"He held his head, and he cried for them, and he did not melt into the sea but sat, aching, in the glowing moonlight-for in the end our bodies know only how to carry on surviving. That is our strength, and our tragedy."
― Nick Lake

Now

Cold dirt hit her in the face when she fell forward to the ground, her body was tired, too tired to turn so she lay there in the mud, struggling to breathe. Her hands felt numb as the rope around her wrists continued to cut them off from oxygen.

She could hear someone telling her she was safe, that they were here. But Emily knew she would never be safe again, what had happened had taken something from her. And this time it wasn't something that could be returned.

Her hands were freed from the rope by someone with very strong hands, the owner of the hands held her hands in their hands to warm them, to return the oxygen to them. And then someone turned her body around and Emily stared into Derek Morgan's eyes.

''Hey Princess'' Morgan smiled as he pushed her bangs out of her face, ''I'm tired'' Emily whispered, and Morgan's features softened immediately. ''I know. But we're all here. We're going to help you get through this'' Morgan smiled as he motioned for the paramedics to come over.

''Where's-… Todd'' Emily stammered, ''He's dead. JJ shot him''.

Emily's entire body shivered as the paramedics covered her in blankets before pushing her gurney into the direction of the ambulance. ''Wait'' JJ yelled as she came running, ''I had to give my statement, I told you to wait'' she added angrily in the direction of the paramedic.

''Emily? It's me… JJ'' the blonde whispered as she returned her attention to Emily whom looked very small and bruised under the white blankets. ''Jayje'' Emily stammered as JJ wrapped her warm hands around Emily's cold, bruised hands. ''Ma'am, we really need to get her checked out now. You can drive with, but we need to go now'' the paramedic interrupted.

JJ held onto Emily's hand tightly and she didn't let go until they arrived at the hospital, JJ hadn't been able to talk to Emily any more during the ambulance ride. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness and it took all her energy to answer the questions the paramedic asked her.

The nurses had stopped her when they reached a staff only area and she was re-directed to a waiting area where the rest of the team joined her soon after. ''Was she talking, did she look okay?'' Penelope rambled, fear visible in every mesmerism. Morgan and JJ exchanged glances, they had been the only ones to see Emily up close.

''She's bruised, she talked some, but she was very tired'' JJ eventually replied as she picked on her finger nails, a habit she had taken over from Emily. ''Okay so she was talking?'' Penelope worriedly asked, ''Yes, she was baby girl. How about we go down to the gift store so that we can 'Penelope Garcia' her room for when she wakes up'' Morgan suggested. ''Oh yes, very good'' Penelope immediately agreed, glad to have a purpose.

''You alright there?'' Rossi asked once he sank down next to JJ, it hadn't gone unnoticed by the older agent that JJ had clutched to Emily's side. ''I'm scared Dave'' JJ whispered as Rossi softly patted her knee, ''I know. We all are''.

''We had a fight a few hours before she was captured. If I hadn't left, she wouldn't have been taken'' JJ muttered as tears brimmed in her eyes. ''Oh JJ'' sighed Rossi, ''You've been caring that weight on your shoulders for two weeks?''.

''Yes'' JJ said as she nodded her head. ''Listen JJ. This guy had been working out different possible scenarios for weeks. If you hadn't left she would've been taken some other time. It was damn near inevitable'' Rossi explained ''you never even considered something like this could happen and why would you?'' he added.

''It's not your fault JJ. And I need you to tell yourself just that until you believe it'' Rossi muttered. JJ nodded before slowly laying her head down on his shoulder as she tried to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks with her long blonde hair.

''Family of Emily Prentiss?'' a young doctor asked after an hour, she was holding a white clipboard and she had her dark brown hair up in a high pony tail. JJ shot up immediately, almost knocking down the Styrofoam coffee mug standing next to her feet to the ground.

''That's us'' JJ exclaimed, ''and what's your relationship to the patient?'' the doctor asked as she eyed the rest of the team in the waiting area. '' I'm her-..'' JJ started even though she didn't even know what they were right now '' I'm her best friend. We're her team with the FBI and we're the only family she'd want here'' JJ said.

''I have Jennifer Jareau as her emergency contact. That's you I assume?'' the doctor inquired, her eyebrow raised high ''Yes, that's me''. The doctor nodded ''Alright. Great. I'm Doctor Adams and I'm the leading doctor on Miss Prentiss' case'' she said.

''It's agent Prentiss actually'' Reid said, knowing how much he hated being referred to as something other than his own title. Doctor Adams nodded ''Okay. Agent Prentiss has just returned from her scans and they all turned up fine. She has two broken ribs and a bruised liver. We've had to stich up a few cuts but most of her injuries are just bruises that'll fade. She does have a few infected cuts so we're treating those with antibiotics'' Doctor Adams explained.

''She was malnourished as well, we're working on getting her strength up and once that's up we're going to allow her to go home. We're more worried about her mental well-being and she'll need to get some professional help'' Doctor Adams continued.

''Two of you can see her right now. We don't want to overwhelm her because she's very agitated at the moment'' Doctor Adams explained. It was left unspoken that JJ would go, JJ's eyes landed on Rossi '' Can you come with?'' she asked which he gratefully accepted.

JJ was the first to enter the room as Rossi lingered in the doorway, he wanted to allow both women a moment together before he intruded. He observed as JJ lunged forward and reached for Emily's hand.

JJ held Emily's hand with one of her hands, she used her other hand to softly stroke Emily's bruised cheek. '' Em?'' JJ whispered, her voice thick with tears ''I'm here''. Emily moaned softly ''Jayje?'' she asked, ''JJ?''.

''Em, I'm here'' JJ said as she squeezed her hand, Emily's eyes opened at that gesture and her eyes landed on the blonde ''when can I get back to work? I hate being in the hospital'' Emily whispered, her voice croaked as she talked but she sounded the same none the less.

Rossi and JJ chuckled at that, it had sounded exactly like the Emily they knew. ''That's going to take a while. But I'll be there every step of the way. You don't have to be scared of being alone ever again'' JJ smiled, ''Will would love that'' Emily smiled painfully, ''Fuck Will''.

Rossi made his way over to the other side of Emily's bed after that, he moved the free chair closer to the bed and took a seat before meeting Emily's eyes. ''I'm fine'' Emily smiled, before he could even ask ''Good to see you Emily'' Rossi chuckled.

''Is it really good? Can't imagine I look as hot as usually'' Emily whispered as she softly laughed, she flinched in pain which stopped her laugh immediately ''You've looked better, but I'm glad you're alive'' Rossi shrugged.

''I'm going to tell the rest the good news, or well tell Hotch you'd prefer to get back to work right now. Might put a smile on him'' Rossi smiled as he looked from Emily to JJ and back, knowing the two needed to be alone. ''Tell Garcia thanks for the stuff'' Emily smiled as she pointed towards the action figures and toys on her bedside table, something Garcia had carefully placed when Emily was getting tests done.

Emily turned to look at JJ when Rossi had left the small hospital room, Emily noticed the tears almost instantly and her hand moved to wipe them away ''Hey Jayje, I'm okay. I'm right here'' Emily whispered.

''I could've lost you'' JJ choked out, ''it would've been my fault if you had died''. Emily looked up surprised as she shook her hand ''Hey, hey. No. It was nowhere near your fault Jayje. I'm alive, I'm only mildly injured. I'll be fine once I've slept for a while'' Emily smiled, squeezing the blonde's hand.

''Emily come on'' JJ sighed, ''you'll say you're fine but how can I ever trust that you actually are fine?'' she added as she thought back to the moments before Emily's abduction. ''I'll promise to call for help if I need. Does that sound okay?'' Emily asked, it cost her so much strength to talk.

''You've told me that for years, I can't believe that anymore Emily. I need more'' JJ urged before placing a soft kiss on Emily's hand, ''we all need more sometimes, don't we?'' Emily whispered.