Ian let go of Emily, sending her sliding down the wall onto the floor. She put her head in her hands, feeling completely vulnerable. She hated this feeling, she rarely felt it, but when she did it was strong.
"Well?" Ian asked impatiently after a few moments.
Emily moved her hands, looking up at Ian. She had to buy herself some time, she bit her lip as she thought quickly, something she was always good at.
"Bring Gabby in here. Turn the cameras off, and leave us alone for awhile so I can talk to her," she said finally, hearing her voice sound small and scared. "You can stand outside the door. I swear I won't try anything. Just- just get her in here, please, I'll do what you want," she added, regretting the words as soon as she said them. Had she just agreed to being Lauren Reynolds again? After all this time? No. She told herself. She'd only said that to buy time, surely Hotch would be there soon, surely he would find them. If not, she would find a way to escape. She wouldn't be Lauren again, she couldn't.
She watched Ian as he contemplated her request, biting her lip until she tasted blood. He still seemed angry, but much less so than he had been when he stormed in minutes ago. Emily couldn't believe how quickly the tables had turned in just a very few minutes.
"Okay," Ian finally said. "I will be outside. If you try to escape, I'll take her and leave you here, and you'll never see her again. Got it?"
Emily nodded. "Just go get her," she said quietly. Emily wanted to be the one to get her, but she knew Ian wouldn't let her out of the room. If she was being honest, she didn't trust herself. She knew as soon as she stepped out of that room, she would run to Gabby, and she would find a way out. She wasn't prepared to risk that just yet, not until she thought of a plan. A damn good one, at this rate.
Ian turned and stalked off, obviously a bit annoyed with Emily's request, but she was glad he was so far going along with the impromptu plan Emily was creating by the second. She waited anxiously, picking at her nails. She was pretty sure her entire body was bruised, it didn't feel like anything was broken, maybe a couple of ribs were cracked, but she'd be okay. She wanted to stand up to greet Gabby, who Emily knew would be a terrified mess, but she couldn't physically force herself to stand. She was tired, her body was weak, and she just wanted to go home.
A few minutes later, Emily heard the door creak open and she instantly perked up a little. Ian entered the room, Gabby trailing behind him. She wasn't crying, but Emily could tell she had been. Her heart broke at the thought of Gabby all alone in the cold, dark room crying. Despite the dull ache that coursed through her body, Emily sat up straighter against the wall, holding her arms out. Gabby looked at Emily, as if she was afraid to come over to her. Emily knew it was because she'd watched everything that happened.
"Come here, it's okay," Emily said softly. Slowly, Gabby walked over to Emily and sat down next to her. Emily could tell by the look on Gabby's face that she was just seconds away from crying. Emily reached over and pulled Gabby close to her, ignoring the pain shooting through her body as she twisted around to face a trembling and terrified Gabby.
"I'm okay," Emily whispered.
"No you're not," Gabby said, beginning to cry.
"I am, ma chere. It's nothing I can't handle, just a few bumps and bruises," And possibly a cracked rib or two. She thought to herself.
Gabby responded by burying her face into Emily's shoulder. "I just want to go home," she said quietly.
"I know, I know," Emily said, running a hand through Gabby's hair. Before she said anything else, she looked to Ian.
"I'll be right outside," he said, walking out the door, and closing it behind him. Emily wondered briefly where Paul had wondered off to. She had hoped Ian would make Paul stay there with them, maybe they could have come up with a plan together. But it seemed like Emily and Gabby were in this alone. Emily held Gabby close, contemplating what they should do. They could go along with it, Emily could pretend to be Lauren Reynolds again. But she didn't want to. She had Hotch now, and she loved him too much to do that to him, even if it was forced. Whatever feelings Lauren had for Ian, they were real. Emily knew she could never let that happen again, not now, not when she had Gabby to think about, not when she had a man who loved her more than life itself out there looking for her. Being Lauren Reynolds simply wasn't an option. Not for long, anyway.
They could try to escape, there had to be a way they could get out of the warehouse and get away before Ian could stop them, but it would have to be one elaborate escape route. They could wait for Ian to leave again, and she could get Paul to get them out, but if Ian took the car, how would she and Gabby get away? They could only walk so far, and Emily knew the warehouse was secluded. They would have to walk for miles before they got anywhere near a bus stop, a train station, an airport. It was too risky. Maybe if she got Paul alone, together they could gang up on Ian, take the car, and leave. But Emily knew if Ian suspected Paul had turned on him, he would have no second thoughts about killing him. It didn't make sense to Emily why Ian hadn't killed her yet, hadn't killed Gabby yet. Any profile would suggest that Ian would go after Emily's child, Emily was his stresser. He thought Emily killed Declan, or had Declan killed, he'd seen the fake pictures Emily herself had taken. Ian should have wanted them both dead. He should have wanted to hurt Gabby and make Emily watch, then end it by killing them both.
He'd killed that one child in D.C., ten years ago hadn't he? Or had he? Emily wondered. Sure, Ian had been behind it, probably had been present when that innocent little boy was shot in the head in front of his father. But he didn't pull the trigger. Emily thought suddenly. He wouldn't hurt Gabby because he couldn't. Emily knew Paul couldn't hurt her, either. Suddenly, she felt a wave of relief was over her. Ian wasn't going to kill them. He couldn't. He'd loved Lauren Reynolds, and he couldn't kill her. Emily knew it was because she'd done her job, she'd done what she had been sent to do all those years ago. However, knowing that didn't ease the feeling that settled in her stomach as she thought back to everything that had gone on between Ian and Lauren.
Sometimes Emily hated herself for it. But then she remembered Declan, and how she'd given him his life back. How that little boy was able to grow up happy, unharmed, and only vaguely aware of the work Ian Doyle did. It was worth it, she knew that deep down. She looked down at Gabby, who was silently sitting next to Emily, still buried in her mother's shoulder, playing with Emily's fingers as both of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.
"Mama?" The little girl finally asked.
"Hm?" Emily asked.
"What are we gonna do?" Gabby questioned, her voice filled with fear. Emily placed Gabby in her lap, ignoring the protests her bruised muscles were sending her.
"I don't know," Emily said honestly, smoothing Gabby's tangled hair.
"But you always know," Gabby said, beginning to cry.
"We'll figure something out, okay?" Emily promised.
"Who's Lauren Reynolds?" Gabby asked suddenly.
Emily sucked in a breath. She'd hoped to never have this conversation with Gabby, to never let her know about the life her mom had once lived. But it seemed inevitable now. She bit her lip before bracing herself to tell the story, a brief version that Gabby could understand without going into too much detail.
"Do you remember how I told you I had to pretend like I was Ian's friend? So I could eventually turn him in and put him in jail?" Gabby nodded her head, sniffling a little.
"Well when I was pretending to be his friend, my name was Lauren Reynolds. It was a fake name the people I worked with invented," Emily continued. It was much harder to bring this up with Gabby than she'd ever imagined.
"He wants you to be his friend again?" Gabby asked. "But I thought he wanted to hurt us. He just- he- I don't understand," Gabby said, obviously confused and frustrated.
"It's confusing, baby," Emily said. "I don't really get it either," she added.
"Is Daddy looking for us?" Gabby asked hopefully.
"I know he's looking for us. It'll be a matter of time before somebody comes to get us," Emily said. She knew that was true. She knew Hotch would turn the world inside out to find them. Because she would do it for him, or for Jack.
Neither of them spoke for awhile, and when Emily glanced back down at Gabby, she saw her eyes fluttering open and closed.
"Come here, lie down," Emily instructed.
"I don't want to hurt you," Gabby insisted.
"I'm fine, honey. You won't hurt me. Just lie down," she said again. Gabby hesitantly laid herself in Emily's lap, practically clinging to Emily's arm that was wrapped round her for dear life.
Emily brushed Gabby's hair with her fingers, like she always did when Gabby couldn't fall asleep.
"I don't want to sleep," Gabby admitted.
"I know, but neither of us have in awhile. Just try to get some sleep while I think of a plan," she said.
"Will you wake me up when you think of one?" Gabby asked.
"Of course I will," Emily confirmed. "Now close your eyes, okay?" Gabby closed her eyes, and Emily played with the girl's hair until Gabby's breathing evened out, and Emily knew she was sleeping.
Emily let herself cry, but only a little, and only for a moment. She knew what she and Gabby had to do, she'd known it all along, really. But she didn't want to admit it to herself. She didn't even want to bring the idea to the forefront of her mind, and she certainly didn't want to vocalize it to Gabby.
They had to run. They had to leave everything behind. Until Ian was dead, they would have to run. If Hotch didn't find them before Ian took them where ever he wanted to, Emily knew she and Gabby would have to find a way to escape. They would have to go somewhere else. Somewhere safer, where nobody knew them. That meant leaving Hotch and Jack behind. It meant leaving JJ behind. It meant leaving everything, again. Emily didn't want to do it. She was sick and tired of running, sick and tired of being somebody else.
But they had to, if nobody found them. She would pretend to be Lauren Reynolds one last time, then they would escape. They would run, exactly where, Emily wasn't sure. But they'd run somewhere, and they wouldn't look back until Ian Doyle was dead. Maybe she could pretend to be Lauren for longer, maybe Hotch would better be able to find them that way, but the thought send chills down Emily's spine. She didn't want to be Lauren again. She'd done it once, and what was done was done. The feelings might have been real at one point, maybe she really had fallen for the ex-terrorist-turned-family-annihilator. Maybe. Maybe Lauren Reynolds could see herself married to Ian Doyle. Maybe she could have raised Declan as her own. Maybe they could have been a family.
But not now, not anymore. Emily had Aaron Hotchner, the man she knew she was meant to fall in love with. She had Jack, who she loved like her own despite their rocky reunion. She and Hotch had a little girl together, one Emily couldn't possibly imagine her life without. She needed both of her parents, she'd been deprived of one of them too long. The four of them were a family, no matter what had happened in the past, and they belonged together. Emily would stop at nothing to make sure it ended that way, the four of them exactly where the belonged, the man standing outside finally out of the way. Emily couldn't remember a time she wasn't worried Ian would find her. For eighteen years the man had controlled her every move. But not anymore, not when Emily Prentiss finally had something to live for.