Prompt 3: JJ tells Emily about her miscarriage.

(Emily)

They're playing Scrabble…again. It feels like JJ and this silly online word game are all that's keeping her connected to reality (probably true). Some days it feels like they're all that's keeping her sane (again, probably true).

She's still celebrating the 45 points she got from playing QUIP on a triple word (it's the highest score of the game so far…a small victory, but a victory nonetheless) when the game trills. Emily refreshes the game, and her jaw drops.

At first it's the score that has her gaping. 36 points for hitting a triple word plus 50 bonus for using all of her tiles on one turn. Then she's gasping at the word itself. PREGNANT.

She knows JJ and Will have been trying for another baby, knows that they desperately want a little girl. So this is too much of a coincidence for it to actually be a coincidence.

JJ, she types into the chat box, what are you passive-agressively not telling me…

There's a slight pause, then JJ's response pops up. …um

OH MY GOD! seriously? you're pregnant?! There's a bubble of hope and happiness swelling up in her chest, one that the fear and depression and paranoia can't touch. Because, if she's reading JJ right, she's going to be an aunt again, and that makes all of this worth it.

JJ's pause before answering is a little too long, though, and her response of not anymore has Emily's heart crashing somewhere in the pit of her stomach.

She can't manage more than a simple no…, tears pricking at her eyes.

She can almost hear JJ's dejected sigh when she responds. long story short: I was, then something happened, and now I'm not

I'm so sorry. She whispers the words as she types, her hands shaking. There's pain burning in her chest now, and not from the brand or from eating something that her still healing stomach can't quite handle.

Emily feels helpless, something she's always hated. She should be with JJ right now, wherever she is. She should be there to hold her friend, to cry with her, to comfort her in a way that not even Will can.

But instead she's stuck here, off the grid, cowering like an animal in a cage. Bound by international law and a strong sense of self-preservation to stay underground. There's nothing she can do.

So, for the first time since Hotch told her she had to run, had to leave everything she knew behind, she curls her knees up to her chest and sobs.