Fighting against the heaviness of her eyes, Emily finally got them to open, the light in her room immediately sending a shot through her head. "Fuck," the single mother cursed, her hand coming up to hold her forehead.

"Emily? Can you hear me?"

The brunette forced her eyes back open at the unfamiliar voice. "Yes," she whispered, afraid if her voice were to be too loud another shot of pain would ring around her head. "Who are you?" Noticing the man in a white coat before her, the agent took a look around the room. "Am I in the hospital?"

The doctor smiled gently to his patient. "Can you remember what happened?"

"I was hit by a car," Emily whispered to herself, eyes widening. "Where's Grace?"

"Your daughter," the doctor acknowledged. "She's here."

"Where is she?" The FBI agent could feel her heart racing as she looked around the room for the little girl. "Where is she? Where's my daughter?" Emily looked to the doctor, tears in her eyes. "Is she ok?"

The doctor stepped forward, his hand up. "Please Agent Prentiss, I need you to stay as still as possible."

"Tell me where my daughter is." The ambassador's daughter ignored the nurses rushing into the room as her heart monitor went off. "Where's Grace? What's wrong with her?"

The nurses tried their best to keep the single mother still in her bed, the doctor walking up to her. "Emily, I need you to stay calm. Once your vital signs are stabilized, I can take you to Grace."

Emily's eyes stung with tears at the mention of her baby girl.

"There are no internal nor external injuries," her doctor informed her, noticing the calming of Emily's nature as he continued. "Grace only has a few bruises. You on the other hand have a broken leg, two fractured ribs and a concussion. I need you to stay in this bed for at least one week."

The brunette woman felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"I can have a NICU nurse bring Grace up in just a little bit, but right now is not the best time." Finishing off his notes on his clipboard, the doctor tried his best to smile to the distraught woman. "There are some friends of yours outside. Do you want visitors?"

Emily wiped her eyes, quickly nodding her head.

Once the nurses had left, the agent was quick to sit herself up in her hospital bed. A rush of pain radiated through her abdomen. She peeked down her hospital gown, noticing the intense bruising underneath her breasts.

"Em?"

Emily looked up just in time to take in a gentle hug from her favorite technical analyst. The doctor must have warned her and the rest of their friends about the ribs. "Where's Grace?" she husked, pulling herself out of the hug to look to the rest of her friends. Where was Hotch? "Have you seen her?"

JJ, with Henry on her hip, stepped farther into the room and shook her head. "She's in the NICU right now. When they told us she had bruises, we came straight up here."

"How do you feel?"

Emily couldn't stop her tears from falling at the genius' question. "I need to see my daughter." Ignoring the pain and sitting up in her bed, she gestured to the door. "Get me a wheelchair."

Derek looked hesitant.

"If I don't have a wheelchair, I'm walking down there," the agent threatened. Noticing the looks in her friends' eyes, she nodded her head. "So go and get me a wheelchair. Now."

Rossi walked over to his favorite agent and handed her the cup of water on the near table. "Have some before you tire yourself out."

Emily looked gratefully up to the older man before taking a few sips.

"What hurts the most?"

"I need to see my daughter," she said again, handing the cup back to the older man. She took Rossi's hand, letting him help her move her legs over the side of the bed to get ready for her wheelchair.

"Emily asking for a wheelchair," Garcia whispered to her blond friend beside her. "Imagine."

JJ stopped herself from laughing outright, watching as their brunette beauty tried to get her breath back.

Noticing all her friends staring, Emily bit her lip. "Do you know who did it?"

"Father of two distracted on the phone," Reid nodded. "He didn't see you pass into the crosswalk. Said he was arguing with his wife about their daughter's birthday party tomorrow night."

"Don't charge him." Receiving shocked looks from the rest of her team, she shook her head. "I don't want to press charges. I'm fine, the doctor said Grace is fine. All I want is to hold my baby."

Just then Derek came rushing back into the room. "Your doctor is doing his rounds. If we get to the elevator now, he'll never notice you're gone."

She let Rossi once again help her, letting him take her underneath her arms to help her stand on her one good leg. Hobbling over to the chair, the agent found it hard to take a deep breath.

"You ok?"

Emily finally sat herself down, coughing hard as a rib poked into her side. "Good," she nodded. "Go." Her hands clenched the arm rests of the wheelchair, her head spinning as her friends took her out of the room and down the hall. She reached forward just enough when they got to the elevator to press the button, her jaw dropping when she felt a rib almost poke at her heart.

Noticing the pain written across her face, JJ knelt down beside the wheelchair. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she breathed, ushering the chair into the elevator once the doors opened. "Let's go."

Rossi and Derek got into the elevator with their friend, the other agents having to wait until the next one because of the amount of space there was. "Sweetheart," the author of the group said softly, his hand on Emily's shoulder, "tell us if you're hurting."

"I just need to see my daughter."

The elevator doors opened up and Emily immediately felt her heart breaking at the cries that echoed down the hallway from the NICU. "Do you know where she is?"

Derek guided the chair down to where they had left Grace and her doctor only a half hour earlier. "She's going to be ok," he reminded her, knowing the dark thoughts that were racing through his friend's mind.

Once in front of the right window, Emily's hand reached out to touch the glass. "Gracie," she whispered tearfully, watching her wailing daughter squirming in the crib she'd be set in. Immediately her eyes caught onto a scrubbed up figure, and her heart soared.

Picking up the little girl, Hotch held her to his chest. The agents on the other side of the glass couldn't hear what he was whispering to the little girl, but the bruised baby was quick to calm herself down once in his arms.

Emily's chest ached, noticing the small kisses her boss was pressing to Grace's cheek. He had washed, changed his clothes and gotten into scrubs to go in and protect her daughter when she couldn't. She smiled as best she could when he turned her daughter to look her way, the seven month old reaching out to try and get to her mother on the other side of the glass.

Playing with her hand to try and wave toward the injured agent, Hotch kept the baby calm. Watching the pair together, Emily was shocked to realize what had been in front of her for months.

She loved him.