Consanguinity kills the cat(Criminal Minds fanfiction)

Chapter 26

Emily didn't want to leave the car when they parked in the parking garage underneath the building she'd once worked in... Still worked in even. She knew Garcia would be in there and right now she didn't know if she was ready to face anyone, but she had to go. Morgan had explained the importance of her seeing everyone and no matter how much she just wanted to go home, take a shower and crawl into bed, her team deserved to see with their own eyes that she was okay. Or as okay as she could be.

"Are you ready?" Morgan asked, taking her hand in his.

Emily slowly nodded her head and murmured something incoherent, but Morgan didn't ask her to repeat it. Instead he brought her hand up to his lips and placed a featherlight kiss to her knuckles before opening his door and stepping outside. He already knew that Emily wouldn't follow his lead so he walked around the car and opened her car door too, hoping that she would willingly step out.

Emily continued to stare straight ahead and moved her hand up to her mouth to bite on her already short fingernails. Derek sighed sadly and crouched down, taking her hand to get her to both stop and to look at him. Her dark orbs met his with a sadness written deep in them.

"Emily... Princess... You can do this. I know you are hurting and what you went through will haunt you for a very long time. I want to help you through it, I will help you through it. I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Emily's eyes started to tear up at Morgan's words. "First I need you to do something for me, for the team. They need to see you. I know it's hard, but they're our family and they need to see that you're okay. As a matter of fact, I know one worried baby girl who's waiting for you right now. So please, you can do this!"

Emily gulped back the remainder of her tears and took a deep breath before letting Morgan lead her outside. Still clutching his hand, they walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. Emily tried to keep calm as they waited for the elevator to arrive. It was a hard task when all she wanted was to run in the other direction. Still, she stood there when the elevator announced its arrival and the couple walked inside, pressing another button to take them to the right floor. Morgan squeezed Emily's hand when they in silence rode up. He looked at her and saw the nervousness all over her body language, her compartmentalizing skill failing completely. When they finally arrived to their floor, Emily was like nailed to the floor. She couldn't get herself to move out. Morgan sighed and looked sadly at her again.

"Come on, princess, you're almost there," Morgan encouraged her.

"Can't we just go home? I don't want any pity looks," Emily said with a shrug.

"Yes, they will give you that look, but they've just been so worried," Morgan told her.

"Gee, thanks. No 'Of course they won't give you that, everything will be fine'?"

"Do I detect some sarcasm?" Morgan smiled at her.

"Sorry," Emily said and actually stepped out of the elevator. "Okay, let's go."

Together they walked through the glass doors to the bullpen. A couple of agents looked up at the sound of someone entering, but it was the pacing colorful blonde who suddenly made a quick stop and turned to them that caught their attention.

"Oh my God," she breathed out. "It's really you. You're really here."

Garcia hurried over to the couple and immediately threw her arms around Emily, hugging her tightly.

"Careful, baby girl, you might hurt her," Morgan warned.

"No, it's fine, Derek," Emily assured. "I'm glad to be back."

Emily forced a smile as Garcia pulled away.

"How are you, sweet pea? What happened to you? Are you okay? Of course you're not okay, I mean..."