A/N: The question has been asked by the wonderful HPforever-after as to which Cooper made a guest appearance at the end of chapter 8. Answer: Detective Cooper from Lo-Fi and Mayhem. His partner Detective Brustin will also be appearing. I figured if the girls were going to be in New York without their men for protection after such a traumatising day, I was going to give them a couple of familiar faces. For the girls who don't know them, their friends trust will be enough.

I am loving my reviews lately and as a result, loving you, my loyal reviewers. After posting just the other night, I can already say a huge THANK YOU in abundance to Hazmatt, HGRHfan35 for chapters 7 & 8 (no Kelly isn't pregnant and I promise that I am typing as fast as I can), greengirl82 for chapters 6, 7 & 8 and HPforever-after; you guys truly make it worth having no free time because it is all taken up with the typing. I would also love to send out a huge THANK YOU to the gorgeous x-MJ-x for reviewing the last two chapters of Aftermath; your encouragement means the absolute world to me one and all.

I would also like to give a great big sing-out to anyone alerting to my stories or me as an author. I do appreciate all of you and if you ever want to see your name here in this section, all you need to do is leave me a review and it shall be done.

Rated M for violence, torture themes, drug use, coarse language and sex scenes. (yes, this is going to have a little bit of everything)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds at all, although they do own me and I do own Carrie and Toby, Chloe and India, Kelly and Brad and Ben.

Arabian Nights – Chapter 10

"Emily?"

All heads whipped around to look at him as he sank back against the wall in relief. The teasing in her next words had him sinking down to sit on the floor as tears started to roll down his cheeks and Jack bounded over.

"You got someone else calling you 'babe' that I need to know about?"

He swallowed and shook his head despite knowing she wouldn't see the gesture, a reluctant smile tilting his lips upwards for the first time in almost a day. "No," he said softly. "Only you call me that beloved heart."

Jack tugged at his arm and whispered, "Me talk to mummy?"

Aaron shifted his legs out and tumbled Jack into his lap as he pressed a kiss to the side of his son's head. "Hang on a second Jack; I'll finish talking to mummy in a second and then you can talk to her to your hearts' content. Em?"

"I heard that. We can talk privately later. For now I'll take the time to reassure Jack because he needs it. And when I see you next, you'd better have a few hours free for my every whim to be met because I need comforting so desperately right now it isn't funny."

"I understand that kitten and I promise you it shall be done. For now though, I'm going to put you on speaker so that Jack can say hello and so that the others can get the low down on all of you."

"An excellent plan and I'll do the same here so whenever you're ready just let us know."

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"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered too softly for anyone to hear as she pressed the speaker button on her own phone. She spotted one of the nurses walking into the room as everyone except Austin gathered around her. Seven women on the one hospital bed may have been pushing it, but they were all just a little clingy after what they had been through and they were all in just a little shock over what had happened to Austin.

The woman raised an eyebrow at all the women on the bed but she didn't comment, just held up the papers in her hand and mouthed, 'Want them now?' They all nodded agreement and so she handed out the doctor's reports on their overall conditions. Emily had just finished reading hers when a familiar voice broke through her introspection.

"Mummy? Are you there?"

She smiled at the question and dropped her head back to the pillow behind her. "Yes baby, I'm right here," she said softly in a voice suddenly thick with tears.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm much better after hearing your voice just now. Are you okay?"

"I was scared mummy. A bad man had you and we didn't know where you were."

"Mmm, yes, I imagine that would have been very scary both for you and for daddy but you know what?"

"What mummy?"

"I wasn't alone this time and we all protected each other."

"Oh. That's good right?"

"Yes, that's very good."

"Okay. Mummy, is Carrie alright?"

She watched Carrie lose her battle with tears at that question asked in such a small, uncertain voice.

"Hey Jack-Jack. Did you and Toby take care of each other while I was gone?"

Jack answered "Yes," at the same time Toby cried, "Mummy?"

Between them they spent several minutes just calming the boys down, their distress tearing at all of them until they were calm once more.

"Hey can you guys do Carrie and I a huge favour?"

"What's that Miss Emily?"

Emily smiled to hear Toby fall back to his best manners despite just calling her 'Emily' almost since the beginning.

"Carrie and I aren't allowed to drink anything but water for the next few days because our doctor says it's bad for us. So can the two of you go and drink something fizzy for us?"

Carrie hadn't lost her quick thinking in the trauma of the day and she quickly jumped in with her agreement, her understanding clear on her face. "Mmm; I'm really craving some lemon soft drink. Can you do that for me Toby? Right now so I don't want it any longer and get myself into trouble with the doctor by drinking it anyway?"

It took them another two minutes to convince the boys that they were completely safe where they were and that the situation wasn't going to change if they left the room. Someone by the name of Clare took them out of the room they were in and for several long seconds there was silence as everyone gathered their thoughts.

Emily sighed softly in defeat as she realised what she was going to have to do next. "Reid, are you there?"

"I'm only here if Austin isn't dead."

The girls exploded into a fit of giggles at that surly reply and Emily quickly waved them down. "Sorry Reid, but that sounded just like Jack when he's tired and not getting his way."

Carrie laughed harder and Emily vaguely heard a snort of laughter from Aaron that was clearly quickly smothered. "Goodness, you're right; it really did."

Realising that Reid might be getting the wrong impression, Emily jumped in quickly.

"Just so that you all know, all eight of us are alive and for the most part relatively unscathed. But I know there were news cameras and knowing too how smart Kevin is, I know that you all would have seen the footage from when we first exited the van. Who else is there with you?"

"There is a team here from the California field office; your case was picked up by them because it is a large part of a serial case they have been working for the last several months."

Her heart quickening as a troubling thought occurred to her, Emily pushed aside that knowledge in light of what needed to be done now. There was time enough to deal with any issues that arose later.

"So when do you all arrive?"

"Not for another three days," Aaron said morosely. "We got a lead and went to Baltimore and then got snowed in by a blizzard that is still raging outside. We're stuck and kicking ourselves because the airports are still open in DC even if the snow is still falling there."

"I'm sure we can all kick your asses later for that bit of stupidity; particularly since it means I now definitely have to deliver this bit of news over the phone instead of in person like I would have preferred. Now, Reid, Austin is alright physically but emotionally you are going to have to learn to be her rock."

"I saw her bleeding when you put her up on your shoulders. Had she been stabbed?"

"The only ones who were anywhere near enough to the knives to potentially end up in that condition were Penelope and JJ and they've come out of this with only a few small cuts; none of which needed stitches.

"No, Austin haemorrhaged internally due to an ectopic pregnancy. The doctors ascertained this was due to a combination of extreme stress and the fact that the baby got too big; the tube it was in ruptured causing her to nearly completely bleed out before she went in to surgery and they repaired the damage."

The silence at the other end of the phone was near deafening and only broken by Reid as he began to sob and by Dave who had obviously moved to offer him comfort. A chorus of condolences could be heard at the other end of the line from the rest of the guys and probably by the other team as well. The girls all reached out to touch each other in a show of solidarity and support. It hadn't happened to them, but they were all family and so it definitely hurt them all because they knew that two of their own were now hurting deeply.

When the sobs had eased, they distantly heard Reid ask Dave a question. Dave then came closer to ask the question for him.

"Does Austin know?"

Emily watched as Teresa relaxed completely on hearing her fiancé's voice. "Yes she does. We were all with her when the doctor arrived to tell her the news. She said we could stay and we stood our ground when the doctor tried to kick us out anyway. Then I very nearly kicked him when he told her what had happened and I realised that he'd wanted her to be alone to hear that news. Anyway, he left and we stayed for another hour after that just comforting her and letting her talk it all out. I think it helped just a little that there wasn't a thing she could have done differently and that even if you'd gotten her to the hospital before she lost as much blood as she had, she still would have lost the baby."

Reid's voice was watery in the background and Dave had to repeat his next question as well. "Is anyone with Austin at the moment?"

Teresa closed her eyes and rested her head on her bent knees for a few seconds before lifting her head as she exhaled slowly. "No one is with her right at the moment. We all got booted out and told to rest which is about when Em remembered she still had her mobile and so we came back to the ward we have been placed on and called all of you."

They could all hear the relief in Dave's voice as he said softly, "Hey beautiful. How're you holding up?"

She smiled slightly. "I think I was actually doing better before I heard your voice…now I just want to cry."

Jordan and JJ wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. Emily smiled as Carrie's head came to rest on her shoulder and Kelly shifted back into the pillows and linked arms with her. Penelope reached out on both sides to the girls closest to her and touched what she could in the way of comfort.

Smiles were exchanged all around and Teresa continued, "I'm definitely reaching desperation levels on needing a hug asap but then I think we are all at that point and since we have each other at the moment…"

"So who exactly is there at the moment?" Derek asked anxiously and they all just knew who he was really asking about.

"Hey hotstuff. Everyone is here except Austin. The nurses keep frowning at us because we are all squished onto Em's bed."

"So is Austin alright?" Reid demanded anxiously.

Emily sighed quietly. "There is a big long convoluted response that boils down to 'yes and no' for more reasons than I actually have time for here knowing my battery is as low as it is. She's probably about as well as you are at the moment having just heard the news and I'll bet she'll be better for seeing you when you eventually get here. We all promise to take the very best of care of her until you do. Is that alright?"

His sigh sounded reluctant. "I suppose it's just going to have to be alright."

They listened as Reid wheeled his chair away from the group at the other end.

Suddenly more tired than she knew what to do with, Emily held up the phone. "Someone else take this for a while. It feels like it weighs a tonne all of a sudden."

Penelope reached for the handset as a smile blossomed. "You do look a little peaked darling."

Emily shot her a dark look and got a fake innocent one in return. Deciding it wasn't worth paying attention to, she closed her eyes and snuggled down into the warmth coming from the women on either side of her.

This is almost as good as having Aaron holding me…

New Section

A chorus of soft 'aww's' suddenly came from the other end of the line.

"Emily just fell asleep between one second and the next, poor love."

"Not surprising considering she was so instrumental in getting us out of there. She looks so cute and peaceful."

Alex tuned out the chorus of masculine chuckles and the softly bantered conversation as he walked to the window. He shoved his shaking hands in his pockets and did his best to pretend there was nothing wrong.

For a good five minutes of the conversation he hadn't recognised the woman's voice at the other end. Not the soft huskiness of it or the motherly tones that had soothed even his adult psyche for a few minutes as she did her son. Then Clare had taken the boys from the room and she'd obviously swallowed the emotion she was feeling in order to impart that piece of completely horrific news to Dr Reid who was even now still crying in the far corner of the room.

And suddenly he knew that the woman he'd loved and lost all those years ago was the same woman now married to SSAIC Aaron Hotchner…and the vindictive little section of his mind he never paid any attention to whatsoever wondered if he had even the slightest hope of hurting her as much as she had him.

End-

A/N: So I started out editing this chapter this morning with the aim of getting it out by 9.30am and then for a second posting to occur in the next 12 hours from there but since then I have been absolutely slammed with work so unfortunately this is it today. I'll get crack-a-lacking on the next chapter straight away though so hopefully you won't have to wait too long for my next offering.

Please review with the conveniently placed link right under these words. I love to know what you think and it makes me type faster and update quicker.