Cla, another story? Are you crazy? Possibly. I commented about this story and some people had interest in read it and since I already have a few more chapters all done and ready to go… Why wait, right? Hope you enjoy it!
Warnings: Violence, mentions of sexual abuse, child abuse
Disclaimer; I don't own Criminal Minds, or its character or another few characters you might recognize from a few other shows *wink wink*
1. You Won't Find 'You Emily' Anywhere. She's Gone.
Staring at the tiny body sound asleep curled up in her arms, JJ still could not believe in her own eyes.
"She's asleep?" The blonde looked up and gave a small smile to the uncharacteristically nervous and unsure man standing by the barely open hospital bedroom's door. Her boss and secret boyfriend, (or not so secret for a couple months now), Aaron Hotchner.
"Yeah, I think the meds have finally knocked her out" She looked down, her smile turning into a sad one. As gently as she could, JJ ran her fingers through the girl's young features, frowning at the bruises marring her skin. Her eyes dropped to the small hand not wrapped in a cast and contested that, even after falling deeply asleep, the grip on her shirt had not loosened the slightest. Like even in her unconscious state, the little girl was terrified that she would go away. Her embrace tightened at the thought.
"You know…" She hadn't noticed, but Hotch was now sitting on the chair by the bed, his eyes glued on the girl's face in both wonder and distress "It's been more than a few hours already… But I still can't believe in it"
JJ chuckled "You and me, both" She stopped abruptly when her movements caused the little girl to stir and immediately began to shush and rock her. The tiny brunette frowned for a second and turned her face to hide in the blonde's chest. Maybe it was her perfume, but as soon as she did she gave a satisfied sigh, her face softening as she settled down.
JJ leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Hotch watched on as his girlfriend lost herself into her own head as the memories of the day started to wash over his own head.
…
"Where is she?" He watched on from behind the two way mirror as Morgan slowly lost his cool. At this point, he no longer cared; as long as he got an answer out of the disgusting animal in front of him, Morgan could do whatever he pleased. Protocol may be dammed.
The creature, because he refused to call the one who caused so much pain for his team and family a human being, let alone a man, started laughing, sounding very much pleased with itself. Next to him, Hotch felt the blonde liaison start to tremble with rage, her hands balling up in white knuckled fists.
"I told you already, Agent, you won't find the woman you're looking for"
"Is she dead?" Morgan sounded like he was choking the words out of his throat. Then his balled fist landed on the table with a loud bang and his voice came out strong, full of rage "Did you kill her?"
"Now, now, Agent, why won't we calm down? I already told you I didn't, didn't I?"
"Then, where the hell is she?" Morgan growled again. The animal chuckled, looking for all like everything was perfect in the world.
"Now, now, Agent… Morgan, is it? Agent Morgan, be patient. I'm sure your team will soon figure it out, if you are anything like they say, that's it" Another chuckle. Hotch never struggled so hard to remain impressive before "You know, Agent… She would call for you sometimes, you know? At first, of course she wouldn't utter a word, remained silent the entire time, no matter what I did but even back then, she'd cry in her sleep and sometimes, it would be your name she called"
Hotch saw the muscles in Morgan's arms twitching "Tell me, Roberts, Where. Is. She?"
"I must say" The animal, Roberts, continued as if he couldn't hear the man in front of him "… I'm rather curious for personally meet the members of your team. Is both interesting and pitying that the only people she called for were you; never mom, never dad, no other friend… Makes you wonder if she ever had someone before you people"
"WHERE IS SHE?"
"… And what's even more pitying, you, the only people she has ever had, failed her" He laughed "You allowed me to take her. You allowed me to keep her for two entire months. Did you even care? Did you even look for her? Because, for what I've been told, you guys are rather fast finding other victims. Makes you wonder… Did you ever care? Did she ever… Matter?"
What happened next was too fast for Hotch's brain to comprehend. One second Morgan looked ready to pounce on the animal in front of him and in the next Roberts was being held against the wall. But Morgan hadn't moved. His eyes widened as he watched the blonde pull Roberts away from the wall by the collar of his shirt just to slam him back with a strength he never thought she possessed.
"WHERE IS SHE?" JJ shouted with such venom, such rage and pent-up emotions from the past couple of months that even Hotch was a bit scared. But Roberts just laughed even more.
"Oh, dear! Well, I'm going to take a lucky guess here and assume that you are the 'Jen' she would call for so much! My, my, isn't it a pleasure to meet you?"
"WHERE IS SHE? TELL ME WHERE SHE IS, RIGHT NOW!"
"Oh boy, out of everyone she cried for, your name was the one I heard the most 'Jen please, help me' 'Jayje, make it stop' 'Jen, please, come get me' 'Jenny I wanna go home, please, please'"
When a loud, almost animalistic cry ripped out of JJ's chest, Hotch ran into the room and grabbed the woman by the waist. It was needed Morgan's help to pry her away from a hysterically laughing Roberts. The blonde struggled while being pulled away as she kept screaming on the top of her lungs.
"WHERE IS SHE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS OUR EMILY?"
"Oh, Jenny. I told you already; you won't find 'your Emily' anywhere"
Hotch was sure Morgan would jump on Roberts, despite the officers now beginning to lead him out when the door of the room was slammed open. And inside ran Spencer Reid and Penelope Garcia, both looking disheveled and out of breath.
"We found her!"
…
The profiler in him could certainly tried to interpret what Roberts kept saying in hundreds and millions different forms, but he would never have thought or imagined what they would find when they walked inside that basement.
…
"She's not here!" Morgan howled, spinning around and landing a rough punch on the nearest surface, which turned out being a door for a very thin closet; too thin for any adult possibly fit inside.
He didn't feel his knuckle crack, but he certainly heard the tiny cry that came from inside the closet.
…
"Good evening" The door for the small hospital room opening was what woke up Hotch from his slumber; he didn't know when or how he fell asleep, but the first thing his eyes searched for were the two girls whose been the only things in his mind lately. There they were, both still asleep, JJ still wrapped around the tiny brunette protectively and the little girl still looking scarily pale and vulnerable.
"Good evening, Dr. Robbins"
"And how is our little patient doing?" The blonde charismatic blonde asked while walking around the room, checking vitals and probably other things Hotch didn't particularly want to know.
Doctor Robbins was an old friend of Reid, one he vouched for on this very delicate and unique situation and she turned out to be more than qualified for the job. The woman was great with children, as in basically a child whisper, and was the only person who had been able to touch the traumatized little brunette other than JJ since her rescue.
Her calm and sweet persona and endless patience had slowly coaxed the little girl into letting herself be checked over without any sedation being required.
One of the few reliefs the team had since arriving on the hospital was when the blonde doctor had announced, after a careful examination that lasted the double the time it usually does, that the little brunette didn't have any internal bleeding and no broken bones in need of surgery, the broken bone on her arm being a simpler break that only required being manually set in place.
Hotch ran a hand through his hair "Well… She fell asleep pretty much after you left last time… Been asleep since"
"Hmm… You mean when I left two visits ago?" The blonde chuckled lightly as the Agent checked his watch in confusion. Indeed, it had been almost four hours since he last checked the time.
"Well… I must really be more tired than I thought"
Dr. Robbins hummed in agreement "I can imagine, and I'm really sorry for what I am about to say, but Spencer just asked me to tell you that he needs to talk to you, personally. He's in a private laboratory a few floors down, I'll show you the way as soon as I am done with the tiny one"
"Do they have any updates?" He asked hopefully as he got up from the uncomfortable chair. His back and his neck were already starting to complain.
"I believe so, yes, but I can't be sure"
"Of course" Hotch sighed and remained silent as Dr. Robbins finished her check up. "Is everything okay?"
She nodded, finishing writing down the updates "Yes, considering… Everything… She's perfectly fine. I might have someone else to run a few pulmonary tests on her, since she was struggling a little with her breathing when you first brought her in, even though there is a large chance of the struggle being simply caused by the panicked stated she was in. But just to be on the safe side…"
"Of course" His dark eyes drifted back to the little girl; she was so unbelievable tiny, so painfully fragile and so clearly terrified; it filled him with overwhelming sadness and guilt.
"Shall we, Agent Hotchner?" Her voice shook him awake and he nodded at her. One last glance at the girls – his girls – and he followed the doctor out the room.
"Lead the way"
…
Morgan was surprised when they managed to get the closet open and inside sat a little child. Pale skin, dark hair and very tiny. He didn't know much about children, but the girl didn't look younger than 4, even though he thought that 4 year olds are supposed to be a bit bigger.
She was looking up and flinched when the din light of the basement entered the pinch black dark inside the tiny closet and whimpered. Morgan stared for a moment, before bringing himself to spring in action.
"Hey kid, it's okay… You're safe now"
His voice was soft and very gentle but it didn't seem to matter for the kid. She snapped her big doe dark eyes open and the genuine terror in them would bring the agent many nightmares for the nights to come. Especially when it drowned to him, as crazy as it sounded, that he knew those dark eyes. He knew them very well.
…
"So, you asked me to come here to tell me that you've got nothing?"
Hotch stared incredulously at the young genius in front of him. Spencer looked absolutely exhausted, more than Hotch has ever seen before. He looked like he was about to collapse anytime now.
As did all the other members of his team, to be honest.
"Well, you see, not quite" Reid started, moving around the laboratory that more looked like an organized chaos; papers thrown around in random directions, notes written on boards and paper notes sticking on the walls and many, many laboratory and technologic tools in every available surface "We have used every sample we've got; blood, skin tissue, saliva samples, urine samples, just about everything and ran all the possible tests we could think off"
"We have also asked Dr. Robbins for copies from every medical exam, including all the x-rays" A honey blonde woman wearing laboratory goggles and coat – and looked quite a bit like Dr. Robbins, Hotch noticed – started talking quickly and precisely. Something about her made her seem oddly similar to the young doctor fidgeting next to her "… And we have also contacted a very fascinating and very colorful woman who, somehow, managed to get us all the medical files and exams from the patient since her birth. Very sympatric, she was too. Unique."
Spencer cracked a smile "That's Garcia. You should see her on a good day, she can bright up the grumpiest of us without even trying"
"Well, surely I'd like to, if the opportunity comes up. Well, anyway" Just as quickly as she had gotten sideways, the honey blonde was all busyness and seriousness again "All those were reviewed and compared, I am fairly convinced that there wasn't a single thing we let pass us by"
"And we have got nothing but a perfectly normal, albeit alarmingly small and underweight for the age, 5 year old"
Hotch blinked slowly. Even Dr. Robbins – who had also been granted access to the entire investigation – looked confused.
"… So, you did call him down here to tell him that you've got nothing" The doctor pointed out.
"No" The honey blonde insisted "We have called Agent Hotchner here to inform him that after all the tests we have ran, we have not found a single clue of how this, until now believed impossible deed, has been done. Not a trace of any drug, any chemical – known or unknown – nothing."
"Which leads us to the conclusion" Reid picked up "That whatever that has been done, wasn't done recently. He most likely changed her, of finished the process, we have also no way of knowing how long it took for the process to complete itself, at the very least a month ago. And that, tells us two things"
"… She was with that man as a child for at the very least an entire month" Hotch concluded. Reid nodded somberly.
"That and the fact that we'll never known how the de-aging process was done or whether or not it can be undone, not without studying the drugs and/or the process itself or somehow getting to learn what he knows"
"Agent Hotchner, I'm afraid that the only way I can help right now is by aiding Dr. Reid with the psychological tests and exams and help to determinate whether or not she still has a fully developed adult brain or if it has also been reverted to the one of a child"
"But she has her memories, at least some" The older man informed "She recognized us; all of us and JJ, the one she won't let go of? She's her best friend"
"We know, Hotch" Reid sighed "JJ also told me that she has answered a couple of questions only she could have answered, which proves further that she kept most, or all of her memories. But it does not mean that her brain is still the same"
"… And if it is the case and her brain has reverted to what one of a child, then she'll have all her memories, but the impulse, emotion control, coordination, logical thinking and skills of a 5 year old" The blonde's tone became darker, losing its previous perk.
"… What Dr. Isles means is that, if this theory is proven correct, then we might have an even bigger problem in our hands. We won't be dealing with a traumatized adult, but instead, a child with over 30 years of memories and traumas"
The four adults in the room feel into a somber silence, all of their hearts breaking for the hurt little girl sleeping a few floors above them, who has suffered so much and still had a world of hurt waiting ahead of her.
…
"Je-Jenny?"
"I'm here, sweetheart, I'm right here"
JJ had woken up from her dreamless, much needed sleep at the feeling of the little girl restlessly shifting in her arms. She quickly realized the brunette was stuck in the claws of what must have been a horrifying nightmare and gently coaxed her awake – which did nothing to prevent the oncoming small panic attack.
But thankfully enough, the blonde's warm embrace, gentle kisses and calm words were enough to get the child calm once again. The tiny brunette laid back against her chest, once again clinging to her shirt with one hand and two fingers from the other in her mouth; a comforting habit, often seen on slight older kids such as herself, victim of many forms of abuse.
The both of them remained quiet afterwards, JJ simply enjoying having her best friend back – well, sort of – and mentally repeating to herself that this was real, she was really there, as a tiny child, hurt and traumatized but finally safe and sound in her arms (from where JJ had no plans of letting her get off anytime soon) and the little girl basked in the feeling of safety the blonde has always given her, thankful for finally feeling warm again and trying hard to focus on the fact that the worst days of her life were finally over, the knowledge that the woman holding her would protect her from anything, that even though she was still terrified, still back into the very vulnerable body of a child, she was finally safe.
Their peaceful quiet kept being interrupted after every few minutes by the brunette calling the blonde's name, needing to hear along with feel, that the blonde was in fact there.
She couldn't stop to remember those few moments after her team arrived where she was convinced that her brain had to be playing tricks with her, that there was no way that they were truly there for her; that the worst of her living nightmare was finally over.
…
The little girl backed away from Derek as if he was about to hit her, cowering and whimpering in fear, breaking the man's heart.
A female police officer tried to talk to the little girl next, attempting to coax her out of the tiny little place she barely fit into, but didn't have any luck.
It was until a very familiar voice – a voice she and probably her entire team has always associated with safety and warmth – reached her ears that the little girl momentarily stopped her struggles.
"Emily?"
It was soft, she probably shouldn't have heard it on top of her own struggles but she did. Her eyes flew forwards on their own accord and she could not believe in what she was seeing.
"Em? Is that you?"
Her best friend, one of the first people in the entire world to care about her and love her for who she was, the person she dreamed the most of coming to her rescue, the blue eyes she longed to see again; JJ, the actual JJ, not a fragment of her imagination, was right there, kneeling in front of her with shocked and unbelieving tear filled eyes.
"… Is that really you, sweetheart?"
The term of endearment brought out the first sob and when her tiny arms reached out for her on their own accord, JJ didn't hesitate to pull her into a desperate embrace.
"Oh my… Oh my how is that… Emily, is it really you? Emmy…" The blonde cried, not understanding how this could be possible but knowing in her heart that the tiny child almost clawing up her neck in her haste to get as close as possible was, in fact, her best friend; her sister of heart, one of the people she loved the most on the entire world.
"Jen… Jen… Jenny…" The little girl managed to gasp out between ragged breaths and uncontrollably sobbing, feeling the familiar perfume of her friend's hair washing over her, slowly convincing her brain that she was really there "Jenny y-you ca-cam-me! Yo-you fo-fon-found me-e! I kne-knew yo-u wo-uld! I kne-ew i-t!"
The child's broken words dissolved the blonde into uncontrollable sobs; not caring about the cops and the rest of the team standing around her. She began to rock on her knees, back and forth, cradling the little girl close as she kept repeating like a mantra that 'she knew'.
…
"Jen?"
"Yeah?" They still hadn't moved; JJ was pretty sure both had drifted off a few times at some points but she had no intention of moving; this was the most content she felt in two months. She kept rubbing Emily's tiny back and playing with her baby soft shoulder length hair and gently nudged her when the brunette stopped speaking "What's that, baby?"
The blonde cracked her neck to try and take a look on the girls face, but Emily was not about to leave her safe place on her chest. So the – now older, she supposed – girl patiently waited for the little one to gather her thoughts and say what she wanted.
After a couple minutes Emily took a deep breath and spoke in a whisper, refusing to look up to her friend's eyes.
"… Wha-what's gonna ha-happen to me no-ow?"
Her voice shook with barely contained fear and she felt the blonde sigh underneath her, tightening her arms around her.
"I don't know, baby. I wish I knew, but I really don't" JJ softly spoke, knowing that adult or child, Emily would not appreciate her not telling the truth. But before the brunette could get worked up, the blonde bowed her head again, now gently forcing her friend to raise her head with two fingers under her chin "But hey, Emily, look at me" They child hesitated but did. JJ gave her a small smile "… I do know that, whatever happens, I am going to be right here, right by your side no matter what; I'm going to protect you from everything, Emily, even if that's the last thing I do" Blue eyes filled with tears when she saw the brown eyes do "I've failed you once, my sweet girl, and I will never do it again. I love you so much, Emily, adult or child I'm staying by your side; I'll take care of you and make sure you stay safe, you understand me? I am never le-letting you leave my sight a-again, you hear me? Never again, Em. Never."
"You… Yo-you pro-promise?" Fear and uncertainty dripped from the little girl's voice. Had the situation been different, she would never let herself sound so weak and needy but the raw truth was; she somehow was a kid again, a helpless, scared, nobody's child that had just been through unspeakable, horrifying things. The only thing she wanted was to never have to leave the blonde's arms.
JJ looked deep into her eyes, trying to swallow her tears and attempted to convey all of her emotions in that one look, all of her love, care, affection and honesty as she spoke with strength and conviction.
"I promise, Emily. No matter what, I promise you that I am not going anywhere and I will never let anyone take you away from me again. I promise that I'll keep you safe, sweetheart. I love you."
Emily sobbed and despite the pain in many parts of her body, she all but threw herself on the blonde's neck, wrapping her arms around it tightly while sobbing on her shoulder.
"I… I… I lo-love you to-too, Jen-en"
JJ closed her eyes and held her closer and when she opened her eyes, she finally noticed her boyfriend standing by the door with a big smile on his face and – she swears – tears on his eyes.
The girls didn't know, but when JJ made her promise for the little girl, he silently had made his own. He would be there for them, protect them, do whatever it took so that Emily would never have to through anymore pain, he would be there to keep her safe and be the rock JJ would need him to be, for how long they needed him, no matter what.
And Aaron Hotchner did not break his promises.
SO, since I already have two more stories on the going and a one shot book (btw, I'm turning Family Of The Heart in a book of just team-family-centric book and am starting a Jemily one shots books) I am not sure if I should or not continue this one. What do you guys think? It's something you'd be interested in reading? Let me know ;)