Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update this. I wanna thank you all for your support, your reviews and follows mean the world to me! Thank you!
Just some things that I want to remind you: English is not my first language and I don't have a beta, so all mistakes are mine. Also, I've looked a lot into informations on burn victims and all kinds of treatment and possible complications; but still, I am no doctor or anything related, so there probably are some mistakes here and I took some liberties in order to write this chapter. I hope you can understand this.
So here it is, have fun! R&R!
Seventh
As soon as he left the hospital, Derek entered in his car and started driving. It would take up to four hours for him to arrive at his destination, but he didn't mind. He wouldn't have to work until the following day and he had to do this. For years he has been driving up this same path whenever he can, only so he can sit in that chair and comfort himself in the fact that his life has turned into hell.
As he parked his car outside the USP Lewisburg, he breathed in the cool November air and closed his eyes, trying to control his temper. He couldn't lose his composure in there, in front of him. He couldn't let him know that until now he was affected by him and by what he had done. Derek would rather die before give him the pleasure.
He then stepped out of the car and locked the door, putting his keys in his pockets as he turned to face the gate that led him inside the walls that were holding him in. As he started to make his way into the prison, feeling the chilly weather and seeing the leaves on the floor, he noticed that it was on a day exactly like this when he walked up this path for the first time, a few years ago. But his rage, however, remained the same as it was during that first eventful encounter.
Derek Morgan had never been angrier in his entire life. He was angry at the man he would be seeing in a few moments, he was angry at his best friend, Emily Prentiss, for putting herself in danger again and, mostly, he was angry at himself, for he had failed her. And that had almost cost her life.
A door was opened and two armed guards brought a man in. He had handcuffs on his hands and on his feet, and when he sat down, the guards tied him up to the table. He was completely unable to move.
Derek looked at the man before him with great disgust. Even in prison, he still had an arrogance that made Morgan want to punch him in the face. But he would regret the day he thought about laying his filthy hands on her friend; that Derek Morgan would make sure of.
"Oh, you're that bitch's body guard. I knew you were familiar. How is she, by the way?"
The bastard wasn't even in the room for thirty seconds and Morgan already wanted to slit his throat open. But of course, his expression was a cold as ice.
"You know, she is pretty good, actually. But I am better." Morgan answered. He knew that this son of a bitch, being the manipulative bastard he was, would taunt him with comments about Emily. But Morgan was ready for that.
"Oh yeah?" the man said, grinning. "And why is that?"
"I'm just thinking about how much you're gonna suffer in here."
Derek watched with pleasure while as the man's eyes trembled slightly, although his grin never disappeared from his face.
"Well, I think one of my biggest qualities I that I know how to laugh at my own expense. But do you care to enlighten me on that, please?"
Derek got up from his chair, knowing that the lack of an answer would annoy him. He walked up to him and, looking at his eyes while standing, in a way that he could show this bastard that he was the man in charge there, he said, slowly.
"I know a lot of people in this world. So does Emily. You messed with the wrong woman and you will pay for it. Do you know what happens to men like you in here? Do you know what happens to men who do what you did to women?"
The man shifted in his chair and answered, trying to keep the upper hand in the conversation.
"I have my charm, detective. Those idiots in there don't know everything and…" but he didn't have a chance to finish, as Derek interrupted.
"Oh, but they will. I will make sure of that. They will know every single thing you did to women, and more. I told you I know a lot of people in here. And I will spent every moment while you are here making sure that your life becomes a living hell." Morgan started walking towards the door but then stopped. "Oh, and one more thing: it's agent."
And then Derek left.
Derek sat on that same chair and waited for a few moments. The door was opened and two guards brought him in, exactly like years ago. They handcuffed him onto the table and got out of the room.
Morgan took his time looking at the bastard. He seemed to have aged decades in the last few years. He was thinner; he had dark bags under his eyes and a lot of injuries covering his face. He had definitely been beaten. That put a grim on Morgan's face.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh at me, whatever. I don't care" he said. "How's our pretty friend doin', by the way?"
The agent just shook his head, still grinning. This idiot was living in a hellhole and he still wanted to control the situation.
"How are you doing?" Derek asked, stressing the word 'you' so he would know exactly what he was talking about. "Having fun with your fellas?"
But the man just stared at him. Derek then continued.
"I told you when you first got here that this would be fun, didn't I? I am a man of my word."
The man sat straighter on his chair and leaned forward, talking in a low voice.
"You think you won this, detective? You think just because right now I am here, in this hellhole, that you and your little bitch are free? You have no idea what awaits you."
Derek rose from his seat.
"We did win this, actually. And you can whine whatever you want, but you will never see the light of day again, and you will never come near us again. And for the last time, it is agent."
And once more, Morgan walked out of that building feeling some comfort in the fact that this monster was still behind bars.
JJ woke up the next morning feeling a little lightheaded. The long stay in the hospital was making her extremely irritated and tired, and the large doses of pain killers left her dizzy and with her speech a little bit slurred. She could only go a couple of hours a day before feeling weak and eventually dozing off.
Today, however, there was something different. She felt like crap. Of course, there was the main obvious reason: she had been severely burnt when a man attacked her with acid in the middle of the street. But also, there was something more making her feel weird today. She was so tired that, even after a good night sleep – which was uncommon for the past few days – she could barely lift up her arm.
Looking around her, she realized that there was no one in the room. She looked at the clock beside her bed and saw that it was extremely early – 4:45 AM. Blaming the early hour for her lethargic state, she closed her eyes again and quickly drifted to an agitated sleep.
The next time she woke up, Emily was beside her. She gave herself a few moments to clear her head, and realized that she was feeling better now; it was definitely the early hour that left her in that exhausted post-sleep state.
"Hey there, sleeping beauty"
JJ looked puzzled for a moment when she looked at the brunette. What had she called her?
"Hey, Em"
Unbeknownst to JJ, Emily was berating herself for the way she let the words in her mind slip through her tongue so easily.
"How did you sleep?" She asked instead, shaking her head a little as to dismiss her thoughts.
"Hum, incredibly good, actually, considering, you know." JJ answered and looked at her hands, which were stinging a little bit.
"Good, that's good" Emily answered, looking at her. The agent couldn't count how many times she got lost looking at those gorgeous eyes.
After a few moments of silence, Emily continued.
"I just, uhm, came here to say that we, my team, I mean" Emily stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "We have a case. I tried to sit back this one, but all I got was some time to come here and go back…"
"Oh" JJ said, saddened by her departure. "Of course, you didn't even have to come all the way here to tell me this. It's your job…" she finished, trying to believe in her own words.
"But the case is just a couple of cities away, so I won't be too far. Here, take my number, you can call me at any time, and I will answer." Emily said, writing down her personal number. "Unless, of course, I'm in the field, but I will call you back as soon as I can. I have already left my number with the nurses also, if don't mind."
JJ smiled a little at this and nodded. "I don't mind"
"And, hum, about what we talked yesterday…" Emily started, unsure. She had told the younger woman that they would talk today but she really had to go. Hotch was already a little annoyed when she asked to stay out of this case and when he denied, he was even more upset when she told him she was going with her own car to the city because she would go to the hospital first. He would be furious if she arrived at the police station late.
"No, don't worry about it. Go and kick some criminal ass, we can talk when you get back." JJ answered, smiling.
"You take care of yourself here, huh? I can't wait to show you my incredible Star Wars collection" Emily said, smirking.
"And you take care of yourself in the field. I'm the injured one here, don't want you to get jealous of me and steal all the attention" JJ replied, trying to lighten the mood joking over her own unfortunate situation.
"Oh, I wouldn't" Emily answered.
Then, she did something unexpected. She walked towards the blonde and gave her a light kiss on her forehead and then walked away. Just relax, Prentiss. It was just a gesture of affection from a concerned person.
If she had looked at JJ, though, she would see the younger woman close her eyes and she would see the smile that adorned her lips.
Beth Warren walked around the corridors of the hospital while mentally cursing all the way. She loved her job, she really did, but sometimes it was all too much. On top of the frequent and annoying small confrontations between doctors and nurses, sometimes when things got out of hand, the ones in white left them all on their own to control the situation - which sucked, because with the nurse's strike that was going on, there weren't enough nurses to check on their current patients, let alone treat the new ones and try to control the mess that was the clinic. So, Beth was a very angry person right now.
"Luke, where is the medicine for the old lady in room 4? She did a hip replacement and is in pain, go there and see what you can do!" She said as she spotted one of the newest nurses in the hospital.
"Already on my way, Beth" the man quickly replied and started to walk away.
Beth then entered the nurse station and grabbed a few medical files that she needed and decided to pour herself some coffee.
"What are these files for, Beth?"
Beth, then, looked up to see Mary, her best friend, standing at the door. She immediately smiled, relishing the comfort to talk to someone she cared deeply about.
"I agreed to cover for Reynolds tonight in the Burn Unit. Just taking some files that I need."
Mary made a face and shuddered a little.
"I hate going there. There is so much hurt and sadness…" she said.
Beth chuckled at this.
"This is a hospital, Mary. There is hurt and sadness everywhere."
Mary shook her head.
"I know, it's not that. It's just that in there, even when you do your job and save a patient's life and help them getting out of here, it doesn't feel like you won… because they will be in pain and scarred probably for the rest of their lives."
Beth sighed and nodded. Her friend was absolutely right. She just agreed to do this because she owed Reynolds one. But almost everyone avoided the burn unit, especially if there was someone going through some procedure. No one liked to hear the screams that often came from there.
"Are you going to check on the woman that was attacked with acid?"
Beth was pulled out of her thoughts by the voice of her curious friend.
"You heard about that, huh?" She asked, taking a sip of her now ready coffee.
"The whole hospital has. Come on, how often do we see something like that here, and not only through the news?"
"Yeah, not often" Beth answered absent minded, not liking to talk about this case like this. She couldn't even imagine the pain this woman was going through.
"What is it? Something's bothering you" her so often perceptive friend pointed out.
"It's just…" Beth started, unsure of how to continue. "I feel for her. People usually get burned in car accidents, or fires, or something random, some misfortune that, while sad, is usually understandable. Accidents happen. People die in car crashes, people get hurt while walking the stairs to their own houses, people get accidentally burned. But with her… someone did that. On purpose. I think I would be freaking out if it was me…"
Mary just shrugged. It wasn't that she was insensitive, she just compartmentalized better. "Maybe she is"
"What?" Beth asked.
"Freaking out, I mean."
"Yeah, maybe she is…" she answered, thinking that this woman would probably have to see some psychiatrist after that.
"Well, good luck, then" Mary said and walked away.
Beth sighed once more and finished her coffee. Then, she grabbed the files and headed over to the burn unit. Sitting at the nurse station there, she started to go through the files to see which patient should be priority during the rounds. There was a guy that was just brought in after a car accident in which his car collided with a truck full of inflammable liquid. She would have to go check his wounds and see if it needed a change in dressing. Then, there was a kid who had an accident with hot kitchen oil. Besides the painful wounds, she had a fever. Infection. Kids were a priority and a kid with oil burns and an infection, she didn't even have to continue. She would be number one and the guy from the car crash would be number two.
Then, she had two more patients who have just undergone surgery for skin grafting. They would be her next two stops.
And then there was the patient she and her friend were talking about. Jennifer Jareau. This was her eighth day in the hospital. Well, ninth, to be exact she corrected herself looking at her watch. Her wounds were healing as it was expected, no signs of infection. She would be her last visit.
Her visits went okay. The kid and the guy from the car crash were sleeping, probably due to the medicine they had taken, and the two patients from skin grafts were doing okay. In pain, but okay. It took her 40 minutes to check on all four of them. She liked to check everything with care and talk to them for a moment, or to the person that was in the room with them.
There was only one left to go. She entered in Jennifer's room and noticed that there wasn't anyone with her. But as soon as she got closer to her, she realized she should have come sooner. Because Jennifer was shivering in her bed and she had a fever of 104°F. She definitely had an infection.
Emily was driving at full speed in the middle of the night. She had received a call saying that there was a change in Jennifer's condition, but they would only be able to give her more information in person. So, she grabbed her things and left the hotel they were all staying, which led her to this moment, driving under a heavy rain and with no sleep at all.
The agent had sent Hotch a message to let him know where she was going, and she was sure that he wouldn't mind. The unsub they were chasing wasn't that smart and they were just a few hours from finding him; they would do just fine without her. Now she could focus on getting there and see what had happened to Jennifer.
She couldn't understand why she was so nervous about this. Of course she cared about her due to everything that happened, and all these days they had become closer, but still, there was something about her that Emily couldn't quite comprehend. And that made her want to stay around her even more.
Arriving at the hospital, she parked her car and headed to her room in record time. When she got there, she stopped dead in her tracks. Dr. Avery was in there, but there was also another one that she didn't know; there were also two nurses checking the machines and taking all kinds of measurement. But what scared her most was the way Jennifer looked. She had a ghostly appearance and she was covered in sweat. Her eyes were closed and she had a nasal cannula – which wasn't there before. Something was very wrong.
"Dr. Avery?" she called, letting him know through her voice how confused she was.
As soon as he spotted her, he got out of the room and walked to her.
"Prentiss, is good to see you here. I already talked to Dr. Reid, since he was her emergency contact, but I thought I should call you and let you know."
"Yes, I appreciate that. But what exactly should I know?" she asked, nervous.
"Prentiss, unfortunately Jennifer has an infection. We are doing some tests right now to decide what the best treatment option is, but at the time we are working to treat her symptoms, as they appear" he told her.
"And what are those symptoms?" she asked and looked at the blonde sleeping inside the room.
"She has a high fever, chills and shortness of breath. We are treating each symptom separately, but as soon as we know the kind of bacterial infection that she has, we will treat it more precisely."
Emily ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.
"But you were aware that this could happen, weren't you supposed to prevent that?" Emily inquired, frustrated.
"Yes, with burn wounds it is always a possibility and a risk factor. Bur her wounds were extensive and this is a hospital, we can't always prevent infections from happening. I'm sorry" he said apologetic.
"Well, your apologies don't count that much now, right?" she retorted.
Emily looked again at JJ. She couldn't let her die; she couldn't let her suffer even more. She didn't know why she felt so drawn into her, she just knew her for a few days! But her instincts told her that she couldn't back away now, she couldn't leave her alone. She knew they hadn't talked about this yet, but she would handle the consequences later. So, she just looked at him and said:
"You do whatever it takes to get her better, okay? Whatever procedure, whatever drug you need. Hell, hire the best doctor in this country if you have to! I'll pay for everything, just… just get her better" she finished and suddenly she felt very tired.
She walked into the room and sat on the chair by her side. She wouldn't back away now.
