Scary Minds

A half-angry, half-terrified „DON'T TOUCH ME!", followed by a loud smack resounding through the jet made the team's heads turn. Hotch held his cheek, staring at Emily in confusion. He had only wanted to help her by waking her up from the nightmare she had obviously been having!

It took Emily a few seconds to realize she had just struck her boss in his face. When she finally did, her eyes widened in shock. "Fuck!" Unable to face anyone, especially Hotch, Emily fled to the jet's bathroom, managing to lock the door before anyone could follow her. Sinking down on the cold bathroom floor, Emily pulled her legs closely to her body, wrapping her arms around them. She didn't really know when she had started crying, but when she tried to cover her face with her hands she noticed her cheeks were wet. This couldn't be happening! Trembling like a leaf, Emily asked herself whether she'd prefer this situation still being part of the nightmare. No, she figured. Despite the awkwardness of this situation, Emily was glad she was awake. She knew she wouldn't be able to deal with what happened in her nightmares again and again. And she also knew that the boundaries between reality and nightmare had already begun to blur. She just hadn't expected things to get worse by the minute!

After the first nightmare, when things still used to be blurry and absurd, Emily had just thought to herself "What the fuck?!". By now, her nightmares had become so realistic that she sometimes didn't know whether the situation was real or not. Hell, she would have never hit her boss if she had known this was only a dream again, right?

Emily's thoughts were interrupted by knocks on the bathroom door. Even before she heard the other woman gently asking her to open the door, Emily had known it was JJ: The knocks were soft, hesitatingly even - and, more than anything else, they were worried.

"Em? Please open the door!"

Emily didn't react. She couldn't face JJ right now - couldn't face anyone! Hell, regarding what had just happened, Emily seriously doubted she would ever be able to face the team again!

"Emily, please! You're scaring me!"

"I... I'm fine!" Emily stumbled.

"You're not." JJ stated calmly. "Let me help you!"

Emily sighed, knowing JJ wouldn't be leaving again soon. They were friends, after all. If things were the other way round, Emily would be standing outside, insisting on JJ opening the door, too.

Although her hands were still shaking, Emily somehow managed to unlock the door. JJ sneaked inside before Emily could change her mind. She wasn't surprised to hear the lock click into place only seconds later.

"Talk to me, Em!"

"I can't..."

"Yes, you can.

"I'm fine..."

"No, you're not!"

There were many reasons why JJ didn't believe her. Instead of just apologizing and blaming the incident on a lack of sleep and the anxiety caused by the nightmare, Emily had just run away, and now she was curled up in a ball on the jet's bathroom floor, crying - this was far from being okay!

Having shared a room with the other woman for the past week, JJ had already known Emily was having trouble sleeping, but apparently things were much worse than she had assumed.

The look Emily had had in her eyes after Hotch had gently shaken her shoulder had given JJ a chill. Emily had seemed so vulnerable, so scared! What bothered JJ most was that the realization that it was only Hotch had not seemed to calm Emily down. If anything, the terrified look in her eyes had even intensified! Was Emily scared of Hotch? Obviously yes. But why?

Sighing deeply, JJ reached out for Emily's hand, relieved when the other woman didn't flinch away from her touch.

"Please tell me what is wrong, Emily!" JJ begged. "We're not going to hurt you!"

The blonde couldn't help but stare at Emily in confusion when her friend's sobs finally turned into

hysteric laughter.

I'm really unsure about this story! If you like it or don't like it, please let me know! There are at least two other chapters stuck in my head... I also appreciate any kind of feedback on my English since I'm not a native speaker!

Thanks in advance!