A/N: Closer...and closer...

I know I've driven you all crazy with how drawn out this story is and I'm sure the near-constant cliffies haven't been helping anyone's constitution. I appreciate all of you still reading this mad story of mine and I very deeply appreciate those of you still reviewing after so long. Thanks to HGRHfan35, greengirl82, Hazmatt, miaa29 and spk for your wonderful words of encouragement. This is for all of you.

I know you're away when I post this, but I totally couldn't do this without you my lovely. I give continued thanks to the wonderful, gorgeous Wtiger5 for all her medical help and for her inspiration of Lydia Scott. I love your sweetness and your friendship. Thanks for being the beautiful friend and sister you are.

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 26

"Do we stay in the truck while the guys rescue us or bolt for the entrance to the hospital?" Penelope asked anxiously. Not that she would be bolting anywhere, but she could dream.

"Jordan's in no position to go anywhere and Emily won't be moving so they'll be staying where they are. Perhaps it would be better for all of us to stay put," Doug said. "That way, there's less chance of a stray bullet catching us in the back as we run away," he added in a mutter as he turned the wheel to move the truck into the Ambulance Only entrance to the hospital parking lot.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh; there they are!" Carrie shouted gleefully as she spotted Hotch, Morgan and Rossi with their guns out and ready to be used standing alongside the doctor-agent from the other team, who was holding a rather large looking rifle competently.

As the truck slowed to a sick-sounding coast, the guys moved past them heading for the back of the truck; and the van that was definitely following them.

But just as suddenly as they disappeared around the side of the truck, the van appeared and shot past the cab of the truck, sending a spray of bullets flying at them. The girls shrieked and ducked down and Doug swore as a bullet whizzed past his head so close he could feel the heat of it as glass shattered and sprayed all over them.

Then they all jumped and screamed slightly as the door to the cab was opened.

"Don't do that!" Penelope shouted as she placed a hand over her racing heart.

"Oh shit."

New Section

Much as he wanted to get to that truck and ensure Emily was alright, despite not having a single claim to her, Alex spun the wheel of the SUV hard and peeled out of the hospital lane after the van that he'd just been informed belonged to their unsubs. Eric and Phil grabbed hand holds and swore as the vehicle went up on two wheels briefly and horns blared as they cut across traffic in pursuit.

"Tell Clare and Cassie to stay at the hospital to bolster security around the BAU women. We need those women alive to lead us back to where they were being held."

Eric immediately fished his phone out of his pocket and called the order through. Alex continued to manipulate the vehicle under him with single-minded intensity, weaving it in and out of traffic, eyes firmly fixed on the van. They ignored horns blaring and people shouting at them at times when the only way around an obstruction was to mount the sidewalk.

"It looks like the van is doing a long, wide loop to go back the way it came. How's our fuel gauge?"

"Running full."

"Good; we can out-drive them and when they stop, we can pick them up. Call for back-up to catch up to us. We don't want to be surprised if they call for help; I'd rather not die today if I can help it."

New Section

Derek Morgan felt his heart stop at the sight that met him as he yanked the truck's passenger door open. Emily's eyes met his for a second and then her head ducked back down.

"Doctor," he cried hoarsely as he holstered his gun. Clearing his throat, he bellowed it as loud as he could. "We need a doctor now!"

Emily finished breathing into Jordan's mouth and went back to chest compressions as Derek stepped up on the first step that assisted easier entry into the high cab.

"What happened?"

Emily didn't answer for a second as she breathed again into her friends mouth.

"My guess is Malik administered her Rites and paid her back for breaking his arm." She paused for another breath before continuing. "She only stopped breathing a few minutes ago so I'm hoping they can help her if they hurry up."

"Move!"

The authoritative male voice coming from the tall man who suddenly appeared behind Derek had Emily flinching slightly and the other man moving out of the way without hesitation. He stepped up into Derek's place and smiled slightly at her.

"You're doing well, but you look like you could use some medical attention yourself, so I'll get Gary to take over from you."

She felt the movement behind her and tensed right up. She shifted her balance, not sure if she wanted to stay and protect Jordan or run for her life. But Gary turned out to be a smart, and incredibly intuitive, man.

"Easy does it. I'm sitting behind the wheel at the moment and I'll be coming in at your side. You really are doing well, so you keep doing that until you're comfortable moving out the passenger side past Doctor Ford, alright?"

She nodded slightly and turned her head. He had gloves on his hands, so they weren't resting on the steering wheel, but his forearms were, with his hands in plain sight. His eyes were focused clearly on her and the look in them was both competent, patient and filled with compassion. Somehow he knew and he wasn't judging her and that knowledge helped to relax her enough to continue doing what needed to be done.

She nodded just slightly and shifted as far over as she could. She stopped compressions to breathe and once she'd done that, he took over the compressions. She turned to the door and found the way was clear for her. Well, almost clear.

She slipped down onto the step and straight into Aaron's waiting arms. She felt him move back immediately and felt other movement around her. Her head came snapping up as something coarse yet warm wrapped around her.

"Easy love. Dave's just giving you his jacket." His eyes narrowed as she shifted to see the other man and when she looked back, she knew he'd figured it out.

"Em..."

"Not here; please."

He nodded. He helped her get her arms into the bulky fabric, then lifted her clear off her feet and started walking towards the entrance to the hospital. A doctor came forward and Aaron immediately stopped moving forward and backed up a step.

"We need a woman here."

He nodded his understanding and called out to someone else. A nurse approached and asked them to follow her; leading them in to a private room, she produced a hospital gown and left them to it.

She changed with a deep-seated gratefulness for getting rid of that horrible feeling of satin; she was sure that she would now associate it with the worst night of her life for the rest of her life.

"Emily."

She tucked the blanket he wrapped around her more securely around her body, admitting to herself that she was huddling into the warmth because she was afraid of what she had to say.

"It was Malik; the same guy who beat Jordan almost, if not all the way, to death."

"Don't talk like that. She's as strong as any of you; she'll pull through."

"Will she? Will any of us?"

He sat on the bed just in front of her and cupped her face in his hands. "Do you love me?"

She nodded vigorously; through all that she had been through, she had never let go of that fact. She just knew she'd need that reminder later.

"Then hold on to that, and the knowledge that no matter what has been done to you, I still love you. Always and forever Em. Do you remember my vows to you on our wedding day?"

When she nodded, he started to speak and within words, she'd been reduced to great, heaving sobs as he fiercely declared his vows to her all over again. His arms became a secure haven as she clung to him and cried out her grief over all that she'd just lost.

"Never forget, Emily Hotchner, that you are my wife. You can safely bring me anything and I will be with you supporting you as we deal with it together. This included. But if you shut me out, I can't help you and I certainly can't reassure you that I am always here for you no matter what. You need to talk to me and never stop. And if something that once used to be wonderful between us is now something that makes you pause or brings you even a momentary uncomfortableness, say something immediately. There are ways around everything, but only if we work together. In the same way you were there for me without ceasing when I had my breakdown, so too am I now here for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she whispered as her sobs eased. She sighed softly. "I will need you, always, but more so now as I deal with this. But my hope is that by distancing myself from the act when it happened that I will be stronger now to deal with it. Not on my own, I promise; I need your strength far too much to try this without you."

"Then it's a good thing that I'm actually stronger than I've ever been thanks to Renaldi."

"Mmm; remind me to send him some flowers in thanks."

He grinned at her before feathering her face with some light kisses that made her want more. Yet he never pushed and the kisses never landed where she actually wanted him to go. She was just about to ask for what she really wanted when the door opened, causing her to jump at the suddenness of it.

Aaron's arms wrapped her up in another tight hug that eased some of the tension out of her body as an older woman walked in.

"I'm sorry I startled you just now. Despite not intending to, it does answer my first question of whether you were raped in addition to having been beaten. You're Emily Hotchner?"

She nodded wordlessly, watching the competence the older woman had as she laid a cloth on a tray.

"My name is Martha Hammit; I'm a doctor specialising in women's health. I'd like to send you firstly for a series of full-body x-rays to determine what, if anything, is broken or fractured, and I'd also like to take some blood from you. Then, I'll get you back here so that I can run a Sexual Offense Evidence Collection kit on you. In case you've never heard the term used, it is the glorified version of a rape kit. And while I'm doing that, if you'd like to talk to me about what happened, I've been told that I am a very easy person to speak to. But I need for you to understand straight away that nothing happens here today that you don't want to happen. You have complete control over all of this. Do you understand?"

She nodded and pressed tighter into Aaron's arms as she tipped her head up to look at him.

"Will you stay with me?"

"You'd need a sledgehammer to pry me away from your side."

She found herself smiling despite the panic subtly worming its way into her heart and mind. And somehow that small smile gave her just enough hope that she really could get through this intact. She felt her panic trickling away and returning her gaze to Martha, she nodded slowly.

"If Aaron can stay with me, I'm okay with the plan."

Martha's smile was gentle. "Good; let's get started then."

New Section

Dave poked his head into Austin's room and found the woman he'd been frantically looking for over the last fifteen minutes. In fact, he found pretty much everyone who hadn't been taken this last time.

Teresa was a smart woman; that was undeniable. Particularly in that moment as she came up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry Dave; I asked the nurse to tell you where I was but I'm guessing she either didn't see you or she forgot. I'm sorry I worried you, even for a moment."

His breath eased out of where it had been trapped since he realised she wasn't in her bed and no one knew where she was and his racing heart slowed to a far more manageable speed.

"It's alright," he whispered as he held her tight and inhaled the scent that was unique to her.

"How are they?" Reid asked anxiously.

Dave looked the room over and found everyone was watching him with equal levels of anxiety. He sighed tiredly and walked forward to take the seat Teresa had just vacated, urging her to sit on his lap. Only once he had her tucked into his arms and he was sure she wasn't going anywhere did he speak.

"Marnie and Lydia, the two women who helped our ladies escape, have been tucked into a private room. Marnie's family and Lydia's husband have been contacted and are on their way.

"Penelope is traumatised but doing alright. They hadn't gotten around to administering any Rites or otherwise on her and because she didn't eat or drink anything, her baby is doing well despite being in a slight bit of distress.

"Carrie has multiple fractured ribs and a hairline fracture to her hip. She's also got some internal bleeding, but it is minimal and she is expected to make a full recovery. I left her falling asleep with Toby in her arms and Mirkal watching over the both of them. Toby seems to have adjusted well to him suddenly being a big part of his mother's life."

"He probably senses that Mirkal is nothing like his abusive father," Austin said softly.

Dave nodded agreement. "Jordan is currently still in surgery. Her fractured and broken ribs severely lacerated her spleen and towards the end, apparently she jerked in pain over something and they think it may have punctured one of her lungs. If not that, it definitely collapsed a lung and she stopped breathing. Lydia said it isn't that surprising since Malik had administered the beating."

"And Emily?" Reid demanded.

Dave took in a deep breath of Teresa's unique scent, using it to calm him before he spoke.

"She's currently enduring a rape kit."

Everyone looked as horrified as he'd felt when he'd knocked on the door and poked his head into the room. He hadn't realised what was going on and thankfully he hadn't actually seen anything he wasn't supposed to, but he'd still felt shame for barging in on them. Luckily Aaron had come out pretty quickly and reassured him that it was fine. He'd asked him to tell everyone with a note to be careful about approaching Emily for the next while.

"Hotch is going to be furious," JJ murmured as she huddled deeper into Will's arms with a shudder.

Dave cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. Despite Aaron's easy manner with him after what he'd walked in on, he'd come away from the conversation wanting to protect the equipment that made him male. He seriously doubted whether Malik would come out of any kind of confrontation with Aaron Hotchner intact and wondered if anyone would care enough if Aaron actually got near the man to stop him.

"Let's just say furious is a gross understatement and leave it at that."

"Did we hear if Agent Jackson's team caught the unsubs that followed them back?" Will asked, quickly changing the subject as he shifted uneasily.

Dave shook his head. "Apparently the unsubs shot out the tires on their SUV, leaving them temporarily stranded. But they'd already called for backup so they were picked up pretty quickly. Unfortunately by then the van was well and truly out of sight."

"Did the girls give us anything?"

"They're all too traumatised at the moment. They gave us a location off a winding mountain road into heavy bush."

"So how will we find them?"

"Doug Kramer is the Samaritan who picked them up, and said he was somewhere in the Adirondacks when he did. His truck is fitted with a GPS system that records the location of every stop where the engine was turned off; all we need to do is convince either Kevin or Mirkal to peel themselves from their ladies' sides and then we'll get the information we need and we'll go in. Considering the sizes that Lydia and Marnie mentioned, we are also waiting on additional FBI teams from around the country to arrive before the raid into the compound goes ahead. They'll also be sending in Red Cross counsellors to deal with the women in the first instance."

"That's good," Teresa murmured. "I can't imagine how hard this is going to be for those women."

"It's definitely not going to be a walk in the park. For anyone."

They fell silent and pondered this fact as snow once again began to fall outside the window.

End-

A/N: And we're there...now we just have to take us out some unsubs...hmm; that may be easier said than done.

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