The planets bend between us

Chapter 37

"Emily, darling. It's time to go. We don't want to be late," Elizabeth said as she knocked on her daughter's door for the fourth time. She was growing agitated with her daughter's lack of response. "Okay, I'm coming in." She used her key and entered the room.

She found young Emily sobbing into her ratty old teddy bear. Elizabeth almost cringed at the sight.

The almost ten-year-old didn't want to let go to the only thing that connected to her to her dead father. She held it tight and didn't want to let go.

"Emily, we have to go. Put the bear down and put on a dress. We have to go to the funeral now," Elizabeth ordered as she crossed her arms. There wasn't a comforting bone in her body.

Emily shook her head. She wouldn't say goodbye to her daddy and she wouldn't let go of her bear. "I'm staying."

Elizabeth sighed loudly. "I'm not asking you, Emily. I'm telling you to let go of the stuffed animal and put the dress on. We have appearances to make."

Emily looked up into her mother's eyes with flaming hatred. "You didn't even love him."

Her daughter's statement horrified her. She twitched uncharacteristically. She wouldn't be affected. No, she had things to do. "Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, if you don't come here in an instant I am going to call Jimmy so he can pry the bear out of your hands and burn it. Is that what you want?"

The young girl glared at her, tears still running down her cheeks. She let go of the one thing that kept her happy. She placed the bear on the bed and got up. She put on her dress and combed her hair. She did what her mother told her.

Before she entered the church, her mother pulled her to the side.

"Wipe your tears, away, Emily. No one can see you cry. We're strong, Emily. We don't cry for our loss. You're too old to cry." She stood up straighter and tugged on the young girl's hand.

Emily wiped her tears and promised herself to never feel anything as much as this so that she could be strong. So that her mom wouldn't see her cry.

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€
Emily woke up with her body feeling achy. Her head hurt as she tried to hear whatever Remi was saying to her.

"Em...10:00... alarm... wake..." She heard her girlfriend's voice go in and out. She pressed the pillow onto her ear, trying to keep from hearing her. She felt Remi touch her back. "Em, darling. You slept through the alarm. I've gotten texts from your team. They need you right now."

The profiler squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make everything in her sight dark. She didn't want to wake up. "Let me sleep."

"Darling, I need to go to work. I can't stay..."

"Then leave," Emily murmured harshly. She didn't want to hear her voice anymore. "Please, just go."

Remi was confused. She didn't know what to do. She had never seen Emily look so depressed. She then noticed that Emily was sickly pale. "Em, are you sick? Do you feel ill?"

"Please go away," Emily said quietly. "I'm sorry, but I just need you to go."

That scared Remi more than anything. Emily has had a cold before and she worked through it. She knew that if Emily was sick she would pretend she wasn't and would try to work through the sickness. She got up from the bed and walked out of the room. Before she went to work, she called the one person that she thought could help Emily. Even though calling her went against everything that she wanted.