A/N: I am absolutely floored that I woke to find myself still in one piece. But here I am again and we are moving right along so that I don't leave you hanging for too long in a furious anticipation to find out if our girls are going to be alright. Also, we find out what medical issues Emily has.

Apologies everyone; I would have had this out last night but ffn wouldn't even let me on to the login page so I've had to wait until now. Hope it was worth it.

I absolutely love and adore reviews. And after writing the chapter from hell and still finding a few waiting for me when I totally didn't think I'd deserved them, I appreciate them even more. Thank you for your constant support Wtiger5, miaa29 and Hazmatt. Thank you for believing in me even when the content I am writing isn't very positive. I promise some happiness is coming through for everyone shortly.

Thanks again to the beautiful Wtiger5 for all your wonderful medical knowledge. You've really helped me feel confident about this chapter and the next few to come. And since you asked so nicely on your birthday to be written into this story and I didn't have time to get you anything else, this chapter introduces Lydia Scott, otherwise modelled on my wonderful friend and sister, Wtiger5. Love you sweetie.

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 22

The noise woke her up and for several long seconds she just lay there in fear, almost paralysed as she prayed he wasn't coming for her again. She was lucky not to be a favourite, but after just two nights with him, she seriously doubted that she'd be able to pretend for very much longer. And there was no way he would miss the movement in her stomach and not know that this child wasn't his.

And I won't risk your death little one...not when you're my only link to Cameron.

But the door didn't open and the soft voices continued. Hesitating just slightly, curiosity won out in the end and she slipped out of the bed and across to the window. Cautiously moving the curtain just slightly out of her way, she watched as the moonlight illuminated Malik and his brother Najeeb as they had a heated discussion outside of the empty room to the left of hers.

She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could tell Najeeb was furious with his brother and this was saying a lot of the youngest of the Hastafah clan; he was by far the kindest in nature and almost sweet in his concern for the women around him. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was in on the whole thing, she would almost be willing to be friends with him.

But that's what they want...to lull you into forgetting who you are and where you come from and all that you left behind...so that all that is left is them. Well, I WONT comply and I WONT give up hoping that I can get out of here. Not until I'm dead anyway. My name is Lydia Scott and I WILL return to my family. I just have to work on my plan some more before I try anything.

"You can't have her! I chose her and I rescued her from her life and I'm going to keep her!"

Malik tried to calm Najeeb as lights came on all around the courtyard. Knowing her room was right near where they stood and it would be extremely suspicious if she didn't respond to that shouted declaration, she rushed to get her light on and open up her door. But her fear stopped her there and she did little more than peer cautiously out while some of the other women stepped fully out of their open doors and stared openly.

Najeeb clearly would not be calmed and she found herself flinching slightly as he lifted a hand and slapped his brother hard across the cheek.

Oh my god...he just challenged his so-experienced older brother. Wait; maybe if they kill each other I'll have a better chance of surviving this.

"She is mine, my bride and I will not give her up. You had no right to violate her, but I will forgive her and place all the blame on you. You promised you would do no more than soften her up for the Rite of Rebellion to work properly on her but you abused that promise and my trust. You are my older brother and far more experienced in these things to me, but in this I will not back down or let it slide. Let it be the challenge between us at dawn."

Malik sighed tiredly. "Najeeb, this is not necessary. I made my request in error and clearly I did not think it through properly. The challenge is not necessary because I return her to you freely, with my deepest apologies for my abuse of your trust in me."

But Najeeb was not consoled and had clearly been pushed too far. "No, not this time Malik. I love you, but my challenge still stands because I love her more. Dawn tomorrow morning in the meeting square; let the elders decide this between us."

Najeeb stalked off, leaving Malik standing there looking stunned. His gaze swept around the courtyard, seeing her first as his cheeks flushed and a furious look appeared on his face. She quickly closed her door and pressed up against it, praying for all she was worth that he wouldn't follow up on the violence she'd seen on his face as he looked at her.

Her shaking grew into frightened sobbing as his voice roared, "All of you get back in your rooms and stay there!"

She waited, fully expecting him to come for her, but as the sound of doors rapidly being slammed shut faded and he hadn't, she forced her trembling limbs to walk her back to the window. Peering out, she saw him stalking off in the direction his brother had so recently taken and she sank down to the ground. Pressing up against the wall, she wrapped her arms around her and sobbed as her fear ebbed away and a thought formed.

If he was just softening that woman up and she is actually conscious, perhaps we could work together to get out of here. But I'd have to leave this room and if they find us we'll be dead...but if they don't and the challenge goes ahead in the morning, she may very well be dead anyway. And Malik will remember that I was closest to him when he was shamed by his brother and for sure, he'll come for me. So if I'm going to try this, it might as well be tonight and I might as well see if she wants to come along with me.

New Section

Marnie froze as shouting was followed by the sound of a heap of doors slamming shut in quick succession. Penelope crouched down low behind her and did her best to stay as still as possible despite her fearful shaking. Thankfully they were in between courtyards and partially obscured by a trellis covered in climbing vines; this and the fact that the man was absolutely furious as he stalked in from the far right of the courtyard was all that saved them. He looked around, muttered something neither of them could hear and walked out the exit diagonally opposite the one he'd walked in.

Once he was out of sight, Marnie turned and whispered in Penelope's ear, "We need to hurry. If they decide to do a spot check, we're done for."

She nodded as she rose and though they were silent, they moved quickly along the wall and into the first room on their right.

Penelope slipped her hand over her mouth to stifle her noise, but Marnie shook her head. "You can talk here; they don't have the individual rooms bugged out of consideration for the couples being together at night, but keep the noise down. The walls aren't particularly thick."

Penelope rushed over to Jordan's side and sat on the edge of the bed. The other woman had clearly been cleaned up, but even through her dark skin the bruises and marks were clearly apparent on the skin exposed by the silky negligee. She hovered her hands, not knowing where to touch, when Jordan moaned softly and shifted. Reaching out, she gently cupped the other woman's cheek as her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey you. You aren't looking so good."

Jordan moaned again and pushed her body upright as her eyes slowly focused on the blonde in front of her. "I don't feel so good either. Breathing hurts enough to tell me I've probably got a fractured rib or two and my insides feel like they've been reduced to a thick soup so I probably have some internal bleeding as well. I really hope I don't throw up because I've a feeling that will hurt like hell."

"It did when I threw up," Marnie muttered from near the door.

Penelope shifted so Jordan could see the other woman. "Jordan, this is Marnie. She broke me out of my locked room and is looking for help in escaping."

Jordan nodded as she stared intently at Marnie. "If your plan is to betray us..."

"I swear it isn't. I just want to go home. But I couldn't do it by myself because I don't know enough about the woods. I'm hoping one of the four of you will know enough to help us avoid anything that might kill us until we get out of here. That and the fact that I didn't want to just leave you behind. Particularly with Penelope being pregnant; I've been told what happens and I don't want that for her."

Jordan continued to stare in silence for another minute before nodding again. "Fine, help me up. I may not be able to move fast at first because everything feels stiff and sore, but I'm a big believer in pushing through my pain and once I've warmed up some, the stiffness should ease."

Marnie snorted softly. "Here you are warm and dry. Out there it is cold and it feels like it could snow. But if we wait until morning, Penelope's baby will be dead and there is the possibility that if anything goes wrong with their methods that she might well join her unborn child. We need to get your friend Carrie, look around for Emily and then go."

Jordan froze in the act of standing. "You know where Carrie is, but you don't know where they're holding Emily?"

"I knew where she was supposed to be while she waited for her Rite, but she wasn't there when I arrived and there is every chance that someone has her for the night. If that is the case, we won't be able to find her and we may just need to leave her behind."

Both Jordan and Penelope made soft noises; Jordan's dismissive and Penelope's distressed. "Either we all go, or we stay and try later. Where we come from, we don't leave family behind and though we aren't a conventional family, that means nothing here."

They glared at Marnie til she lifted her hands in surrender. "Fine. Then we'd best get moving before we get found out."

New Section

Lydia Scott slipped out of her room and wondered at her folly as she crept silently along the wall and into the room next to hers. The heating had obviously only just been turned on, but it was working quickly to warm the room up.

The other woman was clearly awake; sitting on the bed in the corner with her back to the wall, she was trembling with her arms wrapped around her drawn up knees. But she stared back at Lydia steadily and the impression she got immediately told her this woman was dangerous.

But hopefully not to me once she knows why I'm here.

"Hello," she said softly. When the only reaction was a steady stare, she continued nervously. "My name is Lydia Scott and I'm leaving this place tonight in one piece. Whether I make it out the other side alive I don't know, but I have to try because otherwise tomorrow I might be dead."

The silence was becoming unnerving, but with every second that passed, Lydia's resolve grew until she knew that she would either escape with this woman or else without her.

I can DO this.

She jumped when the other woman shifted, removing her arms from around her legs and carefully stretching them out.

"Lydia, why does you leaving this hellhole have anything to do with me?"

"You've just arrived and by the sounds of it you may not have been beaten as badly as the Rite of Rebellion insists on. If that is the case, perhaps we can work together and protect each other as we go. If you'd rather stay and take your chances when Najeeb and Malik fight over you in the morning, that is your choice. But Malik knows that I saw his shame when his brother challenged him and I know with a deep, gut instinct, that he will be back for me sometime tomorrow and I will suffer for witnessing that so closely. And I won't risk my unborn child on a slim chance that he doesn't come for me and he doesn't notice my pregnancy is advanced enough that the child couldn't possibly be his.

"I get that you're probably afraid and hurting right now, but I don't have much time to wait around, not with everyone being so jumpy right now. So choose to stay or choose to go but please, whatever you do, choose now."

She waited for almost a minute before sighing quietly and nodding. "Fine then; I wish you luck with your future survival in this place. If I make it out, I'll definitely send everyone I can get to listen to me back to rescue you."

She turned back to the door and was just turning the handle when that soft voice came from behind her.

"My name is Emily and I'm with the FBI. If you betray me, you will regret it."

She turned back and shot the other woman a grin. "Honey, if I betray you, we'll both end up dead anyway. It's how these guys work and I've been here long enough to have seen if first hand."

She nodded and slipped carefully off the bed, wincing slightly as she placed her hand low on her abdomen. Recognising the gesture and knowing it could be one of two things, she asked carefully, "Pregnant and in pain or a session with Malik doing his vigorous best and in pain?"

Emily looked at her in surprise, then smiled faintly. "A bit of both."

She winced slightly. "If it helps at all, the fact that you're upright tells me that Malik held back when he beat you, because most women don't rise from their beds for at least a few days after he gets through with them. As to the other, unfortunately he doesn't know how to be gentle. My older counterparts tell me they got to the point over time where for them, they need for him to be vigorous with them in order to feel anything at all because he's destroyed them for anything gentle."

"What about you?"

She shrugged and moved to the window to check if the courtyard was deserted. "Malik has only had me twice; once at the wedding festival and once since. I apparently don't thrill him and I'm not arguing because it kept him well away from me and my unborn child." She changed the subject quickly. "We need to go now while all is quiet. You never know when someone will be out and about."

Emily nodded and looked around. "You won't find warmer clothing in here. This room is supposed to be vacant. And I'd lend you some of mine, but I think we'll have to leave the clothing behind anyway."

"What do you mean? It's freezing outside."

"I had a seam rip on one of my jackets about a month ago and I found a microchip inside the gap. My guess is that just about everything except the underwear is bugged and they use it to keep track of where we are. I tried going over the seams of my clothing to see if I could figure out where all of the bugs were, but I only found one on another of my jackets and I don't want to risk them finding us before we get to safety. I have no intention of ending up buried in the Rose Garden."

Emily sighed softly. "So I should leave this negligee behind?"

She shook her head. "I think the silk is too delicate and thin because I went over every millimetre of mine and didn't find one." She opened her jacket to show that she had her own negligee on underneath it. "You can borrow the other jacket that I took the chip out of. As to the rest, we'll just have to press up close together for additional warmth."

She nodded agreement and moved to stand behind her. "Do you know where my friends are?"

"When did you arrive?"

"I don't actually know. One moment we were drinking tea and the next I felt weak and dizzy. Oh god no."

Lydia reached out to the woman who suddenly looked so pale as she stood in front of her. "What is it?" she asked gently.

"I let my son try the tea. And he'd just come to me to say he wasn't feeling well all of a sudden." She whimpered softly and trembled, her fear ripping at her heart.

"Hey, listen to me. Children are so incredibly resistant. I've no doubt he's probably fine now and getting the help he needs. After all, his father would have still been there, right?"

She nodded slowly, visibly calming as she thought it through. "My phone was ringing as I passed out and I know it was my husband because I saw the display briefly. They'd tried to take us twice already, so if we didn't answer the phone, he was going to come without hesitation to the rescue. But I guess these guys were faster than ours. But you're right; Aaron would have been there and helping Jack in no time at all. I have to believe he's alright."

Lydia nodded encouragingly. "That's good honey, just keep believing it until someone tells you otherwise. After all, you woke up so he definitely should have done the same by now as well."

"Yes, okay. So what's the plan?"

"I saw Najeeb and Malik when they returned with the first of Najeeb's brides. They came from a path leading into the woods. I also witnessed them leaving by the same path, obviously when they went to try to get you and your friends. I wasn't supposed to be there either time, but I'd discovered the tiny alcove across from the opening by mistake and quickly realised it was a safe place to go if I needed to hide by myself for a while without someone coming to find out if I needed anything or if I was alright. But regardless, I now know that it leads to the outside world so that is where I am heading to start off with. I'll take nothing with me that might get me caught and pray for the best."

She smiled sadly and winced slightly as her hand went back to her abdomen. "Sometimes that's all you can do. You lead, I follow and hopefully together we'll make this work."

New Section

Jordan swore softly and paced as Marnie stood near the door wringing her hands.

"I promise I looked everywhere it was safe to do so, but I had to be careful because Malik is walking around trying to find Najeeb. Pretty soon, he'll enlist help to do so and we'll lose our window of opportunity. I know you wanted to find your friend before we left, but I don't think we'll have the time to now, and we can't just wait around here to be caught. It'll be death for all of us. We need to leave now."

"Emily wouldn't want us to stay here if we have a chance to get away. She'd want us to get out of here to safety and to send the cavalry in behind us."

They looked at Carrie, who was swaying even as she sat on the edge of her bed. Despite how badly she'd been beaten though, she seemed to have the most determination of all of these women and Marnie had a sneaking suspicion that this woman had been in a similar position before...and didn't intend to stay stuck in this one any longer than necessary. But first they had to convince the others.

"I don't know that I like the idea of leaving superwoman behind. I mean, she's perfectly capable of looking after herself, but Aaron would kill us if we escaped and she was still back here. Particularly if something happens to her after we leave. I'd hate to have to live with myself and him if that happens."

Jordan and Carrie were nodding in agreement, but Carrie still said with quiet determination, "I still think we should take this chance and run with it and I still think that this is what Emily would want us to do."

Everyone fell silent and after several seconds Jordan sighed and nodded. "I hate to say it after advocating family so strongly, but I agree; Emily would want us all to take this opportunity while it was available. She wouldn't be too happy later if she found we sacrificed ourselves and our safety for her." Penelope opened her mouth with the clear intention of arguing, but Jordan continued quickly. "I know it isn't going to feel good leaving her behind Pen. However, the sooner we go, the sooner we can return with help for her."

Penelope sighed as her shoulders slumped and she nodded dejectedly. Jordan hugged her as tight as she could despite her pain and they both looked at Carrie as she asked quietly, "So what's the plan?"

Marnie felt relief run through her. "Okay, so I remember waking up as I was being brought out of the path and into the first of the courtyards. I retraced my steps the other day with just this intention of escaping in mind and I figured out where the path is. So I'll lead us there and we'll hopefully take it to safety. We'll need to move pretty quickly in case they discover that we aren't in our rooms and it'll be bitterly cold out, but I'm almost completely certain that we can do this successfully."

"We don't have anything warmer than what we're wearing. You and Penelope are going to be the warmest of all of us."

"I can lend you some warmer clothing, and Penelope and I can walk on either side of you to both support you and to give you added warmth."

They agreed to the plan and Marnie slipped back down to her room, grabbed some clothing and returned to them. They dressed quickly and slipped out of the room, following Marnie as she quickly but quietly led them away from the room and out towards the woods surrounding them on all sides.

End-

A/N: This was getting to be a bit long, so we'll check in and see what the boys are up to next chapter, and we'll see how everyone left behind is doing. We'll also return to the girls and see if they can escape...or if they get caught in the act.

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.