Chapter 29

The family arrived rather quickly and while Penelope and Derek were eating the delicious homemade vegetable soup that Fran had made, Sarah and Desiree managed to catch them up on all their doings back in Chicago. Penelope was very excited to see them because, like JJ and Emily, Penelope considered them both like sisters, too. Everybody explained to her how sorry they were about her apartment and that they'd been terrified that Savannah had almost killed her.

Spencer's first words to Penelope were, "You better stop scaring us like that, Garcia. I love you and don't wanna lose you."

Penelope's reaction was a few unshed tears before she gave him a hug the best she could. "No worries, Boy Wonder. I'm not going anywhere. It looks like you're stuck with me forever and ever."

Once they finished their dinner, Penelope went into the full explanation of what exactly happened with Savannah. The family's heart went out to her with all that she'd been made to endure. Shortly after she'd finished describing her whole ordeal Dr. Moore walked in for his last check of the night.

Penelope was still anxious to be discharged on Monday and practically begged for that to happen. Dr. Moore's response was, that if everything looked good, he would most likely be able to send her home as planned. Which of course made everyone ecstatic. He also informed her that starting in the morning that her leg would be released from the elevation device she was in now. He wanted her to start to sit up in bed for very short periods because she needed to start to increase her strength and regain her sea legs, so to speak. Penelope was both glad and a little apprehensive.

After the doctor said his goodbyes for the evening, Penelope's night nurse came in to check her vitals and to administer her a sedative and some more pain medications. A few minutes later the family said they needed to head home and get some rest. They promised they would be back tomorrow with the boys in tow. They all hugged and kissed the happy couple and left for the night.

Once Penelope and Derek were alone, he made sure she was tucked in, gave her a little more water, and then carefully and gently slid into the bed next to her. They shared a few kisses and fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning arrived and the couple managed to get a few hours of sleep. However, it was an interrupted sleep because Penelope had woken up twice screaming from a terrible nightmare that Savannah was there trying to kill her again. After much cajoling and comfort from Derek, she was able to fall back to sleep each time wrapped up in the man of her dream's arms.

The day went by pretty uneventful. As the doctor said, they released her leg from elevation which Penelope was relieved had gone pretty smoothly. She was able to sit up a few times with a lot of help from her Sculpted Chocolate God of Thunder, she was also able to transition to sit in a wheelchair for a short time.

As promised the family stopped by for a few hours with Jack and Henry. They all shared some laughs, good memories and Pizza was the lunch choice of the day, which was followed by ice cream for the whole bunch, compliments of Sarah and Desiree. The boys and Penelope were especially delighted, after all her favorite flavor was chocolate.

Throughout the visit, they discussed Penelope's upcoming discharge and how she was practically climbing up the walls to split. She couldn't wait to be able to go home and spend more time with her family. They also talked about the impending arrival of Emily. Everybody was thrilled and couldn't wait to see her. She was due to stay for two weeks before she would have to get back to London. It was decided that Hotch would pick her up at the airport and she would also be staying at Casa Rossi. Emily wanted to spend as much time as she could being with Penelope and helping with her care.

Sunday morning arrived and Penelope was still experiencing a few nightmares while she slept. But of course, her strong and ever so present boyfriend was there each time to scare away the demons. Dr. Moore explained that she would probably experience them for a while longer. They would decrease as time went by until eventually, they would hopefully dissipate altogether.

Hotch, after dropping Jack off at JJ and Will's house, headed out to the airport nice and early. He wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to get there and park. Henry and Jack would be hanging out until it was time for everyone to head to the hospital to be there to greet Emily.

Once the happy new couple finished eating their breakfast, Derek took her for a spin around the hallways for a bit. Naturally, Penelope was so excited that all she could do was chatter a mile a minute while Derek laughed at his girl's craziness.

Hotch picked up Emily without a hitch and called Derek to inform him they were both en route to the hospital at that very moment. During the drive, Hotch brought Emily up to speed on everything that had transpired but assured her Penelope was still due to go home tomorrow.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the family started to trickle into the hospital and up to Penelope's room. Everyone was tickled pink and getting anxious. The boys were both elated with the prospect of seeing their Auntie Em again. They too really missed her very much.

A little while passed when suddenly the door burst open and Emily came bustling in with a huge smile on her face. She made an immediate beeline to her best friend's bedside. "PG, it's me! I'm finally here!"

Derek moved out of the way and Emily quickly enveloped Penelope in her arms as gently as she could. "Yayyyy! My Raven-haired beauty, I'm so glad you're here. Ohhh, how I have missed you! How was your flight? How's your love life? Meet any nice and good-looking Brit's?"

The group laughed out loud at Penelope's antics and her rambling questions. Leave it to their girl to immediately want to talk about guys.

Emily sat up and grabbed Penelope's hand, "Slow down girl, one thing at a time. We will have plenty of time to dish later. I'm sorry I couldn't get here any faster. I've been really worried about you and I wanted to be here sooner. But I just couldn't swing it. Hotch filled me on everything that happened the other day. I'm so relieved that you are okay."

Penelope thrust her lower lip out and fake pouted. "You so owe me a dish session, girlie. I'm doing okay. Some nightmares, but other than that I'm on the mend. As a matter-of-fact, I hopefully will be blowin' this joint tomorrow. I can't wait to spend some time with you."

Emily smiled, "Well, you've got me for two whole weeks, so we will have plenty of time to catch up. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you are outta here tomorrow."

Derek cleared his throat, "Hey, Missy! How 'bout spreading some of that love around? We've all been dying to see you, too."

Emily shook her head and lightly slapped his leg. "Hold your horses, Morgan! I needed to see my girl first. Geez!"

Emily released Penelope's hand after a nod and a smile from her. She threw her feet on the floor and stood up. Emily then proceeded to greet everybody, one by one, exchanging hugs and pleasantries. She was completely overjoyed to be around her family again. When it came time to hug and kiss both Jack and Henry, she knelt and pulled each of them into her arms. They told her how much they loved and missed her and she cheerfully reciprocated their sentiments.

The rest of their visit went swimmingly. Of course, everyone kept trying to grill Emily on all her doings. She answered as many questions as she could but there were a couple of things she'd purposefully held back on. All would be known at a later time.

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