"Emily. Who was in the picture?" Hotch demanded. "Emily!"
She stared at him, continuing to cry. "I… I…" Was all she was able to utter.
"Emily, please tell me."
"I am sorry." She hung her head in shame. "It was a picture of Jack."
"What?!" Hotch struggled to get loose with all his might. He then let out a yell in frustration.
"Hotch. Hotch." She tried to get his attention. "I am going to tell them that I know where the money is, I will buy us some time, and hopefully you will be able to get to Jack."
"I won't let you do that. Because once he discovers that you don't know, you will be killed and he may still be coming after Jack."
"I can't just sit here and let something horrible happen to him because of me." Emily was flooded with guilt. She hated meeting Doyle, she hated falling in love with him and all the things that have haunted her since.
Hotch tried to not let the torturous thoughts that were going through his mind about his son continue. There was nothing he could do about it being tied up. From what Emily told him about Tibor, it would hopefully not come to that. He threatened families but hardly acted upon it. But that was most likely because the person finally gave him what he wanted. Emily didn't have that.
Hotch tried to refocus. He looked at the burns on Emily and how she was attempting to hide the immense amount of pain that she was in. "Emily, I don't know how much more of this you can take."
She closed her eyes and lightly shook her head. "I will be fine. It's really not that bad." She lied, trying to not make him worry. Which was a fruitless venture, he would always worry.
The couple had nothing to do but wait for something to happen. They both drifted in and out of sleep in-between wrestling to get out of their restraints.
Boris entered the room, smoking another cigarette. He walked next to a lifeless Hotch and put it out on his chest. His scream woke up Emily. "Rise and shine, lovebirds." Boris walked over to Emily and pulled out the knife from its sheath on his belt. He grazed it across her face, then went to cut her restraints.
He picked her up out of the chair and forced her to stand facing Hotch. "Tibor asked me to continue asking you a few questions. I was told to do whatever I want." He wrapped his arms around her while looking Hotch in the eye. "Now, I know a way that I prefer to get answers. I just might get to that eventually." Emily closed her eyes and turned her face away from him.
Boris pushed her forward a few feet until she could almost touch Hotch. "I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon." He pushed her one step forward. "Now say goodbye."
Hotch and Emily met eyes, both knowing that this could be the last time they see each other. Boris grabbed her arm and started to pull her away from him.
"I love you!" Hotch called out to her.
She tried to turn to him but Boris covered her mouth as they left the room.
Hotch was left alone with the door open. He was able to hear her brought into the next room and then smacked around. Hotch could only close his eyes and endure it as he heard each blow; he knew she was dealing with it ten-times worse.
"No. No. NO!" She was yelling.
Hotch struggled so much that his wrists started to bleed, but was still unable to free himself as she continued to scream in agony.
Suddenly there was a gunshot followed by silence. His heart was practically beating out of his chest. He wasn't able to hear anything. The not knowing was agony. He tried to believe that she was still alive. That's all he could do, was hope.
After what seemed like days, someone came walking in next to him. He hung his head, not caring anymore. The person started to cut his ties. Hotch knew at that moment that he was next, to follow in her fate.
"Herr Hotchner? You okay?" A man with a German accent asked.
Hotch looked up. "Horst? How'd? What?" He then stood up. "Where's Emily?"
"She's okay." Horst handed Hotch a gun and pointed down the hall. "She is back that way. I am going to go get Tibor." Horst cocked his gun and ran out of the room.
Hotch forced himself to hold the gun out in front of him with what little strength he had and went to find Emily. He stepped into the room with his weapon pointed out in front of him. He saw Boris dead on the floor with the back of his head blown off.
Emily was next to him, trying to lift herself from the ground. He ran to her and held her in his arms.
Horst stormed through the building shooting each person he saw on his way to find their boss. Tibor ran out of the building toward his car with two goons right on his tail. Suddenly, two black SUVs raged forward and the BAU came out with their weapons pointed directly at them. The goons started to fire at them and they were shot in return.
Tibor picked up a machine gun and started shooting. The team took cover behind their cars. Horst steadily charged toward Tibor with a 9mm in his hand. As Tibor continued to shoot at the vehicles Horst fired one round in his head; Tibor dropped to the ground.
Horst threw his hands up. "It's okay. Prentiss needs your help."
The team verified that the men were dead and then stormed into the building. Reid held his revolver in front of him and entered a room. Hotch held out the gun toward the door about to shoot Reid. He then lowered his shaking arm. He dropped the weapon on the ground and wrapped his arms around Emily in a loving embrace.
"I got them. We need a medic." Reid announced as he removed his jacket and covered her with it.
Rossi came in right behind Reid. Hotch looked up at him. "Dave, we need to get to Jack."
"Don't worry. We already took care of it. He and Jessica are in protective custody." Rossi reassured him as he took off his jacket and handed it to Hotch.
"How did you know?" Hotch asked.
"Emily's friend, Horst, contacted Garcia. Once he heard that Tibor was in town, he knew that he was the one after you. He filled us in after I got your phone call. He was tracking you since you were snatched a couple days ago. We don't know how we would have been able to find you without his help."
The ambulance arrived and the medics came to attend to them. "Please, I need you to let her go so we can take care of her." The paramedic told Hotch. He laid her down on the ground while they worked. He fought against being strapped onto a gurney until Rossi forced him to.
Hotch reached over to Emily as she was lying on her gurney and grabbed her hand. She turned her head and gave a weak smile. "I love you too."