Hello everyone! I apologize about the huge gap in my update. I am honestly very sorry and hope that you can forgive me. November I was taken over by Nanowrimo, and then I just got lost in other things. But none the less, here is the next chapter and I would love to hear what you think!

I do not own Criminal Minds

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Morgan asked as he and Emily stood in the hallway outside of the waiting room.

"Why not?" She shrugged. "I might as well not give Garcia a heart attack."

Morgan smiled slightly at her comment, but continued to keep a watchful eye over her. She stepped into the room with Morgan right behind her, and Garcia was the first to see them. Immediately she noticed Morgan's expression. She got up slowly and walked over to Emily. She couldn't help but notice that her other wrist was wrapped with white gauze.

Garcia looked at her friend and then pulled her tightly into a hug. Tears glistened in Garcia's eyes as she felt Emily gently hug back.

"Emily," Garcia whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry." Emily responded and then pulled out of the hug and glanced away.

Garcia put her hands on Emily's shoulders and directed her body towards her. "You've got nothing to be sorry for Emily. I just want you to be okay."

Emily nodded. It was now clear to her that she hadn't done a very good job of hiding what had happened.

"Come sit down." Garcia ushered Emily over to where she had been earlier. Once sitting down Emily reluctantly looked around and spotted Hotch's eyes on her. Quickly she ducked her head so she was no longer looking back at him.

Garcia slipped her arm through Emily's and held her closely. She wasn't going to let her girl disappear again.

XXX

Somehow after sitting in the waiting room for less than an hour Emily convinced Morgan to find JJ's doctor and they went to go see her again. Morgan refused to wait outside and the second Emily stepped into JJ's hospital room it was obvious. She knew. Her eyes followed Emily as she walked across the room, she didn't even leave her to see Morgan following closely behind.

"JJ..." Emily started, her hands involuntarily shaking. She didn't know what to say. No words could express how sorry she was, nothing gave it justice.

JJ said nothing. She continued to stare at Emily as anger boiled in her. How could Emily, someone she had always considered a friend, her best friend, do this to her?

"I'm so sorry," Emily said, but JJ just wanted to laugh at those words. She was sorry?

JJ kept her voice low and even, doing everything in her power to prevent a stutter, she wanted to sound strong. "You did this."

Emily nodded her head, but kept it looking down at the ground.

"Look at me E- Emily Prentiss."

Emily slowly brought her head up and looked into JJ's eyes. She could practically feel the rage.

"What the h-hell were you thinking?" JJ spat out without even thinking.

"It's all my fault JJ, I'm so incredibly sorry," Emily whispered.

JJ ignored the words she said. "What were you? Drunk?" She could feel her voice rising.

"I-I..." Emily's words died off. "There's no excuse for what I did."

"You…" JJ thought for a second, "You d-did this b-because of a c-case."

Emily's face turned pasty white at the mention of the case. She gripped her hands tightly together and bit her lip.

Morgan walked up behind Emily and slipped his hand around hers. "Emily I think we should go," He said under his breath.

"What w-was th-that, Morgan?" JJ challenged.

"This is something you can talk about later," Morgan said flatly. Gently he pulled Emily's arm towards the door.

"I'm not done," JJ growled.

"For now, you are."

"Why are you d-defending her?" JJ nearly shouted. "D-do you know what she did? How st-stupid can you be to do s-something like that?"

Morgan had to nearly drag Emily out of the room, it was nearly like- and he hated this analogy- dragging a dead body. She was putting up no fight, but was just standing there.

Once she was out of the room Morgan poked his head back in. "I'm sorry JJ, I truly am. But I suggest before you talk to her again you get your facts straight. And you're right, I am defending her. She's sorry, what more do you want her to say?"

After Morgan closed the door behind him, JJ was fuming. How dare he say that? She could feel her heart pounding high in her throat and her face was burning.

XXX

"Are you okay?" Morgan asked as they left her room, but he already knew the answer. Gently he loosened her clenched hands and kept them in his.

Emily didn't even bother nodding and just continued to stare at the ground. What was the point? JJ hated her, and every one of those things she had said were true. How did she do something like that? How had she been so reckless?

"Emily, please say something," Morgan pleaded.

"She's right."

"No, Em. She doesn't remember it all…"Morgan started.

"You heard what she said, she's right. I did that to her, because of that damn case." Emily's voice grew weaker and weaker with each word.

"Come on, let's go sit down."

Emily shook her head. She couldn't shake the feeling inside of her. It was less of a feeling though and more of an emptiness. Like her heart had been ripped out and had left a gaping hole in her chest. One that was bleeding out and leaving her more and more empty with each growing minute.

But the worst part was knowing there was nothing she could do about it. Knowing that she would have to live like that; with a part of her missing.

"What's going on Emily? You know you can talk to me, you did before." Morgan grew concerned with each moment of silence.

Instead of answering, Emily took her hands out of Morgan's and wrapped her arms around herself. It was an attempt to fill the empty space, or at least to protect it. Slowly she started to walk away. She didn't want to hurt JJ anymore than she already had, so she just walked away.

XXX

Three quiet knocks came on JJ's door.

"W-what?" She asked irritably.

The door opened tentatively and Garcia stepped into the room. "Hi Jayje, how are you feeling."

JJ glared at Garcia. "You kn-knew what happened and you d-didn't tell me."

"It wasn't my place to say anything," Garcia said quietly.

"I th-thought you were my friend."

"I am!" Garcia exclaimed. "I just thought it would be better to let Emily do it… or at least let her work through her things before you found out."

"What are you talking about?" JJ demanded.

Garcia's eyes shot around the room, avoiding contact with JJ's. "Do you remember the case Jayje?"

JJ thought. "Not really," She finally admitted.

Garcia sighed and sat down in the chair near the hospital bed. "Young women were getting kidnapped. Emily went in undercover and things didn't end well."

"W-what do you mean by 'didn't end well'?" JJ asked tentatively.

"Well, according to Strauss, and practically everyone else there, Emily made a mistake that cost one of the women her life." Garcia's eyes watered.

"Mistake?"

Garcia nodded quickly. "Strauss suspended her. We were all getting a lot of heat for it."

Suddenly JJ remembered. She remembered asking for a ride so she could get some alone time with Emily. She remembered trying to get her to talk and the looks she had received from everyone on the team. She remembered how torn up Emily was about the whole thing, and the nasty words Caroline's father had said to her. But most of all she remembered that Emily had been right about to talk to her.

"Oh God…" JJ whispered and Garcia nodded. "And I… Oh God." She repeated slowly.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you JJ, but I thought you should know everything." Garcia gently set her hand on JJ's shoulders.

"I just… I-I just yelled at her. I c-called her a drunk and I said it h-had to do with a c-case." This all dawned on JJ and her heart dropped.

Garcia just looked at her with no other words to say.

"I need to find her," JJ whispered, "now."

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