Chapter 13

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas.

Emily drifted in and out of consciousness as they travelled to the hospital, each time her eyes landed on JJ she would whisper Stacy's name as though she didn't recognise her. It didn't take long before they were entering the hospital the hustle and bushel the brightly lit lights made Emily panicked slightly.

They rushed Emily through the double doors leaving JJ stood outside as she watched through the small glass window, she felt a soft gentle hand rest on her shoulder.

"If you'd like to follow me" the young nurse said softly, "You can wait in here the doctor will be through shortly."

JJ nodded as the nurse opened the door to the waiting area. "The rest of our team should be here soon" JJ said softly as she turned looking at the young nurse.

"I will bring them through once they arrive" and with that JJ was left alone in the small room.

Hospitals weren't exactly the most cheerful of places, the small armed chairs offered little comfort, magazines were stacked on the small table in the corner, and the green plant only gave the room some colour. JJ took the seat facing the doorway her hands clasped together as she leaned forward slightly.

The one main problem with hospital waiting room is they are so quite the only sound in the room was the slightly buzzing noise where the coffee and drinks machine were but she easily blocked it out. Pulling out here phone she press speed dial waiting for it to be answered.

"How is she doing JJ?" Hotch asked as soon as he answered the phone.

"They took her straight down to x-ray, they think she had internal bleeding" JJ couldn't stop the stray tear that rolled easily down her cheek.

"We will be with you in a few minutes, Morgan has gone to the airport to wait for Garcia"

It wasn't the first time they had been all been sitting in a waiting room hoping that their friend was okay, it took JJ back to when Garcia had been shot, not one of them made sound. The only comfort JJ had that day was when Emily took hold of her hand offering silent comfort.

The door opened as the team arrived JJ gave them a sad smile as Reid took a seat next to her, Hotch and Rossi stood near the coffee machine as they waited for the drinks to be poured before handing them out. They knew they could be waiting for some time. Not one of them could speak as they waited but just having the team together gave them all slight comfort.

JJ hadn't moved or spoken since the team had arrived, Hotch had begun to pace slightly as time moved on, the doors to the waiting room opened again as Garcia and Morgan arrived, Garcia made a straight beeline for JJ sitting next to her friend before taking hold of her hand.

"Any news?" Morgan asked as he joined Hotch and Rossi.

"Nothing yet they had have taken her down to operate, the x-ray showed she has internal bruising and tearing" Hotch said as he looked at him before his glance fell on Garcia. "Did you bring the information I asked for Garcia?" he asked pulling her attention.

"I have it here, Emily has two next of kin on file" Garcia said sadly as she handed him the brown personal file. Hotch nodded as he opened the file he frowned slightly.

"Sir, I doubt Stacy is going to answer" Hotch frowned slightly.

"Have you tried to ring her?" he asked slightly puzzled

Garcia shook her head slightly. "Now sir, Stacy passed away a month ago"

The name pulled JJ's attention slightly. "Emily kept asking for her before. Do you know who she is?" JJ asked.

"Her partner" Garcia said sadly.

"Garcia are you sure she has passed away?" Hotch asked

"I am, she was in an accident in Europe last month." JJ frowned slightly before looking at Garcia

"How do you know this?" JJ asked they could all hear the hurt in her voice as she spoke.

"Emily came to my office the other month and asked me to run a search she just told me she was a friend of a friend. They brought her body back last week." Hotch nodded as he turned to the next page.

Normally he was the medical point of call when a member of his team was hurt in the field but as he looked at the other next of kin details he couldn't help but smile slightly.

There was a slight knock on the door before the surgeon walked in closing it behind him. "Emily Prentiss?" he asked as his eyes scanned around looking at the FBI agents.

"How is she?" Hotch asked.

"She is stable, badly dehydrated. I have managed to stop the internal bleeding, a few broken ribs, she is in the ICU once we have made her comfortable I'll take you all up to see her, is there a family member I can contact." He asked kindly.

Hotch gave a rare kind smile as he spoke "We are her family, I will contact her Mother shortly." The surgeon nodded slightly as Hotch handed over her personal file giving him a slight look at her next of kin details.

"I will send a nurse in once we have made her comfortable" he said handing back the file.

"Why didn't she tell us" JJ mumbled as she wiped the tears from her cheek.

"You know how private Emily is" Rossi said kindly.

"Explains why she's been off the past few weeks" Morgan mumbled slightly "Does she not trust us enough to help her?" he said a little bit more forcefully than he meant.

"She trusts us Morgan, she just finds it hard to let people in" JJ said softly.

"We could of helped her, she doesn't need to do everything alone" his voice was laced with hurt as he spoke.

"Morgan you know as well as we all do she likes her private life to be exactly that private" Rossi said in a warning tone. "All that matters right now is that she is safe, Emily isn't the only person on this team that keeps things to themselves"

The team fell silent again each of them getting lost in their own thoughts Garcia wrapped her arm around JJ allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder.