chapter 18

disclaimer: i do not own any of the criminal minds characters, i do own the victims/suspects/officers.

this story will become very dark and may contain material that upsets some peoole

RATED : Mature Audiences only

please leave any comments below, this is my first criminal minds fabrication! please let me know what i can do better!

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"Hello Agent Prentiss. My name is Julie, and I will be administering the rape exam." A tall middle aged woman informed them.

JJ noticed Emily winced at the word "rape". This was going to be a long recovery road.

"Em, you're sure you want me to stay?" JJ asked softly, leaning down towards Emily.

Emily nodded and reached out to grab JJ's hand. Her heart was racing and she felt like she was going to throw up.

Julie began setting up the stirrups for Emily to place her legs, then pulled over a large table with different tools on it.

Emily turned away and shut her eyes tightly after seeing them. JJ slightly squeezed her hand to show her support.

"Alright Emily, are you ready?" Julie asked politely.

"Yes. Just get it over with." Emily quickly said back, a stray tear made its way down her cheek.

JJ wanted to hug Emily and tell her everything would be okay. But she knew this is what Emily wanted and she needed to be there for her friend.

Emily took a deep breath in and looked up at JJ. She tried to smile but it came out as a sad half grin. Emily could see the guilt and sympathy all over JJ's blue eyes. She looked back down then found a pretty green vase on the table across the room. She stared at it to avoid looking at what Julie was about to do.

Julie grabbed one of the tools from the table and began.

.CM.

"They've been in there for two and a half hours Hotch. What's taking so long." Morgan snapped as he paced in the waiting room.

"Derek, this type of..." He paused for a second, "thing takes time. It's a long process." Hotch said.

"Statistically over 400,000 rape kits go untested in America every year, and at least 80% of rapes are never reported, so that means there are even mor–" Reid started to rattle out facts about rape kits and Morgan couldn't handle it.

"Kid, not now!" Morgan snapped.

Reid looked around and then sat back down.

A nurse came in to ask Hotch for a signature.

"Here are the release forms for Agent Prentiss. As soon as she's ready, you can leave. I just need your signature here." She said handing him and pen and pointing to the line.

After Hotch signed the sheet, the nurse left and they began packing up their things. They packed their go bags full of the reused clothes and their toiletries. They all had re worn clothes since they hadn't thought they would be here this long.

When they finished getting ready, it was nearing four pm. Hotch was constantly checking his watch, silently worrying. Garcia and Reid were both pretending to read a book or magazine, but neither had turned the page in over ten minutes.

.CM.

"Alrighty Emily, we're all done. The doctor told me you are able to leave, so we brought you these to wear home," She said, handing them hospital sweats and a hospital sweatshirt, "you did great."

"Thanks." Emily responded monotonically.

"Thank you." JJ added.

Julie nodded and left the two women alone in the room.

"Em, are you–"

"I'm fine. Let's just go." Emily said, staring at the blank wall in front of her.

JJ decided not to push her just yet. She started getting all the prescriptions Emily had been given, and putting them in Emily's go bag.

Emily was sitting in the middle of the bed, her knees drawn tightly to her chest. She started to move her legs to get up off the bed, and grabbed the sweats and sweatshirt. Once she had her feet on the floor she tried to stand up.

She immediately sat back down and winced. She was leaning forward so her hands were pressing into her thighs to catch her breath.

"You okay? What hurts?" JJ rushed to Emily's side and asked.

Emily looked up once again at the white ceiling. Tears began pooling in her eyes.

"Everything. There isn't anywhere that doesn't hurt."

"Em, let me help you."

"I can do it by myself." Emily said looking at her.

JJ realized how important it was for Emily to do this alone. She wanted her privacy.

"At least let me help you get to the bathroom." JJ said motioning to the door across the room.

Emily nodded. JJ grabbed her hand and helped her stand up again. She blew out sharply, as if she was blowing out the pain.

JJ wrapped her hand around Emily's upper back and let her lean on her. Emily depended heavily on JJ's body to stand upright.

They began their slow walk towards the door. Emily felt like they would never get there, and that the door was getting farther away.

Once they finally made it, JJ handed Emily the clothes.

"I'll be right outside if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks JJ." Emily said.

JJ smiled and closed the door, giving Emily some privacy.

Emily shuffled towards the mirror. Every small movement sent shooting pain through her entire body. She placed her hands of either side of the sink and closed her eyes. When she opened them she was shocked to see the woman staring back.

She had a blue and purple bruise on her jawbone, and cuts all over her chest. She could feel the stitches on her stomach from the surgery being pulled by her shirt.

Her right hand was still immobile due to the splint. She managed to undo the buttons on the hospital gown and take it off. She stared into the mirror, looking at her broken body. She looked down towards her stomach and that's when she remembered. The name carving. Dale. Written into her skin forever. The letters were mostly healed now, since it was in the beginning. She started feeling the burning of tears in her eyes as she ran her fingers over each letter.

She walked back towards the door and slowly sunk down, her emotions taking over. Dale owned her. His name written into her skin as proof. He was running free right now, and she was here. The tears spilled over and she couldn't stop the sobs that wracked her body.