Author's Note: I spent a lot of my Monday writing, so the following two chapters are very nearly ready to be uploaded. Be liberal with your reviews, and I may just give you another update tonight. ;)

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

PEOPLE CHANGE

The room was silent.

Both Morgan and Garcia's eyes were wide at this new, harsh side of Emily; neither could quite believe what they had just seen and frankly, they were a little afraid to speak. And Emily herself was just staring; her eyes burning through the door that JJ had just exited.

It's true that Emily was Morgan's best friend, but right now he just wanted to slap her. Surely he was missing something? He had never known Emily to be that cruel unless she was purposely taunting an unsub, and certainly never, ever, towards JJ. Honestly, it hurt him to see. What had happened to force her into such a heartless frame of mind? Was it some kind of residual effect from the coma? That didn't make sense, though; she had been pleasant and seemed genuinely pleased to see himself and Garcia. So what had JJ done?

The fire in Garcia's eyes pulled him suddenly from his wondering mind though, and he immediately ushered the redheaded woman outside. He knew that look; it was the same one that he himself got when someone hurt Emily.

"Let me handle this, baby girl." He spoke quietly once on the other side of the door, trying to calm his friend.

"But Derek, she-"

"I know. I know. But please, let me take care of it." He brushed the hair from her face. "You go check on JJ. I think she needs you right now."

Nodding, Garcia reluctantly agreed. "Well, you just make sure to tell her that I'm not done with her."

Laughing, Morgan simply nodded his head in response as he watched her go. He loved how passionate she got, and her angry face was quite possibly the most adorable thing that he had ever seen. Perhaps one of these days he'd find the courage to tell her that, but right now, there were more pressing issues at hand.

"So.." He immediately began as he walked back inside the room. "You wana tell me what the hell that was about or should I go ask JJ? Though, considering the look on her face, I'm not sure even she knows what she did to deserve that."

Emily scoffed at his words and shook her head, giving a complete non-answer. "There's nothing to say."

He looked at her incredulous – seriously, what the hell was he missing here? This wasn't Emily. He was determined to get to the root cause of this, but as he watched her struggle to get herself up out of bed, he realised that now wasn't the time. "Here, let me help you, Princess."

"Morgan, I can do it. Stop fussing."

And so the stubbornness begins, he thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. "No. You can't. Not without hurting yourself more. So you're going to let me help you."

Reluctantly, as pain seared through her chest with each movement - even more so than the pain that was already taking up most of her chest from seeing JJ - the brunette gave in with a sigh. "Fine."

As he helped Emily to the bathroom and turned to close the door to allow her some privacy, he added. "Oh, and you'll be pleased to know that you'll have me to keep you company for the next week. I'm moving in." He said that last part with a grin and closed the door on a wide-eyed Emily before she could even consider complaining.

After sitting with Emily whilst the doctor checked her vitals and informed the very disgruntled brunette that she would have stay in one more night, Morgan decided that it was time to get to the bottom of whatever had lead Emily to be so.. well, not Emily. "So what did she do?"

Emily's jaw locked; Morgan had no clue that the question that he was asking actually left him in the firing line too, but he was about to find out. "I thought you were my friend?"

"I.." Morgan's brow furrowed; that wasn't the response that he had expected, but something in his gut told him that it was deserved. "I am, Emily."

"Really?" Emily nodded with a humourless laugh. "Then why did you lie to me? Why didn't you bother telling me that that 'nothing worth mentioning' that happened between JJ and Will actually amounted to her fucking him?"

Morgan sighed. He knew that this would happen eventually, even if he had had good intentions in not telling Emily what had really happened. "She didn't have sex with him, Emily."

"Yeah, I really believe that."

"Em, you need to talk to her. Yes, I do know what happened but what I know has been relayed from Garcia. Talk to JJ, Emily." How the hell had he gotten caught in the middle of this? "And the reason I didn't tell you is because what good would it have done? JJ isn't a bad person, at all. I don't know why she did what she did but I have a feeling that you're the only person she will ever give a reason to."

"She can do whatever the hell she likes, with whoever she likes. She can fuck the entire Bureau for all I care." She did care, but no part of her wanted to. She had been hoping that Morgan would genuinely have no idea what she was talking about, hoping that what she had heard in that damp basement was simply JJ trying to fool Sarah. But since Morgan had confirmed JJ's words, she now had very real reason to question everything else that the blonde had said - as well as Morgan's loyalty considering that he had allowed her to walk into this fire. "My issue is with you. You pushed me, Morgan. You pushed me to hand my heart to her on a platter when you knew that she had already broken it. Why would you do that to me?"

He could see the sadness in her eyes; she wasn't angry anymore, she was genuinely hurt and it radiated through her final question. "Oh princess, I'm so sorry." He reached out his hand but she abruptly pulled hers away. "Em.. Please.. I wouldn't have told you to tell JJ how you feel if I genuinely thought that you were going to get hurt."

"Please leave, Morgan."

Morgan sighed again. He had truly fucked up this time. Deciding that is was probably time to head back to work anyway - he was already running late but he figured that the mounting case files on his desk would understand - he decided to leave it there. Anything that he said from this point would likely only make it worse anyway.

"I'll come collect you in the morning." The look on Emily's face was less than impressed, but he'd expected as much, and with a small resigning nod, he left.

Now alone in the empty hospital room, Emily didn't know what to do with herself. She was tired - which she found rather amusing considering that she had spent the past six days effectively sleeping – but she didn't want to sleep. She wasn't certain that she could sleep, even if she tried; her relentlessly spinning mind making it an impossibility and the graphic visuals that were tormenting her didn't help either. She just could not get the image of JJ with her 'mouth wrapped around Will's cock', as the blonde had so delightfully put it, out of her head. Each time she closed her eyes it was there painted on her eyelids like she was actually witnessing a real time event.

Whilst she was in the bathroom, she had checked over her bullet hole in the mirror – traced her finger over the now healing wound, almost like she cared about it. It wasn't the scar that she cared about though, it was the reason that she had it; not the 'reason' who had pulled the trigger, but the 'reason' who pushed her to put herself in the firing line without even considering that it may end her life.

She had done it to protect JJ, because she couldn't bear the thought of her life without her in it. And yet now, after miraculously surviving, here she was, alone in an empty room – without JJ in her life. But did she, indeed, want JJ in her life? Yep - about as much as she wanted this damn reminder etched into her chest every day for the rest of that life. That was the point where she had stormed out of the bathroom, as much as her fragile body would allow, and proceeded to be much less than social for the remainder of the time that Morgan was with her; aside from that one conversation that she probably would have avoided forever had he not pushed so hard.

Honestly, she had been relieved that Morgan had left, but now she felt like she was going insane. Even as hurt as she was, she knew that he wasn't a bad guy and he would never, ever, advise her to do something that he knew would leave her feeling this way. So why had he? A part of her wished that he hadn't left when she told him to, that he had instead allowed her to use him as punchbag until she got the disease that was her own broken heart out of her system - because that was the real reason that she was so angry with him. If she thought about it through her profiler eyes, she would have realised that it wasn't Morgan who she was angry at at all; it was JJ. She was projecting her emotions, and now this somehow tiny room felt so damn suffocating. She never did understand how these dull and morbid hospital rooms were supposed to make anyone feel better. She didn't feel better, in any sense of the word. She just wanted to sleep, to forget, and found herself morbidly longing for her comatose state to return.

Before he had left, Morgan had fetched her things, which basically consisted of her phone, credentials, gun and keys given that her clothing was destroyed either from the gunshot or the paramedics tearing them from her body to get to the wound. But her destroyed designer outfit was the least of her troubles.

Reaching across to the bedside table awkwardly, Emily grabbed the bag filled with her belongings and retrieved her phone. She held down the on button and was both disappointed and relieved when it didn't spring to life. What would she say to JJ anyway? Oh I'm sorry for being such a bitch, but my hearts a little bit broken right now. Almost literally.

Laughing humourlessly, she threw the phone on the bed in front of her and reached back inside the bag. It was like Christmas, only not as exciting and she already knew what was in the sack of not-so wonders anyway; but at least for as long as she could drag out this simple task of looking through her belongings, her mind was somewhat occupied.

She pulled her keys from the bag just as a knock at the door interrupted her. It was the doctor who she'd previously been speaking with and she wasted no time as he entered. "You've come to tell me that I can go home, right?"

A slight smile tugging the corners of his lips, the doctor responded. "Ms Prentiss, you have been in a coma for six days. Do you really think that you're ready to leave?"

"Yes." The answer was instantaneous and her eyebrow raised – what did he honestly expect her to say? She hated being cooped up in this tiny room; she wanted her own bed, her own things, her own space to organise the thoughts in her mind that were currently anything but organised.

Sighing, the doctor looked over her chart. "You are doing remarkably well. Clearly it wasn't your time. You had a lucky escape, Agent." His eyes met Emily's, placing sincerity in his words – she really had had a lucky escape.

The words weren't lost on Emily. He was right, but she somehow felt that she was supposed to be taking more from his words – some kind of cryptic message that she wasn't receiving. But just as a frown formed on her forehead, the doctor spoke again.

"If you give your girlfriend a call, you can go home."

What the fuck? Since when did doctors take such a big interest in your love life? Is he really going to hold me captive here until I agree to talk to her?

Noticing the gawky and confused look on the brunette's face, the young doctor added. "I'm sorry if I've misunderstood. The blonde lady – she's been here every day. Almost as stubborn as I've come to realise you are, actually. Anyway, I just assumed that she was your girlfriend and that she'd be who you should call if you are going to be released."

Emily almost missed the tiny detail of her release; too wrapped up in another small detail. She was really here every day? But why would she..

Shaking her head, finally catching what she had almost missed, she practically yelled. "Morgan! I'll call Morgan." Quite honestly, she just wanted to get dressed and leave right now, but one; she knew that the doctor would never allow her to leave alone, and two; get dressed into what exactly? She, with great reluctance, had to admit that she needed Morgan.

The doctor felt somewhat like he had poked the bear. He had expected her to be a little happier with this news if he was honest, but not thinking anything more of it - his job was done - he replied before leaving the room. "Make sure you do, Ms Prentiss. I'll sort your discharge papers."

CM-CM-CM

"This is gona be fun." An overly happy Morgan spoke as they reached the door of Emily's apartment. The subtle smile that she had sent his way when he picked her up from the hospital told him that she didn't hate him so much anymore and that had left a joyous bounce in his step. He hated when Emily was mad at him.. even if he did deserve that anger.

Emily stopped and raised her eyebrows at the only reason that she was currently standing. I've been shot in the chest by my crazy ex, JJ thought it would be fun to lie to me and use me as some kind of sex toy, and I'm having to be all but carried to my apartment because I'm incapable of helping myself. "Yeah.. Fun.."

Once inside, Morgan attempted to help Emily to her bedroom, but she wasn't having any of it and instead made her way over to the sofa. "Morgan, I've slept for six days. Six whole damn days. Do you honestly think that I want to sleep some more?"

"Your choice, Prentiss." He said with a smirk on his face – a smirk that told Emily that she should have chosen the sleep option – and made his way over to where she was sat, handing her a bottle of water and her pain medication as he did. "So.."

Emily rolled her eyes; he seriously had some balls bringing this up again. "Please don't, Morgan."

"You don't wana talk about it? What's your plan then? To lock her up in one of those compartments of yours?" He was being harsh, but he needed to get through to her, even if that did mean ruining the slight reprieve that he had gotten from her annoyance. In some backward way, this was actually his way of apology - he couldn't allow Emily to walk away from what they both knew to be the best thing that had happened to her.

The brunette shot him a stern look before she actually thought about his question. What was she going to do? "The doctor told me she was there every day." She looked up at him, as if her statement was a question and that she was waiting for an answer. "Every day.."

"She was." He nodded. "Practically every minute of every day."

She simply nodded in response and her stubborn mind concluded that the blonde had only stayed because she felt some sort of responsibility for her injuries, or guilt over the lies that she had told. It's not her problem. She made her feelings very clear.

"Emily.. I don't get it. You took a bullet for her. I get that you're hurting over what happened, but now.." A burst of air passed Morgan's lips. "Well, now it's like you hate her."

"I do." Emily tossed her pain medication to the back of her throat and took a few swigs of water. "That doesn't mean I want her dead, though."

"I know it doesn't I just-"

"People change, Morgan. And sometimes," she took another sip of her water. "Sometimes people just never actually were the person you thought they were."

Morgan watched his friend closely. Clearly talking to her wasn't going to help – he needed to change his plan if he expected to get anywhere.