Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 3

Penelope looked to Derek who returned her gaze with a quick nod to show her he had her back and that it was ok to go ahead. Penelope stood and moved to the windows that overlooked the bullpen with her back to the rest of the team. Somehow not looking them in the eye made the whole thing a little easier. The words came slowly at first and then spilled out of her as if they had been waiting for just this moment to be revealed:

I'm the youngest of five children. By the time I was born, the youngest of my brothers was already in high school. My parents were dyed in the wool hippies and, needless to say, their parenting style was pretty lax. I had friends but, if you can believe it, I was an even bigger geek then than I am now. As a result I spent a lot of time on my own as a child. In school I learned about computers and found that DOS and code were things I could lose myself in and soon found that I had quite a knack for it.

After high school, I applied and was accepted to Cal-Tech. My parents didn't really understand the computer stuff but they were thrilled I would be going to college close to home. Computer Science was a fairly new area of study at that time and it wasn't long before my knowledge exceeded that of most of my professors. As a result, I began to hang out with a group of about seven or eight students who would gather at night and work on more advanced code, real cutting edge. It was all harmless though, hacking of the grading system, stupid stuff like that for the most part. We laughingly called ourselves the Geek Underground.

Then one day, near the end of my first year, I was sitting in an English class when the Dean came in and asked me to follow her to her office. I thought they had discovered that in one of our nightly sessions I had hacked into the University database. Instead, she made me sit down, looked me in the eye and told me that earlier that day, my parents had been killed in a car accident. My brothers all lived out of state by that time and the Dean told me that Sam, the oldest, would come by the campus the next morning to get me. It was all so shocking, I don't even remember how I got back to my dorm room that day."

Penelope could feel a tear rolling down her cheek as the memories of that fateful day came back to her. Every member of the team felt for her but knew that to interrupt at this point was not what Garcia needed. Derek wanted nothing more than to go over and hug her but resisted the urge. Taking a deep breath, she continued:

"I must have sat on my bed for hours after getting back to the dorm. The next thing I remember is that it was dark outside and I began to feel as if the walls were closing in on me. I had to get out of there. I don't even think it was a conscious thought, I was working on auto pilot. I stuffed a few items into an overnight bag and headed out to the only place I felt safe, the house off campus where the Underground sessions took place. I spent the night there and after that began spending nights with friends of friends, acquaintances of other underground members, whoever I could find. I sent a message to my brothers to let them know I was safe but never let them know where I was. I didn't even go to my parents funeral. I couldn't face the fact that they were really gone. Within weeks, I became thoroughly immersed in the underground world of coding. I discovered a whole subculture of people who didn't ask too many questions and who were willing to teach me a unique brand of survival skills. I was definitely learning way more than I ever had at Cal-Tech.

By about 1999, I knew my skills were wicked good. I could hack any computer someone put before me, even classified government files weren't much of a challenge for me. In the Underground, you did whatever you could to make money and survive. Most of the time you didn't even know who you were doing jobs for, you just kind of got word of them, did the job, and an exchange of information and money would take place, usually through a post office box drop off. No names, no face to face meetings. I wasn't always proud of the things I did, but I could always justify it by thinking of my parents. As I mentioned they were true hippies and government and politics wasn't exactly their scene. I told myself they would have said what I was doing was all right as long as I wasn't physically hurting anyone.

Then one day I got a request for a job that would require me hacking into government defense files, real top secret weaponry information. I knew I could do it and the money was phenomenal but something didn't feel right about it to me. I was afraid of whose hands the information would end up in. Unfortunately I had gotten myself in the predicament of not just being able to turn the job down outright. I knew whoever was behind the request wouldn't take no for an answer. I didn't know how to get out of it so in order to buy myself some time I told the requestor that I would need several weeks to get the job done. In the mean time, I hacked into the FBI and CIA computer systems and added my name to their most watched list. In actuality I had known I had been on one or more of their watch lists for years anyways, I just moved my priority level up.

Luckily, that worked and my movement up the list caught someone's eye and they contacted me through a series of websites I had encoded onto their list. I knew a smart tech would eventually able be able to trace back to me. I agreed to tell them what I knew about the defense file request and also agreed to show them how I was able to hack their files and bypass their encryptions. At their request, I helped them write new security system codes so that hacking would be near impossible. In the end I was able to tell the "customer" that I couldn't do the job and when they checked the new systems in place, they bought my story.

Anyways, one thing eventually led to another and I ended up being hired by the FBIand well, you know the rest." Penelope finished her story and turned back to face the team who was now staring at her in awe, trying to process what they had just been told.

"Baby Girl, you never told me any of this…" Derek said as he began to realize what a hard life Penelope must have lived during those years.

"I'm sorry, Derek. I've never told anyone what I just told you. It's not a part of my life I'm particularly proud of and if you think differently of me now, I'll understand."

Derek stood and walked over to her, taking her in his arms, be damned what the rest of the team thought. "I do think differently, but only in that I have more respect for you now than ever. What you must have gone through, I'm sorry you had to go it alone."

"Thank you for that, my hero" Penelope said with a sigh of relief.

"Uh hmmm" Hotch cleared his throat, needing to get the team back on track. "Penelope, you've certainly given us a lot to think about. From the sounds of things there are unfortunately a lot of people from your past who would be willing and capable of sending these messages."

"Actually, Hotch, I think we can narrow it down to just a few rather quickly," Reid observed.

"How do you figure?" Rossi asked as Penelope and Derek headed back to their seats at the conference table.

"Well if this person really did have something to do with the death of Garcia's parents, then it would have to be someone who knew her before she went underground, right?" Reid asked.

"He's right" Emily stated. "It sounds to me if we start with this Geek Underground group and work our way out from there."

"Makes sense, Hotch." Derek agreed. "Baby Girl, do you think you can locate any one from that original group still?

Wondering why it hadn't dawned on her earlier to do so, Penelope immediately began punching keys on her laptop. "I think so. I may need to get back to my office though to have access to all of my equipment to do so, though."

"All right, let's start there then," Hotch directed. "Derek, stay with Garcia and see what you can find out about those students. Emily and Dave, I still want to see that police report from the accident. Get a copy of that and talk to any officers that might still be around that remember it. Reid and JJ, I need you to look into Garcia's professors she had at Cal-Tech. Check them out and see if there's anything that might flag them as suspicious. I know these are all long shots but at least it's somewhere to start. I'll be meeting with Strauss, trying to give her some explanation of what's happening."

Penelope watched in awe as the team began to disperse for what they sure was a long night ahead, no questions asked. Even after everything she had just told them her family was still there to help. It was an amazing feeling to know that people cared about her that much.

"Penelope, you ok?" Derek asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"Oh, My Love, actually I'm better than I have been in a long time on some levels," she smiled back at him. Grabbing his hand and leading him out the door she said, "Let's get to work, Hot Stuff. I'm have no intentions of letting this asshole destroy me or my family again."

TBC

I know this was kind of a long explanation but I really wanted to get into Garcia's background. I hope you enjoyed it. I have basically no computer knowledge so if any of this came across as unbelievable, I am sorry. It all stems from my imagination and any inconsistencies are my own. Please review and let me know what you think!