Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

----------------------------------------------------

Penelope drew in a sharp intake of breath, felt it hitch and gagged as her breathing got rapid. Her eyes remained closed as she drew in breath like she had been holding her breath for too long, she heard yelling around, it sounded as though she was under water though, difficult to hear and distorted to its sound. She felt a hand grip hers and will her to open her eyes. When she did, her chest still heaving up and down rapidly, she saw a face all too known to her and one she had seen before but was having difficulty pin pointing where exactly she had seen it before.

The next thing she realised a mask was placed over her face and an incessant bleeping started to ring around her drugged head. Soon her breathing recaptured its normal rhythmic self and a warmth of pain relief washed over her and the pains dulled. She heard the talk of multiple people around her but couldn't quite isolate where they were coming from and whom was talking. She just lay there, adjusting to what had happened.

When she opened her eyes again, the same well known face was there above her. He smiled at her and she felt calmer. He placed a spare hand in her hair and pushed some bangs of hair back. 'Baby girl... you're okay, you're in hospital.'

'What happened?' She asked, confused about what had led to her being in a hospital bed in immense pain. She saw everyone look at one another worried.

'Garcia, you were shot 2 days ago.'

She closed her eyes, swallowed and then spoke. 'The date.' She heard Derek sigh heavily, the date they had fought over, the date she thought was genuine, the date that ended with her being shot.

'You remember?' She nodded. 'It was the date, you told me about?' She nodded again, she felt the tears build but refused to open her eyes for fear it would act like releasing the flood gates.

'Garcia do you know who did this?'

'James Colby Baylor.' Was all she said, Hotch immediately took JJ, Emily and Ross with him, leaving Penelope with Derek and Reid. '2 days... are you sure?'

'Afraid so Garcia.' Reid said sitting opposite Derek, they looked at Penelope as her eyes darted around, her expression thoughtful, her eyes confused.

'Pen, everything okay?' She nodded and pushed herself to look at the corner of the room. 'Where you going mamma?'

'Nowhere.'

'It doesn't look like nowhere to me.' They watched her slip back down and raise a hand to her head in pure uncertainty. 'Pen... talk to us.'

'It's stupid.'

'Garcia... you were staring at the corner of the wall like you were looking for something, you can tell us.'

'My soul.' She thought and shook her head slightly. 'Did I die?'

'No... if you were dead you wouldn't be here right now, confusing us.' Derek said slightly worried about what she was withholding, not knowing to tell her that she was pronounced dead moments before the sharp intake of air occurred.

'It honestly doesn't matter.' They knew to leave it at that moment that it wasn't completely worked out in her head. 'Did I flat line at all?'

'Yeah...' Reid shifted uncomfortably. 'Just before you woke up, they pronounced you dead.' She bit her lip and nodded. 'Why don't you get some sleep Garcia... might help clear your head a bit?' Just like that Penelope fell back to sleep, her mind clocking over what had happened.

A couple of days later, Derek still stuck around at the hospital, he had come too close to losing Penelope from his life and he needed to sort some things out. One was his feelings, the other was what had her looking confusingly at the corner of the hospital room when she had been basically brought back to life.

He walked into the room and found her sitting up staying at the corner, an arm crossed across her, another up to her lip, her face contorted with thought. If it wasn't for that corner being stared at more times in a day than she drank or ate he would have kept it down to the fact that Baylor, or Battle was flagged in cases that warranted in her suspension. Although that was over, and they all knew she went behind the rules on work hours, she ultimately got an Unsub and closed a case, and so was no longer suspended but Derek knew it was playing on her mind.

He looked at the corner, it was a normal, nothing special about it but something had Penelope's attention for the most part of 4 days. He knew then he needed to do both those things he had in mind, so he closed the door and drew the seat up close, neither action diverted Penelope's attention.

'Baby girl?' He said as he put his hand on her arm. 'Come on P, you need to let me in now, you've had long enough with yourself. It's time to talk.'

'Can you just give me some more time please?' He nodded and respected her, finally taking her out of her train of thought. 'I will tell you first, but I just need to... I don't know.' She said frustrated.

'Okay, I'll leave it but I need to talk to you.' She looked at him ready. 'You know I love you right?'

She nodded and smiled at him. 'I love you too handsome.'

'How do you love me?'

'Derek...' She began, not knowing quite how to express undying love.

'Do you love me like a brother?'

'If you love me like a sister then yes.'

'What happens if I'm in love with you?' She smiled largely at him not realising until it was too later to hide it. 'What happens if I've loved you longer than you think and possibly longer than what I've thought?'

'Is any of that true?'

'All of it.' He said. 'I felt my heart stop when I got a voicemail and then when they pronounced you dead and I thought I was hearing things when you breathed, I felt a part of me break away that I never told you, that I never made you think that a man like me would cross a smoky bar for you goddess... I'm in love with you.'

'I'm in love with you too.' She watched him smile and they both knew it was a new step in a direction for them both and they both couldn't feel more right about it. Whilst Derek had gone to get lunch she had pulled a pad and pen from the drawer next to the bed and mindlessly started to scribbled down on it, when Derek had arrived back, still with the biggest smile on his face, he found he asleep with the pad and pen on her lap, still grasping the pen. He pulled both away and saw what was written, he took a while to notice what it was but saw it was a plan of the hospital room they were in, a perfect plan of how they all were whilst Penelope remained in a coma.

The bed, labelled me-P, he smiled thinking it was her initial, he read around, D, next to bed, J + Re + E at the end of the bed, H by the window and Ro by the bed opposite Derek. He looked at it more; there in the corner was a star, labelled me-s, the corner she kept staring at. He knew the P on the bed did not stand for Penelope now, he looked on the next page as he noticed writing shown through.

Corner= me, Bed= me.

Corner me= no body, bed me= no feeling....soul?

No sense of hearing or speech (Corner Me)

Watched everything. JJ crying, Derek jumping up from his seat, Rossi leaving room, Reid taking JJ and Emily from the room.

Electric shocks = pulled me towards the bed.

Doctor stepped away = something pulling me away.

Then sudden tiredness.

Woke up in the bed me.

Derek read it a couple of times, it was almost word perfect when Penelope had flat lined, he know found himself staring at the corner.

'Handsome?' Came a sleepy voice from his right, it made him alert and jump. 'Everything okay?'

He nodded and swallowed hard. 'Penelope, who told you most of this?' He said holding the pad up to show her, he saw her eyes not knowing where to settle. 'Look at me P, trust me, tell me.'

'No one told me.'

'Someone must have done.'

'No one told me.' She repeated and looked at the corner. 'I stood there.' She said her voice thick with confusion still. 'I don't know how, or what happened exactly but I was there in the corner and on the bed... I was looking at myself.'

'Is this what has had you staring?' She nodded her response. 'You could've told me.'

'Derek, handsome, I didn't even know what had happened, but I think I've had an out of body experience.' He didn't laugh at her; his eyes were just wide as he looked at her. 'I don't know what else it could be, but I was there, how else do you think I knew what everyone did?'

'I don't know.'

'It scared me.' She admitted. 'I so wanted to be in that body, and I could feel the sensation of you holding my hand but I wouldn't have know what it was had I not been looking in on it and then when everyone started to run about and cry and the doctor came in, all I could do was watch as my life dispersed and the next thing I know I'm breathing, looking up at the ceiling not at the bed.' She looked at him and saw pure shocked understanding. 'I don't know what to do about it.'

'Well do you feel different?'

'No I still feel like me, the only difference is the pain from bullets.'

'Then don't do anything until the time warrants it.' He squeezed her hand reassuringly. 'If anything comes out of this then we will deal with it together.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what'd you think?