Chapter 24

Robyn was forced to talk fast seeing as any minute now, her doctor would come back in and scold Emily for keeping her up. The agent winced every time the other woman would show even the slightest bit of discomfort. She felt bad but Emily knew that this was the only way they'd be able to find Leila in time. However, as Robyn recounted how, when, and where she was abducted as well as what followed, it became evident to the brunette that perhaps they had placed a little too much faith in her. They knew that Parilla's hideout was deep in the woods. That didn't really help seeing as New Mexico alone had several national parks that could easily conceal a small cabin. Robyn had told Emily about Leila's wound and how it had gotten infected during their escape. Emily tried hard to suppress her obvious worry for the girl, telling herself that Parilla wouldn't let her die like that. The thought wasn't exactly comforting. As the pain was beginning to overwhelm the blonde, Emily heard a soft knock on the door.

"You've done enough, Robyn." The brunette said softly, squeezing the other woman's hand as she stood. "Will you let me press the button now?" Eyes shut tightly and face scrunched up from the pain, the blonde nodded and Emily complied before opening the door. The visitor wasn't entirely unexpected even though she had been expecting Robyn's doctor.

"Is she ok? Has she said anything?" JJ almost pushed passed her friend in an anxious burst. Taking in the woman in the bed, JJ stopped. She stood at the foot of Robyn's bed and held her breath. While she had known all about the woman's injuries, it was different seeing them on a now-fully awake person. The bruises in the shape of a hand all over her arms and neck as well as the cuts from the trees she had run past and the accident all blurred together. JJ knew that the woman's leg was badly injured and hoped that she wouldn't have to see that as well. She already felt bad enough as it is.

"You're Jennifer." The soft voice said, sure of the statement. JJ nodded slowly, taking a single step towards the woman. "So you really are alive."

"Y-Yes." JJ swallowed hard, knowing that the woman probably hated her for putting Leila through that. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car." Had there not been a slight hint of a smile, JJ would've thought the woman was angry. She assumed that the drugs she'd been given were beginning to take effect. "Am I gonna walk again?" JJ and Emily shared an uncomfortable glance.

"We don't know." JJ admitted. "You have another surgery later today. Hopefully, if everything goes well, you'll be fine."

"'Fine'." Robyn scoffed at the word, shaking her head slightly as if amused by the word. "It's gonna take a little more than some surgery to fix me."

"I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. I-" JJ stopped herself and took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm just sorry."

"Did you help him kidnap me?" JJ frowned at the question. "Did you help him chain me to a wall and repeatedly rape me?"

"N-No." JJ's tone was questioning, not knowing where the woman was headed. Robyn merely raised her uninjured arm and waved in her direction.

"Then stop apologizing." The arm dropped unceremoniously back onto the bed with a plop. JJ couldn't help the small grin that appeared on her lips as the taller blonde looked up at her. "Just find your sister. Oh and shoot that son of a bitch."

"Oh, I will." JJ raised an eyebrow as she assured the woman.

"There'll be a line." The two heard Emily mumble to herself. The brunette cleared her throat and excuse herself as her phone began to ring.

"Let me get these for you." JJ turned around and went to close the blinds, knowing that Robyn probably wanted darkness to sleep in. The younger woman nodded slowly, her head lolling slightly to the side.

"I feel better now." She announced. "We can go home." JJ chuckled as she pulled the drapes shut, plunging the room into darkness. Finding her way back the seat beside Robyn, JJ took in the woman's expression.

"What is it?" JJ frowned as she waited. Robyn seemed to have seen a ghost, her face a deathly pale. The heart monitor on the other side of the bed increased its incessant beeping as the younger woman opened her mouth to speak.

"I was awake." She said, almost in a whisper. JJ leaned forward in order to hear. "When we got there, I was awake. I was in the trunk."

"Robyn," JJ sighed, "it's alright. Just go to sleep." She knew that anything the woman "remembered" now would likely be a result of the medication.

"No, listen!" the woman demanded, startling JJ who simply nodded and sat quietly. "He picked me up. I was over his shoulder. I could hear the leaves crunching under his feet and the wind in the trees." She closed her eyes as if she could still hear it. "And the sun- the sun was right in front of me when I looked up. He was walking away from it." JJ saw where the woman's trail of thought was headed and immediately perked up.

"Was the sun setting or rising, Robyn?" JJ asked, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. "Please, try to think."

"Falling." Robyn huffed out. "Sun was falling." JJ sprung up, squeezing the woman's hand and even going as far as to place a kiss to her forehead.

"Thank you, Robyn." She breathed. "Thank you so much." JJ took a quick look around the nurses' station and spotted Emily hanging up the phone.

"Guess what?!" Both women cried upon seeing one another. Emily waved at her friend, insisting she go first.

"So we know Parilla's hideout is somewhere in the woods and it can't be too far from here since Robyn walked to a road. She just told me that she remembers Parilla carrying her into the house and that when she looked up, she saw that the sun was setting directly in front of her."

"The sun sets in the west." Emily pieced together. "Which means that Parilla was walking east." JJ nodded, grinning. "That makes sense."

"Why?"

"That was Reid." Emily explained. "They analyzed Robyn's clothes and found a yucca flower stuck on her shirt."

"What is that?" JJ frowned, not seeing the connection.

"It's the state flower of New Mexico but more importantly," Emily smiled, "this specific strain of flower originated in Mexico."

"Like, Mexico Mexico?" JJ asked and Emily nodded quickly. "So he's close to the border. That would make sense. No one patrols the border by the mountains and even if they did, what are the chances of them finding a single cabin when that's not even what they're looking for?"

"Exactly." Emily agreed. "Not only that but Reid had Garcia find the distribution route of this particular strain and it crosses right through a small, extremely secluded mountain range in southern New Mexico. It stretches south to Mexico but it also moves west into Arizona."

"W-We found him?" JJ stuttered, her heart hammering in her chest at the mere thought. Emily reached out and took the woman's hands into hers as she nodded.

"He's in the Animas Mountains."