The Bird that flies

by FreeWrite

One cold February evening 16 year old Emily Prentiss is walking home when she disappears. 3 years, 10 months, 8 days later she's found… broken.

2. Freed

AN: I probably should have mentioned in chapter 1. This story is four chapters long and complete.

Chapter 2: Freed

2006

Seeing Jason Gideon had shocked her more than expected, back then she'd only been briefly introduced to him. Most of her interactions were with Agent Cole or Dave.

Emily quickly pulled herself together, asked around to find out who would know when they would be back, made tentative friends with Agent Anderson and went home where she called her therapist and stress baked.

Dashiell was getting a huge care package this week.

Therapy had become part of her weekly routine, she'd stopped going for a while after graduating from Georgetown but struggled to keep herself on even keel without Doctor Trewlynn's calm guidance so no matter where she was assigned she still had weekly sessions either over the phone or in person with the occasional emergency chat like today.

"I'll be in therapy until they day throw me in a box and bury it in the ground" she'd once told someone.

---

1990

It had taken him close to an hour to coax Emily Prentiss off her knee's and into the waiting ambulance. In the end he scoops the little boy and girl up into his arms and walks out with them, she follows along unwilling to let them out of her sight.

She's a sickly green colour, wobbly on her feet and entirely unconcerned about the fact that she is completely naked until she steps out of the warm basement and into the frigid December air.

He promises to give the children to her if she lies down on the gurney, he doesn't like bartering with her in this way but the safest place for the three of them is Bethesda Naval Hospital. Dave had ordered one of the uniforms to call ahead and make sure a private room was available for them.

The little girl burrows under the heat blanket a paramedic covered Emily with and immediately latches on to nurse wide brown eyes watching him suspiciously. After they close the doors the boy's eyes fill with tears and he joins his sister, Dave suspects neither child has ever been out of that room.

He's curious about why Knight allowed the children clothes but not Emily, it's not a question for right now.

They're taken back to the promised room and Dave asks to use one of their secure lines while the staff get them settled.

He dials the Canadian Embassy where Elizabeth is filling in for 3 months.

"Julie… it's Dave Rossi, I need you to put me through to Elizabeth and go and sit with her while we speak."

Elizabeth's PA doesn't question the instruction and it's barely 30 seconds later that Elizabeth is on the line.

"Elizabeth, I need you to sit down."

"I'm sitting…" her voice is weak, Dave has never said this before, and her heart is trying to hammer it's way out of her chest.

"Is Julie with you?"

"Yes…" he can hear the tears.

"A man was arrested attempting to abduct a 16 year old girl in Wilmington earlier today, when we searched his house we found Emily, she's alive, safe and I'm at Bethesda with her right now. They're checking her out just to be safe but she's ok."

He'd never expected to hear Elizabeth Prentiss sobbing… "She's really alive?"

"Yes she is. I'll let the front desk know to expect you, we've registered her as Jane Doe so show them your ID and ask for me."

There's a shuffle, a thud and the sound of retreating footsteps on the other end of the line, Dave waits patiently for Julie to pick up the phone then repeats his instructions to the PA who promises to be on the next flight to DC with Elizabeth. He then calls the lead Detective from Wilmington and lets him know he's staying with Emily and will relay any pertinent information he gets from her to him. His final call is to Gideon asking him to head to the house and finish searching it. He won't be leaving Emily until Elizabeth is here.

He lets the staff know to expect Elizabeth and heads over to the room slipping inside to find the toddlers snuggled together in a corner and Emily back on her knees in the middle of the room.

Joining her on the floor he reaches out and lifts her chin so he can look her in the eye. He is surprised when she doesn't flinch away from him.

"Why do you kneel in the middle of the room?"

Her answer is immediate clear and concise "When Sir enters the room I am to kneel in the centre with my eyes on the floor. With the curtain up I can't see who's coming in so I kneel just in case it's Sir."

"Do you always do what Sir tells you to?" this is a dangerous question but one that will give him insight into her current state of mind and help him prepare Elizabeth.

"Yes"

"Why"

"Everything belongs to Sir, I am his and he can do what he wants with me."

"Emily…" her eyes widen with fear when he says her name "He doesn't own this room… do you understand what that means?"

She shakes her head.

"In here you don't need to kneel."

Her eyes dart around the room, as she considers his words and tries to work out if he's attempting to trick her. She hasn't made a decision for herself in nearly four years and while she understands what he's saying she doesn't know what to do with it.

Dave holds out his hand and waits for her, eventually she comes to the conclusion that this is as good as an order and takes his hand and stands up with him. He takes the hospital gown from the patiently waiting nurse and wrapped it around her before guiding her back to the bed.

He then gently picks the sleeping children up one at a time and moves them to the bed with her.

"I'll sit by the door and let you know if Sir's coming in so you can stay in bed and rest."

She is strangely acquiescent as the nurse checks temperatures, pulse rates, blood pressure and takes blood samples from all of them. An older no nonsense woman who seems completely unfazed by what she's just heard. Dave knows better… someone will find her crying in a supply closet by the end of the day.

"What are their names." the nurse keeps her voice quiet and gentle.

"Dashiell and Cora"

"They're beautiful names for beautiful children… when are their birthdays?" Emily doesn't respond.

Dave will learn in the coming weeks if asked a question she doesn't know the answer to she simply won't respond.

After several moments of silence the nurse moves on seeing if there's another way to determine the children's ages.

"Is Dashiell still in diapers?"

"Only really at night, sometimes he forgets to tell me when he has to go but he's pretty good."

"Has Cora started walking yet"

"Sort of, she can't get more than a couple of steps before falling"

Hopefully Gideon will find something at the house that will help them pin down what they're working with.

Basic check up finished the nurse beckons Dave over to the door.

"I have a big concern..." she whispered

"The kneeling, the disregard for modesty, the submissiveness, inability to make a choice, having no concept of time or leaving her alone with a man?"

"All of the above... Lieutenant Lucy Conners" she stuck her hand out and smirked relieved that Dave was thinking along the same lines has her.

"Special Agent David Rossi, FBI"

"She's overwhelmed and terrified so she's going to stick with what's kept her alive for however long that monster had her."

"3 years, 10 months, 8 days..." Dave supplied "She'll do what she's told when she's told." he sighed, and contemplated how to handle this "We need to keep them together and their exposure to new people limited for now, Emily's Mother is on her way and will be here in a few hours. Unless they need higher level care can we keep just you and I in here?"

"There's nothing immediately wrong so unless their blood work shows something no one else needs to be here, do you have a big stick for me to use with my supervisor when I tell her I need to come off the floor?"

"The Secretary of State has probably already received a call from her Mother..." Dave shrugged "Elizabeth is a high level Diplomat and if anything happens to Emily while in the care of the US Navy... I'd put money on Elizabeth tearing this place apart in retribution. Everyone said she'd run away... except Elizabeth. When the DC Police rode her off Elizabeth came to me and I've been looking for her ever since."

"I can work with that."

Lucy stuck her head out of the room and beckoned over a passing orderly. Bloods were handed over along with instructions to bring in a meal, diapers, wipes and if possible a change of clothes for the children.

When she turned back around she jumped at the sight of Dashiell peering around the curtain studying her intently. The little boy had somehow managed to get off the bed by himself, Lucy had learned a long time ago to never underestimate the climbing ability of a toddler.

"Hey Dashiell" she smiled at the little boy "What's wrong?"

He didn't respond straight away but moved his gaze to Dave who watched him back. Kneeling so she was eye level Lucy ran a gentle hand through his too long messy black curls.

"Mommy's sleeping..." he finally whispered "Where's potty?"

"Just over here" Lucy stood and held her hand out, once he took it she guided him to the en-suite, put up the step stool and watched the little boy toilet himself only asking for help to reach the sink and wash his hands.

When that was done Lucy lifted him up on the bed, Emily was sleeping propped up slightly. While she'd been talking to Dave Emily had changed the gown around so it opened in the front and was lying skin to skin with Cora who had been stripped down to her diaper and was dozing while latched on. Dashiell wiggled his way under her free arm and took the other breast to suckle on.

"Developmentally I'd put him around 2 and a half. He can form a sentence, ask and answer questions, he's toilet trained enough to know when he needs to go and take care of the basics with help. That being said he's comfort nursing, understandable considering the day he's had. She may have never even thought of weaning him off the breast especially if they both find comfort from it. I've asked for psych to send someone down to asses them tomorrow morning."

Dave nodded "I have a theory on why she didn't answer the age question..."

"Yeah?"

"She probably only has a vague idea about how much time has passed. Two pregnancies at 40 weeks each... how many periods she got in between things like that..."

"Her period has probably been irregular since giving birth to Dashiell. Nursing affects ovulation. She may not have menstruated at all between pregnancies." Dave grimaced remembering what he'd seen in that basement. The image of those girls suffering in that room would stay with him for a while.

"I will say this..." Lucy continued "The kids are clean and well fed, there are no obvious illnesses or injuries, Dashiell might retain a couple of dream like memories but Cora never will."

They dropped into silence watching the three of them sleep until an orderly cracked open the door.

"I have a message from Agent Gideon, the supplies and meal you requested." She pushed a cart laden down with food, clothes and diapers before handing over a sheet of paper.

He quickly glanced over the paper before handing it to Lucy.

'Knight transferred to federal custody, bodies buried in the back yard, number unknown. Found journals for each girl he took. Reading Emily's first. Possible DOB found for the children, boy 10 Mar 88 and girl 1 Nov 89.'

Lucy grimaced and handed it back, rolling the tray over to the bed. Reaching out she gently shook Emily's shoulder to wake her up.

"I've got some food for you guys. Mac and Cheese for the kids, soup for you."

The brunette lay there for a moment processing her words, wondering if this was an elaborate plot of Sir's to try and trip her up.

Lucy grabbed the bed control and moved it to an upright position so Emily could eat comfortably.

Both Dashiell and Cora had been woken by the movement of the bed, Dashiell moved off his mother straight away peering at the tray of food obviously hungry but Cora only squirmed slightly to get comfortable again. Wanting to be more upright than the bed allowed, Emily pulled the 13 month old off her lap shuffled around so her legs were crossed and settled the girl on one thigh. Cora immediately turned away from the room and latched back on, from what Lucy could see not actually drinking.

Moving away to give Emily and the children space to eat Dave studied their behaviour and the way Emily interacted with her children. Dashiell ignored the mac and cheese instead sharing the soup with Emily. Cora made no move to take any of the food until Emily broke off the end of a bread roll and offered it to her. He noticed Lucy sighing in relief at seeing the little girl actually eat solid food instead of just nursing. When the soup was all gone Emily pulled the mac and cheese over which was shared between the three of them as well.

Cora seemed to have finally grown confident enough to turn and face the room, reaching one tiny hand to take noodles off the spoon Emily held out to here sucking and chewing on the soft pasta easily, brown eyes widening in surprise at the new taste.

Leaning forward Lucy whispered in Daves ear "both right on track for eating behaviours"

When they'd cleaned both plates between the three Emily scooted her way off the bed watching Dave and Lucy's reactions warily. When they seemed to ignore her she made her way over to the en-suite door and confirmed the presence of a shower. Dashiell undressed himself while Emily stripped Cora down and shrugged out of the hospital gown and the three disappeared, seconds after the door closed the sound of the shower started. Neither of them missed the purple bruising and welts down Emily's back, buttocks and thighs.

"Is it just me or is the naked thing really disconcerting?" Dave asked.

"Not just you... from what little I've seen medical and developmental issues are minimal. Emily is capable of caring for them so as long as they have somewhere to stay they can be released as soon as Emily's cleared by a psychiatrist…"

"That's the 64 thousand dollar question... she's got a lot to work through before she can even start dealing with being held as a sexual slave. Without speaking with her more and reading those journal's I don't even want to speculate just how much damage has been done."

Lucy stood and placed the empty tray back on the cart and pulled out the pajamas's and diapers for the children as well as the clean maternity gown she asked for for Emily. She placed Cora's dirty diaper in the hazardous waste box and put the clothes Dashiell had taken off aside for washing.

Several minutes later the shower shut off and a naked wet Dashiell ran out and waited by the bed.

60 Seconds later Cora and Emily followed, both wrapped in a big fluffy towel.

As Emily expertly dried and dressed the kids Dave finally saw something other than fear or confusion. Emily engaged the children with smiles, tickles and raspberry's, laughing along with their giggles.

Once they were both dried and dressed Emily let them on the floor where the toddlers started playing their own unique game of chase while she finished drying herself. There were several tense minutes when she stared at the hospital gown unsure of whether to leave it off or put it on.

"Emily?" Lucy softly called once the younger woman was clothed again and beckoned her over to the seats by the window where they could watch the kids.

"Why did you hesitate when putting the gown on?"

Emily bit her lip "Sir said I don't need clothes."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir doesn't want to wait for me to undress to fuck me."

It took every ounce of control Lucy had not to recoil in shock at the statement. She took a deep breath and hoped she was about to say the right thing.

"That's fine when you're at home but here in the hospital you need to cover up. Nursing is fine but you need to at least keep the gown on"

"Sir won't get angry? I don't want them to get cold?"

"Why would they get cold?"

"That's the punishment, every time I disobey Sir is five minutes without heat."

Lucy smiled and patted Emily's knee "Sir won't get angry at you for following the hospitals rules"

After that conversation she takes a few minutes to get her emotions under control and call her husband to let him know she'll be home late.

When she comes back in Dave steps out of the room for his own 5 minute composure break, he calls his wife and lets her know he won't be home that night at all.

Looking down at his watch he's surprise to see it's been close to four hours since he called Elizabeth. Just as he's about to reenter the room he hears his name being called. Running down the hall towards him is Elizabeth herself, Julie keeping pace.

"Where is she?" Elizabeth is desperate to get to her daughter.

"She's in with a nurse at the moment." Dave pulls her over to a chair and sits her down. Julie on the other side of the Ambassador, pen and paper at the ready.

"There's a couple of things you need to know."

"You said she was ok…" Elizabeth's eyes flash angrily.

"And she is, I just want you to be prepared. Emily wasn't the only one we found, we think her son Dashiell will be three in March and her daughter Cora is around 13 months."

Elizabeth dissolves into tears "She's had 2 babies?"

"Yeah, you're a grandma… they are healthy…" taking a deep breath Dave pushes on "We don't know many details on Emily's time there yet but she refers to the man who held her as Sir, we don't think she knows he's in custody. She hasn't asked and we haven't offered the information and she won't do anything she thinks he won't like. She doesn't seem to care if she's dressed or not and both the children nurse on demand so don't be surprised if she just drops or opens the gown without warning. Be prepared for her to say some pretty upsetting things."

Elizabeth stares off into the distance for a few minutes trying the get her thoughts in order. Dave giving her the space she needs to process, Julie scribbling down a massive to do list.

"Julie…" Elizabeth finally speaks again he brain has kept cycling back to preparing the house for toddlers again.

"Crib, toddler bed, bedding, clothes, toys, diapers, clothes for Emily, care safety seats. I'll organise for the Georgetown house to be opened and cleaned first thing in the morning and everything to be delivered and the kitchen stocked. I'll contact your lawyer and start the process of getting them added to the trust as soon as they've got birth certificates and get them to look into ensuring he has no claim whatsoever on the children. Agent Rossi?"

"Yes" Dave tries not to laugh at the ever efficient and level headed Julie.

"Should the crib and toddler bed be set up in Emily's room and will the hospital refer us to a psychiatrist or should I start doing some research."

"Set everything up in one room for now, the hospital will refer you to a psychiatrist who specialises in sexual trauma which is exactly what Emily has been experiencing. We're organising for someone to asses Emily in the morning and get an idea of where she's at mentally and emotionally. Right now we're just keeping the room quiet and letting them relax."

"Ma'am, do you want me to contact Mr Prentiss?"

"Mr Prentiss can burn in hell" Elizabeth spits "If Emily wants to call him when she finds out he gave up on her again then she can."

With that final declaration Elizabeth stands and marches towards the door and lets herself in.

When Dave looks around the curtain Emily is sitting on the floor with the kids. Cora is in Emily's lap and Dashiell is sitting facing them, they're playing some sort of clapping game that has Cora giggling like crazy and Dashiell concentrating fiercely on Emily's hands. A proud smile is on Lucy's face as she looks on.

Dave can see Emily physically stopping herself from moving to the centre of the room to kneel.

Her eyes drift to the woman standing behind him, her breathing speeds up and tears pool in disbelieving eyes.

"Mommy?"

"I missed you Em…"

Moving Cora to the floor Emily pushes herself up and then throws herself at Elizabeth with enough force that it takes both Rossi and Julie to stop them from tumbling to the ground.

"Oh beautiful girl…" Elizabeth clutched Emily to her as tightly as she could.

"I missed you too Mom" they stay there just holding each other until Cora decides she want's her mother back.

"Ma!" a tiny voice echoes through the room.

Elizabeth pulls back and cups Emily's face in her hands "Introduce me to your babies."

---

Elizabeth woke sometime in the middle of the night when Emily slid out of the bed, seconds later a low whimpering met her ears and when she opened her eyes Emily was standing at the crib lifting Cora out and cuddling her close.

Her gaze followed Emily as she checked on Dashiell before coming back to bed with the toddler who settled comfortably on her mothers chest pushed aside Emily's gown and latched on to nurse for a while.

"She got lonely" Emily admitted "Sir said we only need one crib so she's always slept with either me or Dashiell."

"Do you want me to get Dashiell and bring him over?" Elizabeth wrapped her arm around Emily's shoulders and pulled her close, her other coming up to rub Cora's back.

"No..." she hesitated it was hard to know if Sir would like her talking to her mother about this "When he was a baby and I was with Sir I think he got used to being alone. He didn't like it but... it doesn't seem to be bothering him right now."

Swallowing against the thought of what had been done to Emily while she was 'with' Sir Elizabeth pressed a kiss to Emily's temple and smiled "You're a good mom"

Elizabeth had nearly drifted back to sleep when Emily spoke again.

"I followed the rules you taught me... I didn't fight back, did what I was told and waited for someone to rescue me."

Early the next morning Emily was seated on the floor eating breakfast with the kids when Lucy stuck her head in the room and beckoned Elizabeth out into the hall and closed the door behind them.

"This is Dr Anita Trewlynn, she's a civilian psychiatrist who specialises in the type of trauma Emily's suffered."

"Pleasure to meet you" Elizabeth shook hands with the Dr "Emily and the children are just eating breakfast." she studied the woman intently for a moment "I don't expect you to break Emily's confidences and inform on her, I don't expect you to walk out of that room in an hour having fixed her, I don't expect her to go right back to school and head to college next fall." Elizabeths voice was trembling "I want a list of do's and don'ts, a list of things I need to keep an eye out for and when to intervene, I want to know what I should push and what I shouldn't and I want to take my daughter and grandchildren home."

"First of all, keep up that attitude she's going to need that type of support. I had a long conversation with Agent Rossi this morning. He gave me a run down of what's happened to Emily and what he observed last night. The man that took her spent nearly four years moulding Emily into his perfect sexual partner, she's going to have triggers that may take years to find and behaviours that will make you want to scream in frustration but that's not a problem for today. Today I'm here to asses Emily's mental competency to be discharged from the hospital and care for the children."

Elizabeth nodded "If necessary can you discharge all three of them into my care?"

"Let me speak with Emily before jumping that particular gun."

"I like you" Elizabeth states with finality, impressed with the forthright manner "If Emily does as well can you take her on as a patient?"

"Let's see how this morning goes. I might not be the best person for this, I'll recommend the psychiatrist that will work in Emily's best interest."

Lucy and Dr Trewlynn slip into the room leaving Elizabeth to wait outside by herself. Sitting down across from the room she stares at the door with an intensity that makes her eyes burn.

She's not alone for long before Julie turns up with coffees, Elizabeth's small valise and a medium suitcase on wheels.

"The cleaning service is at the house right now. They'll be done by 11, I called your interior decorator, she'll be at the house in an hour to make the changes to Emily's bedroom, including a new bed for her, a toddler bed and crib. She suggested turning the guest room next to it into play room and adding a connecting door to give Emily a mini suite. I gave her the go ahead on the playroom but wanted to check with you on the door because it's essentially a structural change."

"Do it." Elizabeth instructed "Tell Maya I'll pay triple if it's all done by 6pm"

"No problem... I did some shopping for everyone last night. Most of it is at the house but I've got several changes of clothes, diapers for both kids, sweats and shirts for Emily. Winter jackets and shoes for all three, hopefully Emily's feet haven't changed size. A couple of books for Emily, a teddy bear for Cora and duplo for Dashiell. Don't faint when you see the AMEX bill next month." she patted the suitcase.

"When was the last time I gave you a raise?" Elizabeth looks at the woman who's been her PA for 15 years.

"HA... they stopped letting you increase my salary 10 years ago when they discovered I earned more than you" Julie smirked, it was a long running joke between the two women her base pay was the same as every other PA but Elizabeth was generous with incidentals like dry cleaning, travel and food expenses leaving Julie with very few outgoings.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Elizabeth murmurs.

"Absolutely nothing… it was all her…" Julie nodded towards the closed door "Emily was 5 years old when I started working for you..." Julie swallowed remembering the tiny girl that had wormed her way into her heart "You'd just been assigned to Tunisia... my first day we were going through everything that needed to be done before we flew out. Antony stormed into the room with Emily trailing after in tears and said he'd changed his mind he didn't want to go to Tunis and he couldn't look after Emily while you went ahead to set everything up."

"I remember..." Elizabeth never forgave her ex-husband for that.

"You were livid at him for just telling her Mommy was taking her away from Daddy... the two of you started yelling and she stood there crying. I picked her up and took her down to the kitchen for some juice... once she calmed down she dragged me up to her bedroom and introduced me to all of her dolls. I fell in love with your daughter right then and there."

"When I found you two an hour later she'd conned you into a tea party... you then worked your backside off to change all of the arrangements to include my five year old."

"She was terrified on the flight over... so we just passed her between us. I watched Emily grow up and I've spent the last four years grieving with you and like you I never believed she'd run away because if she didn't run away when things got bad in Rome, she wouldn't run away when things were good here. I'm in this for the long haul... if you retire I'll just quit and mooch off you for the rest of my life. In 50 years time you'll be bitching at me from your bed in a nursing home."

"Thank you..." Elizabeth never quite worked out what she did to deserve Julie's loyalty and friendship.

Inside Emily's hospital room Lucy sat by the door unobtrusively while Anita took Emily through the assessment. The previous evening had been too emotionally charged to give Emily and the children full physicals, hopefully it was something they could do once Dr Trewlynn finished up.

Their blood test results had brought up a few issues.

It was interesting listening to the Dr ask seemingly inconsequential questions until the picture started filling in.

She was building a baseline of Emily's current ability to care for herself and her children.

Emily had no idea it was happening.

It was with a grim look that Anita and Lucy left the room to speak with Elizabeth.

"I have my initial assessment and it's good news and bad news. I asked for Emily's permission to discuss what was said with you and she said 'If I wanted to'. Every time I asked her to make a choice she gave the decision back to me. For example I asked her if she wanted pink or purple for Cora's crib sheets and she responded with 'whichever I want her to have' but I could tell by her body language she really preferred purple. Based on that and a few other things she said, I believe Knight has controlled every aspect of her life, she doesn't know how to function without that level of control anymore."

"What does that mean for Emily, Dashiell and Cora?"

"It will take a lot of time for Emily to take back control but I know I can help her. For the children right now nothing needs to change in their day to day care, Emily is perfectly capable of being their mother. Unfortunately she just isn't emotionally capable of consenting to anything as complex as medical care or legal issues. You need to get yourself in front of a Judge and get yourself appointed as a temporary guardian for all three. It means you can deal with all of the big stuff for her until she's ready to take it on, for example the children haven't had any of their vaccinations. Asking for Emily to sign off on them will just stress her out, you can consent to the first set and hopefully by the time boosters come around Emily will be able to either take part in or make the decision. Let me know when your court date is and I'll attend as Emily's psychiatrist of record."

"Julie..." Elizabeth called the PA over "call my lawyer and get him to draw up an emergency guardianship application for Emily and the children. Also a submission for a court appointed independent trustee for Emily's trust fund so no one can get their hands on her inheritance. Education and medical costs for her and the children not withstanding release of the fund to Emily's management will need sign off from the trustee, yourself and Dr Trewlynn."

Anita blinked "Trust fund?"

"My father set it up for Emily when she was born for her to access at 21, he left everything to her when he passed to stop my then husband from being able to claim any of the not insignificant amount. She's going to need it and I don't trust her father to not try and talk her out of the money. If neither of us can touch it no one can accuse me of not acting in her best interest. You'll be in the best position to know when she's ready for it which might not be in 10 months time, Julie will be able to help her relearn how to manage her money properly and an independent trustee will keep all of us honest."

Anita nodded her agreement.

"Doctor" Lucy finally spoke up "in your professional opinion is it in the best interest of Emily and the children for Elizabeth to consent to full physicals as their next of kin?"

Anita eyed the nurse wondering what she knew. Before answering she walked over to the wall unit and pulled out the charts, noting the Jane Doe and dependents designation. She quickly skimmed through them noting the blood tests results for all three.

"Get the attending here, I'll co-sign off on the physicals."

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and went to organise a pediatric and obstetrics consult.

"She's pregnant isn't she." Elizabeth stated softly.

Anita nodded.

"Step 1 in getting Emily back in control. Get her a watch, get her used to tracking time and appointments again. Tell her what's happening and give her a time that it's happening let her be responsible for being ready and don't surprise her with anything. Don't take any of the children's care off her, use phrases like 'Do you need me to watch them while you have a shower' but don't instruct her to leave them with you while she showers. Tell her when meals are but don't go and get her when it's time and if she doesn't show up don't make a big deal out of it. Let her do their meals if she wants to. Build your own relationship with Dashiell and Cora as their grandmother not their primary carer, that's Emily's job. Finally the demand nursing, just leave it for now. All three of them are stressing over the sudden change, Lucy noticed that every time he met someone new Dashiell went and nursed for a while and Cora's pretty much camped out there. That'll die down naturally once they feel safe and secure in their environment, they won't seek the comfort of nursing as much…" Anita looked at her watch, she had 5 minutes to get upstairs.

"If everything comes back fine on the physical's I'll release them into your care. We'll set up twice weekly appointments for her at my offices in Georgetown, she'll want to bring the kids with her which is fine. Oh and one more thing, do not close and lock any doors especially ones that Emily uses. If it's a security issue make sure there's a key in plain sight. Let her wander as much as she wants."

Cora and Dashiell did not react well to the pediatrician leaving all three of them in tears and the children hiding from everyone. The young resident confirmed they seemed to be on track but were showing signs of low vitamin D, C and iron, a good diet would fix that up and a referral to a dietician was given. The real problem came when he gave them their first round of vaccinations.

Having already been stuck for blood the previous day they cried long and loud eventually crying themselves to sleep.

Emily's check with the obstetrician went even worse.

Already wrung out from the children's check up she dissolved into a mess when the doctor questioned her about her previous pregnancies. The woman didn't seem to notice Emily's distress when she couldn't answer all of the questions.

"First pregnancy?" she asked not noticing the children.

Emily's eyes flickered to her mothers "Fifth…" she whispered as her bottom lip trembled.

The doctor's cool manner grew even colder as she demanded more information.

In the background Lucy stiffened, she'd told the doctor to tread lightly… she'd told the doctor Emily was fragile and traumatised.

"Dashiell and Cora" she pointed to where they slept in the crib "I had a miscarriage when Cora was younger…" she couldn't continue while her mother was there…

"She had an abortion in early '86" Elizabeth supplied and felt Emily jolt in shock "Julie over heard you and Matthew talking" she admitted to Emily never moving from her seat by Emily's head holding her hand "It's why i brought you back to the states sooner than planned, you needed a clean start."

Still completely oblivious to the emotional charge the the room the Doctor went back to getting her answers.

"What date was the miscarriage?"

Like when asked for Dashiell and Cora's ages Emily couldn't answer.

"Emily, I need more information than you're giving me… what date did you have the miscarriage?"

Stepping in between Emily and the doctor Lucy glared at the doctor.

"Can we have a word outside please…"

Huffing in frustration the doctor followed her out.

"Did I or did I not tell you to tread lightly?" the furious nurse demanded.

"She can't even answer a simple question."

"You were briefed on this... It's because she doesn't know. She doesn't even know what today is, less than 24 hours ago she was found locked in the basement of a man who has been abducting, raping and killing teenage girls for 10 years and do you know how long she'd been down there? I'll give you a hint, he snatched her off the street on February 2nd 1987" Lucy was almost shaking in rage as the doctor paled at her words "Yesterday I asked her how old the kids are and she couldn't answer that either."

She took a deep breath to calm herself down "Now can you finish this without traumatising her any further?"

"No she can't" Elizabeth Prentiss' voice cut between them "You will not reenter this room, please organise for another obstetrician, ensure they are briefed on my daughters recent history and ensure they have the appropriate bedside manner."

The doctor wilted under Elizabeth's glare "I would suggest you become a little less arrogant and a little more sensitive"

The second attempt when much more smoothly, the doctor took Lucy's warning's seriously and let the nurse do most of the questioning especially when trying to pinpoint when the miscarriage was.

"How was Dashiell going with potty training?"

"Could he drink from a cup with both hands?"

"Was Cora sitting up yet? No, how about rolling over?"

All in all the second attempt went well, and ended with an ultrasound showing a healthy fetus approximately 9 weeks along.

Best guess based on Emily's memories the miscarriage had been sometime around March. Hopefully Dave would find information in Knight's journals to confirm that.

---

At Dr Trewlynn's recommendation Elizabeth took them home late that night. She didn't want them getting comfortable in the hospital only to be moved again.

The press had been camped out at Knights house since word broke of not just bodies being pulled out of the house but a survivor as well. So far no one had mentioned Emily's name and they all hoped it would stay that way.

Julie quickly organised a car service to pick them up and it was a tense 30 minute drive, neither of the children liked being strapped into their safety seats. Emily sat between them and fighting off the nausea the movement caused left thumbnail firmly between her teeth.

Seeing the outside of the house felt like the memory of a dream, vague and unsettling.

Elizabeth hadn't been in the house since leaving for Canada 2 and a half months before, she trusted Maya and Julie to make sure everything was ready.

Walking through the front door Dashiell dozing in her arms while Emily carried Cora, she sighed in relief when the first thing she saw was the baby gates on the stairs. Guiding Emily through the house she made sure her daughter remembered where everything was, showed her the kitchen fully stocked with food appropriate for toddlers along with a high chair and booster seat. The suspicious look on Emily's face when she was told she was free to use anything whenever she wanted worried her.

"My study... I'm on leave until the new year so I won't be in here much." Elizabeth commented waving towards it absently, before heading to the stairs, she was opening the gate when she noticed Emily still standing in the study door looking inside with an unreadable look on her face.

"You and Daddy had a fight in here..." she murmured "I didn't understand why you were taking me away from him... Julie gave me cookies and juice..."

"I didn't take you away... he refused to come with us..."

Emily nodded "I remember, I never knew what to think when he tried to blame you for me not seeing him. For a while you'd tell me when Daddy was visiting sometimes he turned up sometimes he didn't"

"You were heartbroken every time he didn't show up when promised so I stopped telling you when he was going to visit. I couldn't watch him hurt anymore." They'd never talked about her father's absence before.

"That's how I knew it wasn't your fault... what's the date?" Elizabeth blinked at the sudden subject change, this was the first time Emily asked.

"11th of December 1990"

Emily's eyes drifted to the formal lounge "The tree's not up yet... we always decorated on the first." she chose to ignore the true implications of the date.

"I wouldn't decorate without you…" Elizabeth hadn't decorated for Christmas since the one before Emily went missing. "I'll get everything out of storage tomorrow and the four of us can decorate together."

Emily nodded absently and turned towards the stairs. Elizabeth let them through the gates and led her up to the new suite Maya had managed to put together for them earlier in the day.

"All your things are still there, Maya had to rearrange and box up some of it to make room for the crib and Dashiell's bed." Elizabeth led her into the room.

Her twin bed had been replaced with a double, and pushed against the far wall under the window with the children's bed's opposite. Emily's posters had been pulled down and stored away, the walls left the soft cream Elizabeth had painted the room when pregnant with Emily… Emily didn't know what to make of the deep maroon quilt set and pillows on her bed.

Dashiell's little bed was plain white with a grass green comforter while Cora's white crib had lavender bedding. Maya had even added wooden name decal's that matched the bedding mounted over their beds. Each bed had a set of drawers that matched the bedding and Elizabeth was willing to bet Julie had half filled them with clothes already.

"We're allowed blankets?" Emily asked letting a hand drift over the soft material on her bed.

"You didn't have them?" Elizabeth was dreading the answer.

"Sir took them away, as long as I obeyed he didn't turn the heat off so we didn't need them. I got used to it and he always left clean clothes for them."

Needing a moment to compose herself Elizabeth turned away and tucked Dashiell in his bed running a gentle hand over his head before leaning down to kiss his cheek "You need a haircut little man" she mused before turning back to Emily.

"You're allowed as many blankets as you want" Elizabeth stated "now come and have a look at this..."

She lead Emily to the doorway that hadn't been there this morning, what had been a guest room was now a cozy play room. One corner had a princess play-mat with enough dolls and stuffed animals for 3 little girls, another had a race track themed mat with duplo, cars and trucks.

A television sat in a giant book shelf which was stuffed full of books and videos.

The bottom three shelves contained Emily's childhood book collection, Elizabeth knew she's lost Emily's attention when she pulled 'The Enchanted Wood'* from it's place. Backing away silently she watched as Emily sat down on the couch with Cora and started to read aloud.

"There were once three children, called Jo, Bessie, and Fanny. All their lives they had lived in a town..."

Stepping out of the room and into the hall she noticed for the first time the doors to Emily's area weren't just open but had been removed all together. Peeking back in she checked the new opening and confirmed there was no door there, same with Emily's ensuite. Each entry had a baby gate to stop the little ones from wandering but there was nothing to stop Emily from getting out. Maya must have moved heaven and earth to get all of this done for them.

One by one she checked every single door upstairs and all of the handles had been replaced so none of them could lock. Further investigation revealed only Elizabeth's bedroom and bathroom doors actually closed now. Sitting on her bed a single sheet of white paper lay.

'Elizabeth,

Julie gave me the basics when she called to tell me to take the doors off Em's room. I took the liberty of making sure there is no where in your house they can accidentally get locked in or out of. I also added extendable key rings to the front and back doors so she can never be locked in the house (at Emily's eye level so the little ones can't reach them)

Call me when the kids are ready for their own rooms and I'll take care of everything. I'll bring the doors back when Emily asks me to.

xxoo Maya

P.S. I expect pictures of the little ones. They've got to be just as gorgeous as Em.

Biting her cheek against the sobs she'd been holding back for 24 hours, Elizabeth went into her bathroom, stripped down and turned the water on as hot as she could stand. With the noise from the exhaust and water for cover she stood there and cried.

Eventually her tears ran out, she quickly turned the water off, dried and dressed in comfortable pyjama's before going downstairs to make herself some tea. Emily's quiet reading following down the stairs.

When she came back upstairs with her tea, everything was quiet. The toy room was empty, when she stood at the bedroom door she found Emily stripped down standing in front of her closet staring at the new and old clothes it contained. She hadn't really gotten a good look when Lucy photographed her earlier, but seeing the hand shaped bruises on Emily's hips, the welts on her back along with the deep purple colour that seemed to cover the entirety of her buttocks and thighs invoked a rage she didn't know existed. Proof that Emily was raped was sleeping peacefully in the room but this stark evidence of violence and Emily's seeming indifference to her injuries twisted the knife in her gut another notch.

How bad must it have been for pain to be a constant and ignorable companion.

She watched as Emily seemed to make a decision and pulled on a pair of cotton panties before slipping into the bed.

Sighing in relief, Elizabeth followed suit.

When she woke for the second time at 3am Elizabeth considered crawling into bed with Emily so she at least she wouldn't have to get out of bed when the panic struck and she wanted to confirm this was real and her daughter was home safe.

An hour later a loud crash and thump startled her awake, it was quickly followed by the sound of Emily sobbing.

Throwing herself out of bed and running to Emily's bedroom she found chaos.

The children's new dressers had been dragged out into the playroom and Emily had managed to move her own bed into the middle of the room where Dashiell was sitting in the middle of it watching her still half asleep while Cora looked on from her her crib with wide tearful eyes.

Elizabeth arrived just in time to see Emily move the crib with Cora still in it to the corner. Completely at a loss as to why Emily would be doing this at four am she stepped back to observe.

When Emily was happy with the crib placement she moved Dashiell in with his sister and pushed her bed right up against it trapping the children between herself and a wall. Dashiell's empty bed was hauled up on it's head and used to block the crib in from the open end, dressers brought back in and shoved behind it.

In it's new position the crib was hidden from a view of the window and mostly hidden from the door. The width of the bed meant no one would be able to reach the children without literally stepping on Emily or moving the dressers and other bed. Crawling along the bed Emily dropped the side of the crib, and then her head to the pillow.

Their first appointment with Dr Trewlynn was the next day but Elizabeth would be calling her to see if she should push back on Emily to put the room back the way Maya arranged it or leave it.

She suspected she would be making a lot of these phone calls.

Tomorrow was going to be exhausting for all of them, Agent Rossi had spent the day interviewing Knight while Gideon continued to go through the house. They had asked for Emily to meet them in Quantico at 2 that afternoon to start getting her statement.

Which reminded her she needed to get Emily a new watch… instead of going back to bed Elizabeth headed downstairs to her study and started working on a to do list.

At 6am she went down to the basement and hauled the Christmas decorations up to the lounge.

She was in the middle of preparing a full breakfast when Julie let herself in the front door just after 7.

In hushed tones she filled Julie in on what Emily had done with the beds as well as the to do list she'd made. Grabbing a pen the younger woman immediately crossed off a few items she'd already taken care of.

Leaving the food in Julie's capable hand Elizabeth made her way upstairs and stuck her head into Emily's bedroom to find the beds all empty and the sounds of the shower. A little unsure of exactly how to proceed she decided to simply call out to her.

"Em… come down when you're ready for breakfast." she waited to see if there was a response, after a good 30 seconds of only the sound of water running a nervous voice called back.

"Ok…" taking it as a win Elizabeth went back downstairs.

Less than 30 minutes later they heard the top gate open and close followed by the uneven thud of little feet working their way down stairs then the top gate closed. Dashiell arrived first followed by Emily helping Cora walk, two tiny hands raised and wrapped around her mothers fingers. The children are fully dressed but Emily is only in cotton panties and a tank top.

Elizabeth shrugged as Emily looked bewildered at the spread of food waiting to be chosen then cooked.

"I didn't know what you wanted so I made all your favourites."

Staring at the pancake batter a small smile cross her face "They've never had pancakes" she could never remember the recipe her mother used and Sir never brought them the pre-mix.

"Blueberry, banana or chocolate chip?"Julie points out each of the options. For once it wasn't a matter of being unable to choose, she wanted all of them.

"Yes please…"

10 minutes later Emily is seated on the floor, Cora in her lap and Dashiell facing her sharing a banana pancake. Between the three of them they polished off 5, Cora seemed to prefer the banana and Dashiell the blueberries. When the first drop of warm gooey chocolate hit Emily's tongue she groaned in delight.

Flipping her to do list over Elizabeth started to write down all of Emily's favourite meals. No matter what she had to do she would make sure the ingredients were available.

"Em… you love Tulumba* and Baclava* don't you?"

For the first time a real smile crosses her face.

Dave had chosen Quantico to interview Emily specifically for the more relaxed feel. The Hoover building or a police station were both busy bustling places and at 2pm there would be people everywhere, the academy itself was closed for the year so there were no cadets wandering round lunch would be finished and all the agents and staff would be back at the desks giving him a clear shot at getting Emily into one of the interview rooms without unnecessary contact with others.

They'd booked out one of the family rooms for the afternoon, and between the three of them worked out the best strategy.

Gideon would be observing from outside with Elizabeth, Katie would be in the room with them but not participating in the questioning, a female presence sitting by her side who would act as advocate not agent.

Dave was asking the questions. He'd spent hours the night before, pouring over Knights journals pinpointing the critical information they needed to get off Emily and then trying to work out how to get it. Dave knew without a doubt that this would just be the first of many sessions, there was so much information to go through, they had time. The federal prosecutor had already charged Knight with the attempted kidnapping of Dara Summers and between the evidence in the house and the bodies in the back yard they were looking at multiple counts of first degree murder. It was the charges regarding Emily that would be the hardest to work out because of the length of time she had been there.

At 1:45 he went down to the front desk to wait.

Five minutes later the four Prentiss' walked slowly through the doors, Dashiell asleep on Elizabeth's shoulder, Cora wide awake and walking with Emily's assistance.

Dave got them signed in and taken up to the interview room where they were introduced to Katie who took Emily inside while Dave spoke quietly to Elizabeth

None of them missed Emily testing the door to make sure it wasn't locked.

"She's dressed!" Dave smiled as he lead her into the observation area.

"Yeah, last night she wore only underwear to bed, breakfast was eaten on the kitchen floor in panties and a tank top which were taken off while she played with the children upstairs, she forgot the shirt but remembered to put the panties back on for lunch. My first goal is to keep her in underwear for a full 24 hours." Elizabeth filled him in on their day so far "You did warn Agent Cole about the clothes thing?"

"Katie's read the full case file. Agent Gideon" he nodded at the other man "will be observing with you out here, feel free to ask him anything. I'll be questioning Emily and Katie's only role in this is to support Emily, if Emily starts getting distressed we can stop and either take a break or finish up. This is one of our family rooms so all three will be comfortable, finally we're going to video each of our interviews with her to be transcribed into a witness statement. She'll just need to read and sign it. Any questions?"

Elizabeth shook her head and turned away from the men to watch her daughter and grandchildren through the glass.

"I'm not going to lie to you" Gideon stated quietly as Dave slipped out "this is going to be tough to listen to. He's going to need her to go into details that no mother should hear about things no daughter should experience."

"Do you know what would be harder?" Elizabeth shot back "Not getting her back at all or being told that her body was dug up in that monsters back yard with the rest of those poor girls... I want to go and knock on each of those parents doors I want to hug them and tell them how sorry I am that they couldn't get their daughter back to. I am going to go to the funerals and I'm going to mourn them for the rest of my life."

In the room Katie was attempting to engage the children but they were shyly clinging to Emily. Knowing they would open up in their own time Katie started talking to Emily trying to get a base line on her emotional reactions so she would know when to intervene.

After a few minutes Dave came into the room and sat down across from them.

His first few questions baffled Elizabeth as he asked her about how things had gone over night, what they had for breakfast, asking questions about her life before Knight had taken her things he already knew the answer to.

"He's building a baseline of truthful responses." Gideon was quick to explain.

"Do you believe she'd lie?" Elizabeth was not happy with the inference.

"Not lie but not be truthful either" Gideon didn't turn to look at Elizabeth "One of the first things Dave noticed is she's been conditioned to tell people what they want to hear, agree with them no matter what. Knight used environmental control as a punishment and reward. When she responded the way he wanted he opened the blinds and left the heat on. If she didn't he left her in the dark and cold. What she thinks and wants doesn't matter, she'll say anything to stop the heat and lights from being turned off. That's why we need the base line so we know when to reword a question to get an accurate response from her."

"The 'only if you want me to' response we've been getting." Elizabeth nodded her understanding.

"Emily, can you tell me about the day you met the man you call Sir."

"I woke up in my room, Sir was watching me. He kissed me then left. I don't know how long it was before he came back."

"Go back a little further, what was the last thing you did before meeting him."

Emily didn't respond straight away instead watched Dashiell playing with a truck.

"Maya Angelou" she finally responded "I had to do an essay on a modern poem of my choice for AP Lit. I picked 'A caged bird*' I went to the library to do some research cause I wanted to break down the linguistic and historical meanings of the words. I was curious about what would change if you used the traditional meanings versus the modern ones" she paused as Cora crawled up her body to lie against her "my dad had called the day before... he wanted to take me out to dinner but... I didn't think he'd show so I stayed at the library later than normal... it was already dark when I left... I was walking to the bus stop and then I was in my room with Sir."

Dave nodded and made a few notes.

"Can you tell me about the next time you saw Sir?"

And so it went, Dave slowly walking her through those first weeks. Sometimes she answered straight away sometimes she hesitated and sometimes she simply didn't answer.

Sensing her mothers stress Cora did the only thing she knew, cuddled up close and nursed. When the let down hit Emily's body was flooded with dopamine and oxytocin relaxing her.

They were 2 hours in when Dave asked the last question he had for that day.

"Emily, can you tell me about the first time Sir turned off the heat?"

Emily swallowed hard and glanced up at the two way mirror she knew her mother was on the other side of.

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to say no..." She whispered "Sir was kissing me, he touched my breast, I didn't want him to so I said no. Sir got angry and left the room, he shut the blinds then the lights and the heat went out. It was so cold, but I still had a blanket and my clothes. I must have fallen asleep.

"and when you woke up?" Dave pushed her gently despite Katie's warning glance. Emily's hands had started shaking.

"It was warm again... my clothes we gone and he was in bed with me... my hands were cuffed. I tried to fight but I couldn't move... I couldn't get away... I told him to stop... and he said 'I own this body, I can do what I want, when I want to it'. He touched me, put his fingers inside me... I didn't like it... but I did... my... I..." she trailed off and looked at Katie pleadingly for help unable to voice the rest….

"Emily..." she kept her voice soft "did you get aroused when he touched you?"

Emily nodded "Sir made sure it always happened. He said it's not as much fun if I'm not wet."

"Emily..." Dave brought her attention back to him "what happened next?"

"Sir fucked me, I begged him to stop… it hurt so badly… I just wanted him to stop. Then he just left… I was tied to the bed… the lights went out and it got cold again…"

Out in the observation room Gideon turned to Elizabeth an unreadable look on his face.

"Your daughter is very brave... that being said you need to prepare yourself for her never recovering from her imprisonment. She may spend the rest of her life hiding away from the world with those children and you'll need to decide if they're not better off with a family who'll let them live in the real world."

"We'll stop there for today" Dave's voice echoed through the speaker.

"Agent Gideon... I appreciate you're an expert in the behaviour of serial killers but if you can't curb your negativity I don't want you anywhere near my daughter. It's barely been 48 hours, to make that judgement so soon just sets Emily up to fail."

She slipped out of the observation room and met Emily at the door to the interview room.

"Same time Friday?" Dave asked

"We'll be here." Elizabeth confirmed as she took Dashiell's hand and stated to walk away but Emily stood still her mind trying to work through something.

"Agent Rossi... he's in jail now isn't he?" She had suspected since the moment she looked up and saw Dave instead of Sir in her room.

"Yes he is" he confirmed

Emily nodded her head slowly and then turned and walked away.

When they arrived back at the house Emily hadn't spoken a word, she was trapped inside her own head.

She got out of the car, and slid past Julie who was waiting at the door. Made her way upstairs stripping her clothes off as she went. She walked into her room, slid under the covers and went to sleep.

Ignoring Emily for the moment Julie and Elizabeth pulled the kids out of the car and took them into the kitchen for an afternoon snack. Deciding to copy the way Emily fed them Elizabeth sat down on the floor fed Cora a banana while Dashiell snacked on an apple.

"I got the bed rails and mounted them up, tree is being delivered in the morning and Antony called wanting money for a new business venture, I told him you were in security meetings for the next two weeks and wouldn't be available. The lawyer called back he got you in front of a judge tomorrow morning. Dr Trewlynn is going to go to the courthouse with us after Emily's session, he's booked us a conference room so Emily can relax there with the kids while you do the boring part."

Both considered it a massive win when 15 minutes passed before either children asked for their mother.

Taking them upstairs she popped them on the bed with Emily and watched as they quickly burrowed under the blanket to snuggle.

Emily didn't leave her bed for the rest of the day… she let Elizabeth take Dashiell down for dinner but refused to come down herself or let Cora go.

Dr Trewlynn said to just leave her for the night and they would reassess in the morning if she didn't come down for breakfast.

Elizabeth had another sleepless night and when she woke up to check on them for the second time she gave in and slid into the bed wrapping her body around Emily's.

"I missed him…" a hoarse voice broke through the night "it was so dark and cold… i think I started to see and hear things… he always came back and after so long alone I looked forward to seeing him…"

Elizabeth pulled Emily tighter towards him.

"I didn't want to miss him…"

"I know"

Just before 7 Elizabeth slid out of the bed and left Emily sleeping soundly. 30 minutes later she was showered and dressed for the day, sticking her head in Emily's room the beds were once again empty and the shower running.

"Em, I'm going down to start breakfast come down when you're ready"

Like the previous day Emily didn't respond straight away but eventually and "Ok" floated out of the bathroom.

Looking through the cupboard and fridge she decided on oatmeal. Additions would be put out for Emily to chose from.

Brown sugar, bananas, several different types of berries, chocolate chips were laid out along with several smaller bowls instead of a large one. Every meal so far had been shared and in the grand scheme of things not something to worry about.

The rest of the morning was a repeat of the day before...

"Emily, your mother told you about going to court this afternoon... Do you understand why we're doing this?" All signs so far pointed to Emily not really caring about Elizabeth's application for Guardian ad litem over herself and the children.

All of Emily's focus was on Dashiell and the block tower they were building together. Her eyes flickered to Anita as she shrugged.

"Do you remember when we spoke the other day about the kids and how they'd need to see doctor's, and take swimming lessons, maybe join a playgroup and all of that needs someone to sign permission for? When the new baby comes they'll need vaccinations and check ups as well. Do you think you could do that?"

Emily's eyes widened in terror as she shook her head violently.

"Today we're going to talk to a judge and get your Mom permission to do all of that for the three of you. Over the next little while she can teach you what to do and how to manage it yourself. Same as your trust fund, the judge is going to make sure no one else can get to it while you learn how to deal with everything. Is that ok with you?"

"Mom won't take them away..." Emily stated confidently her eyes firmly on the children.

"No she won't" Anita confirmed. Elizabeth Prentiss was as dangerous as a poked bear right now, she would destroy anyone who even looked at Emily the wrong way.

---

Surprisingly Dave Rossi was waiting at the courthouse for them. He settled in the seat behind them while Elizabeth's attorney presented their requests.

"Dr Trewlynn are you declaring Emily mentally incompetent to manage her own affairs?"

"No your honour, you've twisted our words. She's emotionally unable to manage her own affairs and asking her to right now is not fair on her or the children. Making Elizabeth Prentiss their Guardian ad litem gives Emily the time and space she needs to heal and slowly take on these responsibilities as and when she is ready." Anita is firm.

"And is Emily aware of what you're all doing in here, essentially taking control of her life and has the possibility of placing the children in foster care while Emily heals been discussed?"

"Both Elizabeth and I discussed the guardianship with her your honour" Anita confirmed "What she took it to mean is she wouldn't have to make any decisions that would upset her former captor and the children stay with her. I considered short term hospitalisation for Emily while the children stayed with their grandmother and ultimately decided against it, from everything we've observed she is a patient and loving mother, she ensures they are clean, dressed, fed and loved. The only developmental milestone they've missed is socialisation which is already being rectified as they are exposed to new people and experiences. Emily did it all on her own, and to seperate them away now would cause unnecessary distress and be downright cruel."

The judge nodded slowly and looked at the nearly empty room. His gaze locked on Dave.

"And what is your interest in this?"

"Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi, your Honour" Dave stood "I'm the Unit Chief of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit." he paused for a moment before explaining his presence.

"Nearly four years ago Emily Prentiss didn't come home from school. She stopped at the library to work on an essay and then disappeared. The police and her father rode her off as a teenage runaway but Elizabeth refused to accept that, she knew her daughter and knew that she wouldn't take off so she came to me. I started digging and I found 6 other girls within 3 hours driving distance with the same story. High academic achievers, sensible, responsible, caucasian, 16, brunette, brown eyes, one day they simply didn't come home. Their parents all said they wouldn't run away... the police found no evidence of foul play so their cases went cold. On Monday Damien Knight was arrested attempting to abduct 16 year old Dara Summers, when we searched his house we found Emily, Dashiell and Cora locked in the basement. Since then we've exhumed 11 bodies from his back yard, early this morning I received confirmation that the bodies of all 6 'run aways' were among them. I'm here because too many people gave up on those girls, Emily included. I can't do anything more for the others but I can make sure Emily has the support to get through to the other side, I can make sure she knows I will never give up on her."

"Thank you for your candor Agent Rossi" the judge acknowledged "Ambassador Prentiss you're also requesting I appoint an independent trustee to oversee an inheritance that Emily doesn't come into until next October..."

"Yes your Honour. If the guardianship is still in place when Emily turns 21 I get full access and control of the money. I don't want it or need it, I can easily support Emily and her children as long as necessary. I want to avoid any accusations that I am doing this for the money and to be completely blunt I want to ensure Emily's father cannot gain access to it either. Included in the applications are the details of two attempts Antony made to dissolve the trust while she was missing, an independent trustee will ensure that her inheritance is protected and there for her when she is ready."

He took another five minutes to flick through the paperwork Elizabeth had presented with her application.

"Before I approve this I'd like to meet Emily. I assume she's waiting outside?"

"I booked out one of the family rooms your honour" The attorney confirmed "A friend of the family is waiting with them." he paused as Elizabeth touched his elbow and whispered in his ear. He looked at her his eyes widening in surprise and nodded for Elizabeth to speak.

"A word of warning your honour, Emily is still nursing Cora and is not uncomfortable sitting topless. Dashiell does not nurse regularly but we've noticed that when he's feeling overwhelmed he will for comfort. Please do not be surprised if when faced with two men they have never met before the children seek comfort in that form."

None of them even considered the kneeling.

Emily was dozing on a large beanbag with both children asleep in with her when the door started to open. Reverting to instinct she had the children on the beanbag and herself on her knees eyes downcast before the judge even got through the door. Pushing past the judge Elizabeth kneeled in front of her and with a gentle hand tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Em... It's not Sir, you don't need to kneel..."

He watched silently as Elizabeth coxed Emily off her knees and got her settled back with the children.

He didn't miss the utter terror in her eyes when she glanced at him...

He'd seen enough, nodding to Dr Trewlynn he exited the room and went back to his courtroom. Once everyone else had joined him he started to speak.

"Given what this young lady has been through I'm hesitant to approve the emergency guardianship, at the same time I understand your reasons for seeking it and applaud your effort to do this in a way to avoid anything to implicate Emily as an unfit mother. I'm approving the order with two proviso's, firstly I want bi-monthly updates on Emily's progress. I understand she will have good day's and bad days but as she heals we should all be able to see regular changes in her management of her affairs. Secondly I will be asking DCSS to appoint a social worker to monitor the children's home life, I have no doubt they will be loved and well looked after in your home but an unbiased eye cannot hurt. Should, as you fear anyone try to use Emily's ordeal against her a District appointed social worker will be well placed to either refute or support any claim that the children are not being cared for. Unless something changes drastically we will revisit the issue in 6 months time."

"Finally I'm authorising the appointment of an independent trustee to oversee Emily's inheritance with the expectation that management be handed over to Emily either on her 21st birthday or the Guardian ad litem order is revoked, whichever comes last."

The next morning Emily didn't get out of bed.

When Elizabeth went to let her know breakfast was ready, she hadn't moved and didn't respond when she called out. Following the doctor's advise Elizabeth left her to get up in her own time.

Sitting down with the untouched decorations from 2 days previous Elizabeth busied herself untangling and checking the lights until Dashiell's voice echoed down the stairs.

"Maman… refkast?"

It takes her a moment to realise it's her he's calling out to. For some reason that they haven't worked out yet Emily is happy to let the little boy socialise as he pleases but keeps Cora close. Elizabeth has only held her granddaughter the once, it could be as simple as Cora being younger and clingier and as her pregnancy progresses she'll loosen her hold but Elizabeth suspects there is much more to it than that.

She gets the little boy dressed and downstairs with no sign of life from Emily, as Dashiell is messily inhaling a serving of scrambled eggs the sound of Emily throwing up can be heard clearly.

The morning sickness seems to be bouncing between slight nausea and severe vomiting. Julie had booked Emily in to see Elizabeth's OB/GYN the following week, she would bring it up then. Despite over 20 years passing since she'd been pregnant she still remembered what worked for her. Slicing up a banana and throwing it into a bowl with a handful of cheerios, she grabbed some unbuttered toast and headed upstairs with Dashiell on her heals. There was a big difference between Emily not wanting to come down and being too sick to.

Leaving the food on the side table she sat down on the bed and pulled the covers down just enough to see Emily's pale and sweaty face.

"There's dry toast for you, fruit and cheerios for Cora… let me know if you need me to take her for a while."

"Can you feed her please…" tired eyes slid shut.

"Sure… come here sweet girl." she holds her hands out with a big smile and is delighted when the girl wiggles out from under the blanket and crawls awkwardly over her mothers blanket covered body. "We'll be in the playroom"

Cora lasts nearly 30 minutes before she starts fussing for Emily and the two of them spend rest of the morning curled up in bed.

She calls Dave to warn him they might not make it today, he's flexible and tell's her to call him when she knows for sure.

Just after one Emily finally makes it out of bed and drags herself to the car for the drive south.

While she wouldn't qualify the interview as a complete disaster it's close and Katie terminates it 20 minutes in when Emily attempts to describe the first time he'd shaved her and gets so upset she starts to throw up again.

Elizabeth doesn't miss the tears pricking Dave and Katie's eyes.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

---

2006

She left Hotch's office practically walking on air after he agreed to trial her in the unit, the first thing she does is call Dave almost squealing in excitement. Her second call is to her mother and Julie, the third is to Anita Trewlynn.

At Dave's insistence he takes her, Cora and Skylar out for dinner that night.

The next morning she's setting up her desk and Agent Gideon is walking past as she's putting up a photo her mother had taken that September. It was the day they'd moved Dashiell into the dorms at Yale, the four of them are sitting in the sun smiling happily Skylar leaning back against Emily's chest, Dashiell and Cora on either side arms around her shoulders, dark hair mingling together.

A man and a woman walk up and introduce themselves as Agent Derek Morgan and Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. They both see the photo in her hands and ask about her kids.

Gideon watches from his office and knows she made it this far partially due to Elizabeth Prentiss' grit and determination but mostly it was Emily's own innate stubbornness and desire to succeed.

3 hours later he takes her to Gitmo. They don't have a chance to talk, they're too focused on the case and he senses that she won't talk in front of Spencer.

On the way home Spencer is napping and Gideon takes the opportunity to talk over a chess game.

"What's happening with the girls while you're on cases?"

"Do you remember Dara Summers?" He does "She moved to DC when she got into Georgetown and never left the city, we're good friends and she and Dave are keeping an eye on them for me."

"I didn't think you'd make it this far" he admits.

"Most people didn't… my mother, Julie, Dave and Anita… not once did they give up on me."

---

1991

The judge looks across at Emily Prentiss sitting opposite him in his chambers and smiles proudly.

7 months since he'd given Elizabeth guardianship over Emily and her children and the 20 year old had progressed faster than any of them expected.

The reports from Anita Trewlynn and the social worker all agreed that while she was doing well she wasn't ready for everything to be dumped on her yet. He wanted to make sure Emily agreed.

'Easily manipulated' was a phrase they both used. The bad days were now few and far between but when they hit they were brutal for the whole family. Dave Rossi was still trying to get her full statement so the prosecutor could lay complete charges against Damian Knight for what he'd done to Emily. Antony Prentiss had turned up at the end of January and attempted to get the court orders changed to give him guardianship of Emily and control of the trust, the resulting fight had done a lot of damage and reversed nearly all of the progress she had made.

The judge had initially been furious when Elizabeth's attorney had called the morning of the original hearing date and requested additional time before Emily's re-evaluation, the message citing a medical emergency. The social worker had received the same message and Dr Trewlynn was unavailable. A quick call to Dave revealed the day before Emily had gone into labour 4 weeks early and given birth to a girl. Skylar Prentiss was tiny but strong and had now been home from hospital for over two weeks. This birth had been in a hospital, surrounded by medical professionals, her mother holding her hand. 5 pound 2 ounces at birth the tiny girl was perfectly healthy if a little impatient.

The baby was nestled comfortably in a sling against her mothers chest while Elizabeth entertained the older two in the background letting Emily speak for herself.

"I'm getting there… having Skylar has helped because I get to make all the choices I couldn't with the other two. I picked out her bassinet, I got to go shopping for her clothes, I'm choosing to nurse her because I want to and not because I know she'll starve to death if I don't." Emily spoke shyly at first.

The judge is horrified by what she's just admitted to him but doesn't let it show.

"I've started working on getting my GED… I'm hoping to go to college. I've got an advisor and he said my grades are good enough to get me into Georgetown. Maybe fall next year… we'll see."

She perks up "I got my license, Mom's going to sell me the jeep… and we've booked Dashiell into pre-school two days a week starting in September."

They chat for a while and he's impressed with her intelligence and self-awareness. When he'd met with Dr Trewlynn earlier he'd voiced a concern that Emily would stall in her progress sometime soon. The doctor agreed and also admitted there were some things she was holding back and they were still finding and working through triggers.

"Emily, I'm going to suggest something to you that I want to hear your thoughts on."

She nods slowly.

"I'm wondering what you'd think of me reversing the guardianship order on you but leaving the one for the children in place for the time being?"

He waits patiently as she considers his suggestion choosing not to qualify a timeline or how it would all work.

She opens her mouth to speak when Skylar starts to fuss, she turns her attention to the baby and quickly gets her latched on to feed.

"How would it work?" Emily asks wanting more information.

"It means your mother would no longer need to sign off on anything you wish to do. For example she would have needed to sign off on your classes for your GED, when you start back in September you don't need her to go with you. By leaving things in place for the children for now you can get comfortable managing everything for yourself without worrying about keeping up with everything for them. Then in say 6 months time we sit down again just like this and if everything is going well and your coping we'll talk about removing the guardianship order on the children."

He watches her carefully as she rolls the new information over in her head, bottom lip firmly between her teeth.

"Can I add my own proviso's?"

"You can most certainly make suggestions and requests for us to discuss and work with." This was the response he and Dr Trewlynn had been hoping for.

"Assuming everything goes well between now and January do you think it would be a good idea to set up either some kind of joint custody or maybe start with Cora and then Skylar and Dashiell later on?"

The judge didn't miss Elizabeth's head shoot up and the concerned look on her face at the order she named the children in. He'd expected her to name the baby first, then the two older ones.

"We can definitely look at those options. Emily, at the end of the day we're moving at your pace. The healing process takes time and none of us will ask you to take on more than you're ready for."

"I've been sitting down with Mr Barns and Julie once a week going over my trust and everything involved and I know I'm not going to be ready to manage it myself in October Removing the guardianship order means I'll have the trust to worry about as well…"

Peter Barns was a respected inheritance lawyer who after making more money than he knew what to do with, spent most of his time overseeing the trusts of various minors as a court appointed independent trustee, much like he was doing for Emily. He'd built a reputation of being a bulldog when it came to protecting his young clients interests and making sure they knew how to manage their money properly. He'd contacted Elizabeth in January and asked to meet with Emily who refused at the time. Her father had just turned up and was causing problems… it was all too much for her… by April she was ready and Elizabeth had refused to be involved, as she'd always planned Julie had taken Emily and Cora down to meet with the trustee while Elizabeth stayed with Dashiell.

"Have you asked Peter for any suggestions on what you should do when you do gain control?" He could see the surprise written all over her face at the suggestion. He suspected no one expected her to be here yet.

---

Dave sighed, two day's before they'd finally finished getting Emily's statement.

Happy 21st birthday…

The stack of papers sitting in front of him was the mostly complete statement. From reading the journals Dave knew there were several things she hadn't brought up and based on her body language she'd either blocked them out or couldn't face verbalising them. He'd didn't want to push her but they needed everything so the prosecutor could lay the final charges.

He'd called Anita Trewlynn who without breaking Emily's confidence confirmed she couldn't get her to open up about them either.

One in particular thing was a big concern for Anita and Elizabeth.

Emily still clung to Cora.

Now fully licensed Emily drove herself to and from Quantico, when Elizabeth was available Dashiell was left with her, Skylar was still nursing and Emily wouldn't express. Cora was never left behind, Emily kept the 22 month old with her as much as possible, to the point she'd asked if the toddler could stay in the hospital with her when Skylar was born.

When she arrived today she didn't know Anita and Elizabeth would already be there. Anita was going to sit in on the interview while Dave pushed her to talk about what she was hiding.

Once they got settled Dave handed over a copy of her statement so far and started prompting her to go to different sections, answer the emotionally charged questions they hadn't asked the first time around.

Fifteen minutes in Katie knocked on the door.

"I thought I'd take Dashiell to get a snack…"

Knowing he was safe with Katie in Quantico Emily smiled weakly and nodded.

Completely unplanned Skylar started crying 20 minutes later… a quick check revealed the baby needed her diaper changed. Before Emily could do anything Katie was in the room taking the baby out to Elizabeth.

"I'll take care of it for you."

She didn't even get a chance to protest before they were gone.

"Emily…" Dave drew her attention back to the statement "Page 83. You said that Knight refused to bring baby formula. Can you expand on that for me please?"

"Ummm…" Emily swallowed her eyes on the door Katie had just gone through "Dashiell was a baby, Knight was curious about just how much milk he could get out of me… he only did it the once but he tied me up and expressed all of the milk I had, when it returned he'd do it again. When it was time to feed Dashiell he'd let me down, the third or fourth time… he said if I can't feed the baby myself then the baby wouldn't be eating at all 'It's a good thing you're body works as advertised cause I'm never buying formula' he said"

"If your milk hadn't come in after giving birth?" Dave asks

"Dashiell would have starved to death"

His questions continue and she starts to relax back into them, still worried about Dashiell and Skylar but focused on him.

In the background Cora played happily with the dolls Emily had brought with them.

He's down to the final question when Katie comes in for a 3rd time.

"I thought I'd take Cora out to join the others…" she says as she scoops the toddler up with a big smile.

"No!" Emily snaps "She stays here."

Katie walks towards the door "We'll just be outside playing."

"I said she stays with me." Emily starts to stand but Anita reaches up and grabs her arm.

"Why does she need to stay, Emily?" She asks softly diverting the brunettes attention just long enough for Katie to slip outside.

"She just does…" Emily stares at the closed door.

"Page 169" Dave interjects softly and reads from the statement "'Cora was really young, it was only the 3rd or 4th time Sir took me to the other room after her birth. He left me on the cross and then opened the door. I'd left Dashiell and Cora in the crib asleep and I could hear them. Cora started to fuss, it was time to feed her and Sir normally let me go to feed the baby. He didn't this time, she cried and cried and cried… I could hear it she was so hungry and I just wanted to get to her… I begged him to let me feed her….' we had to stop there, what did Knight do after you asked him to let you feed Cora?"

She doesn't respond, still staring at the closed door, breath speeding up, complexion bloodless.

"Emily, we need to know what happened after that" Dave pushed her

"No…please not that" tears spill out of her eyes and cut down her cheeks… she doesn't want to remember.

"Come on Emily, just tell me what he said…" Dave let's his voice raise just enough to push her over the edge.

His tone startles her enough so she stands quickly knocking the chair over and backs away until she hits the wall. Sliding down it, her head drops to her knees as she sucks in air that just won't come easy enough.

"He told me never to beg again…" she chokes out

"What else?" Dave's voice feels too close.

"He'd said he'd go and get her…" she's nearly hysterical, tugging on her hair the way he used to, the pain sending her right back to that moment in that room "'the next time you beg I'll bring it in here and snap it's neck, I'll tie its dead body to you, leave you right there so you can feel your baby decomposing all because you thought you could ask for something…you'll be stuck there listening to the other one scream as it starves to death and then I'll let you down and start all over again and every baby you birth after that… when it's half way out I'll snap it's neck to"

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

---

*Tulumba: a popular dessert found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire. It is a fried batter soaked in syrup, similar to jalebis and churros

*Baclava: a rich, sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey

*The Enchanted Wood: The first book in a series of children's books by Enid Blyton