Stand In The Rain

Five

On the other side of the glass, Emily was taken aback as Penelope, Spencer, Derek, and even Rossi all give a collective gasp at the mention of the name Elle.

"Umm... you guys?" Emily looked at her friends in confusion, her eyes lingering particularly on Derek, who was perched atop a nearby low bookshelf, being comforted by Penelope. "Obviously, Elle is important; was she one of us?"

Penelope nodded. "She was part of the team for awhile before you arrived."

"Was she the one who was shot?" Emily asked, recalling a piece of information that she'd heard around the time of Penelope's own shooting.

The tech analyst nodded, but said nothing, so Rossi chimed in, "I never met her, either, but from what I've heard, she's lovely, quick on her feet, and brilliant, but also headstrong."

"That's Elle Greenaway to a t," Spencer confirmed. "But we just don't talk about her."

Emily's next inquiry came with a dose of caution. "Why?"

"She spun out pretty badly, but the crash and burn was worse."

"And," Penelope added softly. "We didn't know until quite literally just now that she had even moved to New York after getting out of Quantico."

"Anything else?" Emily prompted. "Elle must mean a lot if all four of you gasped."

"She was Derek's old partner."

Before Emily could say anything to that, JJ, Hotch, and Aquino exited the interrogation room with JJ going straight to Derek.

"You and I are going over to Saint Vincent's hospital to see Elle." she told him. "Think you can handle that?"

"Uh-huh." Derek slid off the bookshelf and stretched. "Let's go."

Leaving the rest of the team in Hotch's capable hands and promising to call with updates, Derek and JJ left.

Because their job took them all over the country, the BAU team had been to New York City enough times to know their way around it pretty well.

They were at the hospital faster than JJ had time to process because she was making calls to Elle's doctor to identify herself and Derek so they'd be able to learn about Elle's condition and be able to see her when they arrived.

Upon arrival, though, JJ noticed that Derek was dangerously quiet, no doubt filling with even more contempt for Baylor than he already had. Knowing Derek as she did and that he had a tendency to go on a crusade when someone he cared about was hurt or in danger, JJ decided that she had to keep her colleague in check.

She didn't get a chance until they were heading to the urgent care ward and weren't too far from Elle's room. JJ surprised Derek by pushing him against the wall with her good hand, pinning him in place.

"JJ, what the hell?" Derek protested; the petite woman, even when handicapped and pregnant, was deceptively strong.

"Look, I know you want to catch Baylor, mostly out of your loyalty to me and to Elle, but listen to me: she was dragged out of her car, hit her head, and broke a limb."

"So Baylor was violent enough to break your arm and Elle's?"

"Technically, my arm and Elle's ankle."

"How did that happen if she was taken from her car...?"

"That is neither here nor there. What is important is that Elle is a scared mama right now, and she's in pain. I'm as concerned about her as you are, but we can't go in there, super worked up because the last thing we need is for her to be pushed back into a state of hysterics."