As From Discretion Comes Isolation
Chapter 12

A/N - Hello lovely, loyal readers I am so sorry this update has taken so long but life has been mad busy with exams but only one more to go so thought I'd try and get this story moving again as we reach the climax. As ever thank you for your reviews and for following it is much appreciated.

When Hotch, J.J. and Garcia returned to the hospital in the early evening James was nowhere to be seen. In the room Emily appeared to be sleeping but her eyes fluttered open as she awoke to the sound of the entrance of her friends.

"Hey you" Penelope smiled sitting in the chair beside her bed.

Emily smiled weakly and continued to blink as her eyes adjusted to the light.

J.J. took the chair on the other side of the bed and pulled it closer, "how're you feeling?" she asked softly.

"Like I've been run over by a steam roller!" she croaked trying to move to be more comfortable, "how long have I been out?"

"About a day" Hotch replied standing behind J.J.

Emily nodded slowly, "did James give you the letter? Did you speak to Nikki and Leo?"

Penelope nodded and took her hand, "why didn't you tell us? We couldn't helped in some way, you shouldn't have had to deal with it on your own"

She shook her head wearily, she knew she had done the right thing in protecting her family by not telling them the truth despite the inevitable outcome of him coming for her, "it wasn't your battle, I was dealing with it. I suppose you want to know what happened" she answered closing her eyes briefly.

"Only if you're ready" Hotch replied.

She lay her head back and closed her eyes again, "I was in my office going through some final paperwork, I was thinking about the unsub's signature and realised that they were in the same place as my tattoos, although this scared me I already knew how personal this was so I was glad that this was our first break in a long time. I soon realised the time, I was late to meet you for dinner so I placed the files into my bag before calling Garcia. He was there in the doorway, I don't know how he got in, we had locked down on security. I couldn't see him, he was in dark clothing and he stood in the shadows. I recognised his voice but I can't place it." Emily found herself there, back in the office again, "he is taunting me, laughs at the fact I can't remember him, he knows about you all, he says the murders were for me and he says it's time for part two. He's pulled out the gun. He says he'll see me soon." she opened her eyes, "then it all goes black"

Hotch nodded. It pained him to hear Emily relive her experience. He knew how hard this was for her, and he felt a surge of anger swell in his stomach towards whoever had dared to do this to his family. "We need to ask you about the last time you stayed in London, in 2004, did anything significant happen?"

She frowned in thought, her memories, her life, was a blur, "I don't know, everything's quite groggy right now, I'm sorry"

"It's ok" J.J. smiled, "just take your time and think about it"

Emily looked around the room, "where's James?"

Her friends looked at her with confusion, "we thought you'd spoken to him and then he'd left to go home, he wasn't here when we arrived" Garcia replied.

She shook her head, "no... you were the first people I've spoken to since waking up, I haven't seen James"

Hotch mirrored her frown, "it was him who told us that you were waking up so we assumed he'd spoken to you"

Panic immediately struck her, this man was methodical, if he wanted you dead then you would die, she was alive for a reason. "I need to see my phone, where is my phone?" she cried looking around frantically.

Garcia opened the cupboard beside her bed and rummaged through her handbag before pulling out her smartphone.

Hastily, she unlocked the phone so that it lit up in front of her, there was message. Her heart stopped momentarily as she opened it and fear swept over her making her unable to move.

"Em? What's wrong?" Penelope asked, her voice full of concern.

"No..." she said in a whisper which was barely audible, she couldn't stop staring at the photo which had been sent to her, how did he know? She had done everything in her power to stop this happening and yet he had still won. Of course he wanted to her alive, he wanted her to have everything taken away from her, she just didn't know why.

Still unable to speak she slowly held the phone out to Hotch. He looked closely and saw the reason behind her fear. The photo was taken in a darkened room but in the centre under a harsh, bright stream of light was James. Tied to a chair with thick rope, his head was slumped on his chest and it was evident that he had been beaten badly. The text message sent from James' phone attached to the photo read 'this is not The End' mirroring what was written on the wall of Emily's office.

Hotch silently handed the phone to J.J., "Emily there is no doubt that this is a personal vendetta against you, your other team members were killed with the same MO as his previous victims yet James has been kidnapped and tortured. You need to tell us the nature of your relationship with him and true involvement now so we can find him"

She chewed her bottom lip nervously as J.J. passed the phone across the bed to Garcia, "James... James does work for Interpol but he isn't on my team. We met when I first arrived here and just before the murders and stalking began we started dating, but when the stalking became a serious threat we decided it was best not to tell anyone and to keep it under wraps as much as possible-"

"Uh Em, sorry to interrupt but..." Penelope frowned at the screen and pinched her fingers together to allow the picture to zoom in, "I don't know if this is relevant but there is what looks like a crib in the corner of the picture"

Emily snatched the phone out of her friend's hands and looked closer, a short cry escaped from her lips and a shaking hand flew to her mouth in shock as her eyes began to fill with tears. It was heartbreaking for her friends to see her so vulnerable when she was usually the strong one.

Her eyes were fixated on the crib, words would not formulate, her world was collapsing all too quickly. Through her silent, heart-wrenching sobs she could only whisper two words:

"My baby"