AN: Here's the next chapter for all of you. You may be a little surprised with this chapter, but I hope that you still give it a chance. PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Chapter 2

Aaron Hotchner gathered all the information he had just received and started out of his office. He clutched the very thin folder that he had carried with him everywhere he went for the last few years. They continued to search for any kind of lead on the sudden disappearance of their technical analyst; at the same time, they had to continue to work their other cases.

The team wasn't the same since Penelope disappeared without a trace, but Derek was the most distraught. He still did his job well and he continued to hang out with the rest of them outside of work, but they all knew that he was suffering more than the rest. Prentiss voiced her suspicions to Hotch privately that Morgan had planned to take a big step in his relationship with Garcia; either he was going to propose to her or they were planning on moving in together. She had caught him on several occasions skimming through real estate websites.

They were all worried about Penelope's whereabouts, but they still had a job to do. Which is the reason why he was headed towards the BAU room to wait for the rest of his team. He heard the elevator doors open and saw most of the team file out.

"Why are we meeting so early?" Emily grumbled. "I had just fallen to sleep."

"Sorry everyone, but it was an emergency." Hotch told them. "Everyone head on in. We won't start the briefing until Morgan gets here."

"His car was here when we got here," Reid told him.

"I haven't see him so far,"

"I think I know where he might be," JJ said. "We'll meet you in there."

They parted ways as JJ started down the hall. She approached a door that she saw was ajar. She walked in and saw Derek sitting in the chair as he stared at the group of computers before him.

"Hey," she spoke softly. "Did you get Hotch's message?"

"Yeah," he mumbled. "I just-I needed to stop in here for a moment."

"That's not going to bring her back."

"Then what will?" he turned to look at her. "We have no idea where she is or why she left in the first place."

"We all miss her Morgan," she told him. "I know that you obviously miss her more. We won't stop looking for answers, but right now there's a case that we need to put all our focus on."

"All right," he sighed deeply as he stood up and followed her down the hall and they joined up with everyone else in the BAU room.

"Now that we're all here, we can get started." Hotch handed a file to each of them.

"What is all this?" Rossi looked through it.

"This isn't a normal case for us," Hotch started. "Our assistance has been requested by the US Marshall Service. Has anyone heard of the Santival crime family?"

"Everyone has heard of them," Morgan spoke up. "They're the most notorious crime family here in Virginia. No one has ever been able to pin anything on them."

"Until now," Hotch stated as they all flipped through the file. "A couple years ago, there was a witness to one of their crimes. The witness was put into protective custody almost immediately."

"So why are we being requested?" Emily asked.

"The District Attorney has done everything that he can to push the trial up. It's scheduled for next month. The Marshall Service is afraid that the witness will be in even more danger once the Santival family finds out. They're asking for our help."

"So we're on protective detail?" Reid asked. "Why us?"

"I agreed to do this as a personal favor," Hotch told them all. "I have very few details, but they're going to pick us up in a few minutes. They'll be taking us to an undisclosed location where they will give us more information."

"Do we know anything about the witness?" Morgan asked

"That information is on a strictly need-to-know basis for their protection."

"Sir," the door opened suddenly. "The car service is here."

"Thank you, Anderson." Hotch nodded at him. "Let's head out."

They all walked out of the room and took the elevator down to the parking garage and climbed into the awaiting van. They all settled in for the long trip as they tried to come to terms with being charged to baby-sit this witness for the next several weeks.

An hour later, they were all still in the car traveling to the location. They came to a sudden stop as they pulled into a narrow alley where another dark van was waiting for them.

"What's going on?" Emily sat up.

"We're switching vehicles," Hotch told them. "For security purposes."

They all climbed out of the van they were currently in and climbed into the other van. They all got situated again as the driver pulled out of the alley and started driving. Morgan laid his head back as he pulled his phone out and started scrolling. He stopped on a picture that he spent long hours just staring at the last several months.

"I like that picture," he heard and glanced at Emily sitting next to him.

"Me too," he sighed.

"Were you guys already together when that was taken?"

"Yeah," he just stared down at the picture.

It was of him and Penelope cuddled close to each other as they posed for the picture. It was their first official date; one that wasn't interrupted by a work call or some kind of disaster. They had kept their relationship a secret for almost two months at that point. They both were happy; but several months later, she was gone without a trace.

"We're almost there," Hotch told them as they all sat up.

They turned off the road and started heading up a long driveway. There were no markers and no indication to let anyone know that there were any occupants in the small farmhouse.

"This really is secluded," JJ commented as they came to a stop next to another official-looking vehicle.

"When we get to the door we will be stopped by an armed guard," Hotch informed them. "They will ask us for our name and rank, and we will be asked to show ID and our credentials."

They all slowly climbed out of the van one-by-one and approached the front door. The door open slightly and they saw a burly guard standing before them.

"Name, rank, and ID." He barked out.

After the guard checked off all their names on a clipboard that he had, they all made their way into the house. They stepped into what turned out to be the living area as another guy in a suit came out to them.

"Aaron,"

"Paul," they shook hands.

"Sorry about all the secrecy," he looked at all of them. "But the safer this witness is the better."

"We understand," Rossi stated. "So when can we meet this witness?"

"They just got here a few minutes before you guys. I'm going to let them get settled in a bit." He sighed. "Truth be told, this has not the easiest witness that we've been in charge of."

"Are they ever easy to handle?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, taken away from their families and friends, not being able to contact anyone, I know I'd go crazy." JJ added.

"We've had to relocate every few months. We've caught them trying to tap into the secure phone lines just to make a call."

"I'm intrigued," Morgan started. "Who knows how to tap into a secure government phone line to make outside calls?"

"Me," they all heard someone say softly and turned abruptly at a familiar voice.

"Oh my god," JJ gasped at the figure standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Baby Girl?" Derek stood shocked.

She set to work unpacking her minimal belongings in the main bedroom of yet another new location. She sighed as she took a break and sat down on the edge of the bed. The past several months were hell for her. Her family at the BAU was her whole world, and she was forced to leave them behind at a moment's notice without a word of explanation to any of them.

Leaving them all behind was rough, but there was one person in particular that she wanted to tell more than anything. After what she witnessed, she was in too much shock to be coherent when she was first questioned. After the shock finally wore off, she was already settled into her new reality that they wouldn't let her contact her team or even her brother.

The night she left behind the only world that she had been happy in was the day that her world seemed to stop. She had been counting down the days when she would finally be able to be reunited with her family. She just hoped that they would listen to her when she explained everything and wouldn't be too mad that she had left them all.

She heard a vehicle pull up the dirt drive and she went to the window. She gently pulled the curtains open just enough to see the team climbing out of the dark van. She wanted to see them all, but her attention was focused on the tall figure slowly following behind Reid up the porch steps. He looked very run-down and she thought it looked like he had lost weight. That was all her fault; if she was just able to keep it together long enough to tell them to call her team, they would have been there with her trying to protect her.

She crept out into the hall as she heard a cluster of voices and listened to the quiet conversation between her former boss and the guy that was put in charge of her safety these last several months. She couldn't stand it anymore after being apart from them all these months and she silently made her way down the stairs towards them. The team had their backs facing her as they got information about the unknown witness they were asked to protect.

"Who knows how to tap into a secure government phone line to make outside calls?" she heard Derek ask as she got to the bottom of the steps.

"Me," she spoke up and they all turned stunned faces to look at her.

"Oh my god," JJ gasped.

"Baby Girl?"

"Hey guys," she said softly.

"I knew there was a good reason why you left," Derek immediately went to her and embraced her tightly.

"I am so sorry," the tears started streaming down her face as she felt at home again in his arms. "I wanted to tell you guys so many times."

"We hear you also attempted it many times," Rossi spoke up as Morgan finally let her go so that everyone else could get their hugs in. "I'd probably do the same thing if I was in your position."

"I can't believe that you've gone through all this," Reid stated. "Are you ok?"

"I'm better now that you're all here," she smiled at them all.

"I am very happy to see you Garcia," Hotch came forward. "More than you can even imagine. But what exactly are we concerned about with your safety?"

"Actually could Paul here fill you all in?" Penelope glanced at her companion for the last several months. "Would that be ok? I really need to talk to Derek upstairs."

"I can do that," Paul assured her.

"What do you need to show me?" Derek looked at her.

"Upstairs," she told him.

"But-"

"Go with her Morgan," Emily told him. "It looks really important. Besides, I'm sure that she'll want to tell you everything in private."

"All right," Derek allowed Penelope to take his hand and lead him upstairs.

"Why the hell didn't you contact us earlier?" Hotch demanded as rounded on Paul after Derek and Penelope disappeared from their view. "The entire police force knew that we were looking for her. I know that you were informed when she disappeared."

"I didn't know that it was her when I talked to you," Paul assured him. "I didn't even know what had happened until a few hours later. By that time, it was too late to tell you anything."

"What does that mean?" Rossi took a step forward.

"She was in total shock after witnessing what she did. As in she wasn't saying a word. She wasn't responding at all actually. We thought that she was catatonic at first. One of my female colleagues was finally able to break through to her the next day, but it was too late to bring you in."

"She was catatonic?" JJ asked softly, wondering what exactly her best friend had witnessed, and wishing that she had been there to help her.

"She's never been in the field with us," Emily spoke up. "Whatever she witnessed, it was so bad that she just shut down."

"She was just in shock." Paul told them. "By the time she told us who she was and where she worked, she was too deep under our protection that we couldn't risk bringing you in. Her protection would've been compromised and who knows what would've happened if anyone found out."

"When you put it that way, at least she was protected."

"All right," Hotch sighed. "So what are we looking at here? How much danger is she in right now?"

"I have everything over here," Paul led them all to the dining table and they all started going through all the information.

Derek was more than a little curious as he followed Penelope upstairs. He so badly just wanted to hold her and never let go. After all these months, he just wanted to take her away from all of this. Someplace where it was just the two of them.

She stopped suddenly in front of a door and looked over at him. He looked at her questioningly and she just smiled.

"Ok, I wanted to tell you everything." She told him. "But most importantly, I wanted to tell you about what's waiting behind this door."

"What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"Remember the last time we talked? I called you. I said that I had some news for you. But I had to tell you in person."

"I remember it vividly," he told her. "I kept replaying that last conversation since you disappeared from my life."

"Well this was the news I had to tell you," she pushed open the door and led him inside the room.

"What-" he peered around the room until his eyes landed on the lone figure sleeping in the corner of the room.

"I'd like you to meet your son." Penelope stated to a very stunned Derek.

AN: Cliffhanger! What did you all think of this? I know that some of you thought that Penelope was taken by an Unsub. I did consider rewriting the story to have it go that way, but I thought that would take too long. And I wanted to post a new chapter for you guys before the weekend was over. There will still be a lot of angst though. Penelope still has to fill in the blanks to the team about what happened to her the last couple of years. I hope I didn't just lose some of you because of this. PLZ R&R!