Finale Fix

BONUS PROMPT: Surprise (Buffy)

CHAPTER THREE

Through Her Eyes

Cami had always leaned on her mother and she'd always been aware that her mother had leaned on her. This was one of those times where Emily leaned heavily on her daughter's inherited strength. As they sat in the waiting room waiting for both news on Agent Hotchner and on the blood tests of the family of agents sitting in a loose group around the waiting room. She'd been introduced to each of them in turn and now she sat, her mother pressed closer to her side, absorbing that strength.

Over the four years Emily had been with the BAU, Cami had been privy to it all. Cases, coworkers, high points low points... Nothing was left out of the conversation between mother and daughter. As they waited, Cami reflected on the little family surrounding her. For as a child raised by a single, teenaged mother and a man that wasn't related by blood but was the closest thing she knew to a dad, Cami was no stranger to the concept of family being whatever you could make of it.

The youngest Prentiss was very much aware that no one in the room – well, with the exception of Agent Rossi and Detective LaMontagne – really trusted Emily when she'd started. They'd done it on principle, seeing her as an outsider to their close knit team.

Jennifer Jareau and Penelope Garcia, the two blonds in the group as Cami had learned, took to Emily first, female solidarity and all that. Cami had heard about her adventures with Brad and knew how very important friends were to her mother. Though Emily had divulged little of her pre-Cami childhood, something told Cami that it wasn't all that filled with friendships. Now, those women were Emily's closest girlfriends, women Emily could probably relate to better than the daughter that was half her age. Cami was thankful there were women closer to home that could support Emily when things got tough, even if Prentiss women didn't show weakness.

The next buddy milestone in Emily's career had been the trust of Derek Morgan. He'd taken longer, but Cami had heard about the two of them bonding over one of Emily's failed dates and Kurt Vonnegut and she'd been glad Emily had another new friend. Now, Cami knew that in many ways, Agent Morgan was Emily's best friend. Even through the exorcism fiasco, at the end of the day, Agent Morgan always had her mother's back. He would never know how thankful Cami was for that.

Dr Spencer Reid had been a post-traumatic drug abuser and when Jason Gideon had turned her mother's concern away, Cami had been the one Emily confided her concerns about the good doctor to. Cami had been the one to encourage Emily not to back away, that maybe there was something deeper at work there that no one had seen or had really taken the time to look for. It had been quite the payoff to hear that they were on better terms and she'd flat out laughed when Emily admitted to mothering the young genius.

David Rossi was the late comer and Emily had railed against him at first, detailing to Cami the way he was so independent about working that it actually undermined the cohesiveness of the team. However, after his case, the case that haunted him, Emily's tone had started to soften when it came to Agent Rossi, Cami had vaguely thought, more than once, that it was affection in her mother's voice and knew that Emily put in some late nights at the office just to keep the older man company.

Aaron Hotchner had always been the enigma. He was the stoic hardass boss, the invincible one. Emily rarely spoke about him. Or, at least, that was how things had started. New York changed things and Cami had known that simply by the way he'd weasel his way into more and more conversations. Then, it became more of a regular occurrence as Emily spent more and more time with the man. Cami had been the first one Emily confided in about the demise of the man's marriage and even Cami's heart had broken as Emily talked about how lonely Hotch was. It had been a blessing in disguise really, because as time went on, Cami could hear the way her mother's voice changed as she talked about the man. Eventually, Cami found herself wondering if her mother felt something other than just genuinely friendly affection. The picture on Emily's phone really only strengthened the idea in her mind.

Which explained the anxiousness Cami could feel almost radiating off of the woman beside her. God, she wished the doctor would come out and give them an answer. This was killing them. They'd been sitting there for hours and even Agent Jareau's son Henry had been able to sense the incredible tension.

"Agents?"

Seven heads looked up at the same nurse who had gotten the news of Hotch's condition. Cami offered as much of a smile at the nervous-looking man as she could muster herself.

The man let out a sigh. "I'm afraid we don't have a match."

"What do you mean we don't have a match?" Agent Rossi roared. "Find a match, damn it!"

"How can you not have a match out of six people?" Agent Morgan added to Agent Rossi's uproar.

"One of us has to be a match," Garcia spoke up, sounding absolutely desperate.

Cami squeezed her mother's arm. "What does it mean?"

Her voice cut through the din. How, even she wasn't quite sure, but the poor man looked absolutely relieved to get a question he could actually answer. "Unfortunately, the bullet did catch an artery and they're having a little bit of problem taking care of it. If we don't get any complications we'll be fine."

"And if there are complications?" Cami asked, the only one able to put together any form of calm sentence.

"It could be risky."

"Oh God," Agent Jareau gasped.

"You mean... " Garcia added. No one wanted to say what even the nurse seemed hesitant to put into words.

Cami looked around at the dejected faces of people she'd just met, but nothing hit her in the gut as hard as her mother's absolutely stricken eyes. She could tell Emily was trying to keep it in, trying to hold back everything that was rushing through her system, but Cami knew better. She knew her mother, and whoever the man was in the operating room fighting for his life, her mother cared about, completely and deeply. So she cleared her throat, catching the doctor's attention. "What about me?"

The doctor looked around at the surprised faces. This couldn't be easy for them. He'd had plenty of agents come through the hospital and he had a pretty solid idea of how close teams became. "Come on back and we can have you tested."

Cami didn't look back, didn't wait for her mother's word, just followed the doctor. She was twenty-two after all, she didn't need her mother's permission to do anything.

The relief on the nurse's face seemed absolutely genuine as she followed him away from her mother, away from the team and hopefully somewhere that would ease their anxieties.