A/N: Welcome to my first Criminal Minds fanfiction:)
This story takes place after 3x04 (Children of the Dark)
Good or bad, I want to know what you guys think:)

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing:/

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Darkness, pain; the pungent smell of vomit.

That was the first thing the young woman perceived when she woke up. She couldn't hear anything,
except for her own breathing.

Slowly, she tried to open her eyes to examine her surroundings, but when she thought she could see
something, she was just greeted with a bright flash of lightning, before everything went dark again.

The woman wasn't able to see where she was; the blackness seemed to cover her whole body, like she
was buried in it.

She knew that there was no way of getting out, leaving this place. Her limbs felt so numb, as if she had
been lying in the snow for several hours. It hurt, almost as if small, stinging needles were piercing into
her soft skin.

She didn't bother trying to move; the intense pain crashing over her in waves was weighing her down
too much. Blood ran down from the numerous cuts on her naked body, forming intricate patterns on
her skin.

The woman knew that she needed to distract herself somehow, so that she wouldn't start to think
about the past few hours. Yeah, that was the most important thing right now.

If she was being honest with herself, she had no clue why it had been so important to her. The only
thing she knew, if she wanted to protect herself, was that she had to force her thoughts not to go back. She couldn't start thinking, not now.

With her fingertips she gently touched the hard stone floor and tried to take a deep breath in order to
calm herself down. Keep it together, she thought desperately.

Not a single ray of light could be seen; the gloominess never left, always keeping her company.

To orientate herself, she tried to sit up, but then abruptly froze when a sound startled her. She could
hear someone screaming, making her naked body lying huddled on the cold stone floor tremble.

It had first sounded as if the crying had come from far away, but then she heard it again, making her
ears ring with the closeness. The voice was nearer, definitely louder, and more painful.

Where am I? she asked herself, trying to focus over the noise.

There was no time to reflect on her thoughts. Like a blazing flame, panic rose up in her, threatened to
burn her body, her soul. She wanted to get out of the freaking darkness.

She no longer wanted to feel the sharp pain inside of her body. She just wanted to get away, back
home, to her family. Her little girl, her husband.

I must just be dreaming, she assured herself. That's all this is— just a dream. More like a nightmare,
but nonetheless, not real. Maybe she was lying in her bed, with her daughter tucked in her arms.

"Do you think that anyone can hear you screaming?" The voice startled her. It was gruff, clearly male,
and rapidly approaching.

She cracked open an eye to look up. The sound of footsteps were bouncing off the walls, creating an
eerie echo, until a man emerged from the darkness and stopped in front of her, a gleaming knife
clutched in his hand.

The air seemed to become inanimate; the silent was deafening.

She didn't dare look up; fear, or maybe feebleness, forced her to stay motionless. Her breathing was
ragged. Single strands of brown hair were matted to her temples. Beads of sweat had already formed
on her forehead, slowly sliding their way down her bruised face.

She felt so weak; so lonely.

What happened?

Only now she noticed that her hands and feet were tied. A sudden shout startled her again. The person
had to be in pain, just like she was. Fear made her heart clench painfully.

How many people are here?

"Don't be afraid, darling. Soon it'll be over, I promise." Her blood ran cold at the man's menacing
words.

He started to laugh, and suddenly memories came flooding back to her, making her breath catch in her
throat. As she struggled to fill her lungs with fresh air, the man's cackling escalated.

It wasn't a dream—the memory was too vivid. She had been walking her dog, and afterwards had gone
to pick her daughter up from school. And…and then…someone had grabbed her! Yes, that was right!

And after that…after…that…

The memories were fading just as quickly as they had come. She had been kidnapped, that much she
knew for certain.

She suddenly realized where the screams were coming from. Not from another person, no, but from
her own lungs as she pleaded for her life.

She had to fight, to find a way to get out of this hell. She attempted to sit up, but she had to stop when
an unexpected flare of agony forced her to cry out and stop.

Her energies exhausted, the woman knew that she was done. Her mind wandered to her little daughter,
Avery, and her husband. Daniel would have to take care of her; they were going to be alone.

She would never come back.

The man was going to kill her, this she knew.

She would never see her daughter grow up, never see Daniel's tender, caring eyes again – She settled
for imagining them – Daniel smiling, holding her close, telling her that he loved her and that everything
was going to be all right.

Avery laughing, a joyful grin on her face.

She closed her eyes, and when the man lunged forward and began to attack her, she felt no pain.

Falling, falling, falling, into an endless black hole. The woman stopped breathing, and her heart stilled.

The man had not lied; it was finally over.

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Emily Prentiss was seated in her spacious living room, curled up on her couch with a glass of red wine.
To an outsider it may have looked like the woman was relaxing, but in truth she was reflecting over the
last couple of days.

The case had been hard on her. She had immediately felt a connection to the teenage girl, a deep
instinct of wanting to protect her. There were so many twisted people walking around in the world just
waiting for a child like Carrie, to hurt her, to take everything from her.

Emily knew that she could be there for Carrie. She felt a need to take care of her, as the young girl was
now alone. Well, she now lived with an aunt and uncle in LA, but her parents and little brother had
been killed, leaving her the sole miracle survivor.

The girl was alive. traumatized, but alive.

Carrie had spoken to Ervin, demanding to know why it had happened to her family, to other families.
Why she had gone through this, and why she was left without Danny.

And Ervin tried to explain everything to her.

He and his foster brother, Gary, grew up in a foster home together, where both of them were
frequently abused by their foster parents. One day, he and Gary noticed that the parents, whom they
worked for, had been abusing their daughter. Gary became so angry, that he beat the girl's parents to
death. Ervin was the one who killed the daughter. He didn't want her to suffer any longer.

They went on, but when he saw Carrie, she reminded him of his biological sister, Lucy, and he made a
mistake which caused Carrie to survive.

This moment of explanation was as emotional for Emily as it was for Carrie. She had been so proud of
Carrie. The girl was strong, a fighter. That much was obvious, otherwise she would have died.

When JJ, the team's communications liaison, received no word from Carrie's family in LA, Emily knew
that it was a sign that she had to look out for the teen.

Emily had seen a lot of bad things; she kept quiet about them and moved on. But this case was
different. It had triggered something inside of her.

No matter how long she thought about it, she just couldn't figure out what exactly made her feel so
emotionally involved.

Was her heart simply demanding something to love, something to let her know that she was even
capable of love?

Or was she longing for someone waiting for her when she came home?

Someone who wouldn't leave.

She had told Hotch that she had the finances to care for Carrie, and enough space for the girl in her
apartment. Emily had never offered something like this before. Was she ready for the commitment of
taking care of a child?

Did she even want a child?

Her mind kept trying to travel back in time, to Italy, but she had to pull herself together. That chapter
of her life was over. She had decided to have an abortion. It was her only option; she really had no
other choice.

Emily shook her head and sighed, placing her now empty glass onto the small table in front of her. She
stared into space, her conversation with JJ from earlier now in the forefront of her mind.

"I think it's a good idea, though," Emily had no idea what her friend was talking about, so she had
asked.

"You, kids," JJ paused. "I can see it."

Emily didn't know if it would be a good idea to try and have a baby again. Besides, who would have a
baby with her? She always eventually screwed every relationship up, and if she ever decided that she
wanted to have a baby, she wanted it to be with someone who loved her, not just someone who would
fuck her and leave the next morning.

But, there was one person…

No, the fact that she was even thinking about him in that way was just wrong. He had to deal with his
own personal stuff.

She couldn't just walk up to him and say, "Hey, I think I have feelings for you, let's have a baby!"

Emily laughed harshly to herself. No, it wouldn't work and it would just freak him out. Definitely not an
option. Plus, Emily wasn't sure if he'd ever even had a steady significant other.

She had to stop thinking about him.

When she looked out the window, the sun was already setting, the sky painted a lovely array of orange,
pink, and red. The clouds were close to covering the sun, letting it sleep. Tomorrow it would wake
again, starting a new day.

Emily had just decided to change into her PJ's and maybe watch a movie when her doorbell rang. Really? she groaned internally as she made her way to her front door. Another case?

However, as she looked through her peephole, she was very surprised by who was there, and
immediately opened the door.

"Um, hi," Reid greeted her with a precarious smile.

A wonderful smell filled her nose, and she glanced down to see that he was holding a plastic bag with
takeout boxes stacked inside.

"Reid?" she asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

She was happy to see him, but was puzzled as to why he came to her apartment? Maybe something
was wrong?

"I—" he paused, clearing his throat. "You've been picking your fingernails again, and I know that you
only do it when you're stressed. So I thought that maybe you want to talk about what's bugging you?"

Emily didn't want to admit it, but she had been stressed. Her thoughts were all over the place, but she
could usually hide that from her friends. Was her facade slipping? Had anyone else from the team
noticed?

She just couldn't let them find out.

"You know, it's just a bad habit," she smiled slightly. "I'm good."

"Oh," he said, glancing towards the floor.

She knew that he wasn't satisfied with her answer, but was grateful when he didn't push it.

"There's this super good Indian restaurant a little ways away, but it's open twenty-four hours, and they
have amazing chicken tandoori," Reid said carefully, holding up the takeout boxes.

She raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet.

"I know that you like Chinese more, but I hate eating with chopsticks, so I thought about this
restaurant, and it's really good," he rambled nervously.

Emily smiled. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to spend some time with him, and besides, the Food
smelled really good. "Well then, you should come in, doctor."