Emily Prentiss One-Shots

Emily/Declan

Title: Compartments - SSAScropSik (AO3)

Summary: On her return from Paris, Emily has to face Ian Doyle once more. For Declan.

Rating: General

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"...No, no you can't let him out."

"...I'll handcuff him to myself if I have to..."

Aaron Hotchner heard the edges of the conversation, Spencer's rational pragmatism... and Emily's fear. He stepped within sight of his two agents. "Prentiss. My office."

Emily turned to look at him, her mouth open to argue... but one of his stern looks caused her shoulders to slump and she nodded and walked back through the bullpen.

"I'll handle it." He told Reid.

By the time Aaron reached his office, Emily was inside, pacing and chewing furiously on her thumbnail.
She heard him enter. "Hotch, you can't you can't let him out." Her fear was understandable... but it was also irrational. "He'll get away again." She said, almost begging.

"He won't. We will have him cuffed and under escort every step of the way."

"But..." she knew it was a losing battle.

"And... I need you to be one of the agents who rides with him."

She shook her head. "No. NO. I won't do it, Hotch. I won't – I CAN'T be anywhere near that bastard."

"It has to be you."

"Why." It wasn't even a question, just a plea.

"Because you are his weakness, his stressor, his trigger."

"AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK HE IS TO ME?!" she yelled. It was loud enough for Rossi to turn his head out in the bullpen.

"I know what he did to you." Hotch said evenly. "That's why you need to do it."

Emily threw herself onto his couch, rubbing her brow. "It took everything I had just to go in that interview room today Hotch. I thought I was gonna puke or... piss myself right there in front of him. I... his eyes... I...please don't make me do it."

"Declan needs you Emily. The ONLY way to save him is to swap him out for Doyle. The only way to get Doyle there is you. You need to do it for Declan."

Tears filled her eyes, but she was determined not to let them spill. Ian Doyle had drawn too many tears from her over the past eight years. "For Declan." She sighed.

Hotch nodded. "You just need to be strong for him one more time."

"Who's going to be strong for me?" she whispered.

"I am." Hotch assured her, sitting beside her on the couch.

Emily pulled away. "I don't need it." She said, inhaling her emotions. "I haven't had anyone for seven months. I don't need it now." She walked to the window and saw the team gathered there, waiting for their orders, waiting to drag Doyle to the airstrip. Waiting to save Declan.

"You came all this way for the boy." Hotch reminded her. "You risked your life for him now, and your job for him eight years ago. Don't let him down, Emily."

"I won't." she breathed. "Declan. God... I love that boy. I've always loved him like he was my own." Her hand started rubbing at the scar on her abdomen. "When I look at Doyle....it is like looking at death. He beat me, Hotch. He won. He killed me. He... I died. I felt it, the pain and the... peace of death. I should be dead now. I should be... Why did I survive and the others didn't? I don't understand." She took a breath. "You want me to sit in that SUV with him... to smell him, to... have his eyes on me again. But he has power over me. He always has. He knows my intimate thoughts. And I... I don't know if I am strong enough, Hotch."