Stay by me
Chapter 4
Slight TW for talk of previous abuse
Jj looked nervously through the darkened window of the SUV. She was terrified of what they would find. What if Emily wasn’t there? What if she wasn’t even alive? Maybe he’d dumped her in the lake already and they didn’t even know-
“Jj! Breathe, it’ll be okay” Spencer said as he placed a hand on her jittery knee
The blonde couldn’t think of a response, so she just gave him a small smile and a nod, and turned back to look out the car window. The sun was starting to set, and she tried to distract herself by admiring how beautiful it looked with the rolling hills in the foreground.
After about 10 minutes, they were well outside the city center, and only forests and fields surrounded them. Into view came a large, run down house. It was the definition of isolated, the only thing leading up to it, a bumpy dirt road. As they closed in, Jj could see the white paint chipping off the facade and old junk littering the sad looking yard space. There was a rusty black van parked outside, meaning Steven was most likely home.
‘Good’ Jj thought, that meant she could kill him with her own hands.
When the cars stopped and everyone jumped out, her mode switched, she was now an FBI agent who needed to focus on finding Emily, the killing could wait, all that mattered was Emily…
The team, along with the town’s chief of police moved in perfected silence, as to not alert the unsub, while the medics and several officers were on standby outside in case anything happened. Hotch signaled for Jj and Morgan to go in through the back, as the rest of them sneaked in through the front door. As the blonde reached the back door, she found it was locked, it wouldn’t be hard to break since it was basically rotted, but she alerted Morgan that they would need to move in fast as it would be loud. He nodded and she mentally counted to three before breaking the door down with her shoulder. Morgan quickly ran inside, gun raised and ready, and she wasn’t far behind.
Steven flew up from his chair, dropping the bear bottle on the ground in shock as he was surrounded by the FBI agents.
“HEY?! WHAT ARE DOING IN MY HOUSE?! THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!” The large man roared
“You are in no position to make demands right now mr. Wilson, so I suggest you stop fighting and tell us where you’re holding our agent” Aaron said as Morgan moved to cuff the man, but Steven stayed quiet.
“WHERE IS SHE?!” Jj yelled with surprising power, pointing her gun straight at his face
This seemed to scare some life into the man as he stuttered out a weak ‘basement’. However Jj had only needed to hear half the word as she took off in the direction Steven’s hand was pointing. Kicking open yet another locked door, she took the creaky stairs 2 at a time, her weapon still yielded in case of any surprises, but when nothing jumped out at her, she slowly put it away.
Jj stood stunned for a second, the image of a half naked, pale and shivering Emily Prentiss on the floor shocking her. The room was dark, and if it hadn’t been for a strip of sun shining in through a small window, she might have missed the shrunken figure all together. The black hair she loved was splayed out on the concrete floor, framing Emily’s now illuminated face. The woman was almost completely blue and purple, both because she looked to be hypothermic, but also from the many small bruises covering her from head to toe.
Jj was startled back to reality by a faint but familiar voice.
“Jj? You’re back! I missed you! I knew you would come back for me” Emily mumbled weakly as she reached for the blonde
Jj quickly threw herself on the ground next to the brunette, cradling her icy face in her hands, willing herself not to cry.
“Guys! She’s down here!”
Jj didn’t even register the sound of the team running down the staircase, she was wholly focused on the broken woman in front of her.
“We need a medic down here” Aaron spoke into the earpiece.
They all stood in shock as they watched the blonde try to communicate. Morgan turned around and held his face as he couldn’t handle watching and Aaron, Spencer and Rossi turned away out of respect as Emily was still pretty much half naked. Jj quickly shrugged off her windbreaker to drape over Emily’s upper body, and Spencer quickly came up and handed Jj his to do the same, before retreating back.
“Emily, Em can you hear me? Are you okay?”
The blonde spoke, trying to get eye contact with the woman on the floor, but Emily seemed to be in a haze.
“I wish you could stay forever, but I know you have to leave soon, will you come back tomorrow?”
Emily mumbled, dropping the eye contact to look at her hand, reaching out for the ray of sunshine which was slowly retreating away.
Jj’s level of worry grew exponentially at the way the brunette was talking.
“Emily, look at me!” The blonde moved to sit in Emily’s field of sight and crouched down to look her in the eye, still holding her face, Jj gently shifted the brunette to look at her.
“I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, okay? We’re here to take you home, Emily” Jj spoke clearly with a gentile smile, rubbing her thumbs comfortingly over Emily’s cheeks.
This time, it was like something clicked and the brunettes eyes welled up with tears as she looked at the blue eyes she’d missed so much.
“Jj?”
She stuttered weakly, making the blonde nod with a gentile smile as she leaned down to kiss Emily’s forehead. Now she couldn’t stop her own tears anymore, letting them stream freely down her face as she looked up to see two paramedics running towards them.
Jj let go of her face but held Emily’s hand in a vice grip as she moved away just enough for the medics to work. Even if they’d requested she let go, the blonde didn’t think she could have, as Emily held on so tight her circulation was nearly getting cut off. But Jj couldn’t care less about that, all that mattered was Emily was alive, breathing and at least somewhat talking.
The paramedics put an oxygen mask over the brunettes face and replaced the windbreakers with a heating blanket. Within a minute, they’d gotten Emily on a backboard and somehow maneuvered her up the stairs with Jj still holding on tightly to her hand. The team followed them outside as Emily was transferred to a gurney and brought into the ambulance. Normally, Jj wasn’t supposed to ride with them, but Hotch nodded in reassurance and the paramedic did not have time to worry about prying their hands apart right now. As the doors closed Jj heard Spencer yell an ‘we’ll meet you there’, even though Jj knew it would take the team a few hours to finish everything up.
Jj sat in line with Emily’s hip as she held on to the cold hand tightly, drawing soothing circles. The paramedic was on the opposite side of the brunette and as she pulled down the blanked slightly to place electrodes on Emily’s chest, Jj heart jumped. In the well lit ambulance the bruises were far more visible than in the dark basement. Not only did the smaller marks litter her upper body, but below her bra, large purple splotches covered her rib cage.
“I can’t know for sure, but I would guess she has a couple broken ribs, that’s probably why she’s breathing so shallow” The medic explained to Jj, who only now noticed the slight wheezing Emily made with every short breath.
The blonde felt her eyes well up all over again as she thought of how much pain Emily must be in, have been in for two whole days. Jj tried to make eye contact but the brunette was half unconscious and too busy focusing on breathing notice. As long as Emily could feel Jj’s hand in hers, it would all be okay, so she let herself rest knowing the blonde was beside her.
Jj carefully cradled the brunettes cold cheek with her free hand smiled sadly when Emily turned her head towards it, leaning into the touch, absorbing the warmth. A single tear ran down Emily’s cheek, but Jj swiped it away with her thumb, leaning forward to whisper in her ear.
“It’s all gonna be okay Em, we’ve got you, you’re safe”
And to the blonde’s surprise, the seemingly barely conscious woman nodded slightly, burrowing herself deeper into the touch.
***
Jj barely even remembered arriving in the ambulance bay and jumping out alongside the gurney. She suddenly found herself yelling at a doctor outside the trauma room for not allowing her inside.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t use the excuse of her hand being stuck in a vice grip, as Emily had dozed off somewhere along the way, leaving her hand limp.
“We have to check her out, just go sit down and we will update you when we can” the man explained calmly with practiced ease as he pointed Jj toward the row of chairs.
She grumbled something under her breath as she dragged herself over there in defeat, thankfully it was close to the trauma room as the blonde refused to let Emily out of her close proximity.
There was no telling how long had passed, minutes? hours? All Jj could think about was the look in Emily’s eyes when they’d found her, absent, disassociated. What had that man done to her that was so bad she couldn’t stay in the present, couldn’t remain aware of reality? She took a deep breath hoping it would calm her racing heart and rolling stomach, and tucked her hands away in the soft material of her cardigan sleeves. Emily’s sweater. She was still wearing it, had been 24/7 since the brunette went missing. She leaned her head to the side and rubbed her cheek against the soft wool, taking in the comforting scent of Emily’s perfume, an Emily before all of this happened.
Suddenly, Jj’s ears peaked up at a familiar voice, a whimper, a cry muffled by the closed doors and drowned out by the noisy ER around her.
The blonde’s heart shot out of her chest as her wobbly legs quickly carried her over to the trauma room. Ignoring a nurse’s protest, she pulled the door open and slid inside, maneuvering around doctors, nurses and medic equipment.
“No! No! Don’t touch me! Please Jj…” Emily protested and wiggled weakly anytime the doctors came near her.
“We have to examine her and we can’t give her anything to calm down because of the possible head injury” a kind nurse explained as the doctor trying to get a portable chest x ray sighed in defeat.
“It’s okay, just give her a minute” Jj reassured them as she turned back to the brunette, who was now mumbling incoherently, eyes trained on Jj, following her every movement.
“Em, Em it’s okay, they are just trying to help you, we need to make sure you’re okay, can you be still please?” The blonde spoke gently as she stroked Emily’s cool cheek with one hand, and her hair with the other.
The brunette nodded slightly, cautiously looking around the room, eyeing the men specifically.
“Stay?” Emily asked weakly once her sights returned to Jj.
Before this happened, the blonde could’ve never imagined her strong, brave coworker ever looking so scared and fragile. The sight made her heart ache, but Emily needed her to be strong, so she willed her emotions away and nodded.
“Of course, I’m staying right here” Jj smiled weakly, tears brimming in her eyes as Emily laid back and let the medical staff help her.
Emily’s skin was still pale, still cold to the touch, but her lips weren’t as worryingly blue anymore, and her cheeks as a hint of pink back. The heating blanked was still tightly wrapped around her and somewhere in the distance, Jj could hear the doctors ordering warm IV fluids.
The medical team worked quickly, carefully lifting Emily slightly to get the portable chest x ray in place, making her whimper in pain. Although the blonde’s presence seemed to calm Emily down, Jj could still see her quiver and close her eyes anytime one of the male doctors came close. Jj felt helpless, unable to do anything but squeeze the brunettes hand a little tighter.
When they put an IV in Emily’s arm, the blonde asked if they could give her any pain relievers, seeing the discomfort on Emily’s face anytime they moved her. Unfortunately, she was met with a no as they needed a head CT to see if there were any brain bleeds before they could prescribe any drugs.
The thought that Emily could have a brain bleed scared Jj to no end, especially as she looked over the extensive bruising around the brunettes temples and the patches of dried blood in her hair. He had definitely hit her or banged her head against something several times. The images popping up in Jj’s mind made her nauseous, how could anyone ever want to hurt her sweet, kind Emily. Her best friend who put away rapists and murderers for a living, who was the funniest and most adorable person she had ever met.
Everything was sort of a blur for Jj, and before she knew it Emily’s gurney was moving toward the CT scan room. When they reached the door, the nurse laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Sorry, you can’t go in, it should be around half an hour so you can go to the waiting room” The woman said and pointed Jj in the direction.
Although Jj wanted to protest, she knew there was no fighting them on this, and she didn’t want to hold up the scan any longer, worried about the possibility of a bleed in Em’s brain going undetected. With heavy steps, she dragged herself through the long hallway and sank into one of the chairs. Head in her hands, she frustratedly ran her hands through her messy hair, redoing her ponytail to feel somewhat put together.
“Jj?!” She looked around for the source of the voice, a colorful figure catching her eye.
“Pen?! When did you get here?” Jj jumped up, throwing her arms around her friend’s neck.
“Just now, I hopped a flight as soon as I heard you had a lead on her. She’s here? She’s okay?” Penelope spoke quickly, her voice shaking with unshed tears.
Jj pulled back slightly, wiping her eyes and nodding slightly. “Yeah, she’s here, and alive, but Pen you should have seen her when when we got there. She was shaking like a leaf, ice cold… and she barely recognized us, there was this look in her eyes, I can’t even describe it…” Penelope enveloped her friend again, rubbing her back soothingly as Jj cried into her shoulder.
Pen managed to stay strong, knowing that Jj needed her to hold her up. But despite the crying she’d already done in her office and on the plane, a couple stray tears ran down her face as well.