The chills she had from the cold were shaking her body so badly Emily was sure the little girl strapped to her chest was going to get motion sickness. Listening to her boss' words, she stayed right where she was so the chopper would find her, but the lack of motion wasn't helping with warming them up.
"Mama?"
Emily bent her head and pressed a kiss to her daughter's cold skin. "You tired, baby?" Trying to see through the darkness, the agent's eyes slowly started to unfocus. "Mommy's tired."
Phoenix's eyes drooped, her small hands gripping the zipper of her mother's jacket.
"How about we try to sing a song to stay awake?" she asked her baby, blinking heavily. She could tell it was getting harder for her to breathe, her breath growing shallow. "What's your favorite song, Nikki?"
The one year old licked her tiny chapped lips and shook her head.
Leaning her head back against the crumbling dirt wall behind her and a few rocks rolling down the back of her jacket. "What if we make up our own song?" She gently cleared her throat, the energy she used to do only that wearing her out. "Let me rock you to sleep," she whispered, singing the best she could. "Lie gently in my arms. Let me rock you to sleep, and dream your sweet dreams."
Emily opened her eyes wider to check on her daughter, noticing her tiny head starting to drop forward. She pressed a finger to her neck to check for a pulse, thanking God when she felt it under the pad of her pointer.
Her ears perked, thinking she had heard something close to the sound she had first heard before noticing the helicopter, but only saw a lizard digging its way into the dirt.
The stars had been breathtakingly bright as they appeared in the sky above her hours ago, the moon fighting against them to gain Emily's attention. But after hours of bearing down on her, the agent wished she could wave her hand and make them disappear. At this point they were only taunting her, forcing her to rely on them for sight instead of a flashlight or a lamp. She wasn't even able to reach out and grab one, pull it down and use it to start a fire to keep them warm.
Nothing was going right for them.
Hissing, Emily flicked a mouse from her injured leg. They were close to the path, but how close? She hadn't heard anything from above except a hawk who had threatened to take little Phoenix as its dinner.
She knew the helicopter was coming, it had probably been searching for hours now, but what if it never saw them? She knew now she wouldn't be able to climb the rest of the way back up to the path they had fallen from, so what would they do?
"Mommy?" The one year old's voice grew softer as she whispered, on the brink of sleep.
Emily's eyes filled with tears. "Stay awake for mommy, baby." The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees lower than what it had been the night before, and she was surprised they had even made it through that. "Can you look at me, baby? Come on, Nikki."
Phoenix's head nodded at the sound of her mother's voice.
"How about we talk about your friends in daycare?" She knew how much fun her daughter had there. "I bet Hanna and David can't wait to get their best friend back," the brunette whispered with a smile.
The one year old snuggling against Emily's chest laid her head down.
Emily moved her hand to cup her daughter's chin, almost forcing her to stay awake and have those little brown eyes look up to her.
"Mama," she whined, fighting the hold her mother had on her.
"Mama needs to keep you safe," Emily whispered fiercely, letting her daughter press her lips to her thumb. "You've got tot stay awake for me, ok? Ok?"
Phoenix's small hands came up and pushed her mother's away.
Blinking back her tears, the brunette woman watched as her daughter tried to fight off the sleep that threatened to take her. "How do you think dinner at Uncle Dave's was?" she asked, doing her best to look happy for her daughter. She knew that her family had worried the entire time, every one of them trying to get in touch with her and figure out where she had last been seen. "I bet Jack and Henry had that famous spaghetti and loved every bite."
"Petti," the child whispered, her eyes closed.
Emily smiled at her daughter's lips puckering at the thought of her favorite food. "Uncle Dave probably saved a whole lot for you. He knows you love his spaghetti," she whispered to the little girl she held. "And I know Jack is going to want to play with you for hours after we get back home." If they got back home.
Rocking lightly in her carrier, Phoenix's head lolled back.
The brunette woman sniffled, bringing up her good leg to help prop up her little girl. "We're going to be ok," she whispered tearfully, her hand helping support her daughter's head when it refused to sit up for itself. "Stay with me, sweetheart."
She could feel her daughter getting colder as the hours ticked by, Emily's tears freezing to her cheeks.
Her body covering Phoenix's and her head bent, it took the single mother a moment to recognize the sound that buzzed in her ear. Slowly lifting her head, a search light immediately filled her vision. "Help!" The brunette raised her hand in the air to signal to them, hoping they would finally see her this time. "We're over here!"
Emily pressed long kisses against her baby girl's head, her small body still in her hold. "Wake up for mommy, baby," she whispered, her tears falling against Phoenix's skin as the helicopter dropped its ladder for them. "Nikki?"