Emily

It was three days later when Emily finally opened her eyes. The first thing she became aware of was the pain and the second thing she became aware was that someone was holding her hand. Turning her head slightly she found Mick sleeping in the chair next to her bed. The poor guy looked almost as bad as she felt. Dark circles were under his eyes and it didn’t look like he’d shaved in a couple of days either. Jesus. How long had she been out?

 

Deciding it didn’t matter she gave Mick’s hand a gentle squeeze and he opened his eyes to find her watching him.

 

“Em?” He quickly sat upright. “You’re awake. How do you feel? You need me to get the doctor?”

 

“I…” Christ her throat was dry. “I’m fine. But I could use something to drink.”

 

“Alright. I’ll get you some water. The nurses said you could have some when you woke up.” With that he grabbed a pitcher off a nearby stand and filled a cup with water. Then he helped her to slowly sip it.

 

“Better?” He asked a few minutes later.

 

“Yeah. Thanks.” Now if the rest of her could be fixed so easily…. Shit she hurt and she was tired. Really tired.

 

“Mick…how long have I been out?”

 

“Three days now. Close to four.” Jeez no wonder her throat had felt so parched.

 

“I thought…I thought I’d lost you Emily. When I…when I saw you lying there…”

 

Mick lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the image of her lying in a pool of blood.

 

“Shh…” She reached up and gently caressed the side of his face. “I’m okay Mick. I’m going to be fine. And in a couple of weeks I’m going to prove it to you.”  She gave him a weak grin knowing he would know what she was talking about.

 

“I’ll hold you to that princess. I’ll hold you to that.”  He took the hand that was caressing the side of his face and gently kissed it.

 

It wasn’t more than a few minutes after that that Emily was once again asleep. But this time Mick wasn’t worried. Emily always kept her word and if she’d made him a promise then he knew she was going to be around to keep it, one way or another.

 

****

 

It was a week and a half later before the hospital finally allowed her to be release and when they got to Mick’s place Emily couldn’t remember ever being so happy before. She was free. Free in more ways than one. No more Doyle and no more hospital. And with those two worries gone she was finally free to do what she wanted. And what she wanted was to be with Mick and to see her friends again.

 

A jolt of pain went through her at the thought of her friends. Would they want to see her again? She’d lied to them. She’d made them believe she was dead. And even though it had been to keep them safe she’d broken their trust in her. Would they ever be able to forgive her for that?

 

“Hey princess. What’s wrong?” Mick came up behind her where she was standing in the doorway of their bedroom and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her neck.

 

“I was just thinking.”

 

“Oh yeah? About what?”

 

“My friends. What if they hate me Mick? What if they never want to see me again? I lied to them. How can they ever forgive me for something like this?”

 

“Em. Listen to me. If they’re really your friends, if they really love you as much as I think they do…the lies won’t matter to them. What will matter to them is that your alive, you safe and what you did…it wasn’t to hurt them. It was to protect them.”

 

Sighing tiredly Emily nodded. “You’re right.” She turned in his arms and he kissed her.

 

“You need to rest Em. The doctor’s said you need to take it easy for a few more days.”

Mick was worried about her. She could see it in his eyes. And she wanted nothing more than to take that worry from him. But he was right. She was tired and she did need to rest.

 

“Alright but in the morning I need to talk to my team. Hotch said he’d get them all together for me when I was ready. And I’m ready. I need to tell them truth.”

 

“Okay. But you’re not going to do it alone Em. I refuse to let you go through this alone.”

 

“Together then.”

 

“Always love.”

 

*****