Erin barely registered them pulling into the entrance of the hospital emergency room, but Penelope gently tugged her from the vehicle before Anderson pulled away to park. Wordlessly, she let her lover tug her inside, up to the information desk, and she listened to her ask the nurse there for information on Tabitha.
"You're going to need to go up to the surgical floor. I'll take you to the elevator and once you're up there, someone should be able to help you further."
Erin nodded, sighing as Derek came up to her side and settled his hand on her hip, walking with them. "Hotch just called me, he and the others are about five minutes behind us, and will meet us in the waiting room."
A soft sigh broke from Erin's lips as she finally began to feel a little more centered. "That's good to hear." She drew in a deep breath and wiped her face clear of tears. "Have either of you heard anything more?"
"No, honey. But I'm sure there will be some news once we get upstairs." Erin released a low breath before resting her head on her lover's shoulder. "You are going to have a horrendous headache soon, what with all the crying you've just done."
Erin groaned a bit, looking over at Derek. He smiled at her, though it never quite reached his too sad eyes. Even he was worried about her daughter, and that touched her heart so very deeply. Gently, she disentangled herself from Penelope and stepped over to Derek, wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered, feeling his lips caress the crown on her head.
"We're a family, Erin. We take care of each other." The rumble of his voice soothed her spirit and she rubbed her cheek against his chest as she held out an arm to her beloved. Penelope stepped close, and the group hug that resulted seemed to blur all lines between them.
The elevator stopped and Derek led her out into a corridor. "Erin! Penelope!" Turning towards the distraught voice, she saw Emily was standing there, looking sad and desolate. Rushing over to her side, she let the younger woman wrap her in a tight hug. "I am so sorry I couldn't protect her, Erin. Your mother just appeared as we were taking a walk around the block. Tabby got off class early, and she thought that it would be nice to get to know me a little better. It happened so fast!"
Erin nodded mutely, once more being led forward, this time to a small waiting room. Heavily, she and Emily sat on the sofa, Penelope next to her while Derek sat across from them in one of the chairs. "You know these things, Emily. Was it bad?"
"I know she missed Tabby's heart. I did manage to push Tabby away from the line of fire when I saw the gun in her hand. It looked like one of the standard issue guns, though, Erin. Which is ridiculous, there's no way she could get her hand on a gun from the FBI."
Erin felt the blood drain from her face as she thought of the most likely scenario. "You'll have to check Alex's weapon. I knew she disliked me, wanted to see me disgraced, but this? This is too much." Sighing, she leaned against her lover, bringing her hand up to rest between her breasts, over her heart.
"Have you heard anything yet?" JJ asked breathlessly as she stepped into the room, Aaron and Spencer close behind her.
She felt Penelope shake her head as the others joined them in sitting. "I don't know how long we'll have to wait to find out, either," Emily answered for them. For the first time, Erin wondered just how much time their visitor and her daughter had been spending together, to provoke this sort of reaction in Emily, and she reached out for her hand, clasping it tightly.
"Christmas dinners are going to get really awkward, aren't they?" she asked lowly, staring into Emily's eyes.
"Maybe. She still has to talk to her girlfriend, tell her that she's breaking up with her." A fleeting smile crossed her lips as she obviously remembered something Tabitha had told her. "She compared us to you, you know. Given the age difference between us."
A small giggle broke from Penelope's throat and Erin laughed a little with her. "That does seem like something our Tabby would say."
Someone cleared their throat, and Erin sat forward a little to see who else was coming to join them. Karen and Bruce were looking desolate, Alan's arms around their shoulders. "My babies," she said, holding out her arms. They ran to her, shaking off their father's arms, and clung to her. Their tears started her crying once more and she enveloped them in a hug, Penelope closing her arms around them as well.
"Momma, we came as soon as Agent Hotchner called. Dad drove us. Is Tabby going to be okay?" Bruce asked the question she had no answer for, and she just held onto her children tighter, wishing that they knew something.
"I'll go check with one of the nurses," Aaron said quietly, standing along with JJ. Together, they left the room and a heavy, oppressive silence filled the space. It seemed like a year or more before they came back, and Erin could tell from the looks on their faces that things were not good.
"Well?" she asked, desperate to know, to hear, to acknowledge.
"She's still in surgery. It looks like the bullet perforated her bowel, and the doctors are working to clean out her abdominal cavity so that infection does not set in. It will be a long, tiresome, procedure, and all we can do right now is pray." JJ looked up at the ceiling before speaking once more. "I'm going to call Jessica and tell her what's going on. Does anyone know where Rossi is?"
From the corner of Erin's eye, she saw Spencer shift uncomfortably. "He, he told me he had to take Blake to the airport. She was going out to visit her husband in Jordan. He told me that the opportunity had just fallen in her lap."
"I'll bet, Pretty Boy. Hotch, man, can you find out if you can stop that plane? Prentiss thinks it was Blake's gun that Erin's mom used to shoot Tabby."
"Your mother did this, Erin?" Alan's voice dripped with derision, and she shrank back into Penelope, letting the woman shelter her from her ex-husband's wrath. "I knew she was a bitch, I didn't know she was crazy."
"Neither did I. I thought the restraining order would be enough, Alan. I just, I'm sorry."
"This is all your fault. I should never have married you, I should have seen something like this happening…"
"Shut up, Dad! Can't you see you're hurting Momma?" Bruce pushed himself away from them and got in his father's face. "Tabby's in surgery right now, and could still die, and you want to blame Momma for something that's not even her fault? You are such a jackass!" He shoved his father out into the hall, still arguing.
"Don't listen to him, Momma. This isn't your fault, we know." Karen kissed her cheek softly before curling up next to her legs, her arms wrapping around her leg as she sighed. "And I know everything is going to be okay. Somehow, I just do."
Erin nodded and began to run her fingers through her child's hair, wishing she could be in the operating room, watching the doctors work, holding on to her daughter's hand. Sighing once more, she nuzzled her face into Penelope, feeling the heavy lethargy of sleep steal over her.