my girl, Lily Prentiss

five.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Emily read the letter out to the team, keeping her face straight. On the table in front of the team were piles upon piles of letters, pictures, drawings - everything. There were drawings of Emily, the team, and Lily. Pictures too, of Emily and the team. There were letters she'd written to Emily over the years, all found under her mattress.
"Garcia, I want a list of all of Harold's properties throughout the US. If it takes her four days to call me then there must be a reason why. Tara and Reid, look through these letters for any hints. The res tof you-" Prentiss sighed. She hated this. "Do what you need to do." She walked out, holding back her tears.

"You can't hurt her!" Emily found herself shouting at Harold.
"And what are you going to do about it?" He shouted back at her, kicking her in the ribs as she tried to crawl towards the young girl. Lily was being held away by her hair, her already matted and falling-out hair.
"Emmy!" Lily screamed as Prentiss toppled over, clutching her stomach and groaning in pain. Three days of continued torture. All because she tried to escape. She hated that her stupid actions were getting the girl hurt like this but she had to try, there wasn't going to be a better opportunity. Yet, the opportunity still wasn't good enough. Emily heard Lily crying, begging for help and weakly she lifted her head back. She couldn't bare the sight but she did it anyway. Punishing herself for letting the little girl be hurt so badly. She wanted to scream, kick and abuse Harold til he was a bleeding plump on the floor but she had no strength. Not anymore.

Garcia typed away on her computer when there was a soft knock at the door. She was checking out Harold's properties, to say he was in prison, he had quite a few.
"Come in," she said softly, not feeling like herself. JJ walked through the door and shut it quietly behind her.
"Hey, just wondering if you needed another set of eyes," she said, coming in and sitting beside Penelope.
"Thank you. How are you doing?" Garcia asked, flatly.
JJ sighed, it hurt her to see Emily hurting so badly. "I'm okay."
"I wish we could do something for her," Garcia said gently.
"We are doing something, we're looking for her," JJ told her, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder.
"What do you think will happen?"
"What do you mean? "
"Is she alive?"
JJ paused, not knowing. "What if she never even made it where she was expecting to go?"
"I think she's alive, we have to have faith. Until we're proven otherwise," JJ said gently then turned to the screen.

A few hours later, Garcia and JJ presented their findings to the team. Reid had done a geographic profile, based on his own parameters, Tara and Derek had scoured through the endless papers and all they really had were drawings and a few letters. They called Emily into the room, knowing they were one step closer.
"So we're thinking that wherever they've taken Lily has a hutch, she said near a lake but all of her drawings show a similar kind of theme. We think she'd been there before," Derek began.
"Harold owns four properties near lakes all at different parts of the country completely," Garcia told everyone.
"Based on the geographic profile, they have to be between these lines," Reid said, pointing at his fancy map.
"So that takes us down to three properties," Garcia sighed, crossing one off her list.
"I think it's closer than that," Emily said, speaking up. "Some nights, I managed to sneak out of the room. I would always hear the boys talking about the farm. Maybe it's some sort of farm property?"
"That cuts us down to two," Garcia said, smiling.
"Where?"
"One in Ohio, the other in South Carolina," JJ sighed.
"Ohio is 53.54% farmland, however, South Carolina has a lower population," Reid said.
"Do you have an address for both properties? We can't fly to both of them," Derek asked.
"I have their addresses, all their history, I can tell you how many bricks are in each other them," Garcia said.
"Send local PD to them both, looking for signs of life. Garcia collect phone numbers of neighbours, we'll ask around and go to the one with the most pointers," Emily said and left the room. They were closer, so much closer.

in ohio

"Lily! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Richard screamed at his sister, tearing the phone from her hands. Lily shook with fear, looking at her brother with tears in her eyes.
"I don't want to be here anymore Rich," she whimpered.
"You don't?" slap. "No?" slap again. "Get over it." Three more slaps. Lily tried her hardest not to show emotions. "You think you can escape me? Like you and that bitch tried to escape years ago? I don't fucking think so." Rich screamed. "We're a family and we belong together."

"Rich, Rich," Tommy said, coming into the small room.
"What? Are you going to let her leave?" Rich raised his hand to Tommy.
"Hit me, I'll only hit you harder Rich. Go take a breather, Lily needs to rest," Tommy sighed, surprisingly calm.
Rich let his arm drop, and he sent his sister one kick before walking out of the room. Tommy helped her up, being cautious of her bruises.
"Thank you," she whispered to him, clutching his arms for support. Her ankle was severely swollen and bruised, she was convinced it was broken but Rich wasn't letting her go anywhere.
"You need to start being good, Lily," Tommy warned her, setting her on the sofa. She gasped a little, looking at him. "You're only going to make him hurt you more if you keep being naughty." His voice was so condescending. "Why don't you get some rest now? We're going tomorrow," Tommy told his little sister. He pulled back the cover on the bed and encouraged her to lie down, she did. He tucked the thin blanket under her chin before kissing her head gently.
"I'll be back later for my present," he whispered in her ear before shutting out the light.

Lily shivered in the dark, she couldn't sleep. She knew Tommy would come back soon, yet she didn't know how long it had been since he left. In every position she got herself into, she felt uncomfortable and in pain. Her ankle throbbed, sending shooting pains up her leg she couldn't even think about. The only thing keeping her going was the mere thought of Emily. It had been years since Lily had felt the warmth, the love and the belonging she had with Emily and now, she needed it more than ever. She had always wanted to reach out to her but was so scared of the consequences. She knew it wasn't allowed and she despised getting in trouble, particularly with strangers. She could still remember Emily's smell, the way her fingertips dug into her back during one of her tight cuddles, the way Emily would sing her the same song every night to help her sleep. She craved that love, the attention - even just for a day. She needed Emily but she had no idea how to get her here. She prayed that Emily had found the letter, understanding and was on her way - particularly if they were leaving tomorrow. There was little time left.