A/N: First of all I would like to thank you so much for the nice and helpful reviews! They always make me smile and motivates me to keep writing.

Okay, so chapter 12. Let's see how deep in shit Emily is with Hotch. Enjoy!


Hide & Seek

A Criminal Minds Fan Fiction

by Sweda


He couldn't believe it. He couldn't have lost her again. He just got her back!

He ran his hands over his head and down his face as he struggled with his emotions. He was furious at her for taking off like that. And at the same time he was so scared that he had lost her, again. He was angry with himself for not predicting her move before it was too late.

The roller coaster his emotions had taken a trip on made an abrupt stop as his phone started ringing.

"Derek, I just got the weirdest text from Emily saying she is sorry. What's going on over there?" Garcia's worried voice reached his ear as he answered his phone.

In the background on Morgan's side of the line, a small chaos could be heard. As Garcia picked up on the background noises she became even more worried.

"She just did something really stupid," Morgan said between clenched teeth. "I gotta have to call you back, Baby Girl," Morgan told her as he thought he saw something moving in the smoke.

He hung up and narrowed his eyes to get a better look. He was starting to think his mind was playing a trick on him when he saw it again. This time he was sure of it, something had moved next to the burning building.

Morgan quickly sprung into action and started running towards the moving object.

The rest of the team stood rooted to their spots, watching as yet another agent of the team raced towards the barn.

Reid was the second person to detect the movement among the smoke. He, too, narrowed his eyes to get a better look and then saw a limping figure emerging from the smoke. Reid thought the figure's arms looked weird and after running some anatomy references in his head, he realised the figure was cradling something to its chest.

"Hotch, look!" Reid shouted in a high pitch voice and pointed towards the limping figure which Morgan was currently racing to reach.

It took Hotch approximately fifteen seconds to realise what he was looking at and then everyone started to take actions. "I need paramedics over here!" Hotch screamed as he followed Morgan in a fast paced run.

The rest of the team also set off in a sprint towards the burning barn and the most likely injured figure.


Her ears rung and her body ached. She felt a stinging sensation on her arms and legs and realised she must have small, fresh cuts on them caused by the explosion. Her eyes watered as the smoke reached her and she coughed to make it escape her lungs. Beneath her, something started to move. That was when she remembered why she had ended up in this situation in the first place.

She quickly rolled off the small body trapped underneath her own and scanned it for injuries. Danny didn't appear to have suffered any severe injuries and Emily concluded that her attempt to shield the boy from the explosion, by using her own body as cover for the boy, had been successful.

On her way to the ground, she had tried to shift Danny into a position where he would end up beneath her, but wouldn't get crushed by her weight. She had landed on her elbows on her way down and as soon as she had landed, she had put her hands over the boy's ears in hopes that it would spare him the same ringing and pain she was suffering right now.

Even though she couldn't detect any new injuries done to the boy, she felt the urge to ask him just to be absolutely sure she hadn't missed anything. When she made her first attempt to speak, her voice failed her and nothing but a strained, uninterpretable sound escaped her lips.

She coughed and cleared her throat before trying once again. This time she had greater success. "Are you hurt, Danny?"

The smoke annoyed the small one's eyes and silent tears ran down his sooted cheeks as he answered her question. "Only a little."

"Okay. We need to move away from here as quick as possible then you can tell me where it hurts," Emily said while the thought about a second blast kept running through her mind. She had no idea what had been inside the barn when the bomb went off and therefore had no clue to if the first blast was it or if a second one was to come.

She attempted to stand up and when she did, her world started spinning. The weight she put on her sore legs while standing up made the ache in them increase. Even though she didn't appreciate the pain, she welcomed it. The fact that she could put weight on her legs most likely meant that nothing was broken.

Her balance was still slightly off and she had to wait until she had regained it before she bent down to pick up the boy. With the boy safely secured in her arms, Emily surveyed their surroundings.

To her left was the burning barn, or what was left of it. Turning to her right, she could see nothing but trees and branches. That wasn't the direction she wished to travel in so she continued to spin around. As she did, her eyes locked on the flashing lights of blue and red. She started to move in that direction as she suspected it was where the others were.

As she got closer to the colourful lights, small dots appeared in front of her. Small dots that was frantically moving around. She tried to blink them away but when she didn't succeed, she was confused at first and feared that she might faint but she didn't feel like she was about to. Then she realised that it must be people moving around.

She then thought she heard some faint screaming but her hearing wasn't as good as it usually was. Not only had the explosion left her with an annoying ringing in her ears, it had also made her feel like she had cotton in them, blocking the sound's way to her eardrum. Although the ringing in her ears had decreased by now, the sensation of cotton in them still remained.

After a few slow and rather painful steps, Emily thought she could detect a familiar form coming towards her. The form came closer and closer and after a while, Emily saw it was her partner who was running towards her with a pained expression.


Morgan was the first one to reach her and when he did, he was both relieved and terrified.

A quick look told him she looked like she was okay, except for some occasional lacerations and scratches, but Morgan knew looks can be deceiving.

It was what she held in her arms that made his pride for her grow. In some miraculous way, she had managed to get the little boy out of the barn before the place blew up.

The boy had burrowed his head in the crook of her neck and held on to Emily with a steel grip.

"He needs a medic," Emily coughed.

Hotch made it just in time to hear her statement. "Medics are on their way," he told her as he tried to catch his breath.

Emily just nodded and tightened the hold she had around the boy.

"You okay?" Morgan asked and stepped towards Emily.

"I'm fine," Emily said but her attention was immediately shifted to the arriving paramedics.

"You need to check him thoroughly!" Emily urged the first medic that reached them. Her voice was raspy and the smoke had made her throat sore but she didn't care.

"He needs to go to a hospital," Emily kept telling the paramedic. "He was just involved in an explosion. The cut on his cheek is pretty deep but I don't know if he has sustained any other injuries besides that one."

A pair of gloved hands had to pry away the boy from her arms and as soon as Danny left the safety of her grasp, he started crying.

As one pair of gloved hands removed the boy from her, another took a firm grip on her shoulders and started to steer her towards the awaiting ambulance.

"Get off of me!" Emily said and shrugged his hands away.

In less than two seconds Emily was by Danny's side, taking him from the paramedic's arms into her own.

The man who had tried to check Emily for any injuries was just about to go after her when a 'don't' from Hotch made him stay put.

"I need you to be a good boy and let these nice men check you for any boo-boos," Emily told Danny in a gentle voice as she stroked the boy's hair.

"They will take you over there," she said, pointing at the parked ambulance. The boy's tear streaked face turned to where she was pointing and then settled back to rest against her chest.

"And I'll be over there, talking to my friends," Emily continued to inform the boy and gestured towards the spot where the whole team, except for her, was standing. "As soon as I'm done talking to them, I'll come to you. You think that will work?"

Danny nodded his yes and as he did, his soft hair tickled Emily's face. Glad that she had been able to talk the boy into go with the paramedics, she smiled.

"Okay, now I'm going to give you to this young man who I have no doubt got a few exciting stories to tell you while he makes sure that you're okay," Emily said and gestured for the medic to get closer.

He had been kind enough to take a step back while Emily made her best attempt to talk the boy into going with him. When he caught on to her gesture, he quickly made his way over to them.

"There you go," Emily voiced as she transferred the boy form her arms into the waiting ones of the paramedic. "Now remember what I said, be a good boy to the nice paramedic and I'll come to you as soon as I'm done here."

"Promise?" Danny asked in a small, raspy voice.

"I promise," Emily assured him with a smile.

She watched for a few seconds as the boy was carried towards the waiting ambulance before turning around and limping back to the team waiting.

"You're going to let the paramedics check you too," was the first words that met her as she made her way back.

"I'm fine," Emily argued. "It's just a few scrapes and cuts."

"That's an order," Hotch announced in a his firmest Boss-voice.

"Fine," Emily sighed and started limping off to the second waiting ambulance.

Hotch followed suit but not before sending the other agents a look that made it clear he wanted some time alone to talk to Emily.

Fulfilling his wishes, JJ, Reid, Rossi and Morgan stayed put, even though Morgan wanted nothing more than to watch over Emily while the paramedic worked on her. After the week she had had, he wanted to make sure she was truly okay.

Having that urge, he realised it had become almost a daily feeling since they started working this case. He was acting like the overprotecting big brother towards her but who could blame him. Only two days ago, he had to comfort her on the bathroom floor because she had received a phone call from her ex. Not to mention that it was also the same day as she took off in a reckless chase of a very dangerous UnSub. But that's not all, she had also been abused by her boyfriend, or ex boyfriend, before she even started working on the case.

Having all the facts lined up in front of him, Morgan thought he had a right to act like he did and to feel what he was feeling.


At the ambulance, Emily reluctantly leaned against the back of the opened vehicle. As soon as she was seated, the medic was at her side but she swatted him away. She could see and knew that Hotch had followed her because he wanted to talk to her.

"Just spit it out, Hotch," Emily urged him after seconds had passed without him saying anything.

"What were you thinking?" he began, having trouble controlling his anger. "I thought we talked about this yesterday! How you were suppose to talk to someone before making irrational decisions, such as running inside a barn holding a bomb about to explode. I know I said I would keep you on the case yesterday but now–"

"What if it had been Jack in there?" Emily cut him off, determined to make him listen to her side of the story.

Hotch was confused. What did Jack have to do with any of this? "It wasn't," he retorted with a stern face while trying to keep the confusion from showing.

"But it was somebody's Jack," Emily said in a calm voice.

She never let go of his eyes as she talked. "How could I, after spending so much time with Danny on the phone, not do my best to save him? How am I suppose to stand in front of his father, the father of a single son, look him in the eye and tell him that we did everything in our power to save his son but it wasn't enough, knowing I could have done more?" she paused to take a breath. "That doesn't work for me, Hotch. And if that means disobeying orders and risking my life and job, then so be it!"

Emily's eyes held a glow of determination Hotch hadn't seen in them for days. Once Emily Prentiss had an opinion she wasn't about to back down. She stood by her actions and her reasons behind them and decided to live with the consequences of her doing.

Much to Emily's surprise, Hotch didn't argue with her. He simply stood there, looking at her with a strict face before turning to the paramedic. "Make sure you check her thoroughly," Hotch instructed. "If she gives you any trouble, call for me and I will personally hold her down."

The look he gave Emily before walking away wasn't hard to understand. It told her no arguing, no fighting and no 'I'm fine'.

Deciding that she had pushed his limits enough today, Emily settled on letting the paramedic do his job without arguing to much.


Morgan watch as Hotch walked away from the ambulance towards Detective Moore who was struggling to keep up the processing of the scene.

Deciding that Hotch had had his fair share of privacy with Emily to discuss things, Morgan walked over to her.

When he reached her, he found her in an argument with the paramedic.

"I would like to take her to the hospital but she's refusing," the paramedic told Morgan in an annoyed tone as he reached the ambulance Emily was seated in. "She could have suffered a concussion and some serious damage could have been done to her ears due to the blast."

Unfortunately for the paramedic, Hotch had only order Emily to let him check her. Not to comply to a ride to the nearest hospital, which Emily used as an argument.

"I don't need to go to the hospital," Emily argued the paramedic's words. "You've already made sure I'm in one piece right here," she gestured to where she was seated.

"If anyone here suffered any serious damage to his ears it's you," Emily then muttered in a voice so low that only Morgan heard what she said.

Shaking his head at her comment, Morgan took it upon himself to talk Emily into obeying the medic's orders.

"You just told the other medic, the one who is treating Danny, that the kid needed to go to a hospital because he was involved in an explosion and if I remember it correctly, so were you," Morgan acknowledged in a firm voice.

"But he's tiny," Emily responded. "I'm not. I can handle it."

"Oh, I have no doubt you can handle it," Morgan agreed. "But your pretty tiny too, which means you're going to the hospital. No arguing."

Morgan watched as Emily opened her mouth to vocalise her disagreement but he quickly cut her off. "I said no arguing. If you don't do as I say, I will make sure you're not allowed to work in the field for the remaining time we spend on this case."

"And how would you managed to pull that off?" Emily questioned with raised eyebrows.

"I have this friend that is pretty good with computers. I bet she could alter you medical records and the Doctor's approval for field duty before you can say some weird word in one of those languages you know."

Morgan knew he had her the second he saw her face pale a shade and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Fine!" Emily sighed in defeat. "But I'm riding with Danny."

Her gaze moved to the little boy in the other ambulance, smiling at something the paramedic told him.

"Deal," Morgan settled. "You go over there and I'll tell Hotch where we're going."

"We? I thought Danny and I were the only ones in need of medical attention," Emily frowned and started surveying the scene for more injured people.

"We as in you, Danny and I," Morgan told her and watched as her frown deepend.

"Did you seriously think you could get away that easily? Agreeing to go to the hospital only to never really let a Doctor take a look at you while you're there? I thought you were smarter than that," he winked and smiled at her guilty expression. "I'm gonna personally escort you from the ambulance to the examination room and once you're in there, I'm gonna stand guard to make sure you don't escape."

"Damn you, Agent Morgan, for being so foreseeing," Emily muttered as she started to rise.

Morgan watched as she limped over to the other ambulance and stayed long enough to catch a glimpse of the wide smile that spread across her face as the boy landed in her arms after he had flung himself at her.


"Now you play nice with the Doctor while I check up on Danny and sees if he is up for an interview," Morgan urged Emily as he walked her to an examination room. "According to JJ, his father should be here now."

Emily kept walking beside him without answering him. She was irritated because she was being treated like a child, according to her. According to Morgan, he was helping a very stubborn friend to make sure she was not in as good of a health given the situation.

Morgan ignored her behaviour and kept talking. "Don't forget the list of injuries signed by the Doctor before you leave."

He held up his hands as she directed her annoyed stare to him. "Hotch's orders," Morgan reported.

By now, they had reached the room. "Remember to be polite," Morgan pointed out to her back as she opened the door and slammed it shut.

"Geez," Morgan commented at the slam that echoed through the otherwise quiet hallway.

He started his journey to Danny's room and had come about halfway when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He fetched it and as he studied the caller ID, he knew he was in big trouble.

"I'm really sorry, Mama. I totally forgot about calling you back," he answered as placed the phone to his ear.

"You're sorry?! You said you would call me back half an hour ago!" Garcia shrieked. "Nice try there, Chocolate God of Thunder, but I need more before I can accept your apology."

"We were at a scene and things started to go south," Morgan began to explain.

"Go south? What do you mean, started to go south?!" Garcia's panicked voice reached his ear.

A message for Doctor Samuels to get to operation room three emerged from the speakers placed all around the hospital and Morgan was just about to explain when Garcia once again started talking.

"What was that? It sounded like somebody was calling for a Doctor. Where are you? Oh my God, you're at a hospital! Why are you at a hospital? Who's hurt?!" Garcia fired off her questions in a rapid motion, leaving no time for Morgan to answer them.

"Calm down, Doll Face," Morgan said. "It was a message for a Doctor to get to a special OR and yes, I'm at a hospital. The reason I'm here is because my partner made a very irrational decision to run inside a barn that was about to blow up because she wanted to save a little boy."

"Oh my God!"

"Don't worry!" Morgan quickly tried to ease her worries. "She got them out in time. She's okay. Still standing on her own two feet and picking fights with everyone wearing a name tag that can be traced back to an occupation involving medicine."

"Oh, I'm so mad at her for doing that! Doesn't she understand she could've died? What if the bomb had gone off before she got out of there? Then both her and that sweet boy would be dead!"

"I know where your coming from," Morgan told her. "Trust me, I've had those exact same thoughts flowing around in my brain for the last half an hour."

"I'm calling her."

"I would hold that thought for at least another fifteen minutes if I were you. She's in with the Doctor right now and we don't need her to use your phone call as in excuse to get out of there."

"You're right," Garcia agreed. "As always, Hot Stuff. I guess you have something important to do now so I'll hang up. Take care and don't let our Raven Warrior get herself into more trouble than she already has."

"I'll try. Bye, Sweetness," Morgan said and hung up.

He then put his phone back in his pocket and walked to Danny's room where he later started the interview.


She had just finished buttoning the last button of her shirt when her phone rang. Fearing it might be Dylan, she was reluctant to pick it up from where it was laying on the examination table.

She hesitantly picked it up and was relived when she saw Garcia's face lightening up the screen.

"Hey, Penelope," Emily greeted.

"Don't you just hey me, Emily Valerie Prentiss! Not after I had to find out through Derek that you almost got blown to pieces less than an hour ago because you decided to play big bad hero!"

Emily cringed at Garcia's outburst and found herself almost wishing it had been Dylan who called.

"You wont get away that easily. I've already buried you once and I'm not doing it again. Do you hear me?!" Garcia shirked in a high pitched voice.

"I hear you," Emily confirmed as she held the phone a few inches away form her ear. "I'm sorry."

"I'll just have to forgive you because I hate staying mad at you but if you ever pull another stunt like that, I'm going to unleash a very unpleasant virus on your computer and everything else electronic you have in your possession. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Emily assured her.

"Good, now that we have that cleared up, let's talk about your heroic act. How is my heroine and the little, pretty boy?"

"I'm fine, a few scratches and a sore throat from inhaling the smoke but otherwise peachy," Emily made a short pause. "As for Danny, he had sustained a few cuts before the explosion as a result of our UnSub's desire to carve into human flesh but otherwise I made a pretty good job at shielding his body from the explosion with my own."

Garcia kept asking her all types of questions for the next ten minutes and when she was satisfied with her answers, she decided to leave Emily alone.

"And no more stupid stunts on your behalf, remember?"

"Or else I will have problems with my computer," Emily answered, recalling Garcia's threat.

"Problem is only the beginning of what you would have to face if I unleash this mighty beast," Garcia said in a smug tune.

"I think I've got the point," Emily chuckled. "Bye, Pen!"

"Bye, my Fearless Raven Haired Superwoman!"

The smile on Emily's face remained as she placed her phone in her pocket and reached for her holster containing her gun. She had just began the task of strapping it to her waistband when a knock on the door caught her attention.

"Come in," she called, still focused on the holster.

"I was told I could find an Agent Emily Prentiss in here," a unfamiliar man's voice could be heard from the door.

"That's me," Emily answered and spun around meeting the unknown, yet familiar, blue eyes of the stranger.

It wasn't the eye colour itself that Emily thought looked familiar, it was more like what they radiated. The kindness and the warmth that the eyes held reminded Emily of the one she had seen in Danny's.

As Emily met the eyes of the stranger, she felt something that she shouldn't feel. Especially not now when her life was so complicated with Dylan and everything.

Gazing into the man's eyes she felt the spark. That instant attraction that draws you to another human being. The almost magnetic bond between to people that is so hard to ignore. One of the unexplained parts of chemistry, or physics or whatever scientific mumbo-jumbo that the spark has to do with.

"This wasn't what I expected," the man mumbled before clearing his throat to speak up. "Agent Morgan told me I could find you here and after my son told me how you saved him, I wanted to thank you. He means the world to me and I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't gotten him out of there in time."

"Oh, so you're Danny's father," Emily said. That was probably why the eyes were so familiar to her. "Nice to meet you," she said and held out her hand to greet him in an handshake.

The man obligated and firmly, but gently, shook her hand. "I'm Josh," he said as he took her hand in his.

As their hands met, Emily felt her heart beginning to beat faster. Damn the chemical reactions or whatever was to blame for the attraction she felt.

"And you don't have to thank me," Emily assured him as they let go of each others hands. As soon as she had said it, she sensed that the man wasn't about to let her brush it away that easily. "But you're welcome," she then added, hopefully stopping him from insisting that he had to.

As they stood in silence, Emily discreetly let her eyes take in the rest of the man's appearance. He was a very tall man and his hair was cut in a short hairstyle. The colour of his hair was brown. It wasn't dark neither was it light, it held a shade of something in between and Emily thought that it might pass as chestnut or chocolate brown hair.

On his face, he wore a five o'clock shadow, probably the result from worrying about his missing son and therefore forgetting to shave.

His skin was slightly tanned as if he had been in some place sunny lately and his upper arms that could be seen thanks to the T-shirt he was wearing were muscular. Not as muscular as Morgan's but still muscular.

Ever since the silence had filled the room the two grown-ups stood rooted at their respective spots, trying to come up with something to say. Emily had just started to think that it had become rather awkward when the man spoke.

"I'm so rude, forgive me!" Josh said and Emily's eyebrows knotted in confusion. What had the man done that could be seen as rude? According to Emily, he had been nothing but nice.

"I should ask you how you are," Josh clarified. "I understand that you were involved in the explosion too?"

He was rather sure of this information but it still came out as a question. He wouldn't list his four year old son as the most credible source.

"I'm good. A few scrapes and cuts but nothing I haven't come across before," Emily answered and smiled a genuine smile.

"That's good to hear," Josh said, indicating that she had come out of it all almost uninjured, though the cut on her lip and the fading bruise on her chin had him wondering what had caused them if not the explosion. He decided on not to ask her about it.

"I'm not sure if you have time for this but Danny asked to see you," Josh said, remembering his son's request.

"I've got time. On our way here to the hospital, I promised him I would stop by before heading back to the station," Emily clarified.

"If you're all done here, I can walk you there," Josh suggested.

"Sure. Lead the way," Emily said as she picked up the note listing her injuries signed by the Doctor.

When she had asked the Doctor to compile the list, he had looked at her strangely. Apparently it was rather unusual that his patients asked him to write down all their injuries and then sign the paper. As the Doctor had expressed his confusion, Emily had explained that it was a request from her Boss. After explaining further, the Doctor had seen her weird request as reasonable.

Josh exited the room and started to walk towards the room where his son was being treated. Emily quickly followed suit and tried to hide the fact that she was limping. The limping had been worst directly after the explosion and had decreased by now but it wasn't totally gone.

As she struggled to keep up with Josh's pace, Emily thought about the other reason she had agreed to see Danny. Her promise to the boy wasn't the only thing that made her walk closely behind his father. She often felt a need to protect the children which she came across during their cases but this time, the urge to do so was stronger than before. She realised it would be harder than usual to sever the contact with the kid after the case was over.

For the remaining time of the walk, Emily tried to come up with a way the goodbye she knew she had to say hurt less when she was at last forced to leave the boy behind and return to DC.


Josh stood back and watched as the female agent interacted with his son. Upon their first meting, he had felt something he hadn't felt for a woman since Danny's mother. He didn't know if it made him happy or if it totally freaked him out. Maybe it was a combination of both. Now, as he watched the two interact, he could state that what he had felt upon their first meeting wasn't a one time thing. The feelings he felt for the agent only increased as the scene in front of him played out.

The agent, Emily was her name, was seated on the edge of the hospital bed his son was occupying. When she first had entered the room, his son had squealed in delight and jumped off the bed to greet her in a hug. From this reaction, Josh had come to the conclusion that his son had become attached to the woman during his time in captivity. As he came to this conclusion, Josh started to think of how to make his son understand that the agent couldn't be a part of his life after the bad guy was caught.

Or could she?

If Josh listened to his feelings, the most reasonable thing to do would be to ask the agent out on a date, but could he really do that? Could he just ask the woman who had saved the life of his son to join him for dinner? Maybe be could phrase it more like a thank-you-for-saving-my-son-dinner than an actual date-dinner? The thought started to nestle in his brain and became more appealing the more he thought of it. Maybe he should invite her to dinner.

He let his eyes wander from his smiling son to the battered agent. Even though she had told him she was fine, he had seen how she walked with a slight limp on their way to Danny's room. The fading bruise on her cheek he had noticed before still had him wondering what other kind of trouble she had gotten herself into before the explosion. That combined with the scab on her lip had him wondering if trouble felt the same attraction to her as he did towards her. Maybe she was a trouble magnet. If he was to follow the same train of thought, did the attraction he felt towards the agent make him trouble?


A/N: So, they're both okay and everything's fine. Let's hope it continues that way. Until next time!