"One love, one heart, one destiny."

― Robert Marley

Derek was officially worried. Their jobs were one thing, but now with Reid in jail, he was concerned about his wife. She was up well before he was, and rarely slept anymore. At their three month check in with doctor Moore, Derek knew something had to give.

"Emily your blood pressure is higher than it was the last time you were here." The doctor said quietly. "And your weight has dropped. Neither of those are a good thing, or are conducive to getting pregnant."

Emily shrugged and picked at her nails that she had previously destroyed. "Uh...yeah. We've...had some problems at work." She said quietly, avoiding the gaze of the doctor. Derek was thankful that the older woman waited his wife out and she stared at Emily.

"Emily, you have to let me know if you're serious about this or not, because if you're not serious we'll take you off the hormones."

Her dark eyes snapped up, and Emily shot the doctor a look. "If I'm not serious? I've been taking hormones. We've been taking my temperature - my INTERNAL temperature. I put my legs up in the air after we have sex. I'm SERIOUS about having a baby." Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes and she wiped them away roughly.

Derek wrapped his arm around Emily but she brushed him away. "I'm so serious about having a baby, but I also have a job. I have a friend in PRISON." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to calm herself.

The doctor waited until she calmed and looked at Emily. "You have a demanding job, I understand that, but you have to take care of yourself too. Stress isn't good for your body." She looked towards Derek who nodded. "But, the good news is that your hormone levels are high and it looks like the ultrasound has worked because the scar tissue has decreased. Those are both good things. We'll keep with the hormones and the ultrasound - but Emily - please try to calm down a bit, okay?"

Emily nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. Slowly Derek wrapped his arms around Emily and kissed her forehead. "Once Mr. Scratch is caught, things can go back to normal." He whispered. "We're both so close to finding him"

They were close and they finally had Mr. Scratch cornered, or so they thought. The last thing Emily remembered was being in the SUV with truck lights blaring down on her. Then darkness. And then waking up in pain. Emily knew pain. She had known pain for years, but this was a new kind of pain. She tried to move but couldn't, lying in the dingy bed, beads of sweat washing over her.

Then she saw him, Scratch, Peter Lewis. "Agent Prentiss." Even in her state, she was glad she had enough sense to take off her ring and toss it away. One less thing to use against her. The morphine. She needed it. And at this point she would do anything for it…

JJ watched as Derek entered the hospital room, his large steps closing the gap between them. "JJ, where's Em?"

She bit her lower lip and shook her head. "Derek, you need to sit down." She said softly, wincing as his large hands brushed over the white bandage on her face.

He shook his head, his hands crossing over his chest. "Where. Is. Emily." Derek repeated slowly.

"She's missing."

She winced again, as Derek picked up the closest chair and threw it down the hallway. "Then why aren't we out LOOKING for her?"

JJ waved security off and shook her head. "Derek." Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him into the closest room. Rossi's. "Sit."

Finally he sat down and looked at her, his eyes full of anger and pain.

"We're doing everything we can to find Emily. Luke, Matt, Penelope, Spence. They're all looking." JJ wrapped him in a tight hug. "We'll find her."

He was trying to stay strong and he returned her hug silently.

After a few moments Luke came in with the news that Tara was waking up. They walked into her room and Derek listened as she explained that she saw Mr. Scratch drug her. Hot anger washed over him, his fists clenching. Tara gingerly reached over and pulled something off her own finger.

"Derek this is yours." She said softly. "I think Emily took it off so he couldn't use it against her." She whispered ,waiting for Derek to walk over to her bedside and she dropped the black silicone ring in his hand.

Listening to the team speak, Derek stayed silent, putting the plastic on the end of his pinkie finger. The memories of Emily dying the first time all came back. He couldn't live through this again. Slipping out of the room, he found himself wandering the hallway until he heard a familiar voice.

"Derek."

Taala came up from behind him and waited before giving him a hug. "I did surgery on your friend, Dave. I heard about everything." She said quietly. Releasing him, she placed her hand on his cheek. "It'll be okay, Emily is the strongest person I know."

"I...I can't go with them." He whispered. "It could put her and me at risk."

Nodding, Taala took his hand. "I know, Derek. It's the same reason they won't let us operate on family members. Too close to the situation. How about we go somewhere quiet and we can wait?" She suggested quietly.

He nodded, the pain of not being able to do anything killing him. Taala led him through the hallway until they were sitting in a small garden. It was empty and they sat there in silence for God knows how long until his phone beeped and he got the text that he was praying for.

We got her. Alive.

Nothing else, but she was alive.

They ran tests and put her on some IV fluids and some antibiotics, but she was physically alright. Derek sat down at her bedside, pulling the ring off his finger and sliding it on hers.

"You lost this." He whispered, her hand cold and damp in his.

"I didn't want him to be able to use it against me. Us." Emily whispered, her voice cracking. "Am I...the drugs he used, they aren't going to permanently hurt our chances of having a baby, right?"

After everything she had been through of course that was the first thing on her mind. Placing a kiss on her palm, Derek shook his head. "They don't think so. But we're lucky that you weren't pregnant when he dosed you." He didn't elaborate. He didn't have to.

"I love you." She whispered. "I just kept thinking of you, Derek. And our baby. That's what got me through."

The tears that had been threatening to spill over for the past few hours finally came and he cried into her shoulder. "Don't ever do that again." He whispered through his tears. "I will divorce you."

They had six weeks off. The whole team did. Time to recover from their physical and emotional wounds.

"You know Hamilton?" Derek asked as he dropped on the couch.

"Blame Mackenzie." Emily replied, reaching for a handful of popcorn. "Though, it's basically Hamilton starring Mackenzie in every single role." She laughed.

Wrapping his arms around her, he pressed a kiss on her head. "How are you feeling?" He asked, breaching the topic that she was so good at avoiding.

"Each day is a little bit better." She replied softly. "You know with our job there's always going to be another Scratch."

Derek nodded and intertwined their fingers. "I know. But you still want to have a baby, right?"

Looking up, Emily's eyebrows arched. "You are still giving me a shot in the ass each morning and we literally take my temperature every six hours. Yes, I still want to have a baby, you idiot."

"Good." Nuzzling his face in her neck, he pressed a few soft kisses before feeling her body vibrate as she sang.

"I feel like this isn't historically accurate." He said with a smirk.

"Gee, our founding fathers didn't solve their problems with rap battles?" Emily answered sarcastically. "Or the fact that our founding fathers weren't black?"

He laughed as the music filled their living room.

They went back to work in 2 weeks. It had been almost a month since they had all been together. Emily had called a "team meeting" at their place, spouses and kids welcome. Her only stipulation was no shop talk. It was a time for them to actually relax in each other's company.

The firepit was pulled out along with lawn chairs. It was nice to actually hang out without a case hanging over their heads.

Spencer brought his mom who was enjoying the firepit and the kids running around. Jake and Henry played while Michael, Noah, Chloe, and Lily played together. Even if it was for only tonight, they were a normal group of friends.

Curled up in Derek's arms, Emily nudged him and pointed to the s'more that Tara had.

Laughing, Derek dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Of course, Princess." He easily lifted her and replaced her on the chair before getting up to grab a marshmallow and a stick.

"But don't just up and burn it. Take time." She ordered.

Glances were exchanged with Matt who was already on his third marshmallow for burning the other two. Putting more than one marshmallow on the stick, Derek walked over to where Matt and Mackenzie was sitting and gave them a smile.

It only took him 2 marshmallows before he gave Emily the perfect marshmallow for her s'more. Sliding back under Emily again, he zoned out in the conversation until he felt Emily stiffen above him.

"Pardon?"

Will looked at Derek and shrugged. "Emily was saying that it was month six of hormones for you guys, I just said that maybe it's God's signal that maybe a baby isn't in your future."

Silence hung thick and heavy over the small group before Mackenzie killed the silence.

"I've been doing hormones for at least as long as Emily has been. It took us almost a year to get pregnant last time. It takes time." She said shooting a glare Will's way.

"It didn't take us long at all." Will replied with a shrug. "Both times we got pregnant without trying."

Derek inhaled sharply and tightened his grip on Emily. First, to ground himself. Second, to make sure Emily didn't murder him.

Mackenzie rolled her eyes dramatically. "You didn't try." She corrected. "I feel like that might be a running theme."

The man's blue eyes narrowed as he looked the female couple up and down. "Apparently some people can't take the hint about maybe God is telling them about not procreating."

Everyone exchanged glances fully waiting for them to come to blows. Instead, Mackenzie stretched out on the chair. "Is it because Derek and I are black, or is it because I'm a lesbian?" She asked missing the hiss that both Luke and Matt released.

"I'm not a racist!"

"So just a homophobe." Mackenzie said getting to her feet. "Anyway, we should be getting home." She said shooting Taala a look who got to her feet and went to go get Noah. "I have to be in court tomorrow." Nodding towards Emily and Derek, she grabbed their sweaters. "Say bye to JJ for me." She called walking off with her wife and son.

JJ came back from the washroom and looked around. Everyone refused to make eye contact with her and she sat down beside Will. "Taala and Mackenzie went home?"

"Uhh...yeah." Matt said, giving his wife a look.

The silence was thick and awkward as JJ looked around at her friends. "Okay, what happened?" She asked finally, looking between her friends.

Slowly Emily got up and grabbed her sweater from the corner, pulling it on. "Your husband informed us that maybe it's God's will that we aren't getting pregnant." She said flatly cursing the hormones she was on for making her more emotional than usual as tears pricked in the corners of her eyes. "And then he told Taala and Mackenzie that maybe they should take the hint about not being able to have kids naturally." The anger in her voice spilled over and Emily turned. "You guys stay out as long as you want, but I'm going inside." She walked inside and shut the door strongly without looking back.

JJ glared at her husband and gathered their things. "I'm so sorry guys." She said quietly. "Derek, tell Em that I'll call her tomorrow."

Derek nodded, watching JJ gather Henry and Michael before storming off, leaving Will to pack up the rest of their stuff. Once they left, Derek exhaled loudly and looked around. Rossi stood up and walked over, squeezing Derek's shoulder. "Alright, I think we're going to be calling it for the night." He said softly. Leaning down he looked at Derek. "Go take care of your wife, Derek."

The small group disbanded and Derek put out the fire pit before locking up and heading upstairs. He found Emily standing in front of the mirror, her hands resting on her abdomen. Coming up from behind, he wrapped his arms around her. "What are you looking for?" He asked quietly.

"Seeing if maybe things have changed." She admitted shyly. "And imagining what I'd look like pregnant." Slipping away from his embrace, Emily grabbed the oversized shirt she wore to bed and tugged it on.

Shedding his own clothes and tossing them in the hamper, Derek crawled into bed and opened his arms for Emily to crawl in. Once she did, he closed his arms and hummed softly.

"You know we're going to have a baby, right?" Derek whispered softly. "We're going to have our own family."

Emily didn't answer, but interlaced their fingers and squeezed his hand.

She pretended she didn't hear him get up in the middle of the night and head downstairs to their home gym to work out and he pretended he didn't hear her get up and lock herself in the bathroom, her silent sobs wracking through her body.