Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds – just a dream! =(
Derek had sat next to his mom for too long without breaking his silence, so when he did break it he felt every bit of his demeanour crumble and fall. Fran took her son in her arms and knew there and then that her child had kept himself together through one of the hardest times of his life and only now had he allowed himself to break behind closed doors.
'That's Penelope isn't it?' She asked soothingly and Derek nodded, not making any other noise. She had never met the woman but she knew that the way her son was that that was the woman her son thought he'd ruin the chance of getting a friendship from. 'Come on Derek, you need to let me in, what's happened?'
'I thought I'd lost her mom, like really lost her.'
Fran pulled away from her son in that instant, the emotions in his voice, the drama that had played out, she looked him dead in the eyes. 'Start from the beginning.'
Derek breathed in. 'Penelope was kidnapped 5 days ago.'
Fran gasped and now completely understood why they were here. 'She was kidnapped? What did they do to her?' She asked and he knew his mom's attention was more towards the bruising that could be seen on Penelope's chest and neck, the fact her arm was in a sling and she radiated vulnerability.
'She was buried alive, she died mom, right there in front of me, I thought we too late.' Derek didn't bother catching his tears, he was fed up of being the epitome of strength, because even someone like him needed a weak moment. 'We found where he'd kept her and we dug but time had run out and as I jumped down to get her, she looked at me and then gave up.'
Fran listened to the confession from her son and she couldn't speak, she was rendered speechless for the moment, as she tried to gather herself together to help him, to give him the motherly words he was in dire need for and then she heard him intake a breath again.
'But she came back to me.' He looked up and smiled, almost nervously. 'She didn't die but she's sinking so I thought that with Mayer's still being out there, the best place for her to recuperate was here.'
'He isn't caught?'
'No, he got away; he knew how the team worked.' Fran looked confused at that sentence and Derek noticed it almost immediately. 'He'd worked with Pen before, she let him in because she knew him but he took her, to prove that the tech isn't always safe, he was getting us back because we didn't save his sister months ago.'
'So what else did he do to her? I mean the bruises, the cut on her cheek...'
'He hit her once but dropped into one of the boxes while we were watching, he knew we'd watch it and he was right. She broke her collar bone and bruising on her back from the fall.'
'Okay so what care does she need? I can get stuff from the hospital if need be, you name it...'
'We've got all the medication she needs. She's just not herself and I thought giving her some support from somewhere outside of Virginia might help.'
Fran nodded but then looked at him seriously. 'What about her family? I mean surely that's a better option to help her.'
'She doesn't have any family other than me and the team.' He saw his mom look saddened by that sentence. 'Her parents died when she was 18, her and her brother's just split, she has no contact with her old life, she lives for the now but I want her to have a family again.'
'Have you told her you love her yet?'
Derek laughed and ran a hand over the back of his neck as his mom's tenacity in that sentence rung in his ears. 'No and I won't... she deserves better than me, someone that's going to be suitable for her, I'm not enough.'
'How do you know that? I think Penelope's got more of a say in this than just you, it's both your lives.' Fran told him as she took his hand. 'She's going to need you there a hundred percent but if you love her, don't bottle it up, it never helps and in the long run it will be a bigger killer than keeping it a secret.'
Derek smiled at his mom, always one for words and always one sort his head out. That was another one of the reasons he had bought Penelope here, he wanted her in a place that she could seek refuge and get the support and love off someone that could be her mother seeing as she had lost her cruelly.
They heard a noise from upstairs and Derek muttered Penelope's name as he shot off the couch and headed towards the stairs, his mom closely following. He entered his old room and heard the sobs before seeing Penelope on the floor; her knee's drawn up, her free arm shielding her.
'Baby girl.' Derek whispered gently as he crouched down to Penelope's level. 'What's wrong?' She didn't respond so he got closer to her, pulling her body close to his. 'Talk to me princess.'
Fran watched her son from the doorway, the entire realised that this was a side to her son she hadn't seen before, the one where he used his heart to help him help the one he loved, she smiled because she knew that with that type of emotion coming from him Penelope would get better.
'I couldn't open the window.' Penelope said and sobbed harder at how pathetic she felt. 'That's stupid, I'm sorry.'
'Not stupid.' He told her and kissed into her hair. 'Why did you want it open?'
'The rooms too stuffy, I woke up and thought I was back there...' Her voice quivered at the end of her sentence as she trailed off. 'I think they're starting.'
'I think so too.' Derek replied knowing she was talking about the nightmares, he'd waited it out 5 days for them to creep into her peaceful slumber and now they had, in a way he saw this the beginning of her really getting over it, that and the fact that she was opening up and admitting things to him more freely.
'Thank you.' She whispered tearfully into his chest. Derek kissed her again, Fran began to step out of the room, the view in front of her was an intimate moment and she didn't wanted to pry in on such a time but just as she got out of the room and into the hallway she heard a thing that had not only proven her right but had made her heart soar. 'I love you.' Penelope told her son.
A/N: Okay so I wasn't going to go all MG but what the muse wants the muse gets and this chapter was born due to that simple reasoning!
Anyhoo! Hope you're still enjoying!! =)
