(no subject)
Title: Different Shades of the Same Colour
Genre: Drama/Angst/Friendship
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Prentiss/OC. Prentiss/Garcia friendship. Prentiss/OC friendship.
Chapter One - Suspicions
It was late when Emily Prentiss made her way into the apartment she shared with her boyfriend of a year. They had moved in together two months ago, into the 3 bedroom apartment Harry already owned. Emily was hesitant though as she climbed the stairs to their bedroom.
She was late, only by half an hour but they had, had plans tonight and she knew her being late would have cancelled out their dinner reservations. Emily knew he would be angry, he did have a temper on him after all; she just hoped it was something that they could smooth over without too big of an argument. That hope however was demolished as she came face to face with a very angry and agitated Harry. The look on his face was thunderous and she knew the peaceful night she had wanted was definitely not going to happen.
“We had dinner reservations for seven o’clock Em,” he informed her tightly, trying not to get too angry at her.
“I’m sorry Harry, there was just more paperwork then expected and I wanted to get it all done before tomorrow,” Emily explained as she made her way towards their shared bedroom.
“Well maybe if you had been smarter and gotten more done earlier in the week this wouldn’t have happened. Did you think of that Emily?” he spat, sneering at her name.
“Don’t do that Harry,” Emily told him sternly, dropping her briefcase and shedding her blazer. She had already anticipated the verbal lashings she would get when she realised how angry he was but that didn’t mean it did hurt to be told such things.
“Do what? It’s the truth Emily, you’re stupid. You’re lucky I even still love you,” Harry told her angrily. He smiled as he saw her hurt expression, reveling in the knowledge that he had the power to make her hurt like that.
“You’re a bastard, you know that,” Emily replied weakly.
Emily hadn’t been anticipating the sudden iron grip Harry had on her arm, yanking her to him. His hand dug into the skin of her right arm and Emily knew his hand would leave a mark. Harry’s other hand tightly gripped her hip, keeping her lock against him. She struggled against him as he leant closer to whisper in her ear.
“Do not talk back to me you bitch,” he snarled to her. He pulled back, a satisfied smirk playing across his features as he saw the innate fear in Emily’s eyes. He pushed her back out of his grip, watching as she hit the bedroom wall with a thud, her cheek stinging from the sudden impact.
The brunette profiler didn’t move from her position against the wall as Harry left the room. She was stunned to say the least; Harry had never been violent towards her before and she didn’t know how to handle it. She wanted to be angry and appalled at him but somewhere in the back of her mind every bad thing he’d ever said to or about her was playing on a continuous reel making her seriously doubt herself.
Emily jumped as she heard the front door slam shut. She had been wrapped up in her own thoughts and doubts she hadn’t noticed Harry leave. Now that he was gone she thought about packing a bag and leaving, she shouldn’t put up with this; the constant insults and suggestions she was stupid and worthless. However Harry had never actually physically hit her and just now he was being a little rough, it wasn’t really a big deal and really all the stuff he’d said, well he was just telling the truth plus he always said sorry after he’d cooled down and realised what he’d said.
Emily stood from her position, leaning against the wall and quickly stripped down to her underwear, walking into the bathroom. She grabbed a pair of grey silk shorts and a green tank top along the way, shutting the door behind her as she turned on the shower. She spent the next half an hour in there before hopping out and making her way to bed. She lay down on her side of the bed, missing the warmth and security she felt when Harry was lying next to her. She tried not to think about it, about where he could be or what he was doing but failed miserably. She just wanted him safely back in bed with her. She ended up in tears, having to hug his pillow close as she cried herself to sleep. In that moment she had never felt more weak, stupid or worthless, just like Harry had said she was.
***
Emily Prentiss sighed before plastering on a tired and somewhat fake smile as she made her way out of the elevator and into the BAU bullpen. Heading towards her desk, she saw Hotch and Rossi in their offices, Morgan and Garcia by the formers desk and seeing Reid’s bag and coat she assumed he was in the break room, getting coffee. She sat down quietly, not wanting to bring attention to herself and the purple, blue bruise marring her features. She had tried desperately to cover the bruise with concealer and foundation but she knew that if someone were to look hard enough they’d see the offending mark.
She started on her paperwork, studiously keeping her head down her dark hair covering her face. It was all okay until she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, inadvertently revealing the make-up covered bruise. Garcia looked up then, laughing at something Morgan had said and immediately noticed the darkish colouring of Emily’s cheek. She gasped, before moving to stand beside Emily’s desk.
“Oh honey,” she gushed causing Emily to turn to her wide eyed. “What happened to your cheek sugar?” Garcia asked, a hand coming to rest under Emily’s chin, angling her face towards her. Emily inwardly cringed at the contact and the question, instead choosing to shake Garcia’s hand away.
“Nothing, I don’t know what you mean Garcia,” Emily replied automatically, again turning her focus back to her paperwork, effectively ending the conversation. Garcia watched her worriedly for a few minutes more before deciding to do some investigating of her own.
***
Garcia determinedly made her way to JJ’s office. She was a woman on a mission and she was not going to let anything get in the way of that…No not even her chocolate God of thunder was going to stop her.
She knocked briefly, opening the door as she did. She stood in the middle of JJ’s office impatiently waiting for JJ to finish her call. The other blonde looked up at the impatient tech analyst and sensing something important was going on, quickly hung up.
“Pen?” JJ asked curiously, wondering what would bring the techie to her door this early.
“I think Emily’s boyfriend is hitting her,” Garcia said, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. JJ sat for a moment taking it in and processing what Garcia had said. She looked at the other woman like she was crazy, trying to call on past experiences with Emily and figure out how Garcia came to that very shocking conclusion.
“Pen, what are talking about? There’s no way Emi…”
“I’m serious JJ! You did not see the bruise on her cheek when she came in today or the way she tried to brush it off,” Garcia argued cutting her friend off.
“Come on, there is probably a much more reasonable explanation then that, if she actually does have a bruise,” JJ said attempting to placate her.
“If? She definitely does JJ,” Garcia spat incredulously. She could not understand why JJ wasn’t taking their brunette friends welfare as seriously as she was.
“Okay, I believe you about the bruise but Penelope, you can’t just go around jumping to conclusions like that okay. What if Hotch or better yet Morgan were to overhear you say something like that? You know how overprotective both of them are over us… They would act first and ask questions later. Now if Harry has hit Emily, and I’m not saying he has, don’t you think it would be better for us to ask her privately? She wouldn’t want her personal life becoming public knowledge,” JJ told her friend, hoping Penelope hadn’t already said something to anyone else on the team.
“I know, I’m sorry okay but she’s been different lately and I know you’ve noticed it too. She hardly comes out with us anymore and she’s much too quite. Something is wrong JJ,” Garcia told her, sagging down into the visitors chair in front of JJ’s desk.
“Look, you’re right, she has been withdrawn but let’s just talk to her. We can’t go jumping to conclusions okay. If we ask her outright if he’s ever hit her you know whether the answers yes or no, she’ll get angry and defensive and probably stop talking to us completely,” JJ reasoned watching as Garcia seemed to accept her answer.
“I suppose you’re right,” Garcia concluded not entirely convinced that JJ believed her.
“We’ll talk about this more later alright? Right now I’ve got cases to review,” JJ told the other blonde, effectively ending their conversation.
Garcia nodded and silently stood from her seat. She made her way out of the office and towards her own. She knew something was wrong with her brunette friend and she was determined to find out what it was and help her; with or without JJ’s help.
***
AN: Right, so I’m assuming that everyone who has read this far kind of gets the gist of this story. So now a little history on the conception of this story because I feel it’s needed. This story was not just started on a whim; a lot of thought was put into this and a lot of research. The initial starting point of this story came from the fact that my Health class started to study Domestic Violence. Through this class I learnt a lot about the different types of abuse that are classed as D.V. and it deeply intrigued me. It made me curious as to why men and some women feel the need to abuse their partners and spouses. Because of this curiosity this story will attempt to delve further into the mind of an abuser. I’m giving you fair warning now, so if this isn’t for you don’t read the following chapters.
This story and the situation Emily has found herself in is also something I’ve had a little experience with and is personally close to me. I won’t go into details but I definitely know the effects something like this can have on a person and surrounding family and friends. The reason I am telling you this is because I know Emily will come off as OOC in this story and I know I’ll probably get flamed a whole damn lot about it. A quick reason for her acting OOC is because in this story she isn’t the tough, strong, compartmentalizing FBI agent she is portrayed as in the show. This story touches on her obvious insecure side and the unresolved issues from her childhood which we all know she has and how a controlling, power hungry man can exploit those insecurities.
Overall this story is going to get dark and complicated and I really hope people learn from this story and if anyone were to be in this situation that they have learnt to see the signs. This story will probably be quite educational as well, purely because I think more people need to be aware of the signs and the cycle of violence.
Oh gosh, I’ve rambled on enough, please forgive me. Please….enjoy…not sure if that’s the right word but please read and review. I would honestly love to know people’s opinions about this so please don’t be afraid to comment. Thanks for reading! Caramel.