A/N – Thank you everyone once again for the reviews, and PM's. I was honestly stunned (in a good way) by the reactions over the last chapter. I've never had so many PM's asking questions.
This next chapter should give you some answers as to what is going on, in a round about kind of way. If you're still not 100% sure after reading this next update, then I can assure you all, chapter 30 contains the full explanation.

Again, thank you, it really has been humbling to read peoples reactions. I'm just sorry I don't have the time to send thanks to you all individually.

Chapter twenty nine

Previously on Criminal minds.

"Miss Prentiss..." The nurse didn't get any further as Emily glared across at them.

"It's Agent Prentiss."

"Sorry, Agent Prentiss, I need to change your dressings one last time before you are released." The nurse managed not to sigh when she saw that Emily had already changed out of the hospital gown and in to her clothes, having been asked not to until this was done. But then, they had come to accept she did very little they asked of her.

"What are you, twelve?" Emily eyed the young nurse suspiciously.

"Not at all." The nurse didn't stop the sigh escaping this time, having heard similar things directed at them before. "I'm also a fully trained nurse."

"Oh one for the sarcasm, wonder if they teach that at Kindergarten these days." Emily muttered as she reluctantly moved position to allow the nurse access to the wound on her back first. The nurse decided not to answer, but rolled her eyes out of view of the constantly moaning brunette, knowing they will be pleased to see the back of this difficult patient. Just as she finished and then drew the curtains back from around the bed, Morgan appeared with a wide smile.

"So, they letting you out today then." He said as he plopped down in a chair by the bed where Emily was now sitting up in. She then carefully shuffled down to sit on the other chair alongside Morgan not waiting for permission to move down off the bed. The nurse disappeared with a tight smile in Morgan's direction. The look with the clear message of good luck with this one, your going to need it.

"I'm just waiting for all the paperwork to be signed." Emily couldn't help the smile at the thought of getting out of there.

"Good to know we're not the only ones with that side to the job. God I hate paperwork." Morgan said lightly, trying to help pass the time.

"Yeah, well, I just want to get out of here. How hard can it be to enter a few keystrokes on the computer, print it out, hand it to me and let me go."

"I'm sure there will be more to it than that. For a start, you've got to have your prescriptions filled and either brought to you or collected. A report for your own doctor has to be done, plus a whole load of other stuff I'm sure we've not even thought about." Morgan reasoned calmly.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Emily said with a frown.

"I'm just pointing out the facts." Morgan defended himself, looking at the ever increasing fidgeting going on alongside him. "Listen, I'll go and see if I can't find out what is going on, try and get you sprung out of here as soon as possible."

"Thanks." Emily smiled, looking gratefully at Morgan and his understanding of her need to get out of there. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt as he disappeared out of the doorway, scowling at the two armed agents still sitting outside in the corridor of her room as they both looked back in on her. Seeing her face, they both quickly looked away having already faced a barrage from her one day when she was in a particularly irate mood, which she took out on them about having no respect for her privacy and to keep their eyes on the corridor not on her.

Her eyes widened in shock when Morgan finally walked back, waving her discharge papers in one hand, but her attention was on the wheelchair in tow, which he brought in with a knowing grin on his face.

"What the hell?" Emily all but shouted.

"I've been told it's hospital policy. You're only allowed to leave using this." Morgan couldn't stop the smile at the look of disdain crossing Emily's face.

"No, not a chance. Never going to happen!" Emily crossed her good arm defiantly across her chest, glaring at the wheeled contraption as if it was going to rise up and bite her.

"Emily will you sit that butt of yours down in the wheelchair." Morgan looked stern as Emily was trying to avoid the inevitable.

"Come on! Really? I mean really? I've got to use this." Emily's voice was full of scorn as she looked across from the chair she was sitting in to the wheelchair again. "I just want to get out of here. Oh man, this is so gonna suck!" Emily snapped, looking defiant. "I have to get out of here but for god's sake, not in that."

"I know you want to get out of here, we all want you out of here, so the sooner you sit that moaning ass down, the earlier that can happen." Morgan's voice softened, knowing when to push, when not to. With a slight nod of her head, Emily finally moved and lowered herself in to the wheelchair.

"Dammit I was right, this does suck. If you tell anyone about this, then I will kill you in ways even with all we've seen you could never imagine. I'm CIA trained don't forget." Emily shot him a mutinous look.

"Yeah, right I'd like to see you try." Morgan laughed at her tone, as he grabbed her bag, placing it on her lap before pushing the chair out towards where he had parked the SUV. The armed guards got up and were following with wide smiles on their faces, both thinking a bit of karma had come back to the woman they were protecting. Emily struggled a little to get up in to the passenger side once they got to the SUV, surprised at how high it now seemed to her, but she didn't say anything, just gritted her teeth and dealt with it. Morgan watched with some concern at the way she was pushing herself, but also seeing she had to do it this way, to not show any signs of weakness unless she had to.

"I'm taking you straight to the house." Morgan had dumped her bag on the back seat and they were starting to pull out in to traffic.

"Thanks." Emily was staring out of the window, trying to get her thoughts in order.

"How is the Athena investigation going?"

Emily's question didn't surprise Morgan, as he inadvertently gripped the steering wheel tighter. Emily looked around at him when he didn't immediately reply, a questioning look on her face. "What aren't you telling me?"

"What makes you think that?" Morgan tried to keep his voice level, knowing this wasn't the time or the place to be having that particular discussion.

"Oh, I don't know. How about you not answering me." Emily said, somewhat bitingly.

"That's because there is nothing to tell." Morgan admitted, keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead. He couldn't admit his frustration that they were getting nowhere fast. He wanted action, but with no leads to go on, he had no direction to look. He felt as if he had let JJ and Emily down, and it was something he hated feeling and he wasn't about to admit that failing, least of all right now.

"Nothing to tell because you can't..." Emily paused as she kept her eye's on his face. "Or won't."

"Does it matter."

"Jesus, deflect the damn question why don't you." Emily sounded annoyed as she spoke, "But you've just answered it anyway."

"Emily." Morgan began, but faltered.

"You know what, forget I said anything." Emily shook her head, her right arm instinctively snaked around her waist to try and protect herself from the pain she was still experiencing even though she knew such an action was fruitless. She had taken off the sling that had been given to her to wear to support her damaged shoulder almost as soon as she could without being seen. She knew it was stupid of her, but she didn't want to have another reminder of her frailty.

"No I was wrong." Morgan looked around him, and was able to pull the SUV up to park in a quiet street. He turned off the ignition before looking at Emily, who was still avoiding his gaze. "You're right, we need to talk, and please believe me when I tell you we have nothing to go on."

"No, we are not talking, not like this." Emily looked back at her friend, seeing the hurt crossing his face that he hadn't spoken to her in the way she wanted, no, needed she amended in her own mind, that his platitudes were too little too late. "I just want to go home."

Morgan thought about arguing back but nodded, and started the vehicle up again before pulling away from the kerb. "I'm sorry." was all he could say, and they rode in silence the rest of the way.

They pulled up in to the driveway, and before Morgan had even had a chance to switch the engine off, Emily was pushing her door open. Morgan cursed under his breath, and he rushed around to be at her side.

"Shit woman, you're supposed to be taking it easy don't you ever listen." He muttered as he grabbed her good elbow to help steady her.

"Like you do when your hurt." Emily rolled her eyes, "I can do this." Emily said, trying not to flinch.

"No, you can't." Morgan shook his head, refusing to let go as he pushed the passenger door closed using his foot. "Now, you either lean on me, or I carry you inside."

"You wouldn't?" Emily couldn't quite believe Morgan would say that, much less do it.

"Don't you believe it." Morgan looked at his friend severely. "I am not letting you do this to yourself."

"Damn you." Emily didn't resist as she leant against his hand, walking slowly towards the steps that led up to the front door. While she had visited as a friend, she couldn't help the butterflies that invaded her stomach since this was the first time she had been to JJ's as her girlfriend, this was completely different, and she was surprised just how much her emotions where swirling around her head. As they got to the porch, and because she was slightly ahead of Morgan, Emily's eyes were drawn to something by the front door first.

"Noooo."

It took Morgan a second to realize the strangled cry had come from Emily, a further second to process she had twisted out of his grasp and fallen to her knees, a hand reaching out to something he couldn't make out. He dropped down in a crouch to be alongside her, his hand reaching out to her arm, but she shook him off the second she felt his touch.

"Emily, what is it?" Morgan couldn't keep the worry out of his voice as he watched what little color in Emily's face drain away. He then heard pounding feet and two agents appeared by his side.

"Is everything all right?" The first agent demanded to know. Their guns were drawn, and they had taken up protective positions around the two of them.

"Yeah." Morgan knew things weren't all right, but he also detected that Emily needed space, and the presence of two more people, who she didn't know wasn't going to help. He looked up at them."Check the perimeter than go back to your positions, I'll talk to you later."

Hearing the command in his voice, they both re-holstered weapons, and slowly walked away eyes darting around as they checked the area before they got back in their car which was parked out on the kerb. One agent walked a short way up the street before he got back in the car, just to be sure there wasn't something they had missed.

"Emily, talk to me." Morgan was now concerned as he watched the brunette look at him. He saw something he could say was rarely seen on her face, and that was fear, pure unadulterated fear mixed with total anguish. For once he was also shocked to see her usual defences gone, even when they had come down, it had never been as obviously broken down as they were now. They were simply non-existent and could never remember a time he had seen her looking this exposed.

"I've killed her."

"What?" Morgan looked confused at Emily's statement.

"I've killed her. I've done this." Emily stood upright suddenly adrenaline giving her strength she otherwise wouldn't have, looking out at nothing in particular before shouting. "Come get me you son of a bitch. You are nothing but a fucking coward." She then moved and brought a hand up to show a series of pictures that had been printed out on nondescript paper. It didn't take long for Morgan to see they were of a blonde woman although he couldn't make out her face properly, being tortured by Athena and he flinched as he saw the last image showed her death.

He carefully grasped the paper by the edges, trying not to compromise any evidence, but knowing there would be none, and that Emily had compromised it anyway. He then spotted a home made pack of what looked like DVD's had also been picked up in Emily's good hand once she had relinquished the paper to him. Tears were streaming down her face and she was making no attempt to wipe them away. Morgan didn't say anything, just pulled his phone off his belt and hit speed dial.

"I need you back here at the house, now." Morgan didn't elaborate as he spoke when the phone was answered. "You and the rest of the team including Garcia. Something has come up." He listened to the reply, eyes not leaving Emily. "No Emily's here and is okay," Morgan couldn't bring himself to say that Emily wasn't as well as he was making out, "but something has happened that needs our attention, I can't explain it over the phone. Just make sure everyone is with you." He didn't wait for the reply this time as he ended the call quickly.

"Come on inside. I've called the team in." Morgan gently picked Emily up as she had fallen on her knees again, and opened the front door with the key he had. He watched as Emily continued her death grip on the DVD's, holding them close to her chest. Her breathing was now erratic, and that was beginning to concern him, knowing how weak she still was. He was desperate to get her inside and settled, the puzzle of the pictures and DVD could wait a while longer. He wasn't even sure if she had heard him as he guided her in to the house, away from possible danger he realized they had exposed themselves to by standing out on the porch. Emily seemed to be working on autopilot, distant from him, and as the minutes ticked by, his worry was increasing.

Within the hour, the BAU team were swarming in to the house, where they found Morgan waiting for them in the hallway, pacing.

"Where is she?" The question was barked out frantically.

"She collapsed, fainted I think, I don't know, she's still out of it. Shock maybe?" He pointed to the sitting room, and Emily could just be seen lying on the couch through a slight crack in the door. "But before you go in there, you all need to see this." And he walked down to the kitchen where he had set things up, having also taken the DVD's off Emily, and using the laptop he carried in the SUV, he had watched what he could.

Everyone else looked around at each other, trying to work out what was going on. Hotch took the initiative and followed Morgan quickly, which in turn shook the others out of their thoughts and they reacted.

"This was on the porch." Morgan handed out the paper, which he had sealed in a plastic evidence bag. Hotch took it first, and his face paled at the images. Silently he handed it out, and others all began to look, their faces matching his own.

"Sweet Jesus." Rossi exclaimed, but he wouldn't allow Garcia to see it. He simply shook his head, and she nodded to show she understood the silent message. Knowing it was bad, she bustled towards the table and began to set herself up there using the process to distract herself to what was going on.

"So, what else was there?" Hotch asked once everyone had time to inspect the pictures.

"A home made DVD, well a few of them. I've looked at some of it," Morgan paused, wiping a hand across his face. "It isn't good, we know what Athena is capable of. I... I would suggest that you only watch it if you need to."

Garcia's eye's moved and she looked up from her screen, looking increasingly upset and worried.

"Do we know her?" Rossi asked the question that the others had been mulling over since they had looked at the disturbing images but couldn't bring themselves to ask.

"Emily, sweetheart."

Emily opened her eyes, trying to work out where she was. Concerned blue eyes looked back down at her, as she tried to shift position.

"No, stay there for a bit." A hand came down to her shoulder, making sure she couldn't get up.

"JJ, what happened?" Emily asked as she found her voice.