In Her Eyes - A Criminal Minds Fiction

Chapter 2: Secrets

...
"...You need to come here." Jeremy said.

"Does she know?" Emily asked.

"She came to the hospital with him today and as soon as they got here he had a seizure. She saw everything."

"Oh no" Emily said heartbroken.

"She's with Callie right now and we're gonna tell her."

"She doesn't know it all yet?" Emily asked.

"No. Dad wants me to tell her right now."

"Wait for me Jeremy. I'll be there soon" Emily said. "I'm on my way to the airport right now."

"Dad doesn't want you here when I tell her. He thinks she'll get mad at us and he doesn't want her to get mad at you because she'll need you, Em. She's so scared and she needs you and I don't want her to think everyone betrayed her and she's alone or something like that. I know she'll be mad at all of us for lying to her but you can't be the one telling her that her dad will die." Jeremy said trying hard not to sob at the end.

"I'll get there as soon as I can. And anything message me, okay?" She said fighting her own tears.

"Okay" Jeremy answered and hung up.

Emily was in shock. She didn't know how to explain to her team what was going on, so she just sat there speechless.

"Em? Is everything okay?" Derek Morgan, one of her team members, asked. She didn't answer. "Emily!?" He said with a strong voice and she didn't even jump.

"Can we use the jet to go to Seattle?" She asked.

"What? Seattle?" Aaron Hotchner, her boss, asked.

"What happened?" JJ and Penelope asked at the same time. (Penelope had to go to Texas with them this time)

"A friend of mine... Unm. He's unm." She tried to say it but the thought of her daughter in a hospital scared to death was not letting her think straight.

Derek who was sitting next to her squeezed her arm.
"Em. What happened?" He said.

"He's dying. And I need unm... I need to go there" she said trying hard to fight the ocean forming in her eyes.

"Of course we can go there." Hotch said.

"Thank you" she said and just stared out the window. "I'll explain better on the plane, okay?" She said. She knew they were wondering what was going on and she knew they paid attention to the phone call but she couldn't just say it, she needed a little time to process.

"Okay" Hotch said.

They were a few minutes away from the airport and she spent the entire time thinking what exactly she would tell them. How would she tell them she had an 8 year-old daughter that no one knew about? She knew she could trust them and after a few months working at the BAU she started thinking about telling them so Bella could visit her and they could spend more time together but when she talked to John he didn't think it was a good idea. So they still didn't know.

Emily was silent until the sat on the private FBI jet. Everyone was waiting for her to start talking.

"So. What's going on Emily?" Derek asked.

"This is going to sound crazy. And you might judge me and that's fine because I know I did the right thing. I wanted to tell you all before but he didn't think I should." She said not looking at any of them.

"I have unm..." She said and looked at JJ. She couldn't believe she was telling them.
"I have a daughter." She said and waited for their reaction.
Everyone was surprised of course.

"You have a little Prentiss?" Penelope asked with tears in her eyes and a huge smile.

"Yes" Emily answered smiling back at her.

"Is she alright?" Spencer asked worried.

"She's okay. It's her father. Umm. He has cancer." She said, her eyes tearing up again with all the thinking about Bella.

"I'm so sorry" Spencer said.

"Are you married? Divorce? Or what?" JJ asked a bit confused.

"No no." She let out a little laugh. "Umm... he was one of my best friends when I was young and it was a one time thing, I was drunk, things happened and a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant. People were telling me all these things that could happen because of my career choices and I knew it could happen to her and I had to make sure she was safe so her father and I came up with this whole thing and one of my friends helped us and it wasn't even on my file that I was pregnant or anything. She always lived with her dad" she said.

Everyone was in awe. They couldn't really believe what they were hearing.

"Does she knows you're her mom? or unm..." Penelope asked.

"She knows. I visit her as much as I can. She travels with her dad all over the country and I meet them sometimes." Emily said.

"What's her name? How old is she?" Derek asked. Everyone was excited about the news but concerned at the same time.
They were all smiling.

"Bella. Well it's Isabella. She's almost 9." Emily said smiling too now.

"You have an 8 year-old?" JJ asked surprised.

"I do" Emily laughed. And everybody too.

"Do you have any pictures?" Penelope asked.

"Im sure you can find one. Her father's name is John Marshall" Emily said. And of course Penelope did at that second. She clicked in pictures and everyone couldn't believe how much they looked alike.

"Oh my god Em. She's your copy" JJ said.

"She really is" Hotch said with almost a smile.

They were all looking at the pictures and saying how crazy it was that Isabella looked so much like her mother.

"It's like I'm looking at a picture of little Emily" David said.

"But Em. What exactly is going on with her dad?" JJ asked and everyone's faces changed.

"He found out he had cancer 3 years ago and is on and off remission but this time the treatment didn't work and he had to stop because it was making him even sicker. He didn't want Bella to see him like that you know." She said.

"I'm really sorry" Spencer said.

"She doesn't know, does she? That's why you were telling that Jeremy to wait for you?" Derek asked.

"Her dad, unm John, he thought it would be best not to tell her. He didn't want her to be afraid all the time because of this. She's a very tough kid but she's just a kid you know"

"Will he wait for you?" Hotch asked.

"No. John wants him to tell her right now to give her some time to process everything before I get there. So she won't be so mad at me too" Emily said.

"So Jeremy is her half-brother?" David asked looking at one of the pictures and seeing how Jeremy looked a bit like john.

"Yeah. He's 25. He's a doctor too." Emily said.

"She's gonna be alright Em." JJ said noticing her friend was nervous.

"She has all of us now" Penelope said.

"And she has a really good mom" Derek said.

Emily smiled at all of them. She was happy her friends understood and didn't seem to be judging her for her choices. She was glad she had them. But all she wanted was to hug her baby. She couldn't stop thinking about Bella.