My Life Had Stood
Chapter 48: Unraveling the Truth 4
"Emmie. It's all right." Jolene Freeman spoke softly and reached tentatively to the brunette's restraints. A few strands of her blue-black hair, twisted loosely into a bun on top, fell against her forehead. Her warm, rich amber eyes peered at Alsie-Emmie from behind her glasses. "I'm just going to undo these, okay?"
"..." Emmie stared at her, tense and struggling against the restraints. Her eyes were angry, but the gleam in them was more defensive than offensive. And the way her gaze shifted around the room, focused especially the door, before settling back on Jolene revealed the extent of her defensiveness.
Jolene held her tongue, refraining from commenting or making any discouraging sounds while she undid the restraints around her patient's wrists. She hadn't seen Alsie, or rather Emmie, this on edge in years. Not since the first time she met the alter, when the young woman was nineteen.
Once freed of the restraints, Emmie swiftly stood up from the bed and massaged her wrists. It felt liberating and safer to be away from the bed and its restraints, her heart rate finally slowing down to normal. She paced, eyeing the psychiatrist carefully and with dawning recognition.
"Jolly..." Emmie mumbled, using the nickname Jolene Freeman had given when they'd first met. It'd been a way of building trust, since the psychiatrist had admitted that she'd never liked the nickname growing up. So her giving it to Emmie, and allowing the alter to call her by it, had established a beginning level of trust between them.
"It's all right, Emmie. There's no danger in this room. You have my word that I'll make sure nothing happens to Alsie, all right? It's okay." Jolene sat down on the bed, about to pat the mattress to gesture the brunette to sit down, but hesitated. Her eyes quietly noted the restraints still attached to the bed. She made a face, privately cursing whoever had put the restraints there, before gesturing to a chair beside the bed. "Please, sit. It's all right. Emmie, it's best for Alsie, if you sit."
Emmie glowered at Jolene at the last comment, her body tense. She seemed about to refute the woman, a barrage of swears and verbal barbs ready to be spewed out.
"...I heard from the agent outside that Alsie fell again, is that right? If so, it is best to sit down while we talk. You don't want to put Alsie in danger."
"...Fine." Emmie frowned, but sat down. Her eyes gleamed with trepidation and anger each time she glanced at the bed. It was clear that the sight of it made her uncomfortable, like the bed and restraints were just waiting to bind her again.
"All right. Now, do you want to tell me what happened? What you needed to protect Alsie from?" Jolene asked, her voice taking on a natural soothing quality. Her lips holding a reassuring smile.
"...She can't handle it. None of it." Emmie mumbled, her eyes locking on the psychiatrist. "Everything's going away. Just like when James left or when Mary died. She can't handle it if everyone's going to leave again. I won't leave her though."
Emmie added the last sentence almost like an afterthought, her expression revealing just how serious she was. She would never leave Alsie, she would always protect her.
"I understand a lot has happened lately." Jolene stated, unsure if she should mention the news story about James. Emmie had never liked the man and had tolerated him only after Alsie started growing fond of him. The alter had actually admitted to Jolene a few years ago, after Alsie got pregnant the first time, that she had repeatedly attempted to make James leave.
It wasn't until after Alsie's second miscarriage, and James being just as upset by it as the brunette, that Emmie had stopped trying to force him to leave.
"...Jem's alive. Or may be. The doctors lied to Alsie. James lied too." Emmie growled, her voice drenched in venom. "Shelly lied the worst though. She called Jem devil's spawn right to Alsie's face. She got what she deserved, saying that."
"...what happened to Shelly?" Jolene focused on that detail, surprised at the level of enmity in Emmie's voice when she talked about the blonde. It baffled the psychiatrist that the relationship between Shelly and Alsie would change so drastically that Shelly would call the petite woman's baby devil spawn.
"She attacked Alsie. Tried to inject her with something. I stopped her. Alsie was still upset though..." Emmie replied, about to say more when a knock cut through the room. She immediately tensed and stood back up, ready to fight whoever the intruder was.
"Calm, Emmie, calm." Jolene said, standing up herself to answer the knock on the door. She opened the door a crack, just to see who had interrupted and request them to give her more time. Her eyes widened, then narrowed upon noticing Hotch and then two nurses standing behind him. "Yes, agent?"
Hotch quickly apologized before explaining that the hospital staff were adamant about transferring Alsie to the psych ward. They had tolerated keeping her in her room after the attack on the nurse, but after the assault on William, they wouldn't - couldn't - keep her in this part of the hospital.
"No." Jolene said, her tone firm. "She's not being transferred there. No."
"I understand, but..." Hotch glanced back at the nurses and orderlies, before returning to the other woman. "The medical staff here are insisting on it. She attacked two people while here so far...and there's also the matter with Shelly."
"Then have her released into my care. I'm her psychiatrist."
Hotch hesitated, unsure who to side with. The amount of violence done by Alsie's alters, not just the two in-hospital attacks, but also the hereto unexplained altercation with Shelly, made him uneasy. But the fact that Alsie was Spencer's sister and the mother of Rossi's grandchild, made him less keen to see her brought to the psych ward.
"Dr. Freeman, Adrienne - Alsie - fell without warning early this morning. Her medical doctor is still waiting the results of her tests to see what caused it. Do you really think it's in her best interest to leave the hospital?" Hotch asked, keeping his tone and head level. Things would be much simpler if Spencer had agreed to being Alsie's medical proxy while William was getting bandaged up. As her brother, he was the brunette's next of kin, after William, a role that the younger agent had refused to take on.
Not that Hotch, or any of the team could fault him for it. It was a horrible shock, to each of them, but especially to Spencer, finding out that Alsie was the youngest BAU member's sister.
It would be a while before Spencer would be able to accept that fact.
He hadn't even registered the fact that this truth made him Jemma's uncle! All throughout his explaining to them about what Cam Fitzgerald told him, Spencer kept referring to Jemma as Rossi's granddaughter only. Not once did he refer to the girl as Alsie's daughter or his niece. He'd even hesitated when referring to Jemma's father James, despite the fact that that was what made Rossi Jemma's grandfather.
"What's best for her is to not be restrained. Or drugged. She has serious issues with both." Jolene insisted, glancing back at Alsie-Emmie before elaborating on what she meant to the agent.
Hotch gaped slightly as Jolene explained briefly that Alsie had issues with narcotics, going back to her late teens and early twenties. His eyebrows rose as he wondered just how much Alsie had in common with Spencer. The two may be twins, but it was still bizarre. Only when Jolene hinted that Alsie's addiction was to morphine and oxycodone did it feel less so.
"...Dr. Freeman, Alsie..." Hotch started to replied, once his initial surprise faded.
"She can't be restrained." Jolene repeated, the way she said it and how she glared at the two medical staff behind Hotch revealing that this was the greater issue. "If you want her to return to Alsie, she can not be restrained. Trust me. If you do restrain her, especially to a bed, she will react violently and you'll never be able to question her."
Hotch stared at the psychiatrist, reading the earnest sincerity in her demeanor. He quietly mulled things over. They would need to question Alsie, about Shelly. And, if it turned out that the case Fitzgerald presented didn't lead them to Jemma, then they'd have to ask Alsie about the accident three years ago.
"...I'll see about having an agent assigned to watch Alsie, that way the hospital staff may agree to allow her to stay here in this ward."
"Thank you." Jolene replied, relieved that the agent was on her side - she wasn't part of this hospital or close friends with any of its staff, so she feared the possibility of the staff not following her orders for her patient. "It'd be best to have a woman agent, rather than a man."
"I'll see what I can do." Hotch said, turning towards the nurses that'd followed him and asking they go get the department head so they could discuss things. After they did so, albeit a bit reluctant, he turned back to Jolene Freeman. "Is it possible for Alsie to answer some questions?"
Jolene hesitated, glancing back at the petite woman. "She's still Emmie..."
"That's fine. There'll likely be some questions that only Alsie's alters can answer. So if possible I..." He cocked an eyebrow when Jolene shook her head slowly.
"No men. Not with Emmie. With Ana too, it's better to have a woman do any questioning."
"...I understand." Hotch replied and turned to go talk with the hospital staff about a compromise on moving Alsie.
0
"Oh, excuse me, love." Linnet smiled as he approached the produce section of the supermarket, passing unavoidably close to another shopper's cart. Close enough to bump into it, causing the woman who was pushing it to drop a package of fruit she was holding.
It opened and spilt over the market floor, spreading out a various array of berries and cut fruit.
"Oh! I'm sorry, that was clumsy of me, love." Linnet immediately apologized to the woman, a slender blonde who appeared annoyed by the accident. He noted the wedding and engagement rings on her finger before shifting to an oval locket around her neck. One that had various gemstones decorating the chain. "It's just...my little one's not feeling too well, so I'm trying to hurry up here so I can get back to her."
"...that's all right." The woman replied, her frustration lessened by mention of a sick child. She fingered her necklace, and returned Linnet's smile. "I have three children of my own. So I can relate. Is your daughter with her mother?"
Linnet shook his head, giving a saddened look. "No...her mother was in an accident three years ago. Since then it's just been me and mon cher." He pulled out a photo wallet and showed off a few, warming the woman's heart with the images of a small bundle of cuteness.
"She's adorable. How old is she?" The woman asked, her earlier annoyance forgotten. She barely noted as one of the store employees came over to clean up the spilled produce. Nor did she catch the gleam in Linnet eyes as she smiled at a photo of a small child holding onto a pink bunny.
"She turned three a couple weeks ago. It's really hard to be away from her, even for a moment. Her mother was pregnant with her at the time of the accident, so both of them almost..." Linnet trailed off and sighed, before taking back the photo wallet. His eyes, having glanced away, returned to the woman.
"Oh! That must've been horrible for you." The woman's eyes widened with concern, her motherly heart going out for the man and child. "...I raised my eldest on my own until he was seven, so I know what it's like to be an only parent. It's difficult, but rewarding."
"Yeah." Linnet agreed and turned to possibly return to shopping. He paused though, seeming to think about something, before turning back to the woman. "You wouldn't happen to know of any good babysitters, would you? The one currently watching Jem is going to be leaving soon, so I'm in need of a new one."
"Oh, I could watch her. I used to work at a daycare, and I just adore children. Especially when they're that young and cute."
"Really? You would?" Linnet grinned, his tone enthused. "That'll be great, love. Jem will definitely love you, I know it."
He and the woman continued to talk while shopping. The conversation eventually revealing that the woman had no car and so had been planning on taking a cab back from shopping. To which Linnet insisted he give her a ride back to her place after cashing out.
"I couldn't impose..."
"Nonsense, love. Besides, if you don't mind it, we could swing by my place either after or before yours so you can meet Jem. She'll love you, I know it."
"All right." The woman smiled, agreeing to Linnet's offer. The two continued to shop together while talking, even agreeing after a moment to share a cart so as not to block the aisles by having two side by side.