Emily
Waking up somewhere you don't recognise is scary but having the training I have I can thankfully asses the situation quickly. I soon realise that I am in the hospital. My memory is a little foggy but I remember seeing Derek while I was with Franks so I assume he is the one that got us out. I take a closer look at my surroundings and I see Penelope and Derek sat side by side next to my bed, as snuggled as they can get to each other. Moving my head hurts and I groan a little louder than expected. The noise wakes Derek and his movement wakes Garcia.
"Jennifer." I croak out, needing to know where she is and if she is ok.
"Hey," Derek smiles a broad grin at me. "She is fine, she is in another room but as soon as a double becomes available they will put you guys together. How are you feeling?" He asks, his voice sincere and tender.
"Dry." I say my voice feeling like rough sandpaper.
Penelope gets up and walks around the bed to get me some water. Using the straw she helps me drink and it hurts to swallow. She smiles at me warmly as she puts the cup down then takes my hand.
"We were so worried about both of you. I am so glad you are finally awake." She says, a little sadness in her voice.
"What happened to Jennifer? Is she ok?" I ask, my voice still a little dry and it makes me cough. Gosh coughing hurts!
"She will be ok, Reid and Rossi are with her at the moment. She needed surgery but she is fine, I promise you." Derek says, leaning over to kiss my forehead. "How are you feeling? Really?" He asks with sincerity.
"I hurt, all over." I admit with a sigh of frustration. "What's the damage?"
"You have alot of cuts and bruises but you will be fine in a couple weeks, sugarplum." Garcia tells me with a pat on my hand. "I am going to find the doctor to tell him you're awake. I'll be back in a giffy." She smiles a big happy smile and speed walks to the door. I think she is trying to rub but failing in them heals.
I look to Derek and smile sadly. "The real damage, please." I ask gently, knowing that there must be more after what he did to us.
Derek sighs and rubs his face with bith hands. "You have shit loads of deep cuts on your back. Bruising everywhere, including your liver and spleen. Then you also have damage inside from the assult." He says the last part quietly while looking down at the floor.
"Hey, look at me. This is not your fault, Derek. Don't do that." I admonish.
He looks up slowly at me and shakes his head. "I should of been there sooner. It took us three god damn days to find you! He completely changed his plans on us and it meant I couldn't protect either of you!" His voice rises to almost shouting as he speaks.
"Again, it is not your fault. There is an Interpol agent that gave us up, Derek. I need to tell Clyde. But it was not your fault, ok? We knew the danger going in. Was it a hell I would rather live without? Yes. But it's done, we are safe now and we will be ok." I say as strongly as I can.
Honestly I just want to break down and cry. I feel broken and dirty but I cannot break down in front of anyone and I doubt they will leave me alone for a while so I need to hold it together. What I need to feel even a tiny bit better is to see Jennifer and make sure she really is ok.
"We know about Norton, he is part of the reason we found you. Took us a little while to work it out but we did and he is in custody." Derek tells me just as the door opens letting in Garcia and the doctor.
"Hello, Agent Prentiss, I am Dr. Fielding. How are you feeling?" He asks as he picks up my chart and checks the monitors.
Derek and Penelope start to leave but I grab his hand looking at him with a pleading look. I feel utterly weak but I need him to stay, I don't want to be alone with this man. Thankfully he seems to understand and he squeezes my hand. They both stay as the doctor and I talk about my injuries and recovery.
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A few days later I was finally moved into a new room for Jennifer and I to share. Oddly I was nervous to see her but a little excited too. I care for her way too much, she was right to worry about becoming too involved while under cover. I have fallen hard for her. As Derek wheeled me into the room my eyes immediately fell on the bruises on Jennifer's face. My heart sank thinking about how she got them. My own stupidity, I wound Franks up and he took it out on her. She smiles at me, love twinkling in her eyes. My heart swells, she doesn't blame me, I can see it in the way she looks at me and my worries melt away. Derek moves me to her bedside and steps out the room to give us some privacy after kissing Jennifer on the forehead.
"Hi." She says timidly.
"Hi." I reply back with a smile. "How are you doing?" I ask.
She laughs and clutches her abdomen. "I am so bored of that question, surely you are too?"
I chuckle at this too, it is true, I really have had enough of being asked. "Sorry. I guess you probably feel a little worse than I do." I say dropping my head as I speak, guilt hitting me once again.
"Hey," She says as she reaches for my hand and I look up at her, interlocking our fingers. "Don't do that, Em, please." Her voice is soft and comforting.
"Sorry." I say squeezing her hand.
"We probably feel very much of the same things, physically and emotionally. We need to be each others rock, no one but us knows what we went through. I am not talking about the facts either before you go telling me that the others know," Her eyes sparkle with amusement at the correct assumption that I would reply that way. "I mean we are the only people who knew how it felt to be stuck there with that man."
I nod and lean forward to kiss the back of her hand. "I am sorry that you got the brunt of it, Jennifer, he beat you to hurt me and it worked." I say, silent tears starting to fall down my cheeks.
She tugs on my hand gently and smiles sadly. "Come here, baby." She asks and lets go of my hand to move over and make room for me, wincing as she does but I don't comment. I know if I do then she will tell me not to.
I carefully move myself up onto the bed beside her, making sure not to tangle my I.V, her I.V or the wires connecting her to the monitors. In that moment I am more grateful than I was earlier that they took me off my monitors because there is no way we would not have gotten tangled! I gently lay my head on her shoulder and duck under her arm so the wires are over me and her arm is around my shoulders. We sit there silently for a long time, just absorbing the presence of each other. I feel the most relaxed I have since that last evening at the house.
I am taken out of my thoughts by Jennifer moving slightly to look at me and I tilt my head to look her in the eyes. "I love you, Emily." She says, her eyes a mix of scared and deep love.
I sit there shocked for a moment, she meant it, she actually loves me. I must of stayed quiet for too long because her face drops and her eyes go sad, breaking my heart. I rest my palm on her face and pull her into a light but meaningful kiss. "I love you too, Jennifer, even though I know I shouldn't." I tell her as I rest my forehead against hers.
She chuckles breathlessly. "I don't really care if I should or not, I love you."
I smile and kiss her again running my tongue along her bottom lip causing her to moan. We kiss lazily but the door opening and a cough interrupts us. I turn to see Derek who is smirking at us.
"The guys want to know if they can come in and you should probably stop that before JJ's monitor starts going crazy." He laughs.
I sigh and rest my head back on Jennifer's shoulder. She kisses my forehead then looks to Derek. "Yea, sure you guys can come in." She rest her head back on the pillow and sighs. "We will talk again later, baby." She whispers and I know there is no avoiding talking about us or Franks. Part of me is dreading that conversation but the other part is looking forward to knowing how she feels about us and what possible future we may have.
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We spend a couple weeks in the hospital but manage to convince the doctors to discharge us on the same day. The team made all the arrangements for us. They decided that we would both move into my house for our mandatory month long recovery at home. With one member of the team with us everyday to make sure we do as the doctor ordered. I am not sure how I feel about my place being the biggest right now. I got this place because of the view, it is beautiful. If I had known it would be used as my prison for a month I probably would have got something smaller. I am looking forward to seeing it again though, it has been a long time since I was last here.
"Come on, Derek! I don't need a babysitter and neither does Jennifer." I moan petulantly as he pushes me in the wheelchair to the carpark.
"You do and so does she. I may not have known you that long but I know enough about you that you will try to do things before you're ready and so will JJ. So, Princess, you will both have a babysitter, as you put it, until further notice." He sounds smug and I just want to wipe his smugness off his face.
"You are insufferable!" I groan and lean back in the chair, resting my head on his arm.
"You love me." He says cheerily and I just sigh in response.
Truth is I do love him, out of all of Jennifer's team he is the one I have clicked with. He is the one who makes me feel safe. He is the brother I never had and other than the blonde I have most certainly fallen for, he is the reason I want to stay here in D.C. Sitting in a hospital bed for a couple weeks means you have plenty of thinking time. I have thought long amd hard about what I want many times throughout my life and now I realise that what I want has shifted.
I want to be with Jennifer, if she will have me. I want to banter with and tease Derek. I want girls nights to be a regular thing with Penelope and Jennifer and I really love the sound of family time at Rossi's. I want all that and more. The only way I can see that happening is if I move to D.C and either transfer within Interpol or look for something new.
As Derek drives me home I stare out the window and continue thinking deeply about life. I can feel him looking at me every now and then and finally I turn to him. "What?" I ask a little snappy.
"Just wondering what's going on in your head." He states simply. The fact that my moods roll right off him amazes me.
"Life." I answer and turn back to the window.
"Oook then. So I have a few questions and we don't have long until we are at yours then JJ and Penelope will be over from collecting JJ's things at her flat." He says slowly, a little uncertain.
I chuckle lightly at his nerves, he has only gotten unsure around me a few times, it's sweet really. "Go ahead." I say not taking my eyes from the window.
"Why do you have a house here if you live in London?" He asks, curiosity lacing his voice.
"I have a few houses in a few places. They are for when I need to make a quick getaway, kinda like safe houses. All under different names, most people in my department of Interpol has a few places for the same reason. Our job can get dangerous sometimes." I say, my voice a little sad.
"Makes sense, I guess you haven't been there in a while since it was a little dusty." He chuckles.
"I have a cleaner go in once a month so I hope it wasn't too bad but no, I haven't been there in a long time." I tell him as we pull into the driveway.
"Wait there, I will take the bags in then come get you." He says firmly and I nod back at him, too tired to argue.
It is frustrating that I am so tired after just laying in bed for two weeks. Everyone keeps telling me it's because my body is healing but being this tired after doing nothing is ridiculous. The doctors say it's the stress of everything too. Trying to be the rock for Jennifer while we were with Franks and seeing her go through what we went through was emotionally draining as well as physically draining. I understand all that, I do, I just don't like it. I want to be myself again.
My door opens and Derek stands there with his hand out for me to hold. "You ready? Can you walk or do you want me to carry you?" His voice is soft but not patronising or assuming.
I take a deep breath and say something I thought I would never ask someone. "Do you think you could carry me? I am so sorry, Derek, I am just exhausted." I drop my eyes to my lap, unsure and vulnerable.
I feel his arms snake around me and as he lifts me I look at him again. He is smiling warmly at me and I rest my head on his shoulder. "Thank you." I whisper as he takes me straight to the master bedroom.
In the bedroom he places me gently on the bed and smiles kindly at me. "Do you need anything? Or are you going to have a nap?" He asks.
"I think I will nap for a bit and thank you, Derek, you have been a rock and I really do appreciate everything you have done for me." I smile tiredly at him and he smiles back before leaving me to sleep.
