Morgan tried to keep his emotions in check as they silently made their way to the BAU. After Reid had informed him that Rossi and Hotch had Chris, a whole spectrum of emotion had played within him. On one hand, he was happy for Garcia; she no longer needed to live in fear. Furthermore, he was now going to get his chance to confront him.

Chris had made Derek's life a living hell. When he and Garcia announced their engagement, he felt like someone had punched him in the gut. That's when all his dreams started, and the more they happened, the more he wanted them to be real. He wanted to go home to her every night; he wanted to find their dream house; he wanted to spend two weeks in Hawaii on their honeymoon; he wanted it to be him who made her a mother, not Chris. It wasn't just that though; Chris had gone as far as to threaten him at the bar a couple of times, claiming Penelope as his and telling him to back off. That all paled in comparison, however, to the biggest issue he had. Chris had been secretly abusing her for months, and Penelope never said anything.

He looked over at his best friend where she was sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV. He told her what he wanted from her, showed her the items he bought, and even told her about the dreams, but she hadn't said anything regarding it. It made him all the angrier with Chris. That jackass beat his best friend- the love of his life - not only physically, but mentally, too.

They arrived at the BAU without speaking a word. He reached over the center console and grabbed onto her hand, snapping her out of her thoughts. When she looked over at him, he could see the tears in her eyes. When one slipped down her face, he quickly brushed away the tear with the pad of his thumb.

"Sweetheart, we need to go inside."

Instead of answering she nodded her head and moved to undo her seatbelt. Watching this version of Penelope was killing him. Where was his spunky best friend, the woman he fell in love with, the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life? He closed his eyes for only a moment, placing his hand on the seatbelt and effectively stopping her motions.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her staring back at him with a look of confusion plastered on her face. There was too much emotion in the car to speak, so he let his actions do it for him. He leaned over and captured her lips; the kiss started gentle but then turned intense as he finally let the emotions of the past 48 hours pour out of him. He cupped her face, opening his mouth and running his tongue across the seam of her lips as if silently asking for permission. He knew that, if she gave it to him, they would make it.

She kept her lips closed at first, but as soon as she felt water on her cheeks she responded. It wasn't her tears she was feeling. Albeit the fact that she had tears running down her own cheeks, these were Derek's.

He felt her open her mouth, granting him the permission that he had requested. He felt her hands snake up his body to pull him closer; they rested on the back of his neck. This was a dream come true for him. He never wanted this moment to end, but oxygen was a necessity to live. He slowly pulled away, but only enough to rest his forehead on hers. He stared into her eyes as she reached up to wipe the tears off of his cheek. This action surprised him; he didn't even know he had been crying, let alone the fact she could feel his tears.

"I love you, Penelope Garcia, and no matter what happens in there, that is not going to change." He stared into her eyes, hoping for an answer.

She couldn't speak those words to him, not yet. Not until she knew Chris was gone. She had been in love with Derek Morgan for years, but he had never pursued her, even when she made blatant advances on him, so she had slowly let that part of her heart go. After having loser boyfriend after loser boyfriend, she told herself that the next time a guy was interested in her, she would do whatever it took to become a mother, no matter the cost. It turned out, however, that next guy was Chris. He not only abused her physically but also mentally. There were times she would be sitting on the couch, drinking a soda and watching a program, and Chris would walk in, grab her drink and toss her a water, telling her she's too fat for anything but water and that she would be skipping dinner that night. When she would lie in bed, crying herself to sleep, he'd come in and hold her, whispering everything she ever wanted to hear in her ear and giving her something to eat. It was a cruel way to live, but she stood by him, knowing he would be her only chance at starting a real family. She looked Derek in the eyes and leaned in a little to kiss him.

It was the best she could do right now, but he knew she felt the same way, and he was willing to wait a lifetime if that's what it took to be with her.

"Come on, Baby girl, let's head inside."

They opened the bullpen doors only to see Hotch pacing the room with his fists clenched.

"Hotch, what's going on?" Morgan asked as he walked up to his boss.

"That bastard is…" Agent Hotchner took a deep breath, trying to control his anger, and tried again: "After JJ let us know we had the arrest warrant, Rossi and I brought him into the integration room. He went off. I was expecting as much, but something snapped in him and he started telling us the stories of what he would do to her." He refused to meet Garcia's eyes, even though she was standing right next to him.

"Oh God," she gasped.

"I couldn't take it anymore. Rossi is in there right now." He finally looked at Garcia when he said, "He will go away for life; I promise you that."

"Morgan," he continued, "You don't need to go in there. Let Rossi handle this." At that, Morgan took off running to the interrogation room. Hotch should have known better.

Morgan burst into the first room. On the other side of the glass, he saw Chris sitting opposite of Rossi. Hotch made sure to turn off the intercom when he ran in after Derek.

"Turn it on, Hotch," Morgan spat out.

"You don't need to hear this. Let Rossi take charge."

"Turn on the fucking intercom. Now. Or move out of my way."

Hotch reluctantly turned on the speaker, knowing what would come from this.

Rossi stood up and moved to sit on the table in front of Chris. "Did you purposely pick her to be your 'property', as you like to call it?"

Chris smiled up at him and said, "She was easy pickings. Just look at her! Everything about her is a show; nothing's real."

"What does that even mean?"

"God, are you blind, old man? It's all an act - her fancy clothes, crazy hairstyle, everything. As soon as we're married, it'll all go and so will she."

"She's not going to marry you."

"That's what you think? I know what she wants, and I'm the only one willing to give it to her."

"I highly doubt that; you of all people should know how she feels about Agent Morgan." Chris tried to jump out of his seat at that remark, but his cuffs kept him still.

"Oh yeah, I know all about Morgan," he spat, "And she knows better than to mention his name around me. When we first got together, she would call out to him in her sleep. I stopped that shit real fast." He smirked. "There is nothing better than reminding a woman who she belongs to, if you know what I mean. Ha! When I was on top of her, she used to call out for him to save her - but he never came, now did he? I made her realize that Morgan would never want a fat cow like her. Even when we went to the bar, she knew better then to even look at him. If she did, she'd get it when we got home."

Hotch saw Morgan's fists clench as Chris continued his story.

"At night, I would whisper in her ear about everything that was wrong with her, and how a guy like Morgan would never be with someone like her. I'd tell her how damn lucky she was that I ever looked twice at her. I mean, look at me! I'm way out of her league! I'm her Prince Charming. She'll never press charges against me," he declared with a smile.

"That so?" Rossi walked out and went into the room in which Morgan, Hotch, and Reid were standing. "Please tell me you have her signed statement," he said. "I want to ring this guy's neck."

Morgan still hadn't said anything. The other men knew he was on his last straw; they could see the vein in his neck pulsing. Not only had Chris deliberately beat Penelope down to nothing, but also he made her believe that someone like Morgan would never love her. It was no wonder why she couldn't say it back to him.

Morgan turned to the rest of the room's occupants and said, "Let me in there!"

"No way, Morgan. You'll probably kill him, and then you will end up in jail, and that won't be good for Garcia."

"Hotch, I won't. I just need to talk to him. You can send Reid in with me. I won't lay a hand on him."

Hotch knew he'd be extending an olive branch by agreeing to let him go in, but he also knew that Morgan had to confront him. If he didn't, it would eat the man alive.

"Fine, Morgan, but Reid is going in with you."

Morgan smiled gratefully at Hotch and made his way into the room with Reid in tow.

"Hi, Chris. Long time, not see."

"Oh, I'd figured as much - of course they are gonna send in her guard dog," Chris said with an all-knowing smirk.

Morgan wisely bit his tongue, but Reid chimed in, "I don't really think I'm much of a guard dog, but whatever floats your boat."

Chris ignored him and looked at Morgan when he said, "You know, when I fucked her, she used to scream out your name when I was hurting her. How does it feel to know that all the bruises she has are your fault? You just couldn't stay away from her, could you?"

"You really think she won't press charges? I have signed statement here and evidence from a medical doctor saying otherwise," Morgan snapped.

Chris looked at the pictures Morgan started throwing down onto the table. Each depicted a different aspect of Garcia's injuries.

"Oh, you see this one, Morgan?" Chris motioned to a shot of a mark on her inner thigh. "This one is from the night you called me to make sure she was still going to the party. See this bite mark on the other side? Yeah- that's when she tried to push me away when she said I was hurting her. She begged me to stop; she said she wouldn't go. I only let her go because she said she was staying at Prentiss's house."

Morgan smiled and said, "Well, you know, she stayed at my house both nights. Not only did she stay at my house, she stayed in my bed- with me."

Chris, now furious, tried to move to get in Morgan's face, but he couldn't because of his restraints.

"That's right, Chris," Morgan continued, "In the middle of the night, she crawled into my bed, begging me to hold her."

Chris sat back down with a smile and said, "Doesn't matter. She knows where she belongs, and that's with me."

"You're right; she does know where she belongs." Morgan walked over to Chris's chair and swiftly kicked it out from under him. The surprise attack caused him to hit his chin on the table as he fell to the floor.

"You bastard!"

"Wow, Chris you can't stay in your chair? Got a problem there?" Morgan asked with a smirk.

"Did you see that, Reid? I want to talk to Hotch! He just tried to assault me!"

Reid continued to inspect his cuticles, leaning casually against the wall, and said, "All I saw was you falling out of your chair."

"Are you kidding me? Where is Penelope? I want to talk to her!"

"Not gonna happen, Chris. She is filing a restraining order against you as we speak."

Chris tried to jump up onto his feet. "She would do no such thing, she loves me!" He shouted. "And even if she would, she'd only be screwing herself over! My name's on the house; I own everything we have. I made sure of that."

Morgan chuckled as he watched Chris bent over in an uncomfortable manor in an attempt to stand up. "You really are a dumb fuck," Morgan said, and then pushed the table with his hip, causing Chris to fall backwards. With Chris on the floor, Morgan stood over him and said, "Just so you know, she'll be staying with me; not just for the foreseeable future, but for the rest of her life."

"I had her first!" Chris screamed, trying desperately to get the last word.

"And I'll have her for the rest of her life. I'm the one who gets to feel ever curve she has underneath my body. I'm the one who will watch her carry my child. You might have had her first, but I can guarantee you that after I make love to her, you will be a distant memory."

"She'll never believe you love her."

"I'll spend the rest of my life proving my love to her while you rot in jail. Make no mistake - if I knew I could beat the living shit out of you without ending up in prison, I would." Morgan punctuated his sentence by kicking the table again. One of the table's legs hit Chris in the side forcefully.

Morgan walked with his head held high back into the room with Hotch and Rossi.

"I didn't hit him."

"No, you didn't, but we are now going to have to get a medic here to look at his chin and his side. Go find Garcia, Morgan," Hotch said, walking back into the integration room.

Morgan walked into the break room to see Garcia hunched over and crying into Emily's shoulder while JJ rubbed her back.

"I've got her guys," Morgan said quietly, pulling Penelope out of Emily's arms.

"Come on, pretty girl. You and I are leaving." He looked over at the other two girls and said, "Will you guys go to her house and start boxing stuff up? I'm going to call a moving company and have them meet you there. Take everything that's hers. If you think it might be hers, take it."

Emily and JJ nodded their agreement.

Derek and Penelope rode to his house in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence; it was a strangely comfortable one. They both had innumerable emotions running around in their head, and when they were about halfway home, Garcia spoke up.

"You didn't kill him, did you?"

He gave her a small smile and said, "No, but I wanted to. He deserves everything he gets." He watched her from the corner of his eye. She was spinning her engagement ring around her finger.

"Do you think we can stop at the park?"

He looked at her quizzically, but said, "Anything you want, sweetheart."

They made their way to the park by his house. As soon as Derek parked, Penelope walked out to the lake. He placed his hand on the small of her back as she stood on the shore.

"I thought he was my last chance to be a mom and have a family."

"I know you thought that, but I hope you'll let me prove to you it's not true."

She looked at him with a sad smile and whispered, "I will do my best."

With a deep breath, she pulled off her engagement ring and let it roll around in her hand for a moment before drawing her arm back and tossing it as far as she could into the water.

She turned to Derek, and he grabbed her hand to walk back to the SUV.


AN: I didn't want to have Morgan really hurt him; he would end up going to jail and leaving Pen, so that wasn't an option. I feel like I'm nowhere near done with this story; I want to explore their relationship and her struggles trying to get believe in Derek. Do you guys want to see that? Also, we will find out the punishment of Chris.