A/N: Sometimes I hate being in my head because I struggle to keep up with what I am thinking and getting it down on virtual paper in time to not forget any of it. Apologies if this chapter is a little all over the place as a result. :s
Response times to my chapters seem to be decreasing with every chapter I write. Having a review in just under 20 minutes is totally gratifying and heart-warming, even considering what it was saying. I'm sorry you were close to being right wtiger5, but I promise that I shall not leave them without. They are just too gorgeous for that trauma to be all they are left with forever. As to the ass whooping, I think the ladies will already have that in hand but your words definitely inspired me. HGRHfan35, I am definitely loving this story and am maybe just a little bit deliberately drawing it out, but there is a purpose to it in the end. All will be revealed. Hazmatt, all the answers to your many questions will be coming in the next few chapters so definitely stay tuned.
I am doing my utmost to churn these out as fast as I can but I do have a social life (of a sort) and unfortunately I do have to produce a little work every now and again so my bosses don't think I'm sitting here doing nothing but write all day so I apologise that you are only getting a chapter a day. I would however love to thank you all for your encouragement and support; this chapter is DEFINITELY dedicated to YOU!
I would also like to give a great big sing-out to anyone alerting to my stories or me as an author. I do appreciate all of you and if you ever want to see your name here in this section, all you need to do is leave me a review and it shall be done.
As to Alex, you'll just have to wait and see. It will definitely all be revealed but before that, I think I'll fill in a little bit of Emily's past; just as a teaser. But not in this chapter, hee hee.
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 11
Considering their urgency in getting to New York, leaving after only a day and a half because they used their clout to get a plane and a runway cleared as soon as the FAA ungrounded all planes and with no one dead through frustration and anxiety was an utter miracle and a complete blessing for the guys who had been stuck in Baltimore.
The flight itself had seemed to take forever and more than one man had snarled at another as they all paced and ran into each other frequently. And considering the team from California also appeared to be on edge for reasons unknown, the tension should have been enough to explode the plane to nothing; yet somehow they had survived the trip.
The car trip from the airport to the hospital was lengthy because of extensive traffic jams, regular traffic being it's normal busy self and the detours that came with works being carried out and a couple of crashes that were part and parcel of big-city life.
Suffice it to say they were all ready to scream by the time they reached the hospital.
New Section
Marnie stumbled down the steep set of stairs but wasn't given the time to find her feet as she was dragged along. The guy who had come to collect her hadn't said anything. He'd simply grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the group of women she'd been having lunch with. And from the surprise she'd seen on their faces, she knew nothing about this was normal.
They got to the bottom of the stairs and he turned them down a corridor that was badly lit and damp besides until they reached a door at the end. He pushed it open, pulled her through and she blinked in the sudden bright light, blinded momentarily to her surroundings though her captor clearly was not as he continued to move them forward. Then she was spun around and she was left blinking in surprise as she came face to face with the man who had originally taken her.
Her body's immediate response was to flee but her brain was busy taking in information and squashed the urge down flat. This was far too interesting an opportunity to start fighting for her life now.
"You will to be his wife. You will to tend his injuries and make him better."
Then the man stalked away and she was left alone with him. The thought of waiting a few minutes, knocking him out and making a run for it flew through her head but she knew that even if the door at the top of the stairs she'd been dragged through wasn't now locked, there would definitely be too many people outside the door who would be willing to hurt her to teach her a lesson. Besides that, she didn't know yet where she needed to go to get out of this nightmare place and while she might be able to hide, she had no doubt that the men and even some of the women here would know every hiding place she might think of.
She swallowed a momentary fear and looked at the equipment she'd been left with. The only thing she could see that might possibly help her were the small scissors sitting beside a roll of gauze on the shiny silver tray. She'd have to be very careful though; if they counted the equipment and noticed something was missing, it might all be over before it even really had a chance to begin.
Taking a hesitant step forward, she watched him flinch in pain and felt the slightest moment of sympathy but like her urge to flee now, she squashed it flat as she thought of how he'd hurt her and after swallowing hard a couple of times she asked softly, "What's your name?"
He looked at her out of puffy eyes, rimmed with a white crust no doubt caused by crying excessively in his pain. For several long moments she didn't think he would answer her but then he said in equally soft tones, "My name is Najeeb."
She attempted a smile despite loathing him for doing what he'd done. After all, he looked young and if she could put him at ease he would hopefully share with her something that would help. What she wasn't going to do was give him her name if he didn't already have it.
"Looks like someone did a number on your nose." At his look of complete confusion, she added, "Someone broke your nose really badly."
She watched the confusion slowly melt away as she wet a cloth and started to carefully wipe away the blood. He flinched again but stayed still otherwise and a few seconds later he said, "She was truly magnificent; a glorious sight to see. I think I will make you my second wife and I will make her my first one. I know it isn't meant to be that way, that because I chose you first, you are fated to be my first wife, but there is just something about her that I feel would make her the best choice to run my harem. Do you mind?"
She took a moment to digest the information he'd just imparted before asking slowly, "Are you saying one of your other…almost-wives broke your nose?"
He nodded vigorously but whimpered pitifully as he lifted a hand to his nose. She gently knocked his hand out of the way and continued to wipe his face. The information he was giving her was gold; it was the only reason she was able to gentle her movements when all she wanted to do was increase his pain a thousand-fold.
"So this other woman must really need to have her rebellious spirits removed before she can be a fit wife for you. Are they doing that now so she doesn't have time to cause dissent and wreak havoc here?"
He shook his head this time and then closed his eyes as his body seemed to hunch in on itself. She did her best to hide her glee at his pain and continued with her ministrations.
"The woman and her friends, the others that I had also chosen for my harem; they all escaped. Once you have made me better, I will be going back to get her. I do not think her friends are appropriate for my home, but she is utterly perfect in every way and I will have her. If you do not resent her for taking your place, perhaps the two of you could be friends?"
Marnie thought what a completely silly question that was as she pretended to nod cautiously. Perhaps they could be friends? Phah! There was no doubt her new friend was going to end up being the very best ally she could possibly find in this god-forsaken place.
Her brain kicked into overdrive as she suggested he close his eyes so she could wipe away the gunk there. As he did that, she took a good look around and thought on what she could sneak out of this room that would help her in her goal of reaching freedom.
New Section
"How long until Reid gets here?"
Emily had hoped that Austin wouldn't ask her that. Telling her that it would be another couple of days before she could see her husband and get the comfort she needed from hearing him say in person that he didn't blame her for what had happened with the baby and so that she could share the other news she had received was something none of them had wanted to do. So they'd decided to only say something if asked.
Why'd it have to be me here?
"Honey, we spoke with everyone on the phone yesterday after we were kicked out of your room here and unfortunately they are snowed in to the Baltimore field office."
"Baltimore? What on earth is he doing in Baltimore when I've been kidnapped?"
Emily smothered a smile at the outrage on her friends face. It was the first true emotion other than grief that she had seen and it gave her hope that she was leaving her dark-funk behind.
"They were apparently following a lead in the hopes of coming to our rescue when they got stuck."
Her fierce look eased into one of delight tinged with resignation. "How long?"
Emily took a breath, thought a prayer and said as calmly as she could, "Another two days."
"Two days! What the hell was so important that they ended up snowed in…of all the…" her words descended into incoherency and Emily shifted to sit on the edge of the bed and gently stroked her hair, pulling out her soothing, motherly tone of voice as she softly spoke words of comfort until the sobbing eased.
"Aaron sounded like he was pulling his hair out over the whole thing…I just hope he hasn't pulled it all out. I kind of like his hair just the way it is now."
Austin looked at her like she was crazy for a second and then she smiled reluctantly and Emily smiled in return as she held out her hand for Austin to take.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you just now."
"Don't be honey. You have every right to shout about the injustice of it. Trust me when I tell you I left JJ and Penelope plotting an ass whooping of epic proportions and I'm pretty certain I heard Teresa getting in on the act as I was leaving to come and see you. I have no doubt that they'll all probably be working on that when I return. In fact, it was actually why I came to see you. A little birdie told me you can start moving around as long as you stay in your wheelchair so I came to see if you wanted to help us plot."
A gleam of something unholy lit Austin's eyes and she shifted in the bed as if to sit up as Emily reached out to press the call button for the nurse.
"Just try and stop me."
Five minutes later, Emily pushed the chair into a lift and selected the 7th floor.
"So when are they releasing you?"
Emily smiled dryly. "Tomorrow I think. It would probably have been today but the doctor wants to keep us under close monitoring for another day just to be on the safe side after all our tests came back with something kooky in them."
"Kooky." Austin asked as she tipped her head back. "Did you really just use the word kooky?"
She grinned. "I'm blaming constant close proximity to PG on this one."
Austin laughed outright, then groaned in pain as the stitches in her stomach pulled. They exited the lift and walked down to the open ward room they had pretty much appropriated as their own since the only other patient had been discharged just that morning.
The girls looked up as they entered and cheered to see Austin was joining them. An extra chair was pulled up for Emily and they were busily working over a piece of paper when a dry voice said, "What do you reckon Aaron? Do we want to know what they're doing?"
As the girls all turned to stare and hope started to blossom that they weren't seeing things, Aaron shot Dave a grin and said, "Probably best that we don't know considering how they looked when they turned around a moment ago."
When the girls just continued to stare, Derek said in amusement, "By the looks of it they just want to admire us so maybe we should strike poses…"
The rest of what he said was drowned out by the screech of chairs on linoleum and by 6 women moving as fast as humanly possible while two small boys passed them going in the opposite direction.
Emily ignored everything around her except for a set of perfect brown eyes as she ran forward. He lifted his arms to catch her to him but she had other ideas as she grabbed his wrists and shoved him back into the wall.
"You are in soooo much trouble babe."
"You can spank me later kitten."
Her eyes were widening in her shock at his response as she took in the pure wickedness of his grin when he leaned forward to capture her mouth with his own and suddenly nothing else mattered as she melted into him and took all he had to offer.
End-
A/N: Okay so I know I didn't really answer any more of your myriad of questions but I promise I also haven't forgotten them; it's just taking longer than I thought to get to them. And yes, the rest of the children are nearby; I haven't forgotten about them either.
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.