1 Criminal Minds Angst Bingo Fic (Postage Stamp)
This is what happens when I wake up from nightmares at four in the morning and can't get back to sleep: I write fic about it.
Three Minutes - Criminal Minds - Emily Prentiss - Words: 2,118
Written for Angst Bingo Hiatus Challenge, Prompts: Assault, Loss of Job/Income, Trapped, Secrets (Wild Card)
Summary: Emily keeps her secrets closer than anything else.
Content Notes: Rape. R.
Author Notes: Takes place shortly after Emily Prentiss joins the BAU in season two.
On AO3: Three Minutes
On DW: Three Minutes
Emily turned down another long hallway, her shoes almost sinking in the dusty and slightly moldy carpet. The enormous house had been abandoned, probably for more than a few decades, but there were signs of recent habitation. They had found the unsub's nest, she was certain of it. Morgan had called for backup just before they'd entered the front door, neither of them willing to risk waiting and losing the unsub if he saw them and slipped out into the forest surrounding the house. The sun was rapidly setting, and if the unsub escaped tonight that would mean another woman would be raped and murdered and left on the street for someone to stumble across in the morning light.
Swinging her flashlight, Emily looked down the hallway in the opposite direction where Morgan was opening each doorway and determinedly checking inside. They'd already cleared the rooms on the first floor and knowing that Hotch and the others, hopefully accompanied by enough local cops to surround the place, would be there soon, they'd continued to the second floor.
She started down the hallway, her finger on the trigger and ready to shoot as soon as she saw movement, opening each door she came across and checking in room after empty room. The only thing she saw moving were spiders lurking in giant webs and cockroaches skittering away from the light of her flashlight and into the decaying walls. About ready to collect Morgan and move onto the next floor, Emily opened the last door at the end of the hallway and was confronted with a set of stairs instead of an empty room.
Holding her flashlight in her non-dominate hand, her gun raised at an angle so she could shoot above the stairs as she quietly crept up, Emily scanned the new room. It seemed to be some kind of storage area for the house, furniture covered in sheets and a huge window overlooking the woods that surrounded them, the moon rising just above the tree-line. She finished scanning the room, seeing a doorway that probably connected into the main hall on the third floor that she would check when they searched the next level, but nothing else of interest. She was about to turn to go back down the stairs when the breath was knocked out of her as she was tackled from behind.
Her vision went black as a stunning pain blossomed in her head as she went down to the floor. The moment of incapacity, her ears ringing and her body disoriented as she tried to find the ground beneath her, was all the unsub needed. Emily had always thought herself to be adept in the tasks she needed to do her job; she was smaller than most unsubs they came across, but she could shoot and fight alongside the best of the BAU, and she always kept a cool head. None of that was changing the fact that she could see her flashlight and gun where they'd skidded out of reach and that the man pressing down on her back was effectively keeping her from fighting or even being able to draw enough breath to scream.
The moment where she'd fallen, her forehead throbbing to let her know exactly how hard she'd gone down, had effectively taken her out of the equation: she could feel that the unsub had already pushed down her pants and underwear and wasn't wasting any time. A blitz attack, she thought even as she pushed up against the weight of the unsub to try and get enough leverage to roll free; just like they'd profiled back at the police station.
The unsub struck her across the back of her head, her vision darkening and her ears buzzing loud enough to briefly drown out the grunts as the unsub pushed into her with a sharp burn. His hands were wrapped around her upper arms, pressing her down against the dusty wood floor. She could barely raise her face enough to breathe. Emily locked her eyes on her flashlight, the beam resting on a white sheet that fluttered in a draft like a childhood ghost on Halloween.
It was over faster than Emily had time to process, the unsub's grip tightening as he ejaculated inside of her, and then freezing as they both heard the shout of Morgan calling for her. His voice was distant, far away, but close enough that he'd be able to hear her if she shouted.
Emily scrambled for her gun as soon as the unsub's weight left her, her limbs feeling unusually uncoordinated. By the time she reached it, the unsub had disappeared through the door that she'd thought led out onto the third floor and Morgan's voice was getting closer.
A split second was all the time she had to make the decision, so fast that it hardly felt like a conscious choice at all. Emily pulled her pants back up, grateful that the fabric hadn't torn, and dragged herself up. It felt like she was swimming to the surface from the bottom of the ocean. She took one deep breath, and then another; standing up unsteadily but at last on her own feet with her gun clutched tightly in one hand. "I'm up here," she called, her own voice sounding distant to herself.
"Emily!" It was Hotch's voice that responded, and a few moments later footsteps were thundering up the stairs.
Hotch and Morgan were the first in the room, with Reid and Gideon right behind them. The rest of them took in their surroundings but Hotch's gaze was fixed on Emily. "Are you alright?" he asked, his sharp eyes taking in her appearance even though they were all careful not to blind her with their flashlights.
"Fine, I just hit my head. The unsub attacked me, knocked me to the floor. I didn't even see him," Emily said, an unnatural calm settling over her. "He went through that door, just a minute ago."
"Gideon, Morgan, Reid," Hotch said, his instructions implicit.
They were clearly unwilling to leave her right away, but they had to catch the unsub, everything else would wait. For the first time Emily got to see Hotch's eyes as he sent his team out after a dangerous unsub; usually she was right alongside the team, the pound of adrenaline washing away everything except the urgency to catch the unsub. Now though, she could see the fear and anger and determination all mixing together and then disappearing as if they'd never existed at all. Morgan led the way out of the door, his gun drawn and ready, with Gideon and Reid right behind him. Reid looked back once, his concern for her open and clear for anyone to see.
"Can you walk?" Hotch asked her when the rest of the team had left. "There are paramedics at the roadside in front of the house."
Emily nodded, taking a few steps and crouching down to pick up her flashlight. The earpiece to her radio had fallen out at some point and was dangling uselessly at the front of her vest. She considered putting it back in, listening as the search was conducted, but she couldn't find it in her to care at the moment. They would catch the unsub because there wasn't any other option. She felt numb, disconnected from her body and from everything surrounding her.
Semi-aware of Hotch's scrutiny, she followed him down the stairs and back down the hall. Any disconnect, any startle responses or flinches in the next few hours they would write off as a reaction to head trauma, or to being hurt for the first time in the field since she joined the team. After that she was on her own to control her reactions. They walked down the staircase onto the main level, local law enforcement officers rushing past in various directions, trying to cover as much ground as possible. Emily reached up and smoothed her hair, rediscovering all the tender places on her head.
She was taking a gamble and she knew it. Hotch and Gideon both profiled people as easily as they breathed air, Reid and Morgan weren't far behind, and even though JJ and Garcia weren't profilers they were both frighteningly perceptive. Emily had a lot of practice keeping secrets, all of them with good reason, and this wasn't any different. She was all too aware of how difficult it was for women to get anywhere within law enforcement and the government, and even more aware of how tenuous her own position was within the BAU even without taking that into consideration. If Hotch knew, he would find a reason to transfer her out, Emily was sure of it.
Of course, if he ever figured out that she had kept this from them, it would end with the same result. There was always the possibility that the unsub, when they captured him, would talk. But Emily doubted it. Anyone who would spend the minutes it took to assault - she carefully removed the word rape from her thoughts, it was too charged for her to apply it to herself in that moment - someone while they were being hunted by the FBI was operating out of a compulsion that they weren't able to stop. The unsub wouldn't be proud of what he was doing, wouldn't brag about it to them when he was being interrogated. Her secret was safe with her as long as she could convince the team that she was fine. They didn't know her well yet, didn't know how she reacted under pressure. She could do this.
When she flinched, just barely, as the paramedic leaned into check the bleeding wound on her forehead, Hotch backed away a few steps to give her the illusion of privacy. He didn't go far, not far enough that he wouldn't be able to see her, and Emily was starting to realize that he was protecting her in the same way that he would protect any member of the team. It was a nice thought, but she knew there was a divide now in her mind between herself and the rest of the team. She wasn't one of the team, maybe wouldn't ever really be.
"Doesn't look like you have a concussion, does anywhere else hurt?" the paramedic asked as he finished bandaging her forehead.
Emily did a quick mental inventory of her body before blocking the sensations again. Her shoulders and back ached where she'd been held down, her chest and forearms were still half numb from where she'd first hit the floor, and there was an uncomfortable burning from between her legs. She would survive, deal with the rest in the privacy of her apartment, get herself checked for STDs in a few weeks when there was no evidence of the bruising. "I'm fine. Bruised knees, throbbing head," Emily offered as upbeat as she could muster.
"If you get nauseous, blurred vision-"
"Or any other symptoms of a concussion go to a hospital," Emily finished, sliding down from the edge of the ambulance. "Thank you." She walked away before the paramedic had the opportunity to say anything else.
Hotch had turned away to talk on the radio, but turned back when he heard Emily approach. "They've got him. Morgan tackled him as he was trying to get out a side exit."
Emily nodded. "Good." It was good. He would go to prison for the rape and murder of eight women and Emily could press the case into the back of her mind with everything else that had never officially happened.
She watched alongside Hotch as Morgan exited the house with the cuffed unsub being pushed along in front of him, Gideon and Reid following close behind. Emily took a few minutes to take a good look at the unsub, the sheer muscle mass and his slightly disoriented expression. There were freely bleeding scrapes on his bare arms, probably from where Morgan had took him down, and Emily found herself glad that he hadn't felt the need to go easy on the unsub. She wouldn't have objected if he'd found the need to shoot the unsub, aiming to kill, but she pressed that thought away as well.
"Good," she said again as Morgan forced the unsub into the back of a police cruiser. The unsub had never once looked in her direction as he was being led out. The rest of the team made their way over to them, each of them expressing concern but accepting her reassurances. She was safe as long as none of them ever really got to know her, and that wasn't a problem. No one had ever really known her.
Three Minutes - Criminal Minds - Emily Prentiss - Words: 2,118
Written for Angst Bingo Hiatus Challenge, Prompts: Assault, Loss of Job/Income, Trapped, Secrets (Wild Card)
Summary: Emily keeps her secrets closer than anything else.
Content Notes: Rape. R.
Author Notes: Takes place shortly after Emily Prentiss joins the BAU in season two.
On AO3: Three Minutes
On DW: Three Minutes
Emily turned down another long hallway, her shoes almost sinking in the dusty and slightly moldy carpet. The enormous house had been abandoned, probably for more than a few decades, but there were signs of recent habitation. They had found the unsub's nest, she was certain of it. Morgan had called for backup just before they'd entered the front door, neither of them willing to risk waiting and losing the unsub if he saw them and slipped out into the forest surrounding the house. The sun was rapidly setting, and if the unsub escaped tonight that would mean another woman would be raped and murdered and left on the street for someone to stumble across in the morning light.
Swinging her flashlight, Emily looked down the hallway in the opposite direction where Morgan was opening each doorway and determinedly checking inside. They'd already cleared the rooms on the first floor and knowing that Hotch and the others, hopefully accompanied by enough local cops to surround the place, would be there soon, they'd continued to the second floor.
She started down the hallway, her finger on the trigger and ready to shoot as soon as she saw movement, opening each door she came across and checking in room after empty room. The only thing she saw moving were spiders lurking in giant webs and cockroaches skittering away from the light of her flashlight and into the decaying walls. About ready to collect Morgan and move onto the next floor, Emily opened the last door at the end of the hallway and was confronted with a set of stairs instead of an empty room.
Holding her flashlight in her non-dominate hand, her gun raised at an angle so she could shoot above the stairs as she quietly crept up, Emily scanned the new room. It seemed to be some kind of storage area for the house, furniture covered in sheets and a huge window overlooking the woods that surrounded them, the moon rising just above the tree-line. She finished scanning the room, seeing a doorway that probably connected into the main hall on the third floor that she would check when they searched the next level, but nothing else of interest. She was about to turn to go back down the stairs when the breath was knocked out of her as she was tackled from behind.
Her vision went black as a stunning pain blossomed in her head as she went down to the floor. The moment of incapacity, her ears ringing and her body disoriented as she tried to find the ground beneath her, was all the unsub needed. Emily had always thought herself to be adept in the tasks she needed to do her job; she was smaller than most unsubs they came across, but she could shoot and fight alongside the best of the BAU, and she always kept a cool head. None of that was changing the fact that she could see her flashlight and gun where they'd skidded out of reach and that the man pressing down on her back was effectively keeping her from fighting or even being able to draw enough breath to scream.
The moment where she'd fallen, her forehead throbbing to let her know exactly how hard she'd gone down, had effectively taken her out of the equation: she could feel that the unsub had already pushed down her pants and underwear and wasn't wasting any time. A blitz attack, she thought even as she pushed up against the weight of the unsub to try and get enough leverage to roll free; just like they'd profiled back at the police station.
The unsub struck her across the back of her head, her vision darkening and her ears buzzing loud enough to briefly drown out the grunts as the unsub pushed into her with a sharp burn. His hands were wrapped around her upper arms, pressing her down against the dusty wood floor. She could barely raise her face enough to breathe. Emily locked her eyes on her flashlight, the beam resting on a white sheet that fluttered in a draft like a childhood ghost on Halloween.
It was over faster than Emily had time to process, the unsub's grip tightening as he ejaculated inside of her, and then freezing as they both heard the shout of Morgan calling for her. His voice was distant, far away, but close enough that he'd be able to hear her if she shouted.
Emily scrambled for her gun as soon as the unsub's weight left her, her limbs feeling unusually uncoordinated. By the time she reached it, the unsub had disappeared through the door that she'd thought led out onto the third floor and Morgan's voice was getting closer.
A split second was all the time she had to make the decision, so fast that it hardly felt like a conscious choice at all. Emily pulled her pants back up, grateful that the fabric hadn't torn, and dragged herself up. It felt like she was swimming to the surface from the bottom of the ocean. She took one deep breath, and then another; standing up unsteadily but at last on her own feet with her gun clutched tightly in one hand. "I'm up here," she called, her own voice sounding distant to herself.
"Emily!" It was Hotch's voice that responded, and a few moments later footsteps were thundering up the stairs.
Hotch and Morgan were the first in the room, with Reid and Gideon right behind them. The rest of them took in their surroundings but Hotch's gaze was fixed on Emily. "Are you alright?" he asked, his sharp eyes taking in her appearance even though they were all careful not to blind her with their flashlights.
"Fine, I just hit my head. The unsub attacked me, knocked me to the floor. I didn't even see him," Emily said, an unnatural calm settling over her. "He went through that door, just a minute ago."
"Gideon, Morgan, Reid," Hotch said, his instructions implicit.
They were clearly unwilling to leave her right away, but they had to catch the unsub, everything else would wait. For the first time Emily got to see Hotch's eyes as he sent his team out after a dangerous unsub; usually she was right alongside the team, the pound of adrenaline washing away everything except the urgency to catch the unsub. Now though, she could see the fear and anger and determination all mixing together and then disappearing as if they'd never existed at all. Morgan led the way out of the door, his gun drawn and ready, with Gideon and Reid right behind him. Reid looked back once, his concern for her open and clear for anyone to see.
"Can you walk?" Hotch asked her when the rest of the team had left. "There are paramedics at the roadside in front of the house."
Emily nodded, taking a few steps and crouching down to pick up her flashlight. The earpiece to her radio had fallen out at some point and was dangling uselessly at the front of her vest. She considered putting it back in, listening as the search was conducted, but she couldn't find it in her to care at the moment. They would catch the unsub because there wasn't any other option. She felt numb, disconnected from her body and from everything surrounding her.
Semi-aware of Hotch's scrutiny, she followed him down the stairs and back down the hall. Any disconnect, any startle responses or flinches in the next few hours they would write off as a reaction to head trauma, or to being hurt for the first time in the field since she joined the team. After that she was on her own to control her reactions. They walked down the staircase onto the main level, local law enforcement officers rushing past in various directions, trying to cover as much ground as possible. Emily reached up and smoothed her hair, rediscovering all the tender places on her head.
She was taking a gamble and she knew it. Hotch and Gideon both profiled people as easily as they breathed air, Reid and Morgan weren't far behind, and even though JJ and Garcia weren't profilers they were both frighteningly perceptive. Emily had a lot of practice keeping secrets, all of them with good reason, and this wasn't any different. She was all too aware of how difficult it was for women to get anywhere within law enforcement and the government, and even more aware of how tenuous her own position was within the BAU even without taking that into consideration. If Hotch knew, he would find a reason to transfer her out, Emily was sure of it.
Of course, if he ever figured out that she had kept this from them, it would end with the same result. There was always the possibility that the unsub, when they captured him, would talk. But Emily doubted it. Anyone who would spend the minutes it took to assault - she carefully removed the word rape from her thoughts, it was too charged for her to apply it to herself in that moment - someone while they were being hunted by the FBI was operating out of a compulsion that they weren't able to stop. The unsub wouldn't be proud of what he was doing, wouldn't brag about it to them when he was being interrogated. Her secret was safe with her as long as she could convince the team that she was fine. They didn't know her well yet, didn't know how she reacted under pressure. She could do this.
When she flinched, just barely, as the paramedic leaned into check the bleeding wound on her forehead, Hotch backed away a few steps to give her the illusion of privacy. He didn't go far, not far enough that he wouldn't be able to see her, and Emily was starting to realize that he was protecting her in the same way that he would protect any member of the team. It was a nice thought, but she knew there was a divide now in her mind between herself and the rest of the team. She wasn't one of the team, maybe wouldn't ever really be.
"Doesn't look like you have a concussion, does anywhere else hurt?" the paramedic asked as he finished bandaging her forehead.
Emily did a quick mental inventory of her body before blocking the sensations again. Her shoulders and back ached where she'd been held down, her chest and forearms were still half numb from where she'd first hit the floor, and there was an uncomfortable burning from between her legs. She would survive, deal with the rest in the privacy of her apartment, get herself checked for STDs in a few weeks when there was no evidence of the bruising. "I'm fine. Bruised knees, throbbing head," Emily offered as upbeat as she could muster.
"If you get nauseous, blurred vision-"
"Or any other symptoms of a concussion go to a hospital," Emily finished, sliding down from the edge of the ambulance. "Thank you." She walked away before the paramedic had the opportunity to say anything else.
Hotch had turned away to talk on the radio, but turned back when he heard Emily approach. "They've got him. Morgan tackled him as he was trying to get out a side exit."
Emily nodded. "Good." It was good. He would go to prison for the rape and murder of eight women and Emily could press the case into the back of her mind with everything else that had never officially happened.
She watched alongside Hotch as Morgan exited the house with the cuffed unsub being pushed along in front of him, Gideon and Reid following close behind. Emily took a few minutes to take a good look at the unsub, the sheer muscle mass and his slightly disoriented expression. There were freely bleeding scrapes on his bare arms, probably from where Morgan had took him down, and Emily found herself glad that he hadn't felt the need to go easy on the unsub. She wouldn't have objected if he'd found the need to shoot the unsub, aiming to kill, but she pressed that thought away as well.
"Good," she said again as Morgan forced the unsub into the back of a police cruiser. The unsub had never once looked in her direction as he was being led out. The rest of the team made their way over to them, each of them expressing concern but accepting her reassurances. She was safe as long as none of them ever really got to know her, and that wasn't a problem. No one had ever really known her.