I'm not entirely happy with how well this chapter flows, but I thought I should update it nonetheless or I would be forever rewriting it!


Chapter 19

JJ woke up, thinking that she'd heard a noise. Since her and Morgan were staying with Emily to help her out while her Father was still around she was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary. There were armed guards posted around the building, but everyone felt much better when JJ and Morgan were in the apartment with her. As she grabbed her glock from the coffee table in front of the couch she had been sleeping on and checked the time on her phone. 5:15am.

JJ rounded the corner to the kitchen, where she believed was the source of the noise with her glock raised ahead of her.

"Emily?" She asked, lowering her weapon. All she could see was the hunched shoulders of her friend sitting at the island.

"Sorry if I woke you JJ, I'm fine. Just go back to sleep." A dejected Emily didn't even turn around.

"It's fine, Em." JJ said as she moved to sit alongside her friend, only to see her toying with a glass of what she guessed as whiskey, "Emily you know you can't drink with the meds you're taking." JJ whispered as she sat down, taking the glass from her friend's fingertips.

"I haven't had any yet," Emily defended, and then sighed deeply, "I just need it." JJ tucked her arm around her friend's waist and pretended she didn't see her flinch until she softened into the embrace.

"Another nightmare?" JJ asked quietly. To which the brunette nodded and a lone tear splashed onto the marble countertop, "You should have woken me up, Em." The blonde whispered into Emily's ear in a soothing tone.

"Morgan was there. He woke me up, but I told him to go back to sleep." JJ brushed Emily's hair out of her face.

"Honey, you know that you didn't have to do that. We're here for you no matter what, alright?" She felt Emily nod against her neck, "You don't have to tell me what your nightmare was about if you're not ready, but if you are let me know because it will help." Emily sniffed then sat up.

"I know, thanks Jay." She managed a watery smile at her friend.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie." JJ rested her hand on Emily's shoulder, "I'm fancy some hot cocoa, want some?" She offered, smiling.

"Yeah. Thanks Jayje."


Once they'd finished their hot drinks they migrated to the couch, watching reruns of Friends. Neither of them felt that they could go back to sleep and wanted to stay in the company of the other. They reveled in the light-hearted banter between the friends on the screen. It reminded JJ of how it had been in the office just under a week ago, where they just talked easily as they completed their paperwork.

"Hey." Morgan greeted them both as he came to the bottom of the stairs, clad in only a pair sweatpants, "You two are up early."

"Hey Morgan." Both women greeted in return simultaneously, not turning from their seat on the couch to face him.

"Have either of you eaten yet?" JJ turned and flashed him a small smile, quickly looking to Emily and back.

"No we haven't." She shook her head sadly.

"French toast it is." Morgan grinned at her, turning to the kitchen.


"Emily…" Morgan trailed off as the brunette sat there playing with her food, having only managed a few bites, "We want to find your father as much as you do…"

"But we can't unless you tell us what you know." JJ finished for him. Emily rubbed her eyes tiredly, they had dark circles underneath from sleepless nights.

"But I don't remember anything!" She exclaimed, angrily slamming her hands down on the table.

"You remembered the lasers." Morgan pointed out softly, hoping not make his friend close up completely.

"Only when I saw them." Emily mumbled and sighed. JJ shot Morgan a confused look and he shrugged in return.

"What do you mean, Em?" She rubbed Emily's forearm soothingly.

"I didn't remember any of the stuff like the lasers and the blindfold until you all saw it. It just hit me out of nowhere. How could I even forget something like that?!" She hit the tabletop again with a fist.

"Emily," JJ consoled, "You know how the brain works, and if you lie to yourself enough you eventually believe it. So if you really didn't want to believe it, it pushed it as far back into your head as possible." Emily sniffed and battered her eyelids, trying to will away the tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't see how I can help you, then." The brunette sounded resigned. Morgan reached out and placed his hand atop Emily's.

"We could do a cognitive interview." He offered, not sure how his friend would answer.

"I guess," She looked conflicted and bit her lip, deep in thought, "But if I wanted to forget everything, there must have been a reason. If it's that bad why would I want to remember any of it?" She slumped and pressed her forehead to the cool tabletop.

"I know it must be hard, but it will help to catch your father." Emily sat up slowly and blew out a breath.

"Okay. I'll do it." She nodded determinedly.

"Are you okay to do it now?" JJ asked softly, bot wanting to put it off and give her friend a chance to back out of it. Although she knew that it would be hard on her friend she also knew that it would be much more worth it in the long run to catch her father. Emily took a deep breath.

"Okay. I'm ready."

"Close your eyes and think back to living in the house when you were younger." Before talking to Emily, the two had decided that Morgan should do the cognitive interview.

"What about the house?" Emily's brow furrowed.

"What did you do when your parents were busy?" Morgan supplied, but he could see the brunette roll her eyes under her closed lids.

"They were always busy."

"Emily…" Morgan said sternly, trying to get her to concentrate.

"Okay, okay." She relented. Emily was torn; she'd never shared much about her past apart from in the last couple of days. "I would either be with one of my nannies or just around the house as long as I was quiet." Emily had hated the tense atmosphere of the big house, which had never felt like a home to her in the years that she lived there.

"Okay, good. Did you ever go down into the basement?" Emily thought for a second.

"I looked down the stairs once, but I don't remember going down the ladder into the other part." She was sure that she'd never seen that part before.

"Okay, so what about the lasers and the blindfolded fight with your father. Do you remember why he made you do that?" Emily tried hard to bite back the tears as the memories that she'd pushed back so far into her head came rushing forwards again.

"I…" She struggled and felt JJ's thumb brushing the back of her hand, "I remember him making me practice over and over. The lasers were fake when I practiced but when I kept messing up he put the real ones on to scare me into doing it right."

"That's good, Em," He paused to give her a moment to compose herself, "Do you remember anything else about the lasers? Why did your father push you, and make you get it right?" He saw that she was thinking and gave her a second.

"There were other lasers…" She trailed off. Morgan sent JJ a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"They weren't in the basement. They were somewhere else," Her face screwed up for a second as she wracked her brains. Her eyes popped open and she stood suddenly when she come to a conclusion. "Oh my God! I can't believe I forgot that!" She shouted, grabbing her drinking glass and sending it crashing it into the wall.


So yeah... Cognitive interviews are VERY difficult to write, so I'd appreciate no flames on it please. I'm not sure if this is how they work, but I'm using my creative license;) Please review!