daylight (jemily)

Chapter Twenty Six

Emily was sitting on the couch in JJ's hospital room, noticing the sighs and grunts of annoyance that JJ had been making for that past half an hour.

She stood up and walked over to the bed. "What's wrong, love?" she asked, running her hand through JJ's hair.

JJ didn't respond. She just laid still and didn't make eye contact with Emily. She was very capable of speaking a few words, she just wouldn't.

"I'm trying my best to get you everything you want. I know it sucks to be stuck in here, but I want it to be the least miserable possible. I can't make it better if you won't tell me what's bothering you," said Emily.

Emily had brought her everything she could to make the hospital more bearable, but there as only so much she could do. JJ had her favorite blanket from home, her books, pillows, clothes. But none of it made up for the fact that she was stuck in this tiny room.

"Want to go home," JJ mumbled. The words came out slow and sounded odd. Talking was still a struggle.

"I know, baby. I wish you could go home too. But we can't right now. Not yet," Emily told her. "Do you want to do something? We could watch a movie, or play a game?"

JJ shook her head no. She never really wanted to do things. Usually the team would come in and talk for a bit, but they were out on a case this week.

A couple minutes later her doctor came in. "How're you feeling today?" Dr. Rollins asked.

JJ's face showed no emotions. "Don't like this," she muttered, pulling on the feeding tube taped to her face.

"I know, it's not the most enjoyable," she sighed. "The good news is the swelling in your throat has gone down a lot. You start trying soft food and drinking. See how the pain is. If it's going well, the feeding tube might come out sooner than we thought."

JJ nodded. She wanted to be happy about that, but it seemed like such a small step forward.

"How's the pain in your knee? Is it still bad?" the doctor asked her. "Scale from 1-10."

JJ held up 5 fingers. Better than yesterday. "Do you want to see about upping your pain killers?" Dr. Rollins asked.

She shook her head no. She was already on a lot of pain medicine, and the more she got the weirder she felt. She didn't like it.

"Let me know if you change your mind," she replied, leaving the room.

Emily grabbed a cup of applesauce from JJ's table. She peeled off the lid and got a spoon. "Why don't you try a little?" she suggested. "It's soft. It'll help you get used to real food."

JJ nodded grabbing it. She took a small spoonful and stuck it in her mouth. She swallowed, wincing in pain. It hurt.

"How bad was it? Do you want to try a couple more bites?" Emily asked her. JJ pushed the cup away. She was done trying it.

"Okay," Emily nodded. "Maybe later."

___

After two and a half long weeks, JJ was finally discharged from the hospital. She had all her stuff packed and was ready to leave.

As Emily was about to help her into the wheel chair, JJ pulled back. "I don't think I want to go," she said quickly.

Emily gave her a puzzling look. "All you've talked about since you got here is going home. What's going on?"

"I don't want to," JJ said again. Emily looked at her, speechless. "What the hell are you talking about?" she sighed. "We have to go home. It's our house. We live there."

"No," JJ responded, crossing her arms. Emily wasn't sure why she was acting like this, but it wasn't like they could just stay in the hospital forever.

Emily knelt down in front of her wheelchair, forcing her to make eye contact. "Talk to me. Why don't you want to go home?"

"He was in there," JJ whispered, looking like she was on the verge of tears. Emily finally understood what she meant. She was scared.

"I know we haven't caught him yet, but we will," Emily assured her. The police had figured out that Colins was getting in and out through a back window that had a broken lock, but neither JJ or Emily realized because they didn't try and open it.

"They've looked through the whole house. All the locks are stable. He's not getting inside," Emily told her.

"What if he does?" JJ said, her eyes watering. "He won't. But I am going to find him. And when I do, I'm going to kill him," Emily said firmly, using her thumb to wipe a tear that had slipped down JJ's cheek.

"You're not going to kill him," JJ sniffled.

"I am. He hurt you. He's a monster, and he doesn't deserve to live on this earth for any longer," Emily said.

"You'll go to jail," JJ cried, feeling all her emotions spilling out again.

Emily pressed her hands to JJ's cheeks. They felt cool against her flushed face. "Breathe, it's okay," she soothed. "Don't worry about me. The most important thing is that he can't hurt you again. Understand?"

"Are you ready to go home?" Emily asked, her hands moving down to hold JJ's.

"Please don't go to jail," JJ whimpered, her tears still streaming.

Emily gently kissed her cheeks, which were puffy from crying. "He'll probably reach for his gun. He's not the kind of guy who would ever go to jail. He'll force me to do it, and that'll be it."

JJ nodded, one final sob escaping her lips. She didn't know if she believed Emily, but she also didn't want to think about it too much.

The truth was Emily had made all that stuff up. She was going to kill him no matter what. It wasn't totally a lie, because he did seem like the kind of person who would do everything to not go to jail.

James Colins really was a monster. He'd killed his first victim, Molly, because she reminded him of JJ. He'd cut her hair shorter to make her look more like JJ. He'd even put the earrings he stole from her onto Molly.

He killed her when he realized that she'd never be the real thing.

The police had dug deeper into him and figured out the whole story. He'd first seen JJ just walking around downtown. Something about her intrigued him.

He followed her, stalked her. He had pictures of her on multiple cameras. He made up a whole life for them inside his head.

He broke into their house and stole her things. He thought it would bring her closer to him.

It was just a coincidence that she was the one who went to interview him that day. When he realized that his fantasy was just that, he snapped and wanted to kill her too.

It hurt Emily to think about that. It was a coincidence that JJ had showed up on his doorstep. A coincidence that had cost their baby her life.