Hey guys here's the chapter you've all been waiting for...maybe, hopefully. Another long note at the end about stuff- Social Media, Reviews, Story Ideas. Check it out.
Timeline: The day after the hostage situation
Enjoy.
Aftermath
BAU
Hotch walks out of his office as soon as he sees his team, minus one member, walk into the bullpen. "Guys, conference room."
They all share concerned looks before heading toward the conference room. Yesterday's events still weighed heavily on each of them, and this call to the conference room as soon as they walked in didn't bode well for them either.
"Has anyone heard from Emily," Reid asks. They all shake their heads.
"Not since I dropped her off last night," Derek says.
"I went by her place this morning, she didn't answer," Garcia adds.
"She probably left early to check on Rachel," Rossi tries. They all hope that's the case as they take their seats in the conference room.
"Morning, guys. The Director—," Hotch starts from the front of the room.
"Shouldn't we wait for Emily?" Reid asks.
"I couldn't reach her." The room is silent as they try to process what that means. "The Director wants our reports for yesterday on his desk as soon as possible. And given the situation, Strauss has taken us off rotation for the today."
"How'd you manage that one?" Rossi asks.
"She suggested it, actually. She knows how this team functions." Hotch takes a seat. "Has anyone spoken to Prentiss?"
"She didn't open the door when I stopped by her place this morning, sir," Garcia answers.
"I got voicemail when I called her earlier."
"So no one's seen or heard from her?" Derek says as he pulls out his phone to call her. "Straight to voicemail."
"We have to find her then," Reid says.
"Reports are our first priority," Hotch says. "Once that's done we can focus on Emily, but Garcia, I want you to track her bank activity."
"Yes, sir," Garcia says.
"JJ, finish the report and then head to the hospital and see if she's been there," Hotch instructs. JJ nods.
"Yesterday was tough, but we're her family and she knows that," Rossi adds.
"Get those reports done, and then get out of here." Everyone leaves the conference room except Hotch and Rossi.
"She'll come back, Aaron," Rossi says.
Hotch says nothing.
Emily's Apartment
Emily sat up in bed and looked at the time. 9:33am. Well after her normal waking time, and honestly, she hadn't been asleep for long. She couldn't sleep, not after yesterday.
She'd heard the knocks at her door, and could only imagine the number of missed calls and voicemails that were on her phone, but she just didn't want to deal with all of that. She wanted to see Rachel. She needed to see Rachel.
So at 9:36am, she decided to do something about it. She was going to see her girlfriend. She got herself dressed, pulled on a jacket and was out the door. She sent Ashley a text as she made it to her car. At 10:02am, Emily was walking through the hospital halls toward Rachel's room.
Rachel's Hospital Room
"How are you feeling?" Ashley asked Rachel from the chair beside the hospital bed.
"I'm fine," Rachel says. "Where's Ry?"
"He's picking Luke and Caroline up from the airport."
"Oh, god. He called our parents? That's the last thing I need right now. I'm fine."
"Rachel, you were taken hostage at a bank, you watched someone kill himself, and you were rushed to the hospital," Ashley says, ticking each item off with her fingers. "All things any parent would want to know about and help you recover from." Ashley's phone beeps and she glances at it.
Rachel looks away from Ashley. "I didn't see him. Emily made sure I didn't see."
Ashley picks up Rachel's hand from the bed and gives it a squeeze. "Rach, it's okay not to be okay."
"I just want to move past it."
"I think you should talk to Emily," Ashley says softly.
Rachel pulls her hand away and crosses her arms over her chest. "I can't, Ash."
"She needs to see you. And she's already on her way here," Ashley says the last part quickly.
"No. No, no no. I can't. Don't let her in here," Rachel panics.
"Hey, hey, hey," Ashley squeezes her friend's hand. "What's going on?"
"I can't see her."
"Why not?" Ashley watches tears slip from the corners of Rachel's shut eyes.
Rachel shakes her head. "I feel horrible."
"Why, sweetie?"
"Because I can't see her, Ash," Rachel says angrily. "I can't even think about her without being back in that bank and hearing that gunshot."
"Maybe she can help. I'm sure she's dealt with these kinds of things before."
"I'm not ready to see her yet, Ash. I love her, and I don't want every time I see her to bring me back to yesterday. I need time."
"Okay." Ashley nods. "Okay, I will send her away, but will you at least write her a note?"
Rachel nods and wipes her eyes. "Yeah."
Ashley pulls a paper and pen out of her purse and hands them to Rachel before she grabs the rolling food tray from the corner and situates it in front of her friend. She squeezes Rachel's hand and leaves the room. Emily is walking toward her. She meets her halfway.
"Hey," Ashley greets Emily. She tries to smile, but the situation makes it hollow. She knows this is going to hurt Emily, a person who she has come to think of as a friend.
"What's wrong?" Emily immediately reads Ashley.
"I'm sorry, Emily. She still doesn't want to see you."
"Did she say why?"
"It's not for me to tell, honey," Ashley says. "She has something for you though."
"What?"
"I'll go get it," Ashley says. "You can sneak a peek through the door window, okay?"
Ashley makes her way back to Rachel's room, and Emily follows to catch a glimpse of her girlfriend, who at the moment wants nothing to do with her, through a small glass rectangle in the door.
Ashley comes back out of the room. She hands Emily a folded piece of paper. "She wrote this for you."
"How is she?" Emily asks as she sees Rachel laying in the bed on her side.
"Physically, the doctors say she's fine, but they want to run some precautionary tests just to make sure everything is okay before they discharge her. She'll probably be out of here today."
"And mentally?"
Ashley shrugs. "She just wants to get past it."
"Right," Emily says, not knowing what else she could possibly say to that. "I should go then." Emily backpedals away from Ashley.
"I'm sorry, Emily."
"It's fine." Emily walks away. She presses the elevator call button, but after two seconds of waiting she decides to take the stairs. She needs to get out of there.
She makes it to her car and sits there for a moment. She exhales sharply before she unfolds the paper. Her eyes scroll over the words. She has to read it a second time. And then a third. She starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot.
BAU
JJ enters Garcia's lair. "Anything?"
"Nope. I'm worried. At least if there was some activity, we'd have an idea of something."
"Yeah, I know. I'm done with my report, so I'm going to head to the hospital. Want to come? I know you can monitor those searches remotely."
Garcia shakes her head. "I think I'll head to her apartment. I left her a message, so maybe she's ready to let me in."
"Okay."
"What if she doesn't come back, Jayje?"
"She will."
"But yesterday was —
"She'll come back, Pen. I know it," JJ says. They both needed to hear the words, but they weren't sure if they could let themselves fully believe it. "Let's get out of here and find Em."
Hotch's Office
"Hotchner," he answers his phone.
"Hey, Hotch. It's me," the voice on the other end replies.
"Emily, how are you?"
"I quit," she blurts out.
"You don't have to make that decision now, Emily. You can take some time off."
"I don't need it, Hotch. I just…I quit."
"Take some time to think about it."
"Bye, Hotch." Click.
Rachel's Hospital Room
Rachel's room is packed with both her parents, Rylan, and Ashley. Rachel is back in her regular clothes and waiting for her nurse to deliver her discharge papers. A short knock on the door brings the conversation about how her parents would spend their time to a stop. The door opened to JJ.
"Hey, how are you feeling, Rachel?"
"I'm fine," Rachel answers.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but have you heard from Emily?"
Rachel sits up in the bed. "You haven't?"
JJ shakes her head. "None of the team."
"She was here earlier," Ashley says. "Rach, wasn't ready to speak to her. She left."
"Did she say where she was going?"
"I assumed home. She left quickly, didn't even wait for the elevator," Ashley adds. JJ's phone beeps. She pulls her phone out and reads the message. Her brow furrows. She can't believe what she's reading.
"What is it?" Rachel asks.
"Do you know anywhere she would go?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Emily just quit." JJ couldn't believe the words herself as they came out of her mouth.
Rachel doesn't know what to say for a moment, but thought it best to just answer JJ's question. "Maybe Dean's?"
"Okay, thanks. Sorry again about interrupting." JJ turns to leave.
"JJ," Rachel calls out. "Will you let me know when you find her?"
"Yeah, of course." JJ leaves the room.
Ashley follows JJ out of the room. "Hey, I didn't want to say this in front of Rachel, she feels bad enough, but Emily was upset when she left. She tried to hide it, but I could sense it, I mean who wouldn't be in this situation, you know. But if I hear from her, I'll let you know, okay?"
"Thanks. I have to go." JJ rushes down the hospital corridor.
Ambassador House
Emily pulls her car through the gate and parks in the roundabout driveway. A man, about 40, in a suit comes out of the house when he sees her get out of her car. Emily recognizes him as Matt Tate, a member of her mother's security team. She groans. She really didn't need to deal with this.
"I thought she was in Germany." Emily says to him.
"She came back early. We would have been at her apartment, but she said to come here."
"Great." Emily walks across the grounds to the detached garages. She knows he's following behind her. "Do me a favor and don't tell her I'm here, okay? I just came for my bike. I'll be in and out."
"I don't know if I can do that, Emily. She came back for you."
Emily opens the garage door. "Sure." Matt leaves Emily at the garage. He is already on his phone.
Emily looks at her black 2008 Kawasaki ZZR 600 and runs her hand along its body as she passes it and heads toward the tall storage locker. She pulls her riding jacket from its hanger and her helmet from the bottom of the locker. She turns around and sees her mother standing in front of her bike.
"I heard about yesterday. I'm glad to see you're uninjured."
"Can we not, Mother?" Emily checks over her bike.
"How's your girlfriend?"
"If you're here to dole out the usual disappointment, I really don't care. In case you didn't notice, I'm an adult."
"That's not what this is."
"Then, what is it, Mother?" Emily says frustratedly.
"You could have been killed, Emily. And I had to hear about it through the grapevine."
"I'm in situations like that a lot. It's my job."
"Yes, I know. But this was personal, was it not? I know how you can be when things are that way."
Emily scoffs at her mother. "Really?"
"And you're running," the ambassador continues as if Emily had not responded.
"I'm not running."
"What do you call what you're doing right now then?"
"I'm just going for a ride," Emily says as she switches jackets.
"Okay." Elizabeth sighs and steps closer to her daughter. "Emily, I know we haven't been close or had the relationship we should have had, and that's mostly on me because I should have been there for you, but I was 4,000 miles away when you ran into a hostage situation to rescue your girlfriend, someone I didn't even know existed."
Emily didn't know what to say. She did not expect this from her mother and she definitely couldn't deal with it now. "I have to go."
"I know. Go clear your head. But please come back. I'd really like to talk." The ambassador steps out of the way of Emily's motorcycle and opens the garage door.
Emily straddles the bike. "Bye, Mother," she says awkwardly before pulling on her helmet and starting the engine. She rides away.
So you've reached the end of this chapter. I know, I know, there's more to it. But after writing over 2100 words, I thought I should just give this to you guys since it's been awhile (and I just looked and realized "awhile" has only been a week lol. I must really love you guys.)
What's up with Social Media: I'm on Tumblr! You know this. Or maybe you don't since no one is following me. What's up with that, people? Follow me at TVCrazedUniverse.
But if you're not on Tumblr, and you happen to be on Twitter, guess what? I have that now too. Twitter: TVCrazed. All nice and easy to remember for everyone who will obviously be following me. I'll post heads up on what I'm writing next on there, one liners from the next chapters and such. Also there's food porn, because why not?
Reviews: So I crushed my 100 reviews last chapter and made it to 119 thanks to Bkwrmchar - who reviewed every chapter. Very awesome. And for being so awesome has requested I write a story with Emily and someone from another show. (I'll let you guys know more when I start doing that).
And the 100th Reviewer was butterflybluelust! I couldn't PM you so let me know, in review or social media, if you want me to write a one-shot for you.
One-Shot/Story Ideas: As always if you have ideas you want to throw at me, by all means. I'll take them through here, Tumblr, or Twitter. You can see some of the fandoms I like on my Tumblr page. I take crazy ideas too. Something's been brewing in my head for Rizzoli and Isles/Pitch Perfect (no idea how that will work but it's in there haha)
Oh, and if you haven't checked out Detour to Boston, my Criminal Minds/Rizzoli and Isles one-shot. Check it out, if you want. I'm getting the sense people want to see more with that, so I may be expanding it. Tell me what you think.
Alright, I think I'm done with my shameless plugs and rambling. Thanks guys (I love you all). Follow me on all that social media. I'll try to make it fun and enjoyable for us all.
TVCrazed.
