CHAPTER XXI

"Does she really have to do this? You saw her Hotch, she's frightened." Emily asks Hotch. They were outside the room talking in hushed tones.

"I'm sorry Prentiss but you know the drill. She herself is the only best witness to narrate everything that happened. We need her statement." Hotch says.

Emily bit her lips in contemplation of what to do, "She doesn't want to talk, she's still in shock, she's traumatized."

"I'm sorry, but we really have to try." the Unit Chief says placing a comforting hand on his subordinate's shoulder.

Emily closed her eyes and rests her forehead on her hand.

"I have to tell you everything?" Lexie asks. Her bed was adjusted in an upright position so she's sitting rather than lying, her back supported by a pillow.

"Yes Lexie, you have to narrate everything that transpired today on how Veronica has gotten you. It'll be used on her prosecution." Hotch informs Lexie.

Lexie's chewing the inside of her cheeks, an outward sign that she's not comfortable with the idea. "But what if I don't remember everything?"

"We'll be doing a special interview; we call it a cognitive interview. It says much about the things you sensed and the things you saw. Through it you'll pretty much recall everything." Hotch tells her.

Lexie looked at Hotch, she wasn't precisely voicing out her fear but it is pretty much evident in her eyes. "So it's like going back to it. I'll not only have to see it but I'll also feel it?" the teen's words were more of a statement rather than a question.

"Lexie if you're not comfortable with this, we'll look for other ways" Hotch says.

The teen cut him off, "But this is the best one way. Right?"

"I'm afraid it is. The sooner we do this the more accurate your memory would be."

"I'll do it. I can do it." Lexie feigned a brave front through her voice.

"Ok. Don't worry we're here with you."

Emily automatically took a sit on her daughter's bedside placing the teen's hands in hers, "It'll be okay baby, I'll be here with you all the way."

Lexie fixed her brown eyes unto her mother's own and slowly nodded.

Emily gave the teen's hands a squeeze and placed a soft kiss on Lexie's head just before turning to Hotch, an indication that they're ready.

Hotch went to stand at the foot the teen's bed. "Okay, close your eyes Lexie." The teen did as she was told making her lashes rest on her previously discolored cheeks.

"Slowly, I want you to go back to the last time you saw Paige and Travis." Simultaneously and spontaneously, Lexie's mind was filled with memories from earlier to the point where Hotch has asked her to.

"Okay tell me what you see"

"Paige has just gone out of the fitting room, she is wearing a pastel pink flare dress but it was too big for her. Then Travis told us he needs to go to the bathroom. After he left, Paige went back to the fitting room to try the other dresses."

"I can hear Paige shuffling the dresses inside the fitting room. There's someone looking at me, a woman leaning against a post just outside of the store. Her hair's blonde cut just few inches below the shoulders. She's wearing a black coat, almost like a trench coat. I cannot recognize her so I stood up and walked over, I was getting close she's waving at me and smiling, it's Veronica.

"What did you do when you recognized her?"

"She's telling something, she's telling me to come. I'm walking towards her. But she never allows our distance to be close she's ahead of me, couple of steps away. "

"Okay, you were out with the crowd..."

"It's noisy, crowded; I can hear a sound, a tune. It's one of Taylor Swift's songs it's playing from the display store in one of the wide screens near the glass wall. And then furniture shop, the noise was quite lessened, there are less people. I can smell fruits, I see the supermarket on the left. I can hear supermarket carts being pushed lots of them."

"Can you still see Veronica?"

Lexie nods with her eyes closed, "Yeah, she just turned a corner. It's almost like an alley, it's narrow a little dark, she turned right I tried to keep up with her pace. There's a door, she went out. It leads to a parking area. I can't see her anymore."

"Can you see other people?"

Lexie shakes her head, "No, only cars."

"Lexie"

"I heard my name. She's calling me"

"Lexie"

"I can see her, she's near a corner. She's leaning to a red car."

"Veronica, what are you doing here. I thought you moved to another State?"

"I came to see you"

"Me?"

"Why?"

Veronica harshly held Lexie by the hand.

"She grabbed my hand" Emily can feel Lexie was beginning to tense up.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't play innocent, Lexie. You ruined our lives"

"I didn't do anything, you're husband is in jail because he's the one who did things. He hurt us." Lexie shook off Veronica's grip from her.

"I turned away from her. But she grabbed me again by my bag. I'm spinning towards her. She's pulling me harder."

"It's okay Lexie, you're with us. You're okay."

"She took my bag"

"What are you doing? Give it back!" Lexie lunges forward to Veronica trying to get her bag back.

Suddenly Lexie felt a pain at the back of her neck. When she looked down she noticed her necklace in the hands of Veronica.

"She snatched my necklace. She broke it. I'm trying to get it back but she won't. I pushed her. She's angry, she's gripping my hair. I'm trying to fight her but I can't. Awww!" the teen yelped squeezing her eyes closed.

"Lexie it's okay. It's okay baby. I'm right here." Emily soothes.

"What happened Lexie? What did she do to you?" Hotch asks.

"Sh-she hit me on my side" Lexie says as she clutches her side with one of her hands.

"She punched you?"

Lexie nods.

"She's covering my mouth with something. I'm getting weak and dizzy. I can't see anything anymore it's just black."

"It's okay, it's okay. You're in the hospital. Can you remember anything else after that?"

"I opened my eyes. I can feel my hands and feet tied together. I'm trying to scream but I can't. My mouth's taped. It's dark, it's hot, there's no air. I can't, I can't, I can't breathe, I can't breathe" she says gasping.

"Lexie, sshhhh... It's okay, you're in a hospital. Try to breathe. Deep breaths Lexie." Emily soothes as she rubs circles on Lexie's back trying to calm her.

Despite Emily's comfort Lexie can't seem to get back to reality.

"I can't. I can't breathe. It's so dark, there's no air. I can't breathe..." Lexie says her eyes still squeezed shut as she struggles to breathe.

"Lexie open your eyes, you're not there anymore. Open your eyes baby. Look at me, look at Mommy" Emily says her hands now cupping Lexie's face.

Everyone at the room are also now trying to sooth Lexie, encouraging her to open her eyes and take deep breaths but nothing seems to work, she's still struggling.

The monitor beside Lexie's bed starts to make constant faster beeping.

"Her pressure's rising" Reid says as he pushes a button above Lexie's bed to call for help. Lexie's body starts to shake, she's conscious but she's struggling to breathe.

Morgan's head was already out the door screaming for help, "Hey we need help! Somebody!"

Panic starts to take over Emily as she tries to calm Lexie to no avail. Soon enough a doctor and several nurses came barging in the room asking everyone to move away from Lexie as they surround the suffering teen.

Emily and the whole BAU team watch in anxiousness as the doctor and nurses were moving in swift motions. The doctor checks on Lexie through his stethoscope as he barks orders, one of the nurses removes the nasal cannula from Lexie's nose and replaces it with an oxygen mask attached to an Ambu bag pressing the yellow balloon-like object in perfect pattern of rhythm. A male nurse then injects something in Lexie's IV, few seconds later the constant beeping starts to die down. As Lexie's breathing starts to steady again, she also started to fall into unconsciousness once more.

The doctor and nurses didn't went out of Lexie's room immediately, they waited for several more minutes to make sure that everything's stable again. Emily informed the doctor about the blow Lexie received on her side. Sure enough when the doctor checked on Lexie's left side near her abdomen he saw a nasty fist-sized bruise in contrast with the teen's white complexion.

The doctor placed his fingers on the bruise and gently applied pressure on the sides to examine it.

"It's a little tender, there's also a little bit of swelling but don't worry, I see her whole body CT scan came out clear so I'm sure there's no internal injury, probably just superficial. A cold compress will stop the swelling and the bruising. I'll ask a nurse to bring in an ice pack for it." The doctor says as he takes Lexie's charts again reading the teen's records from it.

The team offered to stay in the hospital for the night except for JJ and Hotch who both have their respective kids waiting for them at home. Fortunately, Paige and Travis' father, Dr. Sullivan has made an arrangement for them so that they'll be allowed to stay overnight despite the expiration of visiting hours. And also since Lexie was admitted in a private room suitable for the standards of a diplomat's granddaughter, the room was big enough to accommodate a sofa set, similar to those in the living rooms of homes, and two cots. When Emily called her mother earlier to inform the latter of the incident, the Ambassador was adamant that her granddaughter be treated with utmost care, hence the complete body CT scan and the private 'suite' hospital room.

As the night reached its deepest state, Penelope, Morgan and Reid have succumbed to sleep. Garcia in one of the two cots a nurse has brought in a while ago while the two males share the sofa both leaning their heads on each arm of the long leather seat. Rossi on the other hand has his eyes closed letting his body rest on the two leather armchairs connected together.

When the veteran agent profiler opened his eyes, he immediately took notice of the empty cot—Emily's. He turned his eyes to the direction of the hospital bed where Lexie is sleeping, as expected Emily has opted to occupy the chair next to her daughter.

Dave silently stood up from where he is and walked over the other side of the room holding the two Prentisses.

Emily's eyes are intently fixed on Lexie, the teen's hand enveloped in her own as she rub gentle circles. She needs the physical contact from her daughter to keep her through the night—probably both of them since she is sure the nightmares are just at bay waiting for the perfect moment to haunt her terrified little girl.

"Emily you should take some rest." Dave tells the dark-haired mother quietly.

Emily just turned to glance at Dave and gave the latter a small smile silently telling him that she is just fine before she returned her gaze back unto Lexie, her hands still gently enclosing the girl's hand. If possible she would even prefer to hold her daughter in her sleep and keep her protectively cocooned in the safety of her arms.

Despite the darkness inside the room, David Rossi caught the sight of Emily's glassy eyes.

The only sounds audible are the rhythmic beeping of the monitor that gives them the assurance that the teen is breathing just fine. From across the room light snores can also be heard from Derek's sleeping form.

And then Rossi heard the voice of Emily.

"She was hurt. And again I was not there to protect her, she is counting on me and I was not there. I failed her. I allowed her to be taken by someone that I always try to fight in our job." Emily says keeping her voice low enough so as not to wake the teen.

"You were there to find her Emily. You cannot blame yourself for something you did not see coming. No one thought that Veronica was capable of doing that, no one had any idea it was going to happen. You did everything you could and now you have her back safely in your arms. She's been scared and terrified all day, but now she's sleeping peacefully because she knows you're here holding her. Right now she knows she's safe because her Mama's in the same room as hers. This is what matters now, the two of you together. You are a great mother Emily Prentiss, you'll never fail her." Rossi tells Emily seriously.

"I nearly lost her again and I don't know what I'd do if I did Dave, she has only been with me for less than a year but I'm sure I don't know how I would live my life without her. My world does not just revolve around her — she is my whole world."

Rossi placed a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder, he might not have been granted the blessing of being a parent like Emily, JJ or Hotch but he can definitely understand where their feelings are rooting from. After all they are like a whole family unit—a dysfunctional family, he sees each members of their BAU family as his own sons and daughters.

Aaron, the son who always runs to him for advice. The one who takes the responsibility looking after their entire family.

Emily, the daughter who by nature has possesses great maternal instinct even before they came to know Lexie. She has always been the one who acts most naturally when it comes to protecting and advocating children.

Derek, the tough son. His strong physique he highlighted by those abs and muscles and sometimes pride and arrogance is just a facade to cover up a very sensitive and over-protective brother.

JJ, the daughter who in her own ways always try to protect everyone by the comfort and interesting talks she can always offer.

Spencer, the genius son who at times provide everyone with humor unintentionally not only through his countless rambling of facts and trivia about some of the most complicated things in the world but also through his exhibition of obliviousness about the simplest things in the world.

Penelope, the light and color of the BAU family. The daughter who is capable of providing light during some of the darkest moments in their lives. She may not be physically capable of protecting her family just like the others but she definitely is someone you wouldn't want to mess if you don't want your darkest secrets to spill.

Little Jack and little Henry, the team's two innocent children who is always a constant reminder of why they do their jobs.

And Lexie, his darling little genius Bella the closest to a granddaughter he would probably have though he wouldn't say it out loud mainly because Derek would never let him hear the end of it. This beautiful and sweet young lady who has definitely made and is continuously making significant impact in their lives.

"You'll always be here for her Emily. You will always find her and us the team will always be by your side. We are a family Emily. We take care of each other." He tells the brunette profiler.

Emily allowed the previously threatening tears to fall as she listens to Rossi's words. As he finished, the brunette mother nods and placed a kiss on her daughter's head, letting her lips linger on the sleeping teen's hair.

Rossi is right, her daughter is safe now.