A/N: Okay, so now our girls are safe again, but we still have some really, seriously bad dudes to run down. We aren't quite there yet though; I have a couple of points to deal with first, but I promise we WILL be going after those bad guys.
I know a lot of authors will personally take the time to thank each person who reviews with an individualised PM. But if I did that for every review you lovely people left me, you wouldn't get updates as frequently. So instead I stop for a moment here to absolutely appreciate every single one of you who dropped me a line. Thanks so much to Hazmatt, greengirl82, HGRHfan35, NicknHotchfan and melodic2686; you guys totally make me smile with happiness and want to bring happiness to this little world I've created. So I will.
Just a note for those concerned about the mention of x-rays in the previous chapter; I do a LOT of research for these stories, both with a real live health professional (see next paragraph for mention of medical guru), and by using Google for additional information. I was content that Emily COULD get x-rays without it harming her baby; I considered the risk to be minimal. And because this is my world, not something that would affect our pregnant mamma's anyway. Thank you all for your concern though, it was very sweet.
So my medical guru is STILL away at the moment and I am missing her heaps, but she totally deserves her break and I really hope it was totally refreshing for her once it is finished. But I'll thank her anyway; Wtiger5, you are an amazing friend and sister and I thank you both for your medical know-how and for your inspiration of Lydia Scott. Love you lots my darling.
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 27
"You're not resting," Emily murmured sleepily as she watched her husband pace near the window. The shadows told her it was early morning, and his agitation told her he had something big on his mind.
He turned midstride and walked to the bed. He sat on the edge and gently stroked her hair.
"Did I wake you love? I'm sorry if I did."
She lifted her hand and carefully took his. He eased their joined hands into view and gently kissed the skin just below the tape holding her IV line in place.
"Are you still worried about the baby?" she pressed. She was concerned that his gaze slid away from hers as he shook his head. "Aaron." When he didn't look back at her, she squeezed his hand just a little, despite the pain it caused where the needle had penetrated her skin. He returned his gaze to her, but it was shuttered and she squashed a momentary spurt of fear that he was pulling away from her over what had happened. "Aaron, it's a two way street you know."
The shuttering in his eyes lasted another few seconds before it crumbled to reveal his weariness and he sighed heavily. "I'm sorry Emily, truly I am."
She lifted her free hand to stroke his cheek lightly. "I know you are, and it's alright up to a point. But I need for you to keep me in the loop; both with how you're feeling about all of this and about what is going on externally. It doesn't matter how bad it is; I can take it all after what I've been through. But you shutting me out like that makes me wonder if maybe there's something wrong with what happened to me that you can't deal with."
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "There is nothing wrong with you that I can't handle. Not how you see yourself after what he did and not the physical side either. I'm not worried about the baby. I trust Martha's word that you were properly shielded during your x-rays and I trust what I saw on the ultrasound she ran after she'd completed the kit. I know the baby is a touch distressed but I also know that as you were resting last night, so too was the baby and that was good enough for me."
"Is it something with Jack that you didn't tell me?"
"No Em; I didn't lie to you about that. Jack is fine. There were no serious side effects for any of you that ingested that sedative. And before you ask, I checked on both Jack and the girls a short time ago while you were still sleeping and they're all fine. In fact, I'll call their wards shortly and get them brought here so that they can see you and you can see them."
"Okay, so what is it then, if it isn't me or the children, that has you pacing so aggressively?"
"Truth between us?"
"I'm counting on that always."
He nodded and looked down at their clasped hands. "Kevin pulled the information stored on the truck's GPS that will tell us where Doug picked you up. We'll then need one of you to lead us back to the compound from there. Marnie has flat out refused to do it, Carrie just burst into tears when asked, Kevin heard me ask Carrie and said he'd flatten me if I even thought of asking Penelope to do it and clearly Jordan can't. That left you or Lydia. Unfortunately, her husband actually made me pause in the asking with just a look and even though she indicated a willingness to lead us in, she just as clearly hesitated when her husband turned that look on her."
"What does Lydia's husband do again? I know she told me but I can't remember."
"He's a Green Beret in the Army's Special Forces. They can be damn scary."
"Mmm, I know. I dated one briefly while I was in high school."
His smile when it slowly came was amused. "Em, you have to be at least 20 years of age to apply to become a green beret."
She rolled her eyes. "I know that. It was all part of my rebellious phase. I told him I was older than I was and I got away with it until mother found out three months later and threw the biggest fit. She marched right up to him and demanded to know what he thought he was doing messing around with a 16-year-old girl. The poor guy went red, then purple before becoming the whitest shade of white I've ever seen. My mother realised he didn't have a clue and told him to check id next time and left it at that for him. I was grounded for the rest of the year, all eight months of it, and lost the best kisser I'd ever met to that date."
He laughed so hard he almost fell off the bed and she felt something tight inside ease up a bit. If she could still make him laugh like that, it definitely wasn't her he had any issues with. She waited through the laughter and watched him wipe tears from his face when he was down to the occasional chuckle.
"That's priceless. I can just see the look of outrage on your face as your mother confronted him and I can also see the look on her face."
"I wasn't too keen on being grounded, but the look on mother's face was definitely almost worth it."
He chuckled a bit more before he settled again. "Okay, so what was I saying?"
"I'm almost too afraid to bring it up again. I only just lightened the heaviness in the atmosphere."
"Oh, that. Okay, so I think Lydia might be out of the question, but then again, she looked like she actually wanted the chance to go back."
"Not surprising. She has a black belt in something or other and if she can convince her husband to back her up, I know she'd like to go back and get something in for the last few months of her life she's lost."
"You sound wistful."
She closed her eyes. As much as she needed to explain what she wanted in a way he would understand, she knew he didn't need his nose rubbed in what had been done to her. He was already in pain over her pain; she really didn't want to add to it.
"He kidnapped us successfully in the end but made two attempts before that. I've been threatened by him multiple times and forced to leave my babies on a snow-covered ground in seriously cold temperatures. Then when he got me, he beat me up and he violated me. So hell yes I want to go back and reclaim some of what was taken from me. And don't even think about telling me you haven't thought about revenge at least once."
He sighed softly. "I wasn't going to deny it Em. It's what had me pacing so aggressively by the window. How deep-seated my need is to go in with my team, break from protocol and cut off his penis with the dullest knife I can find. Because he violated my most precious possession. And yes; I did say penis and I did call you a possession. I figured you'd understand on both counts."
She couldn't keep her smile of pleasure from fully taking over her face. Being called a possession might have, on any other day, pissed her off royally. She was her own woman, fiercely independent despite being happily married and she was no ones possession. But today, it totally worked for her. And looking at his face, she knew that he could see that she was okay with it...and that it would be the only time he ever referred to her in that way.
Thinking through what he'd said, she said cautiously, "Is there anything from stopping Mr Scott from coming with us if Lydia and I together lead you all in?"
His eyes narrowed on her face, but he shook his head. "No; nothing that I can think of. They want as many people as they can get for this raid because we just don't have enough information about the number of men and firearms we are going to meet. And because he's a Captain, he's definitely fully qualified to come in with us."
"How old is he? Lydia said she was only 28 and they were high school sweethearts."
"He's 29 or 30 I think. I know he said he was one of the youngest captains they've ever had in the program. He's just that good at everything he applies him to."
"Not surprising given his rank. Okay, so we lead them in and we make it our primary objective to find him. And if he gets hurt in the process, well, who's going to believe him when we're saying that's how we found him."
A throat cleared behind her and she tensed slightly, before she saw the easy way Aaron smiled.
"Hey Dave. Come to visit us with an update?"
"Yes. None too soon by the sounds of it. Remember; whatever you're planning, you have to live with your actions afterwards."
Emily shifted carefully onto her back, wincing as a couple of cracked ribs protested the movement.
"Dave, I have to live with what he did to me every day of the rest of my life. And what on earth makes you think I'd do something stupid that would ruin my career or see my children raised motherless because I'm in jail?"
"Humph," he muttered as he came closer and settled into the chair at her bedside. "I'm just going to leave that one alone. I'll focus instead on the reason for my visit. But first, how are you doing this morning?"
She shrugged slowly. "As well as can be expected I guess. I ache everywhere, but physically I'm fine except for a few fractured ribs and the usual assortment of bruises one collects when one has been beaten by a psychopathic monster."
He nodded slowly. "Dare I ask if there is a concern of STD's or pregnancy from what has been done to you?"
She turned her head back towards Aaron, telling him with her eyes that she trusted him to know what information to give out.
"What I say in the next minute is for you alone. You don't pass it on to the others in your rounds. Understood?"
"Of course. But with a warning like that, do I really want to know?"
Aaron shrugged and shifted his hold on her hands so that he could resume stroking her hair. "We have no idea about any threat of STD's, but she's being treated regardless just to be on the safe side and when we get our hands on the little piece of shit who violated her, they'll be taking blood to test for just about everything to see if we can rule that out."
Emily smiled dryly as she turned her head back to face Dave. "Can you tell he's just a little bit pissed over the whole thing?"
Dave returned her dry smile with one of his own as he shifted slightly. "Honey, that message came through to me loud and clear yesterday when I walked in on what I shouldn't have. Then, and now, I feel like I need something solid and strong to protect the parts of me that Teresa says she likes the best while chatting with your beloved husband."
Emily blinked, then blinked again as it registered what he'd said. As it fully sunk in, an image sprang to mind that brought a giggle bubbling to the surface. Spotting the uncomfortable look on Dave's face, that giggle turned into a roar of laughter.
Aaron shot Dave a look and mouthed a thank you. Dave tipped his head in acknowledgement and they waited for the laughter to peter out.
"Oh god, please don't do that again. That hurt."
"Sorry," Dave said quietly, though he wasn't too sure he was as he spotted how much easier she looked in his company. He hadn't much liked that slight edge of wariness she'd had in her eyes as she looked at him before.
She shot him a look that stated clearly that she saw right through him, so he grinned unrepentantly and shrugged nonchalantly.
"As to the other risk, it's non-existent."
Dave frowned. "If there are concerns about STD's, surely there are concerns about pregnancy."
Emily smiled happily. "Dave, darling, even you should know that it is impossible to impregnate a pregnant woman."
She started laughing anew at the startled look on his face and ended up curling into her side as the laughter turned to a groan of pain. But despite that hurt, she felt so much better and once the pain had again eased, she asked, "So how are the others?"
Dave smiled and settled more comfortably into his chair. "First off, congratulations to both of you. But isn't it a bit soon after the twins?"
Aaron shrugged. "We obviously weren't trying, but we're happy none the less. And she's only about three or four weeks pregnant; we wouldn't have even known for a while if it hadn't been for the blood tests they had after they were first taken."
"So you both knew when Emily was taken the second time. Geez; no wonder you were so completely on edge while she was missing. You turn positively possessive and caveman when your woman is pregnant. That explains so much now that I know."
Emily snorted. "Please don't pick at my man. I've been talking with Teresa as well you know."
The faint colour that came to his cheeks as his eyes shifted away from her in embarrassment had her smiling again. "Dave?"
"Yes Emily?"
"Thanks."
His smile was full of understanding. "As many times as you need me to before it doesn't matter anymore. And if it always matters, then count on it for the rest of your life."
She turned her head away to hide her tears. Of all the team and all her friendships with them, outside of Aaron it had always been Dave she'd turned to and trusted with what was on her mind. Even more so than Derek; he was the one she'd been the most scared about facing. But his simple acceptance of where she was after all that had happened to her, and his easy way of ignoring her fears while he worked to put her at ease in his company had done what she hadn't thought possible; put her at ease in his company.
While she calmed her turbulent emotions, the guys chatted quietly about other things. Only once she'd settled back against the pillows did Dave get back to the reason he'd come to visit.
"Alright, so I just spent an hour with Teresa in Jack's room, cuddling your daughters and reading to Jack and Toby. All four children are fine, though your girls are obviously missing you and Aaron because they were fussy and not wanting to settle despite clearly being tired. All Jack can talk about is when he gets to come and see you, so if you can, try and arrange that soon to reassure him. Otherwise, he's been reassured that the staff here are taking good care of you and will wait if need be.
"Jordan made it through the night without a hitch and is slowly but steadily improving. Ben and Derek are comforting each other and they will know more tonight, but the general opinion is that Jordan will recover fully in time."
"That's good. I was really worried about her overall condition when we met up but then when she stopped breathing I think my heart just about sunk. They were not the most fun minutes of my life."
"Hmm, I don't blame you. Derek considers you his hero at the moment and is currently working on a way to adequately thank you. I did suggest that he just tell you with some flowers, but he looked at me like I was crazy so I just backed off the topic. He'll probably go overboard about it, but there's no doubt at all that he truly loves her so I'm inclined to leave that to the two of you to deal with."
"Thanks," Emily said dryly. He tipped his head to her and continued.
"Penelope is fine today, after spending half the night being constantly monitored. She'll need to follow up with her own GP, but she's been informed that she'll be fit to return to work in about a week. As you can probably imagine, Kevin is incredibly relieved by that fact.
"Carrie has four fractured ribs and a fractured hip. She also had some internal bleeding last night but that had slowed to a stop by the time she woke this morning. Toby has been completely reassured of her wellbeing and Carrie is completely relieved that Toby and Mirkal have bonded to each other so well. I asked Toby how he could be so sure that Mirkal wasn't like his father and the kid looked at me with eyes so old I completely froze for a second and said he just knew. Mirkal has already spoken to Alex Jackson about leaving the team and permanently relocating to Virginia. I somehow doubt that he'll be talked out of that plan."
Emily nodded thoughtfully and Dave continued. "Em, Carrie also indicated a desire to have you come see her if you're up to it. She's confined to bed for the moment while they stabilise her hip fully so she isn't going anywhere. But she wants to talk boys with you, no doubt getting your opinion on her relationship with Mirkal, and also to talk with you about what happened if you're willing. She indicated that she'd been there before and wanted to help you if at all possible."
Emily exchanged a look with Aaron. "We'd suspected she may have been raped sometime in the past by her husband, but we'd had no proof until just now," she admitted slowly.
Aaron smiled dryly. "You're just full of information you aren't supposed to have today, aren't you?"
Dave's smile was just as dry. "You kids have no idea how much Uncle Dave knows that he shouldn't."
"What about Lydia and Marnie?"
"Except for the beating she'd taken, Marnie was untouched physically by what had happened while she was in their hands and that is helping her deal with what she's been through. I met her parents briefly and they are a little rigid, but very supportive of her in her efforts to recover, so I'm pretty certain she'll be fine.
"Lydia has been looked over fully and has been given a physical clean bill of health. The psych is also very happy with her mental wellbeing. She'd been brought up in a good, strong family environment and with her husband had created another family environment that was just as strong. She's a confident young woman who has been deeply shaken by this event, but is already clawing her way out of the hole she'd been flung into by it. Her husband is behind her 100% and she's clearly taking comfort both from him and from her children. It will of course take time and she may always have to deal with it, but just like you, she's surrounded by people who won't let her falter and fall and she will be alright given time."
Emily was relieved to hear that everyone was going to be alright. She liked the thought of speaking of what she'd been through with Carrie and getting the other woman's perspective and thought that maybe Lydia would also benefit in this way. She also wanted to see Jordan and Derek and get the 'thanks' part out of the way. She somehow doubted it would be that easy, but she resolved to at least try. And she'd go see Marnie and Penelope while she was at it.
They talked a bit more before Dave left to return to Teresa for breakfast. Silence returned to the room, broken only when Aaron started taking off his shoes.
"Wh...what are you doing?" she asked nervously.
He grinned at her. "I didn't sleep at all last night. I thought I'd just tuck myself in around your luscious self and catch a nap. Unless it bothers you in some way, in which case I'll try to sleep in this chair." He shot the chair a doubtful look before shooting her a game smile.
She found herself smiling reluctantly in response. "Fine, but you take full responsibility for any injuries you incur if I wake in a panic at being held."
He lifted his right hand and placed it over his heart as he put his left hand in the air beside his head. "I do so solemnly swear that I will take full responsibility for any reactions you may have while I am delighting in the feel of your body pressed up against mine."
She found herself giggling at his antics, but she reigned her reaction in enough to nod regally in acceptance of the terms. Of course, she figured he'd simply take off the shoes and remove his jacket. What she got was an eyeful as he stripped off his shoes, socks, jeans, jacket and long-sleeved shirt, leaving behind only his boxers and undershirt.
She moved over with her mouth dry and a sudden wild desire to strip him from the rest of his clothes. She doubted her nerves would stand for it, but she wondered too if she could handle something a bit lighter than that considering where they were. He shifted the covers out of the way and slipped in beside her. They moved carefully to avoid disturbing her IV but pretty soon she was tucked into his arms and some last bit of fear she had melted away as he set his gun within easy reach on the side table.
"I'm not so sure leaving it there is a good idea, but I'd be too worried about sending it flying if I placed it under the pillow."
She nodded wordlessly, too aware of the way his body had reacted to being pressed up against hers. There was none of the repulsiveness she thought there might be after what Malik had done to her and she felt a sudden surge of hope that their combined history and the memories she'd built with him would be enough to get her through this safely.
As she shifted slightly to look at him, she realised her look must have spoken volumes, because he said softly, "It's too soon. You should wait a bit before poking at your wounds."
She shook her head slightly. "Wouldn't it be better to poke the wounds now to see how much healing they may actually need? I mean, we might be surprised and find that it isn't as bad as everyone thinks."
"And if it's actually worse? Can you deal with that disappointment?"
"Knowing you aren't going anywhere and won't think less of me if that's the case? Yes, I can."
He watched her steadily for a long moment, before shifting closer and kissing her. One of his hands drifted down her arm until their hands became joined. He lifted them up to rest between their hearts as he feathered other, lighter kisses all over her face.
A door opening behind them brought his head up and a narrow look to his face.
"Come back later."
"Will do," she heard Derek murmur along with a soft apology for intruding.
Aaron didn't ask her if she was alright with continuing, though she probably would have said she was far too tense at that moment to continue. Yet he proved her wrong as he went back to his light and easy kisses; everywhere but her lips. In fact, he didn't return to her mouth until she whimpered slightly and shifted to collect his with hers. Then it was so easy it was comforting.
She let her eyes drift shut as sensations washed through her; delighting in the knowledge that she was enjoying herself with him and not struggling with any of the darker emotions she'd been expecting to feel.
Aaron pulled back with a small smile as he felt Emily relax fully underneath him. He'd thought she was far too tired for this and he hadn't been wrong as he took in the small smile on her lips as her breathing evened out.
Tucking her in as close to his heat as he could get her still slightly too cool body, he sent up a quick prayer that she wouldn't panic in his arms when she woke. He would completely understand if she did, but he wasn't so sure she'd be as alright with it as he would be.
He closed his eyes as he breathed her scent in, buried though it was under the antiseptic smell of the room and the different smells of soap and shampoo they'd used to clean her up yesterday. He fought again with the freight train carrying his emotions that wanted to run him down. She needed to rest; she didn't need to be woken up by his reaction to finally having her back safely in his arms.
In the end, his exhaustion helped him win that battle for another few hours and he drifted into a deep slumber.
End-
A/N: I wasn't intending for that to be quite as long as it was, but there it is. I know everyone wants to go and attack the unsubs, but I'm eagerly awaiting the return of my inspiration for Lydia Scott so that I can properly write that chapter; so instead you get sweet fillers like this one while you wait. Have I got you intrigued yet? If so, stay tuned...it won't be long now.
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.