Fifty Ways to Love You - Emily Prentiss x OC

45. mr. scratch

The sun wasn't yet up. The sky was still pitch-black. I had been awoken by the ringing of Emily's phone, and felt her sit up, facing away from me. "What's wrong?" she asked the person on the other end. I heard them speaking, but couldn't make out who it was or what they were saying. "Fu—alright. Yeah...no, I'll do it. Safer that way,"

"Em?" I whispered.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you as soon as I know anything more. Bye." Emily hung up, sighed, and went to get ready.

"Honey, what's going on?"

"We've gotta go to work,"

"Who was that?"

"Don't—uh, we have to go to work now, love. I'm sorry,"

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Can you help me call the rest of the team? It'll be faster,"

"I—sure?"

We arrived at work that morning to a still-inky sky. That day is, in large part, a blur. I wish I could remember that morning better. The most vibrant thing in my mind is the intent, fastened to the workings of my brain. We knew where Scratch was. This is what the objective toward which we had been working for so long. Hotch being gone, Emily's constant long nights, extra hours for everyone.

Matt Simmons was there. I remember that. Emily briefed me during the drive to Quantico, and Matt was already up to speed. She spit fact after fact as everyone readied themselves. We were split into two SUVs — Luke drove one and Emily, the other. I was in the former. Matt, Penelope, and Spencer remained at Quantico.

We were all out for a good, long while, it seemed. The sneaky sun was almost peeking over the horizon when I came to. I was one of the first. I saw a bleeding and horrified JJ standing in the street, illuminated mostly by the headlights of the cars. I struggled to free myself from my seatbelt and go over to her. She jumped at my touch.

"JJ! What—I—what happened?" It took me a moment to put my words together. That was the first sign of my concussion that I noticed, though it didn't immediately register.

"I don't know," she responded. "Something...there was nothing there before. Look now." Her shaky hand pointed towards the raised spikes in the road; she felt to me like the Ghost of Christmas Future as it points gauntly towards terrifying scenes and never speaks.

"Is anyone else conscious?"

"I called out, but no one responded. I didn't have time to check before we—we started talking," she said. She was having trouble breathing in her state of panic.

"Let's, let's do that," I said. We made our ways to check each SUV. No one was conscious, but we reached in through the holes of former windows, and everyone was alive. "Where's Emily?!" I yelled. Luke came to, and tried to look around. "JJ, where is Emily?"

"I don't know!" she stammered. Salty tears stung a fresh cut on my jaw. I couldn't find my phone. JJ's was broken, but functional. She called Spencer. "Spence! Spence, we got—"

"Shh, JJ, JJ, I can't talk to you right now,"

"No, Spencer, listen—"

"JJ, listen very carefully to me. We cannot talk on here. I will call you back." JJ heard the beeping of the line disconnecting.

"He hung up on me!" she cried. "Galina, what the fuck is happening?"

"It's Scratch," I said.

"I think she's right," Luke concurred. "He's got...he's got incredible tech access, he's psychologically and physically manipulative, he gets off on power...this isn't some sort of freak accident, this is Scratch all the way,"

"What...what...do we do?" JJ asked. Admittedly, the situation seemed hopeless until her phone started ringing again. "Hello?" she asked, not recognizing the number.

"JJ, it's me, it's Spencer. Listen, Scratch is tapping our phones. He can't trace this one. What were you trying to say?"

"We got into an accident. It's pretty bad. It's Scratch. Emily's missing, everyone's alive but the only ones conscious are me, Karimova, and Alvez,"

"Oh my god, JJ, I'm sorry. Um, where are you?"

"I—I don't know. Guys, where are we?"

"R—uh, Route 1, I think? I don't know, that's the last thing I remember," said Luke, "and I was driving, so...that's my best guess,"

"How far south?"

"I don't know, Reid," Luke said, shaking his head.

"Okay. We'll help you. It's gonna be okay. Do you want to stay on the phone?"

"Um..." JJ wasn't in a very clear state of mind. "No, we need to try and deal with this. I'll call this number when I need to talk to you again. Bye, Spence,"

"Oh, okay, bye—"

JJ saw me covering my mouth as I sobbed. "Lina, we're gonna find her,"

"She could be dead!" I yelled. I repeated, quieter and smaller, "She could be dead already..."

"She's not," said Luke. He didn't know that, but he wanted to try to get me out of this hysteric state so I could be of use. "You hear me? Emily is going to be okay. She's strong, she's resourceful. We're gonna get her back, do you understand me?" He hugged me, and I couldn't stop crying.

The rest of the team ended up regaining consciousness by the time help arrived. I was still freaking out over the idea of what could be happening to the love of my life. My brain was all fuzzy and scrambled. I needed Emily. The only clear concept in my mind was Emily.