Lost and Found

Summary: Taken… Vanished… Hurt and lost… Found, but broken. The story of how love and family brings one agent back to the world of the living and out of the darkness that threatened to consume her.

Warnings: this story will contain violence. If that triggers you please refrain from reading or at least heed the warnings I give. Things won't be very graphic mostly, but there will be possible moments where it's detailed. Just keep that in mind and take the warnings seriously.

This can get dark and angsty, so beware.

Criminal Minds does not belong to me. I own nothing but my own words and creations. Unfortunately, that doesn't include the show. It sucks, but it is what it is…

Chapter 10: Deliverance

For JJ, the ride to the hospital felt indescribably long and arduous. She kept looking for something to go wrong, waiting for them to tell her it was a mistake, that it wasn't Emily they found. "Why isn't she waking up? Why isn't she responding?" She begged them to just say the words, to just tell her she was fine… That she was just sleeping and would wake up any moment. But they didn't seem to come.

Instead, they just pushed her away. "Ma'am. You need to let go of her hand and sit back so we can work."

"But I…"

"Ma'am."

After the fourth or fifth time hearing that during their ride, she lost it. "Stop calling me ma'am!" She yelled. Seeing their stunned faced, her face flushed and she ran a hand through her messy hair. "I'm sorry… Please… Can you just tell me what's going on? She… She has been missing for weeks now and she hasn't even opened her eyes once. I just want to know what's going on."

"Alright." Nancy, the female paramedic, "Listen. All we know right now is she has a deep puncture wound on her leg, lost a lot of blood. She's covered with contusions and abrasions. She's hypothermic and her heart rate's on the low side. We can't tell you much more than that because we don't know. She might have a head injury. She might not. There are signs of trauma everywhere, so we can't rule that out. Despite that, she's holding on. She's stable enough right now to transport. We'll get her to the hospital, they'll probably start her on some warm saline to raise her core temp, and do some tests as long as she remains stable. Now, can I please do my job so that we can get her there in one piece?"

"Yes… Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She stayed back, pushed as far into the seat and away from her friend as she could go, and she observed. Not one bit of comfort really came from the watching. She could only just remind herself that Emily was stable, she was right there in front of her eyes and breathing, even if slow, erratic, and labored.

And then, then she wished the wall would eat her whole. One of the alarms was beeping. "What's happening?" Emily was gasping for air.

But she never got an answer to her question even though she repeatedly asked. Instead, the ambulance came to a halt in front of the hospital, they unloaded her as quickly as possible, and they took her away without a single word more than, "You can't come passed this point ma'am."

"Damn it! Stop calling me ma'am!" She said to the stale hospital air. No one else was around. It was just her and an empty waiting room until the team arrived.

"JJ! How's Emily?" Reid yelled, the first of the others to arrive, Rossi and Hotch rushing in close behind him.

"Where's Morgan?" She didn't answer, just asked her question.

"He went to go get Garcia. She shouldn't be driving when she's upset… How's Emily?"

She sniffled. "No word yet. She was stable most of the ride in."

"Most? What does that mean? What happened?"

"Is she ok?"

"I don't know. I… I don't know. We weren't far from the hospital when all sorts of alarms were going off. She was… I don't know…"

"Breathe." Rossi tried to calm her. "Just breathe." It seemed like he was talking to both her and Hotch who looked on the edge of hyperventilating. "She's a fighter. Whatever happened," because they knew it was more than they saw in the videos, "we'll get her through."

"Yeah… We will."

"Now, let's sit down and wait for the doctors."

"Ok." They all agreed.

They calmed as much as possible as Rossi took control of the situation. He knew he had to be the one to do that. As upset and worried as he was about Emily, they looked worse than he felt and that was saying a lot. So, he sat them down in the lounge area chairs and did what he could to relax them. "She's going to be fine." He told them. "The doctor will be out to tell us just that soon." Legs were shaking and no one was calm at all, but they did try to be. It was all they could offer knowing arguing with the nurses or hospital staff to get them any answers would only lead to trouble. As much as it sucked, patience was the only thing that would get them through.

This whole ordeal for them was a prison sentence of forced patience and incessant worry. If they all didn't end up with ulcers, they'd be lucky. And that was them, they couldn't even imagine what it was like for Emily. But, there they were, waiting again. Only, patience wasn't really a virtue they could practice this time, anytime. Emily was in reaching distance. She was just passed those doors and they still couldn't get to her until they were given permission. Now, the waiting was damn near impossible and the silence among them was maddening.

Thankfully, they had Garcia to swoop in and save them from it. "Where is she? Where's my wounded bird?" JJ stood up to meet Garcia, causing the other blonde to gasp and stall. "Oh… Oh god… Are you ok? Did he hurt you? Are you hurt? Is that… Is that all your blood?"

"Blood?" Garcia, still shocked by the red stained clothes, pointed to the numerous patches of painted smears. "Oh…" JJ forgot it was there… That her friend's blood drenched her jeans and her white shirt with a color so stark in comparison. "It's not mine…"

"Tell me it's the UnSub's!" The silence answered her. "Oh god! And Hotch too… How bad is she? Is she alive? Were we too late? Someone answer me. Please. Now." They were waiting for her to breathe so she could actually hear their words, but she barely took a second before going again. "Why isn't anyone saying anything? You're all just looking at me like I'm nuts. Just tell me. It's bad? Isn't it? I know it is. How can it not be? How bad is she?"

"Penelope, come sit down."

"No, no, not until someone tells me what's going on."

"We don't know anything yet." Reid stepped in. "We're waiting on the doctor now."

"And that blood? Is that… Is it all hers?"

"Some of it is the UnSub's."

"And some of it is hers…" Hotch finished for JJ.

"How bad? What happened to our girl?"

They sat her down with them, the group huddled in the center row of chairs. "We don't know much more than we did before. She was pretty beat up when we found her."

"She was bleeding pretty heavily from her leg."

"Why? What happened?"

"We don't know what happened. When we got there, she was unconscious."

"And the UnSub?"

"Dead."

"Oh tell me you let him have it, that he suffered slowly in the hands of justice as vengeance for our Gumdrop."

"He was dead when we got there."

"So she?"

"We don't know what happened. We need to wait for her to tell us."

"And if she can't? What then?"

"We… That's not a possibility we want to consider right now… Let's just wait and see what the doctor tells us…"

"Can… can you at least change clothes? I can't keep staring at her blood. Please?"

"I…" Neither could argue. The blood they were was both a reminder of life and a step closer to death. That was from her body. They were wearing some of her. They wanted it off them just as much as Garcia did. And the analyst was determined to make it happen. She disappeared for a moment in a fit of determination and fear and came back with exactly what she wanted.

"Here." She handed a pile to each of the two profilers. "I conned the nurses into giving me these. They should be ok for you to get cleaned up until we know Emily's A-o-k and you can go change." She began to ramble.

Garcia offered to go with JJ to the bathroom, but the profiler politely turned her down just needing a moment to herself. "If I'm still in there when the doctor comes out, come get me." She told them firmly as she made an exit. Hotch made the same request. They knew the others would oblige.

Looking in the mirror, both were surprised with what they saw. Obviously they knew they had blood on them, but the extent of it was beyond what they imagined. It was like they turned a blind eye to each other's newly added wardrobe color. But they were stained, the fabric and their skin. Stripping down, they saw the caked and dried blood smeared on them, just another reminder of their near and still possible loss.

Turning on the faucet, JJ cupped the water in her hands, splashing the cool liquid against her face. She needed to clean up and get it together. Emily would be just fine. She would… It was… It was Emily, after all. She scrubbed the dried flakes of blood from her skin as best she could without much more than some paper towel and water. She needed a real shower, a real bed… She scolded herself. She was worried about her luxuries while Emily was fighting for her life. What kind of friend was she? Quickly drying off and slipping into the scrubs, JJ returned to the waiting room.

Hotch came out at just about the same time, but not before losing it just a little. He stood in that bathroom, cleaned up and changed, but he still felt… tainted. Her blood was on his hands, both literally and figuratively. How could things have been different? Why didn't they get there sooner? Had they failed her? What would this do to her? "Damn it!" He cursed as he slammed his hand into the wall, just lucky it didn't break skin, though he was likely to bruise. It's fitting he thought… Think how many bruises Emily had since they were too incompetent when it came to finding her… Think of all the hurt and suffering she endured… And there he was, bothered by a self-inflicted sting in his hand. He was torturing himself, blaming himself, and he would until he knew she was ok, probably long after that too. But he was resolved to believe she was ok…

It was Emily… She'd be ok…They weren't giving her a choice. No, it was a demand. They all banded together and were demanding she be just fine so they could break her out of the hospital, get her home, and spoil her with care and love until she was all healed up and ready to jump into the action. It wouldn't be that simple, nowhere near that easy, but it was what they wanted to happen… It was what needed and would happen… Without realizing it, his hand had been continually ganging against the porcelain sink, the throbbing ache intensifying.

He needed to get out of that bathroom before he did any real damage. So maybe it was more than just losing it a little, but he still walked out of there like nothing was wrong. He just needed to go into that waiting room and sit with his adoptive family to get word on her condition.

"Any news?" He asked when he arrived back.

"No one came out yet." JJ relayed, having just received that same answer moments before.

There they all sat in silence, hoping and praying, some talking to a god they weren't sure they believed in… But finally, the time came for some answers. "Prentiss?" The doctor called out for her family. They all eagerly jumped at the sound of the name.

"That's us."

He eyed them wearily. "All of you are family?"

"Yes! Now get to the point and tell us our wounded Gumdrop is doing ok!" Garcia yelled, the few other occupants on the other side of the waiting room staring in their direction.

"We have her stabilized." He explained and the group seemed to release a collective breathe of relief.

"So that means she's ok?"

"It means that she's stable."

"That's not helpful Doc!" Garcia waited for answers and all the jack ass could say was she was stable?! What kind of nonsense is that?

"We have her listed in stable, but critical condition. When she came in, she was hypothermic, we gave her a warm peritoneal lavage and put her on a warmed IV drip. We have her past the hypothermia point. She's at 96 degrees now and we hope to have her to the normal 98.6 within the next few hours."

"That's great."

"It is." He agreed.

Reid cut in before the doctor could continue. "Did the hypothermia cause any damage?" He knew all the stats. He knew the basics at least from his reading and there were many possible side effects… Brain damage, organ failure… and those were just some of the risks.

"Though we'll need to run more tests later to be positive, we believe we were able to treat that before any permanent damage was done to the nerves and tissue. In fact, though there was some head trauma and a moderate concussion that we will monitor closely, the hypothermia probably prevented that injury from being worse. In all honesty, the hypothermia may be what saved her life."

"How's that?"

"Ms. Prentiss presented with many minor injuries. Her body was covered with contusions and abrasions, but there were several life threatening injuries as well. Without being too technical, the cold preserved her organs. If her temperature was any lower, the outcome could've been much different, but she was lucky, and we were able to treat her in time."

"What about the other injuries?" Hotch inquired.

"Right. She sustained several blunt force traumas to the body. Aside from the deep tissue bruises, several organs were bruised as well. There was some internal bleeding and a liver laceration, but in effort to avoid surgery, we gave her a drug protocol that we hope will correct the problem."

"And if it doesn't?" They had to ask. They needed all bases covered.

"If it doesn't, I'm afraid she'll need surgery, but we really would like to avoid that. While she is stable, the hypothermia caused myocardial activity to be suppressed and an arrhythmia to appear. Our best cardiologist is confident we can manage that, but putting her under anesthesia before that is not something we would like. We are monitoring it closely and if the bleeds become any worse or don't clear up, we have an OR on standby."

They nodded along, letting the words soak in as he explained more about her condition. Stitches, bruising, head injuries… Basically, what they heard was that their fears were very real. She was tortured. Turned out she had a few cracked ribs all of various healing points. That episode JJ witnessed in the ambulance was one of the broken ribs puncturing a lung… They had to reinflate the resulting collapsed lung and take it from there.

"What about her leg? There was a lot of bleeding."

"Yes. A stab wound to the thigh. It looks like the penetrating object nicked a major blood vessel. Luckily, scans show no other major damage and we were able to repair the wound. The muscles will need time to heal, but with some physical therapy, there should be no lasting remainder but a scar. However, she will likely still need surgery."

"Because of the stab wound?" Did he not just say it was fixed?

"No. There were several orthopedic issues. X-rays showed a series of fractures in her hand and wrist, some which appear to be several weeks old and has begun to heal on its own and others look to have been re-broken throughout her…" He wasn't sure how to word it. "Captivity." Appropriate enough? "Her leg is another story. There was significant trauma to the knee and lower extremities. Her anterior cruciate ligament or the ACL, looks torn. It's not life threatening at this time, but it should be addressed as soon as possible. Our orthopedic doctor will take a closer look at the different injuries and talk to Ms. Prentiss once she is awake."

"Is… Is that everything?"

"Should there be more?" He asked the family, wondering if there was some crucial information he was unaware of.

"No… no there's not." But maybe there was. They had no idea what happened there…

"Can we see her?"

"We have Ms. Prentiss in the ICU right now, and the heavy sedative we gave should be wearing off soon. A nurse is in with her, but I'll have her escort you to the room once she's set. Only two at a time and keep the visits short. She needs her rest."

"Thank you!"

"If you have any questions, just ask for Dr. Calder."

Offering their gratitude once more, the doctor left them to their own devices. It would be another hour before they got into the room to see her. And all the preparing they did, all the explaining of her condition and, to Garcia, how she was found, was not enough to actually prepare them for what they saw.

The team decided to let Derek and Penelope go in first. Garcia nearly screamed when she saw her lying in that bed. Her skin was paler than normal, a stark contrast from her dark hair, hair that looked even darker in its dampened state. Her lips were still stained a shade of blue. And the bruises… "Oh god." She said in a hushed tone. The bruises painted her skin many hues. Bandages littered her body, her wrist splinted, her elevated leg peeking through the blanket, the wrapping evident from the thigh down. "She looks… She looks dead."

"Garcia!" Morgan scolded her. Yes, she was right. It was true she looked… dead. But that was something that was better left unsaid.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just…"

"I know baby girl, I know." He put his arm around her and pulled her close. They needed that contact and support as they looked at their friend. "You're scared. We all are, but you heard the doc, she's stable. She's here now and safe, we're with her… She'll be ok. We'll get her through this and help her heal."

"My poor E. She looks so still and… and fragile."

"I know. That's not the Emily we're used to. But this is temporary. She'll get better. She has us right by her side to make sure of that."

"I… I knew it was bad. Like, in my mind, I knew it would be, but… But seeing it is so much worse. And then I saw all the blood on their clothes… I still told myself she was fine."

"She is… She's fine."

"Look at her. She doesn't look fine. That is not fine!"

"Does PG need a hug?"

"A big one." She nodded and allowed him to pull her tear stained face deep into his billowy chest.

"It's going to be ok. Now, let me wipe these tears away." He pulled a tissue from the box and used it to soak up the moisture. "And then, let's give everyone else a chance to see her." He was doing is level best to remain focused on the fact. She was stable. It didn't matter that Emily looked like she was on her last leg, one step away from tumbling into the abyss. All that mattered was that she was there and, from the doctor's very mouth, stable. "Ready?"

"I guess." Neither wanted to leave, but they were directed to have short visits and then, at the end of the night, one person, one family member, was allowed to stay with her. So, they had to give everyone a chance to see her.

Both said some parting words to their unconscious comrade before Morgan took Garcia's hand. "Let's go."

Reid and Rossi were sent in next after JJ and Hotch staked their claim to the final visit. "Garcia, can you do me a favor?" JJ pulled her aside.

"What can I do?"

"I'm going to stay here with Emily. Do you think you can go to my house and pick up some clothes? I'll call Will and tell him to have everything ready…"

"Of course Jayje. I know we can't all wait here. They'd probably kick us out, but at least this way I can help. I can make Derek get Hotch a change of clothes too."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that. I don't know if he's staying though."

"Oh Jayje, it's Hotch… He's staying."

JJ, being the power of attorney and, legally, Emily's next of kin, was the only one cleared to spend the night there, but that wasn't going to stop Hotch. He'd send everyone else home, offer to keep them informed and call if anything changed during the night, though he was hoping he wouldn't need to, but his butt would be firmly seated in one of the hard ICU chairs. There was no way in hell he was going anywhere, and he made that very clear.

"You're right. So, please, clothes would be good."

"I'm on it."

Rossi and Reid had reactions similar to the others. Looking at her in that bed, wires and tubes attached to her, Rossi almost felt like he was losing another child. His son was lost the day he was born, and, no, he didn't raise her, but he spent the last few years in the role of surrogate father. She didn't have a dad and he didn't have a child, but they had each other. They had that bond that allowed for those fatherly chats. She knew she could come to him with her problems and that he would support her even when it seemed no one else would, much like he did with the Benton case. And he wasn't above forcing truths out of her and doing the hard things to help her. But he couldn't help her there. Seeing her like that was breaking his heart. She may not have been his daughter by blood, but he was there for her more in any time of need than either of her blood were. Her father passed away and her mother threw herself into her work. They took passive roles in her life. And now it was his turn to sit idly by, waiting with the rest of them, unable to do anything.

Reid's mind immediately went over the stats. Instead of focusing on the numerous obvious signs of trauma, he looked at the monitors. They were the lifeline. Their continued dispersion of sound was confirmation of her sustained life. Hearing that gave him the tiniest ray of comfort as he finally turned his attention to his friend. What she must've endured… It was unfathomable. He remembered his time with Tobias… He nearly died then, was brought back to life by the same hands that nearly took it. He was left permanently scarred, mentally at least, from just a brief period with his kidnapper. Emily was gone for much longer than he, her scars and torment much more visible with his. He couldn't begin to guess the mental aspects she'd be facing. Her captor fed her drugs. Would she face the same addiction he had?

He made a promise right then and there that, no matter what he had to do, he wouldn't let that fading thought so much as grace reality for even a second. He'd do whatever he had to, to help her heal and keep her from the same spiraling downfall he had to suffer. But, he had to wonder, how could he do that? How could he compare their situations? What data was there out there to make him equipped to heal her mind and body? He was afraid there wasn't any. He, himself, and his own awareness of the trauma she faced was all he could offer her. He just hoped it was enough.

"Hey guys." JJ knocked meekly and slightly parted the door. "They're saying visiting hours are almost up."

"We'll be right out. Just give us another minute." Rossi told her. She nodded and shut the door behind her.

"What did he do to her Rossi?"

"I don't know kid. But we'll be here for her and take care of her. That's all we can do."

"Yeah…"

"Ok Cara." Minding all her injuries and looking for some place to make contact, just let her know they were there, Rossi gently moved her hair from her face. "You come back to us soon ok? No spending extra time in dreamland all hopped up on those good hospital pharmaceuticals. I'll be here first thing tomorrow and I better see those big eyes wide open staring at me like I'm crazy or something. Got that?" He half expected to hear one of her witty retorts. "We love you Emily. Get well, we'll see you in the morning." He moved to Reid placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Tell her what you need to tell her so they get a chance to get in here too."

Reid nodded and Rossi moved toward the door to wait while giving him a little privacy. The younger man stood closer to their friend, hesitant to touch her. It was like there was no safe place. Taking stock of all the injuries just made him afraid to break her. "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner." He whispered. "I'm sorry you're hurting. Stay strong and keep fighting. We'll see you soon."

The men exited the room to see that Garcia and Morgan already left. "Where'd they go?"

"We sent them home." Hotch informed them. "We shouldn't all stay here. We haven't slept or even relaxed much in the last few weeks. So, you two should go home too. We'll call if anything changes."

"What about you?" Reid asked the two.

"I'll be fine."

"Me too. I've already talked to Will and Henry. Garcia is running to get me some clothes. I'm all set for the night."

"And you Aaron? I don't suppose I can convince you to try and rest, so do you want me to get you something to change into?"

"Thanks, but Morgan's taking care of it. I talked to Jack too, so I'm all set to spend the night here."

"Alright." Rossi knew convincing one or both of them to get some rest in their own beds since it could be some time before Emily really woke up and was coherent, was a lost cause even though he'd readily offer to stay in their stead. "I'll go, but only if you promise that we'll trade shifts in the morning so both of you can go home to your kids and shower, sleep and eat, not necessarily in that order." They were hesitant to agree to that. No one wanted to leave the hospital and their friend, but it made little sense for all of them to suffer more hours awake and uncomfortable when Emily would just be in and out of it for a while. "She'll never be left alone, but you can't be here 24/7."

"Fair enough." Their only option was to agree. "See you in the morning." They parted, but not before Rossi made one last offer to call the Ambassador and let her know Emily was found and hospitalized.

When it was finally their turn to go in, they weren't ready. They saw her bleeding and pale on that floor, but there in that bed, she looked almost worse… Worse than when she was lying there dying. That didn't sit well with them. It was the first time they really got to examine her wounds and tally the marks. They silently observed her. JJ decided to give Hotch a little time alone with Emily as she went to get them coffee. When she returned, the nurse was in with them, checking vitals and what not.

"I thought the doctor said she'd be awake by now."

"She's just sleeping. The heavy sedative they gave her when treating her wore off, but she's still on a mild one. Give her a little more time. Once she's awake and alert, hit this button here." She pointed to an alert button. "And the doctor will come in to see her."

Alone with Emily again, one agent on each side of the bed staring at their fallen friend, JJ broke the silence. Looking to her boss, she asked, "God Hotch, what did they do to her?"

"I don't know JJ… I don't know."

"She looks…"

"Terrible." And yet, still so brilliantly beautiful, like a wounded bird being nursed back to health. There was a beauty in that, always a beauty in her, but that didn't stop the pain in their hearts seeing her so breakable, so broken. No, he refused the thought, she wasn't broken. Wounded, she was undoubtedly, but not broken.

For a few minutes, they focused just on their friend. They watched her, talked to her, tried to coax her to open her eyes, but she was determined to do that in her own time. It wasn't that they were worried, ok, they were, but they knew, factually, that it wasn't a coma. She'd wake eventually, but the sooner she did, the sooner they saw her look at them and heard her talking to them, the sooner they'd believe they'd all get through it. Then they'd believe she'd be ok.

"I ran into Dr. Calder when I went to get coffee." She mentioned subtlety. He held his breath. It was written on her face. There was more she needed to say and he was giving her the opportunity to do that without interrupting. "And I… I asked him about her injuries… Like how she could've gotten them…"

"Oh…" He wasn't expecting that. "What did he say?"

"For most of it, he couldn't be positive… But there were some electrical burns likely from a Taser. And whip marks…" She stilled, pausing to exhale slowly, forcing herself to turn and face him. "He said nearly 70% of her body is bruised or has some kind of damage…" He didn't have a response to that. It wasn't a shock, you just had to look at her to know there was a lot, and, yet, still it was a surprise. "She wasn't wearing much when we found her, Hotch." JJ stated quietly, her face glued to Emily's.

"What are you getting at?"

"I asked if it was possible if she was…"

"If she was what?"

"Do you… Do you think she was…?" She couldn't finish the thought. She didn't want to ask.

"Was what?" Don't say it… Don't say it…

"Do you think she was raped?" She blurted. "I… I asked them if it was a possibility and…"

"What did he say?"

"He said that they didn't do an SAE kit when she arrived. They weren't told that was a possibility and she had more urgent needs that required attention. And that, from what they could tell and what was seen at the scene, she was submerged in water which, along with all the treatment would've washed away residual seminal fluid should she have been…"

"So we don't know unless she tells us." She was more than his agent, more than his friend even, and she was… Well she was what she was… Damaged? Hurt? Fine? He didn't know. He didn't know all that happened. Whether or not a sexual assault took place, an assault had. That was evident. He didn't know what they'd be facing as her support or what kind of place her mind would be in when she woke. Right now, there were a lot of unknowns.

"I guess not…" She left out the part where Calder mentioned there was significant bruising to her bare thighs. It didn't have to mean more than that. It didn't mean there was any other cause than more of the same torture the rest of her body endured, but she had to wonder. Her mind went there. Emily was missing for a long time, naturally her mind would consider that a possibility. Was she? They didn't know. She certainly hoped not, but the only real answer would come from Emily. Until then, they were going to do their best not to dwell on it.

A round of murmurs and whimpers sounded as the agent in the bed began to stir and pull their attention. "Ah… mmph. No… no…" A nightmare, they discerned. But it looked like she was coming out of it.

"Emily?"

"Emily, we're here." They both tried to get her to focus on them, her eyes fluttering and her lids still heavy as she fought the monsters in her dreams.

"Wake up." Please…

"Oww…" She groaned.

"Hey, hey, don't try to move."

"You're in the hospital."

"But you're ok." JJ added and reached to press the call button as they continued to cajole her, soothe her and keep her from lashing out at the remnants of her dreams.

The doctor arrived in no time and a quick neurological exam and once over was done before they got a chance to really talk with her. And even then, she was a little out of it, loopy from the drugs and weak from her assault. But she fought to not let that show. She stayed up, not nodding off though her body felt ready to give out any minute, and even did what she could to hold up her side of a conversation. It was small talk really, for the most part, but after she'd been up for a while, they moved on to a harder question.

"Emily, can you tell us what happened?" Alarm bells were going off in her mind, the monitors she was attached to betraying her calm looking veneer.

"I…" Before she even got the chance to answer, a pain ripped through her abdomen as she cried out. The alarm bells weren't just in her head.

Something was wrong. Looked like he was going to have to make that call to the rest of the team…

Small delay and I'm horrible to end it there, I know. But I did specifically say she wasn't out of the woods yet. There is a rough road ahead for our favorite group of profilers. If it was all sunshine and roses, where would the story be? But, it is an Emily story so, don't be too afraid.

Thanks everyone for all the reviews/follows/favorites and just reading. It's so very appreciated. And, as always, thoughts and criticisms (constructive) always welcomed. Thanks for reading! More to come…

snuggleUP Thank you for reading. Enjoy this update.

123a456e Well, she was ok. Question is, is she still ok? I'm sure things will work out. I have faith in myself to make that so. I think…

sia Morgan Thanks so much. Everything I write always plays out like a movie in my head that I just turn into words. Sometimes well, sometimes not so much. So that you can see it play out like that means I've done something right.

Rugbygirrl So the reference wasn't lost then. Good. That's good. I might have seemed a little bonkers if you hadn't seen it. But really, who hasn't? The team definitely has their work cut out for them helping her heal.

rmpcmfan Emily's in for a world of hurt all around, both mental and physical. And both those aspects are interconnected. But she has a group of people who care for her very much and promise to be there every step of the way. So, let's see what happens.

Guest 1) She'll be alright… mostly, maybe… She'll have the team's support… If she lets them. 2) They did find her! It seems pretty bad though… Hmmm. All shall be revealed that went down during the final showdown (so to speak, though I suppose literally too). Stick around for more on that.