Emily Prentiss did not seem like the woman to be delicate or 'small'. But that was how she looked in his arms. Her head lolled to the side, completely unconscious. A few tears lingered on her cheeks.

"Emily." He gently shook her.

"Excuse me, Excuse me!" Ambassador Prentiss' shrill voice called out. "What's going on?" Hotch looked behind him to see a ton of people peeking into the room to see what had happened.

"Well?" Elizabeth wanted to know. Hotch lifted Emily off the floor.

"She just fainted."

The ambassador strangely looked relieved. "Then take her somewhere other than here." She hissed turning on her heel.

"Everything's alright." She ushered people away from the door. Hotch had no idea what to do with his unconscious agent. He looked to the man on his right. His assumed he was a family member. He just wanted the okay to take her.

"Keaton, you should know better than to be here!" Morgan's girlfriend stormed in. Emily stirred from the noise but didn't wake.

"I-I..didn't mean..." The other man, Keaton, stammered. Morgan's tiny girlfriend with her pregnant belly was a large force in the room.

"Please leave and never come back." She snapped and marched the man out.

"What's with that?" Hotch asked, shifting his arms.

"Keaton Jones. Her ex-Fiancé. I can take her if you want." The other man offered.

"That's fine. I can handle her." Hotch told him. He wouldn't pass Emily onto someone he did not know.

"Yeah, Lex said he cheated on her or something like that." Morgan added.

"I have to get back. If you just drop her off at the house; it should be fine. Thanks." The other man sounded like he was talking about a package. Hotch felt incredibly bad for Emily. No one seemed to be treating her like a person.

Morgan helped him put Emily in the backseat of his car.

"Should I take her to the hospital? She should have woken up by now." Hotch pondered outline.

"I don't know. She looks like she's sleeping. Maybe if she doesn't wake up soon." Morgan suggested.

Hotch was very careful to avoid any bumps on the way back. It probably would not have mattered. She didn't wake even when he pulled onto the crunchy gravel driveway. It was more difficult getting her out of his car then in. And he had to knock on the front door with her in his arms. A stunned looking maid answered.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed.

"She's alright, just fainted." He explained. His arms were getting sore from carrying her.

"In, in." She gestured into the sitting room. It was a relief to finally put her down.

"Can you call a doctor?" He asked the hovering maid.

"Doctor? Call? Si, si." He heard her dialling in the background.

The doctor was there in minutes. It was impressive that the Prentiss' had an on-call doctor. The professional examined Emily, took her blood pressure and listened to her heart.

"Senora?" He called for the maid again. "Has little Emily been sleeping well?" He inquired.

"Oh, no, no. She not sleep at all since father die. Hardly eat to." The doctor nodded.

"It's almost certainly fatigue. I recommend plenty of good food, water and bed rest." He gathered up his bag.

"I can prescribe something for sleep." He took out a pen and pad and scribbled something down. "She probably won't take it but here's trying." He ripped it off and handed it to Hotch. Was he supposed to stay here now?

The doctor had stayed a full fifteen minutes and then left. Everyone was still at the burial site so there was nothing for Hotch to do but wait.

"Glass of water?" The maid asked him. "Sure." He accepted.

"There lots of food out there." She pointed to the row of food trays. He suspected they were for the guests coming after the funeral but helped him. He was hungry from the mornings proceedings. He was gathering food when he heard a soft voice call out,

"Carlota?"

Emily had woken.

*~*

"Carlota?" She called again.

She recognized the room she had woke up in and was completely disoriented. She wiped a few stray tears with her sleeve. Very unladylike but she didn't care.

"Lottie? Mother?" She could hear sounds from the kitchen and went to investigate.

"Carlota? What am I doing here? Where is everyone?" She asked earnestly.

"The doctor say you collapsed at the funeral my sweet little Emily." Oh wow, that was news. That would explain her headache and tiredness. She needed a bed and fast.

"Where is everyone?"

"They are still at the cemetery."

Emily was crushed. "I don't get to watch my own father be buried?" Her bottom lips trembled and fresh tears trailed old ones. She sank down in the chair and wept on the counter like a child.

"Why did you have to do that to me Emily?" Elizabeth Prentiss scolded, bustling in.

"What?" Emily was still sniffling.

"Could you not excuse yourself in a more private place?"

"No, mother. I hadn't exactly planned on anything that happened."

"Right." Elizabeth acted like she didn't believe her daughter. "Well go freshen up and help me greet people." She ordered.

Emily had no intention of obeying. She wanted her father; but would have to settle for her bed. She did not care about her mother's politics and how she was using this tragedy for her advantage. Truth be told, she was more humiliated in both of them. She choked on another sob. Everything was just beginning to dawn on her.

"Who brought me back Lottie?" Emily asked feeling very uncomfortable about her weakness. She had not been able to protect herself. What if it was someone she didn't know?

"A nice gentleman from the funeral. He was very handsome. I wish I got his name. You should call him and thank him. But you need sleep now. Let's get you to bed. Doctor's orders." Carlota suggested.

"Thanks Lottie."

*~*

He stopped by the flower shop on his way, after sneaking out of the Prentiss' home. He did not feel up to facing Emily. She was going through a difficult time already. He did not need to add to it. So here he was at a tiny flower shop picking out a bouquet to send her. Flowers usually worked with Hayley, depending on what he had done.

He figured an already made bouquet with a little note would be best.

"Any one of those bright ones." He told the woman across the counter. They were bright and pretty. Any woman would like them. He was handed and card and quickly wrote:

'Emily, Hope you're feeling better, my deepest sympathies' before he thought it through. He bought them and stuff them in the passenger seat and drove back.

He snuck back into the kitchen using the side door and tried to place them on the counter. His plan was to not to be seen. It didn't work. The same maid spotted him.

"You back?" She asked.

"No, just give these to Emily please. I have to go." He ducked out as the rational part of his brain took over and mentally kicked him. What kind of game was he playing? Oh Crap, he thought. He forgot to sign his name. Emily wouldn't know who sent the flowers.

*~*

"Just the fact that Keaton was there makes me so mad!" Lexi told him. Derek humoured her, glad her anger wasn't directed at him for once.

"Why do you have such a hatred for this guy?" He asked after a while. Lexi really was going off on him.

"It's a long story. Do you have any peas?" Lexi was raiding his cupboards.

"Maybe." He lay down on his couch and petted Clooney as Lexi opened up a can. She had those weird pregnancy cravings. Yesterday she asked him for pickles.

"Well I told you Em and Keaton were engaged and that he cheated on her. But it was the way she found out that pisses everyone who knows about it off. Only a few of us in the wedding party know. The Prentiss' like to keep their mistakes under the rug. That's probably why she stopped talking to me. That and other things."

"Go, on."

"Well I guess I should start at the beginning. Em and Keat were one of those sickening couples. It was all about love, marriage, kids. You know the American dream. Keaton was going to be a huge executive and Em had just started out in the FBI, St. Louis office. Then Em got pregnant so of course their parents make them get engaged. Everything was fine and dandy until Em miscarried."

"Jesus." Derek commented. He could not picture Emily having a kid no more then himself.

"Oh and if you tell anyone I told you this; I will have to kill you." Along with the cravings came a wonderful sense of humour.

"So where was I? Oh right, so even though she lost the baby they still decided to go on with the wedding. Major mistake. That's where I think Keaton starting going after Andrea, his secretary." Lexi waited for a dramatic reaction. Derek just laughed.

"This is serious." She slapped his leg. "So it's close to the wedding day and Emily never told me but I heard she had gotten pregnant again. I think two days before her wedding she lost it again."

This story was taking on a darker tone. "On her wedding day, I had her all laced up in her beautiful gown, but I knew something was off. She was all jittery and not her usual Emily-self. Keaton was also acting very strange and randomly disappearing. All of a sudden Emily storms into our bathroom saying that she had seen Keaton kissing Andrea in a closet. She called off wedding right there and flew to Chicago the next day. And that`s why Keaton is such a bastard."

"Holy shit." Derek said. Emily had been through some rough times.

"I know. Emily hasn't been the same since. I'm sure she won't be now. Everyone has been waiting for her to snap. Do you have any salt and butter to go with my peas?" She asked.

*~*

"Little Emily. Look what I have for you." Lottie shook her from her dead sleep. Emily peeked her head out to smell hot food. And there was a vase of colourful daisies sitting on her nightstand.

"Who are these from?" She asked. She still felt raw but the gesture was nice. They were pretty.

"They from that gentleman I told you. Here is lovely note. I think you have secret admirer."

How nice, Emily thought reading the note. It looked somewhat familiar but she couldn't place it. At least someone was recognizing her sorrows. Just thinking of that made the tears well up again. She descended back under the covers, determined not to rise for a few days.

*~*

Another chapter dedicated to Hotch/Emily. Strangely I had not planned on writing anything like this chapter, but it had a mind of its own. Oh well, here it is. Enjoy and please don't forget to review. Special thanks go to TXCharm86, Celina79, shinecsc, Daisyangel, emochild52, Lexi Hale, musicluver246, Catarcy and lovingmylife for keeping up with this story and reviewing. Also thanks to everyone else who alerted, it really means the world.