Once again, I'm so sorry for the delay. 2014 really kicked my ass and I just haven't been in much of a writing mood recently. College has been keeping me disgustingly busy but I promise that I will continue to write as much as I can. Thank you for sticking with me!
Chapter 9
It had been hours since the team had heard anything from the doctors. By the time the rest of the team had arrived, Emily was waiting for them in the waiting room, her shirt and pants dark with blood. While they waited, Hotch sent Rossi and Reid to retrieve Kira's family. They returned an hour later with a distraught looking woman in tow. She introduced herself as Kira's mother, Natalie Taylor, and proceeded to sit motionless with her face in her hands, strawberry blonde hair obscuring her face. JJ sat to her right, desperate to comfort the sobbing woman but her mind refused to form a sentence. She was distraught herself, knowing that it was her actions that led to Kira's misfortune. Emily on the other hand, could not stand the silence. After she was handed a pair of scrubs from a nearby nurse, the brunette approached the woman and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Is there anything I can get you, Mrs. Taylor?" she asked softly and Natalie looked up through wet eyelashes. She shook her head slowly.
"No, no thank you." her accent was thicker than her daughters and Emily wondered when they had moved to the States. "It's 'ms.'."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Emily said but the woman waved her hand in dismissal.
"It's fine."
"Kira's father, is he-"
"Been out of the picture for quite some time now." she explained.
"Would you like me to get you a phone so you can call him?" Emily asked but Natalie shook her head.
"Patrick hasn't seen Kira since the day he abandoned us. She was two." Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose and released a shaky breath. "What is taking so long? I need to know how she's doing." Natalie rose from her seat suddenly and began pacing. Emily rose with her.
"I'm sure they'll come speak to us soon. They know we're waiting."
"Why are you here?" the fair-haired woman rounded on her. "Why aren't you out there, looking for the monster who did this to her?!"
"Ms. Taylor, I assure you we're doing everything we can to stop him." Emily raised her hands defensively.
"Well it's not enough now, is it?" Natalie trembled as she spoke, her outburst drawing the attention of the BAU and several others bystanders. "I've seen the news reports. This isn't the first time, is it?" When Emily hesitated, Natalie's voice rose. "Is it?!"
"No." the brunette admitted. "But my team and I will stop him, no matter what it takes." The fire in Emily's once gentle eyes seemed to shock the woman. She frowned as she examined the profiler's face.
"He's done something to you…all of you. Hasn't he?" she asked quietly. Emily's face hardened as she hesitated once again.
"Yes." A new voice drew their attention back to where they had been seated. JJ's head was lowered but there was no doubt that it was her who had spoken. "Yes, Ms. Taylor, we've encountered him before."
"Then why is he still out there?" Natalie's voice rose once again as the tears streamed down her pale face. "Why isn't he dead or in prison?!"
"Because I messed up." JJ swallowed hard and rose from her seat.
"JJ." Hotch's warning set the blonde's gaze to him.
"Her daughter is in there because of me, Hotch. I think she deserve to know exactly what happened."
"B-Because of you?" Natalie asked, more than confused. "Wait a moment…you're that woman- that agent on the news a year ago."
"Yes." JJ nodded once, almost regretting speaking up as the other woman approached her.
"He's still after you then." Natalie said, almost to herself. "You and that other girl that was saved."
"My sister, yes."
"Your sister." Natalie repeated, almost shocked. "So my daughter was taken-why? Because she looks like her?!" JJ watched as the woman's face grew redder. She also saw Emily take a cautious step towards the two.
"Yes." JJ was rather impressed at how perceptive Natalie Taylor was until the woman grabbed her arms hard. She winced but raised a hand to stop Emily and Hotch as they approached.
"You could've killed him!" Natalie cried, shaking JJ slightly. The blonde opened her mouth but nothing managed to come out in time. "Why didn't you just kill him?!"
"I tried but-"
"You tried?!" Natalie couldn't control the tears as they raced down her cheek. Nor could she control the tightening grip on JJ's arms or the wild look in her eyes. She continued to shake the blonde before her, waiting for a reaction but the agent just continued to stared at the ground.
"I'm sorry this happened. I swear I will-" JJ wasn't surprised when she felt a sharp sting rise from her lip as the woman's open hand made contact with it. A small trickle of blood made its way into her mouth as Hotch grabbed the woman from behind and yanked her away of her.
"This is your fault!" Natalie screamed as Hotch dragged her away. JJ continued to stare at the her feet, ignoring the pain and the hot tears that made their way down her cheeks. Only when they could no longer hear the woman's cries did Emily approach her friend. The brunette reached out to place a hand on JJ's arm but the blonde slapped it away.
"Don't touch me." With a hard look JJ cupped her jaw, hiding her broken lip, and sped for the nearest door, brushing past a stunned looking Reid. Emily took a step to follow before Morgan grabbed her arm.
"She needs her space, Prentiss." His soft eyes spoke volumes as to how he felt. "You know that better than anyone." Before Emily could respond, a call of 'agents?' caused the remaining four to spin on their heels. A short woman, no older than forty, stood before them wearing what were once white scrubs. Now red coated the woman's abdomen and arms causing the four remaining agents to jump.
"I'm Dr. Greiner-"
"Kira, how is she?" Emily inquired immediately, her eyes wide as she waited for news of the girl she had saved.
"It doesn't look good." Greiner lowered her voice, dark eyes downcast as she delivered the news. "We managed to stop most of the internal bleeding but the damage is just too severe."
"How long does she have?" Rossi's monotone voice asked what the others were too afraid to.
"Maybe hours." the words stung as Emily heard them. She resisted the sudden urge to cry for girl and instead took a step closer to the older woman.
"You have to take me to her."
"What she needs is her family, Agent. Not an interrogation." Greiner almost immediately regretted her tone when Emily narrowed her gaze at the woman and snarled,
"I am not going to interrogate her. If I can talk to her, figure out what she knows, we may be able to stop this man before he kills for the seventh time. Is that alright with you, Doctor?" After several seconds of silence, Greiner finally sighed.
"This way." She spun on her heels and began leading Emily past the 'restricted' sign on the door behind them. As Emily approached the door, she could already hear the beeping of Kira's heart monitor and the ventilator that breathed for her. She braced herself for the sight she was about to witness and forced herself to remember why she was there. They had to find Parilla. They had to make sure that this didn't happen to anyone else. Swallowing hard, Emily turned the knob and entered the dimly lit room. Try as she did, the sight of a seventeen year old girl surrounded by machines and biding her time was not something she could steel herself against. With a shaky breath, Emily approached the bedside and took a seat. As she licked her lips, debating on how to begin the conversation, Kira's eyes snapped open, frantically gazing around the room. When the light blue orbs caught sight of a friendly face, they stopped and watered immediately.
"Hey Kira. Do you remember me?" Emily asked, forgetting that the girl couldn't speak. "My name's Emily and I'm with the FBI. We're going to find who did this to you, alright?" She watched as Kira's chest struggled to rise and fall of its own accord and momentarily closed her eyes.
"Take my hand, sweetheart." Emily placed her hand in the girl's palm and Kira grasped it lightly. "Give me one squeeze for 'no' and two for 'yes', ok?" Two squeezes.
"Do you know who did this to you?"
Two.
"Have you met or seen him before?"
One.
"Was his name Jeremy?"
Two.
"Do you know where he took you from?"
Two.
"Was it after practice?"
Two.
"On your way home?"
Two.
"Do you know where he took you?"
One.
"Was there anyone else with you?"
Two.
"Was her name Cara?" At the mention of the woman, Kira's heart monitor jumped. Emily saw the girl struggling to hold back tears and knew that she had seen what Jeremy did to the blonde. Emily decided to omit any questions about what had happened, knowing that they would only make Kira more uncomfortable. Besides, they knew what the man was capable of.
"Kira, do you remember anything specific about the room he held you in?"
A moment's pause… then two squeezes.
"Was it carpeted?"
One.
"Brick walls?"
Two.
"Were they red?"
One.
"Grey?"
Two.
"Was it underground?"
Two.
"Did you ever see past the door?"
One.
"Do you remember the car ride?" Kira wrinkled her brow. "A little?"
Two.
"Was it over an hour long?"
Two.
"Could you see anything?"
One.
"Hear anything?"
Two.
"Other cars?" She wrinkled her brow again. "A ferry?"
One.
"A train?"
Two.
"That's great, Kira." Emily brushed a handful of hair out of the girl's eyes. "You're doing great. Are you up for a few more?"
Two.
"Did you go over the train tracks?"
Two.
"Was Cara in the car too?"
One.
"Did you smell anything when you got out of the car? Like trees or sewage?"
Two.
"Which one? Trees?"
Two.
"You've helped more than you can imagine, Kira." Emily cooed. "We're going to stop him, I promise. We won't let this happen to anyone else." Emily felt Kira release her hand and looked down. The younger brunette had placed her thumb, index and middle finger together and began to move her wrist. "Pen?" Kira nodded slowly and Emily reached for the pen on the table beside them. She glanced around the room and, finding no paper, offered Kira her arm instead. The girl grasped the pen lightly, almost too lightly, and focused on what she wanted to say. Emily felt the pen moving against her skin but her gaze was fixed on the girl before her. She took in her half-open eyes and sickly pale features and had to swallow back the anger and bile in her throat. By the time the sentence was complete, Kira was exhausted, her eyes shutting briefly and her head dropping against her shoulder. Emily looked down at her arm and nearly lost her ability to maintain a calm expression.
Am I going to die?
Emily choked on her response- at a loss for words for the first time in years. Did she tell the girl the truth or convince her that everything was going to be ok? Of course, Kira wasn't stupid. She knew- whether it be by what she felt or by the lack of a response, Kira knew she was dying. The teenager opened her teary eyes and met Emily's gaze once more. She took up the woman's hand and squeezed as she tried to offer the agent a smile. Emily smiled back, her own eyes filling with unshed tears, just as the door swung open and Natalie Taylor rushed to her daughter's side.
"Kira." she breathed as she took one of Kira's hands. "Oh, my poor Kira. It's alright. Everything's alright now. I'm here." Emily shared a glance with the distraught woman and knew that she had spoken to Greiner. Natalie Taylor knew her daughter was going to die. Emily watched as the woman placed a kiss to her daughter's forehead and held her hand while she trembled with the force of holding her tears back. Emily marveled at the woman's strength as she squeezed Kira's hand one last time and rose to leave. She stood by the door and placed a hand against her belly, fighting back her own tears. As she slowly made her way down the hall and towards her team, Emily heard the sound of a heart monitor flatlining and moved out of the way as doctors and nurses shoved past her in an attempt to get to the room she had just left. Even as the doors to the waiting room closed behind her and five pairs of eyes met hers, Emily could still hear Natalie Taylor's cries. They sent a chill up the BAU's spines at the sound but Emily had a much different reaction. She bolted to the nearest garbage can and emptied the contents of her stomach. She could hear the BAU gathering around her and felt someone place a hand on the small of her back as they held her hair away from her face. When she was done, Emily wiped her mouth and turned. Had it been any other day, she would have been embarrassed but given the situation, she couldn't bring herself to care. Emily was surprised however, when she saw JJ standing next to her, the blonde's hand still on her back.
"I'm fine." she mumbled, her gaze lowered.
"Kira?" they heard their boss ask. Emily shook her head without a word and felt JJ shift beside her. "Everyone go home. Whatever Kira told Emily can wait until tomorrow."
"Wait, what?" Morgan asked, a frown etched on his face. "Hotch, a girl just died in there because of this monster and you expect us to go to bed?"
"There's nothing we can do at this moment. We'll reconvene in the morning when everyone's rested." As Morgan opened his mouth to argue, JJ surprised everyone by not only speaking, but agreeing with Hotch.
"He's right, Morgan." the blonde said weakly. "We're no good to anyone right now."
JJ broke away from the group and stood in front of the Emergency Room entrance. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, allowing a few tears to escape as she thought of the people that had died in her place. Before long, the blonde felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Emily. The woman was waiting for her with a haunted look on her face and JJ allowed herself to deflate against her friend. The two walked outside together, each leaning slightly on the other. There were no words needed. There were no words that would make what happened more bearable. As they entered the SUV and the hospital shrunk behind them, the two women shared a glance- one that spoke volumes and reiterated a promise spoken before.
We will stop him.