Family is Everything

Case

Emily woke up early the next room. She was still in Juliet's room, so she must've fallen asleep while talking to the kid. Prentiss got out of bed and went to take a shower. When she got out, Juliet was still sleeping. She got changed and went to pack her bag. Then, she walked into the kitchen and made herself a coffee.
Juliet woke up all alone. Did Emily already leave? She stumbled out of bed and walked out to find Emily standing in the kitchen making her coffee.
"Good morning, sunshine," Prentiss said. Juliet smiled and walked over for a hug.
"How much longer til you leave?"
Emily looked down at her watch and responded with,
"I'm dropping you off at school, then leaving, so about twenty minutes."
School. Juliet did not want to go back to that hell hole. She just nodded sadly and looked down.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Emily said lifting the child's chin, only to find that the kid was starting to cry. Quickly, she pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair.
"Jules, you're a strong girl. I know you'll do fine a couple days without me. You'll be with Penelope and you always have fun with her," Prentiss said.
"I know, but I'm just going to miss you," Juliet said. Emily nodded and pulled back.
"Why don't you go get ready for school, and then eat? I need to finish packing." Juliet nodded and walked away sadly. Emily went back to her room and whipped out her phone.
"Hello?"
"Garcia, heads up, Juliet is still a little bummed out about the case so if she calls and asks to get picked up from school, it's okay with me," Prentiss told her.
"Okay, thanks for the heads up, Mama Prentiss."
"Bye Garcia," Emily laughed as she hung up.
She finished gathering her bag and stuff, and brought it out to the kitchen.
Juliet was sitting at the island eating a bowl of cereal dressed in a cute outfit for school, had her hair in a low pony, and a back packed for Penelope's.
"Wow, you're very prepared, aren't you? Prentiss asked.
"Well, I'm used to you leaving unexpectedly, so..." Juliet started to say. Emily instantly felt guilty and wished she never made that comment.
"I'm sorry, Juliet."
"I didn't mean it like that, mom," the child said back.
"It's just true. I mean, you always have a bag packed incase you have to leave and so do I. That's all I meant. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad," Juliet explained. Emily smiled and nodded her head. Then she kissed her little girl on the forehead and walked over to the bathroom. When she came out, Juliet was all ready to go.

Emily dropped Juliet off at school and then drove to the BAU with hers and Juliet's bags. She carried it all inside and dropped her bags at her desk, and took Juliet's to Penelope's room. Then, she walked back to her own desk and plopped down on her chair.
"How's Juliet?" Reid asked, making her look up.
"She's sad that we're leaving again, but other than that, she's okay," Emily replied. Reid nodded.
"Ready?" Morgan asked with his go bag all ready in one hand and his phone in the other. The two agents nodded and they made their way to the jet.
By the time everyone was on, the plane took off. Garcia quickly debriefed the team on what they were headed into. Apparently, there was someone killing women and cutting out their hearts. Plus, the children of the victims went missing too, but were never found. They were all only childs and had no father. After talking for a while, the team was able to develop a little bit of the profile. There was still about a half hour left of the flight. Reid and Rossi were playing chess, while Morgan and JJ were talking now about the football game. Meanwhile, Emily was sitting next to Hotch and he was asking about Juliet.
"So she slept well?" he wanted to know.
"Yeah."
"Well that's good."
Prentiss nodded.
"How are you doing?" he interrupted her thoughts. She turned back to him.
"I'm okay, I guess, you?"
"I'm good."
Prentiss nodded, not knowing what to say. Finally, the plane landed and the agents went to their set positions. JJ and Hotch spoke to the local sheriffs, Morgan and Emily went to talk to the latest victims families, and Rossi and Reid went to the morgue. Then, the team got back together and discussed what they found and figured out. They talked through the case for hours and not another body was found. It was getting late, so the team decided to head back to the hotel. Everyone got their own room. When Emily brought her bag up to hers, she immediately pulled her phone out to call her daughter.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Jules. It's me," Emily said cheerfully.
"Are you coming home?"
"No, not yet."
"Oh," the girl sounded really disappointed.
"I just wanted to call to see how your day went," Emily said.
"It was fine, I guess."
"Did anyone give you a hard time?"
"Not really," Juliet mumbled.
"Not really? Who was it?" Prentiss pushed to know.
"No one. I'm fine," Juliet told her.
"You better not be lying," Emily said.
"I'm not."
"Okay. Well, I love you Juliet, goodnight."
"Night mom, love you too," Juliet said then hung up. Prentiss smiled then put her phone down. She got in her bed and closed her eyes.

When she woke up, it was morning and she quickly sent Juliet a good morning text. Then, she showered and got changed. When she walked down to the lobby, Hotch, Rossi, Reid andMorgan were down there. They were waiting for JJ. When Emily got there, Reid walked over to her and said,
"We all got a text from Juliet last night."
"What did it say?" Emily asked.
"Goodnight. Stay safe, I love you all. And it had the heart emoticon."
"Oh that's my girl," Emily said with a smile.
That day, there was a crack in the case. The figured out what the unsub did, and who he was. When they reached his house, they barged in. Everyone split up. Emily went down to the basement and found a woman that was tied up. She drew her weapon, but the unsub came from behind and knocked her out with a piece of wood. She dropped her gun and fell to the floor. Emily cried out in pain and the unsub grabbed her gun. Hotch was right by the stairs and heard Emily. He rushed down and saw what happened. Prentiss was on the floor and she was bleeding from her head. The unsub had his gun trained on her and was about to shoot. Aaron didn't hesitate. He took the shot and got the unsub right in the head. The rest of the team heard them and followed him downstairs. Hotch rushed over to Emily and helped her up. Once she was standing, he slipped her arm around her and walked her upstairs to the ambulance. Meanwhile, Morgan and Rossi untied the woman. She started screaming,
"There's another one. He has a partner!" Morgan looked over at Rossi and sighed. The case wasn't over yet.

When the team emerged from the basement, they saw Emily and Hotch sitting on the back of an ambulance and a nurse was cleaning Emily up. Hotch was just sitting next to her talking.
"Dammit," he cursed himself.
"What are you upset about? We got the unsub," Prentiss said.
"I promised your daughter I wouldn't let you get hurt," he replied.
"Ooh, she's gonna be pissed," Emily said jokingly. Hotch just smiled at her and asked,
"Does it hurt?"
"A little, but I'll be fine," she said back. He nodded and gazed at her. Even with blood coming out of her head, she was still beautiful. He was taken out of his trance by Morgan.
"Hotch, the unsub, Joe, has a partner."
"How do you know?" Emily asked.
"The women in the basement told us," Reid replied.
"That could explain where the victims kids go. He could be taking the children, while Joe was getting the moms," Prentiss stated.
"Okay, when Emily gets all fixed up, we'll meet back at the police department and go over the new information. The unsub's partner changes everything," Hotch said.
"Okay, we'll head back, are you okay with staying with Emily?" Rossi asked.
Hotch nodded and the team left.
Prentiss turned to her boss and said,
"You didn't have to. I'm fine, really."
"I know," he said back.
The nurse finished cleaning up Emily and put a bandage over her forehead. Then the agents got up and got in their car. When they returned, the team had already figured somethings out and we're working with Garcia to find the person that fits the profile. After three hours of searching, they came up with a name, Richard Brown. The team rushed over to his house and found him in the living room with the last three victims missing kids. He pulled one close to him and trained his gun on her head. She was a little girl, maybe ten, and it really hit home for Emily. The child had long brown hair and dark chocolate eyes, with fresh tears in them.
"Let the children go, Richard," Hotch demanded.
"We can all work this out, if you just put the gun down," Rossi added.
"Why should I listen to you, you killed Joe," Richard yelled. JJ was able to gather the other two children and she took them out of the house with the help of Reid. That left Morgan, Rossi, Hotch, and Prentiss with the unsub.
"What about you?" Richard asked, looking at Emily.
"What do you mean?" Prentiss asked.
"You're a women, do you have any kids?" he asked with a crazy look on his face.
"Don't answer that," Hotch demanded.
Emily shut her mouth. She looked into the little girl's eyes, and it reminded her so much of Juliet. Oh how she wished she were home with her daughter cuddled up on the couch at that moment.
"God dammit, she will answer it, or I'll kill this girl. And don't even think about lying," Richard screamed.
"I have a daughter," Emily stammered.
"How old?"
"She's turning twelve next month," Prentiss replied.
With that, Richard pulled the trigger and killed the girl.
"No!" Emily screamed.
Immediately, she shot Richard and so did Hotch, Rossi and Morgan.
"That son of a bitch!" Prentiss yelled.
Rossi and Derek walked out of the house and Hotch walked up to Emily.
"Hey, Em. It's okay," he said.
"No it's not, she died because of me. I kept talking to him, and then he just shot her. He lied!" she screamed.
"He was a psychopath and a serial killer, so I didn't think he would be very trustworthy anyways," Hotch said trying to brighten the mood. Prentiss didn't even smile.
"Hey, this wasn't your fault, Emily," he said looking at her. She just sniffled and shook her head. The she walked out of the house.
By the time Emily reached the team, she recomposed herself and looked completely fine. Hotch officially declared the case closed and said the jet was leaving in thirty minutes.