As From Discretion Comes Isolation
Chapter 13

A/N - As a celebration for my exams finishing today here is the next chapter! Credit to my wonderful friend laurahjess[.xoxo] who added chunks to this chapter and made it fantastic. Thank you for reading it is much appreciated.

"Baby?" J.J. repeated slowly, staring at her friend in disbelief.

Emily nodded slowly as tears continued to fall down her face, "Bella. It was a name that always stuck in my head after my abortion in Italy as it means beautiful in Italian; I knew I would always call my first daughter that. After we had been together for a couple of months I found out I was pregnant, we were both so happy but we knew we had to keep it a secret as well. I am so sorry I didn't tell any of you, I wanted to so so much, when you sent me your emails about how you were all getting on, I just wanted to message you back and tell you everything but I had to be vague because he was monitoring my communication with people, trying to unnerve me. She is the one thing I hoped he would never get his hands on, the one thing I want to protect above everything else. I swore to keep her safe, and if anything happens to her I'll…" She paused and took a sharp intake of breath, "I don't know how they got her, after the first murder, I put her in protection, I haven't seen her in two weeks! What am I going to do?" she cried, her voice desperate as fresh tears made tracks across her cheeks.

Penelope had tears in her eyes too as she listened, feeling her friend's pain as if it were hers. Only it was worse than that, because there was nothing she could do to make the agony stop for Emily. She could not bear to see her so upset. She grasped her hand tightly, "shh it'll be ok, you have so many great people on your side, listen to me, we will find them. And don't you dare apologise, you did what you had to do to protect your family and to protect us, don't ever be sorry for that. When Bella grows up we'll tell her how brave and fantastically strong her Mother is, and how lucky she is to have a Mom who would fight so selflessly to protect her." Penelope said, with such force behind every single word. And then she lowered her voice and squeezed her fingers tighter, "and Emily, when we find her, and we will find her, I can't wait to meet her," she smiled gently, seeing a sliver of light flicker behind her friends eyes.

Emily gave her a weak smile and brushed the tears away from her face. She was the lucky one, she thought, to have friends like Penelope there to share her sadness and make her smile even in the darkest of situations. Seeing them all there, surrounding her bed, made her think how stupid she had been to keep this from them. Every single one of them was a fighter, and they were willing to fight to help her. She should have trusted them with her problems from the beginning. But it was too late for that now, and part of Emily was adamant that she had done the right thing by keeping them in the dark in order to keep them far enough away from danger. And yet here they were now, willing to do whatever it took, and she was so glad, and so lucky to have them.

"It's not clear if he's bluffing about having your child but the priority is to find James. We need you to think about London 2004, it is our only hope of finding the connection, clear your mind and think," Hotch said quietly, looking at her.

Emily closed her eyes and transported her mind back nine years, she had just begun working for Interpol and again she was having to adjust to her life in a new country. She was only there for six months; she went to work, went out for dinner, went shopping. She made few friends but there was that guy, the name was on the tip of her tongue, she had dated him for a few months, things had ended badly between them. Why was that? That night. October 2004. She was at his house when there was a banging at the door, he answers it, there are raised voices so she goes downstairs to find out what has happened. It's his brother, she's met him once before, he's covered in blood, 'I've done a bad thing', 'I've done a bad thing' he says over and over again. Her date tries to stop her calling the police, he hits her and tells his brother to run, she gets out of the house and the police arrive, he is arrested for murder. What was his name?

Her red and puffy eyes flashed open, "Garcia can you look up a murder in October 2004? A young man killed a woman after their date went wrong I think."

Penelope pulled her laptop out of her bag, "yeah, as we speak my lovely, as we speak"

Hotch frowned, "what's the connection?"

"I don't know how I forgot but there was a man who I dated for a few months whose brother turned up to the house while I was there covered in blood saying he'd done a bad thing, that's the only thing of significance I can remember from that period."

"It could be either of them, trying to get revenge as they see you as the person who put the brother in jail" J.J. suggested.

Garcia continued typing rapidly until she found a newspaper article on the case, "this looks promising" she said looking closer at the text on her screen, "16th October 2004, George Sutton, 22, was arrested for the murder of his date for the evening Gemma Hayes, 19 and was sentenced to ten years in prison"

Emily nodded, "Peter Sutton!" she exclaimed when the name finally came to her, "that was it, Peter and his brother George"

"Garcia find out everything you can about both the Sutton brothers" Hotch ordered.

"Already on it sir" she replied as she began typing furiously once more.

The atmosphere in the room had changed ever so slightly. There was a crackle in the air like the electricity after lightening, or the warm clamminess of the night before a rainstorm. This new feeling amongst the team was familiar and oh so welcome; the feeling of hope. This is what it felt like after months of hitting brick walls and dead ends, after chasing the same tail and coming up blank. This is what it felt like to have something to hold on to, something to chase up, something to lead somewhere. A fresh lead which they all silently hoped would knock down the wall that they had been hitting for the past year.

"Ok we can definitely rule out George Sutton because he committed suicide in prison five years ago. Peter however is very much alive, he still lives in London and... oh no!" Garcia cried as the information glared from the bright screen.

"What?" Emily asked frantically.

Penelope looked up horrified from behind her sparkling spectacles, "Peter Sutton's employment records show he is currently working as a cleaner for a company whose main employer is London Interpol!"

J.J. mirrored the shock on her friend's face, "it was him. That's how he found out about James, that's how he kept up with the investigation and how he got in last night," she gave a small gasp and turned to Hotch, "you said you spoke to the janitor last night, he was the one who found Emily and stabilised her until the paramedics arrived."

"That's what he said!" Emily exclaimed suddenly remembering, the memory surfacing painfully as if it had been drowning in the recesses of her mind, and now it was gasping for air, demanding to be heard, "he said they should arrive in time, I thought he meant to watch me die but he meant to save me, he stayed to make sure I was alive" she snorted, "but he wouldn't show me his face, the coward wanted me to figure it out on my own, and then watch my family die" she said quietly, her voice breaking.

Hotch looked at her with sadness and empathy in his eyes, "we will not let that happen. Garcia any indication of where he might be holding them?"

She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she looked back at the screen, "he lives in an apartment in the city but oh here's your northern connection, his mother lived there and was moved to a retirement home last year but still owns her old house"

J.J. leant over the bed slightly, "do you think he took them up north to his Mom's house?"

Hotch shook his head, "this is about Emily, to cause the most pain to her he'd want them to be nearby"

"He tortured his victims in London, he must have another local location, he couldn't have gotten away with it in an apartment, and that photo is in a large room, like a warehouse"

An idea then flashed into Emily's head, "Garcia, can you track James' phone?"

She frowned slightly at the screen, "I should be able to, unless it's been turned off of course" she paused momentarily, "which it hasn't, give it a minute to triangulate a signal, aha! It is a warehouse on an industrial estate just outside the city, I've just sent the coordinates to your phones," she beamed up at them.

Hotch and J.J. stood up, "Well done Garcia, I'll call Leo and fill him in, he can contact the local authorities and we can meet them there."

Emily began to attempt to remove the wires from her arms and the pulse oximeter clamped to her finger. The machines began to beep in protest and two nurses burst into the room to assess the situation. JJ and Penelope had sprung on her the second she had tried to remove the drip from her arm.

"What are you doing Emily?" JJ cried, putting a hand over hers to stop her frantic squabble to remove the wires.

"Don't think for one second I'm not coming with you!" she responded, shoving the hospital sheets away from her. One nurse was fussing about with the machinery, reattaching wires and the other was coaxing the blanket back up over her hospital gown.

"You're not going anywhere," Hotch said softly, "you lost a lot of blood and you need to rest. If you show up there you'll put yourself and everyone around you in danger."

"But they're my family, Hotch," Emily began.

"And Bella needs a Mother who is very much alive. Get some rest," he said, and at the mention of her baby's name, Emily gave in to the nurses tucking her in. When the team were satisfied she wasn't going to try and follow them, they began to filter out the room. Hotch paused at the doorway and looked back at Emily, "we'll bring them home" he stated before he too disappeared.

As soon as they were alone Emily turned to her friend, "Garcia I need you to do me a favour"

"Anything my love"

"I need to know if Bella is where she is meant to be, I need you to check for me" she said handing her a card with an address on it, "it's about an hour away so you'll need to get a taxi, there's money in my bag to pay. It's Mr and Mrs Jenkins, they're old friends of my parents please tell them what's happened and that I sent you. As soon as you find out either way call Morgan, then the others will know whether he's bluffing or not"

Penelope nodded and squeezed her friend's hand before leaving, "everything will be alright"

Emily nodded weakly as she left and she was alone in the silence of the hospital room with only the mechanical hum of the machines and her own thoughts to keep her company. How she wished she could believe that what her friends had said was true but her reality was that Peter Sutton had gotten what he wanted. Emily Prentiss was alone, vulnerable and fearing for the lives of all of her family.