Don't let go - Emily Prentiss & y/n

He kept his promise.

'They've called us in to find a different killer.' Hotch added.

'So... what? We're just supposed to forget about the father as a suspect?' Morgan quizzed Hotch.

'No. We're going to follow the local police's enquiries, but we're going to continue our investigation into Mr Walsh and the family history. We won't give up until we find answers.'

The team nodded in unison.

'JJ, you will interview Mrs Walsh, she's headed in here now.' JJ nodded. 'Reid, Rossi, go to the crime scene, find out what you can, and when you're done there, head to the morgue. Morgan, Prentiss, I want you both to travel to the hotel the husband was staying at. Find out if there's any CCTV within the hotel that could indicate when Mr Walsh was in and out of the hotel. Coordinate with Garcia, who'll be checking Mr Walsh's credit card transactions and any local CCTV around the town. Y/l/n, you'll stay behind with Garcia to help. I'll coordinate with the local police and see what other information they may have.'

Everyone looked around, a little confused as to why you'd been asked to stay behind.

'Right, let's get to work.' Hotch ordered. You all started getting up out of your seats and filing out of the room. Hotch indicated you stay behind, and once everyone had left he shut the door.

'You know, you don't have to do this case at all if you don't want to.' He said kindly.

'No, it's okay. I want to help.' You replied.

'You still have all of your annual leave that needs using up, you know.' He added. You nodded slowly.

'I know. But I'm okay, really. I appreciate you keeping me behind with Garcia, though. It gives me the distance I need but allows me to still help where I can.' Hotch looked at you, trying to read your body language.

'Okay. But you promise to let me know if it gets too much?'

'I will.' You confirmed as confidently as you could.

It already is.

'Okay. Off you go.' He flicked his head briefly towards the door.

'Yes sir.' You walked over to the door and let yourself out, walking to the bathroom to have a minute to yourself.

You walked in and was surprised to see Emily stood washing her hands.

'Hey,' she said 'you okay?'

'Hey, yeah are you?' You replied. She nodded.

'What was all that about? Hotch keeping you behind? It's hardly like Garcia needs the help.'

You shook your head as if you didn't know.

'No idea. Maybe he just thought there'd be a lot of information to sift through, who knows?'

Emily looked at you as if she didn't believe you.

'You sure everything's okay?' She asked, concern spreading over her face as she dried her hands with some paper towels.

'Yeah, why wouldn't it be?' You said, smiling.

You know why.

'Well, I just... usually any of us would be kicking and screaming if we didn't get to come out on a case. You're just gonna sit back and miss out on all the fun?' She joked, but was genuinely confused.

'I'd hardly call our job fun!' You laughed. 'But if it means not having to deal with our local police that's full of misogynistic men, then I don't mind sticking to behind the scenes just this once!'

Please get off my case.

'I see your point.' Emily said softly. 'I guess I'll see you then, Morgan and I have a long drive ahead of us.' She threw the paper towels in the bin.

'That you do. Drive safe.' You said, heading into one of the cubicles.

'We will.' Emily said, eyeing you all the way until you shut the door and then heading out the bathroom.

Once you heard the door shut and you knew you were alone, you dropped the mask you'd had plastered on your face throughout that entire interaction.

When you were younger, your father abused you, your brother and your mother badly. You all had those exact collar bone bruises yourself, plus a ton of other hidden ones no one knew about. Your mother never told anyone what was happening, and she stayed with your father despite knowing what he was doing to you, only to finally end things when he tried to kill her.

Your whole life your mother babied your brother, eventually threatening to call the police when your father hurt him badly one time. At that point, your father stopped hurting your brother and started ignoring him instead. You weren't sure what was worse.

But after that point, the abuse got worse for you. It wasn't just physical and emotional for you, it was other things too. Somehow your mother managed to pretend she hadn't noticed them happening, and it wasn't until your father moved out to live with another woman after they'd split that it stopped.

Growing up with a mother that kept your father's secret taught you to keep it too, and it wasn't until you joined the BAU, ironically because of men like your father, that you ever told anyone outside of your family what happened to you.

It was one of your first cases, similar to this one. You tried to pretend like you could handle it, but Hotch noticed you were off, pulled you in, and soon enough you were telling him everything that'd ever happened to you as a child.

You were convinced he was going to fire you for your outburst. You even cleared your desk out in preparation. But instead he told you that you were safe here, that no one could ever hurt you like that again, and that for as long as he was Unit Chief, he would make sure to take extra consideration when it came to cases like that one.

He kept his promise.

After taking some time to compose yourself, you walked out of the bathroom stall, washed your hands and splashed your face with some cold water. You looked up at yourself in the mirror, at the adult who had come so far despite what their father did to them.

I made it.

You dried your hands and headed out, ready to sift through some CCTV footage with Garcia and get this man locked up for good, something you only wish you could do to your father too.

You started crossing the room towards the corridor where Garcia's office was. Coming round the corner, you almost bumped into a woman walking with JJ.

'Oh sorry, I...' you looked down at the woman's collar bone.

It's her.

'No, I'm sorry.' She replied.

You couldn't take your eyes off her collar bone for a second.

'Agent y/l/n, are you okay?' JJ asked formally, pulling you out of your trance. You looked up at her, before remembering where you were supposed to be going.

'Sorry again.' You said to Mrs Walsh, and then stepped past her and JJ and headed to Garcia's office. JJ's eyes followed you until you were out of sight.

Getting to Garcia's office, you lingered at the door, your hand hovering over the handle.

I can't.

You turned to the left, followed the corridor to the next door along, and opened it. You'd never seen the cleaning supply room before, but here you were, trying not to cry in it.

Your heart rate sped up, and your breath got more shallow. You took some deep breaths in and out, trying to control it as best you could.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

After around 10 minutes of calming yourself down and checking your reflection in your phone camera, you took one last deep breath and then stepped out of the supply cupboard.