Chapter 8: Reunions
Garcia ran off the plane as soon as it landed and with her carryon she ran out to the curb to hail a cab. "Riverside Methodist Hospital, Now." She told the cabby as soon as she was inside.
"Ma'am that is going to be a large…"
"Just go. I have the money about how much do you think that is going to be? If you leave right now I will give you two hundred just get me there! And don't get us killed." The cab had squealed out into traffic at the words two hundred dollars.
"So what are you in such a hurry to get to the hospital for someone you know having a kid?" asked the cabby as he waited for the red light to change.
"No, my boyfriend is FBI and he was kidnapped on this last assignment they found him in pretty bad shape this is where they told me they were taking him." She answered trying to not bite off the man's head.
"Well if you didn't want to tell me you could have just said so…" he muttered.
"What part didn't you believe? I flew coach in a skirt, after having not slept in days because I didn't know where my Angel was and now that they have found him I have a cabby who seems to think that for two hundred dollars he can smart mouth me about why I am in such a hurry to get to the hospital even though I told him the truth. Here see this is my id believe me yet?" she raged at him, "The light is green." She spat at the man, who was now worried for his safety.
"Yes ma'am. I am sorry it just sounded so fake, who knows anyone in the FBI? I thought you all weren't allowed to tell people who you were with."
"Just shut up and drive." She snapped and ignored any further attempts at conversation that the man made.
She got out at the hospital and threw the bills into him before running through the doors into the Emergency room. She walked right up to the desk, "Agent Derek Morgan's room please."
"Agent Morgan was admitted but he hasn't been moved to his room yet would you like to see him now or wait in the room where he will be in just a few minutes I was just going to move him?"
"Can I just go with you?" Garcia asked pulling out her FBI credentials.
"Of course Agent Garcia, Agent Jareau is with him now."
"JJ should be resting in her condition not caring for Morgan." Garcia said more to herself then to the nurse, as she followed her to Morgan.
"Baby Girl!" Derek said seeing her coming. His smile melted through the panic she had been feeling since she had to listen helpless while he was being kidnapped.
"Hey, Hot stuff. How are you holding up?" She asked as she glanced over him injuries.
"I'm hundred percent now that you are here! Thank you Angel for saving me yet again. What would I do without you?" he asked her being more serious then he sounded, so that the nurse thought he was just flirting with her. He held out his good hand so that she would move closer and once the nurse left he pulled her down into a very tender kiss. "I mean it baby girl I don't know what I would do without you. I was there and the whole time I was more worried about you then for myself. I hated that I was the reason you were hurting and I know you were because you were worried that you wouldn't be able to find me in time."
"I was hurting but once JJ gave me the idea I knew we could get you out and I was just worried that it wouldn't be in time, that it would bring back memories best left in the past. If they had, I was so worried. But that is not a straight answer on how you are." Knowing that he would just tell her the same thing Garcia turned to JJ.
"They say that our boy here is pretty banged up but nothing too serious, a few broken bones, and a ton of bruises." She answered. "One of his broken ribs seemed to want to cause more pain then necessary, then there is his wrist, and his leg that are broken they want to look at his ankle to make sure that it isn't broken as well but they think it is just sprained."
"So you are going to need some help around the house until you are back on your feet?" Garcia asked an odd glint in her eyes.
"Yeah, there goes my plan of getting a place of my own." Morgan muttered and then remembered that he hadn't told her about that yet. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go in on a triplex with me and Reid. But with me laid up it wouldn't be too good to do it now. And I'd have to renew my lease again before I'm back on my feet. I was thinking we could say the middle was yours and it would be and Reid and myself on the outsides, but mine and yours would be connected secretly. That way it would look like we were neighbors to any outsider but…"
"Morgan are you asking me to move in with you?" Garcia asked with tears in her eyes.
"Yeah, baby I am. We wasted so long dancing around one another and this case made me look back at my life if I were to die on a case. What would I regret the most? I would regret not having you the most."
"Yes, sweetness I will move in with you, but you don't ever talk like that again!" She Ordered just as the nurse came back in, to her credit she didn't say anything but just raised an eyebrow at the crying woman.
"Garcia, you need to stop crying, being hormonal is hell on its own, but I can't have people around me breaking down and crying too." JJ told her tears in her eyes simply because Garcia was crying. Morgan chuckled to himself knowing that they would both kill him if they knew he was laughing at JJ's predicament.
"Excuse me agents I hate to break this up but we are moving Agent Morgan here to his own room now if you would like to come with me." The nurse said when she was done taking note of Derek's vitals.
Since they were FBI agents they were allowed to accompany Derek and the nurses through the back part of the hospital that usually only staff and patients see. Garcia walked next to Derek and they were chatting like they were in a coffee shop not the hospital, while JJ followed behind smiling at her friends. The nurse sent JJ a confused look as they turned a corner. It clearly said I thought you were with him, a pregnant agent frantically brings in another agent and now this one shows up and you back off? JJ just shook her head and laughed. Once the nurse had Derek settled in his room she took his chart and left.
"I came just to see where it is and now I am going to wait for the team in the waiting room. Pen, I will call your phone when they get here. Anything happens call me but until they get here I will leave you to be."
"JJ you don't have to leave, besides the chairs in here have to feel better then those plastic waiting room ones." Garcia told here. "And we really did just start dating so it is not like we are going to attack each other right here."
"Yeah JJ stay, sit and be comfortable…" Morgan started, as her stared at Garcia in shock for being so blunt.
"Guys look, I'm going to go call Will. It will give us all some time alone. Then I'll come back and relax is that alright with the two of you? I do appreciate the concern but we are in a hospital, I will be fine. And thank you for the invitation." With that she made her way out the door. As soon as Garcia saw the door close she rounded on Morgan, eyes on fire.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again! I had to call your family do you know what it was like talking to your mother, the man I love, her son was kidnapped and since it is part of a case I can't give her details but even if we find you alive that it could be bad for you?" Garcia whispered at him, knowing that if she spoke in her normal voice she would lose it and start screaming at him in the hospital.
"Mom knows? Sarah, and Des too?" Morgan's voice cracked, pain was written on his face. Knowing him it was not from the beating he took either. "That is horrible! What were they told has anyone let them know that I was found? Please tell me that they don't know I'm in the hospital!" Morgan hated his family knowing he was hurt, they would come take care of him and they could be so smothering. Once he started to get better the questions about the women in his life would start and wondering if he was ever going to settle down. By the time they would decided that he could care for himself he would be ready to either die or kill them all. He hated feeling like that about his own family.
"Oh, my God I can't believe I forgot to call them before I got on the plane!" Garcia moaned, "Great now they are going to kill me before they smother you." She said pulling out her phone. "What was your mother's number again?" Morgan rattled if off to her then reached for her hand with his good one. Garcia put the phone on speaker so that Morgan could pipe in if he so choose.
"Hello!?" came Fran Morgan's voice from the other end of the phone.
"Mrs. Morgan? This is Penelope Garcia we talked earlier today about your son, Derek."
"Hold on Penelope let me put you on speaker so his sisters can hear too." There was some scuffling and then Fran's voice sounding further away now said. "Okay what has happened?"
"Last we talked I had told you about the GPS correct?"
"Yes…"
"Alright then what I can tell you is that we have found him, they were captured…"
"That's it? That's all you know?" Fran interrupted sounding frantic.
"He will be oaky…" Garcia tried again.
"But he isn't right now? Is he at the hospital?" again Fran interrupted her.
"He is pretty banged up, a few broken bones…"
"Broken bones are pretty banged up?! How can you say that, he is seriously injured!" This time when she was cut off Garcia sighed and glared at Derek who was trying not to laugh not only because he didn't want Garcia to kill him but it hurt to do so. When she started to talk again Morgan leaned forward and placed a light kiss on her lips. Then he started talking to his mother for her.
"Mom, if you really want updates you should let the person trying to talk to you get more than two words in edge wise. Did you even know that you are talking to the woman who has saved my life? Not just today but before as well, and you just keep cutting her off. She was just as worried as you were, and she took the time to personally call you even though the team has someone else that normally makes those kinds of calls."
"DEREK! Why didn't you just call us yourself if you are there with her? Are you alright my baby boy?" the shriek on the phone made the nurse poke her head in and shake her head when she saw they were on the phone.
"I will be okay, thanks to my Angel, and I didn't call because I don't have a phone. I didn't know that they had already called you and told you about what happened. Mom, I know you hate what I do. Always worried that I might not come home and this time that could have been true. You just have to have faith in the same people I do." Morgan leaned forward and kissed Garcia again, letting her know that his faith had been in her.
"What do you mean you will be okay? And that was the same Penelope you have been gushing about for a while now?" With that Pen's mouth feel open, he had talked about her to his family?
"Thanks mom, I mean you have us on speaker phone and you knew that I heard you while you were talking to Pen so why wouldn't she hear you when you are talking to me?" Morgan fake pouted as he grinned at her, and reached up to close her mouth for her. This earned him a glared that he kissed away barely listening to the phone anymore.
"Avoidance! Derek Morgan you tell us right now what happened you? Are you at the hospital?" Sarah butted in.
"I guess you will find out eventually. Yes I am at the hospital…"
"Penelope tell me how bad he is?" asked Fran, "He would never tell me himself that he was hurting."
Penelope looked into his eyes before responding to her, "He definitely been better. He has a lot of bruising, a broken wrist and leg. A sprained ankle and a few cracked ribs." When that was met with silence she continued. "I was…" Only to be cut off by Des.
"I can go and help him until he gets back on his feet."
"Des, what did I tell you three about interrupting my Angel, go ahead tell them what you were just trying to tell them." An evil twinkle in his eyes.
"Well I had planned on working from home so that I could help him until he is back on his feet. We do live next door to one another; it wouldn't be too hard to move him into my place or my office into his." Morgan just grinned at her like the Cheshire cat.
"Derek Morgan you live with this woman and we haven't met her? I ask you every chance I get when you plan on bringing home a girl. Not one of them do we get to meet, but then again you usually don't spend very long with them. Now you are living with her and all I know about her is that she works with you!" It was hard to tell who said this it was nearly a scream, and the speaker phone was distorting it.
"Relax everyone, I don't live with Pen. Her Reid and I jointly own a triplex. Pen lives in the middle and cares for Clooney while we are out of town. By the way baby girl what did you do with him when you got on that plane?" he asked looking up at her.
"I called in a favor. I didn't want to send him to the kennel. My friend will be okay with him until we get back." She answered knowing that he would hate to have Clooney at a kennel.
"Thank you Angel, don't know what I would do with out you…" Morgan was staring at her all mushy eyed, and she had tears in her eyes.
"Ugh you two need to get a room, well I guess I didn't give you enough time but my feet were getting sore…" JJ interrupted them as she came back into the room.
"Who was that?" Fran asked, "Derek Morgan are you telling me that while this young woman was being torn apart over you, you have another woman there?"
"No, mom that is JJ, she works with us. She is the one that got me to the hospital and time alone with Garcia. The trouble is that she is pregnant and her feet were bothering her so she came back to rest and put them up like we told her to." Morgan explained blushing at JJ's laughter which she was not trying to hide, "Hey you sit and stop laughing if you have that kid without Will here he will kill us all for taking you away so close."
"Morgan relax I am fine just tired, you two go back to talking to your mother I am going to climb into this other bed and take a nap, it has been a long day."
"Mom I know you're worried but JJ is right a nap sound great. I will call you back oaky?"
"Wait Derek just answer me one thing. When do I get the pleasure of meeting the woman who has managed to save your life at least twice now if I understood you correctly?" Garcia's eyes got so big at the thought of meeting his family, that Morgan laughed causing him to moan in pain. "What was that? Are you okay?"
"It was nothing mom I laughed and it hurt because of my ribs. I don't know when I will be able to travel and I will need to get back to work as soon as I can…"
"Derek Morgan I will bring the entire family to see you while I know you are still out of work if that is going to be the only way we will get to meet her." Fran Morgan threatened.
"We will come visit before her goes back to work, but once he is more able to travel." Garcia answered this time chuckling at the look of horror on Derek's face at the thought of his family storming in on his life.
"Thank you Penelope I have been waiting a long time to meet you. Just let me know when you know more and I will make time for both of you. I love you baby feel better."
"Bye momma love you too, bye girls." Derek told them.
"Bye Derek, "They said together, "Bye Penelope!" with that Garcia closed the phone and leaned in to kiss him again.
"Rest now Sweetness I will be right here for you. I love you but if you ever do something like that to me again you'll make me do something I would hate myself for doing." She threatened.
"I know baby girl and I'm sorry. Thank you for finding me I don't know what I would have done if they had… just knowing was bad enough. I tried to be brave for that family, I tried to be calm. And I guess it worked because before we left the wife came over to thank me, that she didn't know what to do and that I kept their family sane for her. But baby Girl I was reliving it and it was all I could do not to scream when they were beating me. I just couldn't let anything that happened in there hurt those poor kids like I was."
"Derek…"
"Let me finish Goddess. I love you and I trust you with my life I never gave up that you would find me but I didn't know when or how so I made myself come to terms with…"
"Derek you listen to me. I would never let anything like that happen to you again, not if I had anything to say about it. I had given up when JJ called and she said something about tracking and I remembered about the program so I prayed that you were still wearing it and that I would find you in time. I prayed for you even though you don't pray much less for yourself. And I prayed that I would find you in time. I am sorry baby but I had given up there just wasn't enough evidence from the bodies to have found you without that watch." Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and Derek hated that he had put them there, even if the situation had been out of his control.
"Angel come here." He said pulling her up onto the bed lettering her half lay on his good side. "Angel, I may not pray for myself anymore, hell I'm still not sure I really believe anymore but if you want to pray for me you go ahead and pray. I would never think to stand between you and religion sometimes I wish that I could still believe, but why would he have allowed that to happen to me if he could have made it stop?"
"Because my love you would not be the Derek Morgan I know and love if you had not lived thru that as a child. Not that I am saying that you should have been… but if he had not would you have become the profiler you are today? If my parents hadn't died would I have gone underground and got put on that list? We have both had to live through some very hard times and I believe that everything happens for a reason. Maybe with pasts like ours together we will have a perfectly normal only slightly painful existence."
She smiled at him and snuggled until he had fallen asleep then got down off the bed. They had decided to keep their relationship secret and the team finding her in his bed they might jump straight to the right conclusion. She pulled a chair to the side of his bed so that she could hold his good hand while he slept. It wasn't long before she too was asleep after all JJ had been right it had been a long day.
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"Agent Derek Morgan." Hotch told the nurse at the reception desk.
"Are you family?" she asked it was after visiting hours.
"Not really we are his team so we are as close as a family. He has two of our other members up there with him." Reid answered for him.
"Alright but if he says out then you go. It is after visiting hours. First let's see those badges. With the way he looks can't be to careful with who gets into see him." She explained as she looked at each of their IDs. "Follow me, you'll need to be quite, last I checked all three of them were sleeping, and the each look like they could use it no mater that he is our only patient."
They all nodded knowing that what they would love most to do right now was sleep and they could bet that JJ, Garcia, and Morgan would all agree. So they followed the nurse to Morgan's room and found all three were indeed sleeping just as they had fallen asleep JJ and Morgan in the beds and Garcia in the chair holding Morgan's hand.
Relieved that he would be okay they all felt the day catch up to them as well. Hotch Emily and Reid sat on the couch, while Rossi claimed the chair in the corner.
By the next time the nurse came in Emily had fallen asleep on Hotch who had fallen asleep into the corner of the couch as had Reid on the opposite end and Rossi too had snuggled into his chair. It made the nurse smile these people were all obviously tired yet they had all come here so they could to be with this one man, their teammate, instead of going to the hotel to rest properly.
"I guess they weren't lying when they said they were as close as family. I wonder what you are like to inspire such friendships." She muttered to herself, Garcia stirred some to show the nurse that she was wake and had heard.
"He is kind, pulls his weight and more on each case. He tries to make you feel better no matter how bad he is feeling, he is protective, and caring, he'll do things just to see us smile or shake our heads in disbelief, he listens, really listens not just hearing that you are saying something. Last week I was feeling shook up over a case and he went to church with me I didn't ask he volunteered. He hasn't been to a church willingly since his teens… OH God and look what happened to him this time!" Penelope though out loud, "Sorry that last part was a thought about his mental health and don't worry I will be discussing it with him I wont let him bottle this up not like last time."
"I'm afraid you lost me with that but it is good to see that there are still good men out there." The nurse said looking at Derek, in a way that Pen knew that she was trying to decide what he looked like when he hadn't been beaten to a pulp.
"Sorry he is off the market, but there are good men out there you just have to find yours." Garcia said possessively, glaring at her as she quickly exited the room.
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Chapter 9:
