Do you want to play? - A Criminal Minds fanfic

Chapter 16

Sitting by the side of the hospital bed, Emily watched her daughter's sleeping form. It was nearing 6 o'clock in the morning and the worry had kept Emily awake ever since she brought Grace to the hospital the day before. Morgan had wanted to come last night, either bringing Esther or leaving her at JJ's, but something was still nagging at the back of Emily's mind, something that still told her not to trust Esther anywhere near her daughter, or alone with a babysitter. Images of Garcia's lifeless body haunted her, and always would. She didn't want JJ to have the same horrible destiny.

So Derek had been told to stay at home with the excuse that Grace was asleep anyways. Which was true.

She knew she would have to talk to Derek about her suspicions, more than she already had. The girl they had taken in couldn't be well. No, the girl belonged at a psych ward.

Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the small figure in front of her. In her unbroken arm, she was clutching her favorite doll and from time to time she would let out tiny whimpers, indicating that she was in fact suffering from nightmares. Emily's head rested in her hands, her eyes closing briefly in exhaustion.

When the girl in front of her started to stir, her head snapped up and inched closer. Another whimper escaped her lips and her eyelashes moved against her rosy cheeks as she began to wake up.

"Gracie, Sweetie, I'm right here... Mommy's here," Emily whispered, watching as her daughter's eyes started to open.

The girl turned to Emily, both confusion and fear evident on her face.

"Mommy?" Her tiny voice mumbled.

Emily didn't know if she should laugh or cry at hearing that beautiful voice she'd missed so much.

She nodded her head, "Yes, sweetie, it's me," Emily said, wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I'm gonna go get a nurse, okay? So we can see when you can get out of here."

Grace only nodded her response and Emily left the room, quickly searching for someone she could talk to.

"Excuse me, my daughter just woke up," she told a nurse she recognized from the night before.

"I will be right there... Mrs. Morgan was it?" the nurse said.

"Yes, it's Mrs. Morgan. Thank you," Emily said with a nod, hurrying back to her daughter's room so that she wouldn't be alone for too long.

Grace was resting her head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling when Emily entered.

"How are you feeling, honey?" Emily asked as she sat down on the chair she had occupied for many hours now.

Grace only looked at Emily, being back to not talking. Sighing, she moved a strand of hair away from Grace's face.

"Honey, I need you to talk to me. What happened in the treehouse?" Emily asked, but Grace only looked down, avoiding the question. "Grace, please don't shut me out. I need to know what happened, how you got hurt," Emily tried again, but the little girl still wouldn't answer.

"Did you fall by yourself? Was Esther telling us the truth?"

Grace's lip quivered at the question, but once again refused to answer. Quiet tears slid down the 5 year old's cheeks, a sign that told Emily that this hadn't been an accident.

Emily didn't get to press any further as the nurse entered the room.

"Alright, Mrs Morgan, you just need to sign a few papers and then you can take your girl home," the nurse smiled, but her expression changed to worry when she saw a crying Grace. "Is she okay?"

"She will be," Emily answered, hoping that was the truth. "Where are those papers I need to sign?"

"Right, here you go... Sign here and here," the nurse said, handing Emily two papers and a pen.