A/N: So now that Hotch and Emily are no longer held hostage in the basement I felt it was time to wrap some things up. And this doesn't only concern the both of them (even if they are the main focus), but also the rest of the team and... Joe Cumber. I bet you have almost forgotten the sadistic murderer who started all this. Well he is still there and – well, find out for yourself... My plan is to have approximately three more chapters (including this one). One (this one) with a comforting H/P scene, one with an angry/sexy H/P scene and – of course - THE big finale. The two of them still have a lot of stuff to work out. And I really hope you will stick around to find out.
I say it every time, but I can't say it enough times: Thank you all so much for your reviews and story alerts! I cheered when I saw that the review count exceeded 50! When I started writing this story I wasn't sure anyone would be interested or read it at all so this excites me every day anew.
So please R&R!
The ambulance took off at sundown. Hotch was still unconscious – but not in a critical condition - and Morgan accompanied him to the hospital. Emily had wanted nothing more than to stay at Hotch's side, but she was too exhausted to argue or explain anything and knew Morgan would take good care of him.
Several teams searched the building right now, perpetuated evidence and catalogued the traces that had been left on their tragic journey through the basement. A mortuary van waited outside to transport Joe Cumber's last victim to the morgue. Standard procedure. An unsub had died; reports had to be written. That would have to wait though.
The paramedics had examined Prentiss, determined that her wounds required some stitches, and albeit allowed her to get to the hospital on her own. Probably they were glad to have Rossi drive her. She was grumpy and tired, not in a pleasant mood. The occurrences of the day had worn her down. She had no energy left to be politically correct.
Emily had taken her time though to inform Morgan and Rossi about what she knew. The man without a name. The torture chamber. Fragments. Some memories were lost due to her head wound. In between she had been dizzy and not aware of her surroundings. This also would have to wait until Hotch could make his statement.
With Rossi it usually was a comfortable silence, but not this time. They were on their way to the hospital. When she looked out of the car window, she could feel him dart a glance at her. "Penny for your thoughts."
"Ten bucks if you leave me alone." Prentiss sighed and sensed his smile. At this she had to smile too. She knew he only meant well for her and deserved a real answer.
"I'm just tired." She said. "And longing for a shower." Morgan had given her his sweater so that she could pull off her bloody blouse that went straight into an evidence bag. Yet the metallic scent of blood clung to her and mixed with the dust and filth of the basement, let alone the touch of hands who had wanted to kill her. She felt dirty in more ways than one.
Rossi on the other hand wasn't known for letting someone off the hook that easily. "What is this with you and Hotch?" Cutting right to the chase of the matter.
She should have anticipated it. Nonetheless her first reflex was denial. "Nothing."
His silence told her all she needed to know. He had caught them outside of the interrogation room and wouldn't let her stall him.
"God, Dave!" Emily rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling even more exhausted. "I don't know what to say. It's... complicated."
"Isn't it always?" He said softly and someone else could have mistaken this for irony when it was indeed anything but. He knew how she felt. It was always complicated.
"Wanna talk about it?" Rossi wouldn't let it go. "Before the frenzy starts. The press, the doctors, Strauss. Before we all go back to our daily routine and it gets even more complicated." He wouldn't let it got and he was right. The moment they would slip into their old roles everything that had happened would vanish. Prentiss wouldn't believe that this was possible hadn't she done it before.
She opened her mouth, willing to share her feelings with him, but the words wouldn't come. She didn't know what to say.
"I don't know what this is between us." Emily eventually mumbled - and as vague as it was, it also was true.
"Do you want it to end?" Rossi was guiding her and she let him. He was a good guide.
"No." She shook her head and stopped immediately because it hurt like hell. "Ouch! Damn!"
"No." Prentiss repeated softly but firmly – this time without the painful head-shaking.
"Well, then - one of you will have to start it." Confucius had nothing on him! Emily almost began to explain that they had already started "it", when she realized that he didn't mean that. He meant a real relationship, something that wouldn't exist only in her apartment and in hidden corners.
"I don't know how." She admitted. "It's all so... complicated." He said the last word at the same time she did and they laughed out loud.
"Isn't it always?" Emily said and suddenly she didn't feel so tired anymore.
"It doesn't have to be." Rossi looked at her sincerely and the car came to a halt.
They had reached the hospital.
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Prentiss was a bad patient. She hated waiting. She hated being helpless. She needed more stitches than the paramedics had told her. She wanted to leave. Somewhere in between Rossi got Morgan to deal with her.
"Hey!" Morgan entered the treatment room and detected Emily sitting on a gurney. The doctor had just finished stitching up her wounds and left and the nurse was cleaning up. "Sorry, Sir! You can't be in here." She started to shoo him out of the room.
"It's okay." Emily told her at the same time Morgan flashed his badge. Now that the treatment was finished, she was in a much better mood.
She had pulled off the sweater and sat there only in her pants and bra. They had washed off the blood and the fresh scars on her pale skin stood out. Morgan saw the old scars too and only now she realized that he would, slipping the sweater hastily back on.
He didn't know how to react. From her statement and Cumber's allusions he had known about the scars. Seeing them was different, yes. But they didn't distort her and he wasn't put off.
Prentiss still sat on the gurney and he went up to her, his face at eye level with hers. He stood between her legs and yet there was nothing sexual in his actions. Morgan just pulled her into an embrace and held her as close as he had done before in the basement. It felt so good. He slid his hand under the sweater, touched the scars on her back.
She tensed briefly and relaxed again. Morgan wasn't the enemy; he would never do her any harm. And most of all he would never lie to her.
"You're still beautiful." He murmured into her hair and then pulled back to look at her. "Don't ever make yourself believe anything else!"
For a moment he thought she was near to tears. But of course she wouldn't allow herself this emotional slip and pulled herself together. So he pretended not to notice her breathy voice when she finally spoke. "Now... Rossi sent you here to babysit? Aren't you all incredibly concerned about me!"
Morgan smiled. Yes, they were, and she loved it, but would never ever admit this.
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When Morgan and Emily went out of the treatment room, they ran right into Hotch. Rossi was with him.
"Wow!" Morgan took a step back. "Shouldn't you rather be in a hospital bed? You have a pretty nasty head wound!"
Hotch looked over Morgan's shoulder right at Emily. "So has she." He said with the right amount of concern in his voice. The two of them had escaped the grim reaper. No wonder he wanted to check on her. Nothing more than that.
Prentiss knew that Rossi had to roll his eyes inwardly, even if he didn't show any outward reaction, and she wondered if it always had to be like this from now on. None of them acting publicly as they wanted. At least how she wanted. It was odd to stand right next to him without being able to hold him, touch him, ask him how he felt. With the other team members there was at least the chance of a hug or soothing words. But Hotch had observed the boundaries always so strictly that she couldn't cross this invisible line without attracting unwanted attention. And she would never do that to him.
"We're going back to the police station." Hotch still stood in front of Morgan, studying Emily. Perhaps it wasn't only her who considered this an odd situation, who wanted to act differently. She really hoped so.
"Wait! You don't have to stay here? You have been unconscious for a while." Morgan again.
Hotch turned around. "I'm leaving against medical advice." He stated the obvious and was already on his way to the car.
Morgan looked at Emily and raised an eyebrow. Even for Hotch this was unusual behavior, because there was no imminent danger anymore. He could have stayed and let them check him out thoroughly.
Since he was the unit chief there was no reason though to question his decision and they followed him outside. Prentiss could feel Rossi's stare between her shoulder blades as if he was nudging her. Told you so!
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Now it was Morgan's turn to drive, even if Prentiss had preferred Rossi to do that. This would have given him less opportunity to observe her and Hotch in the rearview mirror. She tried to meet Rossi's eyes in the mirror. Stop that! Screw you!
When she had seen Hotch at the hospital the urge to be near to him had been very strong. It had been nothing though compared to what she felt now. He was sitting right next to her. If she moved over just a little their legs would touch and perhaps she could only... She let her hand drop on the back seat, gave him a chance to touch it unnoticed. Please give me at least that!
And he did – without hesitation. His hand not only rested beside hers, he put it over hers, covered it. Emily hadn't expected herself to react so keenly. Her emotions almost overwhelmed her. They could have been dead! And here they were wounded but alive and denied themselves the most instinctive response – mutual comfort.
She swallowed and turned her face away, pretended to look outside even if there was nothing to see. Nonetheless she couldn't prevent the tears from falling. Emily Prentiss was human after all.
The engine noise covered her quiet sobs and she used her other arm to wipe away the tears. Hotch noticed them anyway. Despite her original intention to get closer to him she sheered off from him now and pressed herself against the side door in an effort to get as far away from him as possible.
She kept stubbornly looking outside, when she felt his hand touch her arm. "Prentiss, everything okay?"
Oh, no! He could't really do that! Reduce her to his agent after all that had happened. For crying out loud, she almost had died for this man today! She could live with ignorance, with denial, but not with this false pretense to be nice to her. At least call me Emily, she thought whiningly and hated herself for being weak and dependent. She felt the lump in her throat and wasn't certain how much longer she would be able to control herself.
Not for long – because his hand was insisting, pulling at her, pulling her to him. But it was her name that pushed her over the edge. Of course he had called her by her first name before, although rarely in the line of duty, when the other team members were around. And in a situation like this, much too personal for his regular tactics, it usually was an absolute no-go.
"Emily..." She hadn't noticed that he had come so close and he still pulled her closer, until she was in his embrace. There were no tears anymore, but she was shivering uncontrollably now. Everybody has a breaking point. It wasn't Joe Cumber's torture that had broken her or Ian Doyle's attempt to kill her, not even the last hours in the basement. It only had taken Hotch's voice and her name.
Hotch felt her body tense up and just slowly relax. She was a bundle of arms and legs, her face buried in his neck, her hands clinging to his shirt. He smelled the shampoo of her hair, the dust of the basement and a slight whiff of Morgan, because she still wore his sweater.
Perhaps she believed that it had been easy for him to dissemble his feelings at the hospital. She was wrong. He hated the thought that he hadn't been with her while she had gotten the medical treatment. When he had seen her come out of the room together with Morgan he had been glad that she wasn't alone. Yet it should have been him not Morgan. She was the main reason he had decided to leave the hospital AMA. He needed to be with her; there were so many unfinished businesses between them that he had stopped counting. The doctors had wanted him to stay, but it wasn't life threatening if he didn't, so he hadn't thought twice about it. Hotch was aware that he was different around her. Not on the outside, but inside. He thought differently, decided differently and he was precarious whether this was a good thing or not. Anyway he had to find out.
Morgan and Rossi were silent. Prentiss' breakdown hadn't come unexpected. She had gone through one personal hell too many and they shared her pain; the occurrences of the last days so vigorous that even Morgan - who didn't know about Hotch and Emily - didn't wonder why Hotch comforted her in such a personal way.
The ring tone of Morgan's phone broke the silence. It was JJ, wanting an update on Hotch's and Emily's condition. Plus she had news. Bad news. They could see it in Morgan's face. His expression had become dark.
"How?" He asked and listened to her explanation. Then after a short pause. "He has what?" Irritation. Morgan hang up.
Emily had calmed down and sat beside Hotch again. They were closer now so that their legs were touching. Rossi couldn't see their hands, but he was certain that Hotch had found an unobtrusive way to hold her hand.
Morgan frowned. "Joe Cumber has killed himself." He told the others.
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To be continued