…
Doctor Aylsworth sighed as she approached the private waiting room. Inside were a group of federal agents- the difficult sort. She braced herself for the badgering and hissing and threats.
"Family of Emily Prentiss?" These types never had much actual family.
"Her family is out of the country at the moment. I'm her supervisor." He flashed his badge needlessly when she hesitated. "We're all she has at the moment."
"Agent Prentiss has been stabilized."
Relief shuddered through each of their bodies. The supervisor actually sat down.
The first to speak was a tall, gangly man. "What about the pills? What were they? Were they the poison or… the one that-?"
"Thanks to the sample that was retrieved from her vomit, we were able to determine quickly that it wasn't the poison he gave some of the other victims. It was the other set of pills- the chemical agent designed to-"
"We know what it was designed to do!" The ex-cop snapped.
The blonde next to him laid a hand on his shoulder. "Emily didn't take all of them, so she's gonna be fine, right?"
Aylsworth swallowed. "Our research scientists were able to determine that of the pills that your killer gave to the victims, there were three pills that would- for lack of a better word- transform into a prepubescent age. Of those three, Emily vomited back only one."
"So, she's a kid again. Just not a prepubescent kid."
"As far as we can tell as of now, we believe Agent Prentiss is now 9 to 11 years of age. We'll know for sure once she wakes up and can tell us herself."
An older gentleman, who had been silent up until then, spoke up. "What about the other pills she spit back up. How do they change what happens to her?"
"Firstly, she also regurgitated a stabilizer pill. This would have kept her at the age she transformed too. Because of this, we are expecting her to gradually get older. There will probably be jumps in age. She might be 11 one day, and then, while she sleeps, the body may transform, and she'll be 14 when she wakes up.
"She also regurgitated the pill that would keep her memories intact along with her body in terms of temporary injury or illness in the victim during adulthood versus that of the age in which they regressed. This means she will not remember being an adult. She will have the memories that she had at this date when she was at that age. And she will also have every injury, bruise, illness, even psychologically she will be as she was then."
The room was silent.
"I know this is a lot to take in-"
"When can we see her?" The older gentleman stood up.
"The regression seems to have taken a toll on her body; it takes a lot of energy to go back two decades. So, she's currently sleeping. We will let you see her once she's woken up and we have been able to do some basic tests to determine whether she is fit to leave the hospital."
"When is that?"
"I expect her to be awake in around two or three hours."
The supervisor rose from his seat to shake her hand. "Thank you for everything, Doctor."
"Our researchers are working on a cure nonstop, Agent. We will cure her, hopefully before she gets too old to fool with whatever tale you all are going to tell her."
"We have to lie to Emily?"
"We don't want her to get freaked out, babygirl."
Doctor Aylsworth turned and left the waiting room. She wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight.
As soon as the doctor left, the team rose to their feet, jaws clenched and hands shaking with fury and determination.
"JJ, I need you to contact Ambassador Prentiss. Garcia, help JJ get past the red tape. And figure out if there are any other immediate family members to contact. The Ambassador's secretary may be able to help better with that. Reid and Morgan, head to the crime scene. Find anything you think that will be remotely helpful in putting this guy away, getting an antidote, the effects this thing will have on Emily- anything at all. Rossi, I need you to figure out what we're going to tell Emily."
"What about you, Hotch?"
"I'm going to find a judge that'll sign an order for emergency guardianship of Emily Prentiss to be given to the FBI."
Reid frowned. "What about her mother?"
Hotch shook his head. "The Ambassador means well, but she's still in service. She would probably attempt to either take Emily with her back to South Africa, or she'll put her in a research facility here until they find a cure. Either way, it would mean subjecting Emily to her childhood all over again."
JJ already knew of Emily's mutual love-hate relationship with her mother, but it seemed the others hadn't. Reid looked uncomfortable. Derek huffed and walked out with the young man in tow. Garcia looked understandably upset but equally determined. Rossi just sighed and took out a notepad and pen, sitting down to begin his own task.
