Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds; it belongs to CBS as you all know.
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The ambulance ride went by in a haze for Morgan. He knew the EMTs were there and he knew they were talking, but the only thing he could focus on was Penelope and how she was getting paler by the second. He held her hand the whole way, right up until two people pulled him away as they wheeled her into the ER and led him to some chairs. He was alone and guilt ran through his head. 'I should have been there. I promised her I'd never let anything happen to her again and I broke it. God she has to be ok.' He thought to himself as he stared at the doors they'd just taken her through. He didn't think he could live without her anymore.
He wasn't sure how long it had been, but when the others showed up they all sat around him with worried looks.
"The guy who attacked Garcia was the same guy from California who wanted to kill us." Reid told Morgan trying to get his partners attention.
"Ya, I know Reid." Morgan said still staring at the doors "It must have been because of this blood protection thing. He had to get Penelope before he could get us."
"Well I don't think will have to worry about him anymore." Emily said with a slight smile. When Morgan looked up she continued. "Garcia shot him point blank; right through the heart."
"Shit." Morgan said as he ran his hands over his face
"What are you talking about? It's a good thing his dead." Reid said slightly confused
"Two reasons genius. One: I wanted to kill the bastard myself and two: the guy may have tried to kill her, but we all know Penelope is going to fell guilty about it." Morgan explained.
"Apparently she's not the only one." JJ said with a knowing look as she watched Morgan
Morgan looked around at his friends. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they were just as worried as he was.
"I should have taken her home. If I'd have been there she…"
"Morgan it is not your fault. You couldn't have known he was waiting for her." Hotch said looking straight at Morgan. "If it's anyone's fault it's mine." He said as he leaned back in his chair and looked away.
"How the hell do you see it's you fault?" Morgan asked utterly confused
"I told Garcia to go home. If I had let her stay then she wouldn't have even gone to her apartment." Hotch said still not looking at any of them
"It's neither of yours fault. None of us could have known." Reid said
"Besides, we got there in time. That's what important." Emily said looking between Hotch and Morgan
There was quiet for a few minutes until Morgan broke the silence.
"I won't to marry her." He said not looking at any of them
"Yeah, we figured you would." Reid said smiling slightly
"When are you going to ask her?" Emily asked
"Not yet. I'm going to wait awhile so she knows I'm serious." He said as the others smiled and looked at each other
Half and hour later a doctor finally came out and walked over to them.
"I take it you are the ones here with Agent Garcia?" the young doctor asked
"Yes." Emily said as they all stood up.
"Does Ms. Garcia have any family in town?"
"No. We're her family." Hotch said
The doctor looked at the agents and raised his eyebrow but continued. "Ms. Garcia has a stab wound in her upper right leg and a cut along her neck. Normally this wouldn't have been too bad, but the stab wound punctured one of her arteries and she lost a great deal of blood. Also her trachea was bruised. By the looks of it she was strangled. As I'm sure you can imagine she has some bruising around her neck that will be sore for a awhile. We were able to repair her artery so we stitched her leg up and bandaged it. We also had to stitch her neck and bandage it as well. We're giving her blood now, but she lost a lot so we're also barrowing some from another hospital to give her." The doctor said
"So she's going to be ok?" Emily asked worriedly
"She needs to rest and stay off her leg for awhile, but as long as we keep giving her blood she'll be fine." The doctor replied with a smile
"Thank you." JJ said with a smile. "Can we see her?"
"She's resting right now, but you're welcome to sit with her." He said
The team thanked him once again and then followed a nurse to Garcia's room. Garcia was lying still with her eyes closed, a bandage wrapped around her neck, and tubes delivering the much needed blood into her veins.
Morgan pulled up a chair so that he could sit right next to her. Once he sat down, he gently took her hand and kissed it before messaging it. The others also pulled up chairs. JJ was directly opposite of Morgan on Garcia's right, Hotch was next to JJ, while Reid was on the other side of the bed next to Morgan, and Emily pulled up a chair next to Hotch. After a couple of hours of just watching their friend sleep, they too began to fall asleep.
As Garcia began to wake up she opened her eyes and at first wasn't sure where she was. Of course then the white walls and bed made it obvious. She tried to move her arm, but when she did she heard a small groan. She looked down and sure enough there was Derek. He was hugging her left arm and resting his head on it while his other arm was across her stomach. She was loosing feeling in her arm, but he was so cute she decided to let him sleep a bit longer. So she looked around and then noticed the others. Reid was leaning back in his chair so much that it looked like he'd fall out of it any second, Emily was leaning against Hotch who was bent over slightly so that his arms were crossed on the bed and his head was resting on them, and JJ was leaning against the night stand but had her hand on Garcia's.
A second later she heard a soft groan and felt Morgan move slightly. She turned her head and gently moved her hand from under JJ's. She placed her hand on Derek's head and he gradually began to wake up.
When Morgan opened his eyes he saw Penelope looking down at him and smiling. His first thought was how gorgeous she looked and how much he wanted to hug her and never let her go.
"Hey hot stuff." Penelope said still smiling
"How are you feeling Penelope?" He asked worriedly as he sat up and took her hand in both of his.
"Just a bit sore sweetie. I'll be fine." Penelope said trying to reassure him
"I'm so sorry baby girl." Morgan said as he tucked a stray hair behind Penelope's ear and then rested his hand on her cheek.
Penelope closed her eyes and leaned in against his hand enjoying the warmth and comfort for second. "Derek, you don't have anything to be sorry for." She said once she opened her eyes. She looked straight into his eyes and she could see the worry, pain, but the thing that really got her was the amount of love.
"I should have been there Penelope. I should have…" He began but was interrupted. Penelope placed her finger on his lips and smiled at him.
"Derek, you couldn't have know he was waiting for me. I knew something like this would probably happen one day when I did the whole blood protection thing." She said with her finger still in his lips.
He looked at her and saw she meant every word, which told him there was no point arguing. He brought his hand up and took her hand that was still on his lips. He held it away slightly and kissed her finger gently before moving to her palm. Her skin was so soft he wanted to keep going, but just as he was getting to her wrist she gently pulled her hand away and placed it on the side of his face. She rubbed her thumb over his cheek and then slid her hand down to his neck as he closed his eyes and put his hand on hers.
"Thank you." She said softly. At this he looked up at her with a confused look.
"You don't need to thank me princess. I'd do anything for you."
"I know handsome, that's why I called you." Penelope said simply "If you hadn't of gotten there when you did, I'd probably be died." She said and looked down slightly.
"Baby…"
"And you know what, hot stuff? I wouldn't have done anything different. You and the others mean more to me than anything. If I had to, I would have died to make sure that he, or anyone else, couldn't hurt you guys." She said seriously
"I know Penelope. That's what scares me. I couldn't live without you." Morgan said and put his hand on the side of Penelope's face again.
Tears began to build up behind Penelope's eyes but she ignored them as Derek leaned in closer. She closed the gap and Morgan brought both his hands to Penelope's face as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
They didn't know how long they'd stayed like that, but it must have been awhile because they soon heard a giggle that they distinctly recognized as JJ's. They pulled back and turned. The whole team was standing at the foot of Garcia's bed with smirks and smiles. JJ and Emily were whispering to each other while Hotch tried to suppress his smile but was failing.
"You know, you two could have waited until the rest of us were out of the room." JJ said with a smirk
"Good idea. Why don't you all leave for awhile?" Morgan said
"How are you Garcia?" Hotch asked looking at Penelope and ignoring the others
"Just fine." She said reassuringly "I take you guys stayed her all night." She said with a raised eyebrow
"Of course we did." Reid said with a smile
"Thank you." She said with a smile
"Garcia, you don't need to…" Hotch began
"I already told her Hotch, but she won't listen." Morgan said and looked over at Penelope who just stuck out her tongue at him. He laughed, but before he could do anything else Garcia suddenly got a serious look on her face.
"What happened to him?" She asked looking around at the team. They didn't have to ask who she was talking about, they looked at each other and Garcia could see the worry in their faces.
"He's gone baby girl." Morgan said simply rubbing his thumb over her hand
Garcia raised her eyebrow before asking. "Did I…"
"You did the right thing Garcia. If you hadn't one of us would have, but we may have been too late." Emily said trying to comfort her friend
"Of my God." She said suddenly with worry written all over her face. "Derek! Are you ok?" she said looking at him
"Ya, baby girl, I'm fine." He said with a laugh "Don't think you're getting rid of me that easily." He said with a smile
Before anyone could say something else the doctor came in.
"Well good morning Ms. Garcia." He said with a smile and then turned to the others. "If you don't mind I'd like to take a look at Ms. Garcia's leg, so if you could all wait outside…" he said
"No can do. I'm not leaving Penelope." Morgan said looking straight at the man with a look that told the doctor not to argue and that there wasn't anything he could do to make him leave.
"We'll go to the cafeteria and bring some coffee up." JJ said looking at Garcia and Morgan
"I get some too right?" Penelope asked hopefully
"No." The whole team said at once.
"I'm sorry Ms. Garcia, but with the pain medication you're on it wouldn't be a good idea." The doctor said smiling.
So JJ, Reid, Hotch and Emily all went down to the cafeteria while the doctor checked Garcia and Morgan held her hand and whispered in her ear whenever he saw her flinch at the pain.
After a few minutes the doctor stopped examining Penelope and started writing in a folder.
"Well Ms. Garcia, you are doing quiet well. I believe at this rate you should be able to leave in a couple of days." The doctor said looking up and smiling
"Thank you doctor." Penelope said happily
"You're welcome, but you won't be able to return to work for about a week at least after you leave. When you do leave you'll need to stay off your leg and use crutches once you return to work." The doctor said
"A week?" Penelope said
"You heard the doc baby girl, a week at least. And don't even try to talk your way out of the crutches." Morgan said knowingly and looking straight at Garcia.
"Well, I take it you'll be watching after her." The doctor said with a smile looking at Morgan
"For the rest of my life." Morgan said looking at Penelope and smiling. They just smiled at each other and the doctor couldn't help but smile knowingly
"If you'll excuse me, I need to make my rounds now." He said and quietly left while the two continued to stare at each other.
After a minute of just watching each other Garcia leaned over and kissed Morgan.
"I love you Derek." She said quietly and Morgan saw that she was holding back tears.
"I love you too Penelope, more than anything." Morgan said as he stroked her cheek "Penelope, its ok to cry. I'm here and I'm most defiantly not leaving."
Penelope couldn't hold it back anymore, she let out the tears she been trying to hold in. Morgan stood up and sat back down on the edge of the bed. Penelope leaned over and clung to Derek, who held her as tight he could and let her cry into his shoulder. As the tears began to fade Derek pulled back slowly, still holding onto Penelope's shoulders, and put his hand under her chin to make her look at him. When she did he wiped away a few stray tears and kissed her head gently.
"Penelope, I wanted to wait awhile before I asked you this, but I can't wait any longer." He said and then got up. Before Penelope knew what he was doing she saw Derek get down on his knee and take her hand. He kissed it and Penelope began to cry silently again, but this time she was also smiling.
"Penelope, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You're perfect baby girl and I honestly don't know what I did to deserve you." He said and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. His hand was shaking slightly but he opened the box and Penelope's jaw dropped.
It was a beautiful white gold ring with a pink stone in the center and a diamond on each side.
"My father bought it for my mother for their anniversary, but he didn't get a chance to give it to her. He left it with me before he died and told me to keep it safe."
"Oh Derek, I can't…"
"Shh… Baby girl this ring may not be as beautiful as you, but I want you to wear it." He said and then took the ring out of the box. "Penelope Garcia, will you please be my wife?" he said with anticipation written all over his face.
Penelope was speechless for a second. She looked at Morgan then the ring and back at Morgan. For a minute Derek thought she was going to say no, but then she threw her arms around his neck.
"Yes, yes I'll marry you!" Penelope said smiling while tears fell down her face.
With that Morgan knew he was the luckiest man on earth. He hugged her tight and then pulled back to kiss her. When they pulled apart for the need of air he took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. He then looked up at her and saw the love in her eyes and knew he too probably had the same look in his face.
After a minute of kissing each other and holding they began to talk about what the team was going to say when they found out.
"Derek, how long have you been carrying that ring around in your pocket?" Penelope asked after a minute
"Since our first date. I knew I'd ask you one day so I decided to keep it with me." He said a bit nervously
"You have got to be the sweetest guy on the planet." Penelope said with a laugh
"Not as sweet as you baby girl." Morgan said mischievously and then nipped her lip
When the others came back they found Garcia sitting straight up in the bed and Morgan sitting on the edge still holding Garcia's hands. They were laughing and at that moment they knew everything would be ok.
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