Stay with me

Chapter 15

Hospital:

Emily was stirring in her sleep, Derek inched away to give her some room as she fidgeted. Alex and Rossi, who sat on their beds looked over to Emily.

"Where's Declan?" she mumbled between breaths.

Alex recognised that name from somewhere, but she couldn't pinpoint where from; she turned over to Rossi and he must've understood her expression and explained,

"Ian Doyle's son, the kid she'd been protecting."

Alex nodded as she remembered her talk with Garcia from when she first joined the team.

Emily started to move more, twisting to her side, "no, I need to help" she whined, "it's not safe".

Realising that she was probably having a nightmare, Derek tried to wake her by stroking her face and lightly shaking her shoulders.

"Emily, wake up. It's just a dream. Wake up"

Dave and Alex sat up, ready to step in and help if needed, but staying on their beds, as Emily would likely feel uncomfortable if she woke up with everyone crowded round her bed staring at her.

After a couple more taps on the face, Emily's eyes snapped open. Derek met her gaze, "hey, you okay?" he asked.

She looked at him blankly for a second as though her brain hadn't yet switched on, her eyes winced at the harsh fluorescent lightning beaming down on her. Then suddenly it hit her, Emily's knees where pulled quickly to her chest, the duvet was clenched in her fists and pulled up higher, her brow furrowed harshly, and eyes widened to a size Derek had never seen before.

"How did you find me?" she half-whispered, half-yelled.

Derek inched back and quickly glanced over to Alex and Rossi to check he heard her correctly, their expressions mirrored his own.

"What do you mean Emily? It's me, Derek" he stated trying to smile at her gently to keep her at ease.

She shuffled backwards so she was flush against the headboard, creating as much space as she could between her and the man in front of her, "no, don't lie to me, tell me why you're here!" She demanded, her shouting louder, trying to make herself seem more intimidating, but the breaking of her voice in several places (likely due to the growing effects of the fever) made her seem more like a sick, scared child.

Rossi and Alex rose from their beds and walked over to the commotion; Rossi motioned for Derek to step away as it was clear that his presence was distressing the brunette.

"Emily, you're okay, you're safe," Alex hushed, "what's wrong?"

Emily's eyes relaxed for a second when she saw them at her side, but the relief did not last long as Emily's hands flew to the sides of her head and she began to rock frantically back and forth "no, no! I don't understand. You're dead! I saw it." She cried, making herself more agitated and confused with every word.

Alex sat on the bed in front of her and held on to Emily's hands, gently pulling them away from her head and onto her lap, "Emily look at me, look at me" she soothed, trying to make eye contact with the hysterical woman. Emily's eyes flashed up to meet Alex's and back towards Derek, continuing in that way for a few moments, before finally managing to hold her gaze with the other woman and her rocking slowed.

"That's it, good" she nodded encouragingly. "Now I need you to tell me who that is you're looking at" she said, pointing over in Derek's direction, but never taking her eyes off Emily- searching so deeply it was as though she were trying to see through her eyes and find the source of the fear.

"What do you mean? He's right there, you all know who he is, what he's done." Emily yelled with a hoarse, broken voice, motioning angrily with both arms to the man standing at the entrance to the glass room. Emily was getting angrier by their lack of understanding, she climbed off the bed haphazardly- feet pressing against the cold sterile floor and almost collapsing as her knees gave way to her weight; luckily she was caught by the secure arms of David Rossi, who pulled her up to a standing position. Emily pushed the older man off her, and she stomped (as best she could) over to the accused man in the corner, not quite making it there in a straight line. Initially she found herself too close, so she backed off slightly to keep a safe distance- clearly, she did not trust the man in close proximity. Her left arm was pointed out between the two as she stood still for a moment, a grimace stained her flushed face, a layer of sweat beginning to form on her forehead and at her neck causing strands of hair to stick to it. Her breathing was heavy and uneven, and her movements were twitchy as she kept twisting slightly as though she were about to mount an attack, her left arm bending and wavering due to the depleted energy levels in her body. Every so often she would bring the bottoms of her palms to her temple and squeeze her eyes shut; it looked like she was trying to will away a headache, but in actuality, she was trying to make sure what she was seeing really there. From an outside perspective, Emily looked like a detoxing crack addict arguing with a nervous drug dealer.

Derek had his hands up in a defensive manner, glancing between Emily and the other two agents stood further behind. None of them quite knew what to say to her to calm her down. Realistically he knew this whole thing would blow over very soon as Emily would likely pass out and forget everything that just happened, but the pounding of his heart told him that right now, this was a serious situation that they needed to resolve. 

"How. Are. You. Here?" Emily panted in a calmer tone than before.

"Emily, sweetheart it's me, Derek. You know me, right?" Derek asked almost pleadingly.

Emily half shook her head while keeping her eyes trained on him, then she palmed her head again and squeezed her eyes shut, "Don't do that, don't pretend to be him."

She brought her other hand to her head and turned to the left "oh great now you're here too?" she panted, "stop, shut up, shut up" she whispered, seemingly to herself as she wasn't looking at anyone in the room, but rather a random spot to her side. The other agents turned to see what she was looking at, finding nothing there, they moved closer to the brunette.

"Emily...who's that?" Alex asked, motioning to the area Emily was glaring, trying to appeal to her delusion, "can you introduce me?"

Emily quickly turned her head back and forth between the empty space and Alex, biting her thumb nail and deciding what to do. She then gave a sharp nod and mumbled "Alex Blake, Clyde Easter. Clyde Easter, Alex Blake."

Derek and Rossi glanced to each other very concerned, slowly starting to figure out what was going on in Emily's head.