PROMISES, emily prentiss

CHAPTER SEVEN

August 27th
present day
Auroras apartment
3:19 A.M.

Emily's eyes rushed open and she sat up quickly as she heard a lot of noise coming from Auroras bedroom. She jumped to her feet and started walking down the hall. She could hear Aurora talking, well more like yelling, to herself. She couldn't hear everything that she way yelling, only a few words at a time, but what she did hear broke her heart.

"No! Please don't! Please don't hurt her! She's just a kid! Please," Aurora whined to herself clearly in some sort of nightmare or night terror as she tossed and turned in her bed.

Emily opened her bedroom door slowly to see Aurora shaking from side to side and yelling pleads for someone to stop hurting her. Emily furrowed her eyebrows in thought before actually acting on the situation in front of her.  Aurora was obviously having some sort of nightmare from a past trauma. The best way to deal with this was probably just to wake her up. Emily nodded to herself as she agreed with her own idea, before walking over to Auroras bed and climbing on it. Emily placed her hands on Auroras shoulders and started shaking her awake.

"Rory, wake up. You're having a nightmare, just wake up," Emily said comfortingly.

Aurora finally shook awake and quickly pulled her knees up to her chest, making her body into a small ball before rocking herself back and forth. Emily had thrown her arms around Aurora and was currently whispering reassuring words while stroking her hair.

"You're okay, you're safe. Everything is fine. You have nothing to worry about," she repeated the same phrases over and over again for probably about 10 minutes before Auroras shoulders finally stopped bouncing and she could breathe again.

Aurora looked up at Emily with tears rolling down her face. "Can I lay on your chest please? I just want to listen to your heartbeat," Aurora choked out and her voice broke while she spoke.

Emily was confused by the peculiar request but ultimately she just wanted Aurora to feel safe in her own home so she turned Aurora to face herself and set Auroras head on her chest. Aurora smiled softly as she heard Emilys heart beat in a perfect rhythm. Emily didn't understand why Aurora found something as simple as a beating heart so calming, but she didn't say anything about it. After a couple minutes Aurora pulled away from Emily and climbed back under her blankets to try and get some more sleep before the long day with Spencer tomorrow. Emily turned to leave but this time Aurora was the one grabbing her wrist to turn Emily towards herself.

"Please don't leave me here alone," Aurora said softly as her eyes began to fill up with tears just at the thought of Emily leaving her alone with her own thoughts.

Emily smiled before climbing in bed next to Aurora, situating herself into a position where Aurora could listen to her heart beat, just the way she liked it. "I would never leave you Aurora, I promise," she said as Aurora cuddled up into her chest and fell asleep again.

~

August 27th
present day
Auroras apartment
8:45 A.M.

Aurora successfully slept through the rest of the night until her alarm went off with absolutely no more nightmares. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around to see Emily still sleeping peacefully. Aurora pulled herself out of the bed and walked into her bathroom, her phone started to ring so she ran back into her bedroom and put it on speaker as she took it with her back to the bathroom to start getting ready.