Hotch and Derek went in first, followed by Reid, Rossi, and a few of the other officers. The house was dark and ominous, their footsteps the only noise that could be heard. Reid and Rossi took the top floor; the two officers took the ground floor, leaving the lower level for Derek and Hotch. The staircase creaked and groaned as they descended. Their only source of light coming from their flashlights.

They reached the bottom of the staircase and found a solid wooden door. They could hear someone talking and breathing deeply on the other side, but they couldn't understand what they said. With their guns armed and ready, Derek kicked the door open.

"Joshua let her go!" Derek demanded. Joshua just looked at him, his smug grin stretched tightly over his bloody face. He didn't move an inch.

"Joshua, step away from her and put your hands behind your head!" Hotch bellowed. He stayed still at first, but eventually he gave in, and took his hands off of Emily's neck.

"You're too late, agents. You just missed all the fun." They looked down and realized Emily wasn't breathing; she looked so beaten and scarred that it was hard to believe she was same Emily they'd seen just a few hours ago. Joshua leaned over to reach the knife, still hoping to escape and fight his way out.

"Don't do it, Joshua!" Hotch said. He looked at them, then grabbed for the knife. They fired so quickly that Joshua barely touched the handle before he fell over dead. Derek went over and kicked the knife away. Hotch went to Emily and looked her over. Her cuts were deep, but there was little chance for infection. She was bleeding badly; he needed to get the flow cut off before she lost more blood. But first, she needed to start breathing. He put his fingers against the artery in her neck. There was a faint pulse, and she was still warm. He leaned her head back and did CPR.

Reid and Rossi came running down the stairs at the sound of gunfire, and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Emily on the ground. Hotch kept going- exhale into her mouth- compressions on the chest. And then again, and again, and again. Hotch kept going for what seemed like ages. Just as he was about to give up, Emily began to cough and heave, trying to fill her lungs with air. Her eyelids fluttered open, and when she saw Hotch she smiled; she was safe.

It was finally over.

"Where's Joshua?" She stammered, her voice a little hoarse from before.

"He's dead." He replied. Hotch took off his coat and draped it over her to warm her up. She wrapped the coat around her, her body trembling from the cold. He grabbed anything he could and started wrapping her wounds, tying them tight enough to stop the bleeding until help came. Soon enough the paramedics arrived and began to treat her injuries. They kept her overnight at the local hospital for observation, and by the next afternoon the team was headed back home.

JJ was stirring her coffee for the hundredth time when Hotch approached her by the fridge. He could tell that she needed to talk to someone.

"Can't sleep." She said.

"I could tell." He replied, grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge taking a drink. They paused, neither of them able to think of anything to say. JJ stirred her coffee again, and Hotch spoke to fill the silence.

"Sheriff Perry is going to be held as an accessory to the murders; he's looking at life in prison."

"And his wife?" She asked, not even looking up from the dark liquid in her cup.

"We still don't know what he did with Ms. Watts' body." He responded. JJ nodded. She went to stir her coffee again, but set the cup down in frustration.

"JJ?" He said, letting her start. He didn't want to pressure her to confide in him; this way was better for them both.

"It's just- seeing Emily in the hospital, seeing her now in all those casts and bandages. . . I wish we'd figured out who the unsub was before he could take her."

"If it hadn't been Emily, then it would've been someone else. And you and I both know that Emily would rather it be her than someone else." JJ knew that too, but it still didn't take away the awful feeling she'd had since Joshua took her friend.

"You are all my family. If anything were to happen to you guys. . I don't know if I could handle it." Hotch put a gentle hand on her shoulder. He wanted to tell her it'd be okay, that nothing was going to happen to them. But he knew that would be a lie; with this job, this kind of thing was bound to happen. He let out a small sigh, and spoke.

"You're right, we are your family, and we will protect each other, no matter what." she gave him a small smile of thanks, and they went back out to join the others. Emily and Derek were sitting facing each other talking casually, almost as though nothing had happened.

"So you still never told me what happened the next morning." Emily said.

"Oh no, I'm not going to say anything. Thanks to you Garcia won't stop calling me Tarzan." He and Emily both chuckled. He saw her sitting there, stitches above her eyebrow and on her lip, a black eye, a bandage on her upper chest, her arm. . She was in bad shape, and he couldn't help but somehow feel responsible.

"I'm sorry Emily."

"Derek, this wasn't your fault."

"I should've gone with you."

"None of us could've known what Joshua was." She replied. He looked out the window, watching the clouds roll slowly by outside. Emily leaned forward, putting her hand on his.

"Derek I'll be fine." She said, trying her hardest to convince him. He nodded and turned back to the window. She would be fine eventually, and she knew things would go back to normal. She just wished everyone would stop worrying about her. She took a sip of her water and stretched her legs. Her muscles were still sore and fatigued, but it felt good to relax. Before she knew it she fell asleep in her chair, fading away into a dreamless sleep.

Rossi stood and draped a blanket over her, then went back to his seat to maybe take a rest of his own. They each tried to relax, but Emily was the only one who was able to fall asleep. Their minds kept thinking about the case- could it have ended differently? Would they have been able to find Joshua out sooner? What if they hadn't gotten there in time? Reid tried playing chess with himself, but that didn't seem to help. Eventually they all managed to find a comfortable corner of their mind and were able to focus on other things, the jet flying them back to their home.