Scared

2. Emily

"Ok, I think I've got everything, no, wait, where are my keys? Where are my frickin' keys?"

Its been 8 years since I joined the FBI, my little Katy was only 4, but I still haven't got used to leaving all the time. I keep forgetting things and it gets on my nerves!

"Calm down, Prentiss, you will find them". Morgan said that so calmy, it almost calmed me down.

"Why do you call me Prentiss? We are not at work,Morgan. My name is Emily".

He looked at me, smiled and said

"Ok, Emily,why do you call me Morgan? My name is Derek! I'm just trying to calm you down".

"Ok, Derek, I'm sorry. I just hate leaving Katy all alone. I mean her birthday is in 3 months, what am I going to get her?".

"Emily, she is going to be 13, a teenager and besides you still have 3 months although I've heard she wants a dog. Look Katy's a good kid, nothing is going to happen. Hey, isn't that your keys?".

Morgan, you've got to love him.

"Yes they are my keys, ok so I've made her chicken soup,I've got my phone, my gun, my badge, my..."

Morgan cut in before I could go on.

"Christmas is coming you know, come on you've got everything".

I just hope he is right. I gave one last check, Morgan rolled his eyes, I wrote a note to Katy: 

Hi love, sorry that I had to leave. I made chicken soup for you, hope you like it, love mum.

I put on the alarm and closed the door, then I remembered we had a cat, so I told Morgan I was going in to give him some food. Sergio, the cat, really pleased with his meal, was purring. When we got in the car, Morgan drove off at full speed. Late as usual, because of me. As we got to the BAU, my team was waiting, JJ had the files about the case in her hand, she didn't look very happy, which we probably won't be when we see what's inside those folders. Reid gave me a tiny smile, or maybe he was pulling a face.

"Where were you? Prentiss I think it was you who took so long. Am I wrong?"said Hotch with his usual face, no expression. Hotch had a family but had lost them a few years ago. Sad, really, but he still enjoyed yelling at us, fair enough. Rossi jumped in.

"It's alright lets just get on the plane, or we may be looking at more victims". I felt like hugging him. He smiled then I thought actually no. We all started walking to our jet.I was thinking about Katy when JJ asked me

"It's Katy who is holding you back isn't it? I understand, I have a 4 year old son, Prentiss, I feel awful leaving him alone with Will. I know that for you it must be worse because there isn't any father to look after her. Hotch is just in a hurry. It's children from 8 to 10 years old getting murdered in L.A. There are loads of angry and sad parents so we want to get this over and done with. I'm sure you will understand".

Of course I understand, I would be very angry if I lost my daughter. In fact I don't think anger covers it.

"I understand, JJ thanks".

We got in the plane, put our seat-belts on and JJ started talking about the case we were going to have to deal with.

"Victims are from 8 to 10 years old, boy and girl, there are a count of 12 victims, he kills them every two days".

"Pattern" said Hotch. JJ went on

"The unsub goes from drowning, burning, burying alive to slaughtering and even poisoning"JJ had disgust on her face. I hate cases about children. They remind me to much of Katy.

"No signature?"I asked.

"Yes he puts little symbols around the belly button, but I don't know what it is" Reid said looking at the picture.

"It's a flower, the belly button is the middle, the half circles are supposed to be the petals. They are perfect. You can't draw that by hand." Morgan said.

"So how do they draw the flower?" I asked again.

"They carved it,its 1 cm deep. Might have used a scalped"said JJ with disgust again. Hotch's sell rang, he left and then came back after a few minutes.

"They've found another body, 9 year old girl, no ID yet. Dumped near a road". Hotch looked angry.

"Call Garcia and ask her to look up the missing persons list around the area. Ask for a missing 9 year old girl" Rossi ordered.

"How do you know she was 9?"asked Reid

"Found a school book, the girl had written that she was 9" said Hotch.

"Well can't you ID her that way? Isn't her name on the book?" I said.

"The killer blacked it out with a black marker pen." Hotch looked sad.

Morgan was just staring into the distance. Every one was quite tired so they all fell asleep. I looked at my watch and it was 2 o'clock in the morning. I pulled a blanket over me and closed my eyes. I never sleep well when I'm sitting down but I was tired so I fell asleep fast. I was dreaming when suddenly, someone was pocking me, I slapped their hand, then I started to be shaken. Maybe I was snoring, I should probably open my eyes.

"Emily, Emily, wake up, this is important!" That was JJ, I reconized her voice, she sounded worried. I opened my eyes, she was.

"What, are we there?"

"Emily, Katy wasn't home when Penelope came to pick her up. The chicken soup you left was gone so her or...someone was in your house. Penelope got worried and decided to drive to the bus stop to see if she could spot Katy on the way. Instead she found a body, she didn't look and then she dialed 911."

My world felt like it was falling apart. All my team was watching me. I tried to stand but Morgan sat me down.

"Please tell me it wasn't Katy"

"It isn't, police identified her as Lola Dink, a girl who is in Katy's class."

Tears ran down my face. I was so happy it wasn't my Katy. But we were half way to L.A., were we allowed to turn around? I don't care,I am. What was the last thing I told her? 

"Have a good day" that was the last word she heard of me. I'm an awful mother. I should have kissed her and hugged her and said "I love you darling". I should have picked her up, should have been there with my gun to shoot down that person who dared to touch my baby. Tears were really going down now. JJ was hugging me.

"We will find her, don't worry. We are turning back now."said Morgan.

"My Katy is probably dying right now and I'm sitting here being hugged. I should be with her or I should have been kidnapped, not her." I said wetting JJ's t-shirt with my tears. Then I thought pick yourself up woman. Your daughter is fighting for her life and you're just sitting here crying on your friend's shoulder. So I pulled pack,wiped my tears and said

"Ok, we are going to find this guy,and trust me he will not be happy when he see's me!"

JJ looked quite scared, I was just making this worse. She has also lost a close friend. Katy and JJ get on very well. They are like aunt and niece.

"We're all going to help you,don't worry.No one takes Katy like that!"Morgan sounded sincere.

"How long will it take till we get there?"I said impatiently

"3 hours" said Reid.