CHAPTER 13

SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT THIS TIME

"Are you okay?" JJ asked as soon as she picked up the phone, skipping out on the usual Hello greeting.

"Yes." Emily sighed.

It was 7 am on Saturday and Emily had woken up over an hour ago. She was done waiting for it to be an appropriate time to make a phone call.

"How's the team?" Emily added.

"Are you kidding me? You are in a hospital and could barely move your muscles, yet you are calling to make sure we are okay?" JJ tried to fool Emily.

"Ah, so you haven't told them?" Emily was smarter than JJ gave her credit for.

"Honestly, I don't even know how to explain this. Garcia clearly never meant to do you any harm. I'm afraid the team wouldn't take that into consideration and she would be ripped alive." JJ had a heart of gold. Even through the pain this scene had caused her, reminding her of when she had found her own sister's lifeless body in the bath tub at the tender age of eleven, she could never stay mad at Garcia.

"I'm coming back this afternoon." Emily informed her.

"No, you're not." JJ got out of bed, not wanting to wake Will up, and she walked over to the bathroom. Clearly, she would be getting no more rest that day. Nor a day off.

"Watch me." Emily's voice was calm and collected and JJ was sure that Emily was waiting for it to be noon so that she could sign her own release form and get out of the hospital. She just knew her way too well.

"Can I drive you, instead?" There was nothing else JJ could do about it.

"Sure. Be here at noon. Bye." Emily hung up before they would start to bicker about anything else.


"That's not where we came from." Bryan looked around and did not recognize his surroundings.

"We should make a right here. Making a left will get us nowhere. It's definitely a right turn now." Angie pointed out as they stood still at the beginning of two paths.

"Are you sure? Everything looks just the same." Amanda replied to Bryan's former statement, leaning on a tree for a moment.

"It's a forest, genius. Everything is the same." Jack stated, suddenly being annoyed with her.

"Well, we don't really have those in Boston, so excuse me for not being a savage, tree-hugging, nature-loving hippie." Her foot stomped on the ground a bit childishly.

"Guys…" Bryan tried to stop the storm from coming.

"Stay out of this!" Both Amanda and Jack yelled back at him before they started yelling random offences at each other.

That came out of nowhere. So far, they had all gotten along. Amanda could be a bit standoffish, but nobody had a problem with that.

"Shut up!" Angie tried to top the loudness of their voices, but they sounded like a bunch of wild animals, arguing for their prey.

"SHUT UP!" Angie yelled at the top of her lungs, startling everyone. "You guys are acting like twats right now. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves? How old are you? What the Hell is going on with you? We cannot afford to waste any time by babysitting you here. All of us are here with a goal and there is no way we'd let your dumb behavior prevent us from finishing this assignment. So, step aside, cool the fuck off, and come back when you think you know how to handle yourselves like grown-ups again."

So far, she had been a very nice and cool person, so to see her lose it like this was so unexpected.

Nobody dared to utter a word after her freak out. Amanda and Jack ended up splitting and walking off in different directions.

"Angie…" Bryan approached her nervously.

"Dumb people." She muttered, unexpectedly. "You once asked me if there is anything at all that could make me tick. Well, dumb people it is."

Her words made him laugh and not long after that, they heard a female scream out as if she were in pain, followed by a loud noise of what sounded to be something rolling down a steep hill.

"Amanda!?" Samuel said in panic, walking off in direction to where she had last been seen.

It was pitch black and cold outside. They could barely see what was in front of them, so each moment that the five of them did not stand by each other's side, they had no idea where everyone else was. The moon was weak, barely visible. The next day was promising to be raining heavily, so the sky was preparing for that already – thick dark clouds invaded everything above their heads and prevented them from being able to spot a single star.

After the scream, which they believed to have been Amanda's, everything started to look and feel a lot like a horror movie. Suddenly, every little sound was heightened and every tree branch that the wind was swaying around looked a lot more dangerous. The wind picked up the pace, as if on cue, and the first drops of rain started to fall.

"Wait." Bryan made everyone stop walking. "We need to evaluate the situation first. Is everyone okay? I mean, is anyone cold? Hungry? Tired? Hurt?"

"I have my rain jacket on. I'm quite warm, I'm also willing to let anyone borrow it, if you need that." Amanda informed. Her choice of clothing had turned out to be spot on, although her legs were cold with those polyester leggings. She could feel the wind pierce right through her flesh, but she would not admit that out loud.

"I haven't had any food since this morning." Jack informed them and Bryan realized that the growling sound he had heard earlier must have been from Jack's empty stomach.

"Here." Angie sat down and searched her bag before handing him a protein bar.

"How did you even know we were going to the mountain?" Jack raised an eyebrow while unwrapping the snack.

"I didn't. Dan only told us to meet outside, so I figured that whatever the activity might be, it would surely not be in the gym or the pool or anywhere inside. So, I dressed for the occasion. Plus, I always have a protein bar in my bag. You never know when you might need it." As she spoke, she heard a faint grunt, as if someone had been injured and unable to call out for help.

"Ok, if everyone is in good shape, we should come up with a plan. We can't just walk around aimlessly. If Amanda is hurt, we need to find her immediately." Bryan took the lead.

"Dude, we can simply call for help." Jack pulled the radio out of his back pocket.

"No way. That puts everyone in this team in the front line for the first cut. Amanda wouldn't want that. She would want us to go get her. Plus, are we even fit to be in the FBI if at the first obstacle we call for help and sit down and cry?" Angie took a sip of water from the bottle that she always brought with her and then she let Bryan come up with a plan of action, while Jack was handed the map and asked to study their surroundings, if he could even manage to see what was on the piece of paper anyway.


"Hey, how was the super-secret case?" Luke asked, ignoring the fact that JJ had begged them not to bombard Emily with questions about it.

Emily had just walked into the bullpen and she winced.

"Seriously? I'm away for one day and this place ends up looking like a dump?" Her words made everyone laugh, taking away from the fact that she had a small limp as she walked. Her left leg hadn't yet gotten back to functioning normally, the muscles were still tense and she did not feel it very much.

"Maybe we can compensate about that, by giving you some good news." JJ approached Emily with a smile.

"Oh, please do." Emily cringed again, while picking up a container with some left over Chinese food still inside.

"Well, while you were away, my written proposal somehow ended up in the hands of the Section Chief and the committee has agreed to everything. It meets exactly 45%." JJ said cheerfully, omitting the part where Garcia had forged Emily's signature and sent it in, herself. Although, Garcia had also mentioned having changed stationery, so if it was pink, it would be very incriminating.

This was the first time the rest of the team learned about this and they started cheering. This was definitely good news.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Emily panicked, feeling like her heart had just dropped and was now under the sole of her shoe.

If she had to be honest, she wanted to cry at that moment. She needed to let it all out and scream at the top of her lungs, while crying hysterically at the same time. The side effects of the opium were probably kicking in, since she felt the sudden urge to freak out and panic.

The team was confused by her reaction.

"But, half of it was your idea." Garcia took a step backwards, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt. Again.

"Yes, and then I specifically informed all of you that this was a huge mistake, a decision that I no longer had the intention to stand by. I also said that this was my mess and my responsibility. So, excuse me if I'm not happy about the fact that you forged official government documents and sent them in without my permission." Emily's eyes pierced through JJ, who, in turn, chose not to put the blame on Garcia, but to take it upon herself.

"I'm sorry, I…" JJ got interrupted when Emily raised her hand in the air.

"Sorry doesn't cut it this time." She stated before walking over to the elevator.

This was supposed to be their day off anyway. They had all gathered there because JJ had asked them to put in an extra day and she was now regretting that.

Emily was not upset. She was not even mad. There was not a hint of disappointment on her face.

She was fuming.

Enraged.

Pissed off to the point where if she hadn't left the FBI building, she would be squeezing her hands around someone's neck at that very moment and she would be unable to tell them the exact reason why. And there was a very high probability that this someone would have been JJ.

She got in the car and drove off. Something was bothering her and she needed to release some tension.

Once she entered her home, she realized the familiarity of that place was giving her even more anxiety. So, she grabbed just one item from the house and then left.

The next time anyone would hear from or see Emily Prentiss would be no earlier than a week later.


"This hill does not exist." Bryan commented after looking at the map for the longest time, helping Jack out.

They no longer heard anything other than the whisking sound of the wind. So, the only way to find Amanda was to understand where they were and where she might have fallen.

They had called out her name desperately, but there was no reply.

"He's right." Jack looked around them, not finding the things that he was seeing on the map.

"Crap, they gave us a faulty map!" Angie sighed, knowing very well that this must have been part of the training.

"What now?" Samuel asked, letting them take the lead.

"We divide and check out our surroundings. There is four of us, we can all go in different directions and then meet back here later." Jack suggested.

"No way. We stay together!" Angie was not a fan of leaving people behind in times of need. However, she had no problem if someone left her side, when she needed them. She has had quite the experience with situations like those, throughout her life.

"Yeah, we don't even know what time it is, so we wouldn't know when to come back. We'll only end up getting lost and potentially hurt, as well." Bryan noticed that every single decision had come from either him or Angie, while Jack and Samuel only criticized them or gave useless input. That, he considered to be quite weird.

"It must be around three o'clock by now. That's where the moon was positioned at the other day when we came back late from the swimming pool. So, my best guess is that we won't have any light for at least three more hours, if we're lucky." She stated, sitting on a rock to tie her shoe as she noticed it being undone. And that was when it hit her.

"Angie, you are the most random girl I've ever met. But you are also a genius!" Bryan cheered when he saw her frantically pulling a cord out of her bag.

After untangling the 2,5 meter cord, she switched a button and it illuminated a path between the four of them.

"Literally, the only person to ever carry Christmas lights in their Summer bag." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Fairy lights!" She scrunched her nose, protecting the name and integrity of a very special possession of hers. "And I don't carry them around. I had transported them here from camp, I just didn't have the time to pull them out of the bag before I stuffed it with everything else earlier tonight."

"Guys, less chat, more searching." Bryan urged them. "Good job, Mary Poppins!" He whispered to Angie, appreciating the magic tricks she always did with her bags.

They walked side by side, holding the lights in their hands, so they could see a little better. After a primary search of the area, they were unable to find anything steep enough to have made Amanda fall. There were no signs of torn clothing or blood on the tree branches or on the ground. They found a few footmarks in the dust, but were unable to distinguish which were their own and which were Amanda's, so they could not follow that trail. There was literally nothing.

"She can't just disappear." Angie was getting more and more upset.

Thunders cut through the sky and shortly after that, a heavy downpour started.

Leaves started being blown in every direction and, if Amanda had been on the ground, it would be nearly impossible to find her if the leaves had covered her, which was very likely to have happened.

"We have to find cover." Samuel suggested, looking around.

"No. We need to find Amanda and make sure she is okay. She probably needs medical help." Angie reached out to Jack's pocket and pulled the radio out.

"Wait!" Jack tackled her and grabbed the radio. "Not yet. Let's wait a little bit."

"Why? If she is hurt, she might not be having a great time with these weather conditions. I sure as Hell am not. So, we need to put our pride aside and ask for help." Angie crossed her hands in front of her chest.

At that moment, the fairy lights went off.

"Crap. I've been using them for so long and I never changed the battery. Well, this was just the perfect time for them to die on us." She allowed herself to be a little whiny. The situation was calling for it.

Jack begged her to wait a few more minutes before calling for back up and he excused himself, adding that he had to go behind a tree and pee.

Three minutes later he came back, fixing his zipper up and it grossed Angie out.

"Can I call now?" She extended her hand to Jack, begging for the radio.

Once he put it in her hands, it went off on its own.

"Attention trainees, the exercise ends now. There has been an incident. Everyone stay put and wait for backup to come get you." Dan was speaking and his voice was a little less confident than usual. Shaky, even.

What incident? It couldn't be about Amanda.

They had to wait for about fifteen minutes before they saw flashing lights coming towards them.

"We're here!" Bryan called out and soon they were surrounded by a huge group of Agents and trainees, on their way back to the camp.

"One of our team members is hurt. She disappeared earlier and we couldn't find her. Please, help us out." Angie bit her bottom lip, pushing wet hair out of her face.

"We know. Our specialists are dealing with it. Now, everyone needs to go back." One of the Agents who were supervising the hike, replied to her.

"No! We can't leave without Amanda. She's part of our team. If she stays, we stay." Angie stated and earned herself a rough push on the shoulder. The Agent was now quite literally dragging her in direction to where everyone else was headed.

"What specialists?" Angie shivered, not from the cold, but from what those words might have meant.

"Keep walking. No more questions." The Agent scolded her and she felt her heart drop.


"Did you feel that drop!?" Some woman nudged Emily, bringing her back to reality from her state of self-inflicted hypnosis.

Emily had been sitting in her seat quietly, fixating an object that she held in her hands for about three hours now, and she seemed to be oblivious as to what was going on outside.

"We literally dropped height." The woman kept on nagging.

"It's a plane. There's a thunderstorm." Emily had no wish to socialize, nor to help calm someone down. She hadn't yet managed to do so for herself, anyway.

The following hours of the flight, Emily had remained silent. The object never left her hands and the more she looked at it, the more she wondered if it made her feel a bit more calm or a lot more upset.