Emily looks at Pete. "We need EMS. And, Pete, he'll probably be scared of men."
Pete nods in understanding, stepping out of the room to make the call, with a special request for female EMT's. Emily pulls herself all the way up into the attic. She stares at the terrified, dark-haired boy who had been in the very first DVD she had watched; the boy from the Amber Alert that had spurred the investigation. She doesn't approach him.
"Hi, my name is Emily. I'm a police officer. You're safe now, okay? No one is going to hurt you anymore. I promise. Can you come here so I can hand you down to my friend Jennifer?"
The boy shakes his head, trying to get farther into the corner. Emily nods and holds her position.
"Okay. We can just sit here for a few minutes. Can you tell me your name?"
The boy shakes his head again. Emily is not sure if little Victor Tobbin is too scared to speak or has been trained to forget his name.
"I see. Can you tell me how you got here?"
He lifts a shaking hand and points at the opening. Emily nods…of course he answered how he got into the attic.
"He's traumatized, Emily. You saw what they did to him. It's going to take time to break through the terror," she cautions herself. She sits down cross-legged in front of him. "Do you mind if I just sit here and talk to you a little bit?"
He just stares at her, worried he'll answer wrong. Emily smiles.
"Your Mommy and Daddy are really missing you. They asked us to find you and now we have."
The little boy is frowning as if he doesn't believe her. Emily pulls out her phone and keys up the press conference his parents had spoken at 2 days before. She hits play and slides the phone over to him.
With shaking hands the little boy lifts the phone and stares at the screen. He starts to cry.
"M- -M- -Mommy," he stutters.
Emily nods. "Yes. Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Victor. If you come with me, I can take you to them."
"Em, the EMT's are here," JJ whispers from just below the entrance.
Emily nods. "Victor, do you think you can come with me? I have some nice people here who can help you feel better." He still looks scared. "I promise you, Victor, I won't let anyone hurt you." She carefully takes out her badge and slides it over to him. "That badge says I can and will protect you, okay? The bad man will not hurt you anymore. None of them will."
Victor takes the badge case and stares at it a moment. He looks back at the phone, frozen on an image of his crying parents. He slowly uncurls his body and crawls to Emily. She reaches out to him and he wraps his arms and legs around her. He starts to cry.
"It's okay, honey. It's okay," she whispers to him. "My friend Jennifer is going to help you get- -okay, okay, I'll just climb down with you," she says as his grip on her had tightened. She looks over her shoulder. "He's clinging to me, Jen. I'll need your help getting down but, uh, try not to touch him."
"Right, Em. Get your legs over and the EMT's and I will guide you."
With JJ and the two EMT's guiding her feet and then steadying her, Emily climbs down the ladder with Victor. He clings tighter when he sees the other three women.
"Victor, these are my friends. Ladies, tell Victor your names," she says so he doesn't register that Emily doesn't know the EMT's.
"I'm Jennifer but my friends call me JJ."
"I'm Teri and this is Brenda," the lead EMT introduces them. "It's good to see you, Victor. We've been worried about you."
Emily smiles at the woman. "See, Victor, they are here to help you and take you to your mommy and daddy. How about we get out of this room and they can look at your wounds, okay?"
Victor nods. They move to the hallway, where the EMT's gurney awaits. Emily sits him on it but he will not release her hand. She looks at Teri who just starts to talk him through the taking of his vitals.
No one says a word about the fact that he is nude or about the terrible bruising covering his poor little body. When Teri finishes checking him over, she looks at Emily.
"He's dehydrated but I don't want to start an IV in the field considering how scared he is. Any chance you can ride with us to the hospital? Will make treatment easier if his protector is there."
Emily looks at Victor. "Do you want me to go with you, Victor?"
The boy answers by tightening his hold on Emily's hand. She smiles and runs a hand over his head.
"Okay." Emily looks at JJ. "Let Hotch know."
"I will."
Emily convinces Victor to lie down and get covered by the sheet. As the EMT's carry him downstairs she stays right where he can see her. Garcia and Reid stand in the living room watching the little boy get carried out.
"Oh, that poor angel," Garcia says through tears.
Reid just puts an arm around her shoulder. "But he's alive, Garcia. He's leaving here alive," he points out, his mind on the bodies in the basement. Garcia just nods.
Emily glances at the road as she climbs in the back of the ambulance. She sees Morgan and Rossi staring at them. She manages a small smile, letting them know they at least have one victory on the day.
Hotch grabs his phone. "Yeah, JJ?"
"Hotch, Victor Tobbin was found in the attic. He's alive and on the way to the hospital. Emily is with him because she is the only one he trusts."
"Son of a bitch. How was he not found before?"
"The entry was well-hidden. Emily heard a noise above her and looked around. She nearly missed the trapdoor."
"Okay, I'll get a local agent to get the Tobbin's to the hospital. I've got a feeling my phone is about to light up with media questions. Once word gets out and is confirmed expect the circus to get back to the house."
"I know. Been there, done that."
Hotch grins. "Right. I forgot. What about the bodies?"
"Pete and I put a hold on their retrieval to help Emily. He's getting that going again now. I'm on my way down to do the profiling of the scenes."
"Good. What about the computers?"
"You'll have to ask Garcia or Reid about that. Rossi and Morgan are out talking to the witness and the neighbors. I'm not sure what they've found."
"Alright." Hotch glances at his watch. "Unless there is another major break, tell everyone to expect a status meeting there at the house at 8 p.m."
"Will do. Talk to you later, Hotch."
JJ hangs up and goes downstairs just as she hears the first saw start cutting into drywall.
"Yeah…sometimes the job just sucks," she mumbles.
Emily grimaces as Victor squeezes her hand extra hard when a male doctor walks in. Emily steps between the man and the boy.
"Doctor, he's been abused by men. A female doctor would be better."
The doctor takes in the blaring heart alarm and nods. "I understand."
He steps out of the room and the monitor calms down a bit. Emily turns and smiles at Victor.
"There, see, no one wants to hurt you. We're all here to help you. I promise."
The boy rolls onto his side, curling into the fetal position. Emily strokes his hair and starts to sing him a lullaby. A few minutes later a female doctor enters the room. She smiles kindly at the little boy.
"Hi, Victor. My name is Nancy and I'll be your doctor, okay?" He scoots closer to Emily. "And Emily can stay here, too. I just need to check you over, okay?"
Emily looks at the woman. "Did they explain we need a rape kit done? And photos?"
The doctor nods. "Yes. I work quite a bit with rape victims."
"It may scare him. The man that did this took pictures and video of the abuse."
"Understood. We'll walk him through it carefully."
There is a commotion in the hallway and a man and woman burst into the room. "VICTOR!" the woman screams.
Victor covers his head with his arms. He is terrified and shaking. Emily intercepts the distraught parents.
"Easy. He's probably been told you let this happen to him or that you'll be mad he let this happen. They're common ruses used by kidnappers and abusers. Just…be calm for him and try not to react to the bruises. He just needs to know he's not in trouble and that you love him."
The Tobbin's nod and move to their son's side. His father runs a hand over Victor's head. "Hi, son. Oh, we missed you so much. We love you, Victor."
Mrs. Tobbin can't speak for crying. She just rubs her little boy's arm. Victor slowly uncurls, looking up at them as if he has done something wrong. Mr. Tobbin leans over.
"You are safe, Victor. You are not in trouble. We would have never stopped looking for you. We love you."
Victor slowly reaches out his hand and takes his father's. "Da- -Daddy?"
Mr. Tobbin nods. "Yes, son, I'm right here. I love you."
Victor starts to cry again but this time they are tears of relief. He throws himself into his parent's arms. Emily and the doctor give them 5 minutes. Though she hates doing it, Emily steps toward the Tobbin's.
"Ma'am, sir, we really need to get the pictures and other evidence from him. We need to- -"
"NO!" Mr. Tobbin snaps. "No, we won't let you violate him more!"
"Sir, as a mother I understand wanting to protect him. But this is the best way to build an airtight case against the man that took Victor."
He gets in Emily's face. "Is that all you care about? Getting a God damned conviction?"
"No, sir. I care about stopping this man from hurting another little boy. And I care about getting justice for the little boys who have come before Victor."
Mrs. Tobbin stands and moves towards Emily. "There…there were others?"
Emily nods, her stomach turning at the DVD's she had seen and the many she had yet to look through. "Yes, ma'am."
The woman slaps Emily. "How DARE you let a monster like that stay out on the streets! Why didn't you catch him sooner? How could you let him do this to my boy?"
It takes Emily a moment to respond. "Ma'am, we just found out about this man and that house yesterday. And today we're bringing Victor home to you. I wish we could have caught the man sooner but we just didn't know he was out there. Now we do. And now, with the evidence we get from the house and from Victor, we will find him and make him pay for his crimes."
It takes 5 more minutes but Emily finally convinces the Tobbin's to step into the hall so she and the doctor can gather what evidence they can from Victor. Emily stays in the little boy's line of sight the entire time and keeps telling him how brave he is. When they are done, Emily shakes the doctor's hand.
"Thank you so much for how you handled this."
The doctor nods. "Just wish I didn't have experience with this kind of thing. Good luck hunting this bastard down."
"Thanks."
As the doctor leaves, the Tobbin's race in. Emily smiles at Victor.
"Victor, is it okay if I go now? Your parents are here and there will be a police officer outside your room for as long as you are here."
"Why…go?" he asks quietly.
Emily smiles at him. "I want to find the man that hurt you. I want to arrest him so he can't hurt you or any other little boys ever again."
"Will…you…shoot him?"
Emily carefully considers her answer. "I…I want him to pay for what he did. I hope I can arrest him and make him go to jail forever."
Victor burrows into his mother's arms. "I want you to shoot him."
Emily doesn't know what to say. She pats his leg and looks at his parents. "Please, make sure he sees someone that specializes in this kind of trauma. There will be things he won't want to tell you but that he'll need to tell someone."
The boy's parents nod, wanting only to help their son heal as best they can.
"Also, someone will be back to speak with him about what happened."
"Can it be you? He trusts you?"
"Unfortunately, no. I've seen too much evidence to be impartial. But I'll come with whoever it is just to make it easier for him."
"Thank you, Agent Prentiss."
Emily promises to keep them informed on the status of the investigation and goes out to the nurse's station.
"Hi, think you can call me a cab to take me back to the crime scene?"
"I got this," Emily hears. She turns and sees Teri approaching. "My regular partner just got here. We'll give you a lift back."
"Thanks. And thank you for understanding why we needed two women. You and Brenda were great with him."
"Thanks. Sadly we've seen traumatized kids before. We just want to help however we can."