Once Upon A Phone Call

Chapter 13

Hotch consulted the GPS before declaring, "We should be in Quantico in two and a half hours."

"Are we all sleeping at Pen and Derek's new house until tomorrow? It's going to be pretty late when we get in, it's almost 11 now." Reid reasoned from the driver's seat as he glanced over at Hotch before turning his attention back to the road.

"Yeah, Derek said that all the furniture had been put into the bedrooms so the kids can all bunk with each other and Derek's friend also made sure the two guest rooms upstairs have beds all set up." Hotch absentmindedly recited as he kept his attention on the team's return to active duty paperwork. Reid nodded before remembering that since Hotch wasn't looking at him, his nodding wasn't necessary. He smiled when his eyes caught the reflection of April on the windshield. April had fallen asleep with her head propped up against the window with Ethan sprawled across her lap. Reid's heart warmed at the sight, and it left the young genius to wonder why he suddenly felt terrified and jovial at the same time.

JJ was working on her own stack of paperwork in her seat behind Hotch as Dave was growing more and more frustrated at his wife's desire to finish the paperwork she was filling out.

"Jen, come on. It's late, how about we go sit on that couch over there and we can rest until the kid gets us home?" Dave bargained for the tenth time.

"Sweetie, I have to fax these papers in to Strauss first thing in the morning. I want to be sure that everything goes smoothly once the babies get here and it definitely won't if the team doesn't have a media liaison for a month." JJ reasoned without looking up from her task.

Dave switched tactics and knelt in front of his wife and gently took the papers from her hands. "Would you stop filling out the damn paperwork if I told you that your husband had already submitted the paperwork two weeks ago? Cara, everything is all set. Agent Megan Greene will try her best at filling your shoes as BAU media liaison for four weeks following the birth of the girls and I will be taking four weeks of paternity leave too."

"You are amazing." Jen sighed gratefully as she pulled her husband's face to hers and planted a severe kiss on his lips. "I love you" she whispered when they broke apart.

"I love you too." He instantly whispered back before pulling her close for another kiss.

Meanwhile, in the other RV:

Pen sipped from her seventh cup of coffee for the day as she smiled ruefully at her chocolate god of thunder. "Handsome, go lie down somewhere. You had a long day, I'm good." She reassured him for the third time and shook her head when he started to argue. "No arguments, Hot Stuff. I don't want to see your chiseled body until we are much closer to home." Pen took a breath and continued in a softer tone. "I'm really going to need help finding the house-our house, and getting the kids inside and settled is definitely going to be a feat. So I need my husband firing on all engines, okay?"

"Momma, are you sure you are okay? I don't like the idea of you driving up here all by yourself. I've been much more tired on cases before and done just fine. I don't need to sleep."

"Derek, you didn't have children before, trust me, bad guys were like training camp and tonight is going to be like the super bowl." Pen smiled at Derek. "See, I even used a sports metaphor, you have to go get some sleep now."

Derek laughed and leaned over to kiss Pen on the forehead. "I love you Princess."

"Love you too Stud. Get your butt back there so I can watch you walk away." She teased and laughed when he leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek before giving in to his fatigue and heading towards the back.

12:21am 3 miles into the state of Virginia:

"Clunk, clunk, hiss-SCREECH!" Penelope heard the horrible noise from the engine and suddenly felt the wheel yank to her right.

"Derek! DEREK!" She yelled in frenzy and Derek sat up quickly from the couch. Quickly assessing the situation, he steadily made his way towards the front of the RV. The RV lurched to the right and he felt the ground slipping from under his feet. He eyed the still sleeping forms of Lilly and Grace sleeping in the overhead loft and quickly climbed up and wrapped them in his arms and attempted to shield their bodies as much as possible.

Emily, Noah and Jack had watched the latest Harry Potter movie before falling asleep on the bed in the back of the RV. Emily awoke to the sound of Pen screaming Derek's name. Feeling the RV start to swerve, Em immediately pulled Noah and then Jack to the edge of the bed and proceeded to pull them all the way onto the floor before covering their bodies with hers.

Penelope fought with the steering wheel as much as she could but it yanked fully out of her hands and she felt the RV tipping to the right and tried to prepare herself for the impact.

The RV slid off the highway and towards the thick trees. It lurched once towards the right and then it rolled, two complete turns, before coming to a rest on its side amongst the heavy trees.

AUTHORS NOTE: I know this chapter is short compared to what I normally post but I promise that I'm already working on chapter 14! Thanks for reading!