DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS OR ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HERE IN... i merely play with fire sometimes..
She waited alone in the cold, cold examination room, twisting her fingers and various rings nervously in turns. Why were hospital rooms always so cold when you were waiting for life altering news? She began to search the room for a thermostat, wondering if she could maybe get away with turning the heat up on her own. To her surprise, she actually managed to find one. She slowly reached her hand toward the dial.
"so!, miss Garcia, is it?", asked a woman's voice, making Penelope yelp in fear and turn sharply towards the sound. She was met with the sight of a tall, curvacious, dark haired doctor, examining her charts intently. The doctor looked up at Penelope and smiled. "i guess I'll be your doctor today." when Penelope didn't answer, but just kept standing there like a frightened deer, the women extended her hand, "hi, you are miss Garcia?"
"um- yeah..", Penelope blurted, still in shock, extending her hand for a hand shake in return. "Penelope."
"no way, really?", the doctor smiled excitedly, shaking Penelope's hand, "my name's Calliope! But everyone calls me Callie, please don't call me Calliope. I can't believe i just told you that.."
Penelope giggled slightly. "that's okay, i won't."
"awesome", Callie smiled, "um- right!, your prognosis! Well, I'm sorry to tell you, if you were hoping to abort this mission, it's really too late for that."
Penelope's face feel a little at that. Her fears were having a nasty way of coming true today. But, then again, she probably would have kept it anyway. The thought of hurting something so small and innocent made her stomach turn, but she had been reasonable in considering every option. Now her choices seemed fewer and far between, but at least she knew in which direction she was headed, which was a small comfort to the previous bout of chaos. "yeah, i kinda figured that", Penelope sighed, sitting back down on the hospital bed, and fiddling with her jewelry again.
Callie looked up from Penelope's charts toward her melancholy patient. She knew what it was like to all-of-a-sudden discover you were going to be a mom and there was nothing you could do about it. "hey, um, i don't mean to pry, but it sounds like you might have an idea about when this happened?"
"well, i wasn't sure until now", Penelope answered truthfully, "but there was this trip i took a little while ago-"
"ah, i see", said Callie, nodding knowingly, "the hangover, the woman's version."
Penelope decided she really liked this doctor. She was sorta funny. "yeah, so true, 'cause it was in Vegas and everything."
"oh, nice!", Callie chuckled sympathetically.
Penelope frowned. "i just wish i could remember any of it.."
Callie's attention caught on that. "wait, what was the last thing you remember?"
Penelope tried very hard to discern the smallest memory, but it was proving extremely difficult. "i remember getting on the jet. Rossi had bribed the pilot to fore go Strauss' wrath and fly us there... then we landed and all of us checked into the hotel-"
"how many of you were there?", Callie asked scribbling some notes on Penelope's chart.
"there were seven of us, including me", Penelope answered, "we had to double up in rooms because we only had so much money and it had to last us the week." Penelope chuckled then. "we had to draw straws to see who would be stuck with Reid. It was hilarious. Well, it was hilarious until i drew the short straw.. oh my god!, what if i slept with Reid?" Penelope blanched and her stomach turned. Oh lord...
"who is this Reid?", Callie asked, writing 'possible father: reed' under her notes.
Penelope gave herself a shake mentally. "uh... he's- he's an agent i work with.. my whole team went.. oh god, i hope i didn't sleep with Reid.."
"why? Is he fugly or something?", Callie asked before she'd thought it through.
"well, no, but he's like, nine years younger then me", Penelope answered by way of explanation. "he's just so young. He might make a good dad some day, who knows? But now.. and i don't even like him that way."
"well, I'm sure stranger things have happened", Callie pointed out, still taking as many notes as she could. "any of you drinking alcohol?"
"we all were", Penelope emphasized the word 'all'. "even Reid, and he doesn't usually drink. Something about killing important brain synapses or something-"
Callie grinned, leaning against the counter opposite Penelope. "he sounds like a smarty pants, this Reed guy."
"he's brilliant", Penelope nodded. "he has an IQ of one hundred and eighty, and an eidetic memory. He also has a doctorate."
"wow, really?", Callie was intrigued, "where on earth do you work?, some kind of think tank for the government?"
"i work for the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI. Basically, we get into the minds of the bad guys, find out what makes them tick, and then bring them down. Well, i should say, my team brings them down. I just help them when ever they run into cyber crud." Penelope explained.
"and what do you do, specifically?, if you don't mind me asking", Callie asked.
"I'm a technical analyst", Penelope answered, "i run searches using the information super highway for the team when they're huntin' down the perps. I'm like their oracle." Penelope giggled at her self-proclaimed nickname.
"sounds like you're all fairly smart", Callie observed.
Penelope grinned shyly. "thanks."
"tell me about the rest of your team", Callie asked, flipping Penelope's chart over and continuing on the other side, "what are they like?"
"well", Penelope began, mulling the question over, "there's JJ and Emily. JJ's our communications liaison and Emily is a regular field agent. Then there's Rossi; he's Italian and sweet. He loves hunting and can drink enough to sink a ship. He founded the BAU. He retired, but then came back because he had unfinished business and ended up staying with us. Then there's Reid. Dr. Spencer Reid. Youngest agent in the FBI. He's sweet and really shy, but he can play poker like a shark and does really cool magic tricks. He actually lived in Vegas when he was a kid, come to think of it.. anyway, then there's the boss man, Hotch. He keeps all of us in line. He's kinda no nonsense, but he's a softy underneath. He has an adorable son, jack, and i baby sit sometimes when his ex-wife's sister is busy."
"ex-wife?", Callie asked.
"yeah, she-" Penelope halted at the painful memory, "-she died. It was awful. Hotch is still torn up about it. He blames himself."
"why?"
"because if he hadn't been so determined to catch this bad guy, Foyet, Foyet may not have murdered her."
Callie gasped. "oh, that is awful! I'm sorry."
"that's okay", Penelope assured her. "Foyet is dead now. He can't hurt anyone any more."
Callie let a moment of silence pass between them before she continued. "you said there were seven of you.. that's only six."
"oh, yeah, well, the last one is Derek", Penelope said, as if that should explain everything.
Callie waited expectantly for more information, but then she realized there was none forthcoming, so she proceeded to prod Penelope into elaborating. "and who is this Derek?"
Penelope shrugged. "he's just Derek. We've been best friends ever since the day we met and he called me baby girl."
"baby girl?", Callie smirked.
"well, yeah, he didn't know what my name was and i was about to leave the bullpen so he called out 'hey, baby girl!', and thus an intrepid friendship was born." Penelope smiled in fond remembrance.
"so you two are close?", Callie questioned, focusing her efforts on this promising lead.
Penelope laughed. "some would say too close." then she added quickly. "but he would never hook up with me. He wouldn't risk ruining our friendship over something silly like that. He's all chivalrous and stuff. Like a knight," she gushed happily, sighing.
Callie smiled to herself. She'd seen that look on women before. "he's sounds dreamy."
"he is", Penelope agreed, "he's handsome too. Like a giant ship of gorgeousness; You just wanna crack a bottle over him and lick it off", she growled mischievously, bubbling with suppressed laughter.
"sounds like Derek is the best candidate so far", Callie pointed out, adding 'Derek' to the list of possible fathers.
Penelope's cheeks blushed pink with this revelation. The more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea was. Then she gave her head a shake. This was Derek Morgan, player extraordinaire. He would never agree to being a father, much less with his best friend. No, it would be better if the child wasn't his. "i hope not.." Penelope sighed, feeling small and defeated.
"when alcohol is involved, anything is possible", Callie said, finishing her note taking with a flourish. "well, if you really want to find out who the daddy-to-be is, there is always the good old paternity test."
Penelope balked. "i couldn't ask them to do that!", she squeaked, panic stricken. "they'd murder me! I'd never here the end of it! Plus, plus, also, and, I'd be hence forth known as the office slut! They'd say 'there goes Garcia. Doesn't even know which one she put out for, the whore.' I'd have to quit the BAU-"
"whoa there, miss Garcia!", Callie held up her hands to stop Penelope's tirade short. "there's no need to go condemning yourself yet! You've got seven or so whole months to think about it. I'd wait until the chick pea was born before I'd go around asking about dad's myself, but there's no rush. Really."
Penelope didn't look convinced.
Callie tilted her head so she could look Penelope in her down cast eyes. "hey, frowny face. You're gonna be fine. No matter what, it will all be worked out in the end. I'll help you with what i can, okay? And we'll get you all set up to deliver this thing, alright?"
Penelope gave her a small quirked smile.
"that's right. Come on, momma. Give us a smile", Callie encouraged.
Penelope beamed tearfully and laughed. "thank you. You're completely awesome."
"damn right", Callie joked, handing Penelope her personal card, "now i want you to call me with updates about every week or so, okay? And if you feel like anything's gone odd with the baby, you can call me sooner, but never think a problem's too small okay? We don't want that precious life to go to waste."
Penelope took Callie's card gratefully. "thank you so much. I feel so much better now. You're an amazing doctor."
"thank you", Callie's smiled, gathering Penelope's clothes from the counter behind her. "you'll probably be wanting these back", she laughed, handing them to Penelope. "i know i wouldn't want to wear that hospital gown for longer then i needed to."
Penelope looked down at the pile of neatly folded clothes and made a face. "is this what i came here in? Ugh! No wonder Hotch told me i looked awful and needed to go to the doctor. Look at this; grey sweater, dark top- oh lord, i was wearing my black wool skirt. I never where my black wool skirt. It just sits in the back of my closet collecting dust." Penelope glanced up at Callie with a horrified look on her face.
"i would hesitate to ask what you usually wear to work", Callie smiled, pausing in the doorway.
Penelope made a disgusted face. "not this", she muttered, handling the clothes as though they might infect her with some form of disease at any moment.
Callie smiled fondly at Penelope. "I'll see you at reception when you're ready to leave." and with that, she left Penelope to change.
Penelope held up her dark top, still frowning. "this needs a little.." then she smiled, "..original Garcia. Ha-huh." she spied her bag on the far counter, and practically lunged for it. Opening the bag, she located her emergency accessories and held them up in glee. "ohhh yes", she giggled happily, already scheming.
[a/n: yes, i stole Callie from 'grey's anatomy'. yes, i made her into a neonatal care doctor. i wanted Garcia to have a kickass doctor, and Callie's my favorite. so sue me. *shrugs* anyway, i also stole another character from 'grey's anatomy' for the next chapter. hope you likey regardless. love y'all. peace.]