Journey On
Chapter Seven: Into the Nothing
Summary: The story of Emily and JJ, from the beginning.
Chapter Summary: Emily's never going to truly forgive herself for this.
Warnings: Rape, abuse.
Spoilers: None.
XxX
"No, you son of a bitch, don't touch her! Don't you dare touch her!" She threw herself against the chains, growling, snarling, screaming at him to stop.
She thrashed around in her chains, pleading with Jones, begging for him to stop. She lunged at him, but the chains stop her. Her eyes, for once, were wild, murderous, and she seemed to have lost the numbness that had surrounded her. She pulled frantically, the rattling on the chains filling the air, and the other girl's pleas for him to stop. She only took hope in that Jones was still fully clothed. She heaved against her restraints, not meeting the sad eyes of the younger girl. Eyes that were begging her to just let it happen. Eyes that were oozing defeat. She snarled, writhing against the things binding her. Jones looked up, desire glinting in his eyes, before he heaved himself off the younger girl and stalked over to her. Then, he delivered a solid blow to the side of her head, before he turned back to Jennifer Jareau.
She stopped, momentarily, the punch only making her angrier. She threw her body weight against the cuffs, mentally begging them to break. Her vision had narrowed to Jones and the girl. She was seeing red, and she released a primal, raw scream of frustration. Jones narrowed his green eyes at her. Emily spat at him, her fury had peaked and she was dangerous close to ripping herself from her chains and beating him with them.
She stilled, noticing that his hands had stopped roaming the body of the younger blonde, and unlocked her, before he came over to her. She knew what was coming, the pain, the disgust. He suddenly, and violently, ripped away the blanket covering her body, before he continued what he had started with JJ. She remained quiet the whole time, not letting the sadist see how much pain she was in. The thumping of the shoulders against the cold concrete gave her a new collection of bruises, but she didn't care. She just needed to know that JJ was okay.
Time blurred, and she collapsed. Jones had unlocked her, and her legs no longer could support her. JJ instinctively crawled slowly over to Emily, her whole body shivering from the disgust of Jones' hands touching her. Tears dripped from the blue eyes, and she laid down carefully next to Emily. Emily, who had done her best to protect her from Jones, Emily who had taken almost every beating for her. And JJ knew that Emily would never forgive herself for this. She flinched, and then relaxed, as she felt Emily's arms encircle her. She felt tears dampening her neck, before she heard the broken whisper.
"I tried, JJ, I tried so hard."
She shook her head, her disheveled blonde hair swinging slightly, "Shush, Em. I know you tried your best to…" Her voice cracked here, the pain overtaking her body, "But I'm okay." Emily snorted softly, before JJ turned over and snuggled into the warmth that was Emily. A gaunt hand caressed the side of her face. "I know better than that J, but if you want to insist, then fine. Just know I'm going to protect you."
"I know you will."
XxX
Location: Jones' secondary location, outside of East Allegheny.
Date: August 8, 1982. 2000 hours.
"FBI!"
The BAU and local police burst into the room, guns drawn and flashlights on. There were seven shouts of 'clear!', before they determined that Jones wasn't here.
"Search the grounds!"
XxX
Jones sat next to the girls. There was a gun pointed at JJ's head, and Jones hissed, "A word and there will be a bullet in her head faster than you can blink." Emily nodded, the skin around her eyes tight. JJ was just shaking, from fear, and Emily longed to reach out and comfort her. They heard the police clomp around overhead, and Emily wanted so bad to shout out, but she couldn't at risk of endangering JJ. Something she would not allow to happen.
JJ was crying now and Emily knew why. Their saviors were here, but they wouldn't be able to find them. They were this close to freedom, and Jones had robbed them of it. She cursed him mentally, her black glare settling on his head. If looks could kill, Jones would be dead, a thousand times over. She reached over and rubbed JJ's back comfortingly, quieting the blonde's soft cries. She gave her small smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
She heard the faint cries of 'clear' and the footsteps over the hidden bunker. And then…
XxX
"Ryan, I got something!" Hotch shouted over the noise the other agents were making. He gestured with his gun towards the slight square raise in the floor, covering by a thin rug. Max Ryan hurried over, closely followed by Rossi. There was also the new guy from ATF, Derek Morgan, who followed with his gun drawn.
Pulling the rug away, Hotch stared at the small trapdoor leading down to the basement. He had the technical analyst pull blueprints, and they knew there was a basement, but the door wasn't on the blue prints. He'd found it, and he could almost taste victory. Two years on this case, along with the others, had taken a toll on his patience and nerves, and now there were so close…
Kicking the door open, with a quick stomp, he went down the stairs, finding the blue eyes of Jennifer Jareau. They were wide, scared and close to hysterical. He saw the manic, deranged green eyes of their captor second, fury and rage glinting in his eyes, and the black, dull, empty eyes of Emily Prentiss.
"Drop the gun!"
The man laughed. "Two years, Agent Ryan, Agent Hotchner, Agent Rossi, Agent Gideon. Two years, you knew my name. For two years, you tore the town apart, trying to find me. For two years, you waited here in East Allegheny. I was surprised you stayed this long. Look," he gestured behind him, towards the marks in the wall, "little Emily here kept track. So what took you so long?"
"I said, drop the gun!"
Jones shook his head. "I've wasted a lot of time on these two girls. But, I'll give them to you as long as you let me walk out of this house, and I swear you'll never hear of me again."
Max Ryan sneered at the man, "You're insane. Two years we spent here, and you think we'll let you walk free?"
"Indeed, Agent Ryan," Jones agreed, "because you had two years to stop this." Reaching over with his free hand, he ripped Emily's blanket from her shoulders, revealing the bruises and cuts.
He heard Morgan swear behind him. "Drop the gun, you son of a bitch."
He saw Jones finger tighten on the trigger, and heard a shout of No!, before he fired off two shots, the bullets embedding themselves into Jones' shoulder and chest.
Hotch stared, the cloud of smoke diffusing into the air, and he saw blood. Some of it was Jones blood, but there was a blood splatter behind Emily. And said girl was currently on the ground, rolling in pain, and clutching her shoulder. Shouting for a medic, he rushed over to her side, next to Jennifer. He asked Jennifer, "Are you okay?"
Tightly, she replied, "Just make sure Em's okay first."
As he applied pressure to the shoulder wound on Emily, he felt the body beneath his hands go limp, and heard Jennifer's distressed cries. He felt for a pulse. There was one, albeit faint, and he knew that if the girl didn't get help soon, she might not make it.
As the medic filed in, one pulled Jennifer gently away, but the girl thrashed in his arms. "No!" She shook her head, fighting wildly, "I need to stay with Emily! No!" Hotch stared at her, his hawk eyes curious. One of the last thoughts in his mind before the Prentiss child was taken away on a gurney was a bit morbid, but true.
If Emily Prentiss survived this, she would have to get through a lot, physically and mentally, to recover.
A/N: It was a bit harder to write this. I rewrote it a fair few times, because I was never really satisfied, and I wasn't sure if I should've let the BAU never find Jones in his basement/hellhole. But anyways, I let them find them. And I probably will try my best to get through the next chapter by tomorrow, but no guarantees! So review!
Toodles!
~S12