Chapter Nine:
Chapter Nine:
Dealing With It
Emily yawned for the third time in fifteen minutes. She was sat down along with the rest of the CNU listening to Cheryl discuss various cases and new procedures from Washington during their monthly staff meeting. Emily felt physically and mentally drained. She had been up late talking to Jenny and listening to the six very long, very dramatic messages on her answering machine from her mother. When she finally managed to get to bed, she just tossed and turned the entire night. She was exhausted and not even the three large cups of coffee she had in the pass hour seemed to help her wake up. Emily yawned again.
"Am I boring you, Leman?" Cheryl asked
"No of course not Madam." Emily answered turning a dark shade of pink. Emily always prided herself as being a professional and constantly yawning during a staff meeting wouldn't be something she considered professional and of course the funny faces she got from Duff and Frank did not help. Cheryl continued talking for another fifteen minutes before wrapping up the meeting and letting everyone go.
"I hate looking unprofessional" Emily said to Matt as the pair walked from the conference room back to their desks.
"Oh come on Em, you yawned it's no big deal. Plus you didn't sleep well last night." Matt said
"It's a big deal to me." Emily responded "Plus I'm used to going days without sleep, why am I so drained today?"
"First of the situation is different. When we're working on a case or are out in the field our adrenaline is pumping as oppose to sitting in a humid room listening to Cheryl go on and on about procedures that no one is going to follow. I was ready to go to sleep too. Also you have a lot on your mind" Matt answered
"Well just because I have a lot on my mind doesn't mean anything, my personal life and professional life are totally separate and it needs to stay that way." Emily said crashing into her chair at her desk. "I just don't want this to distract me from work, especially if we're out in the field."
"You don't need to worry about that. You are one of the most focus people I know. Remember last year when I forgot our anniversary and you stopped talking to me for a week?" Matt said
"You're bringing this up now because?" Emily questioned
"I have a point I promise.” Matt said before continuing. "Do you remember how many crises we had during that week?"
"I don't know: maybe three, I'm still waiting for that point" Emily replied
"Ok. How many successes did we have with those cases?" Matt asked
"Three. We were able to talk each HT down without any injury to the hostages or HT" Emily replied finally starting to see Matt's point
"See even though you were mad with me, you didn't let that distracted you from getting the job done. And I know that you won't let this stuff with your mother distract you either" Matt explained.
"You're right" Emily said taking a file from a pile on her desk and started to do some paper work.
"But with that being said, you still have to deal with it" Matt said.
"Of course" Emily replied as she returned her attention back to the file she had started to work on putting an end to the conversation. Matt rolled his eyes, knowing that Emily had no intention of dealing with it. He took a file from the pile and began to work on it. Matt was however wrong. Although Emily seemed to be working on the incident report, her mind kept wondering back to her mother, and the events of the night before as well as what she was going to do about it. The morning went quickly and before Emily knew it, it was lunch time.
"Em, what to go to Cafe Express for lunch?" Matt asked bringing Emily back to reality
"Oh I can't. I already made lunch plans with Lucy and Lia" Emily lied. She actually had no plans with anyone for lunch but she needed to like Matt suggested earlier deal with her mother and the situation and she knew if she told Matt the truth he would insist on coming with her, and she felt like this was something she had to do on her own.
"Ok. I'll see you after lunch than" Matt said
Emily grabbed her things and headed for the elevator. Thirty minutes later, she was parked across the street from the Four Seasons which was the hotel her parents were staying at. Emily had been sitting in her car for the pass fifteen minutes trying to build up the nerve to go in. So far she had gotten almost to the main entrance before chickening out and heading back to hr car. "This is crazy" she thought to herself. “I can deal with heavily armed psychos on a daily basis but I can't go talk with my parents. At this rate my lunch hour will be over before I even get inside the hotel" Emily thought. That's when her cell went off. Emily looked at the caller ID, it flashed the name Flannery. Emily pressed the talk button. "Hey Matt, what's up?" she asked causally
"Oh nothing much" Matt said "Just wondering where you're too"
"What do you mean? I'm on my lunch break" Emily said
"Emily, I know you lied to me about lunch plans with Lucy and Lia, they came looking for you just after you left. So you what to try the truth" Matt said. He wasn't angry that she lied to him; he was just worried about her.
"I'm dealing with it" Emily replied
"You should have just told me that. Tell me where you're to now and I'll come meet you. You don't have to this by yourself" Matt said
"Yes I do. I know that you're there for me and I appreciative it but this is just something I have to do on my own. But I do need you to do me a favor?" She said
"What?" Matt asked
"If I'm not back by one, I need you to cover for me. And maybe later I might need a shoulder to lean on" Emily replied
"I'll cover for you and my shoulder is always here" Matt said
"Thanks. Love you" Emily said before hanging up. She put her cell in her purse, took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. She locked the car doors and walked across the street to the hotel. This time she was not going to chicken out. Emily walked into the main lobby, she already knew her parents room number from the messages her mother had left so she made her way to room #409. Emily stood outside the room for about ten minutes debated whether or not she should knock. Finally with a deep breathe she raise her hand and knocked on the door. Emily still had no idea what she was going to say when her father answered the door. His expression showed complete surprise and shock of seeing Emily standing outside his hotel room.
"Emily, what are you doing here?" Richard asked his daughter
"I’m here to deal with it" Emily replied pushing pass her father and entering the hotel room.