Finally Jemily

Ch. 20 - Sarah

Hotch looked to JJ. She understood and got up, following Emily out of the room. She went around the corner and heard Emily on a phone call.

"YOU TOLD ME SHE DIED MOM! *pause* I don't care if you thought you were protecting me. *pause* I was 20 and in love! *pause* That wasn't your choice to make. Her death or I guess your lie may have made me stronger but I don't think I can ever forgive you for this!" Emily hung up the phone, turning and punching the wall, then laying her forehead against it.

JJ approached slowly before putting a hand on Emily's shoulder. Emily jumped before turning to face her while clearly still crying.

"Em.." Emily just wrapped her arms around her and let the floodgates open as she tucked her head into JJ's neck. JJ held her and "shhhh"ed into her ear as she let the tears continue. The team watched through the window and were now very confused. Once Emily started to calm down, JJ deemed it safe to pull away and talk. Instead she was met with Emily grabbing a trash can. After a few rounds of dry heaving she settled against the wall.

"Em.. what's going on?"

"I don't really want to tell the story more than once.. But I'm a lot closer to this case that I want to be." JJ looks at her confused but takes her hand and walks her back into the conference room. Everyone turns to look at her as she enters the room.

"Is everything okay?" Hotch was genuinely concerned by the state of his agent.

"No.." As everyone stared at her she knew she wasn't getting out of explaining her outburst. She took a deep breath and continued. "Sarah Mason was my girlfriend back in college. We had been together almost 2 years and were madly in love when my mom finally found out. She barged into my apartment because I wasn't answering her calls and well.. caught us... to say the least. She wasn't very supportive." Emily was trying to hold herself together as she teared up. JJ put a hand to her back as she continued.

"A few weeks later we got into a car accident on the way to dinner. She was pretty banged up but so was I. When I woke up, my mom told me she had died. I tried calling her parents after to find out about a funeral but it was like the whole family fell off the face of the earth. I thought they were just avoiding me because seeing me would be hard.. Now thanks to the call with my mother I know she paid them to relocate and cut all ties with me because my mom didn't approve of me dating women. She told me she died because she knew that if she just got them to pull us apart I'd keep looking for her..we'd keep looking for each other. Apparently my death wasn't the first one she helped fake..."

By the time she finished, everyone was shocked and angry. She could see Derek counting to 10, trying to calm himself while Reid and Rossi just looked sympathetic. Finally Hotch broke the awkward silence.

"Emily.. Will you be okay working this case? We'd all understand if you want to sit this one out."

"No, I need to do this. I need to find out what actually happened to her."

"Alright, then wheels up."

As they went to leave the room, JJ could sense there was something else, something more going on in Emily's head. She tried to stop her to talk but Emily just pulled away from her grip and walked off. She tried to talk to her on the flight but just got shot down. Once they landed JJ turned to Rossi for help.

"Dave I think she is hiding something else. She won't talk to me but she trusts you.."

"Alright kiddo, I'll see what I can do." Rossi turned and walked over to Hotch.

"If it's okay, I'd like to take Emily with me.. Send Reid with JJ." Hotch just nodded

"Em, You're coming with me to the M.E.'s . Reid, go with JJ to the station." He wasn't sure if this would get Emily to open up, but maybe finally seeing Sarah's body will give her some sense of closure.