Sorry for any emotional trauma I gave anyone with that last chapter! This ones a little shorter than most, and I apologize, but the next few should be longer. As always, thank you so much for your kind words, story alerts, and favorites!
Disclaimer: I do not own CM
-kbrewster.
"I'm fine," Emily said stubbornly for what had to be the hundredth time. "Can we go now?"
"No, Em, we can't leave," Hotch reminded her. "They're keeping you til tomorrow,"
Emily huffed. "I want to go home. I want our child back! I want to talk to the police and give them as much information as I can so they can find her!" Emily said, sitting up quickly from the bed, instantly regretting the decision as a sharp pain shot through her head.
Hotch noticed her slight wincing, and guided her back down on the hospital bed. "I know you don't want to stay here, but they need to make sure you're clear to leave. Judging by the amount of pain you're still in, you're not ready to leave now anyway. I told the locals all I know. You've only been awake an hour, they want to make sure you're lucid enough to question. You know that," Hotch reminded her gently.
"How are you so... so calm?"
"I'm not," Hotch admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm worried sick. I'm pissed off. For God's sake, Em, when I finally got home from Jack's school after arguing for almost half an hour, and I saw you- I- I can't even tell you what I felt. Then Gabby was gone... just simply not there. I knew then somehow this was all Doyle's doing. They'll get him. They have to. If they don't, I will," He said, feeling the rage increase. He wanted to lash out, start yelling, maybe even throw something against a wall, but he felt like he needed to be strong for Emily, so he kept it all inside.
Hotch could only think of one other time he had been as terrified as he had been when he got home earlier the previous day. He had argued with Jack's school, even showed them the number from his phone. Jack rarely got into trouble or had to leave school early, so Hotch was not well acquainted with the administrators at the school. He knew Jack's teachers, but he never had any reason for meeting the principal. Hotch knew it was a man named Richard Johnson, which was who had claimed to have been on the phone at the time.
Realizing he was getting nowhere fast, he figured there was just some sort of mix-up, so he left the school building and left Jack there as there was no real reason to being him home. He had tried calling Emily on the way home, but she didn't answer. He thought that was weird, but just assumed she was tied up with something. He never expected to walk into the scene he saw before him when he arrived home.
The door had been broken down, which instantly made Hotch terrified. He park his car and threw the door open, not even bothering to shut it closed behind him. He ran inside, and the first thing he saw was Emily. She was just lying there, and Hotch noticed her head was bleeding. It wasn't very much blood, but it had apparently been a hard enough hit to knock Emily out. He made sure she was still breathing, wiping away at tears he didn't even realize he had been shedding. He brushed Emily's hair back behind her ears and kissed her forehead lightly as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He called 911, and as he explained he needed a paramedic for Emily- though he had to give them her name as Marie Blanchard for now, he searched for Gabby, even though he already knew she was gone. A paramedic was sent for Emily, but Hotch wasn't able to ride along with her. The police made him stay and answer questions quickly so they could begin working on finding Gabby.
Hotch had already figured out that somehow Doyle had tapped into the phones and made it look like Jack's school had called. So luckily, his questioning was a short one and he was able to go be with Emily right after that. On the way to the hospital, he called Jack's school and told them the situation. Jack was signed out and drove to meet Hotch at the hospital, where the two sat in the waiting room silently and impatiently awaiting details on Emily.
When Hotch was told Emily would eventually be okay. She had to have stitches and had a concussion and she would be in a great amount of pain in the days following, so they were going to keep her until they were certain she wouldn't lose consciousness again, as she was still sleeping. They weren't sure if she would be able to handle sitting up, let alone standing and walking around, for a couple of days. Hotch knew that would kill her. He and Jack immediately went into Emily's room to wait for her to wake up.
As they waited, Hotch recounted his story to the local police department. He told them about Gabby's drawing from the Aquarium incident, and had them go get it from their house. The police were going to use it and footage from the Aquarium to try to piece together clues. He knew they needed Emily's story to really get the investigation going, but that was just going to have to wait it seemed. Hotch had asked if there was anyway he and Emily could assist the case once she was awake and ready, but he hadn't been given a straight answer. He knew there would be all kinds of issues that would need to be worked through, but he was willing to do whatever it took. No one was going to take his child and get away with it.
Since she'd finally woken up an hour ago, she had done nothing but ask to talk to the police. Hotch knew she was in no state to be questioned, even though she was mostly coherent, he could still tell the medicine was making her say things she would never have said before. He was pretty sure when she was ranting to the nurse about how she was fine, she had ended up telling the woman that she had just ran six laps around the hospital and finished by flying out the window. So, he knew that it was in everyone's best interests to wait until she was actually ready.
"Aaron," Emily whined. "Please make them get the police in here," she said, contorting her face into a pout.
"Em, you're not ready. I promise you, you'll be ready soon enough. Okay? The second you are I'll get them in here," he said, taking her hands in his.
She huffed, but agreed. He stepped to the side as the nurse came in a few moments later to continue checking up on Emily, but he didn't stray far. Before she left, Hotch asked her how long it would be until she thought Emily could accurately describe what had gone on several hours earlier.
"Tomorrow sometime would be for the best, just for us to ensure she really is okay. That hit to the head was a good one," The nurse informed him.
"Okay, thank you," Hotch said as she walked away. It was already nearing the middle of the night, and Hotch had sent Jack to Jessica's hours ago before Emily woke up. He hoped that once Emily woke up in the morning, she would be better able to recount her story. Since she was there to witness everything, her story was crucial in figuring out, possibly, where Gabby was taken.
He took his seat next to Emily's bed, watching her eyelids flutter open and closed as she tried to ward off sleep.
"Go to sleep, Em," he whispered softly, stroking her hair with the back of his hand. "I'll be right here, and when you wake up, maybe you can tell the police what you witnessed, okay?"
"I'm not tired," Emily mumbled, her eyes already closed. Hotch rolled his eyes, smiling to himself. She was just so damn stubborn.
"Okay," he said. "That's why your eyes are closed and you're mumbling,"
Getting no response, he realized she was already asleep. He leaned back into his chair more, preparing for a night of very little sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about Gabby and how scared she must be. He couldn't stop thinking about Doyle, and how ruthless he had been in the past. All he wanted was find him, get rid of him for good, and get his daughter back.
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Gabby woke with a start, quickly looking around the room as she wrapped her blankets tighter around her. She didn't remember where she was. She knew she wasn't home. Then, she remembered. She had been taken by the man who wanted to hurt her mother, the man who had tried to take her at the Aquarium but she had managed to escape.
She also remembered the state her mother was in when Ian had taken her from the house. She remembered her father wasn't home at the time. Gabby felt tears burning her eyes, but she didn't want to cry. Her mom never cried when she was scared, so Gabby wouldn't either. Both her parents, she knew, had been in the FBI. Emily was going to be fine, and they were going to come find her. At least, that's what Gabby told herself.
Gabby continued looking around the room, noting that some clothes had been set on the dresser across the room. She wondered who had put them there. Slowly, she crawled out of bed and crept to the door. She heard someone talking downstairs, but she couldn't place the voice. It was a woman, though. Gabby tip-toed down the hall and down the stairs, following the sound of the mysterious voice into the kitchen.
The little girl stationed herself behind a counter, gripping the top of it with both her hands to pull herself up so she could look over it. There was a woman who looked much older than her mom. Her hair was short, curly, and gray; like a grandma's hair, she decided. She was wearing a floral patterned dress, predominately made of blues. Unlike most grandmas Gabby knew, this one didn't seem to wear glasses. The woman was cooking something, whatever it was it smelled incredible, as she sang a song Gabby wasn't familiar with to herself.
Once the woman turned around, Gabby quickly ducked her head to avoid being caught, but she wasn't fast enough. She heard the woman's footsteps getting closer to her, and she wished she could run away, but she stayed there.
"Hi there," the woman said, crouching down to meet Gabby's eye. She had an accent much like Ian's own accent. Gabby already didn't trust her solely for that.
"Hi," Gabby said quietly.
"Ian said you'd be up soon. Did you see the clothes I set up there for you? There are more in the drawers and the closet if you don't like the ones I set out," the woman said, smiling sweetly.
"I saw them," Gabby whispered. "Thanks," she added, remembering her manners.
"You're welcome," the woman said. "My name is Sarah,"
"I'm Gabby," Gabby said shyly, still unsure if she should trust this woman. She seemed nice enough, but Gabby was skeptical.
"Well, Gabby," Sarah said. "Would you like breakfast? I made pancakes,"
Gabby realized she was actually kind of hungry, despite the fact more than anything she just wanted to go home. But on the other hand, pancakes sounded pretty good to her. Hesitantly, Gabby nodded her head and stood from her position on the floor. Sarah motioned for Gabby to sit at the table, and once she was seated, the gray-haired woman sat a plate of pancakes in front of Gabby. The young girl was afraid to eat them at first, still distrusting of Sarah.
When Sarah started eating them too, Gabby took that as a sign they were okay, and she began eating the pancakes. They were nothing like her mom's, but she had to admit they weren't bad at all. They ate in silence, mostly because Gabby wasn't up to talking. Once she was finished, Gabby sat back in the chair and looked around. She wondered where Ian was, but she didn't want to ask. She didn't like him, anyway.
"You all done?" Sarah asked, to which Gabby nodded.
"Alright," Sarah replied, taking the nearly empty plate up and heading over to the sink. "Why don't you on on back up to your room and get dressed?"
Gabby simply nodded, and hopped down off the chair she was sitting in. She made her way back up the stairs, stopping once she walked past the door to Ian's Study. The door was closed, and slowly and carefully Gabby pressed her ear to it. She heard Ian's voice, low and muffled. Gabby remembered being told she was supposed to stay out of that room, and quickly she backed away from the door and went into her room, shutting the door behind her.
As Gabby got dressed, she decided she would figure out what was in that room. She figured since she wasn't allowed in there, that there would be some sort of clue to getting back to her mom, back to her dad, back to her family. By the way Ian talked to her, he obviously though Gabby wasn't as smart as she was. The girl nearly rolled her eyes at the thought. People always thought she was much younger than she actually was, simply because she was small for her age. Naturally, they underestimated her intelligence right along with it. Well, she thought. She'd sure show him.
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Ian had been on the phone what felt like hours. He had been trying to get in touch with Paul. He was still extremely pissed Paul had let Gabby get away the first time, but he had to warn Paul to get out of DC, out of the country at best. If they found Paul, they would eventually find Ian. Ian didn't trust him to keep his mouth shut, so he was going to tell him to get out before anyone found him out.
"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Ian asked, exasperated, desperately trying to keep his voice quiet and calm.
"I mean," Paul said. "I'm staying here. You and I aren't working together anymore,"
"Damn right we're not," Ian spat. "If they find you, they find me. They can't find me, Paul. I have wanted this revenge for years now. I'm not going to let you ruin it for me just because you're being an ass,"
"Look, man, when I agreed to help you, I never agreed to kidnapping and traumatizing a little girl. That's messed up. There's gotta be another way, and this isn't it," Paul said.
"I'm not traumatizing her," Ian said. "I've got no intentions of hurting her. I've hired someone to look after her, feed her, buy her clothes, all that. I just don't want her mother to have her. I thought we went over this!"
"It is traumatizing her. You took her away from her parents,"
"She only cried at first. She's fine. Now get the hell out of DC, or I will get you the hell out myself," Ian said, his voice just below a growl. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Whatever," Ian heard before he heard the line click. Ian leaned back in the seat, his hand on his forehead as if to ward off the headache he could feel coming on. He wasn't about to let this plan be ruined, not for anything.