I am so so so sorry for taking so long to update I feel so fucking bad. I just started college and I have literally no free time. I PROMISE that I will never abandon this story. So now i'm going to answer some questions for you guys. Thalium- yes I did pick a pairing! Though I ship Hotch and prentiss more than Derek and prentiss I am going to do a D/P pairing because i've already put a little bit of that pairing in the story and where i'm going with the later chapters it works better if I pair derek and prentiss. I might change that pairing towards the end though in case I want to do a sequel. Zhangxinna- you know I never even thought about putting Ems dad in the story, well shit. That would be a good idea. Why I thought of Emily's mom and not her dad I have no idea… we'll see. Also the unsub keeps switching back to violent to tender because his mom abused him and so he knows what it feels like and he's conflicted, also bc emily isn't actually a prostitute so it confuses him even more. Thank you two and also littleoblivion, and dauntlessfourever for reviewing as well. Your positive feedback means the WORLD to me. Also trying to make Emily's mom more humanized in this.
"When in the HELL were you planning on telling me that my daughter had been abducted?" Elizabeth Prentiss stands fuming in front of Hotch in a perfectly tailored suit and impeccably applied makeup.
shit.
How could I have forgotten to contact Emily's mother? Way to go Aaron. How could I be so incredibly stupid?
When Agent Hotchner doesn't answer her right away Ambassador Prentiss finds her anger growing. Her daughter had been abducted and she hadn't even been notified! They're lucky that she was in D.C for once. If she had been abroad she would have had 10+ hours on a plane to brood.
"Well?" Her tone is sharp and her eyes are narrowed to slits. She stands with her hands on her hips in an aggressive manor. To a room of profilers, anger practically drips off of her.
Hotch realizes he hasn't spoken and immediately tries to defuse the tense situation.
"Ambassador Prentiss I am very sorry…." Hotch reaches out to softly lay a hand on her arm to lead her away from the prying eyes of the rest of the team and stray onlookers.
The woman quickly shakes his hand off of her arm and folds her arm across her chest. The stance screams defiance.
"Don't tell me you're sorry" her teeth are practically bared "My assistant had to tell me that my daughter was abducted!"
It had been an awful way to find out.
A knock sounds at her home office door.
A flash of anger courses through her . She had woken up incredibly early to try and get some work done. Apparently that wasn't in the cards for her.
"Come in." Her voice is strong and laced with a hint of anger. She doesn't look up until the guest shuts the door behind them.
To no surprise the person to disrupt her thought process is her assistant. Though she is a nice woman and a good assistant she tends to disrupt her at the worst times.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you ambassador I know you're busy. It's just…." She trails off and fidgets in front of the strong ambassadors presence.
Elizabeth narrows her eyes. "Nancy spit it out."
"Right sorry. Have you watched the news this morning?"
"Have I….. Have I watched the news this morning? Well no Nancy I can't say that I have i've been busy with all of this." Elizabeth waves her hands around to motion to the mountain of paperwork on her desk.
Nancy hangs her head slightly and avoids eye contact. "Have you gotten a call from the FBI?"
If possible Elizabeth narrows her eyes even further.
"What in the hell are you talking about, Nancy? I don't have time for…"
And all of a sudden she knows. It's a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. It screams at her that something is wrong with Emily.
"Please don't tell me it has something to do with Emily." Elizabeth breathes out the words as she brings her hands to cover her eyes.
She knows it has to do with Emily.
Nancy hangs her head even more. Without a word she walks further into the office and picks up a remote from the side table and turns the tv on.
The TV seems to take forever to turn on but once it has she sees a young blonde woman on screen.
Instantly Elizabeth recognizes Jennifer Jareau as she walks across the stage to deliver a statement.
Elizabeth finds her heart rate increasing as she waits for Jennifer to deliver her statement. It feels as if someone has dumped cold water on her.
"Good Morning, and thank you for coming in so early. As you know my name is agent Jennifer Jareau and I'm the communications liaison with the behavioral analysis unit. Shortly after 1:00 this morning supervisory special agent Emily Prentiss was taken hostage during an undercover operation by the man responsible for the recent murders in downtown Frederick, Maryland."
"Oh my god" Elizabeth breathes out as she stands up from her desk and crosses over to the flat screen that hangs on the other side of her home office.
I never wanted her to take that damn job Elizabeth grumbles in her head. It's too dangerous. That girls's always getting herself into trouble.
Emily's picture flashes across the screen and Elizabeth's heart clenches. Her only child is in the hands of some psychopath that she was hunting.
How did this happen. Why did no one tell me.
Frustration bubbles to the surface and has her seeing red.
"We believe as of now she is unharmed. Call the number on your screen if you have any information on his, or her whereabouts. We ask everyone to stay alert and contact us if you have any information, thank you."
"You BELIEVE?" Her voice reaches an octave that no ones voice should reach. It sounds more like a screech than anything else.
"I am so sorry ambassador Prentiss." Nancy shakes her head and blonde strands come untucked from her bun. "I have the address for the police station that the BAU is currently working in. I assumed that you would want to go and figure out why no one notified you."
Nancy grimaces at Elizabeth and hands her the slip of paper.
"Thank you Nancy" Elizabeth takes the slip of paper and starts to move out of the office. "Agent Hotchner has no idea what's about to hit him."
"Ambassador Prentiss can we please talk in another room?" Hotch tries to lead her once again.
The unit chief's main concern is NOT the fact that he's about to be reamed out by a woman in front of the entire precinct, that had happened before and it will probably happen again. What really worries him is the victims board 15 feet to ambassador Prentiss's right.
No matter who the parent is it's always traumatizing to see a child's picture on the victim board.
JJ had put Emily's picture up shortly after she had been taken. It was like a punch to the gut but it helped keep everyone in line. Seeing her face on the board made it real. Her fate is in their hands.
"Why? So you can do damage control behind closed doors? No. I want an explanation as to why I was not notified of my daughters abduction. I want to talk to your superiors. I want to know why this unit is so disorganized. I want…." Her voice fails her as she whips her head around and sees Emily's picture on the board.
Rossi follows her gaze and instantly jumps out of his chair as he realizes what she is looking at. "Ma'am why don't you follow me into the break room and we can get you something to drink okay?"
Elizabeth ignores his attempts to draw her attention away from the board. She rushes to the white board and stands directly in front of Emily's picture.
"Oh" she gasps as she reaches her hand up to the board and strokes the picture of her daughter.
I know I haven't been the best mother. I've been distant literally and figuratively but I promise I'll be better. I promise we'll do this right the second time around.
When her eyes leave Emily's picture everything else on the board sinks in. 7 other victims before he had taken Emily. All are dark featured and dressed in scantily clad outfits.
Why are they dressed like prostitutes? Oh god no…
A hand on her arm startles her.
"Ambassador Prentiss do you remember me? My name is Jennifer. Can you please come with me and we can get you a coffee or some water and talk about what has happened?"
Elizabeths first instinct is to snap at the agent. The blonde speaks to her as if she is a child who needs to be coddled. She isn't weak, she isn't like all of the other victims parents.
Only I am
The snappy comment gets stuck in her throat. "Very well. I guess I could do with some coffee."
A light smile brightens the blonde agents face. Without removing her hand she begins to lead Elizabeth to the break room.
Footsteps can be heard coming towards the group.
"Emily is still unconscious and will most likely…."
"Reid…"
"be out for the majority of the day due to her level of inebriation"
"Reid!"
"and the severe concussion. I think we should…"
"REID."
"WHAT?"
The young genius finally looks up from the paper he had been scanning. Confusion clouds his features until he lays eyes on ambassador Prentiss and he instantly starts to sputter.
"Oh ambassador Prentiss I uh I didn't see you there uh….."
Derek grits his teeth and fights the urge to roll his eyes. For someone with such a high IQ he could barley get a full sentence out. This back and forth isn't getting them any closer to finding Emily.
Emily needs to be their focus. Not how her mother is doing. Elizabeth has hardly been involved in Emily's life to begin with and now all of a sudden she wants to play mom?
"How….. how do you know that she's unconscious? What do you mean by inebriated? She has a concussion? What is going on with my daughter?!" Slowly her voice starts to become stone cold.
No one answers. Every agent seems to be caught in a panic. Sure they've had to deal with parents of victims before, in fact they do it all the time. That being said this is a whole new level.
Each agent's eyes dart to their coworkers to try and find a way out of this mess.
Elizabeth huffs out a sigh of frustration. Instead of waiting for the agents to answer her she pushes past the young genius and follows the route Spencer had just come from.
"Ambassador Prentiss…!"
The woman ignores Hotch's attempt to draw her attention and rushes forward. The dimly lit corridor yields two options. Straight ahead is a single door and to the left is an adjacent hallway.
Without asking she turns the door handle in front of her and steps into the room. She can hear the agents behind her scurrying to keep her from seeing what is behind the door.
"Ambassador Prentiss you don't want to go in there!" JJ is the closest to the older woman and she tries one final time to get her to stop.
Unsurprisingly the ambassador ignores her and enters the room hurriedly.
A few large screens are the focus of the room. A blonde woman in eccentric colored clothing stands inches from them, captivated by whatever is on the screen.
Without warning Elizabeth steps up next to Penelope and locks her eyes on the screens.
On the screens a woman with dark hair lays on the floor facing the camera. Her eyes are closed but Elizabeth would recognize her anywhere.
Blood is congealed on the side of her daughters face and under her nose. The flimsy dress that she wears is tattered and bloody.
"Ambassador Prentiss you can't be in here!" Garcia gasps as she registers who it is standing beside her. It had taken her a few seconds to put the pieces together of who the strange woman was.
Garcia brings her hand up to start to move the ambassador when JJ rips open the door with Hotch right behind her.
Instead of asking the older woman to leave the room JJ latches onto her arm and pulls her towards the door. Surprisingly Elizabeth doesn't protest and JJ removes her from the room quickly.
Garcia breathes a sigh of relief when she is left alone in the room once again. It isn't that she likes to be the only one watching Emily, but in some way she feels better when it is just her. Emily wouldn't want everyone to ogle her all hours of the day.
With a resigned sigh Penelope drags a chair from across the room and settles in to watch over the unconscious brunette agent.
Clink
Clink
Clink
Clink
Elizabeth Prentiss swirls the spoon in the hot cup of coffee. It hits the side of the ceramic cup with every rotation and she finds the clinking sound calms her nerves.
It has the opposite affect on the agents that are sprawled around the tiny kitchen. Each stands with muscles contracting further and with each clink of the spoon.
No one had spoken for over 15 minutes and the silence was deafening.
Hotch sits across from Elizabeth and waits for the older woman to gather her thoughts. He can't even imagine what she must be going through. The thought of possibly loosing Jack….. it's too much to even think about.
With a shake of his head the agent clears the thought from his head.
"Do you have any idea where she is?"
The ambassador speaks so quietly that the senior agent almost missed it.
"We have a vague idea of the area….."
Elizabeth snaps her eyes up from the coffee and locks eyes with Hotch. "Then why are you all sitting here and watching her like she's a damn TV program. Go search for her!"
A frustrated sigh leaves Derek's lips before he can stop it.
Brown eyes dart to the agent and Derek can feel the poison leaching from her dark orbs.
"Do you have something to say agent?" There is a warning laced in her words and the worried mother look is gone, replaced with a protective mother glare.
"Yes actually I do. If you think that we like to watch Emily instead of actually finding her then you're out of your damn mind. The area that Emily could be in is hundreds of isolated miles. We have uniforms searching the places they can. You don't get to walk in here and tell us what we're doing wrong. You don't get to just show up in Emily's life when you want to. Being a mother isn't a part time job."
"Derek!" Hotch jumps out of his seat and forces the younger man his monologue the young agent had inched closer and closer to the ambassador.
Unsurprisingly the ambassador hadn't backed down. In fact she slowly rises to him as he got closer to her. She now stands next to her once occupied chair, coffee forgotten.
"Don't forget your place, Agent Morgan. I appreciate that you care so much for my daughter but don't cross a line that you aren't prepared to." A sneer crosses the older woman face. It taunts Derek to fight her.
Rossi, JJ, and Reid stand in the background with raised eyebrows and slightly parted mouths. Rossi has the most composure while JJ has the least.
All of a sudden JJ snaps out of her daze and, like a machine, steps back into her media liaison role. Solving interpersonal conflict is what she does best.
The blonde steps forward and lightly lays her hands on both the ambassador and Derek. "We all want to find Emily and fighting won't do anything to help her. Let's all take a deep breath and focus at the problem at hand.
Smooth as silk the blondes words roll over all parties and calm them instantly.
JJ can feel the knots of tension unraveling from both Derek and the Ambassador and before long Derek is back leaning against the kitchen counters and Elizabeth is sitting in her chair.
Hotch shoots JJ an appreciative glance.
"What has he been doing to her?" The mother bear has receded and the worried persona is back on the forefront.
The team shoots each other a look until the silent conversation has reached all members. Rossi steps forward and takes a seat on the other side of her, turning her attention away from everyone else.
Each time they had all interacted with the ambassador she seems to do best with Rossi. He has a calming and reassuring nature that rivals JJ's.
"So far he seems to be sticking to pattern with the other victims. He has physically assaulted her but that is all."
Elizabeths breath hitches slightly "so far? What else did he do to the other victims?"
No one speaks.
"Will one of you grow up and tell me? I need to know what is going to happen to her if she is not found soon. I'm not a regular mother i'm an ambassador for gods sake." Elizabeth snaps at all the agents in the room. She needs to know what is ahead of her.
"It looks like he does everything in cycles of three. He physically assaults them for three days, electrocutes him for three days, and he stabs them for three days." Reid rushes the sentence out and dodges glares from the rest of the team. Someone had to tell her and it looked like none of them were going to. Why try and cover up what she will find out anyway?
The air leaves the Ambassadors lungs but she doesn't show it. "What happens after that?" She turns around to look the young doctor in the eye.
Reid tenses slightly and it tells her what she needs to know. Something bad.
"We aren't sure."
"But you have an idea."
"No, not really."
"But you have an inkling?"
"We have no proof."
"Proof doesn't always matter."
"In this case it does."
Elizabeth and Reid spar back and forth with their words until she realizes that he wont tell her. That none of them will tell her what may or may not happen to her daughter after the ninth day.
"Fine. Why did you say she is inebriated?"
With the same business like tone he had used before, Reid continues. "He force fed her alcohol."
"How much?"
"It is hard to quantify. He tried to give her the whole bottle but you know Emily, she's a fighter."
"Why is he doing this?"
"We believe his mother was a dark featured prostitute who probably abused him. He is unleashing his anger on these surrogates. He is also giving them a way out."
It feels as if a bucket of ice water has been dumped over Elizabeth. "A way out?"
"When they feel they have had enough they tell him and ends their life."
"Do you believe Emily will give up?"
"No I do not. Emily is the strongest person I know."
"Why are there cameras?"
"He is playing with us. One of us must be watching at all times or Emily will pay."
"Thank you for your honesty Dr. Reid."
Elizabeth rapid fires questions at him until she can think of no more. All of the information she had just learned is soaking in. She turns back to the table and begins to stir her coffee again.
Clink
Clink
Clink
Clink
"I am upset obviously, but I am not the one you need to worry about."
"Ma'am?" Hotch questions gently as he locks eyes with her. "Who do we need to worry about?"
Elizabeth tilts her head as she looks at agent Hotchner. "Emily's Father."
Before anyone can question the ambassador further Penelope runs into the kitchen. "She's waking up."
Everyone instantly starts to rush out of the room until Hotch stops Derek and Elizabeth.
"Morgan stay here with Ambassador Prentiss. You can answer any other questions she has."
Without waiting for a response Hotch follows the rest of the agents out of the door towards the room.
She is running. Every time her foot hits the floor a loud slap echoes in the dark hallway.
She runs as fast as she can. The air flows through her hair and sends it flying behind her.
There is a light at the end of the hallway that seems to get farther and farther away from her. Each step closer is a step back.
Come on Emily come on run faster run faster
Her arms are tied behind her back and her feet are bare but it doesn't deter her. The scraps of red fabric that remain on her body threaten to fall apart all together.
"Emilyyyyyyy." His voice taunts her and pushes her to run faster.
Emily's eyes dart around trying to find the source of the voice but she cannot. It seems to resonate from the air itself.
The dark hallway seems to get smaller and smaller as it slowly suffocates her.
A laugh echoes out from somewhere behind her and Emily turns her head to see who it is. The darkness plays with her mind and she isn't sure if she can see him or not.
"SHIT!"
Emily falls to the ground hard. She lets out a moan of pain as she slowly makes her way to a seated position.
A wet substance on her hands causes her to look down. "What the hell?" Emily brings her hands closer to her face and lets out a gasp.
Blood.
Her hands are covered in blood.
In fact her whole body is covered in blood.
Emily looks around her immediate space to see where the blood is coming from. When she cant figure it out her heart starts to beat faster. Something doesn't feel right.
What did I trip on?
Slowly, Emily turns around.
A strangled scream leaves her throat as she lays eyes on what caused her to stumble.
Olivia Browns body lay in a tangled heap on the ground, covered in blood. Slowly she starts to move into a seated position.
It isn't until Olivia brings her chin off of her chest and towards the sky when Emily sees the ugly red mark across her neck. Blood pours out of the wound as if it was freshly slashed.
Emily stifles a scream as she locks eyes with the previously dead girl.
"Emily."
Olivia's voice is hauntingly raw from the misuse.
Slowly Emily starts to back away from the horror in front of her. Steady footsteps bring her farther and farther away from the young womans body. Emily continues to carefully step backwards without taking her eyes off of the girl.
Without warning Emily collides with a firm surface behind her.
Every nerve in her body fires with fear. Subconsciously she knows what is right behind her, or at least has an idea but she can't force herself to turn around.
"you're next." A female voice whispers in her ear.
The hairs on the back of Emily's neck stand straight up.
Slowly the brunette agent turns around.
A scream punctures the dealing silence of the hallway as Emily locks eyes with Madison Grace, his second victim.
Emily takes off running.
The light at the hallway has dimmed but it is still there. The light is all she can focus on. All she wants to focus on.
Hands grab at her from all directions as the faces of all of his victims. Olivia Brown, Madison Grace, Kate Rollins, Elizabeth Banks, Amanda Rogers, Eva Mitchel, Angela Phillips. All have identical slash marks scaring their skin.
There is blood.
So much blood.
"you're next." Is chanted over and over and over and over again.
Emily can no longer take it. She stops running and sags against the closest wall.
This wall feels different.
Emily swivels her head to look at the wall. Her face scrunches in confusion as she sees her face reflected back at her.
A scream tares through her throat as she looks at her reflection. Blood gushes out of the slash on her throat. It coats her entire body until it is all she can see.
"you're next."
A scream rips through her throat as her eyes spring open.
Her heart is beating a mile a minute
The first thing she registers is the pain. White hot pain assaults her every time she opens her eyes.
Emily takes deep breaths to try and pass the pain. After several minutes it's clear that there is no compartmentalizing away the pain her head is causing her.
The second thing she registers is that she's still drunk. Still very very very drunk. That tends to happen when some psycho dumps a bottle of alcohol down your throat.
Come on Emily get up. Get the FUCK up.
Slowly Emily rolls herself into a seated position and almost passes out from the pain. Her ribs scream at her in protest and her head pounds aggressively against her skull.
All of a sudden her stomach lurches and she throws up quickly. She tries to angle it as far away from herself as possible.
As much as Emily hates throwing up she is also relieved. The more she throws up the more alcohol that leaves her system. Gently, Emily heaves her stomach to continue throwing up.
When she is finished she raises her head and makes eye contact with the camera.
"Don't worry about me, I I I'm okay. I am still veryyyy drunk and I don't know how much tttttime has passed but I am okay. Can you guys p p please find me faster? I know you're probabl working as hard as you can and driving yourself crazzzzy but I'm okay.
"Do you really think they're working as hard as they can?"
The unsub moves from his perched position in the doorway towards Emily the middle of the floor.
Emily jumps slightly and instantly scolds herself for reacting to him in that way.
"Do you, Emily?"
"Do I what?" She spits out as she turns around to face him, still seated on the ground. She fights another wave of nausea and grits her teeth. Her eyes are narrowed into slits.
"Do you really think they're working as hard as they can to find you?"
The question throws Emily off of her game. "Of course I thinkkk they're working as hard as as as they can. They're myyy team, I trust them wit verything I have."
"You aren't curious as to why it has taken them so long to find you? I know that you guys have solved cases in much shorter times than this."
Seeds of doubt plant themselves in Emily's brain. Can she blame it strictly on the alcohol?
"How long has it been?" Emily stares at a random point on the floor and tries to block out what may or may not be about to happen to her.
The unsub laughs and sits on the ground next to Emily confusing her. "That doesn't matter Emily. What matters is that they haven't come to get you yet." Without saying anything the unsub places a bottle of water and a sandwich in front of Emily.
"You need to keep up your strength. We have a lot to do in the next few days."
The unsub gets to his feet and begins to walk out. He stops by the door and turns around. "Where is your team Emily? Do they care about you at all?"
After he leaves Emily continues to stare at the point on the opposite wall.
Is he right? Where are they? It is true that we've solved cases in short amounts of time. Do they care about me at all? Do they miss me? Are they even looking for me?
Emily tries to shake the thoughts out of her head but they wont go.
What if they really aren't looking for me. Did they ever care about me?
Without thinking Emily turns to the camera and looks into the lens. Hurt is evident in her facial expressions and in her voice. "Wher are you guys?"
Again super sorry for the delay. I have big plans for this story and will NEVER abandon it. Thank you for your support. Love you guys so much.
