Mabel glanced at the screen wide-eyed and turned bolting from the room.

"FBI!"

Then shots were fired. Penelope followed closely behind the older woman towards the commotion in the far end of the large mansion; more shots and more warnings identifying themselves. Penelope knew they'd find them but now they had to find Derek. Mabel gasped and picked up her pace toward the voices.

"Hotch! JJ! Anybody!"

Reaching the hallway connecting the foyer and the great room two bodies lay on the floor both in separate pools of blood. Garcia recognized them as two of the men who'd grabbed her from the park.

"Garcia! Over here!"

JJ was relieved to see her friend running toward her as they all began to enter the large door leading to the basement.

"He's in there!" Mabel shouted to the others.

Hotch, Rossi and Reid had already started down the stairs into the bowels of the house. JJ grabbed Penelope tightly and hugged her for dear life they both were overcome with tears.

"It's too late JJ! That bastard killed him!"

"Garcie what are you talking about?"

"He had him in this room, JJ and he drowned him! I saw him floating on the water."

JJ looked behind her friend into the frantic guilty eyes of an older woman. She glared at her demanding answers beneath her own tears.

"My son, Daniel…I'm sorry!"

"He's dead! It's not fair, JJ, It's not fair!"

JJ held her tightly preventing her from going into the basement as Mabel quietly slipped passed them out of sight. She didn't want to think of her friend, the strong big brother who'd saved all of their lives at least a dozen times, being dead. Penelope's words kept ringing in her ears and then suddenly she pulled gently from their embrace.

"Pen, you said he was floating!"

"What?"

"You said he was floating!"

Garcia stared at her friend trying to comprehend what she was saying."

"Was he floating on his back or face down?"

Hotch was the first to see the room nearly filled to the ceiling with water. Then he saw what made his heart stop momentarily in his chest but he kept moving faster with Rossi and Reid close behind.

"We've got to find a way to turn off the water or he'll drown!" Rossi yelled.

Hotch searched the walls around him while Reid kept an eye on his friend hoping to see some signs of life as he floated on his back on the water.

"MORGAN!" He yelled.

He didn't respond and Reid began banging on the glass.

"Morgan! Hold on! We're going to get you out!"

Morgan opened his eyes at the noise and slowly turned his head toward the voices. He was exhausted using all of his energy to stay afloat watching as the ceiling continued to get closer and closer with the room nearly filled with water. It would be so easy to just let go and close his eyes and let his body sink to the bottom of the watery grave but he couldn't leave his wife and child; he had a new baby on the way and wanted to be there and raise his children with Penelope but he was so tired and he was running out of strength.

"Guys! We've got to find a way to empty this room! He's getting weaker!"

"We know Reid!" Hotch yelled back.

He continued his search for a way to stop the water and to empty the room. All three men were startled when the older woman breezed past them disappearing into a small storage closet that seemed to disappear into the wall. She'd gained entrance by pushing a button on the remote control she'd pulled from her pocket. Seconds later the water stopped abruptly and then the room began emptying like a large pool. Hotch, Rossi and Reid waited nervously as they watched their friend descend closer and closer to the room's floor.

"I've got to help him!"

"No, Garcia let the guys handle it! There's nothing we can do!"

"What if he's…JJ, he can't be…!"

"He's going to be okay, he's going to be okay!"

JJ pulled her against her body holding her tightly in place as she fought her own doubt and tears. She could hear the commotion going on downstairs; rushing water and calls for paramedics and his name being called over and over again with no response.

Mabel numbly moved away from the control panel watching the three men dragging the semi-conscious man from the room. This was her son's doing and hers for keeping silent. Daniel her one and only had almost succeeded in his desire to make someone pay for his own failings as a parent. Now, she felt some relief as the agent gasped and coughed for air a sign that he was alive and well. Without them seeing her she slipped passed them up the stairs nearly colliding into the two blonde women as they descended the stairs. They'd heard it too, the confirmation that he had survived and their teary smiles allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief that gave her a moment of peace that was quickly replaced with shame.

No one would believe her horror story of living with a dreadful, angry man who had treated her like anything but his mother. He was dead now and she'd have to suffer his punishment because in the end there was no excuse for her silence. She found herself in the kitchen now. She remembered only a few minutes ago being here pulling open the drawer that held the sharp, chef's knives.

Pulling one from the others she lightly ran her finger across the blade. It would do. She took one final look around the room where she had spent countless hours cooking amazing meals for the two men in her life. They loved her cooking and it made her proud to watch them consume each bite as if they were in a trance. What would her silver-haired friends think of the Lynch's now as she stared at her reflection in the titanium blade in her hand? His blood was still on her fingers, dry and caked the telltale sign of her misdeed. She didn't notice the tears running down her face as she ran the blade across her wrist. There was no pain; funny, she thought there would be pain. The blood seemed so bright against her pale skin dripping onto the marble floor. Daniel loved that marble he'd spent a fortune on it and he loved letting everyone know that he'd had it shipped all the way from Italy. The sound of her blood hitting it gave her a sense of retribution for what had happened to her on that floor.

She was free now. She was a coward, perhaps but she was free nonetheless and as her petite frame hit the floor and she took her last breath she wished that her request for forgiveness would be honored…she hadn't prayed in years…she hadn't seen the use for it until now.