A/N: As always, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter!

Chapter 34

Hannah stared in horror at the edges of the dark stain blossoming on the front of Emily's grey shirt. Although the stain looked more brown than red, Hannah knew it was blood. Her birth mother's blood.

Until the paramedics came into the townhouse and one called out that he had a pulse, Hannah was afraid Emily was dead. Even as they wheeled Emily out the ambulance, Hannah knew the woman could still die.

"I'll go with Emily," Rossi said, his hands red and sticky with her blood. "Everyone meet at the hospital."

Knowing the adoptive father was in no shape to drive, Tara ushered Steve and Hannah into the back of one of the black Suburbans that were parked in front of the townhouse. In the backseat, Steve wrapped a comforting arm around his daughter's shoulders and looked down at her in concern. There were a few specks of scarlet on her pale white cheek. Was it Hannah's blood or Emily's or Jeremy's? He looked Hannah over, his eyes searching for an imagined cut that wasn't there. Amazingly Hannah had walked away from Jeremy Sayer without so much as a scratch on her.

Feeling her dad's concerned gaze on her, Hannah glanced up at him with the most heartbreaking expression he had ever seen. "I can't lose another mom," she said plaintively.

Just yesterday it had infuriated Steve when his daughter introduced Emily to his sister as her mom. Now, suddenly it seemed trivial that Hannah was using the word 'mom' so indiscriminately, the missing word 'birth' or 'biological' insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Everything Steve was mad about seemed trivial after his daughter's near-death experience. He could have lost his only child. How could Steve tell Hannah that the woman who had selflessly sacrificed herself to save her wasn't her mom? He couldn't. He also couldn't promise that Hannah's biological mother would live because he wasn't sure she would. Not knowing what to say, Steve merely sighed softly and gave Hannah's shoulders a comforting squeeze.

Steve had almost forgotten about the dots of rich red spackled on Hannah's cheek when JJ offered to take the girl to the bathroom and help her get cleaned up while he filled out the intake form in the emergency room. Even though she looked okay, the adoptive father wanted Hannah looked at by a doctor.

JJ used one of the baby wipes she always had in her purse as the mom of a three year old boy to gently wipe the blood from Hannah's face.

"Are you cold?" JJ asked kindly when the young girl shivered slightly. Hannah had left the townhouse without a jacket, wearing only her school uniform.

"I'm fine," Hannah replied automatically.

"You sound like Emily," JJ said in a fond tone. "She's always fine. I don't know why I even ask." As she spoke, the profiler took off her navy blue windbreaker with FBI written on the back in big yellow block letters and draped it over Hannah's slender shoulders. "Here. You look like you're freezing."

"You don't have to be nice to me," Hannah said suddenly. "You're Emily's best friend. And it's my fault she's hurt."

"Stop that," JJ admonished the girl gently. "You can't think like that. Hey, look at me." She waited for Hannah to meet her gaze and then said seriously, "This is not your fault."

Not really believing JJ, Hannah just nodded dully. She wouldn't believe it wasn't her fault until Emily herself told her it wasn't.

"And Emily is…she's strong," JJ continued, a little choked up. Emily had been stabbed before and lived to tell the tale but barely. At least this time Emily wasn't beaten to within an inch of her life before she was stabbed. She would be okay. She had to be okay.

Hannah slipped her arms into the sleeves of JJ's windbreaker because, in spite of what she had said, she was cold. It wasn't the winter weather or the fact that she was wearing only a thin button down shirt and a plaid skirt. It was the icy layer of fear that was coating her heart, chilling her from the inside out. She tried to zip the jacket up, but her hand was shaking too badly to get a good grip on the zipper. She stared at her hand in surprise.

"It's the adrenaline," JJ explained as she zipped the windbreaker up for Hannah, mothering the girl as if she were her own. That was the least JJ could do for Emily.

As soon as they returned to the waiting room, a nurse whisked Hannah away to take her vitals. Before sending her back out to the waiting room, the nurse offered her a little packet of crackers and cheese and a paper cup filled with cold water. Hannah didn't feel like eating anything, but she took the water.

Hannah looked around the waiting room as she made her way back to her dad. She had met most of the agents who were there for Emily, but she hadn't met Matt Simmons at Rossi's Christmas party, and Derek Morgan and Aaron Hotchner were new faces for her. Penelope was the last to arrive, having come all the way from Quantico. Because the tech analyst was the person on the team other than Emily that the fourteen year old was the most comfortable with so far, Hannah hesitantly approached her.

"Oh, my poor baby doll face," Penelope said when she saw the girl, standing and pulling her into a warm hug.

"Um, I was just wondering if you guys had, uh, called Emily's parents," Hannah said, feeling a little awkward. She was very curious about her birth mother's parents. They were Hannah's family, too, in a weird way, but she wasn't even sure if Emily had told them about her.

Penelope looked at Rossi for help, and he answered for her. "I don't know what she's told you about her parents, but they're not exactly her favorite people in the world, kiddo."

"I know," Hannah said. "But they're still her parents. And she's – she could-"

"Stop it right there," Penelope said mock-sternly, not allowing the girl to finish that sentence. "We are sending only positive thoughts and vitality to Emily."

"They should be here," Hannah said quietly. "If I woke up in the hospital, I would want my parents."

Having grown up in a very close-knit family, Hannah couldn't imagine not having her parents there if she was in the hospital. She remembered breaking her arm at school during recess when she was seven. She wanted her mom. She didn't expect her dad to leave work, but he met her and her mom at the hospital before she was ever taken back for x-rays.

Even now, when she wasn't even hurt, Hannah couldn't imagine being there without her dad. Her earlier anger at him for how he acted the day before was completely forgotten. She wanted the safety and security that only a parent could provide their child.

And, even if they weren't super close, Hannah honestly believed Emily would want her parents there, too.

"She's right," Hotch spoke up. Even though he was no longer a member of the team, he probably knew the procedures and protocol better than anyone else. The ranking member of the team was Dave, and he wasn't much for following procedures or protocol. "Ambassador Prentiss needs to be called. She is Emily's next of kin."

"Do you want to make that call?" Rossi asked. He sure didn't. No one on the team actually liked Elizabeth Prentiss. Granted, most of their dislike stemmed from Emily's own feelings toward her mother. They only ever heard one side of the story. Regardless of that, no one who had met her would describe the Ambassador as warm or friendly.

"That duty falls to you as the senior member of the team," Hotch told Rossi.

Rossi muttered something under his breath and then looked at Penelope. "Can you get me Elizabeth's phone number?"

After the phone call was made, however grudgingly, they all went back to waiting in silence for news on Emily, each lost in their own thoughts.

For most of the team, this brought back painful memories of the last time Emily was stabbed.

To David Rossi, the team was a family. And, as the oldest member of the team, he saw the younger team members as his sons and daughters. He was only fourteen when Emily Prentiss was born. Although he'd always had a way with the ladies, that was a little young, even for him. The bottom line was that he wasn't actually old enough to be Emily's father. Still, he thought of her as a daughter. He was honored when she had confided things in him over the years, knowing how intensely private she was. It made him feel good to be someone she trusted enough to come to for advice. He had watched her go from a rookie profiler to the leader of the team and couldn't be prouder of her.

Rossi held Emily's hand in the ambulance and told her he loved her. That was the only thing he could really do for her now. The doctors would have to do the rest.

David Rossi stayed with Emily for as long as he could, only letting go of her hand when they took her back into emergency surgery. He kissed her forehead in a very paternal manner and watched the gurney she was on until it disappeared behind a set of closed double doors.

He remembered JJ telling the team that Emily never made it off the operating table back in 2011 when, in fact, she had. She survived then, and she could do it again now. Rossi really believed that.

Reid took solace in statistics. The mortality rate for victims of stabbing was relatively low, lower than the mortality rate for gunshot victims at least. Of course, survival depended on other factors as well like how long it took to transport them to the hospital. With a wound bleeding that profusely, every second was crucial. He did mental math as he tried to figure out the probability that Emily would survive, taking the time it took the ambulance to arrive at the hospital and an estimate of how much blood Emily had already lost by then into account. It kept him from thinking about what he would do if she didn't make it.

Ever since he was a kid, he had always hated change. At the BAU, change usually meant someone leaving. Emily coming back made Hotch's abrupt departure from the BAU more bearable. It was still a change, but Emily Prentiss wasn't an unknown entity. They didn't get a brand new Unit Chief who didn't know him or understand him. They got Emily back. He got Emily back, and not just as his colleague, but as his friend and a sort of pseudo big sister. Emily knew him, and he had always felt like she understood him. There were a lot of people who didn't understand him at all. He knew he sometimes took things too literally and didn't always pick up on social cues. He never really had to worry about that with Emily though. He could be himself with her. She loved him for who he was.

When he was arrested, Emily believed he was innocent even when all evidence pointed to him. She lied to that cop in Mexico to get him out of jail, risking her job in the process. He didn't ask her to do that, but he knew she would do it again. Reid didn't know where he would be without her. Probably still in prison. Possibly dead. The only thing that he was sure of was that he wouldn't be there if it wasn't for Emily. He couldn't accept that his future might not include her.

Reid wondered idly how long it would take everyone else to notice if he started using Dilaudid again. Addiction never really went away, not entirely, and it was times like this when that desperate need resurfaced. Emily would know right away. But if Emily was there, if Emily was okay, there would be no reason for him to use Dilaudid again.

Derek Morgan was thinking back to the last time he lost Emily. When she came back from the dead after six months, he promised himself never again. Now, he looked over at the kid Emily was willing to die for - her kid with Ian Doyle. He thought of his cousin Cindi's kid, Anthony, and how Cindi loved him in spite of who his father was. He knew that was how Emily felt about Hannah, too.

Derek understood why Emily did what she did in the townhouse, but she should have never had to do it in the first place. Jeremy Sayer never should have gotten parole. The Parole Board screwed up. The whole damn system screwed up. The BAU caught Jeremy, and then the system just let him out after only eight years. He killed nine people. What kind of justice was that? It wasn't even a year for every life Jeremy took. Just thinking about how screwed up it all was made Derek want to hit someone or something.

Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan had always been especially in tune with each other. From where she sat right next to him, Penelope could practically feel the hot anger radiating from him. She wouldn't have been surprised if steam started coming out of his ears. She didn't know what to say to make it better, and she hated that.

Penelope felt like she could burst into tears any minute but was trying really hard not to because if she started crying, it would mean there was something to cry about, and there wasn't. Emily Prentiss was not going to die. Penelope refused to think there was even the slightest possibility of that happening. She was thinking only positive thoughts.

Emily would come out of that surgery as good as new. She might have one more scar, but she would still be Emily, their raven-haired crime fighter. Emily would be back to being a total boss, and by that Penelope meant their boss lady, in no time.

The newer members of the team had only really known Emily Prentiss as Unit Chief of the BAU. Luke and Tara had known her before she took the Unit Chief position but barely. Emily was the one who hired Matt Simmons. The BAU had a good team culture and had welcomed all of them into the family. They all liked working for Emily. Even Luke, who had been demoted by Emily after defying a direct order from her, thought she was a good person to work for most of the time. She was a lot like Hotch, but she was a little more easygoing. Luke sure wasn't going to complain about that. None of them wanted to lose Emily, not as a supervisor and not as a friend.

Although none of them could tell, the person who was the most affected by all of this was Hotch. By the time he realized he had feelings for Emily, it was too late. He never really had a chance with her. She was seeing another agent from the D.C. field office and then, just when things ended between Emily and the other agent, this happened. Hotch wondered if he had missed his chance with her. He had spent so much time thinking about what he and Emily could have, but the only thing between them was friendship. Like everyone else, he would be losing a good friend if Emily died, but it felt like he would be losing much more than that. If he got another chance, Aaron Hotchner would take it.

Hotch knew a first date with Emily wouldn't be just another bad first date in a long line-up of bad first dates. There would be no awkward silences. It was easy to talk to Emily, and any silence was more companionable than awkward because they were already extremely comfortable with each other. It wouldn't be like with some of the other women he had taken out recently where he decided early on in the date that there was no future and spent the rest of the dinner profiling them. He wouldn't realize over a glass of wine and a meal that Emily was a narcissist. He wouldn't find out on the second or third date that Emily had misrepresented herself. He wouldn't introduce her to Jack, only to have her try to use his son to get closer to him – a deplorable behavior that always had the opposite effect. It was Emily. He knew her, and he liked what he knew.

Emily always did what she thought was right, no matter the cost to her, personally or professionally. She didn't like to lie to anyone, even when it was part of her job. When she had to, she did it grudgingly. Emily was actually a good liar – an ability the Agency would have seen in her and developed until she could deceive anyone with ease. She didn't like doing it though. And that meant Emily wouldn't lie to him. He knew he could trust her. He already trusted her. Emily didn't play games. She hated politics. She never used her parents' connections or influence for her own gain. She didn't want to be given anything because of her last name. She wanted to earn it. From the very beginning of her career in the FBI, Emily was desperate to prove herself on merit alone. He respected her more for her integrity and honesty. It spoke to her character. It was less about what kind of an agent she was and more about what kind of a person she was to Hotch. Emily Prentiss was a good person, one of the best. Her motivations were never selfish. If she loved someone, there was nothing Emily wouldn't do for them. She had a tendency to overcompensate, which Hotch found endearing if wholly unnecessary - she had nothing to overcompensate for. She was passionate about everything she did. There was a fire in her that the world had yet to extinguish. Hotch had imagined what that fire in Emily would be like if he ever took her to bed, but he didn't think about that now, not when she was lying on a table in the operating room. He thought only of the life he could have with her if she pulled through.

Hotch envisioned Emily in his kitchen trying to 'help' with dinner while he and Jack did everything that they could to keep her away from the food. He pictured her in bed beside him at night, lost in a good book. He remembered the brilliant smile that lit up her entire face when she teased Derek Morgan or Spencer Reid – good-naturedly, of course – and wondered if he would ever see her smile again. Would she ever smile at him like that? He thought of her way with kids and wondered whether Jack would ever have the incredible privilege of having Emily as an important person in his life. Hotch would grieve for what could have been if he lost Emily now.

When Emily's surgeon finally came out to give them an update, everyone who was waiting for news on her crowded the exhausted surgeon. Most of them looked like federal agents. The blonde with a big hair clip in her hair and a brightly colored dress stood out to him. And then there was a young girl wearing an FBI windbreaker who looked like she might start crying at any minute. "Agent Rossi?" The surgeon questioned as he took in the large, diverse group.

"That would be me," Rossi said, stepping forward. "How is she? How's Agent Prentiss?"

Because Emily Prentiss was a federal agent, the surgeon was inclined to share as much information as he could with Rossi even though Rossi wasn't a relative. The surgeon wouldn't break any of the patient privacy laws, but he could speak in general terms. It was a courtesy most trauma surgeons extended to law enforcement when one of their own was injured in the line of duty. "She's very lucky," the surgeon began. "If the knife had been an inch to the right, there would have been nothing we could do for her. She's in critical condition, but the prognosis is good."

"Can we see her?" JJ asked.

"She won't be awake for at least eight hours," the surgeon told them.

"She won't wake up alone," Rossi said resolutely. "One of us will be here."

"She's in Recovery now. She'll be moved to the ICU soon. She can have two visitors at a time in ICU," the surgeon explained before shifting his gaze to Hannah and silently assessing the teenager. He assumed she was the daughter of his patient, more because of her age and her obvious worry for Emily than anything else. He took in the pale pallor of the fourteen year old's skin – she was almost as pale as his patient. Noting the hospital bracelet encircling her wrist, he asked in a concerned tone, "Have you seen a doctor yet?"

Hannah nodded. "I'm fine," she told him, causing several of the profilers to exchange amused glances at the response that was vintage Emily.

The unconvinced surgeon cut his eyes to Steve, who was standing right behind Hannah with a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Are you Dad?"

"I am," Steve confirmed. "And that isn't exactly what the doctor said," Steve told the surgeon wryly with a somewhat pointed look at his daughter. "She's in mild shock."

"If you were my patient, you'd be in bed," the surgeon told the girl.

"Not until I see Emily," Hannah replied in a high-pitched voice as she threw a worried look over her shoulder at her dad. She couldn't leave without seeing Emily. She wouldn't.

Hannah sounded so young and tired. Steve wouldn't be surprised if his daughter turned on the waterworks. He sighed wearily. "You can see her, but then we're going home."

Once Emily was moved into the ICU, everyone let Hannah go in to see her first. JJ went with the girl so she wouldn't be alone. Steve could have gone in with her, but Emily could only have two visitors at a time, and the adoptive father wanted to let Emily's team see her.

When Hannah and JJ entered Emily's room, Emily was lying perfectly still in the hospital bed. The only sign of life was the steady rise and fall of Emily's chest as she slept. It was a deep, drug-induced sleep that had her dead to the world.

Because her adoptive mom had breast cancer, Hannah was more comfortable in hospitals than most kids. It still wasn't easy for her to see her birth mother lying in a hospital bed, but she didn't give the machines and monitors the woman was hooked up to a second glance. She walked right up to the hospital bed and looked down at her birth mother sadly. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"I told her it's not her fault, but your daughter won't listen to me," JJ said from just behind the teenager in question. "You'll have to yell at her for that when you wake up," JJ told the unconscious mother lightly. She was talking to Emily, but everything she was saying was for Hannah's benefit.

Hannah knew JJ was teasing, but she felt like Emily should yell at her. She deserved it. She wished everyone would stop being so nice and understanding. "I'm sorry," Hannah said again, her eyes filling with tears as she struggled under the crushing weight of her own guilt. "I'm so sorry."

Blinking back her tears, Hannah pressed a tentative kiss to Emily's cheek. "Please be okay," Hannah whispered softly before stepping back.

JJ escorted the young girl back to her father, who was waiting just outside the ICU. Since Steve didn't have his car, Simmons offered to drive Steve and Hannah home. Both of the men were ready to go. It had been a long, hard day for everyone there. Steve wanted to get his daughter home, and Simmons wanted to see his own kids.

Rossi volunteered to stay at the hospital with Emily while everyone else went home. There was no reason for all of them to stay there all night. "As the team dad, it's my job," Rossi said half-jokingly when they tried to argue.

They all took turns going back to see Emily before going home for the night. Hotch spent a little longer with Emily than anyone else, and Rossi wondered if Hotch had waited until Emily was unconscious to tell her how he felt about her. Once everyone else left, Rossi settled in for the night on the chair in the corner of Emily's room.

Emily still hadn't woken up yet when everyone, including Steve and Hannah, returned to the hospital in the morning. Penelope bustled in with her arms full of shopping bags from the hospital gift shop. By the time she was done with Emily's hospital room, it was very colorful. With a little help from Derek, Penelope hung a large, glittery 'Get Well Soon' banner on the wall facing the hospital bed. Last but not least, the bubbly blonde set a stuffed cat down on the bed next to Emily and told the sleeping woman, "I have the OG Sergio, but you can have the stuffed Sergio to cuddle with."

"You have Sergio, baby girl?" Derek said. "Does that mean you have a key to Emily's place?"

"But of course," Penelope answered in a 'duh' tone.

"You think I could borrow it?" Derek asked. "I want to see how much of the damage from the pipe bomb I can fix myself."

"Uh, all of it because there's nothing you can't do with the right tools, chocolate thunder," Penelope said suggestively. It was the harmless flirtation that they engaged in regardless of any significant others in their lives. It came so easily to them. "Just like Thor with a hammer."

Derek left with the key to Emily's condo, but the rest of them stayed and continued to take turns in Emily's room. The nurses were still only allowing two visitors at a time. It just so happened that JJ and Hotch were with Emily when she woke up.

"Emily!" JJ said when she saw the first signs of movement from her friend. "How do you feel?"

While JJ hovered over Emily, Hotch left the room to find a nurse or a doctor.

Emily was groggy and disoriented. The last thing she remembered was her daughter starting to walk away from Jeremy Sayer and then stopping suddenly in her tracks. Hannah was too close to Jeremy for comfort when Emily lost consciousness. Not knowing what happened after that was distressing to say the least. "Hannah?" Emily said, the question clear in her tone.

"She wasn't hurt," JJ assured Emily with a small smile.

With the drug cocktail in her system making her mind slow and kind of fuzzy, Emily wasn't processing that Hannah was okay. She needed to see Hannah with her own two eyes to believe it.

As a mother herself, JJ understood the only thing that would make Emily stop worrying was seeing Hannah for herself. When Hotch returned with a nurse and doctor, JJ went to find Hannah in the waiting room.

"Emily's awake," JJ told everyone in a sunny tone before looking at Hannah. "She's asking for you, honey."

Emily wasn't just asking for Hannah. She was refusing to answer any of the surgeon's questions or let him examine her until she saw her daughter. She was being completely and totally uncooperative.

"Emily!"

Emily stopped arguing with the doctor when she heard the pure relief in her daughter's voice and looked over to where the girl was standing. As soon as she saw Hannah, Emily closed her eyes for a second and sighed softly in relief. "Hannah."

"You're okay?" Hannah questioned anxiously.

Predictably, Emily said she was fine, but she finally gave in and let the surgeon examine her. The pain medication that was delivered through her IV had Emily falling back asleep as soon as the surgeon left her in peace.

An hour later Hotch was the one sitting vigil at Emily's bedside when Elizabeth Prentiss arrived at the hospital. The Ambassador recognized most of the members of Emily's team who were sitting in the waiting room. When she didn't see Aaron Hotchner, Elizabeth decided she would have to settle for David Rossi. "Agent Rossi?"

"Ambassador," Rossi said a little grudgingly. He stood to greet the woman, immediately noticing the strain around her eyes. It was a long flight from Italy – a flight where she would have had nothing to do but worry about Emily. Elizabeth Prentiss wouldn't be winning any Mother of the Year awards, but she was still Emily's mother, and she loved Emily in her own way. "Last time I checked, Emily was sound asleep, but I can show you where she is," Rossi offered.

"I want to speak to the surgeon who operated on her and her supervisor," Elizabeth told him.

"Her supervisor?" Rossi questioned in a surprised tone.

"Yes," Elizabeth said curtly. "My daughter was injured in the line of duty. She could have died. Again. Tell me, do all agents in the BAU have this many brushes with death?"

"It's a dangerous job," Rossi pointed out mildly. "But the important thing is that she's not dead. She's okay."

"This time," Elizabeth stated pointedly. "I don't want there to be a next time. I think Agent Prentiss' supervisor owes me an explanation as to how this continues to happen."

"Uh, you might want to talk to Emily before you go over her head," Rossi said, knowing it would be bad if Emily's actions were called into question. Emily was compromised because she was too emotionally involved. She went in anyway. Even worse, she took a civilian in with her. Derek Morgan wasn't with the FBI anymore. They didn't wait for backup. They didn't call in SWAT. The last thing any of them wanted was an official review of how the case was handled. It would be like the fallout from Foyet and Doyle all over again.

"I thought you said she was sleeping," Elizabeth countered. "I want to know exactly how this happened, and I'm not waiting until she wakes up to find out."

"It was my fault," Hannah said bravely. "Emily got hurt protecting me."