So sorry for the delay in this update. Here is the next chapter.
"My name is Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner. I received a phone call that one of my agents, Emily Prentiss was brought in here."
"One moment and I'll get the doctor."
"Thank you."
Morgan looked towards the nurse's desk when he heard his supervisor's voice. Squeezing Garcia's hand he stood up and walked over to meet Hotch. "Hotch."
Hotch turned towards the familiar sound, "Morgan, what they hell is going on?"
"Patrick, man. He got physical with Emily yesterday. She showed up had JJ's this morning with a bruised wrist and she was doing a bad job hiding what I'm hoping are just bruised ribs," Morgan answered. The anger and guilt was so clear in his eyes. Anger for what Patrick did to her, and the guilt was because he felt responsible since Patrick is…now was….his friend and he brought the two of them together.
"What happened?"
The trio all turned to see David Rossi walking towards him. Hotch was the one to explain this time about what had happened. "He's been hitting her?" Rossi asked with anger.
"From what JJ told me," answered Garcia, "This was the first time, but they have gotten into arguments before."
"Where is JJ?" asked Hotch.
"She's with Em. I have never seen her like this Hotch. Emily is being very quiet, avoiding eye contact. The only action I recognized from her is her refusal to come here. We all know how much she hates hospitals."
"She's feeling guilty for it happening," said Rossi. "Probably believes it's all her fault."
Morgan nodded, "She does. She said he got angry this time because she forgot to call him to tell him we were on the way back from the case."
"This happened yesterday?" Rossi asked with wide eyes.
Before a reply to the question could be made, Morgan's cell phone started to ring. Looking down to see who called he spat out, "It's him."
"Don't let on that you know what happened. See what he says," advised Hotch.
Morgan nodded and answered the call, "Hey man. You are supposed to be enjoying time with your girlfriend and not harassing me."
"That's what I was calling you for, Derek. We got had a little argument last night when she got back from the case. I left to clear my head and when I returned to her place this morning she wasn't home. I've been waiting a few hours and she hasn't returned. I even tried calling her a few times and she is not returning my calls. Have you heard from her?"
Morgan closed his eyes for a second and bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from screaming at the man he once considered a friend. Balling his free hand into a fist, he managed to answer him without showing his anger, "Nah, man. You know I was out with my girl all afternoon. Haven't heard from her. I'll try and track her down for you. Maybe she'll answer my calls instead. I'll call you back when I talk to her."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Em just needs some more time to cool off. She'll get back to me soon."
Morgan could hear the uneasiness in the man's voice as he grew worried that Emily would tell about how far their argument actually went. "Alright, if you are sure than I'll let it be. Call me if you change your mind."
"No problem. I've got to go," Patrick quickly ended the call.
Morgan looked up at his colleagues. He filled them in on his conversation with Patrick. "He was afraid that Emily would tell you that he hit her," said Hotch.
"She wouldn't," said Garcia. "We all know that Emily is so damn private that she would just hide it from us. I just thank God that she went to JJ's this morning and that she is able to get checked out. We know about this and we will protect my raven-haired beauty from her no good meanie of an ex-boyfriend."
"Dave, call DCPD let them know about the situation. I want Patrick off the streets before Emily is released from the hospital." Hotch then turned to Morgan, "Call Reid. Fill him in on what is going on."
"She doesn't want that, Hotch," said Garcia. "Emily didn't want any of us to find out. There is no investigation here. No UnSub. We know it's Patrick. There's no need to interrupt his time with his mother."
Hotch shook his head. "He has to be notified." He looked to Morgan. "Fill him in and give him the option of coming back or staying. I'll make sure the time off request is put through if he wants it."
Morgan nodded and left the hospital to make the call. "You know he will come back tonight," said Rossi. Hotch nodded.
Ten minutes later Morgan returned from his call and assured them that Reid was indeed taking the next flight out of Vegas and returning to offer his support to Emily. Rossi also returned from making his call and informed them that movements were being made to arrest Patrick. "Agent Hotchner?" The group turned and looked at the Doctor standing near them. Hotch stepped forward and introduced himself and the other three that were standing near them. "I'm Dr. Katz. I am taking care of Agent Prentiss."
"How is she?" asked Garcia.
"Very strong willed," the doctor answered, receiving a chuckle from the group. "My preliminary exam of Emily revealed that she has a badly bruised wrist and also some bruised ribs. I've sent her down to get some x-rays and when I get those results back we'll know for sure. Agent Jareau is with her now. When she returns from getting the x-rays, you'll be able to go and see her."
"Thank you, Doctor," said Rossi as he shook the doctor's hand.
JJ looked over at a silently thinking Emily. They had returned from getting her x-rays a few minutes ago and Emily had not spoken since she made sure that JJ wouldn't leave from outside the x-ray room. "How are you doing, Em?" Emily stayed silent. "Come on Em. Talk to me."
Emily looked down at her hands. She smoothed the blanket beneath them. "I need to get out of here."
"You will. Once Dr. Katz takes a look at the x-rays, she's going to release you."
Emily shook her head. "No, I need to get out of here now. I have to talk to Patrick and apologize to him. I shouldn't have ignored his call before. He's just going to be mad. I need to get out of here Jayje."
JJ sat down on the bed and took Emily's hands in her own. "Emily you are one of my best friends. I think of you and Pen as sisters, so I need you to listen to me and understand me when I tell you that I don't want you to go back to Patrick. I worried about you."
"There is no need to worry Jayje. It was only one time. I had some time to think this over while getting the x-rays done. I saw the hurt in his eyes after he did it and before he left the house. He knows that he went too far. We'll be alright."
JJ fumed inside. She knew that her friend could have a nasty stubborn streak. But, she could be just as stubborn and she knew five other people that would also show their stubborn ways to Emily. Taking a deep breath, JJ decided that she had no other choice but to push Emily. She just hoped that her decision was the right one. "You cannot possibly be thinking about going back to Patrick, Em. He hit you."
"It was only one time."
"Your wrist is bruised and your ribs are starting to get a nasty color on them as well."
"It was only one time." Emily's voice broke as she repeated the mantra. Tears started falling down her cheeks. "I am not a weak person. I'm not going to run away from this just because he lost control one time, JJ."
JJ hated doing this, but she just pushed further. "Emily listen to yourself. The stuff you are saying right now is straight from the text book on domestic abuse victims."
"I am not a victim."
"Then stop acting like one. Remove yourself form the equation and think like a profiler. A female has several vocal arguments with her boyfriend that escalates to the point where he hits her. What happens next if she stays with him?"
Emily knew what JJ was implying. She knew JJ was referring to the idea that the abuse would just get worse. "That's not going to happen to me."
JJ grew angry at her friend, "Listen to yourself. You sound like a textbook example of Battered Woman Syndrome. Emily you think leaving Patrick is the weak thing to do? No, it's not. Staying with Patrick is the weak thing to do. You are stronger than that, Em. Much stronger. You are the strongest woman I know. Prove to me and to all of us. Staying with Patrick does not make you strong."
"You are not a profiler, don't you try to profile me," Emily's eyes showed anger at the words that left her friend's mouth.
"I can bring in three profilers in a second if you want me to, and they'll tell you the same thing, Emily. Staying with Patrick is the easy thing to do because walking away from him will be hard and you don't want to do that. So you'll just go back to him and he might really be sorry about what he's done, and things will be great for a while. Then the cycle will just start all over again. A few arguments and he'll hit you again."
"No. It was only the one time. He won't do this again."
Tears were flowing from both of the women's eyes as they both reigned in their feelings. JJ wiped the tears from her eyes. "Are you sure of that Em? Are you one hundred percent sure that this will never happen again? Because if you are not one hundred percent sure then you need to walk away from him now."
Emily's lips quivered from the overwhelming emotions running through her mind. "I still love him, Jayje. Is that wrong?"
JJ shook her head. "No, honey it's not wrong."
"I don't think I can just walk away from him on my own."
"You won't be alone in this, Em. We are all here to help you through this, but you have to make that first step. You have to make that choice that this is what you want. I can have Morgan run in here, fling you over his shoulders and keep you prisoner in some safe house, but that won't do anything good, except maybe keep him from his constant teasing of Reid."
A small smile appeared on Emily's face.
"Ah, there is the smile I was hoping to get," JJ let out a small chuckle. "So, what do you say? Come and stay with me while your bruises heal."
"I couldn't do that to you JJ. You've got Henry to worry about. You don't need me as well."
"Nonsense, Em. Henry won't be a problem and he has been asking when the next time his Aunt Emmy would be spending time with him. Please, let me do this for you?"
"What about Will?"
"I already talked it over with him when I was waiting outside the x-ray room. He is the one that actually suggested it."
Emily's let a small smirk appear. "Agent Jareau, were you breaking hospital policy and using your phone inside?"
JJ looked at Emily seriously, "It was a great importance. It just couldn't wait." Both women couldn't hold their straight faces anymore and started to laugh. "Well?" JJ prodded some more once the laughter died down.
Emily once more looked at her face. "It's going to very hard for me to keep from contacting him. But, you are right JJ. I can't say that I am one hundred percent sure that this will never happen again. I think…No, I know that I am going to need help, and if you are sure than I will like to take you up on the offer." Emily wiped at the tears that started to fall from her eyes.
JJ wrapped her arms around Emily. "You are not alone, Em. I will be with you every step of the way."
"We all will."
JJ and Emily broke apart from their embrace and turned to the door to see Garcia standing there and the other guys from the team, minus Reid. "Hey guys," Emily said softly. The group walked further into the room. Emily looked up at Hotch. "I'm sorry that your time with Jack was interrupted. I tried to get them to not inform you."
"I know," said Hotch, "and it's not a problem. Jack understands. I told him that you were hurt and he started pushing me out the door and demanded that I take him to Jessica's so that I could get the bad man that hurt you."
They all chuckled and JJ joked, "See, you've got all of the men in this crazy family worried about you."
Emily looked at her friends and could see Morgan looking down to the floor. A look of worry on his face. "Don't go there Derek." He looked up at her with shocked eyes. "If I can't feel sorry for myself and blame myself for this, than neither can you. What happened is not your fault."
"He's my friend," Morgan stated.
"And my boyfriend," countered Emily. "He's not supposed to betray you by being like this with someone you introduced him too, and he's not supposed to verbally…and…physically hurt someone that he says he loves. I don't blame you at all. Please don't blame yourself because I am going to need your help." Emily looked at JJ and squeezed their joined hands and gave a small nod and smile before she looked at everyone in the room. "I am going to be staying with JJ and Will once I get out of here. Heaven help me, I still love Patrick and it's going to take all that I have in me to keep myself from running back to him. I might…no, I will need all of you to help me get through this."
"We will be with you every step of the way," said Rossi.
"Even Reid wants to help," said Morgan. "He is on the way back."
Emily shook her head and pulled her hands from JJ's grasp. "I didn't want that. I knew this was going to happen. We have the week off and all of your plans were thrown out the window because of me."
Rossi walked over to the bed and sat in the chair near it. He took hold of Emily's hand and looked at her. The team knew there was a connection between the two profilers. It wasn't love or desire. More like a father/daughter connection, a void that they filled for each other, Rossi never having children with any of his ex-wives and Emily never having a father that showed her real parental love. "Nothing is more important than the safety of our family. Do you think Reid would have been happy to hear that this happened to you and he didn't know about it? Morgan gave him the option to stay with his mom or come back. Reid knew that if he chose to stay there, you wouldn't think any less of him. None of us would. It's something he is choosing to do and I'm sure he will be expecting you to yell at him when he gets here."
"Damn right I will," said Emily. She squeezed Rossi's hand, "Thank you." She let out a deep sigh. "I feel like such a mess right now."
"One step at a time," said Hotch.
"I agree with that," said Dr. Katz as she walked in. "I've just looked at your x-rays Emily."
Emily nodded, "It's alright to just go ahead with the results. I'll only be telling them anyway."
The doctor nodded, "Alright. It's all good news. You're wrist is sprained so I'm just going to wrap it up and you need to keep that wrapped for a few weeks. As for the ribs, just some bruising as well. If we wrap up your ribs it could add to the pain since it will put pressure on the bruises. You should be fine as long as you don't try to pick anything up, especially with the wrist. I'd recommend that you stay with someone or someone stays with you until your ribs are back to normal."
"I'll be staying with JJ and her family," Emily informed the doctor.
"Perfect," said Dr. Katz. "I'll go and have a nurse set up the supplies to wrap your wrist and get your release papers started."
"Thank you," said Emily.
They all looked to Rossi as his phone rang. "Rossi…Any problems?...thank you… yes, we'll let you know." Rossi looked towards Hotch and gave a small nod to the man.
"What did you do?" Emily asked. "Dave?"
"Nothing bad," answered Rossi. "Patrick has just been picked up by the police."
"What for?" asked Emily.
"Assault of a federal agent," Hotch answered.
"No," said Emily.
"Emily," Morgan tried to reason with his friend.
"No, Morgan. I am not pressing charges," Emily stressed. "It was only one time. An accident."
"It's out of your hands Emily," Morgan countered. "Once the medical report is made there is no need for you to press charges. It's a federal matter, not civil."
Emily started to shift around on the bed. "I have to get out of here."
"Where are you thinking of going?" asked Garcia.
"I need to get to the station. I have to bail him out…and…and…and I need to talk to him." Rossi placed his hands on her shoulders keeping her from moving off the bed. "He's going to be so pissed. He always said that the team would come between us and he was right."
The group just looked on in awe as the usually composed agent started to freak out. JJ gathered herself first and spoke to her friend. "Emily…Emily, look at me." JJ waited for Emily to look her way. "Everything is going to be alright. I'm going to help you. You made the choice to not go back to him and you need to stand by that decision. Take the time and think about it, Em."
Emily's mouth opened to say something, but then she closed it back up. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," Emily whispered as tears filled her eyes.
JJ wrapped her arms around Emily's shoulders, "Hey, it's alright. Shhh. It's all going to be alright."
Hope you enjoyed it.