Chapter 14

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Hi there, here is the next chapter hope you enjoy!

Thank you to my amazing Beta reader GoodGodHenry.

Emily sat on the bed deliberating about what to do next. Should she risk being late and finish the video on her own, in private? Or should she just give it up and watch it with the team? She felt so torn, she desperately wanted to be alone, but at the same time she felt it was time to bring the team up to speed on what has been happening. If she didn't go down soon the team would come looking for her. She already felt bad enough for being selfish and not telling them from the beginning, but, she was sure the team would understand. Well, she hoped they would. But now time was up, and there was no way she could explain the extra time she wanted to take without coming off as a self-centered. Besides that, things were way too tense between herself and Hotch, she didn't want to get pulled off the case. She wouldn't put it past him to do it if she didn't go down now. He had threatened to pull her off of this case once before, in fact it was the last time she had felt emotional.

It was her fear of not being allowed to rescue JJ and Reid that made the decision for her. She had to go down now.

Besides, she thought, the worst was over. The unsub had revealed her worst secret, the damage was done. Hotch's reaction was the worst possible reaction she could have imagined, and, she had survived. She had already made up her mind to ignore what anyone thought of her, she had done what was best for her, and her child.

Emily felt a stab of pain shoot through her chest. The team was her family! She had no idea how they would react; all she could do was hope that they would be more understanding than Hotch.

The Unsub was wrong, she truly, honestly loved every member of the team. They were the family she never had. They were the family she didn't deserve. The only reason she was considering leaving them was because she felt they deserved better than her; she had no idea how to be a part of a family. She loved them, and they loved her, well, most of them did - Hotch's anger was still in the back of her mind - and she couldn't stand to let them down, not again. She would still keep in contact with them, but distancing herself from them meant less chance of her hurting them anymore than she already had. Reid and JJ were still struggling to deal with her 'death' and disappearing act, and she just couldn't bear to bring anymore strife and disappointment into their lives. Emily shook her thoughts away, it was another issue that needed to be set aside and dealt with later.

Her mind made up, she made her way to the bathroom to shower, and get ready to leave. It was time to face the music.

As Emily made her way towards the conference room, she gave herself a silent pep-talk. 'Come on, you can do it, just breathe, it won't be that bad. Just in and out, that's it.' As she got to the door she froze. She didn't know if she could do this. 'No, Emily, you have to do this. Do it for JJ. Do it for Reid.' Making sure her mask was on and secured tightly, and that her emotions were buried, she gave one last inhale before opening the door, and walking in.

Garcia was the only one in the conference room when Emily arrived, and she was frantically typing away at her computer. Emily gave an inward sigh of relief, she had a few more moments to make sure the boxes in her head were locked tight. No one needed to know what a mess she had been earlier.

Putting a small smile on her face, she greeted her friend warmly, "Hey PG." Garcia spun around in her chair, and pulled Emily into a tight hug.

"Princess Prentiss, you've awoken. I thought we would need to send a handsome prince in to give you the kiss of true love, bringing you back to life." Emily's brows furrowed, what was Garcia going on about? It was still way too early to be this upbeat.

"Prince?" She asked skeptically.

"Yes, your Prince, your one true love, like in the fairytales." Garcia explained excitedly.

Emily had tensed at the mention of 'true love', did Garcia know about her feelings for Hotch? No, there was no way. She wasn't in love with Hotch, was she? No! She wasn't! Nope, she was just being paranoid. It was just Penelope being her normal wacky self.

"Do we need to have you drug tested again, PG? We both know my life is no fairytale."

"Oh but it could be, you're a superhero fighting all the evil in the world, yet what you long for is to live happily ever after in a world full of light, love, and life, and baby Emily's. We can't forget the mini Prentiss'"

Emily gave an awkward laugh. Okay, she was definitely uncomfortable, her paranoia was in overdrive. Why was she bringing up babies and life in the same sentence? Did she know something? No, she couldn't know anything. It just wasn't possible. This was just Pen being her innocent Penelope self. Emily felt a pang of sadness, soon her PG's world wasn't going to be so PG anymore. Pen was going to have some more of her treasured innocence taken away from her. She was going to find out just how far Emily's life was from a fairytale.

Emily wished with all her heart she could shield her from the world's cruelness, but this was Penelope's job, just as much as it was hers. Penelope coped by seeing the bright side in everything. Emily felt as if there was no brightness - at least not for herself. She gave herself a mental shake, and decided to change the topic.

"Pen, you're crazy, you know that?"

"I know! It's just that… I just… I… I just don't know what else to do. Thinking of fairy tales and true love, gives me a bit of hope. Hope that all of this is going to end okay. It's better than me sitting just sitting here and worrying about my poor Jaje and Reid… Not that I don't worry, I'm still worried… but happy thoughts make it easier, you know?" Garcia was out of breath by the time she finished speaking. Emily could see the tears in her eyes, and felt her heart break.

Grabbing Penelope by the shoulders, looking straight into her eyes, before saying "Pen, listen to me. There is nothing wrong with thinking positive thoughts, and wanting happy endings. No one would ever doubt that you care about JJ and Reid. In fact, your wacky ideas and overall craziness keeps us all going. You're our light in the darkness of all of this…" Emily said motioning towards all the files on the table.

Garcia let a tear slip out, and Emily pulled her into a tight hug. The hug was for herself, as much as it was for Penelope. The two women stayed silent, and soaked up the much support as they could from each other before Emily decided to change the topic. If they stayed like this any longer she was pretty sure she would break down and cry again.

Pulling away, she asked, "Hey, Pen, where is everyone?"

"My sweet hunk of chocolate was in the gym, pounding away at a poor, innocent punching bag." Garcia answered with a hand over her heart, as if the punching bag was a real person. Emily let out a chuckle as Garcia continued, "He was going to take a shower, can you just imagine those abs with the water dripping down, oh what I wouldn't give to…"

"Keep it PG, PG." Emily said with a real smile on her face. Ah Sweet Penelope could always make her feel better.

"Fiiinnne," Garcia said with a pout, "He should be here soon."

"Who should be here soon?" Morgan asked coming through the door, a huge grin appearing on his face when he saw he had startled both of them.

Trying to get her heartbeat back to normal, Emily turned to Morgan, and saw the smug, shit-eating smile he had on his face. Her lips began to curl into a smile, "Speak of devil…" Emily said in an audible whisper.

"Who you calling the devil, Princess?" Morgan said, bringing a hand to his heart, and feigning being hurt. Emily answered him with a wink, and her own smug smile.

"Oh, I would have so much devilish fun with you. You can be the naughty to my nice!" Penelope broke in seductively, while rubbing Morgan's arm up and down. Morgan and Emily shared a look before bursting out laughing. Penelope soon joined in. It wasn't even that funny, but it felt good to laugh. They all knew it was just a way to try and mask the tension they were all feeling, they missed JJ and Reid.

Emily was laughing with a heavy heart; She treasured these moments with her family. She was so scared that everything was going to change when they found out the truth about her.

When the laughter died down, Morgan looked around the room frowning slightly, and asked, "Where's Hotch?"

Emily was asking herself the same question, he had left the room way before she had. Her mind flashed to him broken in her arms, and then to the man filled with rage who had left. Those where extreme emotions to feel in such a short amount of time. Maybe he just needed a bit more time to get himself under control. Yeah, that was it.

"Earth to Emily." Morgan broke into her thoughts, waving his hand in front of her face. She looked up at him, and blushed slightly. Had she really just zoned out like that? "Em? Do you know where Hotch is?" Morgan asked, while trying to get a read on her, something was off.

"Uh… um… I have no idea." She said quickly, she felt uncomfortable and tongue-tied under the scrutiny.

"You sure? You seemed pretty lost in thought there. What do you know?" Morgan asked still staring at her.

"Well, uh… I think he just needs some time. I'm sure he'll be down soon."

"Needs time for what?" Morgan asked suspiciously.

"Morgan, I don't know, maybe he just needs time! This case has been hard on all of us." She answered firmly.

"I'm not buying it. You know something." Morgan accused.

Emily opened her mouth to respond, but all she managed was, "Morgan…" before he cut her off.

"Nuh uh, what aren't you telling us, Princess?" He asked skeptically. A lot, Emily answered to herself, she hated keeping secrets, but they would all find out soon enough. She just didn't want to discuss it now. She'd rather do it when everyone was together, that way she'd only have to explain everything once.

"Morgan, please, I'm asking you not to go there, not yet. You'll find out soon enough." Emily pleaded, while turning away and heading for the table.

"The last time you said that you ended up dead." He said with a pointed look.

Emily groaned at the reminder, inwardly sighing, she turned back around to look Morgan in the eye. "Derek, it's nothing like the last time, I promise. As soon as everyone gets here, I'll tell you. Okay?"

They had a brief stare down before he gave her a small nod, he decided to let it go. But just for now, he wouldn't let the day end without finding out what she was hiding.

Emily sighed in relief, and decided to change the subject quickly before he had the chance to have another go at her. "Where's Rossi?" She asked the others, looking first at Penelope who had been really quiet while she and Morgan had been speaking, before looking at Morgan for answers.

A mischievous grin crept onto Morgan's face as he answered cheekily, "Who knows what, or who that old man does at night."

Emily smirked, she was facing the door and had just seen Rossi walk in. Nudging Garcia, the two of them broke into grins. Morgan raised an eyebrow and said, "what?"

"Who you calling an old man, Derek?"

Morgan looked up, and started blushing, "Aw come on, he heard?" He groaned into his hands, while Rossi came further into the room with four steaming cups of coffee.

"That's the last time I get you coffee," He said to Morgan, "And who or what I do is none of your business." He finished off with a wink, and a small smile. Emily and Penelope began chuckling, followed by Dave, and eventually, Derek.

Once they had all settled down, and taken their seats, Rossi looked around, and asked the million-dollar question, "Where's Aaron?"

All the eyes turned to Emily, searching her for answers. 'Gee,' she thought, 'what was this, and interrogation?' She nervously began picking at her nails. Struggling to find the words, she decided to dive right into it and start at the beginning. She started with the phone call that let her know that there was a package delivered to her, and explained how she didn't want to wake them. She told them about the package, and what was in it. Finally, she told them about the videos, giving only a brief description about what they were about, and ending with, "Hotch took his hard, the Unsub exploited every weakness he had. So, I think he just needs a little more time."

"Oh, poor Bossman!" Garcia cried out, with tear filled eyes.

Rossi ignored Garcia and focused all his attention on Emily, if Hotch's video had him undone then it must have been bad, meaning Emily's had to be as equally difficult to 'take' so to speak. He needed to know if she was okay, before he could focus on anything else. "And your's, Emily, how are you taking this? Are you alright, kiddo?"

She just shrugged in response, and kept her eyes focused on the table's surface.

Before Rossi had a chance to press her further, Morgan broke in with an angry "Why didn't you wake us? Dammit, Emily!" He said banging his fist on the table, startling everyone, "we should have known as soon as you did!"

Rossi and Garcia both opened their mouths to say something to Morgan, but before they could Emily gave them a shake of her head signaling that she could handle it. Emily looked up at Morgan, and locked eyes with him so that he could read her emotions, "I knew the Unsub would bring up the worst parts of my past," she said as her eyes filled with tears, "So, I selfishly wanted to watch it on my own first, to prepare myself. I'm sorry." She finished as she wiped a tear off of her face.

Morgan softened at the depth of the emotion she was feeling, and Damn did he know what it felt like to want to keep some part of yourself private from the team. They already knew everything about each other, and it wasn't always as great as it seamed. He probably would have done the same thing. But he wouldn't have called Hotch to come watch it with him. "Why did you wake Hotch?" He asked suspiciously.

Emily shot him a hard look, she didn't like what he was insinuating. "I didn't wake him, Morgan. He was up, and saw me going down to get it, so I had no choice. He is the boss after all," she spat out bitterly. Okay so maybe she was still a little mad at Hotch, no, not a little, she was straight up pissed off with him, and the situation they were in. "I still would have preferred to watch it on my own!" She snapped.

Morgan, surprised at her anger, decided to back off.

Rossi also noticed the hostility in her tone, and was pretty certain he knew what the video was about. He inwardly cringed, she must be going through hell right now. The Unsub thrived on making people feel guilty about past mistakes. He just hoped Hotch hadn't made it any worse for her. Sighing, he decided to change the topic, "We should watch the videos. I know how difficult it must be for you, Emily, but remember we're a family. We'll be there for you, no matter what the video says." He said firmly, looking her straight in the eye, before casting hard looks at the others."

Penelope was quick to get the message, and moved to hug Emily. "You don't need to hide anything from us. Nothing can change how we feel about you."

"Yeah, Prentiss, the past is over. It's who you've become that's important to us, and girl, there's no chance I'm giving up on you."

Emily and Morgan shared another look, allowing Emily to see just how serious he was, and it meant the world to her. It felt as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders, at least her friends would still want her. She hid the small flash of doubt that creeped in, reminding her that what she had done could be way worse than they were expecting, and that in fact, they couldn't forgive. But she brushed it off, Derek and Garcia wouldn't lie to her. Besides she knew for certain Rossi was in her corner, and that did bring her a sense of comfort. Turning to Rossi, she gave a small nod to say thank you.

Rossi tipped his head in acknowledgement before issuing commands. "I'll go get Aaron. You three stay here, and call someone from forensics to pick up the package to run the DNA sample's on the hair, and pacifier, also have them check the DVD's for prints. Somebody else call the station, and try and get them to send you over the photo the sketch artist has drawn up. It should be ready by now."

After getting three nods in response, Rossi left the room to find one Aaron Hotchner.

After the phone calls were made, Morgan decided to voice what had been weighing on his mind. "Even if the DNA is a match, it still won't prove that those kids are JJ and Reid. It's just not possible."

Both women had turned to look at him, but it was Emily who spoke up. "But Derek, he sent us proof. I know it sounds impossible, but maybe he's found a way to do it."

"Nah, there's no way it's possible. I'm telling you the 'proof' doesn't prove anything."

"Fine, how so?" Emily bit back. She was 80% certain that the kids were JJ and Reid, but the other 20% still hoped that it wasn't them, that this was all an elaborate trick.

"Okay, well in the previous video we saw him break JJ's arm, and that kid in the video's, well I don't see her having a broken arm. Next look at the hair, how do we know it actually came from one of the kids? He could just as easily have cut the hair from JJ and Reid's heads and sent that to us. We only have his word to go on that it came from the kids, and honestly his word means shit to me." Derek's annoyance with the Unsub was clear. "The pacifier is no better. Yeah, we saw the kid suck on the same on, but he could have shoved into JJ's mouth and forced her to…"

Before he could finish; Garcia's computer started beeping madly, followed by her frantic cries of "Oh my god, oh my god!" as she stared at the screen.

What is it, Baby girl?" Instantly alert, Morgan moved closer to her, "Come on Garcia, we need to know."

"Okay, okay," Garcia said, flustered, and unable to take her eyes off of the screen, "The station just sent through the sketch, and, well Hotch asked me to start running facial recognition tests on all the images and angles of his face that we've managed to see so far. So last night I ran it through all the databases stateside, and came up with nothing. So I decided to run it on Interpol, and oh my gosh we have a match. The sketch confirmed it, but we definitely have a match. We've got him." She gushed out before taking in a deep breath.

Derek, taking her need for fresh air as chance to cut in, asked her the vital question. "Who is it Penelope?" He demanded.

Hope was blossoming inside of Emily, they had their break in the case.

Just as Garcia was going to respond, Rossi came charging into the room. "There's something wrong with Hotch! He's not opening the door, or responding to me, and I can hear his cell phone ringing from inside the room."

Everyone froze. The bubble of hope that had grown in Emily's stomach popped, leaving pure panic behind. All she could think about was, 'Is Hotch okay?'

After giving them a second to digest the news, Rossi began barking out orders. "Someone go and get the key to his room from reception. Morgan, you're coming with me, let's see if we can get him to answer." Morgan and Rossi left the room immediately. While Garcia and Emily stayed rooted to the spot. Garcia was searching Emily for instructions on what to do.

While Rossi was talking, Emily had come to her senses. She had made up her mind about what she was going to do. Turning to Garcia, she said, "I'll stay here, and wait for the forensic team to arrive. You go get the key, and help them, Garcia." She urged firmly, leaving no room for arguments.

Garcia hesitated, something was going on with Emily, she was usually the first to Hotch's aid. Garcia couldn't actually recall a time when Emily hadn't gone to Hotch when he was hurt, physically or emotionally. Garcia knew now was not the time to question Emily. Her Bossman needed her, so Garcia nodded at Emily and scurried out of the room as fast as her heels could carry her.

When she was alone, Emily let out a deep sigh and sat down. She was worried about Hotch, very worried, the jiggling of her stomach contents attested to that. She just wasn't sure if she would be able to help. If something was really badly wrong, he needed all the positive energy he could get. She was still too hurt and angry.

Besides, she thought, maybe he wouldn't even want her there, maybe the sight of her would just make everything worse…

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