A/N: Sorry for the delay! I went away on holiday, and I didn't have my laptop with me. I tried to get this up before I went, but my dad disconnected the internet the day we left before I could upload.
Bumper installment to make up for it!
Italics are thoughts, just in case you guys didn't get that
Emily's eyes widened and she smiled slightly to herself under her mouth's rope restraint when the UnSub walked back into her room. The bloody nose, busted lip and cuts on all spaces of skin she could see confirmed what she already thought: he had no idea what he'd gotten himself into kidnapping her girl.
Instantly, however, her relief was replaced with her previous panic as she realised that she still hadn't heard a noise from Taylor's cell, as well as the fact that she knew Chris wouldn't have come back in here with her if he was still fighting her girlfriend.
Does that mean Taylor's unconscious? Or is she dead? No. No, she can't be dead. She's not dead.
…Why am I not hearing anything from her then?
She's just hurt. She has to just be hurt.
'Hello again Agent' Chris's disgusting voice cut off her desperate thoughts.
Emily went to reply with a smart-ass comeback – to make him focus his rage from here on out on her rather than Taylor – before she remembered the gag he'd so kindly placed in her mouth.
'Oh, want to talk Agent? Well let me help you facilitate that.'
Before Emily had time to process what he meant, the rope had been pulled from her mouth up and over her head; allowing her to shout the one thing she needed to hear a reply to.
'TAYLOR!'
Shocked silence still consumed the room containing the five profilers. Reid hadn't made a move to open the envelope, and no one had taken it from him until Morgan stood up abruptly and strode over to him in three steps.
'Here pretty boy, I'll open it.' He grabbed some gloves from the cabinet in the corner, before taking the delivery from Reid and motioning him to sit down. He peeled back the top of the envelope and hoped to God that this wasn't proof of Emily's death.
'Damn!' Derek said whilst angling whatever he was looking at slightly.
'What is it Derek?' JJ questioned, her voice breaking a little in the middle.
'The exact opposite of what I thought it'd be' he declared mysteriously.
'What do you mean?' Reid still hadn't caught on to the slightly awkward smirk Derek was sporting.
'I mean, I was worried this would be proof of a dead Emily. But she's very much alive here… I'm pretty sure our guy is trying to show us he was stalking them' and with that he laid the pile of pictures on the table, and everyone's eyes travelled to, then promptly looked away from the print on the top of the stack.
It had obviously been taken through blinds or a curtain of some sort framing Emily's windows, due to the slight haze the picture possessed in its details. But before any of the team looked closely enough to realise that, they'd had to get used to the feature most predominant in the image, that of Taylor and Emily. Emily was lying on her back, with Taylor straddling her. Both were naked, their hair still wet (from a joint shower? Was the question running through Derek's mind) and the only things hiding their modesty from the team was the sheet hanging from Taylor's waist, and Emily's arm concealing their breasts as her hand gripped Taylor closer, her fingernails digging slightly into Taylor's bare back.
It wasn't a disturbing image, or even something the team would consider grossly pornographic. It showed two women obviously in love; kissing passionately and so close that they were touching everywhere they possibly could. It was only uncomfortable for the team because this was Emily. Their Emily. And she was quite obviously making love with her girlfriend; something that they knew they didn't have any right to see.
Chris had unlocked her cuffs and untied her legs before rolling her onto the floor where she was currently being kicked repeatedly in the ribs, unable to catch her breath enough to fight back. Whenever she had a second between kicks she was screaming Taylor's name. Tears ran down her face with a growing intensity as she didn't hear a reply. At this point she didn't give a shit that she was showing him weakness; didn't give a shit that it would get him off later, didn't give a shit that he'd think he'd broken her, in fact, she didn't give a shit if he killed her right there, because she had the increasing feeling that Taylor could be dead, and if she was, she didn't want to live.
He crouched down beside her, watching her struggle to breathe what with the damage to her body and the sobs she couldn't control. 'Taylor can't hear you honey; trust me on that. But seems as she is all that's on your mind, lets play a guessing game shall we? How many times do you think she screamed your name? Twenty…maybe thirty times? To be honest, I wasn't keeping count; but she stopped after a while. Once I convinced her that fairytales aren't real – that her female knight in shining armour wasn't going to save her.'
He allowed that statement time to sink in; time for Emily to grow even more concerned that Taylor wasn't breathing in the next room, as he straightened to his full height once more.
'I might just send this particular video to your team though, I'm sure they'd be disappointed and awestruck in equal measure at how fast you gave up. So face the camera' he turned her head against no resistance 'and smile.' His own face broke into a grin just thinking about her team's reactions, and the shame Emily would surely be feeling.
'Jennifer's watching' a kick was delivered with JJ's name.
'And Penelope' …a kick.
'And Derek' … a kick.
'And Spencer' …a kick.
'And Aaron' …a kick.
'And David' …a kick.
'…and you must know that Andrea' a kick 'would be with them by now.' Her ribs had started to crack by Garcia's name, and they proceeded to break with slight crunching noises as he moved his attack continually along her sides.
Emily lay on her back, unresisting, and finally admitting to herself that maybe it was best to give up. I mean, what did he say? 'Taylor can't hear you, trust me?' If she's dead then I don't care what he does to me. I don't care if the team gets here in time. I don't care if I die.
Whilst Emily had been pondering surrender, Chris had moved to open his jeans again. He straddled Emily whilst he pulled down her underwear yet again. She tried to push him away, but it wasn't the first time she'd tried and failed, and she had no energy left to fight him anymore.
She could feel her body giving up; shutting down. She'd always said that she was the strong one, that she could compartmentalise better than anyone on the team, and that she'd never give in to a low-life like Chris. But she'd never factored Taylor into the equation; never allowed herself to even consider that she'd ever allow Taylor to be put in danger. She'd always firmly believed that she'd protect Taylor well enough that no-one would ever get to her. But she'd failed, and now Taylor was dead or dying and Emily was giving up. She despised that thought, but she knew that's exactly what she was doing, giving up. But strangely, she didn't really care.
'I've got Garcia running the prints through ViCap, we'll know ASAP if we have a hit' Derek re-entered the room.
The photos had the same prints on them as the envelope. He'd been sloppy; and they'd never been so grateful for an UnSub's mistake in their lives. Said photos were now spread across the conference room table.
JJ couldn't take her eyes off one particular picture. In amongst the collage of Emily leaving home; Emily leaving work, Taylor leaving home, Taylor with a patient, them on a run, them heading out for lunch… there was one picture that made JJ's heart ache to have them both home and safe.
It was Taylor and Emily, hand in hand, just walking into a bar. Only they were so dressed up they must've come from a fancy event. Maybe the Ambassador's Christmas party? JJ could picture Emily taking her girlfriend along just to piss off her mother. They were forehead to forehead, just pulled apart from a kiss, and the love in Emily's eyes was indescribable. It made JJ all the more determined to bring them home.
Andrea was back in the conference room with the team, trying to piece together events with pictures to create some kind of timeline. The team had tried to hide that 'particular picture' from her, but she'd seen it; and instead of putting it down or looking disgusted, she cried. Just as she was about to explain the picture JJ couldn't put down to the team, they all turned to the sound of running heels on the catwalk.
'WE'VE GOT A HIT' is all they needed to hear to be on their feet and ready to move.
Chris finished and pulled away, and after replacing her underwear he sat down next to her.
'Now Agent. I have three questions for you. You better hope you answer them correctly. Oh, and if you don't answer aloud we're going to have a problem. Okay?'
'Yeah' Emily managed to rasp out.
'Good. One: do you understand now how wrong you were?'
Emily inwardly rolled her eyes. 'Yeah.'
A smile appeared on his face. 'Two: have you learned to enjoy what is right?'
Emily felt disgusting but she pushed the answer out anyways. 'Yes.'
If Chris grinned anymore, his face would split in half. 'Three: Do you want to die?'
Emily couldn't say yes to that, no matter how desperate she felt, surely?
Her silence was deafening.
'I said. Do you want to die?'
Again, she didn't open her mouth.
He leaned over her until he was centimetres from her face. 'I'll only say this once more. Do you want to die?'
She forced herself to meet his eyes. 'No.'
'What did you say?'
'I said. No.'
His smile fell away. 'Wrong answer, Emily. Wrong answer.'
A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger…
Now I'm back, I promise more updates soon, especially as I planned out everything else in this story while I was away.
However, I'm having doubts about this story as I'm not hearing a lot from you guys so I don't know if I should even bother finishing it. I came home to some reviews and stuff which made me feel a bit more confident about the whole thing, but still. Reviews would be awesome so I have some idea what you are all thinking chapter by chapter.