Part ten:
"You've failed your psych eval four times now," Strauss said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah," Garcia said, "well, the first one was right after I was removed from a hostage situation. The second one was while I was in the middle of dealing with that trauma. And I haven't slept more than an hour or two since Charlotte was born: so there go the other two." She crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "This is why you gave me a year off."
"Have you begun polishing your computer skills?"
"I'm not going to be able to be the best anymore," Garcia said. "I've fallen too far behind the times. I can still hack dirty, but it takes longer."
Strauss lifted an eyebrow. "I'd heard about you attempting to hack the Interpol databases last week… we looked the other way, but you need to stop raising flags."
"You're asking for unreasonable things," Penelope hissed. "I need more time. I'm trying."
"Aren't you the one that told me that hacking computer systems was like breathing to you, Miss Garcia?" Strauss challenged, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, that's been altered to changing diapers, cleaning spit-up and listening to a two month old baby cry all the time," Penelope muttered. "I need time to get back into the groove."
"You have seven months," Strauss said. "We need you back. You don't have any idea how much time and energy we're losing to the tech pool because they simply do not have your skill set."
"I'm flattered," Garcia muttered, "even though that sounds like an insult."
"You do realize that this isn't a request," Strauss said. "I'm keeping you on borrowed time. They want you either working or in prison."
"I swear to god, I'm working on it," Garcia said very quietly.
"I'm bending every rule by letting you and your child co-habitate with Agent Morgan."
"I know," Garcia said. "And I appreciate your efforts."
"It's to facilitate your recovery, Miss Garcia."
Garcia looked Strauss in the eye, not liking the implications of those few words. That she would be forced to walk away as soon as she was emotionally stable again.
She was going to break their precious rules.
Penelope slammed her laptop closed and went back to nursing Charlotte. She was tired of trying so hard and accomplishing nothing. The pressure that Strauss was trying to exert was making her sick. Derek and the team had been on a case for six days and she had only slept once or twice, even with Charlotte finally sleeping all night.
When Derek wasn't there, Penelope slipped back into her sleepless restlessness because without him, the nightmares ate her alive. So she sat awake and taught herself new code and tried to crack the newest encryptions. It was more difficult than it looked.
She was miserable.
Her phone beeped. New text from Stud Muffin. "Hey, Baby. Coming home tonight. I'll bring take out and drinks."
Her thumb swiped across the screen. "Strauss is a twatwaffle. Charlotte finally sleeping but not me."
"Tell Strauss to fuck off. And you'll sleep well tonight."
"Promises, promises, Hot Stuff."
"I'm going to make good. Wheels up in five. ILUBBGRL."
Penelope smiled. No matter how shitty her day (or night) was, he could say that and everything was instantly so much better. Charlotte stopped eating and started fussing, so Penelope covered up and put the baby on her shoulder. It was time for another round of spit-up.
When Derek got home, he found Penelope passed out on the couch with Charlotte cuddled up on her chest. He smiled at the scene, then frowned when he saw the laptop open with a notepad file full of programming gibberish visible. Penelope was working herself into the ground and not sleeping, and he knew it was all because of Strauss and her threats.
Charlotte looked up at him and burbled, flailing her little arms around. Derek smiled and picked her up. "Hello, Lotsa Love," he murmured. "Mommy's sleepy, so you and I should go get a bottle, shouldn't we?" The baby gurgled and burrowed against his chest. "Silly Lottie," he said. "I missed you, too."
Penelope started awake, nearly rolling off the couch. "Charlotte?" she called out, fumbling for her glasses, not remembering that she'd pushed them up onto her head.
"I've got her," Derek assured her. "Your glasses are on the top of your head."
She shoved her glasses back onto her nose and frowned. "I fell asleep –"
"Yes, you did," he replied with a grin. "Now go back to bed."
"I'm awake now," she said, saving her file and closing the laptop. "I guess restringing that encryption really wore me out."
"You need to stop working so hard," he scolded. "You're not sleeping enough."
Charlotte started to fuss, so Penelope automatically stood up and reached for her.
"Hey, uh-uh," Derek said, shaking his head. "It's my turn."
"Your mom called earlier," she said. "She wants you to call her back."
"Mom can wait," he replied. "Reid and Emily are going to take Lotsa Love for the night," he said, "so you can get some rest. And, before you say anything, I didn't ask them to: they volunteered. So maybe you could pack some stuff for her?"
"You guys just got back from a case –"
"So? You look like you've run a hundred marathons. It'll just be quiet time for us tonight."
Penelope exhaled and nodded. "Okay, but it's the first time we've been apart since she was born."
"I know, but you need some sleep," he scolded. "No more slaving over the computer tonight. We're going to have a bubble bath and Chinese and cuddle."
"Call your mom," Penelope said, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, I'm trying to be considerate here –"
"Sorry, it's been a bad day," Penelope said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. "Strauss flunked me on my psych evaluation again and threatened me. I have seven months to get back up to speed and back at work or I'm back in prison or worse."
"You'll be ready," Derek said. "Stop sweating it."
"You don't get it," Penelope shouted. "She knows we're living together and the only reason she's not protesting it is because she thinks it's essential for my 'recovery'."
"It is."
"She's going to make me disappear for good if I don't perform to her exact specifications in the given time," she said very quietly. "I'm not going to let that happen. Which means spending all my time relearning skills I never had in the first place. No smutty happy fun time, no extra time off and away, and god knows I'm going to be a shitty mother because I have to concentrate on being able to KEEP MY CHILD!" Her voice had raised to a fevered pitch of a scream, vicious and frightened and frightening all at once. Charlotte's little face crumpled and she started wailing, burying her face in Derek's shoulder. "Great, now she's off her head!" Penelope threw her hands in the air. "I can't do this!"
Derek jiggled Charlotte till she calmed down a little. "You can," he said, "because you have me to help you. And tonight, you need to rest."
"Where were you two days ago when I had the migraine from hell and spent all day throwing up?" Penelope challenged. "You were in Texas. I have to do this myself, Morgan." She wanted to bite back the last word and the snide tone that it emerged upon but she couldn't take back what had already been said. "Give me the baby. We're going for a drive."
"Okay, let me get my keys-"
"No, you're staying here. My daughter and I are going for a drive and if we happen to stop at the store and get milk, eggs and diapers, so be it." Penelope took Charlotte from Derek's arms. "I'm pissed the hell off, Derek. Don't try to tell me I don't have the right."
Her mother had always told her not to drive when she was angry: bad things happened. Like backing up in the garage and forgetting to raise the door first. Or driving Esther into a pond because she was screaming at some stupid boy.
Penelope never saw the car that plowed into her. She just felt the jarring crush of impact, then the nauseating flip that left the car inverted.
Her head felt like someone had shoved an ice pick into it. The airbag had gone off and she was struggling to move. Charlotte was screaming bloody murder in her car seat, but Penelope couldn't move to comfort the baby.
"Ma'am? Ma'am – I called 911," someone called through the broken window. "Do you have someone I need to contact? Ma'am, what's your name?"
She licked her lips. "Pen..elope," she exhaled.
"Penelope, you're going to be okay," the man said. "The other guy is dead. It was his fault – he ran the red light."
She tried to turn her head to look at the rearview mirror, but she couldn't do it. Every part of her was screaming in agony, so she held still. "My… daughter," she croaked.
"I can't get either of you out," the man said. "But people are on the way."
"Derek's going to be pissed about the car," she mumbled.
"I don't think anybody is going to care about the car if you guys are okay," the man said, trying to reassure her. He reached in through the broken window and used a pocket knife to rip a hole in the airbag so it would deflate. "My name is Richard," he said, "and I'm not leaving till you two are okay."
"Thank you," she breathed.
Derek flipped through the sports channels. He didn't want to fight with Penelope but she had this annoying habit of twisting facts to suit her needs and she'd been spoiling for a battle. Better him than Strauss and the entire FBI.
Nothing held his interest so he flipped to the news. After they started talking about the usual anti-terrorism bullshit, they broke in with a local report from Quantico, near the FBI HQ.
They showed CCTV footage of a horrifying two-car accident. The dark sedan had been turning left when a light-colored minivan flew into the intersection, slamming into the driver's side of the sedan, sending it flying back toward traffic, flipping onto the roof as it went.
"Currently, approximately four blocks have been cordoned off and authorities are re-routing traffic around this fatality crash," the anchor intoned.
His phone rang. The ID said "Baby Mama", so he smiled, thinking she might just have forgiven him after all. "Hey, Baby Girl, are you done being pissed now?"
"You're listed as the emergency contact in Penelope Garcia's phone," someone said. "Who am I speaking to?"
"SSA Derek Morgan, FBI," he said. "Who is this?"
"Miss Garcia has been in an accident, sir – we're in the process of trying to remove her and her daughter from the car, but I need to know if she has any allergies."
"IS SHE ALL RIGHT?" Derek demanded.
"Sir, I need you to remain calm. The baby has been removed from the car – she has some cuts and bruising but seems to be fine. Miss Garcia is in a more difficult position to extract and we can't ascertain her injuries until we get her out of the car."
Derek's heart almost stopped. "Shit," he exhaled. "I… do I need to meet you at the hospital or –"
"Allergies?"
Derek rattled them off, in shock. "I'll meet you at the hospital," he said.
"Sir, wait – they've gotten her loose and she's asking for you."
A moment later, he heard a faint whisper. "I busted up your Lexus."
"Baby Girl, I don't care about the fucking car," Derek said forcefully. "Be good. I'll be at the hospital in a few minutes."
"Me, too," she joked very weakly. "Maybe we should hook up, Hot Stuff?"
"Mama, you couldn't handle it if we did," he murmured.
"Oh, I could make an exception for you…"
He grabbed his keys and all but ran to the garage. When he hopped into Esther, he felt a little out of his element, but he knew she'd forgive him for gunning it to 90 to get to the hospital to meet her. "Baby Girl, don't stop talking to me," he ordered as he opened the garage door and threw Esther into reverse.
"Sorry, Handsome," she exhaled. "They're gonna give me oxygen."
"Then make someone hold the phone because I've got a lot to say to you, Mama," he snapped.
"You're on speaker," one of the paramedics said.
"Good," Derek said, roaring down the road. "You didn't give me a chance earlier to talk to you before you left, Penelope Anne. You just threw a tantrum and got the hell outta Dodge. Which wasn't very fair of you, you know. Strauss gave you shit today and you were spoiling for a fight. But let me tell you something, Baby Girl – she was wrong to threaten you, and she won't get away with it. I won't let her. She is not breaking up our family and you aren't going anywhere if I can help it. Not you and not Charlotte. You're my girls and I'll be fucking damned if I'm giving you up for anything."
He stopped for a red light, but gritted his teeth and muttered, "Fuck this – I'm not stopping for any goddamn red lights."
"DEREK!" Penelope hollered, though it was muffled by the oxygen mask.
"Baby Girl, shut it – when it's the person you love more than life, you don't fucking stop for red lights," Derek snapped. "And yes, I do love you, Silly Girl. More than you know. So shut the hell up and listen to me. You and I are done dancing around the fraternization rules and we're done pretending that we're best friends. Pick a date: any date. We're getting married then and, so help me god, Erin Strauss is going to have to go suck an egg."
He parked and ran into the ER. "Have they brought Penelope Garcia in yet?" he demanded. "Big crash, fatality –"
"Sir, you need to take a seat," the secretary said. "We'll call you when it's your turn."
"You don't understand," Derek said. "My fiancée is being brought in – and my daughter."
"I didn't say yes," Penelope croaked.
"You don't get a say right now," he snapped into the phone. He turned back to the secretary. "You'd better get me in there with them in about five seconds or I'm calling the Director of the FBI and getting some fucking results."
A nurse stepped from behind a door. "Mr. Morgan, this way," she insisted. "Miss Garcia has a concussion, a couple of broken ribs and a broken ankle – we're going to do a full body scan to make sure we haven't missed anything. Your daughter has a few superficial cuts and bruises, and a broken thumb. She's going to be fine."
"And is Penelope going to be fine?" Derek asked.
"She's asking for you."
"I'm sure she is," Derek said, following the nurse back to the little curtained off space where they had Penelope and Charlotte. The baby was curled up on a gurney, sound asleep under a blanket. Penelope was on oxygen and looking very out of it. "Baby Girl, I'm never fighting with you again," he promised, grabbing Penelope's hand. "Last time we fought, you ended up going missing for two years. And now this?"
She cracked a tiny smile. "I love you," she mouthed. "Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry," he murmured. "How are you feeling?"
She held one hand up – it was shaking hard – and flashed him a thumbs down before letting it fall back to the bed like a lead weight.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he whispered. "I love you and you're going to be okay. You have to be okay because we're going to stick it to Erin Strauss, Baby Girl. We're gonna get married and I'm gonna make her be your fucking Matron of Honor just to piss her off."
Her weak smile returned. "Ask me for real, Hot Stuff," she whispered.
"Mama, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on, and you're the smartest, sexiest, awesomest best friend on the planet. You're the best mom and the best thing I've ever had in my life. Will you give me the honor of making you my wife? And sticking it to Erin Strauss?"
She nodded and squeezed his hand. "Because you said I'm sexy," she rasped.
"You know why I call you Mama?" Derek asked with a smile. "It's short for 'My Hot Baby Mama'."
"You called me Mama before I was pregnant," she said, glowering at him.
"Wishful thinking," he teased, kissing her forehead. "I left the ring at home – I think I left the TV and all the lights on and maybe didn't lock the doors."
"Don't need a ring," Penelope sighed.
"Is this how it's going to be?" he asked. "You being stubborn and willful and –"
"Mmmhmm," she murmured.
He smiled. "Good," he whispered. "Because I wouldn't want it any other way."
END