Same bat-signal, same bat-channel – I don't own Criminal Minds, thank god.

Part ten: Unexpectedly Expected

She didn't realize she'd been counting the hours since she'd been married. Thirty-eight hours and fifty-six minutes.

That's how long it took for her goon squad to show up.

It was expected in an unexpectedly dismal way.

Penelope saw Agent Carter as soon as he came into the conference room, and she saw the disapproval on his face. But she raised her chin defiantly. "I will not go with you," she said. "Not this time. I will NOT leave my husband."

"Don't you realize that that's why we're here, Garcia?" Carter all but spat. "I'm fucking sick and tired of baby-sitting your ass. Agent Arthur is packing your things at the condo. Get your ass ready to leave: your new assignment won't wait."

She stayed stubbornly still in her seat. "I won't."

"Don't make me use the handcuffs, Garcia."

She took a deep breath and finally rose to her feet. "Can I at least say goodbye?" Penelope asked, her new-found courage failing her completely in the face of all of this.

Carter snorted and gave her a dispassionate, almost dirty look. "Just get your shit and get in the car, Garcia. You know how this works."

"Like witness protection, but full on retarded," she muttered, closing her laptop and leaving her phone on the table. "I thought this time might be different."

"You thought wrong, little girl."

Less than an hour later, she was on a plane back to the mainland – god only knows where. And she only knew that if her heart had broken before, it was shattered now.

The condo was empty of all the things that were Penelope's – and Derek took that opportunity to grab one of the pretty little vases that clearly belonged to the FBI and hurl it at the nearest wall. How fucking DARE they do this to them again?

The case wasn't going to wrap up neatly and he needed Penelope – for her knowledge just as much as her body, her soul, her mind… GOD DAMN IT.

It was all he could do to go down the hall and tell Hotch, "She's gone. My wife is gone."

"Six months," Penelope echoed very softly. "I do this for six months more and then you'll re-write my contract and give me back to the BAU permanently?"

The Director nodded. "You've done everything we've asked you to do – with the exception of not creating ties to anyone. That was mostly for your own protection, so our star hacker couldn't be influenced by outside forces – or inside forces. But since you went and married Agent Morgan and he's been breathing down my neck for over a month now, I'm going to amend your contract."

"He's just concerned," Penelope murmured. "And angry that he can't find me. To be brutally honest, that was the most indelicate extraction you've managed to put together – pull me out right out from under their noses? What did you think he was going to do? Roll over and play dead?"

"I'd hoped he would be reasonable –"

"I'd hoped that you would be reasonable," she challenged. "Can I at least call him? I won't tell him where I am or what my assignment is… I just don't want him to think that I've given up on this. Us. Our life together. I want him to know that this is WHY I'm coming home in six months. Because I made a deal with the devil."

"I'm not the devil," the Director said, handing her his cellphone. "I have your best interests at heart, Agent Garcia."

"Agent Morgan," she corrected firmly, dialing the number from memory.

"Director –"

"Hiya, Hot Stuff," Penelope murmured. "I borrowed the Director's phone for a few minutes to tell you something."

"Where are you, Baby?"

"Somewhere safe," she promised. "I'm fine – and I'll be coming back to Quantico soon."

"How soon?" Derek asked, his voice breaking.

"Six months," she sighed.

"Not soon enough," he whined.

"I know," she agreed, nodding. "You have no idea how much I know that, Handsome. But it's just six months, and then we have the rest of our lives together. I promise. It's a trade-off – I put in the time, I get out of the old contract and into a new one where I won't be moved around all the time. I love you and I'm doing this for us, Derek."

He sighed heavily. "Six months."

"Yeah – and I'll find a way to call you," she promised softly. "Or at least email. Because I miss the hell out of you, Derek Morgan, and I can't wait to be back in Virginia."

"Okay," he muttered. "But I don't like it."

"Neither do I," she whispered. "But it's what has to be done."

"I'll have the house ready when you come home," he promised. "And I want my Baby Girl back – you have no idea, Mama."

"Not as much as I want my husband," she contradicted. "Baby, I've got to go – I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Princess."

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too," he exhaled with a tired sigh. "Be careful and come home safe, Baby Girl."

She had every intention of doing just that.