A/N: One quick note, I am astounded at how many people have viewed, reviewed, followed over the last few days. Blown away. Thanks sincerely for taking a look at this story which has been sitting on my hard drive for somewhere close a year. This is the best motivation to actually get stuff posted. Please let me know what you think :)
"Derek Morgan, FBI." He stated, showing his credentials to woman sitting at the desk. "I'm looking for Emily Prentiss."
"Derek Morgan?" a voice called out.
Morgan turned to see a blonde woman, in her mid-forties jogging toward him. She had her hair pulled back in a low bun, which looked like it had started falling out hours ago. She wore an expensive pair of running shoes. Probably because she was on her feet all day and jogging short bursts throughout the day, he surmised.
"Yes." He answered.
The woman stopped abruptly in front of him. He noticed she wasn't even slightly out of breath. "Dr. Sussman, I'm the attending overseeing Emily Prentiss."
"Nevermind. Thank you anyways." Derek said to the woman at the desk before turning back to Dr. Sussman. "How's she doing?"
"She's asking for you." She motioned down the corridor. "Come with me."
The doctor didn't wait for Derek's response before turning and heading away. She didn't return to her jogging pace from before, but walked briskly enough that Derek was having to take longer strides to keep up.
They made two lefts and a right, which didn't make any sense to Derek. No matter how many hospitals he'd been in, none of the layouts seemed to be easy to navigate. There had to be a better way to design these buildings.
Dr. Sussman stopped abruptly, as she had done before. Derek had to navigate around the smaller woman so as not to plow right into her.
They were stopped outside the last door on the hall.
"Is there anything you can tell me about her condition?" Derek asked, preferring to go into situations prepared.
"Unfortunately, I can't. But what I can tell you is she just really needs you to be there for her, okay?"
"Be there for her?"
Her answer came in the form of a nod. As she rapped two succinct knocks on the large wooden door. "Emily?" she asked tentatively pushing her way in. "Someone is here to see you."
The first thing Derek noticed when following Dr. Sussman into the room was that the lights were dimmed. They weren't off, but it took his eyes a moment to adjust from the bright lights of the hallway.
His eyes searched for Emily as he fully entered the room. She was laying on her back with a white sheet draped over her legs and a pink gown pulled up around her chest, which she seemed to be clinging to for dear life.
"Derek?" she called in a small voice. Which made her lithe frame look even smaller on the large exam table.
He couldn't describe the expression on her face when she saw him. She appeared to have anxiety, but hope, also fear maybe? All running through her at once. He had years of profiling experience, but he couldn't place this particular emotion. Maybe it was because it was Emily. His Emily. In all the nights they'd spent together over the last couple of years, which was quite a few, she had never allowed her guard down this much. Never shown him this level of vulnerability.
There was another blonde woman in her mid or late forties, it was hard to tell in this light, but with short hair and a round face. Siting on a stool between a large machine and the bed Emily was laying on, she did not acknowledge Derek as he stepped in but remained extremely focused on what she was doing.
"Emily." he said her name in whisper. He didn't know why but the silence in the room felt oppressive from the moment he stepped in. It felt wrong to break it somehow.
She leaned towards him, started to sit up.
"Lay back." The woman on the stool barked.
"Of course, Dr. Carson." Emily answered immediately following her orders. Which was very unlike Emily.
"Emily, what's going on?" he asked still whispering.
"Derek." She breathed as she laid her head back fully on the table, closing her eyes. But offered no more information.
It terrified him, but also broke his heart seeing how scared she was. He wanted more than anything to help her. To ease whatever was causing her to hurt this much, but he didn't know how.
"This will be cold." The older blonde woman announced. Not waiting for a response, she shot some goo onto Emily's exposed stomach, causing her to jump.
The woman, Dr. Carson started moving the wand seemly to move the gel around at first then more deliberately stopping in different places over Emily's abdomen. She'd click various buttons on the machine and move it again.
She must have had some internal bleeding from the accident. Derek decided. She would probably need surgery. He didn't like this one bit.
It was in this moment Emily realized how badly she wanted to hear this baby's heartbeat. She wasn't sure how, but was she found herself terrified of loosing a child that just moments ago she hadn't even realized existed.
A wracking sob escaped her. It frightened Derek at first. Then he reached out taking her hands, that were still tightly holding her gown, in his. He tried to soothe her. "Hey Em, it's gonna be okay, I'm right here."
"No. Derek- I can't-" she sobbed.
He looked to Dr. Carson for guidance, but found she was staring expectantly at him.
Derek looked back to Emily, who had tears silently flowing down her checks, her entire body wracking, but she wasn't making a sound.
The silence in the room was deafening.
He leaned over her, his face just inches from hers. He pulled one of his hands from hers, leaving the other in her grip. He gently squeezed back, letting her know he was still there, trying to give her any support he could.
With his free hand, he placed his hand firmly on the side of her head, the side without the large gash and stiches from the accident earlier. And rubbed her forehead methodically with his thumb. "I'm right here."
She opened her eyes. To meet his.
"I'm not going anywhere." He told her.
Her gaze continued to search his face, but he could see her breathing slow.
She wanted more than anything to tell him how badly she wanted this, but didn't trust herself not to loose control again.
Suddenly, a loud whooshing noise filled the room.
"What is that noise?" Derek asked.
At the same time, Emily whipped her head to face Dr. Carson. "Is that?" she asked.
"There it is!" The younger of the blonde doctors cheered. Causing Derek to jump. He had honestly forgotten she was in the room.
"Ah yes." Dr. Carson sounded relaxed for the first time. She proudly turned to face Emily, smiling widely. "That is a strong heartbeat."
He watched Emily's entire body completely relax. The tears started flowing again.
"Heartbeat?!" Derek asked.
Emily turned to face him. She still looked anxious, but also completely content, if that were even possible.
"Derek. I guess I have something to tell you."
He did not let go of her hands, but removed his hand from her head as he stepped back, standing strait up.
Emily smiled from ear to ear.
He didn't know if he'd ever seen her this happy before. What a roller coaster.
"Wait, so you don't have internal bleeding? You don't need surgery?" he asked.
Realizing he must have made a different assumption about what was going on, she smiled reassuringly at him.
"No, I don't need surgery." She told him. "Derek, we're having a baby."
Then, she laughed. The sound of her laugh blended perfectly into the whooshing of the heartbeat. And it was the most magical sound he'd heard all day, maybe ever.
Derek looked to the other two women still in the room.
"Congratulations!" Dr. Sussman practically sang. Her arm wrapped around Dr. Carson, who was also wearing a wide grin. It wasn't until he noticed tears in both of their eyes that he too, was crying.
He looked back to Emily, whose smile hadn't faded in the slightest.
Without even thinking he swooped down to where Emily was lying, slid his arm right under her, and pulled her lips into his.
She finally let go of the gown she'd been holding onto and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in deeper.
He didn't even care that in doing so, the gel that had covered her stomach was ending up all over the front of his shirt because he could still feel her smile against his lips.
A/N: Okay y'all, so this is actually the end of this story. However, I wrote one more chapter when I was still full steam on this story. I will probably go ahead and post it as a epilogue and then start another story if inspiration strikes. That being said, I have a whole other story I've been working on I'll be posting soon.
Thank you! Sincerely for reading, Sincerely for reviewing and following. I can't express how much it means to me. Till next time. -C