HEY!
So I've had a crazy busy, but crazy good week and I'm excited to share this chapter with all of you! I really hope you love it and I can't wait to keep writing the rest of this because I'm really happy with where I'm going. I will do my best to post as often as I can!
Thanks for reading!
-J
Chapter 14
"Emily!" JJ yelled, seeing the brunette fall to the ground from the force of the bat. "Freeze! Put the bat down!" She then yelled, training her gun on Shea.
Hearing JJ's shouts, Morgan came into the room, his gun at the ready.
"Marcus Shea, put the bat down," Morgan yelled. "It's over man, just put it down."
Shea seemed to consider his options for a moment, looking from Emily, to Morgan, to JJ, realizing that there was really nothing he could do other than comply with Morgan's demands.
"Drop the bat, and step away from Agent Prentiss," Morgan demanded, his tone firm.
Dropping the bat, Shea took a step away from Emily, as Morgan came towards him, his gun still aimed at the man. JJ waited until Morgan put away his gun and took out his cuffs before she put her own gun back in its holster, rushing towards Emily who was groaning in pain.
"Em, are you okay," JJ asked in panic, kneeling down beside the brunette who was trying to sit up. "Don't move we'll call an ambulance," she said, grabbing the brunette by the shoulder, attempting to keep her where she was.
"No...no I'm f-fine," Emily groaned, bringing her hand up to touch the place where the bat had connected with her head.
"Em you're bleeding," JJ said quietly, watching as Emily touched the gash on her forehead. "You probably need stitches."
"No, no hospitals," Emily begged, groaning as she saw the blood left on her hand from her forehead.
"Sorry Prentiss, you know the rules," Hotch said as he came in, neither woman even noticing that Morgan had already escorted Shea out of the room. "I already called the ambulance, you need to get checked out. JJ go with her, I'll have Rossi come get you guys when you're ready."
"Yes sir," JJ replied with a nod, turning back to Emily to see that the brunette was now attempting to stand up. "Emily, you need to wait for the paramedics."
"Need some air," Emily moaned, steadying herself as a wave of dizziness hit her when she stood up. "Can you just…just help me please?"
"Alright, just lean on me," JJ said, standing up next to the taller woman and allowing her to lean into her. "I've got you."
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"Where is the damn doctor?" Emily asked more than an hour later as she sat in the emergency room with JJ beside her.
"Em you need to relax," JJ replied. "He said he's let you go as soon as he checked out your head scan."
"Well what the hell is taking him so long?" Emily practically whined. "I'm perfectly fine, I just want to get out of this place."
"Emily you just got stitches and you have a concussion," JJ reminded the brunette. "It wouldn't hurt you to just relax for a little bit longer."
"It might," Emily replied grumpily, reminding the blonde of a small child who wasn't getting their way.
"You know since we have no where to go for a while, maybe we should talk," JJ suggested, feeling anxious about discussing their little make-out session from the night before, but not wanting to ignore it.
"About what?" Emily asked trying to sound innocent.
"I think you know what," JJ replied, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
"Jen, I really don't think now is the time to have this discussion," Emily said, suddenly avoiding the blonde's stern gaze.
"Well when then Emily?" JJ asked sounding annoyed.
"I don't know later I guess," Emily replied. "I mean I said we'd talk about it later."
"You know what fine," JJ replied standing up. "We'll just keep pretending like nothing happened," she said angrily, starting to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Emily asked, feeling bad for upsetting the blonde.
"The waiting room," JJ replied shortly. "Find me when you're ready."
Emily watched as JJ stormed off, wishing she could just call out and convince her to stay and talk to her like she knew JJ wanted her to. But Emily couldn't do that, because as much as Emily enjoyed the kiss that the pair had shared the night before, she was scared. She was scared of opening herself up. She was scared to let JJ in. She was scared to admit her real feelings, and she was scared of being rejected.
Emily Prentiss was just plain scared.
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After the doctor told her she could leave, Emily found JJ in the waiting room, still looking rather angry. The blonde called Rossi who came to pick them up, bringing them back to the police station so the pair could help the team finish up with the case.
When they arrived back at the station Morgan was still interviewing Marcus Shea, while Hotch and Reid were working on paperwork to help close up the case.
"So it turns out you were pretty lucky Emily," Reid said when he saw the brunette walk into the station. "We found the crowbar Shea used to kill all the victims. That probably would have hurt a lot more than the wooden bat did."
"Lucky me," Emily replied sitting down and rubbing her temples, wishing the pain pill she took would kick in. "Did he confess?"
"Took Morgan a while but he finally cracked him," Reid replied. "They're going through each murder now."
"JJ I'd like you to hold a press conference with the Police Chief," Hotch said directing his attention to the media liaison. "Let everyone know that we've got this guy off the street."
"Yes sir," JJ replied, heading off to get to work.
"Emily if you want to go back to the hotel we should be fine without you," Hotch said turning back to Emily. "You can get some rest until we're done here. I plan to have us fly back tonight."
"I'd rather just stay and help out here if that's alright sir," Emily replied.
"Alright, but don't overdo it or anything," Hotch said. "Just help Reid out."
"Yes sir," Emily replied, taking some of the paperwork from Reid, while they waited for Morgan to finish interviewing Shea.
It was over an hour later when Morgan finally came out of the interview room, stopping to talk to Hotch and Rossi before making his way over to Emily and Reid.
"Hey Princess, how's the head?" He asked.
"Could be worse," Emily replied. "It's just a couple stitches and a slight concussion."
"Well it's a good thing you've got such a hard head," Morgan joked, pulling something out of his pocket. "You dropped this at Shea's house," he explained, tossing Emily her cell phone.
"I wondered what happened to that," Emily said, catching the object and immediately turning on the screen. "Oh shit," she said, seeing the messages that she had missed.
"What's wrong?" Reid asked.
"Alex has text me like 10 times, and I miss 3 calls," Emily explained, getting up to go outside so she could call Alex.
Emily hit the speed dial for Alex, hearing the phone ring once before Alex's frantic voice answered.
"Emily?!" She asked, sounding worried.
"Alex I am so sorry," Emily replied, feeling guilty at the panic in the teen's voice.
"Where have you been?" Alex asked, trying to keep her voice calm. "I mean I know you said sometimes you wouldn't be able to reply but it's been hours. I was worried."
"I know honey, I know I'm so sorry," Emily apologized. "There was a bit of an incident at the unsub's house and I must have dropped my phone. Morgan had it and I just got it back from him now."
"What kind of incident?" Alex asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"I want you to listen to me okay?" Emily said, wanting to be honest with her daughter, but not wanting to send her into a panic. "I'm perfectly fine, but I got hit in the head with a baseball bat. I got a couple stitches and I have a mild concussion, but I'm absolutely fine."
This confession was met with absolute silence and for a moment Emily had worried that she had dropped the call. Pulling the phone away from her ear, Emily checked the screen to make sure the call was still connected.
"Alex?" Emily asked. "Honey are you still there."
"I'm here," Alex replied quietly.
"I promise that I'm okay," Emily repeated. "I'm so sorry."
"Are you coming home?" Alex asked, trying but failing to hide a sniff, indicating that she was crying.
"We're flying home tonight, but I won't be there until late," Emily replied, feeling guilty.
"Well maybe I should get Spencer's mom to bring me home then," Alex suggested. "That way I'll be there when you get home."
"Oh Sweetie, I would love that, I really would," Emily replied. "But I think you should stay there one more night. We're not going to be able to leave here for another few hours and it'll be so late by the time I get home. I really don't want you to be on your own, especially since I know you're upset. Why don't you stay with Spencer tonight, let her mom bring you to school tomorrow and then I promise you I will be there to pick you up after school."
"But…I mean should you be alone?" Alex argued. "I mean if you have a concussion shouldn't someone be there?"
"I'll be okay," Emily replied. "I'll set an alarm for every hour, it's not my first, you don't need to worry about me. Okay? Can you do that for me?"
"Okay," Alex sighed. "You're really okay though?"
"I'm really okay."
"Okay. Just don't forget to pick me up from school."
"I won't I promise," Emily replied. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," Alex said quietly. "Sorry I freaked out. I was just worried."
"I know love, we're still getting used to all this," Emily replied. "I will see you at 3pm on the dot tomorrow okay?"
"Okay," Alex said, sounding much calmer. "I love you."
"Love you too kid."
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It was late when the team finally left Boston, relieved to be able to head home so quickly, but all exhausted, feeling like they had just experienced the longest day of their lives. When they got on the plane everyone quickly found a place to curl up; all hoping to spend the entirety of their trip sleeping. JJ hadn't spoken to Emily the rest of the day, going out of her way to avoid her gaze, so Emily wasn't surprised when the blonde chose a seat away from everyone else on the plane, making it clear that she didn't want to be bothered.
Unable to turn off her mind, Emily spent the whole journey home thinking. Thinking about Alex, thinking about JJ, and thinking about everything that had changed in her life recently. Emily knew she wasn't being fair to JJ, but at this point she no longer knew how to fix the problem that she had so obviously created, not knowing how to talk to the blonde. Emily knew that JJ wanted her to be open with her and talk about everything, but talking had never been Emily's strong suit. The brunette was famous for shutting people out, especially those who she cared about most, afraid of not only hurting them, but of getting hurt herself.
When the plane touched down, Hotch told everyone not to come in until 9:30am, telling Emily to take the next day off, something which the brunette uncharacteristically accepted, knowing she needed to be home to pick Alex up after school.
Turning down a ride from Morgan, Emily got into her car, watching as JJ got into Hotch's car since her own was still parked in the office parking lot because Emily had driven her to the airstrip. Emily drove home faster than normal, grateful for the nearly empty streets, anxious to get home to her bed.
Part of the profiler wished she had let Alex come home, wanting nothing more than to hug her daughter, but also happy that the teen didn't have to deal with her fear on her own.
Dropping her bag as soon as she crossed her threshold, Emily walked straight to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water, wishing she could handle something stronger. Leaning up against the island, the brunette looked around her quiet condo, surprised by how strange it felt to come home to an empty apartment. Feeling exhausted, Emily began to drag herself towards the stairs, looking forward to getting a full nights sleep after the early morning wake-up call she had gotten that day.
Just as the brunette reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a soft knock on the front door, stopping the profiler mid-step. Wondering who would visiting at such a late hour, Emily made her way towards the door, checking the peephole to find a blonde head of hair waiting on the other side.
"JJ? What are you doing here?" Emily asked, opening up the door. "It's late."
"I…I just…I…" JJ stuttered, suddenly wishing she had simply gone home like she originally planned before she found herself at her friend's door.
"Jen, what do you want from me?" Emily asked, far too tired to have this conversation.
"You," JJ replied, looking up into dark brown eyes. "I just want you."