It started off as nothing but a sneeze. Garcia did not pay much mind to it considering the amount of pepper she just put on her lunch and there were bigger things to worry about.
Next was the cough. Garcia did notice that either considering it help break up the awkward moment between Hotch and the new girl. Looking away from her nasty glare she did not notice her hand was rubbing her throat either.
The next coughing fit was harder to ignore as Garcia felt like someone was lying on her chest and not in the fun way a person would prefer. Reid places a hand on her shoulder and asks if she is alright. She waves it off and says it's nothing. She thinks it is nothing but her body trying to come down with something. She buys some orange juice on the way home thinking that is all she will need.
She wakes up two days later a little hotter than normal. Garcia notices she turned the air up before bed and lowers it back down a little. It is winter after all. Morgan says she looks a little flustered. Garcia tells him she caught two agents contaminating a closet with their panting and naked flesh. They laugh and keep walking with their earlier conversation at the back of their minds.
A few days later the team is away and the case is one of the worst she ever seen. He is slippery and good and Garcia wonders if she can be better. The hours run long and her head feels like the HULK is trying to break free from it. The Aleve she keeps in her desk is taken and the plate of pizza she was going to eat for lunch goes into the trash. Who can chew cold pizza when a headache is trying to kill them?
The case is closed and Garcia decided to sleep in. She wakes up shaking shivering from cold and wonders why she did not turn the heat on. The process of getting out of bed is slow because everything hurts. Even her eyelashes ache and she crawls back into bed after turning the heat up 10 degrees. Garcia did not notice that it was already on 80.
Morgan left coffee on her desk and the smell makes her want to puke. Garcia throws it away outside her office and wonders if she is crazy because that was her favorite brand. It would also have helped chase the chill from her bones that have long refused to leave her all morning.
She piles on the sweaters and wraps scarves around her neck like they were the arms of an old friend and it allows her to feel ready to face the world. She is buried to the ceiling in paperwork and jumps right in order to make a dent. Garcia is not surprised to find she is sweating despite the cold when she stops to take a break. She removes the scarves and coat so she could breathe a little better and continues her work never noticing or touching the tea Reid left until after it was ice cold.
She wakes up in the middle of the night no longer cold but she thinks that Kevin must have slept over and is using her chest as a body pillow. Instead he is on the other side of the bed snoring loud enough that Garcia wonders if the neighbors would complain about the noise. Instead she turns to her side and curls into a ball in the hope that this pain would go away.
She hates doctors. More than she hates filing her taxes or when her fluffy sweet friends is hurt by the unSub of the week. The stench of the doctor offices and the paper gowns is enough to give her goose bumps but she knows she will have to bite the bullet. Garcia fears she has come down with something and she doesn't want things to get worse. She makes an appointment and wonders why she has to wait three weeks to see the doctor but she does not complain. It could always be worse.
The elevator has been temporary disabled and Garcia has to run up the steps to avoid being late. The journey is harder than normal and the world is starting to twirl. She makes it into the meeting but can't seem to focus. Morgan calls out to her in alarm and she does not know why until her head meets the table on the way to the floor.
The fog clears in brief moments allowing her to visit the outside world:
Her head is killing her and she smells Morgan's cologne.
Hotch's voice giving orders like an army general.
She is moving but can't remember getting up and walking.
Reid listing all the things that could be wrong with her.
Morgan tells Reid to shut up.
Reid obeys.
Garcia wakes to white sheets, white walls, beeping machines and worried faces. They tell her how she fainted in the meeting room and hit her head. They explain how they called the ambulance and had to prevent Morgan from carrying her to the hospital in his arms. The doctor has taken blood and will run some test before telling her the news. The teams leave one by one but not without giving her a parting hug or smile. It is Morgan and Reid who stays with her. Garcia felts guilty for causing them worry and before she falls asleep Morgan says she is worth worrying for.
She awakens the next day to see the doctor. He tells her she had one of the most severe cases of pneumonia he ever seen. He keeps Garcia there for a week before releasing her. Someone visits her everyday and Morgan is the one to drive her home. Hotch keeps her off of work for another week and the team stuff her with so much soup she almost could not stand it. The medicine makes her drowsy and she sleeps most of the week away before going back to work.
Someone brings her tea every hour and Morgan tries to wait on her hand and foot. Garcia threatens him good naturally and he leaves her to her work. She can breathe easier now and the weight on her chest is almost nonexistent. She feels some chills but the spells are all far and between. Garcia keeps an eye on it this time instead of ignoring it. Partly because she thinks Morgan was serious when he told her he would spank her it this happened again. Garcia might not mind one from him but that is neither here nor there. Hotch also gives her a firm talking to and the team express some last minute worry but in short things go back to the way there were before with Garcia coming out the little worse for wear but well on the way to recovery.
Work for Charmedandcriminalmindsrock