A Bullet Changes Things
Chapter 3
Two hours

AN: Thanks for the review I know the last chapter was shocking even though we all saw it coming, however here is next chapter.

JJ and Hotch were sitting in the hospital beside each other, Hotch had gotten the call before he'd left the BAU, JJ had still been there, he'd told her and they'd came over. They'd meet the paramedics after she'd been brought it, they'd been told it didn't look good. It had been two hours since they'd gotten the call, she'd been in surgery for the most part of those two hours.

JJ took out her phone wiping the tears away as she called Morgan again. She couldn't help but think about the fight they'd been having, Emily had told her when they'd gotten off the plane. She just wished that Derek would pick up his phone, she'd seen him on the plane, she hadn't missed the tears in his eyes, they hadn't fallen, but she'd seen them.

"Where the hell is he?" JJ asked with sigh hanging up.

"I don't know, he looked zoned out when we got off the plane," Hotch said.

"They were dating, but then this phone number thing happened, they hadn't told anybody and Emily didn't know, she'd told him she had a date, they got into a fight before we left and they ended things," JJ said, "Four months, Rossi said he had a ring, he wanted to marry her," she replied.

"No wonder her was on edge for the last week," Hotch said, "I'm going to check with the doctors," he replied giving her hand a squeeze before he got up going to the nurses station.

Reid walked in ten minutes later and then Emily with Rossi right behind her. "What happened?" Emily asked.

"Cops said he tried to robber her, but she was in the court yard," Hotch said, "He had to of slipped in behind her before the gate closed, there is lock on it after eleven it's locked and you have to punch in the code to get in," he said, he'd been over to her place once before to pick Jack up, Pen had watched him while he was out town on case and Haley had been sick that time.

"Where's Morgan at?" Rossi asked.

"He's not answering," JJ said, "I've tried him but he didn't even say if he was going home or not," she said, "It's going to voicemail," she replied.

Reid stepped away trying to get a hold of Morgan, he left a message telling him to get to the hospital, that Penelope had been shot. He didn't want to leave the message, but he wasn't picking up.

Morgan was sitting in his truck; he'd just walked out of the church. He sat there holding his phone in one hand and the ring in the other; he was going to call her again. He had to tell her how much he loved her, he had to give her the ring. He turned his phone back on, and found seven missed calls from JJ, and a voicemail from Reid. At first he was going to ignore them, but JJ had never called him seven times before, twice sure, but seven. Something was up, he listened to Reid's message and for second he thought his heart stopped.

It took him fifteen minutes to get to the hospital, and five to actually make sure he didn't start crying again. He had to make himself get out the truck and go inside. This was the last thing he'd expected to be doing tonight. He took the ring pocketing it before going inside, to find the rest of the team.

Rossi and Hotch were talking about how this really didn't seem right, that was about the time that Morgan came around the corner. JJ and Emily looked up at him, before they stood up.

"I was in church, my phone was off," he said looking at the others.

"You couldn't have done anything here," Rossi said, "She's still in surgery," he added.

The doctor came out few seconds later, they were all hoping for the best, but waiting for the worst. He looked up at them asking if they were family. "Yes," they all said.

"It was touch and go for a while, I won't lie, we about lost her couple time, but we got the bullet out and stopped the bleeding," the doc said, "She's lucky, the bullet went into her chest and rickashad down, in few days she might be able to walk out of here," he added, "Are one of you the husband or boyfriend?" he asked next.

"He's her fiancé," Rossi said, it wasn't hundred percent true, but he'd been going to ask before everything happened, and they all knew that when this was over it would be true.

"She's unconscious, but when we get her moved if you'd like to see her, you can for few minutes, she was asking for a hot stuff before she went under, I was assuming it was her boyfriend, husband or fiancé," he said.

"Yeah, that's me," Derek said finally finding words, the fact that she'd been wanting him earlier and he hadn't been there because he'd been stupid enough to think she didn't love him, he hated himself at the moment, but he wouldn't let her down, he'd be there for her, even if she didn't want him back later, he could never walk out on her like this, he was determined to make it right again.

"I'll come back and get you when she's in her room," the doc said before walking away.

Once the doctor was gone it was silent for a few minutes, before Hotch told them that he didn't care about protocol or if they were working the case, they weren't touching anything till they caught the guy.

"I don't get it why was she outside?" Morgan asked, "I called her she was inside, she wasn't going anywhere," he said.

"We don't know, maybe she was walking Clooney," JJ offered.

"Not possible, he might be over grown puppy but he knows how to protect, trust me he's always taking her side," Derek said, "He doesn't let anybody mess with her," he added before realizing "she probably took him home," he said before walking away.

JJ went after him, "Derek wait," she said catching up to him, "This isn't your fault," she tried.

"Why, I mean I broke up with her, if I hadn't I would been there tonight, she would be safe at my house, but no I just couldn't stop," Morgan said.

"We all know that you two were together, just stop blaming yourself for this and go in there and be with her, that is all she needs now," JJ said, "She needs her best friend and even if you two are at odds it's gone, because she loves you, and it's obvious you love her, if you didn't you wouldn't have had that ring in your pocket for the last month," she said, "Emily never meant to tear you two apart, she just wanted Pen happy, we all do, and even though I wonder if that will ever happen for us, I know it has with you two," she replied, "The last four months, we've noticed something, you are always smiling, and until now you haven't been about to punch everything in sight if we get bad case, you talk to her, go do that now," she said.

"It's not that simple, we both said things, and there is no taking them back," he said.

"Don't make me smack you Derek Morgan because I will," JJ said, "She's my best friend too, and she called me this week, I knew she was crying, but I couldn't do a damn thing about it because we had the case, but don't think I won't do something now," JJ said, "I will smack you for being a jerk, she loves you and I have known her for five years now, those words she only tells to use, but mainly you, now be a man and apologize when she wakes up, and put that ring to use or you will have a really pissed of me on your hands, because I won't let you hurt her again," she said before walking off.

It was ten more minutes before the doctor came back; Hotch and Rossi had gone to Pen's apartment to talk to the cops. Reid, Emily and JJ were sitting down in the chairs, but Morgan was standing against the opposite wall. He'd been trying not to go and ask the nurse where Penelope's room was at and just go up, but he was still trying to make himself believe it wasn't his fault.

"You can see her now, she's in room 313," The doctor said, "She won't be awake for while, but you can sit in there with her," he said.

"Thanks," Reid said, before the four them went up, they knew that they needed rest, but they didn't want to leave. At least they knew she would be okay now, and that she was out of the woods, unless the bastard that did this found out she was alive, they'd told the doctors, rather Rossi and Hotch had to keep it quiet that she'd made it, they didn't want somebody asking questions, and trying to finish the job.

A nurse was coming out of the room when they got up there, "She's asleep still so you can all go in, but only one can stay the night in there," she said before walking away with a smile. It was nice to see that people cared about their friends; some people that came in she saw had nobody.

"I'm not leaving," Morgan said.

"We kind of figured," Reid said, "We'll stay out here tonight, but we're not leaving either," he added.

Morgan let the others go in, he wanted to be alone with her when he went in, he was still battling with his inner self to believe he couldn't have changed this, however it wasn't working. Emily came out first and sat down beside him.

"I never meant for this to happen, if I'd known I wouldn't have insisted she take his number, I would never had said anything," She said, "This isn't your fault, and if you want to blame me then I can live with that," she replied.

"You didn't know, and I never meant to snap at you, but you were the closest thing near me and I was pissed," Derek said, "I tried to apologize, but she wouldn't listen to me, it isn't your fault," he said, "Much as I want to think other wise it's not mine either, but if I'd been there, I could done something, she would been at my house if we hadn't been fighting, I would known she'd been safe," he replied.

"When she wakes up tell her that you love her, don't wait, don't let her think it's her fault either, if you want I'll go check on Clooney for you," Emily offered, "I just don't think I can sit here and do nothing," she replied.

"I live almost hour from here, it'll be morning soon, he'll be fine for while, Pen always puts extra food out for him case I end up at her place instead of going home, but usually he's at her place," Derek said, "I get back I crash at her place, sleep till noon, she spoiled him, until I meet her I wouldn't let him in the bed, he liked to kick when he was sleeping and it usually ended with me being blue in the morning, but she refused to leave him in the floor," he said.

"She loves both her guys," Emily said, "We got four hours before morning, I'm going to go stir crazy here waiting, just point me the way and I'll go, at least make sure he's okay, dogs can sense things, and he's probably already depressed since you two been fighting," she replied.

Morgan took out his phone sending her the address, "First exit ramp, it's about half hour or hour depending on traffic," he said, "She loved the place when I was fixing it up first year we met, I offered it to her, but she said she wouldn't know what to do with place like that living alone, so I took it, hoping maybe one day, you know," he said.

"I'll be back in few hours," Emily replied, "Where's the dog food at?"

"Under the kitchen cabinet, other side the sink, just lock up when you leave and if he needs to go out use the leash, or you'll never find him when you leave," He said handing her the keys, "Take my truck, just don't touch the radio, or she'll kick your ass when she's better, trust me, Pen took over the radio, she about hit me when I messed with it," he said with smile.

"I promise, and I'm still sorry," Emily replied before walking off, she had to do something.

JJ and Reid came out of the room few minutes later finding Derek sitting in one the chairs. "Where'd Emily go?" Reid asked.

"She went to check on Clooney, she said she couldn't just sit and wait, she had to do something," Morgan said, he'd already taking care of the bathroom, he wasn't leaving the room until she was awake.

"We're going to get some food and coffee down stairs," JJ said, "We'll be back up soon," she replied before giving him a hug, "She's being hard headed, we both know she loves you, and you're stubborn," she said before pulling back.

"Yeah, I know," he said before walking into the room as they went in search of the cafeteria.

Morgan walked into the room closing the door back; he'd asked the doctor to give her a private room earlier. She deserved one, and after the fight they had all he wanted to do was make her happy again, repair what he'd destroyed. He pulled up one the chairs close as he could get it and sat down.

"I screwed up, baby girl," he said to her even though she was sleeping, "I'm sorry, I know I can't change this now, but I promise you I'll do what I can to fix it when you wake up," he added, "I don't know how to stop once I start, we both know that, but I want you in my life for good," he replied before looking over at her. He stood back up giving her a kiss finally letting the tears out he'd been holding in since he'd heard Reid's message, "I will always love you too," he said sitting back down and taking her hand before resting his head on her bed, he wanted to be closer to her, but he knew the nurses would be in for the rest the night and finding him on the bed not might be the best thing.

It was almost eight when Penelope finally woke up, and she couldn't help but smile down at Derek, she knew he would be there, and all she'd wanted to do after she'd known that guy was gone was hope that Morgan would find her or somebody, she didn't want to die there alone and never make up with him. She couldn't help the tears that came, "Derek," she said trying to get him to wake up.

She wanted to say she was sorry, and that she'd never meant to hurt him, she'd hoped it had been Morgan coming in the gate, trying to surprise her, they had couple fights, mostly over the TV or where they were eating, but nothing like this, they always ended the fight with a truths in five minutes, or he started tickling her and she'd cave. She'd thought he was coming with her favorites like he always did after a fight, but when she turned around and saw the guy and then the gun, she knew that it wasn't Derek.

TBC

AN: Thanks for the review, hope you enjoyed, another sad chapter I know, but it will get better in few more chapters after the guy is caught. Question do you all want Derek to be the one that shoots him this time, instead of JJ? Let me know in the review.