Today was the day!
It had been a long month for the Prentiss mothers, but they were optimistically hopeful. Emily was a little more realistic about everything knowing the first round of IVF didn't always take however, JJ was ecstatic. JJ and Emily had decided not to tell the girls until they were pregnant because of the possible disappointment but today was the day.
The two women walked into CVS and bought a dozen pregnancy tests: literally. As they walked up to checkout JJ got nervous seeing the older gentleman. "Jen, I'm sure he's had children before, it's a pregnancy test not a bunch of tampons—" Emily said, rolling her eyes and putting the pregnancy tests down on the counter.
"First one?" he asked Emily.
"No, we have three girls, this is my wife's first time carrying though," she smiled.
Emily paid and as they walked out of the store the man yelled, "Good luck!" to which, JJ turned around and thanked him.
The past two weeks had been extremely difficult for the pair. With such strong libidos, the no sex rule was hard. They were determined to do everything in their power to ensure the egg or eggs had taken though. Yes, the possibility of having multiples was higher implanting multiple eggs, but so was getting pregnant which was the goal.
JJ went into the bathroom when they got home happy that Emily got a phone call from work, she wanted to do this alone. She was excited and wanted the chance to be able to tell her wife the good news. The five minutes felt like forever, but she kept the test turned over so she didn't peek.
"1,2,3," she whispered to herself before flipping it.
Emily finished up her phone call and ran upstairs praying for the best and ready for the worst. She knew Jen was overly optimistic and would need to be there to talk her down if things didn't go as planned. She heard JJ crying and stood outside the bathroom door for a minute to compose herself and get ready to deal with her wife's heartache.
"Jen? Baby I'm going to come in, okay?"
She didn't hear a response and that scared her even more, she slowly opened the door just incase JJ was leaning against it. Luckily she wasn't, she was sitting on the floor up against the wall, tears streaking her face. Emily sat down next to JJ and held her close. She could see the pregnancy test on the floor next to her wife but it was flipped over. "Let me see the test, Jen."
"Why? It didn't work," JJ finally said, sobbing in her wife's arms.
"Please Jen, let me see." Emily asked again, to which JJ handed the test over. "Oh my god!" she sat up straighter, smiling.
"Why are you smiling about?"
"Jen, you're pregnant!"
"What?" JJ asked, disbelieving of her wife's ability to read a pregnancy test. Granted her wife had been pregnant before, but still…she saw the test and she thought it was negative.
"The second line is there, Jen. It's faint, but there," Emily said, pointing to it
JJ squinted and pulled the test closer, "Oh my god! Oh my god, I'm pregnant!" she turned and pulled Emily into a searing kiss. "We're pregnant babe, we did it!"
"We're having a baby," Emily smiled.
Two weeks later Emily and JJ walked into their OB's office with big smiles on their faces. "Hello ladies, are we ready?" Dr. Isles greeted.
"Yes! I hardly slept last night I'm so excited," JJ said as Dr. Isles and Emily shared a knowing look.
"Okay, let's take a look here," Dr. Isles began the exam and the two women looked at the screen.
Once Emily heard the heartbeat she knew something was off, "No, that's not right—the heartbeat too fast."
JJ heard her wife speak and looked up at her with wide eyes, "What do you mean?" then turned back to the doctor, "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing is wrong—Emily is correct though. The heartbeat is faster because there are two babies."
"Come again?" JJ asked and the doctor laughed.
"Twins, we're having twins," Emily put the pieces together faster than JJ could comprehend.
Dr. Isles smiled, "Congratulations ladies, you're having twins."
"Are you sure?" JJ asked, not believing she was hearing her wife and doctor correctly.
"Yes, JJ. There are two babies, see?" she pointed to the screen to show her, "I'll print you some pictures to take home."
"Em, there are two."
"I've been here the whole time Jen. Heard it all," Emily laughed at JJ's reaction.
"We're going to have five children," JJ's eyes were still wide looking at her wife, "Five. That's a handful, a whole hand. How are we going to raise five children? How are we—should I quit my job? You can't raise five—what do we—"
"Jen baby, you need to calm down. It's going to be okay."
"Here are the pictures, Emily. I'll give you two some privacy," the doctor said.
"Thank you so much, Dr. Isles." Emily shook her hand. After she left, she focused back on her wife. "Jen, everything is okay. We knew it was a possibility, it's going to be okay. My parents and your parents live in Fairfax not even 15 minutes away from us, we'll have plenty of help. But right now you need to focus on growing these babies and keeping yourself healthy, okay?"
JJ nodded, "Okay, yeah, yeah I can do that. Oh my gosh, we're having twins, babe!"
The two women told their girls at the beginning of Christmas vacation and surprised their parents and family in form of a Christmas present. Everyone was so excited; the Prentiss's because they were going to be grandparents again, but the Jareau's because their daughter was pregnant.
Sandy had always dreamed of the day her daughter carried a baby, but with the way their life was going, didn't know if it would actually happen. They had three beautiful girls and thought they were done—luckily, Sandy was wrong.
The team was extremely happy to find out JJ was pregnant as well; Emily made sure everyone would look out for her wife when they were away on cases and the women agreed at 20 weeks JJ would become the press liaison again to keep her safe.
Even if she wasn't pregnant with twins Emily was going to make sure she did everything in her power to keep her safe. She and Hotch had spoken a lot about everything and he understood Emily's worries because he felt the same way after finding out Hayley was pregnant with Harper after being held prisoner; he was forever in debt to Emily and would do absolutely anything for her.
After the holidays, they celebrated Amelia's 11th birthday and Lily's 4th birthday. They loved having birthdays so close together, the girls thought it was so exciting to have three parties in the same month; New Years, Amelia's birthday, then Lily's. Any excuse to have a party the girls enjoyed because they knew their aunts and uncles would be there along with their grandparents.
Six days after Lily's birthday the Prentiss family's life took another turn—this time, it wasn't a good one.
Emily's nightmares were becoming a reality and there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it.
"Jareau."
"Is this Mrs. Prentiss?" a woman asked through the phone.
"Yes, this is she," JJ asked, not sure why someone would be calling her if it wasn't work related.
"I'm calling from The Learning Tree because—" Lily's school, why is the school calling me and not Emily? Did they already call Emily…did she not pick up, why wouldn't she answer her phone?
"Mrs. Prentiss?" the woman asked again.
"I'm sorry, what's going on?" oops, I must have gotten lost in my thoughts.
"I'm calling because Emily isn't here for Lily's pickup, I called both her cell phone and your house phone but nobody answered. Do you know if she's on her way?"
"Oh god," JJ said, "Umm, no I haven't, I don't, I'll be right there." JJ hung up the phone and raced into Hotch's office.
"JJ what's going on?"
"Emily wasn't at pickup today for Lily, I'm not sure what's going on but I have to go, I have to go now."
"Go, we'll take care of things here," Hotch flashed back to when he got the call from Jack's school saying Hayley wasn't there for pickup and walked into Rossi's office to explain things. Before he got there, he saw JJ frozen in front of the elevator. "Morgan, go with JJ."
"Go where?"
"Emily wasn't there for Lily's pickup and if she wasn't there for Lily's—"
"She won't be there for Oakley's or Amelia's either," Morgan finished.
Morgan took JJ's keys from her so he could drive and they raced off. Not realizing the time, JJ's phone rang again, "Jareau."
"Is this Mrs. Prentiss?" oh god, not again.
"Yes, this is she."
"I'm calling from Brookwood, your wife hasn't arrived yet for pickup and she's normally here before the girls get out, I was calling to see if she was running late or if you were picking the girls up today."
"I need to get my youngest from The Learning Tree and then I'll be there. Could you keep them with you please?"
"Absolutely Mrs. Prentiss, drive safely."
JJ paled, "Where is my wife?"
Derek pulled out his phone as it rang, "Baby girl tell me something good?"
"Hey sugar, Emily's phone last pinged at the grocery store, her cars GPS is there too. Tara and Reid are headed there now," Garcia said, hearing JJ gasp in the background.
"We're pulling up to Lily's school now mama, call me back when you have something."
As JJ ran into the school to get Lily, Morgan's phone rang again, "That was fast."
"Baby, is Jayje with you?" Garcia asked, sounding more panicked than he would have liked to hear.
"No, she ran into the preschool why?"
"They found Emily's car in the grocery store parking lot, the driver's side door was left open, her phone and wallet inside, she's not there but they found a needle laying on the seat too."
"Dammit!" Derek exclaimed. "So she was taken, again! Did you pull up the security feeds?"
"Of course I did! She was ambushed by two large men wearing all black, she tried to fight them but couldn't because they were huge! We can see Emily's mouth drop open like something they said to her caused her to panic, but we can't see what they said. I tracked the van but the plates were stolen, this looks professional Derek—I'm running a tattoo through—"
"Hey listen, I gotta go baby girl, JJ's walking out with Lily."
"What happened Derek?" JJ said, buckling Lily into her car seat.
Even though they put on a movie for Lily he whispered, "She's been taken JJ, it looks professional. The only thing Garcia could see on the security tapes was part of a tattoo on one of the unsubs wrist. She thinks it's a four-leaf clover."
JJ's eyes went wide, "Em was right."
"Right about what?" Derek asked, not knowing where this was going.
JJ covered her face with her hands, "Doyle," she said, breathlessly.
"Who?"
She looked back at Lily, then back at Derek, "her father."
"Who's fath—oh…" Derek caught on and sent a text to Hotch for him to look into Doyle's past. "I'll have Hotch look into him."
"He won't find what we're looking for but I know where to find it. Emily told me enough to go on and she said if something like this were to ever happen, look in the file."
"What file?"
"The file hidden behind one of the pictures in our bedroom—there's a safe and that's where we keep the girls documents and anything else of value."
"Let's go get the girls and go to your house to pack some of their things, we'll take them to Quantico to make sure they are safe."
JJ ran in to get the girls, but the second Amelia spotted JJ she knew something was wrong, "Where's mommy?"
"I'm here with Uncle Derek, we're going to bring you to momma's work," JJ said, trying to avoid the question.
"What happened to mommy?" Amelia let go of JJ's hand and froze in place.
Derek stepped out of the car and gave JJ a knowing look, "Oakie-bear go run over to Uncle Derek, I'll be right there okay?" she nodded took off. "Amelia baby, mommy's going to be fine, I need you to come get in the car okay? Come on baby, I need your help to pack some of your toys and your sisters then we're all going to go to work with me and Uncle Derek."
Amelia broke down into tears and threw herself at JJ who instantly scooped her up, "It's going to be okay sweet girl," she said, kissing the side of the girls head. Thank god she's so light; eleven years old trapped in an eight year olds body JJ thought to herself—this little girl isn't going to make it if we lose Emily. I'm not going to make it, I'm 16 weeks pregnant with twins, there's no way I can raise five children on my own.
The two little girls were so caught up in their movie they didn't realize JJ and Amelia got out of the car once they pulled up at the Prentiss Residence. The mother daughter duo ran around the house collecting stuffies, blankies, some of the girls favorite toys and snacks and all four of their go-bags. Emily left go-bags packed and ready for each season in their closet just in case.
Okay, please let me remember how to open this JJ thought, as she walked over to the painting. Emily kept it in plain sight; to the trained eye, nobody would ever know—even the good undercovers wouldn't know which is why it made the most sense.
01793A Green light. Yes it worked! JJ pulled out the information on Doyle stuffing it into her bag and ran into Amelia's room, "Ready baby?"
"Can we bring one of mommy's shirts? It smells like her—" Amelia said, tears streaking her face.
"Of course we can, go run into our closet babe pick whatever you want."
The elevator doors opened revealing JJ carrying Amelia who was wearing Emily's Yale sweatshirt and holding her stuffed animal and Derek who was carrying Lily holding her blanket and Oakley with her elephant along with four go-bags wrapped around him as well. Rossi stifled his laugh seeing Derek struggling to juggle the girls and the bags until Garcia ran over to him to help.
JJ tried to put Amelia down but she wouldn't let go, "Momma no! Please, I want to stay with you," she said through the tears.
"You need to stay here babe," JJ tried to reason, "I bet Uncle Spence can show you a really cool magic trick."
"No! Please momma, I want to stay with you, please don't leave me."
JJ could see the fear in her daughter's eyes and knew they were in for a long day. "Okay, but when your grandparents get here I need to go talk with your aunts and uncles for a minute, deal?" Amelia nodded her head.
"Hotch can you ca—" he waved his hand back and forth to stop her, "Already taken care of, JJ. They should be here any minute now, I called them while you were on your way back here," he saw JJ mouth the words 'thank you' and nodded flashing one of his rare smiles.
She stayed in her chair rocking Amelia in her arms while watching her two little girls coloring with Garcia and Morgan. They all knew there was only so much they could do with the girls there which scared JJ knowing they weren't currently helping her wife, she's a fighter. She won't leave us. She won't leave me alone with our five children. She's a fighter. JJ repeated the mantra in her head until she heard her father's voice.
"Jenny!" Allen called out, walking towards his daughter and grandchildren.
JJ turned her head to see not only her parents but Emily's as well, "Thank you so much for coming."
Reluctantly, Amelia let her mother go meet with the team while she stayed with her grandparents and sisters.
"Doyle is an ex IRA weapons dealer, he was known as Valhalla. Emily went in as another dealer and got the evidence needed to nail him—when the undercover mission was over, Doyle was sent to a Russian prison. I don't know much else, but I have this paperwork Emily told me take if anything happened to her."
She opened the envelope and saw the name Clyde Easter on a sticky note with the words u/c call.
"I need the files," Garcia said, concentrating on her laptop so she wouldn't have to think about Emily being missing, again.
"Hold on, I recognize this guy's name but why would she write u/c?" JJ questioned, then it clicked, "Clyde, that was her old unit chief."
Hotch walked over to JJ and looked at the paperwork, "Leave this here with the team, let's go call this guy in my office."
"Easter."
"Where's Doyle, Clyde?" JJ spat.
"Who in the bloody hell is this?"
"SSA Jennifer Jareau, Emily's wife. Is Doyle out of prison?"
"Well, yes," he answered.
"And you didn't think to call Emily to warn her? We have three children and two on the way! You stupid son of a b—"
Hotch cut her off, "This is Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, tell me everything you know."
"Doyle has no way of knowing about Emily or Lily, he only knows her as Lauren Reynolds, her cover name and she is dead."
That sounded logical except for one thing, Emily is missing!
"Then how the fucking hell did he find her?" JJ yelled. "He has my wife! We saw the men who took her, one of whom had the four-leaf clover tattoo."
Clyde was silent.
"If you know something, tell me or I swear to god I will—"
"Now there's no need for anything drastic, Jennifer. The only thing I can think of is Sean McCallister was murdered two weeks ago. If it was Doyle or someone associated with him, they may have got the information that way."
"Who is Sean McCallister?" Hotch asked.
"He was a part of the team that took Doyle down, Agent Hotchner," Clyde said, knowingly assuming they should know this information.
"I need you to send everything about Doyle to our tech analyst," Hotch said, getting frustrated with this man.
"Alright, I'll send it over now."
"I'm going to kill him if something happens to Emily," JJ said clenching her fists.
Emily was groggy and uncomfortable when she woke up tied to a hard wooden chair. Vaguely she remembered putting the groceries into the trunk of the car and attempting to get into the front seat when something stopped her or was it someone? Oh gosh, they threatened my baby. The voices were familiar, too familiar—but she couldn't place it because of whatever they injected her with.
Emily took in her surroundings, the room was made of concrete with no windows just a single dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling then she heard someone behind her and a hand was placed on her shoulder causing her to flinch, "Hello Lauren, or should I say, Emily," the Irish accent was one she'd never be able to forget.
"Why am I here Ian?"
"You hid my daughter from me for four years, I'm here to take her back."
"She isn't yours to have," Emily said, earning a smack across the face.
"I'm in charge, Emily! Not you," Doyle said.
"What do you want, Ian?" Emily said, spitting out the blood that was collecting in her mouth.
"Where's the ring I gave you?"
Emily laughed dryly, "I flushed it." She smiled thinking back to the day Doyle was taken into custody; as soon as she got home, she flushed the necklace knowing that was the last part of him she had. Besides the unborn child she wasn't aware of yet.
"You once told me you were thinking about getting a tattoo. Did you?"
"No," Emily said, wondering where this was going. Weren't we just talking about the stupid necklace?
"You may have gotten rid of the ring I gave you, but don't worry love, I'm going to give you something a little more permanent this time," he smiled viciously.
Emily watched as he walked out of site and wondered what was going to happen, what did he mean by permanent?
"If you thought it was hard to find a date being a single mother with a four-year-old, you'll never find one now," he smirked moving the trolley table closer. Emily had no idea what the contraption was, but knew it wasn't anything she wanted.
"North Koreans can't afford ink so they use something more permanent and much more painful: a brand," Emily gulped, but instantly changed her face to show no fear.
He ripped open Emily's shirt exposing her chest then turned the machine on pressing the instrument right above Emily's left breast. She couldn't help but scream at the pain being inflicted on her body. When he finished, he came around to look at her, "I wish I had a mirror so you could see if for yourself. Our daughter is going to love how you carry her father so close to your heart."
"Go to hell!" she spat, earning herself another smack.
"Not without you, love," he chuckled.
Doyle left the room and Emily was able to let herself get lost in her thoughts again, Think Emily, what has he said? He knows about Lily but didn't know her name. Who am I kidding? He probably knows…but wouldn't he tell me to scare me? Maybe not. He doesn't know about Jennifer and he doesn't know about Oakley or Amelia either. At least they will be safe—I need to find out if Lily is safe. How can I go about asking him in an indirect way? Please tell me my little Lily bug is safe.
The team had been looking over all the information for what seemed like forever to JJ and apparently to the girls as well because Gerald knocked on the conference room door, "I'm sorry to bother you all but Lily and Oakley are hungry and Amelia's been crying for the last ten minutes asking for Emily."
JJ froze in place looking at her watch realizing it was dinner time, "You can order them whatever they want and I'll umm—I can—"
Hotch interrupted JJ's stuttering, "Go, Amelia needs you. We've got this and you need to eat as well."
"My wife has been kidnapped and you're trying to force me to eat?" JJ snapped.
"Jayje you're eating for three, go take care of your girls," Garcia piped up. "We'll let you know if we find anything new."
JJ nodded and left the room with Gerald, "Your mother and I have tried to calm Amelia down, but we had to take her into your old office because we didn't want to scare Lily or Oakley."
"It's okay, I'm sorry I should have come to check on the girls sooner. I didn't realize it was almost their dinnertime."
"It's okay Jennifer, we'll order enough food for everyone, you take care of Amelia," Gerald said, heading into Hotch's office where the rest of the family was.
JJ could hear Amelia screaming before she got to the door, as she opened it, she saw her daughter curled up in a ball in the corner of the room with her eyes closed rocking back and forth and Sandy kneeling and trying to comfort her. "Amelia honey, momma's here," Sandy said.
"Mom, she's having a flashback," JJ said as she walked over and sat on the floor next to Amelia, pulling the girl into her lap, "It's okay baby, you're safe, momma's here. Amelia sweetie you're safe, open your eyes for me. Come on baby, come back to me. You're safe."
Finally Amelia stopped crying and looked up at JJ, "momma?"
"You're safe baby, momma's here."
"I want mommy," Amelia said sinking into her mother's embrace.
"I know you do sweet girl, I know you do," JJ ran her fingers through Amelia's long hair as Sandy passed Emily's sweatshirt over to her daughter. JJ took the sweatshirt and Amelia snuggled her face into it smelling her mother's scent; JJ felt her take a deep breath and relax in her arms. She looked up at the ceiling to keep her own tears at bay and prayed her wife would be okay.
"If the information Emily put in these files is correct, he's going to want Lily, but since she's here and safe with us…" Rossi's thought trailed off.
"What does that mean for Em?" Garcia asked.
"If she knows her family is safe, she'll fight."
"If he's looking for Lily, do we think he'd go back to Boston?" Tara questioned.
The team had deciphered Emily's notes and figured out she met Doyle for the first time in Boston—they were piecing together more and more information about him but were still missing some key parts.
"No, I think she's being held here somewhere and from the looks of the documents Emily put together, I'd be willing to bet he has eyes on at least Lily, if not Jennifer and the girls too."
The group shuddered at the thought, "So, where do we think she's being held?" Morgan asked, knowing everyone was thinking the same thing.
A knock at the door startled all of them, "I'm sorry for barging in," Allen said, "but Amelia is having a nightmare—"
JJ ran out of the conference room, she hadn't even realized the girls would be asleep yet nevermind the fact it was 3:30 in the morning. Emily had been missing over 12 hours and the team was nowhere closer to figuring out where she was.
"Mommy help me! No, don't let him, I promise I'll be good. No please don't. Help me mommy, help me!"
JJ scooped Amelia into her arms and sat back down on the couch with her, "Shh, shh, shh, wake up baby. Amelia, wake up! Show me those beautiful eyes sweet girl. You're safe baby, you're safe."
Slowly the tears and screams subsided, "mommy?"
"No baby, it's momma. I'm here," JJ said, frowning at her parents standing in the doorway.
"Is mommy gonna—is she—is mommy gonna die?" Amelia asked, her lip quivering.
"No!" JJ exclaimed, "No, mommy is the strongest woman in the world okay baby? She's going to come back to us, I promise."
"Do you have mommy on your phone?"
JJ furrowed her brows then figured out what Amelia was talking about; after Emily got out of the hospital with the Anderson case she recorded herself singing the Italian lullaby in event she wasn't there during bedtime. "Of course I do, let's listen to her sing and get you back to sleep sweet girl."
Within the first three versus, Amelia was sound asleep; by the end of the song, JJ was starting to fall asleep too but fought her eyes from closing. She put Amelia back on the couch and tucked her in, then fell into her father's arms as her mom went to sit with Amelia.
"We need to find her daddy, I can't do this alone."
"You will Jenny, your team is the best at what they do," he reassured her.
"We are, but this man might be better…" the thought scared her. She knew Emily was facing not just any unsub, but their daughter's father which made him one of the worst.
Emily was taken out of her thoughts when she was yanked back by her hair, "Your no good team took my daughter before I could get to her!" he growled.
Emily smiled knowing her wife and girls were safe, this was her chance.
"You lose, Ian! They won't let her out of their site until I'm found."
Finally the calm front Doyle had been portraying shattered and he hit Emily across her cheek with his gun. He took swing after swing at Emily's ribcage, each one causing her to cough nearly knocking the wind of out her. The chair rocked back and she fell over, she was dazed as his foot connected with her thigh. The chair broke and suddenly she could move and Emily rolled from the next kick.
The man Doyle was working with called his name from the doorway and in his fit of anger, he pulled the gun out from the back of his pants and shot him. Well, one less for me, Emily thought to herself. Now all I need to do is kill you, Ian!
In the time it took for Doyle to kill his right-hand man, Emily was back on her feet and charged him. They hit the table and he groaned as they collapsed down onto the concrete. Emily had no idea where the gun had gone after hearing it fly out of his hand so she grabbed the first thing she saw, part of the broken table leg. With all her strength she swung it at him and it connected with a crunch.
He threatened to take Lily from her: WHACK
He was going to kill me leaving my children motherless: WHACK
He was causing my pregnant wife the stress of caring for their three girls while she was being held hostage: WHACK
Emily glanced for the gun after seeing Doyle laying on the ground defenseless, or so she thought. Just as she picked up the gun, he came running towards her; she didn't think twice as she pulled the trigger one, twice, three times watching as he fell back onto the concrete. Seeing him lying there she broke into tears; "I win, Ian!"
Carefully she walked over to him checking his pulse, when she found there wasn't one, she looked for a way out of the building keeping the gun aimed and ready in case he had more minions. Emily only remembered hearing Doyle and whoever the dead man was, but she wasn't about to take any chances. On wobbly legs, Emily found her way out of the building.
When she made it out of the abandoned warehouse she knew exactly where she was. Quantico is only five blocks away, I can make it, I can—
Emily didn't make it. Her legs gave out and she fell down in the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily someone saw her lying there and called 911.
Once Emily was in the ambulance and somewhat coherent, one of the EMT's asked for her name—"I need a phone," she said.
"Ma'am, can you tell me your name? We can have the hospital call your emergency contact when we arrive."
"I need a damn phone! I'm an FBI agent," she lied, "my daughter's life has been threatened and I need to make sure she's safe." Although it was true, she knew her daughter was safe.
"Ma'am—"
"Emily Prentiss, 33 yo, two maybe three bruised ribs, a dislocated jaw, laceration on my cheek, and brand above my left breast. Now give me your fucking phone if you want to keep your job," she threatened. Emily Prentiss was in no mood to fuck around. Luckily for the young EMT, they were pulling up to the ER and he could hand her off.
The team had been searching for anywhere Doyle could be keeping Emily, but they were coming up empty. They had no way of knowing where he would keep her if he wasn't in Boston. Everyone was pulled from their own thoughts as JJ's phone rang.
"Jareau."
"Is this Jennifer Prentiss?" an older man asked through the phone.
"Yes, this is she," JJ said, face paling fearing the worst.
"I'm calling from Stafford Hospital, we have your wife here in—"
"Oh my god, is she okay?" JJ interjected.
"Yes, she's stable and threatening the jobs of everyone who has come in contact with her because—"
"I'll be right there," JJ said, hanging up the phone. "Em's in the emergency room, she's stable. I need to go!" she started running out of the conference room but was stopped by Hotch calling her name.
"Morgan will drive you, JJ. I'll go update the Prentiss' and your parents."
Oh shit, JJ thought, "Umm, can you keep the girls occupied too? They are going to have questions and I need to go."
"Of course," he agreed, watching JJ and Morgan run towards the elevators.
"My name is Jennifer Prentiss, my wife was brought in by ambulance, her name is Emily Prentiss," JJ rambled off to the women at the front desk.
"I'll let her nurse know you're here, ma'am."
"No, you need to tell me what room she's in now!" she said, slamming down her FBI badge. "I don't want to talk to her nurse, I need to see my wife!" JJ snapped.
A doctor walked over when hearing the commotion and said, "You must be Jennifer Prentiss."
"And you are?"
"Dr. Christians, I'm the one who treated your wife. I'm also the one who called to tell you about your wife's condition before you hung up on me."
JJ blushed and ducked her head, "Sorry, it's been a really long night. How is she?"
"It's okay Mrs. Prentiss, your wife has the same fierceness you do. We had to sedate her because she was threatening my staff, but she's okay. She has three bruised ribs, a dislocated jaw that we reset, and a pretty bad gash on her cheek but she's stitched up. I've given her a high dose of antibiotics, she denied painkillers. I'll take you to her now, however, she is asleep." Emily had threatened the doctor before they sedated her letting him know if he told JJ about the brand before she was able to talk to her, she'd have his job—he wasn't about to take any chances.
"I don't care if she's asleep, I need to see her," JJ followed the doctor while Derek stayed back to let Hotch know what he heard.
As JJ entered the room she saw her wife battered and bruised, then the tears started. She had kept it together for the most part, especially in front of her girls, parents and in-laws but now she let herself unravel. "Oh Em," she said, taking hold of Emily's hand. "What did he do to you, baby?"
She sat there for an hour and a half watching Emily's chest rise and fall, thankful she made it out alive, but wondering where Doyle was. As much as she knew the girls would want to see Emily, she couldn't let them leave Quantico until she knew what happened to Doyle; it wasn't safe.
JJ was so lost thought she didn't see Emily's eyes flutter open, "J-Jen?"
"Oh my god, Em! I'm here baby, I'm here," JJ stood up and gently kissed Emily's lips.
"Where are my babies?"
"They're at Quantico babe, I didn't want to bring them until I knew where Doyle was."
"He's dead, Jen."
"What? How? Where's his body, what about the man he was working with?"
"Dead. Doyle killed him, I killed Doyle."
"Oh thank god," JJ sighed. "It's over baby, you did it," she leaned over and kissed Emily again. "I couldn't have done this without you, Em. I didn't know what I was going to do if…"
"It takes a lot more to knock me down, Jen. Especially when I have my family to come home to."
"I love you so much, babe!" JJ said, choking back her tears.
Just then Dr. Christians appeared in the doorway, "Knock, knock. I see someone's awake."
"Yup, when can I leave Doc? I need to get home to my babies."
The doctor furrowed his brows, "Mrs. Prentiss, I'd like to keep you for overnight to—"
"Listen, you already had me overnight, I need to get home."
"You were brought in around 4am, that's not overnight."
This time JJ was the one to cut him off, "I appreciate the fact you want my wife to stay here, hell I wish she would—but I know her better than anyone else, she'll leave AMA if you don't discharge her. The choice is yours."
"Fine," he said, muttering about 'stubborn FBI agents' as he left the room.
"How did she do last night?" Emily asked, to which JJ immediately knew what she was talking about.
"Not good but having the recording of you singing helped."
Emily quickly and carefully wiped her tears, "I'm so sorry, Jen."
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about, Em. Do you hear me? Nothing! Because of you, there will be no more looking over your shoulder. Doyle is dead—our family is safe."
Emily explained to JJ where Doyle and his little minion were and what happened during the time she was held prisoner—well most of it. After JJ heard this information she relayed it to Derek so he could call the team. Tara, Reid and Rossi had all went to the abandoned building finding both the bodies there and started to process the scene.
Emily wanted to tell JJ about the brand, but she wasn't ready; she was still processing it herself. She made sure the doctor knew not to tell her and decided she would show her when they had gotten the girls to bed, but like most things in the Prentiss's life, it didn't go as planned.
The doctor came back in with her paperwork, "Okay Mrs. Prentiss, I want to take one more look at your chest," he said, walking over with a new dressing.
"What happened to your," JJ gasped as the doctor removed the current dressing and she saw the four-leaf clover. She immediately covered her mouth standing silently as she watched the doctor redress the brand. If Doyle wasn't dead already I would make that son of a bitch suffer. Just one more reason I hate that fucking no good piece of shit. She used her finger to brush a lock of hair behind her wife's ear.
Emily didn't react, she looked numb. The tears fell freely as the doctor worked, she made no attempt to hide them. "I'm done," he said, "stop by the pharmacy on your way out." JJ nodded remembering he had said something about antibiotic ointment, but she thought it was for Emily's cheek, not for a brand.
"Em," JJ said breathlessly.
"I'm so sorry, Jen. I was going to show you tonight."
"It's okay, babe. It's okay," JJ said, soothing her wife, mindful of her injuries.
"He said he'll always own me, that nobody will ever want me and Lily will never forget my love for her father."
"Oh baby, that's not true. Not at all—I love you so much, I'll always want you. He was just the sperm donor, you know that right?" Emily nodded at her wife's words.
"I need to see my babies."
"That sounds like an amazing idea. Let's go, beautiful," JJ said, helping Emily get dressed into the change of clothes she brought. With one last kiss, the pair was off.
Morgan, JJ and Emily walked out of the elevator doors around 2pm to be greeted by their girls running towards them. Emily's heart melted seeing all three of them, especially Lily knowing she was finally safe. "Mommy, mommy, mommy!"
"Hi my babies," Emily said, kneeling down on the ground so she could hug all of them.
JJ saw Emily wince as the girls came charging in for a hug, "Careful girls, mommy has boo boos. We need to be gentle, okay?"
"We drawed you lots of pictures, mommy!" Oakley said, smiling in her mothers arms.
"You did? Can I see them?" The girls went running off into the bullpen but Amelia stayed.
"Mommy I was so afraid, I thought you were going to—"
"I know, babe, I know." Emily said, squeezing the girl a bit tighter and kissing the top of Amelia's head. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for bedtime, sweet girl. Tonight, I promise we can read four chapters and I'll sing you to sleep, okay?"
Amelia nodded, snuggling into Emily a little further, "I love you mommy."
"I love you too, baby."
"I luv you free!" Lily said, running back into Emily's arms. As much as her body hated her for it, Emily picked Lily up. "You love me three, huh?" Lily nodded. "I love you too bug."
"I love you four!" Oakley said with a big smile on her face. Emily laughed as JJ picked Oakley up, "Let me see these pictures you drew me."
After getting hugs from the team, both sets of parents and seeing the girls artwork, Emily was exhausted. "Are you babies ready to go home? I could use a movie night and some extra snuggles," Emily smiled at the girls then winked at JJ.
The Prentiss family spent the rest of the day cuddled up on the couch together. Eventually Lily and Oakley left the couch to play with their toys, but Amelia stayed wrapped up in Emily's arms loving every second.
JJ was on the other side of Emily smiling at her wife who was cuddling their oldest and holder her hand while resting her head on JJ's shoulder.
Emily is home, Lily is finally safe, and Doyle is dead.