Prentiss
All weekend I had felt intense back pain and period-like cramps but I didn't want to worry Hotch so I tried my best to ignore it. I had assumed it was just more Braxton hicks contractions, but it never really stopped. Nothing changed on Monday or Tuesday, and Hotch and the team were called to a case on Monday so they had been gone for three days now. I had taken Jack to school and I went back home instead of the precinct with Garcia where I had spent all last week. I hadn't gone there on Monday or Tuesday either.
I went for a few walks, thinking that could help, but they just made it worse. It probably didn't help that I hadn't really sat down all week or weekend except when it came to night when I went to sleep.
The pain was getting so bad with the mixture of back pain and cramps that I was almost crying. I tried taking a few breaths, although I couldn't really breathe properly, I tried eating something light, I tried pain killers, none of which did anything for me so by lunch time, I decided to go to the hospital.
I walked up to the admin desk and waited for the woman to hang up her call. "Hello, how can I help you?"
"Hi, I need to see my obstetrician really soon. Doctor Shire."
"Are you having emergency problems with your pregnancy right now?" She asked as she typed quickly.
"I don't know if this is an emergency or not."
"What's happening?" She glanced at me before looking back to the computer in front of her.
"Since Saturday morning, I have been feeling short of breath with constant intense back pain and period-like cramps."
"Name? Are you carrying one child or multiple? How many weeks?"
"Emily Prentiss, twins, 27 weeks."
She nodded, "She'll be right out to get you."
I nodded, "Thank you." I walked over to the closest seat of the adjoining waiting room that was almost empty. I sat with my head back to try and breathe through the pain properly. I winced as it just made it feel worse and I heard my name.
I looked at my doctor and stood up. She walked with me quickly towards her room that was all too familiar. She asked questions and wouldn't tell me what exactly was going on, but that I needed to follow her. She took me into a private room and made me lie in the bed. This couldn't be good. She hooked to me an IV and gave me pain killers. She elevated my feet slightly and looked at me.
"This could have been a whole lot worse if you didn't come in, but you will be okay. You're dehydrated and you've caused a lot of stress over your body and your children. You should have come in sooner, but you did the right thing in coming in now. You will be okay; I'll keep you here for a few hours and if I need to, maybe overnight. You'll be on bed rest when you go home." She smiled at me.
Once she made sure I was comfortable and okay, she left and I got my phone out of my pocket and dialled Jessica's number. "Hey Jess, it's Emily. Are you busy this afternoon?"
"Not at all, do you need me to take Jack?"
"Yeah, that would be really great, thanks."
"Am I picking him up from school?"
"Yes please."
"And overnight or not?"
"Uh…I'm not sure yet. Um…I can call you back later and let you know."
"Sure. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything is fine; something important just came up is all and I'm not home now."
"Okay, well call me if you need anything else."
"Thanks Jess, bye." I hung up. I dialled Garcia's number and looked at it. Did I call her or not? This could be nothing; I could be out within a few hours. Did I call Hotch or would that distract him from the case too much? I put my phone down and decided that I'd wait to see how long I would need to be here.
My back was killing me and the cramps were worse. I closed my eyes to try and get some rest like the doctor had told me to do, but I wasn't sleeping very well lately as it was.
The doctor told me around four that I'd be here overnight so I called Jessica and told her that I wouldn't be home. I didn't, however, tell her why. She didn't need to worry and I didn't want her to call Hotch. I tried to sleep for a while after that, but my phone rang and woke me just a half hour after I had finally fallen asleep. I picked it up and looked at the number and photo flashing. "Hey Pen." I answered quietly.
"Decided not to come in today? Or yesterday…or Monday? I was kind of worried that you didn't call and you didn't answer mine last night or Monday night."
"Yeah, well I'm not really supposed to be there and I think Hotch was a bit suspicious so I thought if I have a few days off, maybe it'll lower his doubt. I don't remember getting your calls."
"You should have called me; I've been freaking out but I had no time to call you from work and I couldn't ask Hotch because then he'd know that you've been coming in."
I smiled, "Thanks, but I'm okay."
"Are you sure? Because something feels off."
I sighed, "Okay look, I'm completely fine, but if I tell you what's going on, you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone until after the case."
"Okay."
"I'm at the hospital and I will be overnight. I was dehydrated and caused a huge amount of stress on both my body and my children."
"Oh my god." She sounded so concerned.
"But I'm okay. The doctors have been great with me."
"Which hospital?"
"You're not coming in."
"Emily, which hospital?"
I sighed and told her. I hung up after that and a half hour later she walked into my room with her laptop, a notepad and a pen. I groaned and dropped my head back. She told me to be quiet as her phone rang and I listened to her talk to the team about the case.
"Oh wait, don't hang up yet. Is Hotch there?"
"…Garcia." I said quietly.
She waved me off and waited as someone talked.
"Hey Hotch, take me off speaker?"
"Garcia, don't." I put as much warning into my voice as I could.
"I'm sorry pumpkin but I have to tell him," She looked at me with a guilty face, "So don't freak out, she's okay, but Emily is in the hospital," A few seconds past as she listened, "Yeah, I'm with her right now. I'll give you to her." She held her phone out to me.
I shook my head as I took it, "You promised me." I said to her.
"I'm sorry." She said as she got her laptop out and turned it on.
I sighed and held the phone to my ear, "Hey Aaron. I told her not to tell you."
"Emily, please tell me that you're okay."
"I'm fine," I assured, "If I wasn't fine, I would have called you."
"You should have called me anyway. What is going on, do I need to come back and why didn't you call me?"
"I didn't call you because I didn't want to distract you from the case with something so minor and you don't need to come back. I was dehydrated and I caused significant stress on my body and the two alien things inside of me. It's fine, I'm fine, they're fine. Jack is with Jessica tonight because I have to stay here, but it's all completely fine."
"Can I speak to a doctor?" He asked.
"No, you most certainly cannot."
"Fine, I'll just call the hospital."
"You don't know which one I'm in." I smirked.
"I'll call all of them."
"That'll take a while."
"I'll ask Garcia."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me." I could hear the smirk in his voice. I heard Morgan ask who he was talking to and his voice was clear so I figured I was on speaker. He told him that it was me and I was greeted by the other four members of our team. I put Garcia's phone on speaker and we talked to them for a short while before a doctor came in and asked how I was doing. I said I was in pain as I couldn't lie to the doctor and now the team knew I was in hospital and Hotch knew that I was in pain.
JJ asked a million questions, Morgan, Reid and Rossi were all worried but I eventually convinced them that I was fine. They had to go back to the case so I hung up and looked at Garcia. "You promised."
"He needed to know," She said quietly, "But I'm really sorry."
I sighed, "Well I'm going to sleep now."
"Sweet dreams." She smiled. I smiled to her before moving down slightly in the bed and closing my eyes.
I had woken a number of times throughout the night and I ended up sleeping until the late morning. When I did wake, I had a doctor checking all of my vitals and making sure all was okay with the twins. They took a blood test and left with it and I was left alone in the hospital room. I went to grab my phone but I saw a note next to it.
I'm just getting coffee, I'll be back soon. ~ Garcia
I put the piece of paper back down and took my phone. I had no texts or missed calls. I put it back down and dropped my head back to the pillow. I had been awake all of twenty minutes and I was already extremely bored. I stared at the roof and found my mind running to names again like it had been when I had a moment to spare since I found out the genders. When I thought about it, I was lucky. I wasn't sure whether I would have preferred female or male children and chances are, if I had two of one or two of the other, I probably would have hoped for the other gender. I would have one of each, and that was what I secretly was hoping for the whole time. I let my eyes fall shut again.
A few more minutes passed before I heard a light knock on the door to my room. I opened my eyes and looked to the door where Garcia walked in with Hotch behind her. They both had a cup of coffee and Hotch had an extra. He walked in with a small smile and put it on the table beside the bed. I wasn't told whether I was allowed to drink it or not but I assumed he would have checked. Garcia closed her laptop and slid it into her bag along with the paper surrounding it. She kissed my cheek and then walked out of the room to give us some privacy.
I looked at Hotch and smiled.
"You should have called me." He said quietly before placing a kiss on my lips.
"Catching that guy was more important than either worrying or being here with me over something so small."
"It was a female, actually."
I raised my eyebrows, "Really?"
He nodded as he sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"So did they tell you when I'm allowed out?"
He bit his lip and looked at me.
"…What?"
"They're thinking of keeping you another night."
I groaned and dropped my head back, "Why?"
"Because they told Garcia and I that you'd need to be on partial bed rest, you know, no heavy lifting, laying down most of the day, not cleaning a lot, no long walks, no physical activity, no sex, and Garcia snickered and said "yeah, good luck getting her to comply to that" and now they want to keep you another night."
"What if I promise to not get up?" I looked at him.
"See, normally I would just make you stay here because it's your safest option, but I know how much you hate hospitals and even staying here will cause extra stress on you, so I'll talk to a doctor and ask if you can come home as long as I'm there and you don't get up."
I smiled, "I love you."
"Mmhmm…" He hummed as he rolled his eyes and stood back up. He placed another long kiss on my lips before walking back out to find my doctor. I sat up and grabbed the decaf coffee he had brought me.
