Author's note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or alerted this story. I let this chapter run a little long because I'll be gone most of this weekend. Hope it satisfies! Most of the chapters won't be this long, for the simple reason that I can update more frequently if they're shorter. I only had one reviewer that told me they prefered short-quick updates, so I'm going with that unless someone else tells me different.
Seeing the federal agents, the blonde cuffed to the bed pulled frantically at the restraint. "I didn't do anything wrong." She pleaded in Spanish to an orderly who ignored her, checked her chart, and left the room without a word. "Please—" She called after him in Spanish, "Manuel will be looking for me." As soon as Hotch and Emily entered the room, she quieted and ducked her head, still pulling on the restraints.
Hotch turned quickly while Emily rushed to her side. "Why is she cuffed to the bed?" He demanded, directing his anger at the security guard who had been standing just outside JJ's room.
"JJ-" Emily sighed with relief, stopping short of the hospital bed. She hesitated, almost afraid to touch her friend as if by touching her it would destroy the illusion she hadn't allowed herself to hope for. "You're alive."
"It's hospital policy." The man stated obliviously, answering Hotch's question as the woman in the bed shrank back as far away from all of them as she could get with her arm cuffed to the bed. "But I can unlock them for you?" The guard gestured toward the cuffs.
"Yes." Hotch snapped shortly, the look in his eyes clearly deterring any argument by the guard.
As soon as the cuffs were unlocked, both agents were stunned when the woman on the bed sprinted past the federal agents barreling down the hall. "JJ, stop—wait" Hotch yelled pleadingly as he ran after her.
Snapping into action, the guard yelled down the hall, "Stop that woman!"
Another guard, hearing the commotion, turned the corner just in time to snatch the blonde quickly just before Hotch caught up with her. The blonde fought violently to free herself. "¡Vete al infierno!" The woman yelled, fighting against the guard's tight grip.
Hotch looked to Emily in surprise, attempting to confirm that she too saw this was happening. Emily nodded and translated softly, "She told them to go to hell."
"Viete a la mierda!" The woman spat as the guard dragged her into the hospital room. Emily stepped back in shock, stunned by the un-JJ like behavior of this woman who, though much thinner than JJ and with hollow sunken eyes, could have been JJ's twin.
The guard struggled to hold JJ in his grasp. His fellow security guard stepped up to help, forcing JJ back onto the hospital bed where they reapplied the cuffs to her left wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hotch snapped as he stepped forward to stop them.
"Sir—" One of the guards flinched as JJ punched his arm, fighting to get him to go away, "We can't release her into your custody until a doctor signs her out."
Rubbing his hand over his worn, tired eyes, he nodded. "Fine, get me the doctor." Hotch gestured to Emily to take the seat at JJ's bedside as he moved over to the seat in the corner, "but we're not leaving without her."
.oOo.
An hour later, Hotch was pulled out of JJ's room by the plump doctor with salt and pepper hair who had been treating JJ. Hotch smirked with annoyance at the doctor's inability to get there any sooner, but he apparently had more pressing patients in immediate need.
How any other patient could take precedence over JJ was beyond him.
But the calm confidence the doctor exuded suggested that Hotch could at the very least trust this man's medical knowledge.
"Alejandra was invo—" Dr. Martinez started to explain, only getting as far as the patient's name before being swiftly corrected.
"JJ." Hotch swiftly interrupted with the correction. "Her name is JJ, she is a federal agent that was abducted three years ago."
"My apologies." The older man smiled kindly, "JJ was involved in a major car accident—" Dr. Martinez explained, "When the paramedics brought her in however, she refused treatment to what appeared to be a dislocated right shoulder, insisting that she did not have insurance and did not want to be treated. On initial examination, we noticed several tick bites, and we suspected a recent sexual assault, though JJ declined treatment at the time."
"How recent?" Hotch asked, not sure whether he really wanted to know the answer to his own question.
"Based on the blood saturating her clothes, I would say within an hour of the accident. I might add that it would have been a particularly violent encounter." The doctor added sadly. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "One of our staff realized the similarity between our patient and the description in the federal database. Additionally, we noticed track marks suggesting a history with drug use-that's when we notified you and kept Alejandra—JJ—" He corrected automatically, "here until you could arrive."
"JJ wouldn't do drugs willingly." Hotch mused as he watched the women inside. Emily sat near JJ's side, as if by leaving her friend—even for a minute—JJ might suddenly disappear.
"Per your request, we took her for an x-ray of her shoulder which confirmed it was indeed dislocated, which we re-set. We also will administer a mild sedative to allow Dr. Gonzales the opportunity to complete a Sexual Assault Exam."
Hotch grimaced, the doctor took that as his cue to continue.
"The x-rays show multiple poorly healed fractures to her arms, legs, and ribs—the most notably a break to her left fibula and tibia which would have made her unable to walk for nearly six months. This injury likely took place one to two years ago."
"What did they do to you JJ?" Hotch whispered, watching closely as JJ's eyes darted around frantically.
The Doctor sighed sadly, "I'm afraid, Agent Hotchner, that this is just the tip of the iceberg."
.oOo.
Emily cringed as the doctor walked in smiling brightly as if here for a more lighthearted purpose. "Jennifer?" The doctor looked for any sign of recognition in JJ's face. Finding none, she shrugged slightly, "I'm Dr. Abigail Gonzales, you are the FBI Agent?" She asked Emily who nodded warily.
"The nurses said they couldn't find a vein, so it looks like we're going to have to set up the IV here in the foot." She explained everything she was doing, and for that, Emily was grateful. "But first, we're going to have to give you something to make sure you don't kick me in the face." She spoke to JJ almost as if she were a child—which Emily had to agree may have been the best method. Loading a syringe, Dr. Gonzales focused on the woman in front of her, frowning at the terror that immediately washed over her eyes.
"No!" JJ insisted hoarsely, scrambling as far away from the coming syringe as she could get, the cuffs twinkling as they clanged against the rails of the bed, "Por favor, no mas. No mas." She pleaded softly.
Emily's heart broke more than she thought was possible at the sight of JJ so frightened. "Doctor Gonzales, couldn't we avoid the sedative? Is there any other way?"
"That depends." The doctor smiled with a relaxed air about her. "Jennifer, I'm going to need you to keep your foot really still, can you do that?" She asked kindly. "If not, I will have to give you something to relax."
JJ nodded reluctantly and slowly uncoiled herself from the tight ball she had rolled herself into. "Please don't tell Manuel." She whispered in Spanish, ducking her head to avoid eye contact with the other women.
Both Emily and Dr. Gonzales looked at each other deftly. Shrugging slightly, Dr. Gonzales picked up where she had left off. "Alright, this might sting a little."
JJ winced, and Emily couldn't help but feel tears sting in the back of her eyes. "There." Dr. Gonzales smiled in satisfaction as she taped the IV to JJ's foot. "Alright Jennifer, please call me Abigail. Now I'm going to do a Sexual Assault Exam. Do you know what that is?"
JJ nodded, her eyes wide and fearful. "Alright, let's get started." Placing her hand gently on JJ's knees to help maneuver her correctly, she was shocked to see her charge already begin crying silently.
"Are you in pain?" She asked, mentally cataloguing the chart she had just familiarized herself with—instantly catching a grinding resistance from the woman's left hip that hadn't shown up on any X-ray.
JJ didn't respond. Instead, she turned her head away from both women and continued to allow the tears to stream down her face, her body jumping with the sobs that she somehow managed to keep absolutely silent.
"It's okay." Emily comforted in Spanish. "This will be over soon." She smoothed JJ's matted hair, cringing as the younger woman sobbed silently. As she ran her hand over JJ's thin hair she was struck by how weak her friend looked—and the bruise now forming along the side of her cheek only increased the stark contrast between her pale skin and the dark circles under her eye.
When JJ winced again, Emily felt like she couldn't stand it much longer. Catching the doctor's eye, Emily nodded toward JJ pleadingly, hoping the other woman understood her desperate plea to do something to lessen the trauma for her friend.
Dr. Gonzales nodded quickly before grabbing a syringe and plunging the cool liquid immediately into the IV. "Jennifer, you should be feeling a little more relaxed in a minute." She offered hopefully. "And Emily here will hold your hand to make sure you are okay, alright?" Abigail smiled and tried to catch JJ's eye. When JJ refused to look at her, she motioned to Emily to take the blonde's hand before she began the exam.
Once Emily took JJ's hand, Dr. Gonzales leaned down to get to work. Almost immediately, she felt a flash of recognition at obvious sores and boils she had rarely seen in combination before.
Speaking out of the corner of her mouth, Dr. Gonzales commanded the nurse at her side softly, "Get me 30 units of Zithromax, we're going to need to get her started on some strong antibiotics right now." Looking back at Emily, Dr. Gonzales shook her head softly before returning to her task at hand.
As JJ's silent sobs subsided, Emily clung to her hand overwhelmed with the memory of waking up that fateful night.
"Dejó la pistola" Emily muttered, her first thought was confusion at why she was speaking Spanish.
"Emily, can you open your eyes for me?" A deep voice that registered somewhere in the back of her mind as belonging to Derek Morgan asked. "Come on Em, open your eyes."
"Where am I?" She asked. Opening her eyes, she immediately regretted it as the world spun around her—blurry images coming in and out of view. She quickly shut her eyes once more, attempting to focus on regaining consciousness. Suddenly, the events of earlier came floating back to her. "Where's JJ?"
When no one answered, she opened her eyes in curiosity. Surprised to see Hotch, Reid, Rossi and Morgan all staring straight at her, she asked again more seriously, "Guys, where is JJ?"
Their expressions were all the explanation she needed, but Rossi spoke up quietly, "We don't know."
Emily traced gently over the faded lines on the outside of JJ's wrists, surprised at how quickly JJ had fallen asleep. "What would these scars be from?" She asked to no one in particular.
"Let me see." Dr. Gonzales stood from where she had been swabbing the inside of JJ's thighs. Snapping off the gloves, she wheeled her stool over to where Emily was pointing. "Those look like scars from a tight restraint. Some type of ligature. We see that a lot with some prostitutes that come through here."
After a moment, Emily spoke up again. "What about these ones, on the inside of her arm—some dark purple, and other lighter jagged lines going down from the wrist toward the elbow?" Emily turned out JJ's arm for the doctor to see. "Are these restraint marks too?"
Abigail held her eyes for a moment before shaking her head sadly. "I think you know the answer to that, Agent Prentiss."
Emily felt her stomach drop, and winced at the foul taste that filled her mouth. "You mean she tried to-?" She couldn't even state the words.
The doctor nodded sadly, "I'm afraid so."