A/N: I am now refusing to self-impose time limits at the start or end of my chapters. My available time is too erratic and I'm just not getting as much done as I would like. I will definitely still apologise though for the amount of time it's taking to get each chapter out, but never fear; I will keep plugging away at it until it is done, even if I only get out a sentence at a time.
But you reviewers continue to amaze and encourage me with your patience and your wonderful words. Thanks this chapter go out to wtiger5, HGRHfan35, HPforever-after, miaa29, greengirl82 and Hazmatt. I would not still be doing this if you all weren't reviewing and letting me know you still like where I'm going with all of this so please don't stop reviewing; you all mean more to me than I can ever put into words.
Additional thanks to Hazmatt as well, for picking up on several points that may cause confusion down the track with this particular story. As such, I have revised the prologue and reposted it and I suggest re-reading it briefly as several names have changed.
Rated M for violence, torture themes, drug use, coarse language and sex scenes. (yes, this is going to have a little bit of everything)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds at all, although they do own me and I do own Carrie and Toby, Chloe and India, Kelly and Brad and Ben.
Arabian Nights – Chapter 2
"I can't believe you girls are honestly going to go for a run in weather like this."
Emily rolled her eyes at her friends and turned with a sweet smile to her husband. "You know how I've been feeling out of sorts in the last week and really lethargic? Well I'm hoping this run will sort out the kinks in my system and get my motor revving, which will in turn benefit you. And please, it's just cold; no big deal."
He frowned, obviously going over her words to try to find the logic. Clearly coming up blank, he tipped his head slightly to the side as he studied her.
"Do you want me to elaborate for you?" Austin asked, her voice clearly showing her growing struggle to contain her amusement.
Emily smiled wryly. "Sure hon, you go right ahead and clue in my husband as to why getting my motor revved might benefit him."
Austin walked up to him, went up on tiptoe and whispered in his ear. As she was backing away from him, his face suddenly went beet-red and he excused himself, nearly running into Reid's wheelchair as he exited the main hall.
"What's up with Hotch?"
Austin smiled suggestively at her husband. "We're going for a run to get our motor's revving while you guys hang out."
"Really? You think we could try something out later?" He looked keenly interested in this idea as he studied his healing leg and wheelchair and more than just a little turned on by the thought. Emily lost it laughing and when the other girls joined in, it just fuelled the hilarity of the moment.
"Oh, that was priceless. Thank you for that Reid; I really needed that."
"What did I do?"
Derek, standing off to the side with Ben in his arms, chuckled in amusement. "You are boy-genius and as such, you have a tendency to miss sexual cues and innuendo that the rest of us don't even have to think about. You are getting better under Austin's expert tutelage but you still have a ways to go yet. Yet you picked up on what the girls are up to faster than Hotch did; Austin had to clue him in to what was going on."
Reid grinned in amusement. "Okay, that is really funny. And actually explains a lot."
As the group continued to joke around her, Emily frowned as a thought suddenly registered in what she considered her urgent 'Wife-box; Must follow up IMMEDIATELY!' compartment. Excusing herself softly, she followed her husband's trail and found him standing outside, his back to the house and the tension in his entire body enough that she was surprised he was still standing in the brisk wind that was occasionally whipping up around him.
She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist as she buried her face briefly between his shoulder blades before turning her head to the side and demanding gently, "Talk to me."
She thought for several long minutes that he wasn't going to, but finally he said softly, "I think something is still wrong with me."
She shifted around him as she ordered her brain to shut up and stay calm. "What makes you think that?"
He fell silent a second time and she could tell he was genuinely worried and baffled by whatever he thought the issue might be. Her concern sky-rocketed but she stayed outwardly calm as she lifted her arms to wrap around his neck, her fingers gently stroking the hair at his nape in a comforting gesture as she waited for him to bring to light what was concerning him.
"You saw what happened just now?" Once she nodded her confirmation, he took a deep breath and blurted out in a rush, "It's not the first time something like that's happened since the crash."
"Something like what?"
Frustration chased across his face as he struggled to put into words what he'd only just recently begun to think about all the time.
"Before the plane crash, you talking about revving your motor would have immediately had me thinking about at least a dozen different ways of seducing you when you were ready. But when you said it earlier, I just couldn't grab on to what you meant, even though I thought I should know what you were getting at. The second Austin explained it, it was like it was right there all along, but it hadn't been there a second ago."
"I see. When else has something like this happened?"
"A couple of times at my psych sessions and once when I met with Strauss. Let me tell you that she was more than just alarmed at what I missed and with her, I couldn't even put it into words because it was the first time it had happened. I had to fob her off and I don't think she really believed me either."
"And what did Dr Burke have to say?"
"He said it was somewhat normal to forget things now and then and particularly with the multiple traumas I'd been through in the last six months. He said I should stop worrying about it and just let the healing happen naturally without worrying it to death."
She watched him realise what he'd just said with a small smile and he shook his head in wonder. "Do you know, I only just remembered what he said when you asked just now. Which does make me worry a little, but he's right too. My doctor's say my scans are all showing my head has healed completely and I guess I just need to continue to be patient as I regain my former mental health. It's just hard."
She nodded her understanding and watched the relief on his face grow as he realised he wasn't in this on his own now that he'd shared his fears.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?"
He sighed and shifted to rest his forehead against hers as he hugged her. "I just don't like burdening you with everything. I have this strange fear that you might break like I did and I definitely don't want that to happen to you."
"Beloved heart, I'm not as fragile as you." She grinned as he pushed her gently with a mock annoyed look on his face before they settled back into place. "I can't help make things better if I don't know what's going on around me. Unfortunately though, I'm not a mind-reader so I count on those around me to keep me updated; if you don't talk to me, I don't know. And you are never to call yourself a burden in my hearing ever again, let alone when I'm not around. Understood? I am your wife, your partner and as such we share this life together. This means you tell me when something's bothering you and we work together to sort it out. Alright?"
He nodded and closed his eyes. "I know the girls are waiting for you for your run and I have to admit to being turned on at the thought of you with your motor revved, particularly after this last week of almost half-hearted couplings. Go run now and we'll talk some more this evening."
"Are you sure we won't be completely distracted from having that conversation?"
He smiled slightly. "I'm sure we will be plenty distracted, but not to the point where the conversation won't come back up again. I've been a little…afraid, I guess if I'm brutally honest, but now that I've said something and I know you're going to bat in my corner, I'm finding courage enough to push through my fear and ask you to help me. And as you so rightly just pointed out, that's part of the wife-description so I've got no excuses not to explain the whole thing to you. I'm only sorry it took me so long to speak up about it."
She shifted her hands to cup his face and lost herself for a few moments in his eyes. "We all make mistakes Aaron; it's part of what makes us human. It doesn't change how very much I love and adore you. And on that note, I'm going to collect my girls and go for a run so I can show you how very much I love and adore you."
After kissing her thoroughly, he grinned and tweaked her nose. "Sounds like an amazing plan. How long do we need to watch the kids for?"
She linked arms with him as they headed back inside the house. "Maybe about an hour? Then there are Kelly, Penelope and JJ who aren't running at all for health reasons. Only Jordan, Teresa and I will be really pushing the pace. Carrie and Austin will probably jog or powerwalk more than run. We'll walk to the park near Jack's school and those of us who are running will run laps on the path while the rest walk and then we'll just walk back."
"So you'll rev your motor and then cool it down with some gossip on the way back. How does that benefit me?"
She shot him a flat look as they re-joined the group and he just smiled calmly at her. His renewed calm quieted the voices screaming in her head to fix him now before anything went really wrong. If he was calm, she could be calm and if he wanted to be playful, she'd run until the side of her that thought he was hot with a capital H-O-T came to the front and refused to let go until she was dead from exhaustion in his arms.
"Right ladies, my husband thinks he's funny so we should go now while it's still safe to do so. Let's head out to warm up with a brisk walk to the park and we can continue talking while we walk."
She ushered the chattering bunch of women out the door, bade the guys to have fun and behave and closed the door firmly behind her as she hurried to catch up with the group already powering their way up the drive.
New Section
"Mummy, why's she so sad? Doesn't she know she'll be treated like a queen now?"
"No sweetheart, she doesn't know this yet. But she'll learn this shortly and until then, the best thing you can do is be her friend. And soon she'll have a few more friends of her own and that will also help."
"That's good mummy. I can do that."
"Of that I had no doubt. No doubt at all."
New Section
"Hey Phil. Have you heard back from Georgia yet about the letters they may have?"
Phil shot a look filled with wry amusement at his boss and raised an eyebrow. "By the time we have this case solved, you'll be attending my funeral after I drowned in letters."
Alex frowned and pulled up a chair. "Exactly how many letters did Georgia have to send over?"
"Only three that the head office was aware of, but they are checking other avenues and will get back to us. My amusement comes from the newfound discovery that everyone has a brother, sister, cousin or friend in another state who may have had a similar case."
"Any hits from these other people."
"About a dozen from another five states. The director was here while you were at lunch and he's talking about getting you some more man-power because this case just keeps getting bigger and bigger and he's worried something will slip through our notice because there aren't enough resources working on this."
"Any particular reason he is that concerned of our outcome on this case with our track record in the past being as spotless as it is?"
Phil stopped slouching in his chair and looked around what they called their 'War Room'. The place was deserted except for them. Alex also looked around before leaning in to hear what Phil was saying in a low tone that wouldn't travel.
"He didn't say anything specific mind, but he hinted that someone in a position of a lot of power may have lost someone in very similar circumstances a few years ago. He's doing some checking and he'll get back to us."
"Oh great. So we may be dealing with politics sometime in the near future."
"I'm afraid so boss."
He sighed. "What I wouldn't give to have Emily back in moments like these. She may have hated the politics, but she was always the most diplomatic one of the lot of us and the only one to really understand how that whole thing worked. I always just manage to rub people the wrong way."
"Not to mention she was incredibly easy on the eyes and easily the most adaptive person you will ever meet."
Alex nodded as his mind slipped back through the years to a time when life seemed perfect and he was on the verge of gaining everything he'd ever wanted.
"Do you know where she is now?" Phil asked, breaking into his reverie.
He started slightly and shrugged. "Somewhere in Virginia, I think. To be honest, I'm not too sure; after she broke my heart and shifted away, I lost interest in keeping track of her and by the time I went looking for her, she'd vanished into the system somewhere. She probably moved on or got married or something." He shrugged again and got to his feet. "Do you need any help analysing these new letters?"
Phil mentally filed away a note to pass on to the guys that the 'Emily' topic was still a slightly touchy one with the boss and thought about the question. "Actually, if you can spare someone, that would be great, but I am the only one linguistically capable of reading the letters so unless someone on the team has been keeping secrets…"
Alex chuckled. "Good point. I'll see if one of the other teams can spare someone for a day to help you out."
"Excellent. Thanks boss."
New Section
"I can't choose. They're all so beautiful. Do I have to choose?"
"Narrow your choice if you can. Beyond that, I can't make any promises."
He sighed heavily. "I'll try, but they all have qualities I want in a wife. What if I can't choose?"
"Then we'll choose for you and you'll just have to trust that we know best."
End-
A/N: I did mean to have this out last night but left my usb at work so that was a no go. Hope it was worth the wait though. I understand it may be a little slow, but I am laying foundations at the moment so please bear with me. The pace will pick up in a chapter or two.
Please review with the conveniently placed link right under these words. I love to know what you think and it makes me type faster and update quicker.