Welcome to chapter 7, AKA the second to last chapter. Yes, this story is almost to a close, but first Garcia has to go see the shrink in order to return to her job, if they let her come back at all. And definitely more Morgan/Garcia ahead.

Enjoy!

Garcia slept soundly through the next day, and when she finally woke up, Morgan had cooked some spaghetti and meatballs for them to eat for dinner. When she went to take a shower, Morgan called JJ.

"Hey, Derek, how is she?"

"Not good. I know you and Emily said you wanted to spend the night with her tonight, but…do you mind waiting a few days?" Morgan asked, rubbing his face with his free hand.

"No, of course not. Just make sure you take care of her," JJ said, and Morgan nodded.

"I will. She had a nightmare last night, but she slept dreamlessly when I was holding her. If that's the solution to her bad dreams, I'll hold her every night," Morgan said firmly, and then Emily took the phone.

"Maybe that's what she needs. When she's up to visitors, Hotch said he needs to see her, it's kind of urgent he said,"

"All right. I'll call him, maybe tomorrow if she's okay with it,"

"I'll tell Hotch. Make sure she knows she's not alone, Derek, that's all you can really do,"

"I know. I just wish there was more I can do," Morgan murmured, and then hung up. Garcia came out moments later and was toweling her hair dry.

"Derek, can I ask a big favor of you?" She said in a small voice, and Morgan nodded.

"Anything,"

"Can you…would you stay with me tonight, like sleep in my bed with me? Please? I, maybe I'm crazy but I felt safer with you there, and I didn't have any nightmares,"

He smiled and gently touched her cheek, saying, "There is no place I'd rather be," Then he got a little flustered and said, "I mean, well you know what I mean,"

Garcia laughed and said, "Yes, Derek, I know what you mean,"

"Good. Now, you tired or do you wanna watch a movie or something?"

"I'm kinda tired," She admitted, and Morgan nodded as she climbed into bed and he followed. It wasn't awkward at all as they laid down together and Morgan wrapped his arms around Garcia like he'd done it hundreds of times before.

Garcia woke up the next morning, feeling really refreshed from having slept through the night dreamlessly, and she glanced at Morgan's sleeping face. She smiled softly before slipping out of bed and picking her phone up. She saw that she had a few missed calls from both JJ and Emily, but she had a voicemail message from Hotch.

"Garcia, when you feeling better please give me a call," He requested in the message, and Garcia hit redial.

"Hotchner," Hotch answered, and Garcia said,

"Penelope Garcia, sir, returning your call,"

"Oh, Garcia, how are you?"

"I'm fine," She said quietly, and Hotch was silent for a moment.

"Strauss wants you to come in today, not to work but to…"

"See the shrink," Garcia finished his sentence, and Hotch sighed.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Penelope,"

"No, it's not your fault. I'll see you in a little while," She said, and hung up.

"Who was that?" Morgan asked from her bed, sitting up and stretching.

"Hotch. I gotta go in and see the shrink,"

"Today? Seriously?" Morgan said angrily, getting up. Garcia shrugged and said,

"I'd rather get it over with,"

Morgan looked at her for a long moment and then nodded, getting up and heading to take a shower. An hour later, he and Garcia had eaten and were heading to the BAU to meet with Strauss and the shrink. Before they walked in, Morgan took her hand. "If you feel uncomfortable or anything, just yell for me okay? I'll be standing right outside,"

"They won't let you in," She said, shaking her head.

"They couldn't keep me out," He contradicted, and she hugged him.

"Thank you, Derek,"

"You're welcome," He replied, kissing her forehead as they walked into the BAU. JJ and Emily saw them walk out of the elevator and they hurried over to her, wrapping Garcia in a three-way hug.

"The next chance we get, we're taking you out and getting you drunk," Emily declared, and Garcia laughed, saying,

"No wine, please, my head can't take that again,"

"We'll steer clear of the wine, but anything else is fair game," JJ promised, and Garcia laughed again. She saw Reid standing back, clearly hesitant to approach her with the two girls and Morgan surrounding her. Garcia stepped away and wrapped her arms around the genius.

"Hey Reid," She said with a smile, drawing back and squeezing his hands.

"Hey Garcia. You…you okay?"

"Getting there," She said, and then saw Rossi and Hotch standing off with Strauss. Garcia set her jaw and walked over to them. Rossi put his arm around her shoulders and asked quietly,

"Are you sure you're up to this? You can always do it later,"

"No, I want to get it over with," Garcia said determinedly, and Hotch turned to Strauss.

"Where is Dr. Palmer at?"

"She's in my office," Strauss said, and Garcia followed her up to her office. She glanced back at her team and they all smiled at her. She smiled back before stepping into the office and taking a deep breath when Strauss shut the door, leaving her in the room with a woman sitting in Strauss's chair.

"Hello Penelope, I'm Dr. Maria Palmer," The woman said, reaching her hand out. Garcia shook it and said nervously,

"Hi Dr. Palmer,"

"Please, call me Maria," She said, and Garcia nodded as she slowly sat down across from her. "Let's start with what happened. Can you tell me what happened, starting with how you found out Emily was alive," She said kindly, and Garcia launched into the story. When she finished, Maria nodded slowly and took some notes. "How did you feel when you found out Emily was alive?"

"Betrayed. Angry. Disbelief." Garcia said quietly, and Maria added,

"You felt guilty too, didn't you?" When Garcia was silent, Maria went on, saying, "You thought that if you had found that information out sooner, Emily could've been home sooner, am I right?"

"Maybe," Garcia whispered.

"All right. Now tell me how you felt when you killed Doyle."

"I…I couldn't believe what I had just done. I felt dirty, like I had committed a great sin, which I had. I stared at him, knowing how much I hated him, and I hated myself more for taking his life."

"Did it occur to you that if he had lived, he would still be going after Emily, going after Declan, he might even be going after the entire team. You saved their lives,"

"But how does that justify his death? I'm not Hitler, I don't sacrifice people for the greater good!" Garcia said in anguish, and Maria nodded.

"I know you don't. You did take a life, and as regrettable as that is, you didn't take his life out of spite or out of anger or out of jealousy. You took his life as your last attempt to save your friend. In that situation, you had no other option."

"I know that, but he wouldn't have even been there if it wasn't for me!"

"Ah yes, he hacked into your search and found out Emily's address,"

"Exactly!"

"Emily doesn't blame you for that,"

"But she should!"

"Why should she? She's home with her friends and family, and the man who tried to kill her is dead. The only person blaming you is you, Penelope,"

"Because everyone else is too nice to blame me! I deserve some kind of punishment, something for what I've done,"

"What kind of punishment do you think you need?"

"I don't know!" Garcia burst out, and Maria said quietly,

"You're going through hell right now, Penelope, I think that's punishment enough. You're berating yourself and beating yourself up. In my mind, that's plenty of punishment."

"But…" Garcia stammered, and realized that Maria was speaking the truth. If it hadn't been for Morgan, she wouldn't have gotten any sleep and she wouldn't have eaten much of anything. Without the team, she probably would've ended up killing herself over lack of sleep and lack of nutrition. She was beating herself up, majorly, but that probably wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Do you know what I think, Penelope?"

"No, you're the shrink remember?" Garcia said listlessly, and Maria half-smiled.

"I think that you need a vacation, away from all of this. You need time to heal and forgive yourself, and then you can come back to the BAU."

"So you're not getting me fired or put on leave or anything?" Garcia asked, hope blossoming in her voice. Maria knew that she'd feared herself too damaged to continue working for her beloved team, but she thought differently.

"Your love for your team is going to save you and your sanity, Penelope, and it would be wrong to keep you away from that love for too long. However, you do need to get away for a week. Not out of the country, but to a nice hotel, a wonderful spa, just something relaxing."

"That actually sounds good," Garcia admitted, and Maria smiled.

"And if I may, I suggest taking that Agent Morgan with you,"

Garcia blushed and then looked at her. "So are we done here?"

"Not quite. Just a few more questions," Maria said, glancing down at her notepad.

Garcia groaned, but waited for the doctor to begin speaking again.

So Garcia can return to her beloved team, but first she has to take a vacation with Morgan. Such a punishment, right? The next chapter (the last chapter) will have the shrink asking one final, complicated question, and it might help Garcia to finally start to forgive herself. Thank you so much for sticking with this story and I hope you like it!