When Nothing Goes as Planned
Week 20
Emily was lying on the bed in her and JJ's room. The room was dark and JJ was fast asleep in the bed beside Emily, but Emily could not sleep herself. She kept thinking about Simone and how she was doing. After the ambulance had arrived Simone had been taken to the hospital and rushed into surgery. It turned out the multiple traumas to her head had caused a brain hemorrhage and the doctors needed to reduce swelling and prevent more bleeding. Emily had been told that everything had gone well, but they would not know anything for sure till Simone woke up. Emily did not know how long someone would usually be unconscious for, but she had been waited for a call from the doctor for 2 hours.
Emily turned her head to the side and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. No make that 3 hours. She rolled fully onto her side and kept her eyes on the red numbers as they slowly changed.
Emily had not noticed that she had fallen asleep until the sound of her cell phone filled the room. She quickly reached out for it as she sat up, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed.
"Prentiss," she said, hoping the person on the other end of the call would not notice how tired she sounded.
"Agent Prentiss, hi, um… it's Iben, Simone's mother." She paused and Emily felt her breath get caught in her throat. Why was the mother calling instead of the doctor? "I'm sorry for calling this early." Emily looked at the clock, 6:17 am, she has slept about 3 hours. "The doctor gave me your number, I hope that's okay."
"Of course," Emily said as politely as she could when in reality she just wanted the woman to get to the point, so she could breathe again and get her beating heart under control. She was sure none of this was good for the babies.
"Good, because Simone is awake and she really wants to see you."
Emily felt a smile break out on her face. "I will be there as soon as I can."
"No need to hurry, we will be here for some time, but I will tell Simone you're on your way. See you later."
"Yes, bye." Emily hung up and got of the bed. When she turned to her bag she noticed JJ was looking at her through the still dark room.
"Is she awake?"
Emily smiled. "Yes and she is asking to see me."
"You want me to drive you to the hospital?" JJ asked, already half out of the bed.
"No go back to back sleep, I will get Hotch to do it. He's still kind of mad at me for driving off yesterday."
"He's not the only one," JJ said, as she crawled back under the covers.
"I know and have apologized to you a 100 times!"
"But this was something big, so I get mad at you for at least another day."
"Okay," Emily said and with a smile she kissed JJ on the top of the head. "I just hope that you forgive me soon." She walked away from the bed and found some clothes to wear.
"We'll see," JJ said and even though Emily had her back to her, she knew that JJ was smiling.
/
It was a little over 8 am when Hotch and Emily finally reached the hospital. Emily had hoped to be there sooner, but Hotch needed time to get ready too and he has insisted that she ate something before they left. Emily had protested, but Hotch used the 'the babies need this' card and there was nothing Emily could say to that, because she knew he was right.
The moment Hotch parked the car Emily was out the door. Hotch was close behind her, but he was finding it difficult to keep up with her without having to run. She was quick for someone who had gained 25 pounds over the last 20 weeks. Of course he was not going to tell her that. Hotch caught up with her, as Emily pressed the button for the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. "Do you know what ward Simone is at," he asked.
"Yeah," Emily said as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped inside. "She's at the Pediatrics ward. It's on the fifth floor." She pressed the button with number 5 and then turned to look at the doors. She did not feel like talking. She was too nervous about how Simone might be doing. The girl had just had major surgery after having gained multiple head traumas. Emily breathed in deeply when she felt Hotch's hand taking her own. Not because it was the first time he had ever done this, but because in this moment it was just what she needed. Hotch gave it a little squeeze and then let his thumb run over the back of her hand. Emily looked down at the floor with a small smile on her lips. "Thank you," she whispered.
Hotch did not say anything back, he just squeezed her hand again and then let go of it as the elevator doors opened. They walked side by side to the reception desk where an elderly nurse with glasses and dark blonde hair sat looking at a computer screen.
"Excuse me," Emily said, "can you tell us which room Simone Hartmann is in?"
"She can't have any visitors at the moment," the nurse answered without even looking up from the computer.
Emily did not know if she should be annoyed or scared - annoyed, because the nurse did not even look at them when she talked and did not give them an explanation on why they could not see Simone or scared, because something might have happened since Emily had talked to Simone's mother on the phone. But before Emily had a chance to do anything, Hotch reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge. "Ma'am," he said in his usual "Hotch" voice as Garcia called it. The nurse looked from the screen and up at his face and then down at the badge. "We work for the FBI and we need to talk with Miss Hartmann right now."
Emily could see how the color on the woman's cheeks changed from light pink to deep red. She was embarrassed, probably because she was not used to anyone talking to her like that.
"She's in room 13," she said quickly and then looked away.
"Thank you," Hotch said, placing his badge back in his pocket and turning away from the reception desk.
Emily followed him down the hall. Neither of them said anything, but when she looked at him she saw that he was smiling. That made her smile as well, but it quickly faded when she saw the closed door with the number thirteen written on it. Emily was just about to knock when the door was opened. "Oh, hi," she said surprised, not only because of the sudden moment of the door, but also because the person who opened it was not Iben Hartmann as Emily had expected it to be, but instead her oldest daughter.
"Hey," June said as she moved aside so the two FBI agents could step into the small hospital room, which did not content much other than the bed Simone was sleeping in right now, a small closet, nightstand and two chairs - one on each side of the bed.
"Where are your parents?" Hotch asked as the young woman closed the door.
"Why? Do you need them to be here when you speak with her?" June asked, her voice sounding hoarse and tired. Emily wondered if she had slept at all while her sister had been gone.
"No I was just wondering why they weren't here," Hotch told her.
June looked him right in the eyes as if she was looking for a sign that he was judging her parents for not being with their daughter at a time like this. Hotch guessed that the young woman did not find any, because she looked away and with a sigh she said. "They are getting breakfast in the cafeteria with Kian and Sheila. My mom didn't want to leave Moni, but the little ones wanted both their parents with them, so I told them I would stay." June looked at her sister. "She hasn't said much since she woke up and she's still pretty much out of it, but she asked for you." She now looked at Emily. "You were the one I met in the hallway yesterday, right?"
Emily nodded. "You and the kids were getting ice cream," she said with a smile.
"You got ice cream without me?" a small voice from the bed asked. "That was not very nice of you."
All three adults looked at her in surprise. Simone was still lying with her eyes closed and the blanket pulled up around her face as if she was not really ready to wake up yet.
"Well you weren't there, so it wasn't my fault," June said trying very hard not to smile.
"Yeah, but a man kidnapped me and locked me in his basement, so it wasn't my fault either," Simone said, smiling. But when she heard a low sob coming for just beside her, her smile disappeared and she opened her eyes. "Too soon?" she asked and reached her hand out.
June took it and squeezed it. "Yeah, too soon."
"Here," Hotch said handing her a tissue paper.
June took it. "Thank you," she said and dried her eyes.
"Come, I'll get you something to eat while Emily speaks with Simone."
"No! I can't leave her."
"It will-"
"NO!"
"It's okay June. Emily won't hurt me and I got my call button if anything should happen," Simone said, sounding much braver than she should.
June looked torn. "But I promised mom I wouldn't leave you alone."
"I'm not alone," Simone said with a smile.
June sighed and looked from her sister to Hotch. "We won't leave the floor."
"Okay," Hotch said, nodding. "I think I saw a wending machine by the elevators."
June grabbed her bag of the chair on Simone's left side of the bed and then she bent down and kissed her sister on the top of the head, but careful so that she would not touch the bandage that was wrapped her head. "We will be back in 15 minutes," June said, but it was more directed to Hotch than Simone, as he was the one she was looking at.
"Okay, see you in 15 minutes," Simone said with a smile and watched as her sister and Hotch left the room. But the moment the door closed Simone's smile disappeared and she leant her head back against her pillow with a loud groan.
"Are you okay?" Emily asked, sitting down on the chair what June had had her bag on. "Do you want me to get a nurse for you?"
"No, it's just my head, it hurts really bad."
"Of course it does you just had brain surgery," Emily said sweetly and took the girl's hand in her own. "You could get some pain medicine, so it wouldn't hurt so much."
"No I'm okay," Simone said, but when she tried to lift her head of the pillow she groaned loudly again.
"I'm calling a nurse now," Emily decided and reached for the button, but Simone squeezed her hand. "Please don't. The medicine makes me so tried and I don't wanna sleep right now."
Emily sighed. "Okay, but when we finish talking, then I'll make sure you get something for the pain."
"Deal," Simone said, looking up at Emily with a small smile.
Emily rubbed the back of Simone's hand with her thumb. "I need to ask you some question about what happened to you. We know most of it, but I need to make sure that what we know is actually what happened. Okay?"
"Okay." And then Simone started telling Emily everything she remembered. How the man had grabbed her at the park, how she had woken up alone in the dark, how she had found the woman in the other room and who later disappeared, how the man had told her to call him daddy and the dark haired woman from the living room mommy, how she had tried to run away, how they had lift the man's house and had driven someplace else where she had been put in a little girl's room and told to stay there, how scared she had been the hold time and how relieved she had been when Emily had found her. But then Simone stopped talking. She felt tears running down her cheeks as the throbbing in her head got worse.
"Hey, hey," Emily said, getting up from the chair. She laid a hand on each side of Simone's face and brushed her thumbs under her eyes, wiping the tears away. "Look at me." But the young girl did not; she just kept looking straight ahead, crying more and more. "Simone, look at me. Look at me. You need to stop crying or I will have to get a nurse," Emily said firmly, but the threat did not help. "Simone? Simone? Moni!"
The use of her nickname made Simone's head snap up and she looked right into Emily's eyes. "What happened last night while I was hiding under the bed?" Simone asked, her voice sounding small and scared. "What happened to the woman?"
Emily felt like her heart was breaking, but she had to tell the girl what happened. "When my team got to the house they searched all the rooms and in one of the bedrooms they found them the man, Eric Clark, pointing a gun at her head. My team tried to talk him out of shooting, but they couldn't. The shots we heard when we were hiding, was first him shooting and then one of my colleagues."
Simone sniffled. "What was her name?"
"Her name is Louise Campbell," Emily said with a smile as she let go of the girl's face. "Mr. Clark missed and hit her shoulder instead. They doctors says she's gonna be fine. She is actually at this hospital as well."
"Maybe I could visit her later," Simone said, her eyes drooping as she leant back against the pillow.
"Yeah maybe you could, but know you need some sleep." Emily stroked her hair. "Do you need me to get something for your pain?"
Simone nodded and Emily watched her pulling the blanket up around her face, before walking over to the door, so she could get a nurse.
"Emily?" Simone said, just as Emily was about to open the door. She turned around and looked at the half sleeping girl. "Yes?"
"Did your colleague miss too?"
"No."
"Okay."
A/N - Hi everyone. I hope there are still some of you out there who are reading my story. I know it has been very long since I last updated and I'm so sorry for that. I feel so guilty for not writing, but my life has just been kind of crazy over the last 6 months, but I will try to write more from now on.
Have an awesome summer (or winter) everyone!
