AN: So that chapter I said I was gonna do. That will be next. As I was writing I just felt this fit in.

Disclaimer - I don't own criminal minds or it's characters

Trigger Warning - Talk of branding

JJ walked into the bedroom, from the ensuite. It was 3am and she'd just finished showering. She had been washing herself for a good 30 minutes. After being woke by nightmare she needed to shower to wash it off her. She scrubbed at her thighs and chest, just some of the places he had touched. She quietly walked towards her dresser to grab a new set of nightwear when Emily started to moan. She stayed in a towel and went to Emily's bedside.

Both of them had been having more nightmares as they got closer to the 3 month mark and as they got closer to seeing the therapist. The idea of opening up to someone about what they had gone through scared them. It felt like they were going right back to the beginning. JJ sat down next to Emily. "Babe wake up." She gently shook her shoulders hoping it could stir her awake softly.

Another moan came out of Emily's mouth before she said, "Leave her, please." Still in the throws of a nightmare.

JJ tried again. "Emily come on." She shook her with a bit more force. It worked that time, Emily jolted awake sitting up right, pushing the force on her away. Luckily JJ had been able to jump up so she didn't receive a full shove, but as she got up her ribs had been caught causing JJ to hiss.

"Is everything okay?" Alice asked from the doorway. She saw JJ hunched over her, one arm over her ribs and Emily sat up looking around very confused. She stepped in, and to JJ's side. "Do you need anything?" The 20 something au-pair ask her.

"Can you grab me the ice pack from the freezer please? I'm just gonna stay with Emily while she comes round." Alice nodded and left to grab the pack. She returned a couple of minutes later before being excused. The couple would be fine, but the au-pair assured them if they needed anything to holler.

Emily moved from the bed to JJ who was stood holding to ice pack to her freshly sore ribs. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you bad?" She asked. She placed a hand over the ice pack holding it there for her wife.

A shake of the head from JJ and a promise she was okay prompted Emily to take a seat back in bed and JJ sat next to her so they could talk. "What was it about?" The blonde asked.

The brunette looked to JJ with sad eyes and brought her thumb to her mouth, to bite off the remaining nail. "You know, the usual."

"That would be…" JJ prompted knowing her wife needed to get the nightmare out of her system in order to sleep better.

"Doyle was branding you. But he did more than the one you have there." She pointed to the exposed brand which sat above JJ's heart. Still in the towel JJ turned to get changed while Emily spoke. "He did one on your head too and you screamed so much. Like you did when he did…" She paused knowing JJ knew what she was talking about.

Flashback

Emily woke and looked around. Her head felt so foggy. 'What had happened?' Last thing she remembered was she was getting ready to go for a walk with JJ. It was the last week Alice was watching the kids before she went home for a couple of months to see her family, so they wanted to take advantage of it. She pulled at her arms and realised they were suck behind her back. She took a moment to collect herself. She looked round and turned her body slightly, JJ was behind her. "JJ." She whispered.

A bang of the door interrupted her. "Well hello Emily Prentiss." Ian Doyle smiled as he saw Emily's jaw hit the floor. She didn't expect him to be stood there.

"Ian. What do you want?" She growled. Internally she prayed JJ would stay asleep. She didn't want her waking up and getting involved in this right now. If JJ woke, she was in danger, she knew it. After what she had done to Ian, he wasn't here to be friendly.

He got on one knee in front of her. "You don't know what you did? You don't know how you destroyed my family?"

"I didn't do anything you didn't deserve. I did what I did to save people. You did it to kill people." She never blinked knowing she had done the right thing. The only thing she would do differently would be to wish that he would have been caught before he had the chance to grab hold of her. Because she knew very well that what ever he was going to do was going to hurt.

Her enemy disappeared behind her; he pulled the chair JJ was in round front. She had woken from unconsciousness. "Emily. What's going on?" She asked eyes wide.

"Yeah Emily, what's going on?" Ian mimicked the small woman in the chair.

She looked between her wife and the man who had his hands on her shoulders. "JJ, I'm sorry. This is Ian Doyle. I did somethings a couple of years before I met you which meant Ian lost his family." She cried. She couldn't believe JJ had been brought into this. This wasn't her fight.

The greying man knelt in front of JJ. "Because of your wife, you're going to be in a lot of pain. She ruined my family so I'm going to ruin yours." He stood up and walked out the door pulling in a machine in with him. "First things first. I'm going to give you a reminder. It'll be with you forever."

"No Ian. Leave her. Do it to me. Do it to me." She repeated. Emily didn't think she could watch the woman she loved because of something she did. It wasn't fair.

Ian paused. He grabbed the tape from the trolley and walked to Emily. The back of his hand connected with her face before he grabbed it. "Your going to watch the whole thing and stay quiet or I brand her over and over until you behave and do as I ask." He slapped some tape over Emily mouth and made his way back to the machine.

JJ tried to convince this man to stop what he was doing. "You don't have to brand me." She tried to hold back a stutter. "I'll remember this forever anyway. You don't have to do this." Her pleas fell on deaf ears as he messed around with the machine. JJ wasn't prepared for what he did next. He unbuttoned the top few buttons exposing her chest, he grabbed the branding tool and pressed it too JJ's chest.

No one was prepared for the scream that left JJ's lips. He pressed down hard on the spot he was putting the brand. He made sure to go over it a couple of times ensuring his mark would always be there.

Emily had cried the whole time, watching to see what he was doing and to ensure he wasn't going to harm her wife any more than he had in the hours he had taken them. Once he had finished she had been left in the chair but he took JJ out of the chair taping her hands and ankles leaving her passed out on the floor in front of Emily.

End Flashback.

"I never apologised for him doing that to you." Emily was saddened at the thought which had gone through her mind. "I'm sorry."

JJ pulled up her pants and moved to sit next to Emily. "Stop saying sorry okay? It wasn't you that did it. Doyle did it too me. It doesn't matter what happened in the past he had a choice to move on and make his life better, but he didn't he choose to be the bad guy. That's not on you. Okay?" She held on to Emily's hands and smiled.

The brunette shrugged with a half-smile. She didn't fully believe JJ. It was her fault she was always going to see it that way. She wanted to change the topic. "What had you up and showering at..." She looked at her watch and both eyebrows raised. "…3:20am. Wow Jayje. Did you have a nightmare?"

"No, I couldn't sleep so I just wanted a shower. I just felt a bit gross." JJ smiled hoping her mas could cover up the truth. Emily already did so much for her. She couldn't ask for her to do more. "Come on let's go to sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow. Or later on rather." She shook her bed and crawled over Emily ignoring the looks she was giving her.

"I saw your thighs JJ. I saw them the other week when we had appointment with Abi. I saw them again but there's fresh scabs. If your struggling, you should tell me. It's normal to feel like this. But you have to open up to me." She was concerned for her wife. She wanted to help.

JJ kissed Emily softly. "Okay, but tomorrow." She shook her head. "Later. We'll talk later. Right now, we need sleep." JJ rolled over facing away from Emily laying down, hopefully she could avoid the conversation she wasn't ready to have.

Emily left the conversation for tonight. Maybe after some sleep JJ would be more forthcoming.