CHAPTER SIX
Blows and wounds cleanse away the evil.
Pride comes before the fall.
Cyrus’ voice haunted her as she raced through nondescript halls. She couldn’t get out, had nowhere to go, and there was nothing she could do to find her way out again. Everywhere she turned there was a new door that led nowhere, every step she took was painful.
And that surprised her. Sure she’d had problems with the cracking of her ribs and it had left her with a limp until she’d gotten them wrapped, but all in all, the pain had been bearable. Much more bearable than it was right now. Her hand flew of it’s own accord to her hip. Or at least it tried.
Pain registered before anything else and startled her into a panicked awareness. She couldn’t move and her brain tried to register what the hell was going on at the same time her throat let loose a reflexive scream. It came to her in bits and pieces, a burning sensation on her hip, a body on top of her, her arms pinned over her head with another hand…
Someone was in her hotel room.
And it wasn’t a dream.
Emily bucked ferociously, surprising her assailant enough to throw him off of her and screamed again.
Adrenaline had her blood pounding in her ears as she watched her assailant pull out a knife. She cursed inwardly. Her gun was in the other bedside drawer, on the side she generally slept on and the same side she’d thrown him off of. Her hip was killing her and she could feel tears in her eyes.
“Emily!”
“Em! Answer me!”
Her brain couldn’t register anything but pain and fear. The knife flashed in the moonlight from the now open blinds and she realized how he’d gotten in. The sliding glass door to her second-floor balcony was open, the curtains pulled back. That wasn’t how she slept and she was almost certain she’d double-checked that lock when she’d gone to bed.
She could tell he was going through some sort of thought process. They stood at a stalemate on either side of the bed, he closest to the sliding glass door and she closer to the front door. She knew she could scream again and whoever was on the other side would definitely break down the door. She knew if she didn’t scream and it was Derek on the other side of that door it would be coming down anyway. But she had no idea how fast her assailant was, no idea if he could get across or around the bed quick enough to get that knife into her skin.
“Emily, we’re counting to five! Five, four, three, two-“
The guy took off, bolting for the balcony at the same time the door crashed inwards. Emily felt her legs collapse from underneath her and she fell in an undignified heap on the floor. Her eyes revolted against the lights being flipped on and she closed them as her hand went to cover her right hip where the burning sensation still throbbed.
“Hey!”
She didn’t move at Derek’s yell, if anything, she curled tighter in on herself. She yanked forcefully away from a hand on her shoulder.
“Em, it’s me, its Hotch.”
She whimpered, pulling away anyway, again. The hand that had settled on her shoulder turned into an arm that wrapped around her, pulling her sideways. She turned without an actual choice.
“Shh, honey, you’re okay.”
It was her nose that finally clued her in to the fact that it was indeed Hotch holding her, rocking her. She wasn’t sure when she became so aware of what he smelled like, but her brain was in no position to be contemplating that. Tears came in earnest and she cursed herself for allowing them to come. It was bad enough without having to add another attack to the mix. This one she couldn’t even blame brainwashing or any such thing. Adding that on top of the fact that crying was the ultimate form of weakness and it didn’t take long for her to work herself into a right state, a mix of nerves, annoyance, irritation and blatant fear.
Hotch for his part, just held on. It broke his heart to see her so vulnerable and broken, to feel her tears soaking his neck and shirt. So he just settled his cheek on her hair and pulled her more snugly into his lap. He only started to get nervous when her sobs died down and she started shaking. “Emily?”
“I’m okay,” she managed. “I am.”
He didn’t completely believe her and so, reached up to pull the blanket from her bed. He wrapped her in it tightly. They had to call the police, he knew that. She needed to go to the hospital, if the hand awkwardly between them was any indication. He looked up as Derek came back in, panting. The other man shook his head, indicating he hadn’t been able to catch the guy.
“Have you called paramedics? Police?”
“I don’t need a hospital,” Emily murmured from Hotch’s neck, promptly following it up with a sniffle.
“Em, you’re going to get checked out,” Derek said, already pulling out his cell phone.
“I’m fine,” Emily repeated.
Hotch arched an eyebrow at Derek at the same time he stroked his hand down the arm she had squished between his body and hers. With a quick movement, he had her arm out from between them and his other hand half-caught her as she tumbled to the side. It was then he saw the concentric circles, the same signature he recognized from their UNSUB. He met Derek’s eyes.
“I’m fine, it’s just a burn.”
She didn’t sound fine and Hotch felt his stomach clench at how shaky she still sounded. “You need to get that burn checked out. It could get infected.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted again, pushing herself up and away from Hotch’s arms. She winced as the skin pulled uncomfortably when she wrapped her arms around herself.
“No hospital,” Derek promised, coming up and squeezing her shoulder. He didn’t resist when she turned into him. Derek knew of Emily’s fear of hospitals. “They should be able to take a look at it and patch you up as good as new.”
Hotch knew Derek’s goal was to find a compromise and though he valued the effort, he wished Emily would just go to the hospital. Still, he knew when to fold. He held her gaze when she pulled away from Derek, but stayed close. He had to stomp down the thread of jealousy.
“Okay,” she agreed softly, keeping his eyes.
Hotch pushed himself up trying not to react to the way Derek’s arm wrapped around Emily’s shoulder again and how easily she gave into the comfort. She even stepped closer to the African-American man.
“And you can stay with me,” Derek continued. “You’re not going to want to stay here after CSU finishes with this place.”
“Thanks, Derek,” she replied softly.
Hotch couldn’t stop the jump his stomach did as she avoided his eyes. What was wrong? What else was off? All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and hold her close, that same feeling he’d been having for weeks now.
Emily wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, she’d felt ridiculously comfortable and safe wrapped up in Hotch’s arms. On the other hand, she’d spent so much time shoving those feelings aside that it was disconcerting that he seemed willing to act on them now. She had felt safe with Hotch, but Derek, she knew, was only her friend. They’d long ago figured out that a relationship between them simply wouldn’t work. They shared too much with each other, found the other much too easy to talk to, to try and make a relationship work. Derek was safety without the added underlying tension.
And right now, that was what she needed,