Get here in time
Chapter 3
Emily dozed in and out of consciousness that night, her head pounding and spinning. She knew she had a concussion, and her bones ached from sleeping on the concrete. Her wrists were bruised and bloody under the metal cuffs and they chafed painfully every time she moved. She was also dehydrated, contributing to the headache and fuzziness.
She must be on the verge of hypothermic as well, since she couldn’t stop shaking and her skin seemed even more pale than usual. Her teeth clattered as she attempted to fall back asleep with no luck.
Eventually, she could hear the morning’s birdsong through the thick glass blocks that made up the tiny windows above her, and a few rays of morning sunshine moved across the floor. She scrambled as close as she could to them with the chains restricting her, but managed to lay down under one. It was crazy how much warmth a single ray of sunshine could provide, and Emily felt like it wrapped her in a tight hug. It was like Jj’s hugs, warm, safe, comforting. The color of the rays even looked like Jj’s hair, golden, shimmering, soft. Emily imagined herself wrapped up in Jj’s hair, Jj’s arms, all of her.
She moved with the ray of light as it slowly moved across the floor till she couldn’t reach it anymore, then she just laid in the darkness, staring at it as it went further and further away, until it eventually disappeared.
‘It’s okay, I’m here’ Emily heart a faint voice echo in her head
“Jj!” The agent scrambled to a sitting position, ignoring how much it hurt, she had to find the blonde, had to protect her from the horrible man
‘Emily, look at me, everything’s gonna be okay. God, you’re freezing, just hold on, we’re coming’
The blonde crouched down beside her and cradled her cheek with a warm hand. She was perfect, golden hair cascading in loose locks down her shoulders, blue eyes that she could stare at forever, but it wasn’t safe here.
“No Jj! You have to go! He’s gonna get you too, you can’t stay here!” Emily frantically explained, desperate to keep the woman safe.
‘It’s alright, I’ll keep you safe’ Jj whispered as she slowly faded away.
“Hey! What’s with all the noise?! I’m trying to watch TV!” The man marched toward the brunette with heavy steps, beer bottle already in hand despite the early hour.
When Emily only groaned and shivered, too lost in her own head to answer, the man grumbled angrily. He realized he must have kicked her a little too hard yesterday, and begrudgingly went upstairs to get the woman some water. Sure, he’d kill her eventually, but the fun wasn’t over yet.
The rest of the day went pretty much the same as the one before, he touched her while he insulted her, hosed her down until her body was patchy with blue and purple bruises, and then he kicked her when she was down. This time though, he went lightly on the head, wanting her to stay conscious, so he went rouge on her ribs and abdomen instead, pleased when he felt a couple ribs crack beneath his boot.
Emily groaned painfully, only half aware of what was going on. She knew she was cold tired and in a lot of pain. She knew she was hungry and on the floor. And she knew she wanted Jj to hold her.
***
“I can’t believe this! We’ve got nothing!”
Jj grabbed her hair and let out a frustrated sigh, trying to push back the tears trying to escape her eyes.
Emily had been missing for two and a half days. They had built a profile, and felt like they’d interviewed half the town, but still they basically nothing. The ME still hadn’t been able to figure out what the bruising on the victims was from and the whole team was running on fumes at this point.
Jj pulled her sweater tighter around herself and sunk further in to her chair, staring at the board containing all their leads. Her sweater was in fact Emily’s sweater. The blonde basically hadn’t taken it off since the brunette went missing, not finding it in herself to be without the little piece of Emily she had right now. It still smelled like her perfume, and Jj found herself burying her nose in the fabric every once in a while just to be reminded of the flowery scent.
“Well, that was a bust”
Morgan said as he threw the file on the conference room table and plopped Into a chair.
Spencer sat watching the surveillance video for the hundredth time, Rossi once again went over the families statements and Aaron stood glued to the ground, staring at the board like Jj. A tapping on the glass wall to the room suddenly drew everyone’s attention. It was a tall man, maybe 45 years old. There was a woman who seemed to be his wife beside him, looking at him questioningly.
“That’s the couple I just talked to, she’s the second victims sister, and that’s her husband, they said they didn’t know anything” Morgan explained as he let them into the room.
“Are those pictures of- from this case” He asked.
“Yes, they’re of Stacy and the other victim, I’m sorry you two had to see that” Morgan explained.
“No I mean, I recognize those bruises” He stammered, gathering the whole teams attention.
The man made his way to the board and pointed to the pictures of the victims torsos and arms.
“We haven’t been able to figure out what it is, how do you know?” Aaron asked the man wearily.
“I had a friend when I was little, his name was Steven, we were in the same class. Sometimes, when his dad was angry he’d have bruises like that. I think they were from a high pressure watering hose” He explained.
Jj held her breath, she couldn’t believe they might finally have a lead, at the same time it hurt her deeply to think that Emily might be covered in those bruises too now.
“Does Steven still live in town?” Aaron questioned
“Yeah, I think he still lives where he grew up, it’s a bit outside of town, but his parents died a couple years ago so it’s all his now.” The man said, causing the team to scramble to their feet and gather their things.
They got the address scribbled on post it note as they headed for the SUVs. Jj’s hands shook as she slipped into the bullet proof vest. She threw on her FBI windbreaker on top and put her hair up in a tight ponytail. It was time to get her Emily back.
***
Emily’s breathing was shallow, mostly because of her newly cracked ribs, but also from the fear threatening to consume her. She had never expected she could be so scared of an unsub, she hadn’t been before, but this man had utter control over her. There was no way out, and if there was she was too weak to even think about trying anything.
The woman had been in only her underwear on the ice cold floor of an unheated basement for over 48 hours, and every muscle in her body ached and scream at her to stop shaking, but she couldn’t. It was uncontrollable. She had once again just been sprayed with ice cold water all over and it hadn’t even fully dried yet. Her still wet hair made a chill run all the way from her scalp and down her spine. Her hips were red and sore from laying on the hard ground, and her shoulders ached from when she’d been strung up to the ceiling for hours on end. Her hands and feet had long ago taken on a blueish grey tone, much like the rest of her body, which was also covered in bruises.
She didn’t know how much longer she could stay conscious like this, with every clatter of her teeth, her mind seemed to slip further and further away from reality. Eventually, the sun began to set, and from another small window on the other wall of the basement than this morning, a single ray of sunshine trickled in.
Emily’s eyes sparkled with hope as she could only helplessly wait until the strand came close enough for her to touch. As she laid on her side, she reached out her hand as far as it would go, and squinted her eyes as the sun finally landed on her. A little bit of temporary warmth.
‘Emily, are you there?’ A soft, angelic voice echoed
“Jj? You’re back! I missed you! I knew you would come back for me”
Emily spoke, but it came out more as a mumbled whisper, her brain too tired to connect with her mouth. In the golden light Emily could see smooth, blonde hair come in to her vision, her angel was back. Even though she understood Jj would go away once the sun did, the brunette soaked up every second of the blondes soft hands on her.
“Emily! Emily?! She’s down here!”