Chapter 38
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.
AN: Thank you so much for the support. It means so much to me.
Sorry that it's been a few days, I've been watching over and over again episode 13x10 of Supernatural as it's the backdoor pilot for a potential spin off called Wayward Sisters, and it is something I recommend watching, even if you haven't seen Supernatural, you can find the episode on the CW website, and I personally think you should give it a shot.
Not long after she found the note Penelope is arriving at the BAU, having managed to pull herself together long enough to drive herself in. Getting there she hurries through the bullpen where Emily, JJ, Reid, and Morgan are.
"Hey Pen." Emily greats, and as she does Penelope doesn't say anything, she just runs, "PEN?" Emily asks, feeling her concern grow as she keeps hurrying to her father's office, "Something's wrong." Emily says, saying exactly what the others are thinking.
"I'd say so." Morgan says, sounding worried too, watching his friend enter Rossi's office, without knocking.
(line break)
When she enters her father's office Penelope finds her father on the phone, and the second he sees his daughter Rossi knows that something is seriously wrong.
"I'll call you back." Rossi says, before hanging up, "Penelope, what's wrong?"
"I…" Penelope starts to say, stuttering and stumbling, and as she does Rossi gets up and walks over to his daughter.
"Talk to me, Kiddo, what's going on?" Rossi asks his daughter, feeling his worry grow as he gets closer to his daughter.
"I found this on my door." Penelope says, handing the obituary over, "It's him, Dad." Penelope reveals, and in response Rossi hugs his daughter, tightly.
Out in the bullpen Emily, JJ, Reid, and Morgan are watching what is going on and as they see what is going on between Penelope and her father they can all feel their worry grow.
"He's leading her over to the couch, he wouldn't do that unless something was seriously wrong." Emily realises, and she goes to head upstairs, but Morgan reaches out and stops her, "Let me go, Morgan." Emily says, clearly annoyed.
"Just give it a minute Emily. Rossi's making a phone call." Morgan realises, and the group of four watch for about a minute as Rossi makes a phone call before hanging up, and walking back over to Penelope.
"He was released three months ago." Rossi says, walking over to his daughter, "Unsurprisingly his parole officer hasn't heard from him since then." Rossi reveals, as he sits down next to his daughter.
"Why weren't we told?" Penelope asks, looking at her father, hoping he has answers.
"The files were sealed because of your age." Rossi admits, "And because of our connection Gideon was down as the case officer, not me." He admits.
"So, he's coming after me, and we don't know anything." Penelope says, sounding horrified, and afraid.
"What do you need, Penelope? What can I do?" Rossi asks his daughter.
"Emily, I need Emily." Penelope admits.
"Okay, I'll go get her in a minute." Rossi assures his daughter, "But first, Kiddo, I need to know, would it be okay if I told the team? Because we'd need them to find him."
"Yeah, that's okay." Penelope confirms, and as she does Rossi kisses his daughter's head, and takes the obituary, before heading outside.
"Emily." Rossi says, from the catwalk, and as soon as he says her name Emily hurries upstairs.
"What's going on, Dave? Is Penelope okay?" Emily asks, and as she does Rossi can hear the worry in her voice.
"She'll explain everything." Rossi assures Emily, and once he does he comfortingly squeezes Emily's shoulder before he heads to Hotch's office, while Emily heads into Rossi's.
"Pen, what's going on?" Emily asks concerned, as she walks into the office, and closes the door behind her.
"Someone from my past is back, and that's really not a good thing." Penelope admits.
"What do you mean?" Emily asks, as she walks over and sits down next to her girlfriend.
"When I was fourteen I was at the beach with my friend, and her family, this was in San Francisco, and we started talking to these two older guys." Penelope explains, and as she does Emily already doesn't like the sound of this.
"What happened?" Emily asks concerned.
"They suggested we go for Ice Cream, Tania was all for it, I felt that something was off, but I wasn't going to leave my friend." Penelope says, and as she does Emily can hear the pain in her girlfriend's voice and so she reaches out and takes her hand, "Tania's mom called out, and as they did the guys forced us into their car, they abducted us." Penelope explains.
"How long did they have you for?" Emily asks, not even wanting to imagine it.
"Less than twenty-four hours." Penelope admits, "Tania and I got free at one point, and Tania knocked down one of the brother, the other hand a knife." She explains.
"The scar on your leg." Emily says, as she has never asked about the scar, as a part of her was afraid of the answer.
"Yeah, the one you've never asked about, the injury itself wasn't bad, the infections I got after were." Penelope admits, "He pulled the knife from my leg, and was going to stab me again, but that's when Dad and Gideon arrived." Penelope explains, "Dad killed one of the brothers, but the other was arrested."
"What happened to him?" Emily says, as a horrible feeling grows inside of her.
"He was sent to jail." Penelope explains.
"That's not the end of the story, is it?" Emily asks, as she knows Penelope wouldn't be telling her it, she wouldn't be the state she is in if it was.
"Until today I thought it was." Penelope admits, "When I left my apartment I found an envelope stuck to my door. Inside there was an obituary, Tania's obituary, and on it was written a message, Tania was first, you're second." Penelope reveals, "We haven't talked in years, but she was still my friend." Penelope says, pain in her voice.
"Ohh Pen." Emily says, putting her arm around her girlfriend, and pulling her in close.
"He's coming for me, Em, and he's going to get me." Penelope says, believing that.
"No, he's not." Emily says, causing her friend to look at her, "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Pen." Emily promises, and as she does Penelope just leans into her girlfriend's arms wanting to believe that, but not sure that she can.
While Penelope and Emily are talking Rossi, Hotch, JJ, Reid, and Morgan are in the roundtable room.
"What's going on? What's up with Garcia?" Morgan asks worried.
"To explain that I have to explain something that happened when Penelope was fourteen." Rossi explains.
"When she was kidnapped?" JJ and Morgan ask together.
"Garcia was kidnapped?" Reid asks surprised, and even Hotch looks surprised by that.
"Yeah. She and her friend were at the beach with her friends' family. They were abducted by two brothers Aaron and John Kane, they were missing for eighteen hours, thirty-two minutes." Rossi explains.
"Was Penelope or her friend hurt?" Hotch asks.
"Penelope was stabbed in the leg, and the wound became infected, it took a while for it to heal." Rossi explains, "When Gideon and I found them John was about to stab Penelope for a second time when I shot him, he died."
"What happened to the other brother?" Reid asks.
"He was arrested, sent to jail." Rossi explains, "Penelope found this on her door this morning." Rossi says, handing the obituary over to Hotch.
"Tania was her friend?" Hotch asks.
"Yeah." Rossi confirms, as the obituary gets handed around the team, and everyone can feel their worry grow.
"We need to find him. We need to stop him before he can hurt Garcia." Morgan says.
"We will." Hotch says, meaning that, before turning to Rossi, "We need to talk over a security arrangement with Penelope."
"I know." Rossi says.
"Start to profile, go through the old file, try and find him." Hotch says, looking at the others, before he and Rossi head out of the roundtable room.
When Rossi and Hotch walk into Rossi's office less than a minute later, and as they walk in the find Penelope and Emily still sitting on Rossi's couch, Emily having her arm around Penelope and it was clear to both Rossi and Hotch that the second Emily heard the door open she was prepared to attack if needed.
"We need to talk security measures." Hotch reveals, assuming that Emily is going to stay for this conversation so he doesn't say anything about Emily's presence, "The first of which is that Aaron Kane clearly knows your address."
"Pen can stay with me." Emily says, before Rossi can the same thing, "That okay with you?" she asks, looking at Penelope.
"More than okay." Penelope assures her.
"Does Kane know you're Penelope's father?" Hotch asks Rossi.
"Yeah." Rossi confirms.
"Okay." Hotch says, with a nod.
"So, he knew and he still sent the threat." Emily says, realising that that is something to be worried about.
"It's revenge." Penelope says, "If he hadn't taken us then his brother wouldn't be killed, and he wouldn't have spent almost nineteen years in jail."
"Blaming other people for his own choices." Hotch says.
"Fits with what I profiled back then." Rossi admits.
"I could know." Penelope mutters.
"What?" Emily asks, having heard what Penelope muttered.
"Nothing." Penelope quickly responds, not wanting to get into the "Um, I'll see if I can find something to track." Penelope says, getting up and heading out of her father's office, knowing that she must focus.
Once Penelope leaves Emily stands up and walks over to Hotch and Rossi.
"I'm not leaving Penelope's side until this guys' been found." Emily reveals, looking between Hotch and Rossi, it being clear that she is telling the complete truth.
"Good." Rossi says, being glad about that.
"I arrange the paperwork." Hotch says, knowing that he can arrange the paperwork to explain what is going on.
"Good." Emily says, before leaving.
A couple of minutes later Penelope walks into her office, and she isn't at all surprised to find Morgan waiting.
"Hey." Penelope greats, and in response Morgan just walks over and hugs his best friend.
"We're gonna get this guy, we won't let him hurt you." Morgan promises.
"You can't promise that." Penelope says.
"Yes, I can." Morgan responds as Emily walks in, having her gun on her now, just in case.
"Keep your hands to yourself Morgan." Emily says, clearly teasing him.
"Yeah, yeah, I yeah, I know." Morgan says, and once they do he and Penelope break apart, and Penelope heads over to her computers.
As Penelope walks over to her computers Morgan walks over to Emily,
"You think she's okay?" Morgan asks, his voice only loud enough for Emily to hear.
"Too soon to tell." Emily admits, "Stop him, Morgan." Emily says, giving him a very specific look as while she would very much like to kill Aaron Kane, or at least arrest him, but to her protecting Penelope is more important.
"I will." Morgan responds, before squeezing Emily's shoulder and heading out of Penelope's office.
Once Morgan leaves Emily walks over and sits down next to Penelope.
"He's waited almost nineteen years for his revenge, we might not be able to catch him." Penelope says.
"We will, because I'm not going to give up." Emily assures her, "Neither will your Dad, or Morgan, or anyone else in our team." Emily says, "What did you mean back in your Dad's office?" Emily asks curious.
"For a long time I wondered why, why they abducted us." Penelope admits, "I wondered so much that I almost visited Aaron in jail." She reveals, and as she does Emily pushes down her feeling about how much of a bad idea that would have been.
"What convinced you not to?" Emily asks curious.
"I decided that letting go was better than wondering." Penelope admits.
"But now that he's back you can't help but wonder again." Emily realises.
"Exactly." Penelope confirms.
"You know, chances are you won't get your answer, and you'll keep wondering." Emily reminds her girlfriend.
"I know." Penelope says, looking at Emily, and once the two of them exchange smiles the two of them drift into silence as Penelope works.
A few hours later the team are regrouping back in the roundtable room, discussing what they know.
"I haven't been able to find any trace of Kane since he left California, which just doesn't make sense." Penelope admits.
"What do you mean?" Reid asks curious.
"That doesn't fit with what I remember about him." Penelope admits.
"How much do you remember about back then, about him?" Emily asks, looking at her girlfriend in concern.
"Everything. I remember every detail." Penelope admits, causing JJ and Emily to exchange concerned looks, "And the person I remember was an armature, he kept Tania and I in the same room, tied us in a way that we managed to escape from, that doesn't fit with the way he's acting now." Penelope admits.
"Hotch and I talked to Kane's old cell mate with a video conference and according to him, Kane was obsessed with learning new skills, in learning everything he could to be a better criminal." JJ explains.
"That would explain the way he is acting now." Morgan realises.
"Garcia, you remember everything from back then, who seemed to be in charge, Aaron or his brother?" Hotch asks, getting an idea.
"Um." Penelope starts to say, looking uncertain.
"Just close your eyes and think back, Kiddo." Rossi tells his daughter, who he is sitting next to, "You noticed it wasn't a good idea to accept the offer to go to the ice cream shop, what else did you notice?" Rossi asks, and as he does Emily, who is on Penelope's other side, reaches out and takes Penelope's hand, clearly trying to support her.
For about a minute Penelope has her eyes closed, thinking back, trying to remember.
"Aaron was calmer." Penelope realises, "It was John who stabbed me, who became panicked when we broke free." She admits, opening his eyes, "I thought they were inexperienced because I managed to rattle John at one point, but Aaron wasn't in the room at that point." Penelope reveals, opening her eyes as she realises something, "After we were tied up we didn't see him again until we got free." Penelope reveals.
"Which means our original profile might have been wrong." Rossi says, "I thought he stopped talking because I was the person who killed his brother, but what if it was more than that." Rossi reveals.
"What are you thinking?" Hotch asks curious.
"What if it was just John who was inexperienced, what if Aaron knew what he was doing?" Rossi asks
"And Aaron was using the abduction as a test of sorts." Reid finishes, "Garcia, would that fit with what you remember?"
"Um, yes. I think it would." Penelope says, "Like I said Aaron didn't do much, he let John do things." Penelope says, "Testing his brother would make sense." Penelope says.
"Okay, then we profile Aaron based on this. See what leads it could give us." Emily says, taking charge though no one decides to say anything, "And we've got to do it in a hurry." She says, and everyone else around the room nod in agreement.
A few hours later Penelope, and Emily are in Penelope's office working when the door opens and JJ walks in, carrying food.
"I have dinner." JJ reveals.
"Thanks, Jayje." Penelope says, turning to look at her.
"How's things going up there?" Emily asks, clearly interested.
"Slow." JJ answers, "Even with our newest theories Kane's proving hard to find."
"Yeah, I'm not having much more luck." Penelope admits.
"Which is exactly why I got food." JJ reveals, as she puts the food on the table, and she, Emily, and Penelope all sit around the table, as JJ starts to serve.
"Did you watch them make the food?" Emily asks JJ.
"Of course." JJ responds.
"Good." Emily responds, and once she does the three of them sit down and start to enjoy their food, though as they do it is more than clear that they are all worried about what is going to happen next.
After finishing dinner JJ, Penelope, and Emily all got back to work, which they have been doing for a few more hours, but they have kept coming up empty on Aaron Kane.
As Penelope types Emily notices her girlfriend's eyes drift open and closed.
"Pen?" Emily asks concerned.
"I'm awake." Penelope says, opening her eyes quickly.
"You're exhausted." Emily realises, "You need to get some rest, Babe."
"Yeah, well I can't rest at home." Penelope says.
"We're going back to mine, remember." Emily reminds her girlfriend, being pretty sure that this highlights just how tired Penelope is.
"I can't just stop working on this." Penelope says.
"Pen, you can't work when you're exhausted, you'll miss something." Emily says, "It's best to get a few hours sleep then look at everything again." Emily assures her girlfriend, and as she does she pulls her phone, "Hotch, Prentiss', I'm taking Pen home we both need to get a few hours sleep." Emily explains.
"Good idea. If you need anything call." Hotch requests.
"I will." Emily says, before hanging up, "See, Hotch knows we're leaving."
"Is it really a good idea to leave?" Penelope asks, looking concerned.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Pen." Emily once more says, meaning that completely, as she doesn't care what she has to do, she will protect Penelope, make sure no one hurts her.
"Okay." Penelope says, "Do we need to go by your desk?"
"Yeah." Emily confirms, and the two of them get up and head out.
A few minutes later Penelope and Emily are getting to one of the back exits. Once they get there Emily holds up her hand to signal to Penelope to stop walking and once she does Emily looks around, checking for snipers, and other signs of danger.
"Okay, we're good." Emily says, and once she does she and Penelope head out, Emily having her gun, and ready to use it, as they go, "Stay behind me." Emily instructs.
"Em…."
"Pen, please." Emily says, really not wanting to argue about this when they are in the open, but unfortunately it was the best, and most unpredictable way for them to leave.
"Okay." Penelope responds, and she and Emily continue to walk. It being more than clear to Penelope that Emily is looking for any possible sign of danger.
For several tense minutes Penelope and Emily continue to walk until the reach the parking lot, a place which makes Emily's worry only grow as she knows that there is a lot of places that an attack can come from.
When they get to the parking lot Emily once more signals at Penelope to stop before she squats down to look and as she does she notice something so she quickly stands up, and starts firing, making sure to put herself between Penelope and where she saw the danger coming from, something which is proven when Penelope and Emily are fired upon from between two cars.
"EMILY!" Penelope suddenly yells, but before Emily can turn she is hit on the back of the head and she falls to the ground.
"Penelope, it sure has been a while." Aaron Kane, who came up from behind, and is holding a gun on Penelope, "I've been waiting a long time for this, to get my revenge, goodbye Penelope." Aaron says, but before he can fire the gun he is shot through the forehead by Emily.
"EMILY." Penelope says, sounding terrified, hurrying over to her girlfriend, who is still on the ground, on her back, holding her gun, and squats down next to her.
"I'm okay, Pen." Emily assures her, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Penelope says, as she notices something, "You're bleeding." she says worried.
"I'm fine." Emily says, sitting up, "Call your Dad, and Hotch." Emily says, not lowering her guard at all, and in response Penelope just hugs her girlfriend, "Pen, make the call." Emily instructs.
"Right, yes, Dad, Hotch." Penelope says, and she quickly pulls out her phone and makes the call.
"Penelope? What's wrong?" Rossi asks.
"Kane, and someone he was working with are dead, Em and I were attacked in the car park, Em's hurt." Penelope explains.
"We'll be right there." Rossi says, before hanging up.
"Everyone's on their way." Penelope says, and as she does Emily goes to get up, "What are you doing? You're hurt." Penelope says worried.
"I'm fine." Emily says, standing up, and once she is standing up she kicks the gun away from Aaron, "It's over, Pen." Emily says, as Penelope stands up too.
"You're hurt, because of me, I'm…" Penelope starts to say.
"Don't say it. It's not your fault." Emily says, and once she does Penelope just hugs her girlfriend.
"I love you, so much." Penelope says.
"I love you too." Emily says, kissing Penelope's cheek as she notices Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, JJ, and Reid running towards them.
About a minute later Penelope and Emily break apart, just as the team get to them, and as they do Rossi hugs Penelope and JJ hugs Emily.
"What happened?" Hotch asks.
"We stopped at the entrance to the car park, and I checked for danger. When I did I saw someone hiding between the cars, and because of that I fired, suddenly I heard Penelope say my name, and before I could respond, I felt something hit me on the back of the head, I fell. Aaron talked, he was about to kill Penelope when I shot him." Emily explains.
"Okay. You need to get checked out by medical." Hotch instructs.
"I'm fine." Emily argues.
"Emily, you still need to get checked out." JJ tells her friend.
"JJ's right." Morgan says, and as he does Emily looks between the members of her team.
"Fine." Emily says, realising that there is no point in arguing.
After a few hours of clean up, and explaining what happened Emily and Penelope are finally arriving at Emily's apartment, and they close the door behind them.
"How's your head?" Penelope asks concerned.
"Better." Emily admits.
"I'm so sorry that that happened to you, I'm…" Penelope starts to say, and as she does Emily takes both of Penelope's hands.
"It's okay, Pen. I told you I wasn't going to let anyone hurt you, and I meant it." Emily assures her girlfriend, "I'm okay, we both are, that's what matters." Emily says.
"I really, really, love you Emily Prentiss." Penelope says, smiling at her girlfriend.
"I really, really, love you too, Penelope Rossi Garcia." Emily says, having taken to calling Penelope by both the last names, when she does, because she knows that Penelope considers both names to be hers, and once she does she leans forward and kisses Penelope.
For Penelope and Emily their kiss starts our gentle, but quickly it becomes more passionate, and the pair start to remove each other's clothes as they make their way to Emily's bedroom.