After Joe Smith was escorted in cuffs out of the basement, Spencer rushed back in approaching Emily and JJ, holding a gauze bandage in his hand. When he was in front of her, he knelt down before reaching over and placing it over the profusely bleeding cut on Emily's forehead.
Once it was over the cut, Emily reached up to hold it in place as she says, "thanks Reid." before starting to stand up. Immediately a wave of dizziness flowed over her. Both JJ and Reid caught her before she could fall as she swayed. Once they reached the narrow staircase JJ held onto Emily as Reid walked behind her incase she lost her balance again.
As they walked out of the house, the ambulance JJ had called her pulled up in front of the house as well as more police and forensic teams.
Emily groans as they walked towards it before saying, "they can take a look at the school nurse first, I'm fine."
Reid came up next to her and said, "Emily you got dizzy when you stood up and you still aren't walking straight. You aren't fine. You may have a concussion and you will at least need at least an X-ray and stitches and probably a head CT."
Emily glared at him not liking any of the words he used to describe her condition. Head wounds always bleed a lot. She should know as this wasn't her first one. Surely Reid must be overreacting. It couldn't be that bad.
Looking over at him, she barked back, "I don't have a concussion and didn't break anything. The frontal bone is the strongest bone in the head and is thicker in women."
Reid looked at her in surprise at her statement about the frontal bone. While true, he had also seen the board on the floor and the cut on her head. He sputtered out in response, "he hit you with a 2x4 Emily. That can cause a fracture even to the frontal bone."
Emily groaned not wanting to argue with him with the headache that she now had but wasn't ready to admit defeat yet so she murmured, "he didn't hit me that hard."
JJ rolled her eyes at her friends before she decided to stop them before they went any further. She didn't want Emily to stubbornly refuse to be seen. If that happened then they would need to have Hotch come over to force it. That would not be good for any of them with Strauss lurking around somewhere.
JJ stepped in front of them, stopped their progress. She then looked at her friend's glassy eyes before saying calmly, "Emily, you are already bleeding through the gauze. You need to get that cut looked at."
Anyone who could see it would recommend an assessment of the cut with the amount of bleeding. JJ wanted to get Emily at least to agree to that point and let the paramedic go from there. She decided it would be best to just bypass the whole harder head argument her two friends were just having. The concussion assessment would be up to the medical professionals.
Emily adjusted her fingers over the bandage and could feel the wet stickiness of her blood on it. She sighed and grumbled before nodding as she walked with her colleagues to the waiting ambulance. On the whole walk over, she was hoping it wasn't as bad as Reid was making it out to be. That and the paramedic could treat it so she could avoid going to the hospital.
Once Emily was passed off to the waiting paramedic, JJ and Reid went over to check in with the rest of the team about what else needed to be done. JJ was asked to start preparing a statement that she would be making to the press before the team headed home.
Reid was assigned to go back to the station and interview David Smith once the child advocate arrived. Before they left, Hotch wanted the BAU to be able to make recommendations about placement or further areas of questioning for him before they left.
When JJ and Reid walked away from her, Emily sat on the end of the ambulance while a paramedic got out supplies. As she sat there, she noticed young David Smith sitting in a nearby police car.
From the little interaction she had had with him, she could see that he was craving human interaction, particularly from women. Whether that was from being abandoned by his mother, the mental state of his father or concerning psychological reasons remained to be seen.
They may have a starting point if Reid could get him to open up. Though she was the team's go to agent for children, she knew she wouldn't be in this case. For one, she wasn't currently an agent. Secondly, she had already had an interaction with him in the house. Third, she was injured. And last, Strauss would never allow it after he held a gun on her.
Though she would never admit it, she was a little shaken from David pointing a gun at her. Morgan's gun that she had brought into the house. The gun she had lost her hold of after his father had hit her. Her momentary confusion in those critical seconds after that point had nullified any advantage she would have had in talking to him before he fully accepted the weapon.
It wasn't the first time she had a gun pointed at her or even the first time she was in a situation with a child holding the gun. However, it had been the first time she didn't have her vest on when a child had a weapon. In her experience, children were prone to be particularly erratic in this type of situation.
And while she didn't have her vest, she did have this team. They had stuck to plan they had agreed upon out on the street before she went to the door and had her back. Before Joe Smith had even been able tie her hands to a rope attached to a grid on the ceiling, they had come crashing through the door and quickly assessing the situation.
Morgan had shielded her with his own body while Hotch had block the path of gun David Smith was holding. While talking David into handing it over, Hotch had slowly moving close enough to remove it from his hands if necessary. Then once the gun was secure, Hotch had carried the little boy out of a room that no child should ever see.
Then JJ and Reid had helped her out of that room as well and got her to where she needed to be even if she didn't want to be there.
And as she thought about it, she considered despite how rocky her time with the BAU had been, this team had her back as much as she had theirs. This wasn't like JTF-12.
When she needed them, the BAU was there for her. After what she had been through during the Doyle mission that was a good feeling even as her head was now throbbing. And in this moment at the realization, she felt a part of herself heal that had been broken by the betrayal of her JTF-12 teammates.
When Hotch walked over to check on her, she felt more at ease with him than she had since joining the BAU. Their talk in her apartment had been overdue while given then both context for what had happened 13 years earlier as well as what had been going on more recently. It had been reassuring going into this case even with Strauss there that he did trust her and wanted her on his team. Both had agreed on the plane to focus on the case while in Milwaukee. After that they would need to figure out when they would talk again.
As they talked, she noticed a brief small smile when she commented about wanting to go back to the team. He quickly agreed before he walked away to talk to Strauss .
Ugh, Strauss. She wasn't sure what was going to happen there as nothing had been resolved. All Emily did know was that she wasn't going to NYC or OPR. If she was going back to the FBI, it would be in the BAU or not at all.
As she thought about the reality of going back to the BAU, she really didn't know what was going to happen. As much as she wondered if it was a huge mistake to go back after what the last few days had been like, it just felt right.
Hotch said he was transferring though it sounded like he was talking to Strauss, he was perhaps reconsidering. He had come for this case since his transfer had not gone through yet. Even after her talk with Gideon with him not back yet, she was starting to wonder if he was coming back to the BAU. And then she still needed to talk to JJ and Morgan...
Before she could overanalyze too much, Strauss walked up to the ambulance. As she stopped next to Emily, Strauss questioned the paramedic about her condition. After the assessment was relayed, the paramedic stepped aside to report in to the site commander.
As they watched her walk away, Strauss said, "Agent Prentiss" then waited for Emily to look at her.
"Ma'am" responded before looking back down as the brightness of the sun was worsening her headache.
"Agent Hotchner has informed me that you would like to rejoin his team." Strauss stated.
"Yes, ma'am" Emily answered as she felt her stomach dropped, not sure where this was all going but could see the team close by so she didn't thing Strauss would be bringing out the threats that she had been keeping behind closed doors until now.
"Just be aware, Agent Prentiss, you will never advance within the Bureau" said sternly.
Emily gave a chuckle before answering, "that's fine with me. I applied to the BAU because I wanted to work in the BAU not as a stepping stone for my career. I'm happy where I am."
"OK agent, just be aware that…" Strauss started before Emily interrupted as she curled down holding her head..
"Ma'am, with all due respect is there anyway this lecture can wait until there a few less drummers performing in my head." Before Strauss could answer, the paramedic rushed over to them having seen the change in Emily's position as she had been walking back to the ambulance.
Strauss waited as the paramedic rechecked Emily's blood pressure and pulse before looking in her eyes with a flashlight and placing another bandage over the cut on her forehead.
After she taped the bandage on Emily's forehead, she said as she pulled off her gloves, "OK agent, we are going to take you into the hospital. The cut is going to need stitches and the doctors want to do a full concussion exam."
Emily shook her head. She really didn't want to go to the hospital. After her last experience, they just freaked her out a bit. "No I'm fine. I just need a bandaid for my forehead and I don't have a concussion, just a headache."
Emily stood up to move away from the ambulance, got dizzy and was caught by Morgan who had just walked over and the paramedic before she could fall to the ground.
Morgan held her while the paramedic took the gurney out of the ambulance. Once it was ready, he placed her on it before she could try to stand up again. After putting her down, Morgan leaned over and said, "Em, you are most definitely not fine. Give it up, girl."
Before she could answer Strauss cleared her throat and when Emily looked over at her, Strauss smirked as she said, "Agent Prentiss, now that you decided that you want to come back to the BAU, I do have control over you and you are going to the hospital NOW. No more arguments."
Emily glared at her as Strauss had just thrown her own words from before she went into the house back in her face. The paramedic and Morgan looked at each other, not sure how this was going to end though both hoped that Emily would go willingly to the hospital.
Emily leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest quietly before nodding as she said. "OK, OK. Fine I'll go but I would like Morgan to come with me." At that the paramedic quietly secured her to the gurney and got it into the ambulance, not wanting too much time to pass to give Emily an opportunity to change her mind.
"Very well, I'll let Agent Hotchner know" Strauss said before walking away and towards where JJ and Reid are standing.
"How is she doing?" JJ asked gesturing towards Emily as the gurney was being put in the ambulance.
"They are taking her in, she has asked for Agent Morgan to ride with her." Strauss replied before walking away.
"I should check if she needs anything before they leave." JJ said to Reid before walking toward the back of the ambulance.
JJ waited until she could see Emily before asking, "Em, do you need anything?"
Emily nodded before saying "Yeah, my bag. I'm going to need a new shirt." as she held out the shirt with her blood all over it.
JJ jogged over to the SUV and after taking Emily's go bag out, she jogged back over to the ambulance and handed it to Morgan.
####
Emily fidgeted and started to pick at her nails. It had just been a couple of minutes earlier that she had been wheeled into the ER and settled into semi private room though there was no one else in there right now. The staff had sent Morgan to the waiting room after they had helped her move from the stretcher to the bed.
Now she was waiting for the nurse to come back with hopefully a doctor so they could clear her and she could leave. She hated hospitals. Hopefully this would be a straightforward quick visit.
If nothing else, once they did their assessment, she wanted Derek to come back so they could talk. Since Hotch's suspension, things had been really strained between them. Feelings had thawed out over time but they needed to talk out what happened if she was truly going to come back to the team. She didn't want to keep being a source of discord on the team.
####
Emily waited for Derek to come into her room. The nurse had just left after doing an initial assessment. Now that it was out of the way, Derek could come back and keep her company.
It wasn't long before he pushed the curtain back and walked up next to her before asking, "how are you doing Princess?"
Emily grimaced before answering, "ah, ok. Mostly a headache. Hoping this goes quickly so I can get out of here. I really don't like hospitals."
Morgan nodded before a smile crossed his face as he relayed the message he had just received, "Hotch is sending Reid over with a car once we know when they are letting you go."
"He's letting Reid drive?" Emily asked not being able to hide the surprise in her voice.
Morgan nodded before he said, "yeah but only to get here. I'll get the three of us to the jet."
"OK."Emily said before pausing. She could feel her anxiety rising as she prepared to ask Morgan the question that had prompted her to request him join her at the hospital.
As much as things were seemingly fitting into place for her to come back to the BAU, she really needed to hear Morgan's opinion on the subject. As she sat there fidgeting, she blurted out "are you OK with me staying with the team? If you aren't, just tell me."
Morgan shook his head before responding imploringly, "Emily."
Emily shook her head and then said firmly, "no Derek. Just tell me. You have been off with me since Hotch was suspended. I need to know where we stand before I walk into the bullpen tomorrow."
Morgan rolled his eyes before saying, "you think Hotch is letting you back tomorrow?"
"Stop changing the subject." Emily barked back sternly.
Morgan sighed and ran his hand over his head before he looked at her and explained, "Emily I'm sorry. It's just in one meeting we had Hotch suspended and you taking over. We had all been talking about what was going on while Hotch was meeting with Strauss and you never said anything."
Emily shook her head and vented, "Derek that's because I didn't know then that she was going to appoint me was acting unit chief. I found out the same time as the rest of you."
Morgan looked over at her surprised and spurted out when he could see she was telling the truth, "what? She didn't talk to you about it before?"
"No."Emily answered before ranting, "when do you think she would have done that? That is why I stayed after that meeting. I was told I could either do it or she would bring someone else in to lead the team. I thought it would be easier for Hotch to come back if it wasn't someone from outside the team."
They were both quiet as they processed what had been said. Then Morgan looked over at her and asked hesitantly, "and you aren't going to challenge him for Unit Chief now? Because he also said today that he was planning to come back to the team."
Emily shook her head and groaned, "No! Derek. I'm glad that he is coming back. I want Hotch to be Unit Chief. All I want is to be part of the BAU. The spot I had before all this is just fine with me."
Morgan snickered as he asked, "if you want to be part of the BAU so much then why did you just quit then? You didn't even tell us. You just left."
Emily sighed as she took his tone as being hurt for the way she left before saying quietly, "I talked to Reid, Garcia and Hotch. I couldn't find JJ and was planning to call her. I didn't think that you would want to talk to me." She paused until he looked over at her before continuing, "you aren't the only one with trust issues."
Morgan sighed as he remembered the conversation they had had months ago in the bullpen. That day had been a turning point for their friendship. Now he was just hoping that they could salvage some piece of it.
Looking back over at her he responded, "yeah I remember. But Em seriously, please don't tell me I was the reason you quit."
As conflicted as he had been over the last couple of weeks, he hadn't wanted to hurt her or cause her to leave. He had been shocked when he heard on the plane as they headed to Milwaukee that she had quit.
Emily shook her head as she didn't want him to carry the guilt of that decision before she said, "no you weren't. I knew before Hotch was even suspended that I was going to quit. I was planning on giving him my notice that day when he came back from meeting with Strauss. I only stayed to help the team and that I needed to give Hotch my notice."
"What? Why were you leaving and what changed that you are you staying now? " Morgan responded loudly.
Emily sighed having already decided to share what really happened with the rest of the team as he said, "during the case when we were looking for Frank, Strauss called me into her office. She said it had been her decision to bring me into the BAU and now it was time to repay the favor. She wanted me to give her damaging information on Hotch. And no I didn't know any of this when I was hired or I wouldn't have accepted the position.
As for why I've asked to stay now it is because in that basement, all of you had my back, getting hurt aside. You can't know how much that means to me."
Morgan looked at her curiously because of the last statement that she made before asking, "did you tell her anything?"
Emily glared at him and responded bitterly, "no, of course not. I would have rather been off the team than to betray any of you."
"You quit." Morgan stated as he processed what she was saying,
Emily nodded as she said, "yes but I really didn't have a choice. If I didn't give her something by yesterday morning, I was going to be transferred to OPR. She showed me the transfer papers a few days ago. Besides, I didn't earn the spot I thought I had so I really didn't think I deserved to be there."
Morgan cringed, "OPR. Ouch."
Emily chuckled at his response before continuing, "yeah, I only stayed after that meeting because I needed to give Hotch my notice. I needed for Strauss to see me still recognizing him as my boss. I didn't know until Hotch asked me to come up here with him yesterday that he had put in for a transfer. But it wouldn't have mattered. I wouldn't have done it differently."
Morgan sighed and looked down at the floor before looking back over at her and saying sincerely, "I'm sorry I gave you a hard time. I'm not going to give you an excuse. But I will say that I do want you back on the team. And you do deserve to be there."
Emily nodded as she accepted his sincere response. She then smirked as she said, "OK, but just so you know we are going to the gym once I'm cleared."
Morgan groaned remembering their last visit to the gym but before he could say anything there was a knock and the nurse returned with a doctor.
####
Hotch, JJ and Strauss were waiting on the jet for Morgan, Reid and Prentiss to arrive from the hospital. It had been 45 minutes earlier as JJ was finishing the statement to the press that Morgan had called Hotch to let him know that Emily was almost done. As planned Hotch sent Reid to the hospital to pick them up and bring them to the airstrip for the team to head home.
As Hotch waited for them to arrive, he wishes he had been able to go with her to the hospital. Unfortunately, that hadn't been in the cards with the need to wrap up the case, talking a reluctant Strauss into keeping him as Unit Chief, and keep in mind that Strauss was at the scene.
If Gideon had been there, it wouldn't have been a problem however if Gideon had been there Hotch also wouldn't have felt to pull to join the team in the field for this case.
Even with her injury, he was pleased that Emily also asked to stay with the team. He hadn't been sure even after their talk in her apartment. Or if Strauss was going to allow it as an option. With her staying with the team, they still have a lot to talk about both personal and professional but at least they had made the important first steps.
Just then JJ interrupted his thoughts with an announcement that the SUV had arrived.
Reid arrives through the plane door first carrying all three go bags. As he stowed the bags, Morgan carefully walked onto the jet carrying a sleeping Emily.
After Morgan indicated what seat he wanted to place her in for take off, Reid went over and moved the seat belt out of the way and placed a pillow on the armrest.
As Morgan gently placed her in the seat, Strauss stepped forward and shrieked, "what is wrong with her? Should she be out of the hospital?" before turning and glaring at Hotch.
When Morgan didn't answer, Hotch said worriedly, "Morgan."
After stepping aside to let JJ, who was holding a blanket in, Morgan walked up and stopped in front of Hotch and Strauss. After what Emily had told him at the hospital, he was angry at Strauss for trying to break up the team so he had been in no rush to answer her.
However when he had looked up, he had also seen the look of concern of their boss' face and wanted to fill him about what had happened at the hospital.
He sighed and then said, "the doctor said she'll be OK. They put 4 stitches in her head as soon as she stopped arguing with them that they could just glue it and put a bandaid on it. They did X-rays and a full concussion exam. No concussion and no fractures. The doctor cleared her to fly."
"Then why, Agent Morgan is she now unconscious?" Strauss asked crossly with her arms crossed over her chest.
Morgan shook his head as he attempted to tamp down his anger before answering, "she's not, she's asleep. After they cleared her x-ray and did a concussion exam, they gave her a shot of pain medication."
He them paused and chuckled while rubbing his chin before continuing, "it seems that Prentiss here can't hold her pain medication. She fell asleep in the SUV on the way here. When we tried to wake her when we arrived she was groggy so I just carried her. She just needs to sleep it off."
Strauss shook her head before walking to the other end of the jet and taking the lone seat at that end and started to work on a tablet.
Meanwhile the rest of the team all settled into their seats as the plane was starting to move in preparation for takeoff. Reid and Hotch were sitting across the table from Morgan while JJ had taken the seat across the aisle from them with Emily seated on the other side of her.
After securing Emily's seatbelt and putting a blanket over still sleeping agent, JJ turned to Morgan and asked, "so she argued with the doctors?"
Morgan gave a full belly laugh before he replied, "Ha yes. Hurt Prentiss is crankier than Tired Prentiss." which got chuckles from the group before he continued, "initially she disagreed that she needed an X-ray because she told them she knew didn't break her forehead. The doctor finally got her to agree by telling her that it was either an X-ray or he was going to admit her overnight for observation that involved neuro checks every hour."
He paused as he remembered her finally reluctantly agreeing before continuing, "then after we got back from radiology the doctor came in to stitch her up. That led to a 15 minute conversation about glue v stitches for her forehead. The doctor said she wasn't a candidate for glue and then she grumbled the whole time he was doing the stitches. They had the radiology report as soon as the stitches were done and then she got a shot of pain medicine."
He paused and laughed again as he said, "I did have to stop her a couple of times from sharing her profiles of the medical staff with them. They weren't very nice.
By the time we were ready to leave, the doctor was mumbling about stubborn FBI agents and not being surprised there was no fractures as hard as her head was."
He stopped and looked at Hotch before saying, "she cleared to ride a desk in a couple of days though she thinks she is going tomorrow. They cleared her for the field once the stitches are removed in 10 days."
####
About 25 minutes before landing back in DC, JJ looked up from her book as she heard a groan from the seat next to her.
After a couple of minutes, she noticed Emily's eyes blinked a couple of times before opening. It was then that JJ realized that she wasn't the only one who noticed Emily waking up when Derek leaned over and chimed, "good morning, Sleepy Beauty."
Emily groaned and shifted in her seat before answering, "please stop yelling and why is there tape on my head" she asked as she reached up and touched her forehead before looking confused back at them and hissed, "and I feel like I was hit with a lead pipe."
Spencer looked around Derek and said, "it was actuall 4. The tape is covering the stitches."
Emily was still tapping the tape around the gauze on her head as she answered, "ugh, that wasn't a nightmare. How did I get here?" as she looked around at the interior of the jet.
"Morgan carried you on after you fell asleep in the SUV." JJ answered. Emily's eyes widened as she looked around at the others only to have the looks on their faces confirm what JJ just said.
Hotch looked at her concerned before asking, "seriously, how are you feeling? "
Emily shifted in her seat and they all observed as she tested various parts of her body before answering, "tired, a bit of a headache, thirsty"
With that Morgan went into the galley before walking back with a medication pack and a bottle of water and said as he handed it to her, "OK, well here's some acetaminophen and water."
"Thanks Derek."
"Need anything else, princess."
"No, I'm good," Emily responded sleepily before closing her eyes again.
Hotch nodded as he said, "we should be landing in about 20 minutes. Sit back and rest until we get there."
JJ reached out and grasped her hand. When Emily turned to her, JJ said, "I'm taking you home."
Emily sighed but nodded. She wasn't in a position to argue over it regardless. She had ridden with Hotch to the airport when they headed to Milwaukee so her car was back at her apartment. Additionally the pain shot she had received had come with the instructions that she shouldn't drive until the next day.
Given how she was currently feeling, she would gratefully accept JJ's offer tonight. However, she planned to ignore the instructions about taking a couple of days off. She fully intended on being at her desk in the morning now that she was back on the team.
####
Emily opened the door to her apartment after JJ walked her up at Hotch's insistence. She hadn't argued as she knew it would be pointless as she was still tired from a rough few days combined with residual groggy from the medicine given and a slight headache.
As she walked into the apartment she dropped her bag at the bottom of the stairs to take up with her to repack now that she was back with the team.
What a difference a couple of days made. When she had come home just two and a half days ago after resigning, she had felt like the walls were crashing down.
Then less than 36 hours ago, Aaron had arrived at her apartment asking her to come back for one case. In the short time he was there, they had been able to work through both past and present issues which had hopefully put them on firmer ground as they were both now heading back to the BAU.
Well, she would be heading back in a couple of days not the next day as she had planned. At the airport, Hotch informed her that she was to take the next two days off while he sorted out her status and got her credentials and gun back. He also wanted her to check in with her doctor for a wound check and schedule an appointment to have the stitches taken out the following week. As much as she wanted to she knew from his tone that objecting wasn't going to produce a different result so she had just nodded and left with JJ.
The days off also met that she wouldn't need to reschedule her next appointment with Alicia. And oh did she need that appointment. Her life had taken a complete turn around since the last time she was in a couple of days earlier.
Most of the changes were positive. Going back to the BAU, clearing the air with Hotch and finally sharing the truth and making peace with Aaron about what happened between them.
Now they just needed to find their way with their new normal. Now that everything was out in the open with them she hoped that they would be able to have a positive working relationship.
Only time would tell.