Safe now ( Emily prentiss )

Almost

They walked back slowly, taking in the city atmosphere: the gentle breeze and engines of passing cars. Elle noticed Addie randomly stop every few minutes and simply stare at the sky. She decided they would walk the long way back to the apartment; Addie deserved to do something relaxing and her usual distant manner was already easing as she rattled the older woman's ears off, talking about plants and flowers.

***

Cracks covered the neglected building, slithering up it's walls the way vines crawl up buildings. The windows, though still intact, had a layer of grime plastering them and even the shrubs around it seemed distressed in some way. The grass surrounding it was decaying too ; the once emerald green leaves were a molten mess of yellows and browns, forming a bruise like pattern.

Emily entered the abandoned place, slowly scanning each room. She and derek had taken the upstairs while Hotch and Reid searched the basement. With every blank room she turned into, she felt more and more hopeless.
"What if we don't find her, Derek? What if we're too late?" Her breath was jagged, loud in the quiet building. Derek shook his head.
"We'll find her. I swear." Derek knew he shouldn't make promises that big but seeing Emily this way broke him and the team.

"Let's check the last hallway, then we'll check in with Reid and Hotch. Okay?" Derek said, using a flashlight to illuminate Emily's face. The lights in the room had long been inoperable so they all had their trusty flashlights. Their footsteps echoed with each step despite their obvious attempt to quiet them. Rounding the corner, Emily caught sight of a small puddle of stagnant, shallow water: It couldn't have been there long. "Someone's been here. Recently," she whispered, mostly to herself. It was only then that she caught the reflection of herself in the dusky water. Her - normally soft and wavy - hair was dull and hung limply by her shoulders, sucked of any life; her eyes carrying luggage big enough for a family of ten. She made note to clean herself up as soon as she had the chance - no wonder the team was constantly checking on her.
"It's empty," Derek uttered at last, "Let's go see if Hotch found anything." He tried to keep his voice light. Emily nodded, lowering her gun and brushing her hair away from her sweating neck.

Downstairs, not much else had been found. Reid analysed everything he could, not that there was anything to begin with. Apologising to Emily, he went to talk to Derek. She tried to block out their hushed conversation, knowing it was about her girlfriend. Hotch walked towards her stiffly, eyebrows furrowed, "I'm sorry Emily. We really thought we had it." His voice was somber and expressive. "It's okay." Emily assured him, plastering a fake and heavy smile upon her face. "Someone has been here recently though. Could just be teens hanging around but we'll get forensics to check just in case." Hotch said to the team. Reid nodded, fiddling with his glasses. "I think we were right Jj was here. Somehow the unsub must have known we were coming and was able to transport her somewhere else. We should keep an eye on this place." Reid rambled, glancing between Emily, Hotch and Derek. "Sure. I'll get Garcia to get footage of everyone coming in and out the building as quick as I can. Cameras might take a while." Hotch said, leaving the room to call Garcia.

***

When Elle and Addie reached the apartment, Elle's phone rang immediately. Emily's name flooded the screen, flashing persistently.
"I'll be right back," she mumbled to Addie, leaving her alone in the living room. Addie hummed in acknowledgment before sitting down and turning on the tv. She found a new show to watch and was quickly encapsulated by the fast pace thriller. Minutes ticked by and Addie had barely glanced at the clock. When the movie arrived at the half way mark she paused and listened for the sound of Elle's voice. Accustomed to listening for her father's footsteps and hushed work calls in the middle of the night, it wasn't a challenge for her to decipher the words being mumbled into the phone. She didn't listen for long and turned the tv back on. 

"Is Jj okay?" She questioned when Elle came back, seeing the deflated look on the women's face. "She'll be fine," Elle replied, "what movie you watching?" Addie showed her the movie. "Hm never watched that before." "It's good." Elle realised the younger girl wasn't in the mood for talking, so they watched the rest of the movie silently.

It wasn't quite late enough to begin making dinner and Elle wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to entertain the teenager.
"So, what do you want to do now?" She asked, yawning. Addie shrugged her shoulders, looking away to the apartment window.
"When will Emily be back? Is Jj okay?" Addie said hesitantly. Elle debated what to do: Addie wasn't a child and she deserved to know what was happening but... she didn't want to risk Addie zoning out or working herself up to a fever. Addie, of course, noticed the minute pause.
"What happened?" She pried, turning her full attention on Elle. Elle took a deep breath and Addie noticeably tensed. Moving closer to the girl, Elle broke the news, "Addie, Jj... Jj ," Elle chose her words carefully, "went missing, while on the case. The team are working incredibly hard to find her..." her voice was cut out by Addie's footsteps as she stormed away. A second later, Elle heard the bedroom door slam. Atleast she knew Addie was becoming more comfortable around her; there was no way she would have slammed a door if she thought there was a chance of her getting punished afterwards. She cursed herself after realising she most definitely should have consulted Emily before telling the girl. There was no point telling Emily that Addie knew now - it would just stress her out even more.

***

"She was here, I know she was," Emily mumbled, pacing the length of the room. Hotch agreed with her and went over to talk to Reid (no doubt about more geographical profiling). Derek came over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, grounding her.
"We're going to find her." He kept repeating that phrase but Emily knew that it wasn't a matter of finding her it was finding her alive, which was proving to be more difficult. "Have you spoke to Addie recently? Maybe that would help?" She was aware that he was just trying to help but his voice was frustrating her even more. "No. I just want to find her, let's talk about the case. What do we know so far?" She asked, forcing herself to even her breathing. "Okay... let's talk about the case." Derek said finally, guiding her to sit down.