Chapter Ten

Okay. So. I needed to take a break for a few days after I heard the news about Prentiss not coming back for Season Eight. I for sure will have a big Emily scene later in the story and will NEVER quit writing her in Fanfiction, even if the writers decide to kill her off. She's my second favorite character after Garcia, so that's that. Whew. Got it off my chest.

Nervousness. It was an emotion Ronald Hogan wasn't used to dealing with. Yet here he was, outside the FBI building, sweating his brains out.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we JUST got out of prison. We should lay low for a few days, Hogan!" his former cellmate, Gregory Flood, warned.

"Don't tell me what to do! The time to strike is now! We will follow Agent Morgan home. We will learn his routine. And then…when he's at his weakest, we will end him!" Even in the dark of night, Flood saw the menacing glint in Hogan's eyes.

"I see him!" Hogan cried a few minutes later.

"Shut up….do you want to blow the whole operation? Who is he with?"

"It's hard to tell….looks like a girlfriend or something. Yep, he just kissed her. Who the hell would want to go out with him?"

"Never mind that, Hogan. Let's get in the truck and tail him!" The two escaped prisoners covertly scurried from their position behind some bushes and slunk into their waiting vehicle.

"Do you feel bad for ripping this ride off from that old bastard in the supermarket parking lot?" Flood panted as Hogan slowly steered them closer to Derek's black SUV that was also readying to leave. It looked like his girlfriend was with him.

"Hell, no. Nothing's getting in the way of me killing that son of a bitch Agent Derek Morgan! Nothing!"

"No offense, Hogan, but I did hear him comment to the police officer back at the jail that you were the stupidest guy he'd ever picked up. And, honestly, this plan has so many things that could go wrong in it. Can't say I blame him."

"Cut it, ya bastard, I got you out of jail, didn't I? I mean…you coulda ended up dying in that hellhole, for all you know!"

"He's stopping!" Flood suddenly cried. The pair watched as Morgan's SUV pulled into an apartment building parking lot.

"So…..this is where THE SSA Derek Morgan lives? Not really where I'd settle if I worked for the FBI. I mean, they get a lot of dough for it, right?"

"Figures. The bastard probably wastes it on shrooms and the ladies on the weekends," Hogan replied dryly. "Aw, hell, let's get him now!" He moved to open the truck door, but Flood held him back.

"Wait! We should keep a low profile for a few days, you know? I mean, if we get him now, right after two prisoners just got out of jail….it won't be hard for the other agents to find us and connect the dots!"

"Fine! Fine! We'll do it your way! I mean, it's not like this was my idea anyway!" Hogan ranted, gesticulating madly.

"It will be worth it, Ronald. It will be worth it when he's groveling on the ground, begging you for mercy. Trust me!"

"Trust is earned, Flood. But, all right, we'll wait a few days. Lay low. But Agent Morgan should know that when I'm forced to wait….it will only be worse for him."

The next day, on the airplane to California

"Have you ever felt like something bad is going to happen…but you don't know what it is or when it will take place?" Penelope asked abruptly, jolting Derek out of his meaningless daydreams. They had been on the plane for about half an hour, a time that had been mostly spent in a pondering silence.

"Like…a vision or something?" Derek questioned, lightly wrapping his arm around her waist.

"No….not exactly," she replied slowly. "It's like…..a feeling. Or…..like a shadow is covering my whole body. It's…hard to explain. I'm…..scared. I thought I was over the initial shock….and I guess I am….but fear replaced it."

"Hey, baby girl. Where did that I'm going to find the truth no matter what girl that I know go? You can do this. And you won't be alone. I'll be right by your side, no matter what happens."

"It's just….the last time I felt like this….was right before Reid got taken by Tobias Henkel," Penelope breathed, not hiding the worry laced in her tone.

"You never told me that," Derek responded. "But….he ended up okay, remember? So maybe that feeling…..doesn't have to mean what you think it does."

"I wonder if he'll even recognize me. I mean, he's dying, right? Will he even know my name by the time we get there? Will he be able to talk? Will he—

"Baby, look at me. All your worrying isn't going to help, okay? Remember, you wanted that second chance with him, the chance to forgive him for leaving you when you were younger. Even if he can't talk, you can still have that chance."

"You're right, handsome. I think I worry too much."

"Nothing wrong with caring about something, baby girl, nothing wrong with that all. It's only a problem if you get too stressed about it that you lose your original focus. I've been there before. Believe me, I have my own flaws. Stay with me long enough and you'll find all my idiosyncrasies."

"Oh, I plan to."

"What? Stay with me, or find the idiosyncrasies?"

"Now that, Derek Morgan, is something you'll have to figure out yourself." Both she and Derek burst out laughing.

"That's the Penelope Garcia I know and love."

Prison Hospice

"He's been restless all morning," one nurse, a Ms. Blanche Simpson, commented to her fellow RNs.

"His daughter is coming, remember? I think you'd be a little anxious if you hadn't seen your kid for twenty five years, even if you're on death's doorstep."

"To be honest, I won't feel too bad when he's gone. I mean, look at what he did! And in cold blood!"

"At least he didn't kill that kid that was there with the guy he shot, right? I have to say that I can't blame you, though. I wouldn't want to be left without a father in such a heartless way."

"I wonder if his daughter knows what he did."

"You're about to find out, ladies. A Ms. Penelope Garcia has just checked in at the front desk, asking for a Mr. William Birkeland."

IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE SOON, I SWEAR! REVIEW PLEASE! As for the whole thing at the beginning….see first sentence.