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"So his leg is never going to function properly again?" Penelope asked with her eyes welling up with tears. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was standing in the hallway outside her husband's hospital room. Fran had joined her and they were both talking with Derek's lead physician. The news was not looking good.

The doctor nodded solemnly. "He's going to have to walk with a cane from now on," she said. "And he'll be in a lot of pain. We're going to have to put him on pain medication…which he'll be on for likely the rest of his life."

Penelope rubbed her forehead and looked into Derek's room where he was playing patty cake with Gigi. He was never going to be a field agent again. The news was going to crush him. She turned back to the doctor. "Doctor, there's nothing you can do?" she murmured. "Absolutely nothing?"

She nodded. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Morgan. He's not going to be able work in the field if he chooses to return to the bureau." Her pager beeped at her side and she was forced to leave. "I'm sorry. I've got another patient."

When Fran and Penelope were left alone, Fran asked, "Penelope, what are you going to tell him.

She looked at her husband and daughter again, playing like nothing was wrong in the world at all. "The truth," she said. "It's all I can do for him."

XXXXX

Derek loved every second of being with his daughter. She was fearless and funny. Penelope had raised her wonderfully.

"Daddy, when you get all better, we can play with Clooney together," she said, sitting cross-legged next to him on the bed. "He has a favorite ball that I bought him once day when we were at the pet store. It's blue, because that's my favorite color. What's your favorite color, Daddy?"

He smiled. "Well, I like a lot of colors, but I would have to say my favorite color is green," he said decisively.

"Green is cool too," Gigi said with a nod of her head. Suddenly she perked up and added, "Oh, and we can play other games too! Mommy likes to play games when she's not working." She looked up at the door when it was opened. "Ooh! There's Mommy now!" She sat up on her knees and waved. "Mommy! Daddy and I are going to play games when he gets better."

Penelope smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Do I get to play too?" she asked, putting her hands together to beg.

"Yes. Yes, you can," Gigi said, nodding and wrapping her arms around her.

Hugging her back, she said, "Honey, Grandma's outside. Can you go see her while I talk to Daddy real quick?"

"Do I have to?" Gigi asked grudgingly, sighing and rolling her eyes.

Rubbing her back, Derek said, "Just for a little while, okay?"

Gigi nodded vigorously and grinned. "Okay, Daddy," she said, rising from the bed and hopping to her feet. She bounded out of the room to join Fran while Penelope sat down where her daughter had vacated. She took Derek's hand and touched his cheek.

"What's wrong, Baby Girl?" he asked. "You look…off."

She sighed and took a deeper breath. "Baby, we've got to talk," she said. "While you were in captivity, and your leg broke at one point, it damaged it so bad from not healing properly that…" She could hardly finish talking. This was going to break him. "If you wanted to go back to the Bureau, you wouldn't be able to because your leg isn't going to function properly." He was silent for a long time and she pulled him towards her to wrap her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his neck. "I wish I had better news for you."

His arms pulled her into him as well and he murmured, "You know? I don't mind. Not at all." He pulled back and cupped her cheek. "I love helping people and stopping terrible people, but I love my family more. While I was in captivity, the only thing I thought about was you and Gigi. I didn't think about my job at all. It was just you two."

Tears filled her eyes and she kissed him softly. "I'm still so sorry," she whispered. "I'm glad you're taking it so well."

"I'm going to take care of Gigi," he said confidently. "At some point I'm going to have to get a job, but we'll figure that out when the time comes."

"Derek Morgan as a stay-at-home-dad?" she laughed. "Gigi will love this so much." She smiled and giggled. "You know…when I told her a story one day, I told her about a Prince who called a girl 'Baby Girl' because he didn't remember her name."

He started to laugh. "That would be a pretty good story," he said. Kissing her forehead, he asked, "Will you tell me the story?"

"Can I join you?" Gigi asked, poking her head in the room again. "I loved that story! Mommy's so good at telling them. A lot of them are about this Prince who falls in love with this beautiful girl. The only problem is they always wait like ten years to get married!"

Pulling her eavesdropping daughter onto her lap and kissing the top of her head, Penelope said, "Of course you can, Baby." So leaning against Derek, she stroked Gigi's hair and began to tell the story of the man who called the woman he loved 'Baby Girl.'

XXXXX

1 Week Later

"If you have no more questions," the doctor said, "we can get you discharged in the next day or two. The infection and pesticides left your system, but you'll have to come in regularly for us to check on your leg." She produced a plain wooden cane and handed it to Derek. "This is temporary so if you want to find a new one that's customized to your taste."

Derek took the cane and observed it carefully. Grudgingly, he said, "You got it Doc."

Penelope rubbed his arm and Gigi took the cane from her father and started to wave it around. "What is this, Daddy?" she asked curiously, almost hitting him in the face.

"Not something for you to play with," Penelope said with a smirk, taking the cane from her daughter before she whacked someone in the face with it. She mimicked Gigi's pout and kissed her forehead. "You'll survive."

"Meh," Gigi grumbled, her shoulder slumping.

Hesitantly Derek began to stand and took a few steps using his new cane. Picking up Gigi, Penelope went forward to join him and took his hand. "You're doing great, Hot Stuff," she said.

Though he was much thinner and he was more frail, Derek seemed to be making progress. His steps were unsteady and his face was set in a hard expression, but when he looked at his wife and daughter, he smiled. "I think you might be right, Baby Girl," he murmured.

She cocked an eyebrow at him and said, "It happens occasionally."