When the nurse pulled back the blankets that covered her wounds, Hotch averted his eyes so that he could give Emily her privacy. She kept wincing in pain as the nurse poked and prodded bruises that were just starting to form.
It wasn't until the nurse brought the blanket down past Emily's legs that Hotch couldn't help but gaze open-mouthed at the bruises that formed on her inner thighs. Once the nurse was finished, she left Hotch and Emily in the room alone.
"Can you get the others in here so I can tell everyone what happened?" Emily said through gritted teeth; making up her mind about getting help.
Hotch walked out of the room to get the team. He returned and, again, the group crowded into the small room to find a chair. Once seated, all eyes were on Emily with anticipation and fear.
She looked confused at first as to what she should tell them, "I guess I should just start at the beginning."
"Take your time," Morgan stated calmly. Everyone listened intently while Emily recounted the events.
"He got into my apartment somehow and attacked me from behind. My only option was to go with him," she started; already feeling horribly weak for having to tell them, "he took me to the house and left me in a room. He told me he was looking for a wife and he -- I just played along."
Hotch gripped Emily's hand a little tighter showing his support while she continued, "we were watching the television when you came on with a report about me," she said talking to JJ.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think my report would cause this," JJ interrupted.
"He got nervous when he saw my face on the screen. He got angry and started cutting my hair," Emily started again but had to take a slow breath when she thought about what her hair had been like before, "I guess nothing much happened until I thought I saw an escape route. I just didn't get too far with it. That's when he brought me to the bedroom and -- well, you all saw that."
The entire room fell into an uneasy silence as they all recounted the events that everyone knew about. It pained the team that Emily had to go through that and it hurt even more to think that they all witnessed the events unfold.
Emily broke the silence as she continued with her story, "I don't know how long it was until something else happened. I didn't want to move. I was -- I was scared."
Emily closed her eyes and tried to compose herself after admitting her true emotions. Hotch tried to console Emily, "it is natural to feel scared, Emily. There is nothing wrong with that," he said while stroking her hand.
She seemed to relax a little but it was still easily visible to the team that she was very uncomfortable having to talk about a moment of weakness she suffered.
Rossi spoke up, "Hotch is right. You did the right thing. What you need to think of now is the future; and right now, that future is recovery."
The team stayed in the room with Emily as much as possible. They lightened the spirits and helped her with her recovery process.
Author's Note: I'm sorry I am bad at endings, but I'm not really good at the whole sappy, happily ever after chit-chat. I think this is where I'm going to finish my story. I want to write more stories for Criminal Minds but I am suffering from a little writers' block right now. If anyone has any suggestions of plots for me to try, I'll see if I can write it.