Sweet Dreams- a Criminal Minds fanfic

Chapter 20

The only sounds she could hear as she walked toward where she assumed the toolbox were the cartoons on the TV and her increased heartbeat. She was nervous. He could come home any moment and find her with a hammer or axe in her hand, trying to get Emily out. That couldn't happen.

The blonde quickly opened the door to the closet and looked for the red box she could've sworn she'd seen Will use. But there was nothing there. She sighed and looked around the room. Either she tried to find it which could take some time or she could use the old vase by the sofa. She chose the latter, hoping it was hard enough to break the lock. She grabbed it quickly and looked at the porcelain. It scared her to think about what he could do to her and their kids if he knew she wasn't obeying. She shook her head quickly to get rid of the thought so she could focus on getting out of there.

She hurriedly walked up to the basement door and started to hit the locks with the vase, waiting for them to break. But with the second hit the vase broke. She cursed to herself and looked at the wooden door. If Morgan could do it, she probably could too. If she ran toward the door with enough force it would definitely break. After a deep breath she backed away and ran as fast as she could, putting her right shoulder forward as she slammed into the wood, hearing it crack, but it didn't break. Her shoulder ached but she was determent to try again. This time she backed away even before she ran with full force into the door, successfully breaking it and she stumbled down a couple of steps. Of course there was no guarantee that this was where Emily was or that she was still alive, but it was pretty likely. When she regained her balance she took a deep breath before looking down the rest of the steps. It was dark so the first thing she did was to look for a light switch. When she found it next to the door she hurried up again and switched it on and slowly started descending the stairs. Her heart was beating even faster now if that was possible and her hands were getting sweaty as she reached the last step. What she saw in front of her made her let out a loud gasp. It was Emily, but not the Emily she was used too. This Emily had been used as a punching bag. The brunette was hanging from the ceiling in chains and her hair was matted with blood. She was naked and her body was black and blue and bloody. It was an awful sight. The other woman looked broken.

Carefully she approached her and reached up to loosen the chains. As soon as she touched her, the brunette came to life and moved away from the touch.

"No... Don't.." She whimpered, moving her body away from the younger woman's touch.

"Shh, it's just me," JJ tried to calm her, which seemed to work.

"Je... Jennifer?" She finally looked up, her empty eyes staring into JJ's. "Where's Will?"

"He left... We don't have a lot of time so you gotta help me out, okay?"

She nodded, quickly, really wanting to get out of there. And so did JJ. She reached up to take the chains off the hook in the ceiling.

"I'm so sorry I let this happen to you," she whispered. "You shouldn't have come. He would never kill us."

She wasn't sure of those words herself, but she knew that they would never end up like Emily. Will wasn't as angry with them as he was with Emily. And you could tell he was angry with the brunette by how badly she had been beaten.

"It's not your fault," Emily replied weakly. "It's better it's me than you. You have to think about your kids..." She started and paused when she suddenly needed to cough.

JJ's eyes were wider as she watched her friend struggling to breathe. Her movements were halted for a moment, waiting for the brunette to catch her breath. "Don't talk, Em... Let's just get out of here now."

Emily nodded and her arms were finally released. The younger agent removed her cardigan and used it to cover her friend. She then put an arm around her and JJ let Emily support herself on her. The pair slowly ascended the stairs, not one of them knowing how much time had passed and how much they had left. Reaching the top of the stairs she moved them out to the hallway, hearing Emily hiss as soon as they stepped out. She looked at her and then down to their feet where she saw the broken porcelain. She had forgotten about that in her plans to escape.

"I'm sorry, but you have to keep moving" she said and almost dragged her over to the door. She stopped and looked at Emily with serious eyes. "Emily, I need you to run to the closest house and call for backup. I don't know how much time we have left."

She immediately shook her head and protested, like JJ knew she would "I can't leave you"

"Yes you can. And you will." JJ looked into her eyes, showing her that there was no room for arguing.

And Emily did cave, proving to JJ once again that she wasn't as strong as she normally is. JJ placed a soft kiss on her cheek and then quickly ran away to get Julia from the upstairs bedroom. She found her in the crib, her big blues looking up at her mother.

"Hey, sweetie" she whispered and picked the girl up. As she was about to leave the room a loud, ear pitching sound rang through the house. Of course the older man wouldn't make it easy to leave. And this time they were all getting hurt.