably super dehydrated. I told Derek to make sure you were drinking. Man, I'm gonna kill him. Do you have anything with you to drink or do you want me to stop and pick something up?"
"I have some Gatorade in my bag," Emily said, grabbing her bag and getting the Gatorade. "Don't be mad at Derek. He tried to get me to drink, but I wouldn't take it."
She tried to get the top off of the Gatorade, but found her arms too weak.
"Need help?" JJ asked as they stopped at a red light.
"Please," Emily said, cringing at how pitiful she sounded. JJ took the bottle and quickly unscrewed the cap before handing it back to Emily. The sick woman took it and sipped it slowly. She drained a quarter of the bottle before closing it. "Let's see if that stays down," Emily said, giving JJ a small smile.
"Is your stomach still upset?" JJ asked.
"Um, yeah, a little," Emily said, "I'm sure I'll be fine."
"If you throw up again," JJ said, "You need to call one of us, do you understand?"
"Uh huh," Emily said, wishing her friend would just shut up.
"Do you have anything to eat if you start feeling better?" JJ asked as they pulled into the hotel.
"Yeah," Emily replied, opening her door slowly, "I grabbed a box of crackers before we left."
"Good," JJ said, getting out and grabbing her go-bag from the back seat before taking Emily's bag from her struggling coworker. They got checked in and went to their room.
The hotel was small so Emily and JJ had to share a room with two twin sized beds. Emily walked in and collapsed on the first bed.
"Why don't you change into something more comfortable?" JJ said, handing Emily her go-bag. Emily set the bag on her bed and pulled out her sweats and one of Morgan's old t-shirts. She quickly changed her clothes and lay back down on the bed. "Do you need anything?" JJ asked.
"Nope," Emily said, "I'm good. You can go. Thank you for bring me here, though."
"Alright," JJ said, "Make sure you call if you need anything."
"Ok," Emily said, rolling over in bed and closing her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.
She stayed sleeping for an hour, only to be awakened by her churning stomach. She sat there for a few minutes, trying to make it stop. When she realized it wasn't going to, she leapt up from the bed and ran to the bathroom. She threw up the small amount of Gatorade she had managed to drink earlier. Once that was out of her system, she had dry heaves for another minute. When she finished, she was exhausted. She felt dizzy and knew she needed to call Derek, but she didn't want to disrupt them on their case. She just pulled a towel off the rack, bunched it up, and fell asleep, too exhausted to go to bed.
That's where JJ found her ten hours later. Hotch had released them to get some rest. They hadn't gotten any leads, but they did get a list of people who had visited the junkyard where the cars had been stolen from. Garcia was running the list.
"Emily?" JJ called, walking into and not seeing her colleague in the bed.
"What?" Emily called weakly from the bathroom.
"Oh my gosh, Em," JJ exclaimed, running over to her, "Were you sick again?" Emily nodded her head weakly.
"Why didn't you call?" JJ said, helping her friend up.
"I didn't want to disturb you guys," Emily said, leaning on JJ for support. JJ was glad the bed was only a few feet away because she couldn't support Emily very well with her small build.
"Emily," she said once she had gotten her to the bed, "We need to get you to the hospital. You are super dehydrated."
"Alright," Emily said. JJ was a bit surprised at Emily's willingness to go. It made her even more worried about her best friend.
"Sit tight while I go get Morgan," JJ said, getting up and going out the door, leaving the door open slightly.
She ran to the room next door and knocked. Hotch answered the door. "Hey," he said, "I thought I told you to get some sleep."
"Hey Jayj," Morgan said, "I was just coming to see Emily. How is she?"
"We need to take her to the hospital," JJ said, panic evident in her voice, "She drank a little Gatorade when I was driving her over, but she threw that up. She is really weak and dehydrated. She can hardly even walk on her own."
"Let's go," Hotch said, grabbing his wallet.
"No," Derek said, "Stay here. I can take her."
"No," Hotch said, "We are a family and we are going with you."
"Alright," Derek said, "let's go."
"Em," Derek said, going into her room while Hotch went to tell Reid and Rossi what was going on.
"Hey," she said weakly.
"JJ told me you threw up again," he said, going over to her, stroking her hair gently.
"Yeah," Emily said, "About ten hours ago. I had a few bouts of dry heaves since then, and my stomach still feels queasy."
"We're ready to go," JJ said, coming in and grabbing her purse. Derek picked Emily up and carried her out to the SUV. Reid and Rossi were staying behind to get some rest, but promised to come in first thing in the morning in if Emily was still there.
New Chapter update soon
