Ok so this is chapter three of "Be There For Me". Thank you so much for the reviews on the previous chapter, I'm glad you like it so far, and I hope you like this chapter as much.
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Emily felt a tear escape as she lay in the cold bed, still listening to Allen's thundering snores. She looked over at the man beside her briefly, before turning back and glancing at the clock that informed her it was just after five in the morning.

She rose from the bed slowly, making sure not to cause the bed to creek or the blankets to be pulled off Allen, and she stood slowly on the floor, walking reluctantly over to the full length mirror that stood in the corner and slowly she raised her eyes and looked at herself.

Her big brown eyes gazed back at her, tears pooling in them, and with a bruise under her left eye from where the shoe had hit her. Hesitantly she let her eyes travel her body to survey the damage, bruising on her shoulders and upper arms, bruising on her wrists, hips, and thighs, her once porcelain skin now blemished by these dark, black and blue marks.

She felt herself shake then, and she wasn't sure if it was fear, tears, of just sadness that caused her to, but she sank slowly to the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling them up under her chin, as she leant her head against the wall and let herself cry.

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Hotch sighed to himself, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes once more and looked at the clock again, which was now telling him that it was just after five in the morning.

"Maybe tonight was one of the good nights..." He sighed to himself, as he picked up his now empty mug, which had once contained coffee, and walked to the kitchen to place it in the dishwasher.

He knew he should get some sleep, because even he couldn't function without any, and he had to get up at seven to get Jack ready for school, but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that he should stay awake encase she came, or maybe even call her to make sure she was ok.

He was sure it was nothing... he was sure that she was probably sleeping soundly in bed right now, Allen being passed out on the couch, and that calling at this hour would only cause trouble... so he should leave it and just go to bed.

Or should he?

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Emily lay on the floor long after her tears stopped, just holding herself, wishing there was someone here to comfort her, to look after her right now, but there wasn't... the one man who would be willing to do this was probably asleep, knowing that he had to get up to help his son get ready for school in the morning.

Instead of letting her mind dwell on Hotch, Emily slowly rose from the floor and picked up her dressing gown, wrapping it around her tightly and giving Allen one more glance, to make sure he was still asleep, before exiting the room silently and walking down stairs and into the kitchen.

It was something about this room that calmed her, maybe it was the neutral colours on the wall, or the gentle hum of the fridge in the corner, but she was always calm in this room, so as she reached up to get a glass out of the press so she could get some water, she felt a calming wave run through her, making her feel like everything was all right... even as she poured the water and her eyes lingered on the bruises on her wrist, she convinced herself that she was all right... that she was fine.

"Damn it Prentiss compose yourself." She murmured as she walked over and sat on the couch, angry with herself for showing this much emotion.

In her head she felt selfish for feeling like this... she'd seen woman who suffered worse at the hands of a man, woman who were a lot weaker than her, but they stayed strong, even during her time working in Chicago in homicide, and briefly sex crimes, she'd seen women who were beaten on a daily basics... she wasn't that bad off, sure in the last six months she'd ended up on Hotch's doorstep on about ten occasions, but that was all... it's not like she landed there every night.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration... she hated it, hated what was happening, hated that she was too scared to change it, hated that she was too weak to change it, hated hat she was sitting awake after five in the morning feeling venerable, she was a fully trained FBI agent for Christ sakes, she had one of the best shots in the FBI, she knew hand to hand defence training, and she'd even learnt some kick ass moves off Morgan, so why... why was she sitting here scared, and lonely?

She sighed again, and downed her drink in one last gulp, before standing, intending to get some sheets out of the press and sleeping on the couch when the phone began to ring.

At first the shrill noise scared the crap out of her as it cut through the previously silent room, but once she regained her wits, she realised that the noise may wake Allen, she quickly ran over and picked up the line.

"Hello?" She whispered a little breathlessly, as she carried the cordless phone to the kitchen, where there was less chance of the conversation waking Allen up.

"Hello Emily, its Hotch." The familiar and soothing voice replied, immediately causing the emotion that Emily had been feeling about the situation flare up again... the knowing that she was keeping this knowledge from Hotch being almost too much to bare.

"Hotch, hi!" Emily replied, sounding overly cheery in an attempt to hide the emotion in her voice. "What makes you call at this hour?" She questioned, as if the answer wasn't already apparent to both of them.

"You know why Emily." Hotch replied, not being in the mood to play the game they normally played, that she was fine. "And I can tell from the tone of your voice that I was right to call." He added sadly.

"I'm fine, honest." Emily lied, pulling her dressing gown around her waist tighter as she told the lie.

"Please Emily, don't do this." Hotch pleaded, almost seeing the face she put on when she was lying materialise in front of his face as her words came through the line. "I just want to know if you're ok, I'm worried about you." He added sadly.

As his words reached her ears Emily could feel her wall crumble, the knowledge that someone was worried about her, that Hotch was worried about her, sending her over the edge and opening her eyes for the first time, after months of pain, to what was happening.

"I... I... I'm so sorry!" Emily cried eventually, tears streaming thick and fast down the side of her face, stinging the mark under her eye, but also soothing her.

"Emily what's wrong? What's the matter?" Hotch asked in a panic, the sound of her tears scaring him to the core, because after everything that had happened, this was the first time she'd cried.

"I need... I'm scared... I need... you were right." She sobbed, her tears causing her to choke on her words, as she slumped down against the fridge door and held herself tightly.

"I'm coming... I swear to you Em, I'm coming right now." Hotch informed her, already grabbing his car keys and running to the door.

"M-lee, where the hell are you?" A still drunken Allen suddenly bellowed from upstairs, obviously haven just woken up to find an empty bed.

"Hurry... please Aaron, hurry." Emily whispered fearfully, before placing the phone down on the floor beside her, as she heard Allen's feet hit the stairs.
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A bit of suspense there! Not too long a chapter either, but the next one will be I promise. I'm also thinking of writing another story about Hotch helping Emily once she leaves Allen, so I'd like to know if you think I should or not, because you guys are the experts when it comes to what you want to read. Anyway, tell me if I should write another story, and tell me what you thought of this chapter.