Chapter 37 – Psi

Emily and Tasha were sat in the hospital corridor, right next to a door, their hands were clasped tightly together while Emily rested her head against her daughter's shoulder but neither of them could rest easily as they waited for the doctor to appear from the room.

"Finally!"

Emily quickly lifted her head from Tasha's shoulder and looked at the young female doctor who smiled reassuringly at them.

"Most of the wounds are not too bad, we've cleaned and dressed them, obviously the tattoo is causing her some distress but I've put in a call for a plastic surgeon to come and see her."

"Can we go in?"

"Yes but one at time please, I've given your mother a small sedative to help her relax, I'll be back to check on her in a couple of hours."

Emily quickly stood up as the doctor nodded her head and walked away, Tasha's arm was outstretched as her mother still had a firm grip on her hand.

"It's ok mom, you go."

Tasha felt the blood rush back into her fingers as her mom loosened her grip and turned to look down at her daughter.

"You'll be ok?"

"Yes mom, I'll stay right out here."

Emily smiled and nodded her head before she slowly walked towards the door, her breath caught slightly in her throat as she opened the door and caught sight of her mother looking extremely frail, sleeping in the bed. Seamlessly, in a slight daze, Emily walked over and sat down next to the bed, intertwining her fingers with her mother's.

Tasha sat back in the chair as she heard the door close behind her mom, resting her head against the wall as finally the hectic nature of the past few hours caught up with her and her eyes quickly closed. Soon Tasha was asleep, for weeks she had been craving a good night's sleep and now that everything had been resolved Tasha thought that it might be time for her body to be kind to her but it was not to be. Almost immediately she was taken back to the warehouse, standing in front of her terrified grandmother when a shot rang out, suddenly everything slowed down and Tasha could see the bullet twisting and soaring towards her. Tasha's eyes shot open, her mouth agape and she could feel the sweat beading down her back, uncertain if any screams had been audible Tasha quickly scanned the corridor but her heart only pounded harder as she saw the tall, dark haired man moving swiftly towards her.

"Tasha, Natasha?"

Hotch had been stood at the nurses' station waiting for someone to give him directions to where the Ambassador was until he caught sight of Tasha and then he saw the panic in her eyes and quickly moved towards her.

"Are you ok?"

Tasha looked up and saw the concern in Hotch's face which only caused her emotions to reach boiling point, without thinking she stood up and allowed Hotch to wrap his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest.

"I'm sorry Aaron, I had a nightmare, I was in the warehouse..."

"Shh Tasha."

Hotch spoke softly as he reached down and stroked Tasha's blonde hair, his eyes drifted to the right and saw Emily's head bowed at the bedside of her mother. Carefully he manoeuvred Tasha back towards the chair and sat down beside her.

"Ok?"

Hotch smiled as he kept a hand on Tasha's shoulder, although he and Tasha were close it wasn't until that moment in the warehouse when he realised just how much he cared for Emily and her daughter.

"Better thanks, moms next door if you want to see her."

Hotch nodded his head but stayed sitting down.

"I think that I'll give her some time with the Ambassador alone for a while."

The smile was still present on Hotch's face as he paused for a moment before he continued.

"That was incredibly brave of you in the warehouse, to protect your grandmother like that."

"I didn't really give it much thought, I was armed but I never thought about using it. I guess that I thought that if he was obsessed about recreating Dante's Circle of Hell as he seemed to be the best thing to do would be to disrupt it, make it so he didn't have the perfect contrapasso."

"Exactly what are you choosing as your major?"

Tasha smiled as she caught the glint in Hotch's eyes.

"English Literature."

"Hmm I guess we won't be seeing you in the BAU anytime soon then?"

"Not if you want any chance at all of your relationship with mom to work!"

Quickly the corridor filled with laughter from the two of them but then it died down as they realised where they were.

"How is your grandmother?"

"As well as could be expected, mostly superficial wounds but the shock was the worst so they've had to sedate her."

"They've got a lot to talk about."

"As the two of you have too, I take it the move is still on?"

Hotch shrugged his shoulders as he cast his eyes towards the room and Emily once again.

"We've not really had time to talk."

"Well the case is over now so no excuses, Jack and I are getting fed up of it, if you don't sort it out soon we'll move in together!"

Tasha grinned as Hotch shook his head, unable to suppress a snort of laughter.

"I'll bear that in mind, how about I go and find us some coffee?"

"Yes please."

Tasha nodded her head eagerly as Hotch stood up, finally she could feel her body relax and her mind stopped whirring incessantly.

Emily felt her eyes beginning to close, the darkness outside was enough to tell her that it was night time and she was both physically and emotionally exhausted, her head dropped forward slightly before the action woke her up once again. Emily reached up with her spare hand and rubbed her eyes, it wasn't until she opened them that she noticed that she was being watched.

"Mother!"

Emily spoke quietly and she bent closer to the bed as Elizabeth squeezed her daughter's hand.

"I'm so sorry Emily."

Emily had to move her head even nearer to her mother as the whispered words left her mouth, she could see the tears trickling down her mother's face and she could feel her own starting to well up.

"Don't mother, not now."

"We can't leave everything unsaid again Emily, I thought that I was doing the right thing at the time but I obviously hurt you and Natasha deeply."

Emily just nodded her head, the words her mother spoke were quiet but there was a genuine nature to her tone that Emily had never heard before.

"Where is Natasha?"

Elizabeth reached up and wiped her eyes.

"Outside, they wouldn't let us both in, I'll send her in if you want?"

Elizabeth shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Is she ok? What she did earlier..."

Emily smiled as she shook her head.

"Was because no matter what has happened she, we, still love you, you're our family and she couldn't bear to see another person killed."

The tears continued to trickle down Elizabeth's face as she listened to Emily speak, but somehow she managed to get the words out.

"What happened?"

"He killed Chris Petersen and left him outside our house, Tasha found him."

Emily's voice broke as she spoke, the memory of what her daughter had gone through brought back into the front of her mind, but as she looked at her mother Emily saw that she could only shut her eyes and sob silently.

"It's over now though mother, you rest, and there'll be plenty of time to talk later, when you're back home with us."

Emily patted her mother's hand gently, it felt like the right time to bury their past differences and move on, together.