Creative licence (obviously) taken with this one. Fair warning: some strong language in this one.

Happy reading =)

"A good friend keeps your secrets for you. A best friend helps you keep your own secrets." – Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall

"Tsia!" I hear a faint voice calling for me, but it seems to fade quicker than it had appeared. "Tsia!" the voice repeats, a little louder, and sounding just a little bit more panicked. It's so familiar, but it can't be... She's not here. She's not supposed to be here.

"Damnit, Tsia, open your goddamned eyes!" My eyes fly open at the frustrated command and I find none other than Emily Prentiss crouched overtop of me, one hand gripping an assault rifle and one patting across my body. "Where are you hit?" she demands when our gazes meet.

I try to gesture to my leg, but find I'm unable to make my arm move. "Just tell me," she whispers, swatting away my arm's clumsy movements.

"What are you doing here?"

"Where are you hit?" she repeats, ignoring my question. I try to respond but I'm having trouble focusing and I feel myself fading. "Tsia!" she whispers forcefully as she grabs my face and brings my gaze back to her. "You have to stay awake. Stay with me."

My eyes widen at her expression. There's a touch of panic in her eyes, but overwhelmingly her expression is determined. It calms my nerves to know her stubborn nature is intact.

"I'm gonna get you outta here. The team's a few minutes out," she explains, chancing a quick glance to her watch. "Hey, no, stay with me!" I hear her say when my eyes flutter closed again and my head lolls to the side.

"Shit," I hear her mutter under her breath as she slings the rifle over her shoulder and begins to pull me across the room. I protest at the movement with a loud groan as it jars at wound in my leg. "I know, I know, but I gotta get you some cover," she apologizes as he pulls me behind some large crates.

I hear the door burst open and suddenly Emily is gone from my side. I feel adrenaline coursing through my body now as the situation becomes crystal clear. I look around, and search for a weapon of some kind.

The sound of gunfire fills the air as Emily and the henchmen of our mark exchange shots. I hear a strangled yell and feel a thud on the ground. I close my eyes and pray it's not Emily. There is the briefest moment of silence before I hear something clatter to the floor and then the telltale sounds of a struggle. I begin to pull myself to edge of the crates, hoping to sneak a peek at what's transpiring.

I reach the edge and crane my head around the corner, seeing Emily locked into a fight with the man who'd shot me earlier, and the body of another man on the ground, unmoving. I watch as she ducks his attacks, his fists flying out rapidly. She dodges another attack and tries to sweep her leg under him, but finds herself shoved to the ground as he's able to stand his ground.

"You stupid bitch," he spits in anger, his expression darkening as he looms over her.

She scrambles backward to avoid his kick and rolls out of the way, reaching for the holster at her ankle that I know she always has. She's able to pull the small Glock from the holster, but her attention on her own actions allows her opponent to land a kick to her ribs. She cries out in pain, but rolls away and immediately levels the gun at him. He halts his forward movement and growls in frustration.

"Go ahead," he goads. "Kill an unarmed man. Fitting for one so dishonourable as yourself."

She motions for him to turn around. He begins to follow her directions, but suddenly turns and lunges for her. But her reaction is much quicker than his and he falls to the ground, bullets in his chest.

The threat neutralized, she returns to me and immediately lies me on my back, putting pressure on the wound in my leg.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I say as I try to sit up.

"Stay down," she commands, pushing me down with her other hand. "Are you hit anywhere else?"

I shake my head in reply. She immediately pulls off her belt and cinches it tightly around my leg, hoping to help slow the flow of blood from the wound. I watch as she pulls a cell phone from her pocket and dials a number we all know from memory.

She doesn't have to say anything, but the answer to both our unspoken question comes in the form of Jeremy's reply. "3 minutes."

She hangs up and turns her attention back to me, her eyes widening at the amount of blood pooled beneath me.

"You're an idiot," I say in French. "You shouldn't have come."

"Don't be stupid," she replies. "There's no way I was going to leave you here."

"The op's compromised because of me," I say, switching to English.

"It was a poorly conceived plan to begin with," she says, getting up to peek out the window beside the door. "We all knew the likelihood was someone else would have to come in."

"And it had to be you?"

"I volunteered."

"Of course you did," I say with a heavy sigh. "Emily, you were meant to be recovering from the last op. I know your shoulder hasn't quite healed yet."

"Healed enough to take out these goons and rescue your ass," she fires back with a smirk.

"I don't need you to rescue me."

"Right, because you had things under control," she says bitterly, casting a pointed glance to the wound in my leg.

I immediately open my mouth to refute her point, but find that she's right. I needed the help. I'd screwed things up and they'd gone bad too quickly for me to deal with.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't think, and it's cost us Fuller."

"Actually," she says with a twinkle in her eyes. "I may have run into him on my way in here."

My eyes widen. "No," I say in disbelief.

"And he may or may not be the reason the team is a few minutes out – they had to retrieve his sorry ass and then come back to get us."

I close my eyes in relief that it hadn't all been for naught. I find the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body beginning to wane, and an overwhelming exhaustion taking hold.

"Tsia! Stay with me," Emily demands, and I feel her presence next to me seconds later. "Come on, talk to me."

I can't help my eyes from fluttering shut, but Emily's words force me to try and open them.

"So I heard you and Jeremy had a good night before you came here."

My eyebrows jump up in surprise. "What do you mean?" I manage to mumble.

"Oh, don't play coy with me, Tsia. That hotel had very thin walls. Just be glad you were sharing a wall with me and not Clyde. He'd have reamed out both of you."

If the situation had been different I might have blushed, but the pain radiating from my leg thanks to the disappearance of the adrenaline, and the exhaustion washing over me made doing anything other than laying still near impossible.

"How long have the two of you been together?" she asks, slipping her hand into mine and squeezing it. It's a reminder for me to stay here, and not slip away.

"On and off for a few months."

"You two were fooling around while I was stuck gaining the trust of the lowest lives in France? This just keeps getting better and better," she grouses, but I can tell, even in my state, that she's joking.

"Can't help who you love," I say sluggishly. Speaking is taking significantly more effort than usual.

"Whoa," she says, her eyes widening. "Love? You love him?"

"Mmhmm," I reply, stretching out the syllables.

"Then we'll just have to make sure to get you back to him in one piece," she says with a grin. "And then I'm forcing Clyde to let us all have some time off."

I don't bother responding, instead just squeezing her hand with what little strength I have. But our moment is interrupted by angry yells and heavy footfalls in the distance that are approaching.

"Shit. Stay with me, Tsia. You hear me? Don't you dare pass out on me."

"Hurts," I moan, the word the only thing I'm able to say.

"I know," she says with apologetic eyes. "But you stay with me, okay?"

And with that she pulls out her cell again and connects with Jeremy.

"2 minutes, there's traffic."

"I don't give a shit, you better get here faster than that. Fuller's goon squad is bearing down on us, and Tsia's on the verge of passing out."

"Passing out?!" I hear Jeremy say in a panic. "Why, what the hell happened?"

"Just get the fuck here already," Emily growls and hangs up, shoving the cell into her pocket and loading the assault rifle.

The approaching men are just around the corner and I watch Emily struggle to grab one of the dead men and position him in front of her as a shield. The men come around the corner, guns blazing, and I cover my face as fragments of glass and drywall fall onto me. I hear Emily firing her gun and feel the thuds of bodies hitting the floor. The battle continues for a few moments, but ultimately ends once more and I open my eyes a bit to find Emily shoving the dead man away from her and pulling the cell from her pocket once more.

"Almo-"

"Where. The. Fuck. Are you?!" she demands.

"Just pulling in, darling," Clyde says calmly. "Hold it together, Prentiss."

"Fuck you," she says in frustration. Clyde always did know how to push her buttons.

"You volunteered for this, remember?"

Emily doesn't reply and instead throws the cell across the room in anger. She seems to remember my presence because she makes her way over to me quickly afterward.

"Tsia? How you doing? You still with me?"

My only reply is a grunt. I hear Jeremy calling my name and Clyde and Emily arguing over where to take me, but then everything goes black.

"Look who's finally deigned to rejoin the land of the living," I hear Emily say drily. I turn my head and find her seated in the chair next to my bed, bandages covering the left side of her neck.

"What happened to your neck?" I rasp.

"Just a scratch," she dismisses as she hands me a cup with a straw. The cool liquid feels heavenly on my dry mouth and throat.

"Emily," I begin, but not knowing the words to convey what I want and need to say. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I know that you'd have saved my ass if it were me in there."

"Still, you didn't have to-"

"We already covered this. Get used to it, Mosely."

I offer a half-hearted smile but feel my eyes begin to droop.

"Oh, hang on, there's someone who I promised to let see you when you woke up. I'll keep Clyde busy," she says with a wink and walks quickly out the door. Jeremy enters not ten seconds later and I'm left overwhelmed by the look in his eyes.

We say everything we need to say with a kiss, and then I feel sleep taking over. My thoughts shift to the brunette who'd saved my life. She'd been an impetuous American when I'd first met her, but she'd quickly become one of my most trusted friends. I never imagined I'd willingly put my life in the hands of a foreign agent, but I had no trouble doing so with Emily. Maybe it was because of the work we shared – the secrets, the lies, the deception, the evil… Or maybe it was just the fact that I'd put my life in her hands and she'd kept it safe. Whatever the reason, somehow she'd gone from being simply a colleague to a dear friend. I vow to make sure I can return the favour when and if the circumstance ever arises. She deserves nothing less.

Thoughts? Impressions? Let me know.