𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟐𝟖

"𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕?"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭

     "WHAT HAPPENED?" Emily asks as she meets Reid outside of the hospital.  They both start quickly walking to the elevator.

"I believe she was experiencing a panic attack." Reid says, "I don't know if you remember, but I mentioned Noah having IED, which is—"

"Intermittent explosive disorder." Emily finishes his sentence as they get on the elevator, "Yeah, I know.  I did some research."

"It's better to receive therapy as soon as possible—"

"I know.  It's just hard when you have a kid that doesn't wanna do anything that someone else tells her to do."

"Because she's never had the power to say no before," Reid explains as the doors open on the ICU floor.

Emily immediately spots the teen and runs to her side.

"Noah?" Emily frets as she approaches Noah, who is now curled into a ball, shaking in fear, "Are you okay?"

The teen shakes her head.

"What's wrong?" Emily softly asks.  Noah looks up at Emily and holds back all her emotions.  Luckily for her, Emily already knows what Noah wants to say.

"Will you stand up so we can go somewhere?"

Noah nods and slowly stands to her feet, regaining her balance.

Emily walks behind the teen as they make their way out of the hospital.  Noah seems to be storming, almost stomping her feet as she walks.  Emily can tell that the teen is upset with herself for showing too much weakness.  She can see it in the way she is avoiding eye contact, walking with her arms crossed over her stomach, and her head facing the ground.

They sit silently in the car and make the short drive to the BAU.

As they park, Emily stays in her seat.  Noah does not dare to move, knowing Emily wants to say something.

"You have to talk to me at some point," Emily says.

"I will," Noah mutters.

"When?"

"I don't know—"

"That's not good enough, Noah." Emily states.

"What do you want, Emily?  A time and a place?" The teen snaps.

"I want you to stop being afraid of being vulnerable."

"I'm not—" Noah cuts herself off and takes a deep breath, "I'm not afraid of being vulnerable..." She says in a nicer tone.

"Then, what is it?"

"I'm afraid of talking about it because it makes it real." Noah sniffles, "And I'm not ready for it to be real." She adds and opens her car door.

Emily sits in the car for a moment.  Emily does not have to try to understand what the teen means; she knows exactly what she meant.  She cannot be mad at Noah for something that she does herself.  It is simply what the Prentiss family has always done best: the art of compartmentalizing everything they do not want to face.

—
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

"You can sit in here until I come to check on you." Emily says as she opens Hotch's office door, "And don't touch anything." She pleads, knowing that Hotch was only giving up his office so the teen would keep her nose out of Penelope's case.

Noah slumps on the couch as soon as Emily closes the door.  She looks out into the bullpen and watches Emily and JJ walk into the round table room.

Noah's eyes wander around Hotch's office.  She sees pictures of his family, mostly Jack and Hayley.  An 'exemplary service' award that was given to Hotch sits proudly on the wall.  There are books upon books sitting on the shelves behind his desk.  An FBI manual that Noah knows Emily swore an oath to stands boastfully on its own side of one of the shelves.

Noah takes her eyes away from her surroundings and opens her phone.  She stares at her few contacts.  She does not want to talk to Emily or anyone from the team — she wants a friend.  She clicks on one of her contacts and holds the phone to her ear.

"Hey..." A familiar voice answers and Noah's face lights up, "You've called the phone of Reef!  But I didn't pick up.  Sorry 'bout that but I'm probably in the middle of something extremely important.  I'll hit ya' later!"

Noah rolls her eyes as she listens to the sound of Parker's voicemail.  Normally, she would probably find his custom voicemail message funny, but she has no strength in herself to smile.

The teen hangs up and hovers her finger over a different contact.  She decides to get over her insecurity and call the person she really wanted to talk to.

"Hey..." A light voice emits in a strange tone.

"Jess?"

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a/n: i know this is very short, i'm sorry...but it felt like the right place to end the chapter.