Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, never have, never will and I'm not making any profit off this story.

Summary: A high speed chase ends in tragedy. Penelope is in a coma and no one knows if she will ever wake up. The odds are against her but the team is by her side through it all.

I was trying to write a Drabble for the Creative Writing prompt 'Afterlife' on Writer's Digest but came up with this instead.

Please R&R

Enjoy!

…

She felt a soft breeze across her face as the sun warmed her skin. She could hear birds chirping and the whisper of the wind. It was peaceful; she couldn't remember ever feeling so content.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the blue sky overhead, with billowing white clouds creating familiar creatures.

"That one looks like a giraffe, don't you think?"

Penelope turned her head to the side to see her mom lying beside her among the tall green grass.

She looked back up the where her mom was pointing to see the cloud that indeed looked like a giraffe, with a slightly wonky neck.

"I've missed this," her mom said "It seems so long ago that we used to lie and watch the clouds."

Penelope turned to her mom again, somewhere deep inside her a rational part of her brain told her that this wasn't possible, but she paid no mind to it.

Her mom turned to look at her and flashed her a wide smile, her blue eyes sparkling.

Penelope smiled back "I've missed you."

Her mom didn't say anything just gave her a sad smile and reached out to take Penelope's hand.

"You've grown into such a beautiful woman, Penny," her mom said and gently squeezed Penelope's hand "I wish we could have stayed with you."

Penelope felt a tear roll down her face "I'm sorry Mom."

"I know Sweetheart," her mom said as she looked back up at the clouds.

They lay there for a long time watching the clouds.

"Come on Penelope," her mom said and she looked to see her mother had stood up "come run with me."

Penelope watched as her mom ran down the hill they had been laying on, her blonde hair billowing in the wind.

As she stood up to follow her mom she felt like she was a little girl again. Her feet hit the ground and she felt like she was lighter than air as she ran after her mom.

"I'll race you to the old beech tree!" her mom turned and shouted back at her.

Penelope laughed "Hey no fair, you got a head start!"

But she ran after her anyways.

They laughed as they ran and Penelope felt free as a bird.

With the considerable head start her mother reached the huge old tree ahead of her but Penelope wasn't upset, she was just happy to be there.

When she was a few feet away from the tree she felt a blinding pain through her chest and doubled over.

"Penny, what's wrong?" her mom asked and Penelope could just make out the blurry figure of her mom running towards her.

Then there was a blinding flash of light and Penelope could see nothing else.

She heard screeching tires and felt herself flying through the air.

There was excruciating pain throughout her whole body and let out a silent scream.

…

Penelope Garcia lay pale and motionless on the hospital bed in her private room.

Her head was bandaged, her face bruised, there was an IV in her right arm and she was connected to so many tubes and wires that they were hard to count.

She shouldn't have been in the vehicle. She wasn't even supposed to be on the case but there was nothing that could be done for her now. They just had to wait and pray that she would make it through.

That she would come back to them.