Chapter 11

Hotch was driving well past the speed limit, sirens on and everything, as they raced back to the office to leave Carry and to get the rest of the team. Derek had already brought his phone up and was frantically trying to reach Emily. She didn't answer the first time. Or the second. Or the third. All three times she, or someone, had pressed ignore. The fourth time went straight to voicemail which meant she had turned it off.

"Dammit," Derek cursed, hitting the dashboard with his phone.

"What?" Hotch asked him.

"Her phone is turned off. We need to go there right now."

"We need the team first. Try calling the home number. You would never do that so she might answer," Hotch suggested.

Derek was filled with new hope as he looked through his contacts for the number Emily had given him, but he'd never thought he would ever use. As soon as he found it he pressed call and waited. The first time he waited until he got to the answering machine. He didn't leave a message though. Instead he hit redial and waited. After the fifth signal he was about to give up, but to his surprise someone answered.

"Hello?" A tired voice said and Morgan sighed in relief.

"Emily, thank God! You have to get out of there," he said, trying not to let the panic be heard.

"Derek, please stop this. I don't have time for your childish games," Emily said.

"It's not a game, Emily. Doug is dangerous. You need to get out of there."

"And yesterday he was cheating on me. What's next, Derek? 'Hey, Princess, your boyfriend is an alien?' I'm tired of this," Emily almost yelled at her partner.

"No it's not like that. He..."

"Just shut up! Take your jealousy and stick it up your ass! I'm done!"

The line went dead with those words and Derek closed his eyes hard, knowing that he'd messed up. If anything happened to her right now he could never forgive himself. He knew that he should've done more.

Her phone rang for the third time, still Derek's name on the caller ID. Only Derek. No, Agent Morgan or just Morgan. They were on a first name basis which meant that their relationship was close even outside of work.

Doug clicked ignore like he had done the other two times. His eyes went to Emily's half naked form on the bed, wondering if she had woken up from the vibration. She hadn't so he decided to take her phone and put it on flight-mode to be sure no one could reach her. While he was at it he looked through her contacts. Hotch. Rossi. Reid. The other men didn't have their first name written in her contacts. Somehow this infuriated him. He hadn't liked the black agent from the first time they met so every little detail hinting on how close they were made him mad.

Leaving her side, he walked downstairs... Or more like stomped downstairs. He grabbed his own phone and dialed a number, confident that the drug would keep Emily out for at least ten more minutes if nothing disturbed her. Still to make sure they didn't repeat last night's event he walked down to the basement, locking every door behind him. While he walked he waited for the other man to pick up.

"Scott," a dark voice answered.

"What would you do for ten grand?" Doug asked.

"Anything," the man on the line said and Doug could hear that he was smiling.

"I have this woman who needs to be eliminated."

"Sure, man," Scott said. "Send me her picture, address and name, and I will get rid of her. I want five grand before and the rest after."

Doug nodded, "I'll send you the information and I will transfer the money to your account."

After that promise the men hung up and Doug searched through his texts for Madeline Stevens' safe house address, which his old friend had sent him while he was dealing with Emily last night.

As soon as he found it, he forwarded it to Scott, adding a picture of the brunette. Doug smiled as he pressed 'send'. This was really going to work out for the best. Any trace of him hurting anyone would be gone. The other women would never dare to step forward. And if they did, he knew that for the right price he could get rid of them without lifting a finger. Because he wasn't a killer. No, he wasn't a monster.

As soon as she hung up on Morgan she was forced to grip the table to keep herself from falling. The anger and the yelling seemed to make her dizzy. Or dizzier than she already was with the fever that only got worse by the minute. It had sure made her sleep for a long time until the phone had woken her up. What was he doing calling on the home phone anyways? Her cell was on her nightstand, she knew, and if it would've rung she would hear it. Maybe he had wanted to talk to Doug to scare him off.

Emily shook her head as she sat down by the kitchen table. This was just getting too far. How could he expect her to believe the lies he was spreading about Doug? They were just too absurd.

Looking around herself, she was suddenly filled with a thought. Where was her boyfriend anyways? She hadn't woken up with him next to her and she hadn't seen him on her way down.

She rose from her chair and started to walk through the house, keeping a hand on the wall at all times. Where was he?

"Doug?" her voice croaked out.
No answer.

"Doug?" she tried again, but nothing.

She checked upstairs first, looking in every room there was, but he was nowhere to be found. Her breathing got more heavy as she walked downstairs again, her fatigue making everything so much more exhausting.

After checking the downstairs area, she remembered vaguely that this house had a basement, or she could've sworn she'd seen windows for one even though she's never actually been there.

Finding the door by the the entrance to the house, she pulled on the handle. Locked. Why would Doug lock the basement door? She pondered to herself, but shrugged it off quickly as Doug wanting some privacy. Or maybe it was locked when the house was bought. Whatever the answer was, she now knew that her boyfriend wasn't anywhere in the house. It dawned on her that the man was probably out running errands while she was asleep. The man had been so busy taking care of her so it wouldn't surprise her if he came home with something that'd make her feel less like crap, or she hoped he would. Yes, she admitted it to herself. She felt like shit and wanted someone to give her chicken noodle soup and force her to take medicine. This was the first time someone had done this for her and she couldn't help but to love him even more.
Walking into the kitchen again, she pulled her robe tighter to keep herself warm as she looked for something to eat. Now that she finally let herself relax the growling of her stomach couldn't be missed and she felt just as hungry as she sounded. The fridge was almost empty except for a carton of milk and some veggies. Great.

She closed the fridge again and moved on to the cabinet. They had to have some crackers or something she could gnaw on until Doug came home. Just to still her hunger. She couldn't really remember if she had eaten anything earlier that morning. She knew she had been up and she knew she had gotten some fluids in her, but how much did she eat?

Putting a hand on her forehead, she cursed herself for the bad memory the fever was giving her. Everything just seemed to be in a daze.

She eyed the insides of the cabinet for a while before spotting a package of Oreos on the top shelf. She tried to stand on her tiptoes to reach them, but they were too far in so when she gave up on trying to reach them, she turned around to grab a chair. Just the height she got to by standing on the piece of furniture made her even more woozy, but she tried to take deep breaths so it would go away. It seemed to work so with a smile she reached forward and grabbed the blue package.

Emily had all the intentions to step down from the chair as soon as she got what she needed, but something caught her eye there in the corner of the shelf. She really wanted to respect Doug's privacy, but somehow she couldn't stop her arm from reaching for the white box. Her vision was blurry as she tried to read the text on it. Ro...hypnol, she managed to read. Careful to not drop the Oreos, she opened the box to look what was inside it. A lot of them were left, but she was shocked to see that someone had actually used a few. She gazed up in the cabinet again to take out the small orange prescription bottle that had been next to the white box. She was holding her breath as she read the word over and over again to try and comprehend what this was. Benzodiazepine. Sedatives? Why would Doug need rohypnol and sedatives? For the first time since she met Doug, she could feel something wasn't right with this picture.

With her eyes glued in front of her, she put the drugs and the Oreos back, not feeling hungry at all anymore.

She was broken out of her trans when a door suddenly unlocked and opened. Quickly she finished putting everything back in the right places, closed the cabinet and jumped down from the chair, dragging it back to its place. When Doug entered the kitchen her vision had already blackened from her fast movements and she was sure she was going to fall, but luckily before she did she was caught and held tight to a strong chest. Emily couldn't help but to feel safe again. Safe in his arms like so many times before because that's what it was supposed to be like.

"What are you doing up, sweetie?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"Phone rang," she answered in an almost-sigh.

"Do you want something to drink? Tea, water, milk?" Doug offered.

Emily stiffened slightly in realization and gulped. Of course. Why hadn't she thought about this earlier? Why hadn't she suspected anything?

Her voice was unbelievably calm and monotone when she spoke up. "So how long have you been drugging me?"