The Usual Rules

Chapter 31

Rachel woke up hearing a whimpering noise and it terrified her. She wasn't sure where she was, but the arms that were wrapped around her felt safe and familiar. She looked up and saw JJ laying in the hospital bed, sound asleep and remembered what had happened. Her nerves increasing at the sight of her mother and her insight to where she was, she shifted her body to look behind her. Emily was clutching Rachel's stomach tightly and crying, Rachel realized her mother was having a nightmare. Afraid, she quickly tried to squirm out of Emily's grasp, but her grip only tightening.

"No!" Emily cried out. "You can't hurt her!"

Rachel pried her hands free and brought them up to Emily's face, shooting a glance back at JJ, she saw that her mother was still sound asleep. She was about to wake her, but remembered Emily explaining about the medicine JJ was taking made her sleep more. Rachel turned back to Emily, determined to wake the brunette and take care of her all by herself.

"Mommy, wake up!" Rachel whispered loudly; trying to wake one mother and keep the other asleep. The sound of her voice only seemed to bring more worry to Emily and she tightened her grip. "Mommy, its not real." Rachel insisted. "Wake up! Mommy, you're hugging me too tight! I'm right here! You're okay!" Rachel tried to push her body away from her mother's so she could sit her up, but Emily was clinging to her for dear life. "Mommy." Rachel whimpered. "Please wake up, you're scaring me." Rachel looked to JJ for help, but the blonde was still out cold. "Mommy!" Rachel yelled slightly. Rachel heard footsteps and looked up thankfully as Morgan's face appeared in the doorway. "Morgan!" Rachel yelled in relief. "She's having a nightmare, she won't let me go it hurts! I can't wake her up!"

Morgan ran forward and quickly bent over the two brunettes. "Hey now, come on Princess, its just a dream. Come on now, wake up." He said softly. When Morgan reached down to pull Emily's arms away from Rachel, the brunette screamed, jolting JJ awake.

"DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" Emily yelled, still trapped in her nightmare.

"Mommy! You're hurting me!"

"Emily, wake up, its Derek. You're in the hospital, everyone is fine, open your eyes, come on now."

Emily seemed to be beginning to wake, but she was still gripping Rachel tightly as she fought against her mother. JJ woke up in pain, but assessed the situation and realized what was going on. When Emily did have nightmares, JJ was usually the only one who could get her out of these bad ones. "Em." She said in a loud, clear, gentle voice. "Wake up, you're alright." JJ sat herself up, wincing at the pain in her side, but too focused on waking up her wife. "Emily, I'm perfectly fine and Rachel is too, wake up honey."

At the sound of JJ's voice, Emily began to pull herself out of her nightmare. As she began to come to, she saw Morgan hovering over her worriedly, and Rachel trying to get away from her. Emily instantly lessened her grip and watched heartbroken as Rachel all but leapt away from Emily and into Morgan's arms. "I...I'm sorry." Emily panted. She caught eyes with JJ as she sat up and quickly tried to get her bearings straight and her emotions in check.

"Em, its fine." JJ insisted quickly, holding her arms out to her wife. Emily took her hand and ran her fingers through her sweat soaked hair. She couldn't remember her nightmare anymore, just the feeling of absolute terror and trying to save Rachel and JJ.

"No sweat Prentiss, happens to all of us." Morgan said gently.

Emily gave him a sharp nod and looked at Rachel. Her daughter was clinging to Morgan, refusing to look at Emily and trying to get her body as far away from the brunette as she possibly could. Shit. She had terrified her daughter at possibly the worst time ever. Rachel was already upset over JJ being hurt and she had only added to that. "Rach..." Emily leaned over and tried to get her daughter's attention. Rachel instantly pulled away and pushed herself further into Morgan. "I'm sorry I scarred you sweetie."