21 She Came Back To Them
A/N Oh my lord... I'm starting to ship Morgan/Prentiss... This isn't going to end well... Anyway, this a tag to season 7 episode 1 "It Takes A Village." R&R! Review! Thanks!
"Yeah, I have a problem with that!" Morgan said loudly. Emily was alive and Hotch didn't tell them? Of course he had a problem with that!
Everyone's eyes shifted to a point behind him, and mouths opened in shock and eyes watered with tears. He turned around and there she was. Emily. Alive and well. Yeah she looked like she had lost some weight, and yeah her shirt was way too baggy, but she was okay. He took two small steps backwards ms his eyes welled up with tears, but he blinked them away.
Emily hugged JJ, Reid and Garcia apologizing the whole time, until she looked towards him ms saw his face. Shocked, hurt and broken.
"Really, I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that," Emily said to the group, though it was mostly directed at Morgan. She moved towards him and hesitated a moment before hugging him, just a little bit longer than completely necessary. He hesitated before hugging back, but when they broke apart, Emily was straight back to business. She needed to find Declan. He was like a son to her-she had known him since he was four, and had been protecting him all along.
Morgan just watched her interact with everyone, watched her slide almost back into her old self for a moment, before it was painfully obvious she wasn't her old self, and no one could accept her quite yet. They lost her. Yet here she was. He couldn't get it through his head. How could she do this to them? How could she leave them all? How could Hotch, and he assumed JJ, keep this from them. The rest of the team was allowed to believe Emily was dead. They were a family, god damn it! You don't do that to family.
The rest of the case, finding Declan, passed in the same way. The whole team staring at Emily like she was a ghost back from the dead. And in a way she was. She was supposed to be dead. Morgan watched her once they finally got Declan back. She was cradling his head like he was her own son. She sat with Declan as his father died, and she comforted him. She pulled him into a hug the way a mother would. She wouldn't let the boy out of her sight until the very last moment. Morgan just watched her, just amazed that she was here. And hurt. And angry. And so many other emotions he couldn't even recognize.
He was playing the day back over in his head when Hotch called him into his office. "Morgan, I need to talk to you," Hotch said to him with a pointed look.
"Yes?" Morgan said stoically, once inside Hotch's office.
"She doesn't deserve this from you. It wasn't her fault," Hotch said to him.
"Deserve what? My emotions? Because that's not just going to go away, Hotch. I am angry and upset and hurt, and that's not going to just go away," Morgan said, hotheadedly as usual. But this time he did have a point.
"I know," Hotch said. "But these seven months haven't been easy for her either. She had to recover from being almost fatally stabbed, and she had to try to rebuild her life all alone in another country with no friends. A new name, a new profession. Everything, Morgan. This is the first time she's been called 'Emily' in seven months."
"She's been alone for a long time. Don't make her feel alone now that you all have each other back," Hotch said, almost harshly. But he was looking out for Emily. She didn't deserve to be alone any longer. And neither did Morgan, or any of the team for that matter.
Morgan kept his mouth shut and just stared at Hotch. "I thought she was dead," Morgan said finally.
Hotch's tone softened. "I know. And I'm sorry for that," Hotch said. "But we had to keep her safe." And Emily's safety was something they Could both agree on. Something that was the most important above all.
Morgan nodded and let his guard drop some. "I'm just glad she's back," he sighed.
"I know. Me too," Hotch replied.
And that was all that really should have mattered. That no matter what happened, or how it happened, Emily came back to them. They got her back, and she was safe.