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Emily was half-conscious as they wheeled her bed through the halls of the hospital. The doctors and nurses were a blur as they ran, their hands passing all kinds of items over her as they tried to tend her wounds. She could still feel Ian’s knife in her side, the tip prickling with every jostling move made. She wondered if he had hit her spleen - then she would be in trouble.
She heard sharp, clipping footsteps chasing her bed through the hall and dimly recognised them as Hotch’s.
“Sir, you need to wait here please. She’s going into surgery.”
“I want to be updated as soon as you know anything.”
The lights in the prep room were bright and Emily squinted her eyes against them.
“Fuck…” she croaked. Her throat was dry and sore and that seemed worse in the moment than the pain in the rest of her body. She was tired, so tired…
“That’s it, Emily. We’re just going to give you some air now so take a few deep breaths. And in a moment, count to ten for us.” A kindly looking nurse with warm, brown eyes looked down at Emily as she placed a mask over her mouth and nose.
“One, two, three… four… f…”
Emily had half a sense of being awake, but her head was spinning and her mouth felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton. She gagged and coughed as she awoke, tears streaming down her face. Huge sobs wracked her body, shuddering the bed and making the nurses look over in mild alarm. Within a moment, a warm hand filled hers and she looked up into JJ’s familiar face.
“J…” she managed, before the coughing cut her off again.
“Ssh, it’s okay Em. Just catch your breath before you try to talk.” The sound filtered through Emily’s ears but it sounded garbled and it took her several seconds to understand. The room seemed to be spinning around her.
“Ian?” Her speech sounded slurred and she found she had difficulty focusing. It was like there were two JJs standing over her… or maybe three.
“You’re gonna be okay, Emily.” The JJ to her right looked like she’d been crying.
“What’s…?” Her tongue was made of lead in her mouth.
“Ssh, stop trying to talk.” That made a little more sense. Emily’s head lolled to the side and she found she was lacking the strength to lift it properly.
“But…”
“Emily, I’m so sorry we didn’t get there sooner.” JJ’s hand squeezed hers. Emily found it difficult to keep her eyes open, as if they were weighted down. “He almost killed you.”
“Still here.” That felt a little better, a little smoother. Emily tried to squeeze JJ’s hand back.
“You survived him, Em. You did it.” A tear worked its way down, dripping off JJ’s chin. Emily wasn’t strong enough to lift her arm and wipe it away.
“Not what…” Every syllable was laborious, dropping off her lips into silence. “Seems.”
“Emily… what? I know you’re trying to tell me something but I can’t make it out.”
The room was spinning at a faster pace now and Emily let her eyes drop shut so she didn’t become nauseous. An image burned in her mind, a little blond boy with blue eyes. She could feel her muscles relaxing down again and there was an urgency in the back of her head, something she had to tell JJ…
“Love him…”
Emily melted into darkness.