It's so weird reading this now because I know Emily has Andrew but it makes me so mad that we never got a chance to know what happened to Mark. It"s like the writers forgot he existed at all. I know Emily loved him; hell, she didn"t want to take the Unit Chief offer at first because she didn't want to leave him but he was so supportive and I am so so SO MAD that we never got to see that. The writers never even let him be in a full episode and that just rraly dkhiebdisb.

First off, happy to see another story from you, as always :).

Second, between this story and "Temporary Duty", I'm REALLY liking the way you write Mark and his relationship with Emily. It's fun to see you taking a character we've only seen once, and heard about a small handful of times, and expand further on him, and allow us to get to know him better.

And it's no wonder Emily fell for him :D. I really like how incredibly patient he is with Emily as he tries to calm her down in the hospital. I like how he understands her well enough to where he knows when to encourage her to open up and when to just let her be and take a moment to let herself sort through things. I like how he can be comforting and reassuring without having to resort to cheap platitudes. It's so true that Emily would never be with a man who patronized her, and Mark definitely doesn't seem that sort of guy. He seems to be right on her level in terms of "getting" her and being able to communicate with her, and I'm so glad she's got that in her life.

And I feel for him with what he's learning and observing about her injuries and the trauma Scratch inflicted on her. We've all seen how scary it can be for the team's loved ones when they're in danger, and now poor Mark has to join that "worried loved ones" club, too. I sympathize with his wary questioning-on the one hand, it makes sense he wants to know, so he can understand just what all Emily went through and know how to help her going forward as she heals, but on the other hand, I don't blame him for not wanting to know, too. Just the knowledge that somebody could hurt someone you love that badly is horrifying to think about.

(I also very much sympathized with his desire to hunt down Scratch and beat him to a pulp himself :p. I have absolutely no doubt he could and would do that if he had the opportunity, too.)

But on a much more sweet and touching, as well as happier, note, I ADORED his list of memories and moments from his and Emily's relationship that he shared to prove he was real. Both because he could so easily rattle them off, and because they're so freaking cute and hilarious in and of themselves. Emily's reaction to things like lack of coffee and unusual foods is so HER (I could actually picture the cringe on her face at the thought of black pudding :D), and Mark getting so nervous around Emily's mom to the point he has to change his outfit twice is freaking *adorable* :p. These are such lovely little glimpses into their history together, and I'd happily read a fluffy fic about those random little moments on their own :D (I want to hear more about that fish prank story :p). It's clear Mark is head over heels for her, and I'm so, so glad that she's got him in her life.

As for Emily herself...sigh. I want to hug her, too. Her guilt over Stephen's death breaks my heart-of COURSE she would blame herself for that, feel like she's failed him and the team somehow. Mark's right that it's not her fault, of course, but I get why she feels like it would be. Hopefully she can find some way to honor Stephen's memory that can help give her a bit of peace and allow her to properly deal with her guilt.

Her mention of Hotch was bittersweet, too. She essentially had to finish something that had started with him. That's a lot for somebody to take on, and I have no doubt she would be asking herself questions about whether she handled it the way Hotch would've, or if she'd done right by him, or whatever. I like to think Hotch would be very proud and supportive of her actions. I will forever be amused that Scratch didn't realize just what kind of woman he was messing with :D.

It's something of a relief to hear her admit she was scared, though, definitely. I like that she's wiling to be honest about her feelings now, and that the main issue is more just her trying to figure out HOW to express those emotions in a way that makes sense of them. Considering her time with Scratch brought back memories of the other trauma she's been through in the past, how could she NOT feel scared. Just because she's experienced it before doesn't mean she's less scared now-if anything, I could see her wondering if she'd be as lucky to make it out alive this time.

Gotta love the irony, too, of hoping the drugs would block some of the painful memories, only for that to not be the case :/. As heartbreaking as her crying was, I'm glad she got a chance to do that and let all this bottled up stuff come out at long last. I appreciate you not going for the neat, tidy, "wrap up and solve everything" ending. We know there's still a lot of recovery ahead for her, and yet, there's still hope, and support, and love :).

Also nice to see JJ make a brief appearance. I've no doubt she'll do her part to help Emily going forward as well, and I'm glad she was able to check in on her, too.

As always, wonderful work from you. You continue to capture Emily so perfectly-your stories are like little "behind the scenes" snapshots, and flesh out what we see on the screen so well. I'm glad you were able to get a moment to write this story, and if and when you have the time to write again, I look forward to what you come up with next.

Nice to see something more about Mark. This show barely touched on him and left it hanging. I hate how Emily is or sshown to have a relationship.

Aww I absolutely loved this!
I love Mark & Emily stories and I’m glad someone wrote another one! You did an amazing job

Awww

I loved it! I thought something like this would have happened, a little mention about Mark coming to see Emily after what happened was important, i hated that the writers made it look like she got over it just by watching TV alone.
Thanks for writing this, it really fits in the storyline of the show.