Disclaimer: I own nothing, just the little plot bunny (kinder!)
A/N: Now, now, now, keep some faith people! =) Enjoy!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- When The Sky Falls -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
When Penelope opened her eyes, she thought her mind was playing tricks. Blinking a couple of times however Derek's sleeping figure didn't disappear into thin air. She smiled and stretched a little, stopping when her foot played up and she relaxed and just looked over Fran's sleeping form at Derek. Letting her eyes blurrily absorb that he was here and okay, safe.
She didn't fall back to sleep. She just watched him and waited for him to wake up.
It was Fran who woke up first though and realised that Penelope was awake and then she realised her son was sleeping in the chair next to them.
"Told you he'd be here," Fran whispered delicately to Penelope so not to scare her or wake Derek. "My son never lets anyone down. Especially you."
Penelope smiled, "I never should've doubted it."
"Too right," Fran replied softly and then looked at the watch on her wrist. "Right, I had better go and see Des and Sarah. Let them know how everyone is. I think you and your husband need a little alone time." She finished off saying as she sat up and slowly and quietly got off of the bed. She turned and helped Penelope get comfortable, tucking her back in neatly. She then spun around to Derek and smirked, "Derek," She said and shook him, "It's time you woke up."
Derek jumped awake and then relaxed fully when his mind quickly caught up, "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Fran said as she pulled her son in for a tight hug, "Now I'm going to see your sister's, but Penelope," She said looking down at her, "I'll see you when you're out of surgery and we'll make a plan of where we're going to be staying." Fran let go of Derek and kissed Penelope's cheek, "Don't worry about it though. Everything is going to be fine."
Penelope smiled; she couldn't help but always believe that promises made by Fran was well kept promises. She had no other option but to believe in it.
Watching his mom leave Derek went to Penelope and engulfed her with his arms. Keeping her tight in his grasp. "Told you I would be with you before you knew it," He breezed at her easily, lapping up feeling her in his arms again after what felt like an eternity.
"Took you long enough, Baby Boy," Penelope teased as her emotions bubbled again and she just held on for what felt like dear life.
Derek smirked and pulled back, "Is everything okay? Mom said surgery..."
"My ankles badly damaged, it's not a simple put into a cast job. I didn't really listen too much. My mind was elsewhere," Penelope said quietly and was waiting for the killer moment. The one that would either make or break them.
"What have they said about the baby?" Derek asked quickly. Penelope hadn't said a word to him and his worry magnified momentarily. "Is everything okay?"
There was that moment.
Penelope looked down at her hands, "I haven't told them."
"What was that?" He asked not really hearing her properly.
"I haven't told them," Penelope said louder and looked up a little but not enough to give him full on eye contact.
"Penelope," Derek growled, but he saw her despondent figure and reframed from shouting at her. "Why not?"
Snapping her head up, Penelope looked at him, "I didn't want to have to tell you I lost it an-and I'd rather not know at all."
"Baby," Derek said sympathetically.
"I started to bleed," Penelope told him quietly, "Just after I was brought in." She sniffed and within seconds Derek wrapped his arms around her, "We only just found out we were going to be parents. I didn't want to know it was over before it had started."
"I'm going to go and tell a doctor now, Baby," Derek said and pulled away, his hand coming up to cup her face tentatively. "I want to know before you go down and if it's bad news, we'll deal with it." He caught a tear that fell, "Together."
Penelope nodded and watched him leave the room. The silence swallowing her whole. However, unlike the day before, Derek came straight back in with a nurse and offered her a reassuring smile. Penelope pulled herself up the best she could in preparation for whatever telling off she was about to receive.
"You should've told us last night that you were pregnant, Penelope," The nurse said politely, "We would've calmed all your worries right away." She saw Penelope's expression and decided she had to work fast, "well you've got surgery in about an hour, so I'm going to rush for an ultrasound machine be brought here and we'll see how the baby is doing in there." She told them optimistically, "Don't fret though," She told her with a wink and then left the room.
"See," Derek started and sat down again, "You should've just told erm, Baby Girl."
"I needed you here," Penelope said as she gave in and fell flat against the pillows exasperated. "If it's bad news I wanted you to be here because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to be the one that said." Penelope cast her gaze up and looked into Derek's eyes, "We left Clooney behind."
"Well, you see, there's something about that," Derek started, "When we were flying over, I noticed our house was still standing. Hotch noticed Emily's apartment block still was too." Penelope looked at Derek quizzically as he paused, "Soldiers offered to go and check it out after some massive uproar about pets being left. It could be a lost hope, but it's worth a try."
Penelope turned thoughtful for a moment, "Think we'll ever go back?"
Derek nodded, "Considering it seems to be all calm again I reckon one day we will. Well when it's made safe again."
Penelope smiled at that, "I want to." She mused lightly; she loved their house, the one they had brought to be ready for their future family. "I really thought we were set for life, you know."
"Baby, we are set for life. Our family survived what everyone is claiming as the end of the world. We lived. I still got you and believe me, I would lose a hundred homes over to have you living and breathing in front of me."
Penelope had to smile brighter then. Derek was right. They had everything to live for now and she had to optimise about their future rather than imagine up the absolute worse.
It didn't take him long to climb on the bed and hold her close as they waited on the nurse to come back. Neither of them barely spoke, but just took the time to realise that they had made it through the apocalypse to tell the tale.
"Here we are," The nurse said breaking the silence that had settled in the room. "Now Penelope, I need to know if you've had any cramping or bleeding..."
Penelope gulped deeply, "Both," she whispered and the tears fell.
"Don't jump to conclusions. Your body went through an enormous amount of trauma. You were lucky to just have the minimal injuries you do. There are other reasons why you could have had those symptoms and we'll soon find out."
Derek kept his arm around Penelope, kissed her intermittently to let her know he was there with her, that he was being her support even when his mind was racing, his heart barely beating in his chest as he waited to face a bit more of their joint fate. There was just the same inkling of hope he had when he watched the bank collapse with Penelope in it sitting within him that kept him believing that everything was going to be okay.
Penelope always thought she would have lavished the coldness of the gel on her stomach as she waited to take the first look at her child, but as the nurse got ready all she felt was cold driven fear. Fear that laced her veins with ice and froze her to the spot as it completely took over her system.
The silence only got ever more deafening and crippling.
The nurse remained quiet and poised as she watched the screen, and she tried to hide the smile on her lips as she spoke at long last. "Well it seems that not only did you two get lucky with your escape of the end of the world, but so did your child," She said as she moved the screen and turned the volume up.
Penelope began to cry as the heartbeat rang out and bounced from wall to wall and she just collapsed against Derek's chest, feeling his strength gathering back up as hope restored entirely.
"You're baby is perfectly fine, Penelope," The nurse finalised and excused herself to allow the pair a moment alone to savour the moment.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- When The Sky Falls -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-