(A/N~ I wrote this for my friend Kricket Williams when she was sick. I hope she likes it. Special thanks to Sunnyinoregon Fanfiction.)

Sick

Penelope Garcia loved her job. She got to spend all day in her own world, around the computers she built herself, and most importantly she got to help people. Garcia had spent most of her life wanting to help people, and now she got to do it every day! But then there were days like today.

Garcia, do this, do that, make sure this gets taken care of, blah blah blah…night and day it's Garcia, Garcia, Garcia! She felt like Strauss was an evil stepmother, and, God did she love them both, but she felt like Hotch and Rossi were her evil minions, the ugly step-sisters.

Work, work, work.

That was all she did. She knew her team appreciated her, they just didn't show it all the time. Sometimes she wondered if there was something better out there. She knew she could go to work for some dot com billionaire and make triple the money for less than half the work!

Or, she could start her own! She was a genius! She could do whatever she wanted!

But she loved her team.

She loved her job.

She would suck it up and put a smile on.

Garcia sighed when her office phone rang again. She had six searches going already and three traces on top of that. She couldn't handle anything else. She felt weary and slightly nauseous as she answered the phone.

"Talk to me," she said into the phone, but before she could hear the response, she found herself hanging her head over her office garbage can.

"Garcia? Garcia? Are you okay?" JJ's voice sounded in the phone.

Once she was finally able to do so, Garcia picked up the phone. "I think I have a stomach virus, Jaj," Garcia hated admitting defeat.

"You should go home, get some rest. Kevin can handle everything you've got going on. I'll see to it," JJ said.

"No, no, I can handle i-," but she didn't get to finish before she was vomiting loudly into the trash can again. She packed up her things and headed for home, praying she could make it without having to stop and throw up on the side of the road.

She rejoiced silently when she pulled into the parking garage of her building. Up the stairs she went, dragging her feet slowly to not jostle her sensitive stomach. Garcia got into her door before the urge to puke again struck her. She managed to make it to her bathroom this time, thankfully.

Penelope decided she needed a long shower to help wash the ick off. She ran the water as hot as she could and pulled off her stinky clothes. The water felt cleansing, like it was washing away her sickness, her tiredness, and all of her worries. This delusion was cut short, however, when she threw up again in the shower.

"Uggghhh…," she said, stepping out of the shower and pulling on her bathrobe. A noise came from the kitchen, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Don't worry, Mama," Derek called once he heard her in the bathroom. "It's just me, coming to check in on you. Do you need help to make it to bed?"

"No, Sweet Cheeks. I don't want you to get sick."

"Don't worry about me, Mama. I've got an immune system like a tank. I'll be just fine," he said as he appeared in her bedroom doorway. His strong, dark arms wrapped around her waist and guided her to the purple, fluffy kingdom she shared with no one. He pulled the comforter back and helped her settle into bed. Garcia noticed there were three missed calls on her phone, and it was ringing again. She went to answer it, but Derek stopped her.

"Baby doll, what are you doing?"

"The team needs me, Sweet cheeks."

"Uh, no. You need to rest, Mama. You're sick."

"But-but-," she started.

"No buts. Take this, it'll put you out and make you stop puking."

Garcia sighed, but accepted the medication and laid back. It wasn't long before she drifted into a deep, restless sleep.