Chapter 20

The basement had eventually grown cold enough for the two women to warrant huddling together, trembling hands clenched tightly. Leila could almost feel the anxiety from the blonde beside her as the minutes turned into hours. She was sure Parilla would come sooner rather than later. He wouldn't be kept from Robyn much longer. The younger woman risked a glance at her, wondering if she had the physical and mental strength to do what they had discussed. Every few moments, Leila would ask herself if it was really worth it. There had been several times when she had almost convinced herself that waiting for the BAU would be better. She quickly squashed those thoughts, knowing that it was the fear more than anything that brought them on in the first place. They had to escape. There was no question about it. The two women had fallen into a comfortable silence as the hours passed, not exactly keen on getting to know one another better during their current situation. Instead, they just held hands and tried to swallow the fear that was slowly building inside each of them. An unknown amount of time later, the two heard heavy footsteps right above their heads. Both jumped involuntarily and Leila felt the grip on her hands tighten immensely.

"Don't be scared." Leila tried to keep her voice from trembling. She wasn't sure if she succeeded.

"If I can't get out," Robyn's voice was quiet, as if the man could already hear them, "promise me you'll run."

"We're both getting out of here. Right now." The determination in the younger woman's tone was unmistakable. However, the blonde wasn't entirely convinced.

"Just promise. If one of us has the chance, we have to take it or there won't be another." The blonde pressed. Jeremy was approaching quickly and Leila gave her a single nod in attempt to get her to stop talking. She seemed satisfied enough with it. The women's heads shot up as the door to their prison swung open, bouncing back slightly as it hit the wall behind it with force. Jeremy entered carrying a cardboard box. He placed the box on the ground and began removing things from it- a set of bandages, alcohol, several water bottles, and even a sandwich.

"Here." He tossed the bandages and alcohol in Leila's direction without so much as a glance towards the girl. "Don't need you bleeding to death so soon."

"How generous." The quip left her lips before she could stop it but Parilla was too distracted to care. Leila quickly gathered the supplies and began to work on bandaging her arm. If she was going to run from him, it was best to do it without an open wound. She felt the man shove her to the side, forcing her away from Robyn as he knelt in front of the blonde. Reaching out, he stroked her cheek as the woman remained completely still.

Damnit Robyn, I said don't freeze.

"Are you feeling alright?" Parilla asked in a much softer tone than he had spoken in to Leila. "Are you cold?"

"Yes." Came Robyn's curt response. Parilla reached behind him and pulled a blanket out of the box he had brought down. Wordlessly, he draped it around the woman's shoulders ignoring the shiver that ran through her as their skin met.

"I brought you this." He handed her the sandwich before casting a menacing glare towards Leila. "Don't share it with her."

"I won't." Robyn promised. Leila watched from the corner of her eye as she wrapped the bandages around her injured shoulder. Ignoring the pain as she pulled them tightly, she waiting for Robyn to make her move.

"That's my girl." He cooed softly as his hands went to stroke her hair. Despite over a week of captivity, the strands had managed to stay fairly untangled. Parilla ran his fingers through the golden tresses as he brought his face closer to the woman's. Leila could see just how much Robyn was trembling and prayed that she was able to do as they had discussed. As Parilla's lips met hers, the blonde did something Leila would not expect: she kissed him back. The sight caused the younger woman to gag, knowing what Parilla had done to her not twenty-four hours prior. Suddenly a thought struck the teen- what if Robyn was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? She quickly scanned her mind, searching for anything she had learned about the illness. The only thing she could remember was that it could occur at varying lengths of time. A victim could go years without falling for their captor while another could succumb in days. Was it possible? Was Robyn playing her this whole time? As the kiss deepened, Leila's breath hitched. What if she told Parilla what they were planning? There was no way he would let her live if he knew that she was actively trying to kill him. If Robyn didn't help her, she had no chance of either killing Parilla or escaping. Almost paralyzed with fear as she held her breath, Leila had no choice but to watch the events unravel.

As quickly as the thought had appeared, it was dispelled as Robyn reached out with shocking speed and grabbed hold of the chains around her wrists. Without a sound, the woman began wrapping the metal around Parilla's neck causing the man to grunt and pull away from her. His eyes opened, staring right at Robyn. The anger that lurked behind them caused the blonde to fumble, almost letting go of one of the chains. Had Leila not sprung into action and leapt onto the man's back, Parilla would have surely gone free. The brunette struggled as he thrashed about, trying to throw her off. However, her hold around his neck was iron as she used every ounce of strength left in her body to tighten the chains. Parilla gagged and cried out, tossing his head side to side in anger as Robyn stood. She was being pulled along with the chains and could see that Leila's strength alone was not going to be enough to bring him down. She was going to have to help. Without thinking, she ran into the two, tackling them to the ground with a grunt. She landed on top of Parilla and quickly placed her hands over the man's neck. Both she and Leila groaned with the force of their pulling and crushing. Their eyes met briefly as Leila was struggling to get out from under the giant of a man. The combined weight of both Parilla and now Robyn was suffocating her. Robyn, almost in a panic to set Leila free, grabbed the first thing she saw- the bottle of alcohol- and swung it at Jeremy's head. The bottle shattered, showering the two beneath her with glass and liquid, and Parilla finally went still. Robyn wasted no time in scrambling to shove the man off of Leila who sucked in breath after breath of precious air. Robyn knelt beside Parilla's body, watching the blood flow from the wound on his head, and noticed that there were tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away slowly, almost robotically, before looking over at Leila. The girl was on her hands and knees, heaving and pressing a hand to her injured shoulder as she turned to face her.

"You know for a minute there," Leila panted, "I thought you weren't going to do it." Robyn frowned at the girl as she stood, offering her hand to the brunette.

"Why wouldn't I do it?" Robyn seemed genuinely confused by the notion as Leila fumbled around in Jeremy's pockets for the keys to the chains around her wrists. She found them quickly and Robyn rubbed at her raw wrists as soon as they were free.

"Never mind." Leila waved the concern away. The girl quickly scooped up the three bottles of water Parilla had brought them along with the sandwich before turning to face her new friend. "Shall we?"

it had been hours since she had spoken to Hotch and still, the worry in her gut had persisted. Emily picked at her already raw cuticles as she watched her friend scanning file after file as if in a frenzy. JJ had not spoken a word to her since her return and a part of the brunette knew that something was wrong. Did JJ know what she had said to Hotch? If she did, why was she still in the same room as her? The questions burned inside of Emily as she tried, and failed, to focus on her work. The lead on Parilla's car hadn't been as helpful as they'd hoped. Someone had reported seeing the vehicle heading east on I-40. The description of both the car and the driver matched perfectly and at least now they knew the general direction he was headed but it didn't change much. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of possible locations between New Mexico and the shore that he could've chosen to hide out in. So far their search on real estate owned by Parilla or his family had come up with nothing. Simply put they were back at square one. The thought unnerved and agitated the BAU but especially JJ. As Emily stared at the back of her friend's head, she wondered exactly what was going on in it and if she was still thinking the same, insane thoughts as before. Her money was on 'yes'.

"Stop staring at me." JJ's voice was rougher than usual, probably from lack of use. Emily cleared her throat awkwardly as the former blonde turned to face her with an incredulous look.

"Sorry." She saw no use in denying it. Emily's hand went to her large belly, stroking it absentmindedly as she thought of something to say.

"Are you feeling ok?" A hint of the old JJ seemed to shine through and Emily lifted her head to look at the woman. She offered her a thin smile that wasn't returned.

"Yea, I'm alright." Emily nodded slowly. "I just can't help thinking…"

"Thinking what?" JJ leaned forward in her chair slightly, elbows going to her knees as she seemed genuinely interested in what Emily had to say. The brunette shrugged awkwardly.

"Thinking about if I'll be a good enough mother." The phrase was almost a whisper and JJ had to strain herself to hear but when she did, the younger woman simply sighed. "I know you're going to say that I am but you can't really know that for sure, can you? No one can know until they actually do it, right?"

"Right." JJ agreed. "But that doesn't change what I think. Do you remember when we were on the plane and I told you that I thought you should have children one day?" Emily nodded. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it, Emily. You're going to do just fine."

"I just," Emily rubbed a temple, "I worry about how this job is going to affect everything. My relationship with Chris for one thing, not to mention the relationship with my…with my child." The phrase still felt foreign and JJ could tell how uncomfortable her friend really was. How long had she been aching to have this conversation with her? JJ stood and knelt in front of her, slowly taking the older woman's hands into hers.

"It'll change but that doesn't mean it's for the worse." JJ told her. "That can only be up to you and Chris. It'll be difficult at first but I know that if anyone can do it, it's you."

"You did it." Emily pointed out. JJ almost laughed.

"And look at how well that turned out." The sarcastic jeer caused Emily to look up and latch onto the woman's deep gaze. "Yea, I know, this isn't my fault."

"It's not." Emily insisted, squeezing the woman's hand. "And it has nothing to do with your ability to be a mother."

"Look at you, already lecturing. I told you you'd be good at this." JJ went to release the older agent's hand but Emily simply tightened her hold on her.

"I'm serious, Jennifer." The use of her full name sobered the moment further as JJ lowered her gaze, letting it fall on her friend's belly. She placed a hand on it gently, almost immediately feeling the life inside react to her presence. It caused a small but genuine smile to form on her lips.

"I know." JJ practically whispered, almost afraid to disturb Emily's child as her warm hand felt another kick. "Why did you tell Hotch what I told you?" The question wasn't entirely unexpected but Emily took a moment to respond regardless.

"Because I'd rather have you hate me than dead." The bluntness caused the younger woman to stiffen as she raised her gaze to meet the darker one.

"I could never hate you, Emily." JJ admitted with a slow shake of the head. She knew that it was true. Even if Hotch found a way to keep her away from the case or even if something happened to Leila, JJ knew that she could never harbor any permanent feelings against Emily. The two had grown extremely close after Emily's time in Paris and JJ considered her to be like a sister. She hoped that the older woman saw her in the same light.

"Please," Emily's voice was pleading, "don't do anything stupid." JJ stared long and hard into the other woman's eyes as she took in the unshed tears. Emily really did love her. She reprimanded herself for all of the pain she had put her family through over the last year. In addition, she knew that Emily had most likely suffered more than any other member of her team. She had been the brunette's first and closest friend and now, when she needed her most, JJ had vanished. While it wasn't her decision to leave, knowing how Emily must've felt stung JJ more than she cared to admit.

"You know I love you, right?" This question, much unlike the last, stunned the brunette into silence. While it had been understood long ago, neither had said anything along those lines aloud before. Emily swallowed hard, almost choking on a few tears as she opened her mouth to respond.

"Of course." She cleared her throat. "I love you too." JJ had her arms around the woman's neck just as she finished the sentence. Emily could've sworn that she felt a handful of tears drop onto her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I left you." The former blonde breathed. Emily shook her head against JJ's cheek.

"You didn't have a choice." Emily insisted. "You're the best friend I've ever had and if being somewhat alone for a few months is what it takes to keep you safe, then I'm ok with it." JJ didn't respond. She didn't think she could without openly sobbing. Instead she held onto her friend as if she was a life raft and JJ was drowning. Emily quietly told her how they would find Leila and everything would be ok. The older woman tried hard to comfort her crying friend but the two knew that they had no leads and no idea where to start. JJ cried harder as the fact that nothing short of a miracle would help them find her sister now.