Yikes! Sorry for the long delay…I've been super busy lately. Anyway, I'll let you read. Enjoy this short, but sweet, chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own these awesome, crime fighters.
Set in late season 5
Chapter 4
JJ and Derek watched from the hall as doctors and nurses, who had so quickly flooded into Emily's room and pushed them out, worked to figure out what was happening.
Derek unconsciously rubbed at his injured arm only stopping when he saw the rest of the team storming through the hall towards them.
Hotch was the first to speak. "What happened?"
Derek noted the slightly panicked undertone of the unit chief's words, an emotion he rarely saw or heard from the usually stoic man. "We don't know…" Morgan trailed off as his eyes wandered back to the busy room.
His ears drowned out the team's conversation just as he heard JJ explaining the suddenness of the machines beeping. He could not take his eyes off the woman in the bed, who now looked so small in the sea of doctors and nurses scrambling around her. He wanted nothing more than to burst through the doors and demand to know what was happening, but he knew better.
The guilt he had pushed down came rushing back. He caused this. Three weeks after the shooting and the guilt was still so damn raw.
Then, Dr. Turner appeared with a smile on her face, causing confusion amongst the team.
"Emily is waking up." She said and an audible sigh of relief came from each member. "Her blood pressure spiked and then dropped suddenly, causing the monitors to react. It's just her body reacting to the pain and the sedation."
"She's okay though?" Garcia asked.
Dr Turner nodded. "Yes. I've administered a dose of morphine to keep her comfortable. She may be in and out of consciousness for the next few days until we can start lowering her pain meds—"
Garcia pushed her way to the front and engulfed the doctor in a hug, repeating her thanks and gratitude for saving Emily. Dr Turner at first tensed but then softened and hugged back.
"Your friend is strong. She suffered severe injuries and despite doubts, seems to be pulling through." She stepped back from the hug and took Penelope's hand in hers, squeezing gently. "You can see her now. But keep it to two at a time, please." She reminded them.
Hotch shook her hand before she left to check on her other patients and the team stood in a group for a moment longer before anyone entered. Each needed a moment to compose themselves at the news that Emily was okay.
…
Three days had passed since Emily started to wake up and nothing major had happened since. She'd woken up a few times, each short intervals and was often confused, in pain, or incoherent. Sometimes a combination of all three. The tube snaking down her throat did not help in relieving her discomfort. Luckily, Dr Turner had removed the thing earlier that morning. They were all excited to have one tube removed and to not having to listen to the hissing the machine made.
Plus, it was pretty cool that she was breathing on her own.
Rossi sat in her room, looking through one of the magazines Penelope had left, while the rest of the team was finishing up paperwork and Derek had a follow-up appointment with his surgeon.
When she began to stir, he quickly shut the pointless magazine to the side and put all of his attention on her. Her eyelids fluttered as she began to regain conscious and a slightly grimace pained her features. Rossi gently laid his hand on top of hers and tried to coax her into consciousness.
When her eyes finally cracked open, the confusion and pain that was so clearly evident caused his heart to squeeze. He pushed the button on the side of the bed that would alert a nurse that she was waking up.
He stood up to meet her eyes and smiled softly when they met. "Hey kiddo."
She took a shallow breath and closed her eyes briefly before reopening them. "R-Rossi."
"You got it." He smiled. "How do you feel?"
She closed her eyes again and slowly inhaled, a soft pained moan escaping her lips. "Hurts."
Rossi's heart stopped and concern boiled in his stomach. "What hurts?"
Another moan slipped past her lips and she turned her head towards him slightly. "Ev—everyt-thing"
The nurse came into the room, smiling brightly. "Welcome back, Agent Prentiss! How are we feeling?"
Rossi glared at the nurse's enthusiasm, noting that Emily's face was still contorting in pain and agitation. He gently rubbed circles with his thumb on the back of her hand in an attempt to comfort her.
"I think she's in pain." Rossi said.
"Oh dear," she said as she prepared to administer another dose, "She's right on schedule for another dose."
Rossi stepped back and allowed the nurse to give Emily the relief she needed.
"I actually came to tell you the good news," the nurse said cheerily as she finished up, "Emily's spine is stable and Dr Turner has asked me to start getting her moving."
"How?" Rossi asked, confused as to how she'd move without using her legs.
"With patients who have stable spinal cord injuries such as Emily, we like to get them sitting up in bed." The nurse said. "If you don't mind helping, we can begin now?"
Rossi nodded silently, the fear of moving her building up. He knew whatever this involved, pain would be part of it. He hated to be the cause of her pain but knew moving was a crucial part of recovery and to avoid further complications such as pneumonia.
He watched as the nurse quickly pressed the control for the morphine drip, administering a small dose that would alleviate some of Emily's discomfort but not enough to knock her out.
"Alright, Emily. We're going to get you sitting up, okay?" The nurse said as she rearranged some of the poles and wires. "Agent Rossi here is going to help."
Rossi gave her a reassuring smile but she was too out of it, because of the pain or medicine he didn't know.
The nurse guided Rossi's hand to support her neck and shoulders as she placed her hands on her lower back and legs.
"We're going to slowly move her legs to the edge of the bed so she's sitting on the side of it, okay?"
Rossi nodded. He was terrified.
She counted to three and in unison, Rossi and the blonde worked together to gently move Emily's body to a seated position. Immediately, Emily let out a loud moan and her head dropped to Rossi's chest.
"You're doing great, Emily." He encouraged softly.
The nurse stepped back once Emily was sitting over the edge and smiled proudly. "You did it Emily! If you feel nauseous, let me know, okay?"
Emily didn't acknowledge the blonde and simply sat still, hunched over, trying to breathe. Her lungs constricted in pain with every inhale which led her to take shallow, rapid breaths. Her abdomen and chest felt like they were exploding with the movement but she couldn't talk. She vaguely felt Dave's presence in front of her and his hands on her back. He was the only reason she was still upright.
"You did great kiddo," he whispered in her ear, "I'm so proud of you."
The nurse turned to the monitors and began checking over her patients vitals.
Dave was standing in front of Emily, his hands still placed on her back to keep her up, his left rubbing soft circles on her back. Emily began to visibly pale for only seconds before she expelled the contents of her stomach, which wasn't much, onto his pants and shoes.
"Oh, uh oh." The nurse said, slightly frazzled before she grabbed a damp towel and walked over.
"I—I'm s—sorry—" Emily said, struggling over her words. "Dave, I—I'm—"
He smiled at her as the nurse helped him ease her back to the bed. "It's okay, I've had worse. Trust me." He said with a wink and earned a small smile which quickly turned into a grimace as she changed positions.
Dave took the towel from the nurse's hand and began dabbing away the excess liquid from around Emily's mouth, returned to the sink to wet it again and then placed the cool towel on Emily's forehead. The change of positions had zapped up whatever energy she had and he could see it took a heavy toll on her battered body.
"The others are outside," Dave said as he placed the cool towel on her neck, careful to avoid the gauze and dressing on her chest, "Do you want to see them?"
Weakly, Emily shook her head. He knew she wouldn't want everyone to see her in this vulnerable state, but he secretly hoped she'd put that aside and see them now that she was somewhat lucid. However, he could see the new dose of morphine was slowly pulling her back under.
"I'll let you rest." He said and handed the nurse the towel. "See you soon, kiddo."
Emily nodded and let her eyelids close and was quickly pulled back to sleep by the pain medicine.
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