Long Distance Call

Chapter 2: How to Save a Life

AN 1: Ahhhhh, all the reviews have been great so far. I'm sorry this chapter wasn't posted sooner; I had it ready to go and my Internet once again stopped working. So it goes. Anyways, I know some have wondered what is going on so far, since this clearly isn't "long distance" yet. I'm working up to it, I swear. I felt like starting at the beginning was a pretty good idea. And yes, this will be a JJ/Emily couple story eventually, but I also feel like Will should be given some credit. He's started to grow on me in any case. But fear not, for Emily/JJ will prevail in the end. For all of you who reviewed so far: THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. You guys have no idea what that means to me. This chapter is in Emily's POV, set right after the events of "Lauren". I know it's jumped some, but this idea took hold and I had to write it next. I hope you guys like it as much as the first chapter. And now for the usual disclaimer: I own nothing. Neither "How To Save A Life" by The Fray (although it is an amazing song), nor the quote at the bottom, nor the CM cast I've mentioned/wrote in this chapter. Also, I have no medical experience, so if any of that is inaccurate I am truly sorry. Anyways, on to the chapter. Enjoy guys.

Step one: you say "we need to talk"

He walks, you say "sit down, it's just a talk"

Smiles politely back at you

You stare politely right on through

…

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

How to Save a Life – The Fray

Emily's POV:

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes flickered open to find myself staring at a white ceiling. The next thing I became aware of, however, was the tube snaking its way down my throat. Instinctively, I gagged and reached up, only to be restrained by a warm hand closing around my wrist.

"Whoa, Em, take it easy," an angelic voice called out, gripping my wrist in a firm but gentle manner. Vaguely, I recognized the voice, although I hadn't seen the owner in a while. JJ. What the hell had happened to me?

"Emily," another voice, one I didn't recognize, called out from my right. "Emily, my name is Dr. Sam Matthews. You have an intubation tube placed in your trachea right now, so I need to you to stay calm for me, okay? Once you do that I can remove the tube and you can breathe normally."

I felt JJ's hand slip over mine, and I clutched it as if it was the last tie to anchor me to this earth. I still had no idea what was going on, but I felt safer knowing that one of my team was here with me. The man calling himself Dr. Sam Matthews removed the tube as gently as he could, and I coughed roughly, suddenly aware of how dry and incredibly sore my throat was. JJ helped me sit up – a job much harder than I had expected due to the burning pain in my abdomen – and brought a cup of water to my lips. Eagerly, I clamped my mouth around the straw and drank as much as I could. "What happened?" I managed to croak once the cup was empty.

Dr. Matthews stepped closer to my bed, preventing JJ from answering my question. "Emily, I'm going to just run a couple tests on you to make sure everything is alright. Agent Jareau can answer all of your questions after I'm done. It won't take but five minutes."

"'Kay," I managed to get out, still holding JJ's hand. Her thumb smoothed over the back of my hand in soothing circles, causing any discomfort I might have felt to melt into the background.

"Look ahead for me," he said, holding a light up to my eyes. "Your pupil response seems normal." He tucked the light back into the pocket of his scrubs and held a finger up. "Now, can you follow my finger with your eyes?"

I tracked the finger as he moved it slowly across my vision from right to left. "Anything else?" I asked, somewhat impatient.

"Just one more thing," Dr. Matthews replied. "Agent Jareau, if you don't mind relinquishing Emily's hand for me."

"Oh, right," she murmured, pulling her hand back.

Matthews gently grabbed my hands and held them limply in his own. "Okay, Emily, can you squeeze my hands for me please?" I squeezed his hands tightly, causing him to chuckle. "You certainly have a strong grip." He moved to grab the clipboard at the end of my bed, and jotted a few notes down. "Alright, well your brain seems to be functioning quite well, all things considered. A nurse will be in to check on you in a little bit. If you need anything from me though, just press that call button and the nurses will page me." He gave me a reassuring smile and nodded at JJ before walking out of the room.

"Jayje," I croaked, looking at the woman beside me. "What happened?"

Her warm hand slid into mine again. "What do you remember?" she asked me softly, tucking some stray hair behind her ear as she did so.

I closed my eyes and exhaled softly. "I remember…" My voice trailed off as the last events I could recall flashed through my mind.

Ian Doyle led me down the hallway of the warehouse he was holding me in. "'Go to your father,' that's what you said," he said venomously to me as we walked. His grip tightened on my neck slightly, causing me to internally wince at the pressure. "I never told anyone the truth about Declan; you were the only one and you put him in your profile, didn't you?"

"Yes," I breathed.

"For two years, I didn't talk," he said, his grip tightening even more as he continued to speak in my ear. "The North Koreans used everything you gave them against me." He shoved me slightly, causing me to wince again as we came to a stop in another room much like the one he had branded me in. "It wasn't until they showed me these," he said, his calm demeanor beginning to fall away as he pulled out a handful of photos depicting Declan's death at the hands of an unknown shooter. I looked away, unable to continue to stare at the gory images that I had helped create. "They laughed at me as I wept," he revealed. "And you caused all of this, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," I admitted, my voice thick as I tried to keep myself from crying.

"That corner, right there, that's where he died," he said, his voice becoming harsher as he pointed with the hand that still held the photographs. He shoved me closer towards the wall but maintained his tight grip on the back of my neck. "And that's where I'm gonna kill you," he hissed in my ear and shoved, sending me crashing into the wall with a grunt. He pulled out his gun and cocked it, staring at me with an intense look of hatred on his face.

I turned towards him and shook my hair out of my face. "There's something you don't know," I said calmly, all trace of tears gone. "About those photos."

Ian looked at me, silently demanding to know what I was talking about.

I sighed. "After your arrest," I admitted, looking at him, "I relocated Louise and Declan. And then I got a call," I said bitterly. "Interpol had sent back our profile," I looked down, gathering my thoughts. "The head of the Terrorism division wanted more dirt on you so they could break you."

"So you used my son as a promotion," he said tightly, keeping the gun leveled at my face.

"No," I replied, shaking my head and frowning at his assumption. "I wouldn't let him be a pawn," I said. If there was one thing I hadn't faked all those years undercover, it was how much I cared about that little boy. "The things they would have done to him, to get you to talk... But I knew that even if I didn't cooperate…they were going to find him…eventually. So I had to –"

"Had to what?" he snarled, dropping the gun and moving closer towards me. I could tell by the look on his face that he was close to slipping out of control.

I looked at him without remorse. "I had to end his suffering before it could begin," I revealed. His reaction was instantaneous, and he whipped his pistol across my face remorselessly, causing me to cry out in pain and crumple at his feet.

Roughly, he grabbed the front of my clothes and hauled me to my feet. "What did you do?" he asked, gripping my shoulders and shaking me harshly. "You put him in the profile; what else did you do?" He slammed me into the wall behind me.

"I put him in the profile after the pictures were taken," I admitted.

"You don't know when those pictures were taken," he responded, somewhat desperately as I rolled my head and licked my lips to distract myself from the pain shooting through my face and head. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do," I replied. "I'm the one holding the gun," I revealed, giving him a scathing look as I did so.

His reaction was quick and brutal. With a roar of rage, he jerked me around and slammed me into a supply shelf on the opposite end of the room before throwing me at his feet.

I pushed myself up on my elbows and shook my hair out of my eyes again. Keep stalling, Prentiss, I told myself, ignoring the pain wracking my body as I continued to lie on my stomach in front of him. "You want to hear his last words to me?" I asked tauntingly. Instead of answering, he let out another yell of rage and delivered a swift, ruthless kick to my ribs, causing me to cry out again. "He said," I gasped around ragged breaths, "'I looked pretty good for a dead kid, didn't I?' And then he got on the plane, and I never saw him again."

"He's alive?" Doyle demanded, his voice transformed with rage, and kicked me again.

"Just because I held a gun to him," I said, looking up at him and panting with the effort it was taking to speak normally. My ribs let out a scream of protest as I looked up. "Doesn't mean I shot him. I only had to make you and the North Koreans think he was dead."

Doyle bent down and grabbed me by the back of my neck once more before slamming me into the wall next to the supply shelves I had crashed into moments before. I couldn't help myself; I cried out once more as he threw me. "I know you're lying," Doyle spat, holding me up against the wall with his gun pressed into my back. I elbowed him roughly, causing him to drop his weapon despite my weakened state, and managed to get my body behind his as I put him in a chokehold.

This time it was him crying out in pain as I locked my arms around his neck. "I beat you, Ian," I said, every bit as ferociously as he had when our roles were reversed. I kicked the back of his knee swiftly, causing him to collapse onto his knees in front of me. "Before you ever even made it out of North Korea," I continued, laughing slightly. "I beat you. Because I gave Declan his life back."

"I'll find him," he gasped, looking up at me with a hateful, determined gaze.

"No you won't," I said confidently. "Ever since you told me my people had Fahey, I've been stalling you," I revealed. The lights in the warehouse suddenly shut down, causing me to look around anxiously. They're close, I realized, before Ian lunged to his feet. With a battle cry, he launched himself backwards, causing the both of us to crash into a table. The table collapsed like a house of cards under our combined weight. Quickly, I rolled out from under him and grabbed a broken table leg. I swung, feeling a satisfying 'crunch' as the piece of wood connected across his jaw. Blood sprayed from his mouth at the force of the blow, and I swung twice more before I threw the leg aside and turned away.

Intense pain was the next thing my mind registered as he picked up my fallen weapon and lunged, stabbing me through the abdomen. I groaned, the hot pain I felt quickly spreading throughout my body. Fuck, this hurts, I thought, swaying slightly. "Where is he?" Ian demanded as I groaned again. "Where's Declan? Emily, tell me," he gasped as I collapsed on my back beside him. He knelt over me. "Where is he? Emily, tell me where he is."

"No," I breathed, my eyes fluttering shut. Despite my condition, I felt a sense of satisfaction at the blood that poured from his mouth and nose. At least I had managed to injure that pretty boy face of his before he got me. Vaguely, as if it was coming from a long way away, I registered the sound of gunfire. Ian decided that it was time to leave, despite not having found out where Declan was yet, and bolted towards another door.

"I got her," I heard Morgan call out as he rushed to my side. My eyes, which had begun to slip shut, quickly opened at the sound of his voice. They found me, I realized. They had actually found me. "I got her in a basement on the south side, I need a medic," he called into the mic strapped to his Kevlar vest. "Prentiss," he said softly, pressing a hand to my abdomen around the stake that was currently protruding from my stomach.

"Hmm?" I managed sleepily. Everything hurt; all I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep until I no longer felt the pain coursing through my body. The edges of my vision began to darken, despite my best efforts to keep my eyes open.

"Listen to me, I'm right here," he said in a gentle voice, his breathing ragged as he grabbed my hand. "You're going to be all right." My eyes slipped shut again; they were just so heavy. "Where's my medic?" he screamed behind him before turning back to me. "Stay with me, baby, come on, stay with me," he said, tightening his grip on my fingers.

"Let me go," I managed to say. I needed him to understand; I was just so tired. Nothing sounded better than being able to close my eyes and sleep.

"No, no, I am not letting you go," he said roughly, leaning closer to me and causing me to crack my eyes open again. "Help me!" he screamed for backup again before turning back to me. "Listen to me, I know why you did all of this," he said." I know what you did for Declan. And I'm so proud of you." His words comforted me, and I struggled to keep my eyes open as he spoke. "Do you understand that? I am proud of you because you are my friend, and you are my partner." My eyes slipped closed again, and my head began to loll to the side. "No, Emily, come on stay with me!" he cried, and grabbed my limp hand with both of his. "If you can hear me, please, just squeeze my hand," he said softly. I gripped his hand as tight as I could, which I'm sure wasn't much all things considered. "Yes! There, that's it," he said encouragingly. "There you go, Em, just keep squeezing."

I felt arms lifting me up and setting me on a backboard. An EMT fit an ambu bag over my mouth and nose as another began pushing us out towards the ambulance. "Agent Morgan," one said calmly, "we can't have you on board. Protocol states in cases this severe we can only have the EMTs who are working on the patient to ride along. If it was a normal ride in, there would be no problem, but we need you to stay outside of the ambulance while we take her to the hospital."

"I don't give a damn about your protocol," he snarled, his hand still gripping mine. "This is my partner. I have to go with her."

"That's exactly why you can't come," the same EMT said patiently. "Now, let us go so we can save her life." I could feel his hand reluctantly let go of mine as I was loaded in the ambulance. The sirens were flicked on and I heard them howling as we began to race towards the nearest hospital.

"Okay, Emily," one of the paramedics said gently, leaning over me. I felt a cold and empty darkness settle over me before he had finished speaking and I knew no more.

Gulping, I wrenched myself back to the present. "Doyle," I murmured. "He got away. Jayje, he got away."

"I know," she replied softly, running her thumb over the back of my hand again. "Believe me, Em, we are doing everything we can to track him down, but it isn't easy. He's gone underground."

"What's going to happen to me?" I asked, causing her to look at me in surprise. "Don't look at me like that, JJ. We all know what he is. He'd annihilate the team if he heard I was still alive."

She gave me a sad, sympathetic smile. "We do," she conceded softly. "That's why Hotch made the decision to put word out that you didn't survive your surgery."

"I…what?" I asked dumbly. What the hell was she talking about?

Her blue eyes looked into mine, full of sadness and regret. "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you died almost three weeks ago." At my silence she sighed. "Emily, I know what you're thinking. Hotch seemed to think that it was for the best. And I just wanted to protect you." She pulled out a small plastic bag and set it on the table next to my bed. "These are some of the things we found when we searched the compound for anything you might have had taken from you when Doyle captured you. Your watch and cell phone are there, but that's about it. We couldn't really find much else."

"Of course not," I mumbled, still shocked at what this would mean for me. "I didn't have much on me in the first place."

"I didn't think so," JJ said quietly. "Em, if there was anything I could do to make this all go away, I would do it in a heartbeat. You're my best friend. I don't want to lose you."

I blinked hard, feeling the hot prick of tears sting my eyes. "I know," I replied, voice thick with unshed emotions. "Does, um…does Henry know what happened?"

"No," she whispered, her voice also filled with tears. "He still asks for his Aunty Emmy all the time. I couldn't tell him that you were dead, Emily. He adores you. He just knows you had to go away for a little while."

"Okay," I said, clamping down on my emotions and allowing my Agent Prentiss mask to slide into place. "Well, I guess this means I won't be seeing you for a while, right?"

"We'll catch him," she said, cupping my face gently. "We'll catch him and you'll get to come home before you know it."

"You need to leave now," I replied softly, although I wanted her to stay more than anything.

"Yeah," she agreed quietly. "You're going to get out of here soon. You'll be covertly transported to France as soon as you're healed, and we'll find a way to slip you some new identities." She turned to head towards the door.

"Jenn," I called out before she left. I rummaged through the plastic bag and found the watch I had worn since joining the BAU. "Take it," I said, wincing as I reached out to her. "So you have a little something to remember me by, I guess."

She smiled and slipped her watch off of her wrist as she walked back to my bedside. "Only if you take mine," she replied. "That way you have something to remind you of home, and the people who love you." As one, we slid the exchanged watches on our respective wrists, and she looked at me sadly. "You're going to need to toss that phone soon," she told me.

"I know," I replied, turning the aforementioned phone over in my hands. "Just not yet." I watched sadly as she walked to the door and let her leave without another word. I exhaled loudly after she disappeared from my view, and dialed my voicemail.

Penelope Garcia's voice came through my phone again. I sat quietly and listened to her message. Much like they had the first time I had heard it, my eyes filled with tears at her words. "Hey, it's me. Hotch asked me to try all your numbers, and I have this as an old listing, and you probably don't even use it anymore, but if it is you and you're out there, come home, please. God, Emily, what did you think, that we would just let you walk out of our lives? I am so furious at you right now! Then I think about how scared you must be, how you're in some dark place all alone, but you're not alone, okay? You are not alone. We are in that dark place with you. We are waving flashlights and calling your name. So if you can see us, come home. But if you can't, then, then you stay alive, because we're coming."

Her words had given me the resolve I had needed to bring the fight to Doyle. Now they reminded me of the family I was protecting, even if they didn't know it. Garcia's words helped me once, and they would do so again. I replayed the message again, allowing myself to fall asleep to her words of hope and comfort.

When I awoke, I noticed that I had a new voicemail message. Frowning, I keyed the play button. "Hey," the voice of Jennifer Jareau came through the receiver. "I know I said you needed to toss this phone soon, but I guess I'm hoping that you haven't yet. There's so much that I want to say to you," she said, her voice shaky. "A part of me wants to tell you how mad I am that you ran instead of just talking to us. We're your family, Emily. We would have been there for you no matter what. That being said, I understand exactly why you did what you did. So no matter how mad I felt when I first heard what had happened, I can't stay mad at you. Especially not now; not when you have to leave everything behind. The next thing I wanted to tell you was how incredibly proud I am of you. As your friend, you have no idea how proud I am of you. You're incredibly strong, Em; you're stronger than I've ever been. And lastly…I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that this is happening. I wish things could be different; God, I wish that so much. I would have stayed up all day and all night if I had known how to just…save your life. I would have stayed up for a thousand nights if it meant I could have stopped all of this somehow. I know you're scared, even if you won't admit it, and I want you to know that no matter how dark the situation might be, you are not alone. You're my best friend, and we will find a way out of this together. And when we do, you'll come home and see me and Henry and the rest of our family, who all miss you terribly. But it's like you told me all those months ago...this isn't a goodbye. Okay? Remember that; this isn't a goodbye, Em. This is a 'see you later'."

I leaned back against my pillows and allowed myself to cry for the first time since this whole Doyle mess had started. "A see you later," I whispered to myself quietly. Jennifer had no idea what she had just given me by repeating those words to me. True to my word, we had kept in touch between cases, but this was an entirely different situation, and JJ and I both knew it. However, despite all the uncertainty, she had just given me the hope and resolve that I needed to be able to go through with this reassignment. Her friendship and love was what would help me survive. My lips twitched upwards in a small smile. "See you later, Jenn."

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

-C.S. Lewis

AN 2: So there it is guys. I hope it was enjoyed. I'm going to be visiting family over the long weekend, but will post the next chapter as soon as I get back. The watches were something that I noticed the two of them had seemed to switch sometime on the hiatus between seasons six and seven, so here's what I think happened there. Be sure to drop me a line on what you all think of the story so far, please and thank you. Darklighter out.