Derek carried Penelope into his bedroom and gently laid her onto the bed. He sat down beside her and placed his hand on top of her hip. Close enough so she felt his presence, but not so close he was crowding her. His touch broke the dam and the tears that Penelope had been struggling to hold back came pouring out. He sat there and murmured softly to her. He whispered words of comfort and lightly rubbed her hip until her tears started to subside.

When the worst was over, Derek said, "Baby Girl, you have nothing to be sorry for. You have nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. I, umm, I read the reports so I know the bones of what happened." His free hand rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he was making her uncomfortable, but it had to be done. Her doctor had told him to push her to get it all out. Carly had said in the car it was going to be a long night. Derek was glad that she had come with them, because his words had just pushed them into round two.

"You read the file? Derek, you read my f***ing file?" Before he could say anything or move out of the way, Penelope was sitting and had punched him square in the nose. As his eyes watered, he jumped off the bed. He thought she was just angry that he knew everything that happened to her, but it was so much worse.

Hearing her yelling and Derek's shout of pain, Hotch and Dr. Levin had come into the bedroom. Penelope completely ignored them and advanced on Derek.

"So since you read my file you know they GANG RAPED me." She spat the words at him and when he flinched, she gave a disgusted snort. "Just because you read the clinical terms does not mean you will ever be prepared to hear the actuality. I always though Charlotte on Private Practice was a bitch, but now I know she was right. A real rape is nothing like they show on screen. I didn't zone out and take myself somewhere less painful, I couldn't. They wouldn't let me. If I wasn't paying attention and reacting, they would bite me or burn me with a cigarette. It was hot and sweaty, and so not in a good way. It smelled horrible and I still feel dirty from it."

Penelope's voice got louder as she continued and Derek's heart broke with her next words. "I have showered three times a day since I was able to on my own and I still don't feel clean. I feel hands on me when I'm all by myself. And this is why I didn't say anything for two f***ing months. Because I never wanted you to be looking at me the way you are right now. I don't want my family to hear the things that happened to me because, even though I know that you all love me and support me, I am disgusted by it, so how can you not be?"

She was close enough for to Derek to reach out and touch, but he didn't dare. Her chest was heaving with her emotions and loss of breath after her rant. "I can't stand that I want to touch you and I want for you to be able to touch me. I would kill for a hug from my Chocolate God, but as soon as skin touches mine I'm back in that room. With one guy hurting me while the rest cheered him on. Or with one of the goons telling me if I didn't act like he was the best I'd ever had that he would go get Jack and force him on me."

She was so focused on Derek that she did hear the gasp from Hotch, who had turned pale and his fists were clenched. Penelope continued, "Before I could even blink, Bob was putting a bullet between his eyes. He fell on top of me and Bob was yelling at the rest that the kids were untouchables. He left the guy on top of me while he gave his lecture. When they finally shoved the guy off, it was only so the next could take his turn. Reading about it doesn't give you those details. It doesn't tell you how I strained to hit them. I wanted so bad to knock their asses off of me, but I couldn't."

Penelope once again caught Derek unaware as she plowed her fist into his stomach. She started to swing wildly on him and he threw his arms up to protect his face and braced his legs. If his Baby Girl needed to beat him senseless to get rid of some of her pain he would let her put him into a coma. Then at least he wouldn't have to look upon this broken woman with no idea how to help her.

He wanted to put his arms around her but feared that would make things worse. He grunted when she connected with his nose again and stumbled backwards a step. Hotch and Carly stepped forward and grabbed Penelope's arms to keep her from doing any more harm. As soon as their hands closed around her, Penelope began to struggle.

"Penelope, it's all right. It's just Doctor Levin and Hotch. It's ok, just relax, we're not going to hurt you, you're safe." Carly's soothing words were having no effect. Penelope just got more agitated and was trying to get free. She couldn't see them anymore. She was trapped in a flashback. Her eyes were wide open but glossy and unfocused. Dr. Levin motioned for Derek to take her place. When Derek's voice was not enough to calm her down, Carly retrieved her bag from the living room.

Re-entering the bedroom she told Hotch and Derek, "Put her over on the bed." Hearing those words triggered a frantic response from Penelope. She looked straight at Carly without seeing her. She was jerking her body so hard Hotch and Derek had both of their arms around her. Carly, grateful she was tiny, slid into the tangle of bodies and was somehow able to inject the sedative in Pen's arm. Derek and Hotch continued to hold her as her struggles weakened until she was finally spent.

As her knees started to buckle, Derek swept his arms under her legs and gently placed her back on the bed. "No, please don't," she whimpered softly as her back touched the mattress. "Baby Girl, it's ok. It's just your Hot Stuff. You're safe, sweetness. It's ok if you want to close your eyes and get some sleep now. I will still be here when you wake up."

"Mmkay Derek, goodnight," Penelope slurred as her eyes drifted close. Derek waited until her breathing evened out and then slowly got off the bed and followed Hotch and Carly into the living room. "What did you give her?" Hotch asked.

"Just a mild sedative," Carly replied. "It probably won't keep her out for more than two hours. The rest will do her good because she's going to be dealing with rollercoaster emotions, like we just saw, for a while. She's right, this is so much worse than anything we could have read in the medical report. I need to know that you two can handle it. Derek, you cannot be a martyr like that. Hitting you will not make her feel better. Guilt will just be one more of the many emotions she will be feeling when she wakes up."

Derek nodded at her. "I'm going to step outside for a minute. She just tossed a lot at me and I can't fix any of it." He turned and walked to the sliding glass door to the backyard. He went through the door but left it open in case Penelope called out for him.

Carly turned to Hotch, "How are you? It can't be easy for you to hear that from your friend. And it definitely wasn't easy to hear how close your son could have been to it."

Hotch closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I know how Derek feels; he wants to hurt someone, preferably one of those men. I get that because I am right there with him. But there is nothing we can do to them because they are all dead. I feel useless and I want to take Penelope's pain away because she deserves to be happy and whole again. But I know that she has to go through this grieving process to get back to happy. She's just made it so much worse by bottling it and lying to everyone. So I'm a little mad at her for that and at myself for not seeing it. But then I can't be mad at her because I never wanted to talk about what Foyet did to me. It wasn't until I had snapped at everyone that I sought help from you. So I guess I feel confused right now."

Hotch sunk down on the couch and put his head in his hands. "Can I please just have a moment?"

"Sure," Carly replied. "I'm going to step outside and check on Derek."

She left and Hotch was alone with his thoughts.