"Excuse me, Miss," Emily addressed the nurse at the desk of the neurology ward. She plastered on the polite smile she used when dealing with the public when she didn't really want to be there. "I'm here to see a coma patient: Derek Morgan. Could you please show me to his room?" She'd come straight from the airport, even though it was nearing ten at night and visiting hours were long over. She hadn't slept in nearly two days and the physical and emotional exhaustion was written clear as day across her face.

"Name please?" the nurse asked, bored, without so much as looking up from her computer. She snapped her gum lackadaisically.

"Emily Prentiss," she supplied. "DirectorEmily Prentiss. I'm his..." She paused for a second, trying to decide on the best descriptor of their relationship. "...friend," she finished lamely, wishing there were another word, a better word. Friend felt so small, so inadequate to describe everything that had passed between them. And even if there was nothing left, they'd still been so much more...

There was a small chiming when the nurse located his patient file, causing her to pause and purse her lips. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we've been instructed not to allow you in the room without supervision."

Emily's face morphed into a look that she usually reserved for UnSubs and her mother.

"Excuse me?" she hissed dangerously. "Who exactly do you think you are? I'm an agent with Interpol – what right do you have to deny me access to my...friend?"

The nurse looked frightened, and rightly so. She stammered a few times, trying to form a response and failing in the face of Emily's bitter anger.

"It was my order," came a voice from down the hall, saving the nurse from responding.

Derek's heart lifted, then fell as joy, then confusion flooded through him. "Mama?" he whispered, brows darting up his forehead. He couldn't understand why his mother wouldn't want Emily to see him; she was the only person they'd told about their relationship and she knew how important she still was to him. He shook his head slowly, sadly. "What have you done?"

Emily turned on her heel and stared Fran Morgan down with a gaze that would make most people tremble in fear. But Fran Morgan was made of stronger stuff than most people. "I must've heard you wrong," Emily said, managing to keep her tone surprisingly civil, "I thought I heard you say you are the one forbidding me from seeing Derek. But that can't be right."

"I'm sorry, dear, but I had to make an uncomfortable decision based on what I thought was best for my son. I'm sure you understand, I know you only want what's best for him as well."

Derek could tell that Emily was quickly losing patience. He knew she genuinely liked and respected his mother, but if there was one thing she couldn't handle, it was someone telling her she couldn't do something, especially if that thing was being there for someone she cared about. That bold stubborn streak she'd never quite grown out of was one of the things he liked best about her. But then, he liked everything about her...

"Clearly, you don't know your son half as well as you think," Emily snapped, temper flaring out of her control. "Because I guarantee that he would want me in there. Who are you to deny me – no, deny him that?"

"I'm his mother." She said it calmly, but he could hear her temper wearing thin.

"You and I both know that he genuinely cared about me – I was his best friend! We were partners for five years, we dated for almost a year, for God's sake! I'd say that kind of thing matters..."

Ian shot him a surprised and almost impressed look, but he didn't have the time to evade his prying right now when his mother might be ruining any chance he had of getting Emily back, any chance he had of getting back into his body and waking up.

"Yes, you were...right before you picked up everything and moved halfway across the world," Fran retorted. "You broke his heart!"

"Oh, no," Derek whispered. Fran was driving Emily into dangerous territory and it was only a matter of time before Emily pushed back... He could see on her face that she was on the verge of falling apart.

"Do not try and act like that was entirely my fault! He had every opportunity to tell me not to go, but he didn't!" Emily's hands were balled up into fists at her sides and she was very nearly trembling with anger. "And you know what? He was not the only one who was hurt when we broke up! So, before you start throwing things back at me that you understand nothing about...don't!"

"Be that as it may," Fran said, managing very well to keep her temper in check as well, "This is my decision and I will not have you being the first face he sees upon waking up, getting his hopes up that there's a chance for reconciliation when you and I both know that as soon as he's awake, you'll turn tail and run right back to London with barely even a goodbye. You should consider yourself lucky I'm willing to let you see him at all."

Emily glared at her for a long moment, barbs perched on her tongue, ready to sting, but instead she let them fall idly. The fight could be visibly seen draining from her until all that was left was bitter weariness.

"You're welcome to visit him, so long as his sisters or I are with you," Fran conceded.

Emily shook her head slowly. "You've made a very big mistake," she said, too worn to be a threat, but perhaps a warning.