"No talking necessary," James said as he raised his gun toward Emily. Before she could pull her gun out again, a shot was fired.
"Ahhh!" James shouted as he held his shoulder. There was blood running from his bullet wound. Emily was in shock. Her gun was still in her belt. When she turned around, she saw Dave standing at the doorway with his gun drawn.
"We need doctors in the basement," Emily said into her radio before walking over to James and kicking his gun away from his reach. She forced his arms behind his back and cuffed them.
Once Emily had James cuffed, she ran over to Penelope and took the tape off of her mouth.
"Untie my hands then help Derek," Penelope said. "He needs it more than me and I can get out of here with free hands." Emily nodded and did so. Then she went around to Derek.
"Derek?" Emily said. He was alive but unconscious. A team of trauma doctors came down the elevator with a stretcher.
"Over here!" Penelope shouted to them, pointing at Emily who was untying Derek. The doctors got Derek onto the stretcher and into the elevator. Penelope tried following before Emily stopped her.
"Pg, you need to get your head looked at," Emily insisted. "Let's go up the stairs and get you to the ER."
"But, I can't leave Derek again, Em. The last time I did that he was almost killed again," Penelope said.
"Yes, but James Thomson was also still on the loose. He is in custody now and the doctors are with Derek. No one can hurt him anymore," Emily said. "And besides, you need to make sure that cut gets taken care of."
"Okay," Penelope nodded. Emily walked with her up the stairs and to the ER to get treated.
After an hour and a few stitches, Penelope was back at Derek's bedside. He was still asleep. Penelope had a bandage above her right eye where the stitches were. The rest of the team and Fran were also in the room waiting for Derek to wake up.
Fortunately, there wasn't any new severe damage. There were new bruises, but nothing more was broken. Penelope held his hand and gently ran her fingers up and down his palm and fingers. She was caught by surprise when Derek's hand started to close around hers. She looked up to see his big, brown eyes looking right back into hers.
"Welcome back, Eyebrows. How are you feeling?" Penelope asked. Derek took a couple of tired breaths before responding.
"Did you get him?" Derek asked.
"Yes. He is in custody and he's going away for a long time. You don't need to worry about him anymore, Derek. You are truly safe now," Penelope said, placing her empty hand on top of his hand.
"He hurt you too?" Derek asked, noticing the bandage.
"Oh, it's just a scratch. I'm fine, really."
"Baby Girl, I don't like that he hurt you. If I hadn't-"
"Nope! You don't get to blame yourself for this, Derek. The important thing is that you're safe. And I'm okay. Now all you need to do is get better so we can get you back home. That's an order, Mister," Penelope said. Derek chuckled at this. The next moment, Derek's doctor walked into the room.
"Good afternoon, Agent Morgan. How are you feeling?"
"Feeling like I don't like this hospital anymore," Derek said. Light laughter filled the room from the others.
"Well, if all goes well, you should be out of her by the end of the week. We are watching the area where we had to take out your kidney, and where your ribs are broken. Once those are healed more, you can be discharged to continue your care at home."
"What do you mean, continue his care?" Penelope asked.
"I mean, it will be a long road to recovery. With the condition your ankle is in, you'll need physical therapy. The last thing is the drugs found in your system. They are highly addictive, and from the record, they were used many times during your abduction. So you may suffer from withdrawals which may need more therapy. Long story short, it will be a while before you can be cleared to go back out on the field."
Derek didn't like the sound of this. He hates not working. He really doesn't know what to do with himself otherwise.
"Thanks, Doc," Derek said with a disappointed sigh. Penelope's heart hurt for Derek. She knew how hard this would be for him. Penelope also knew that she would be there to hold his hand the entire way. The doctor walked out of the room and the rest of the team stood up and surrounded Derek's bed.
"Don't worry about how long it will take you to recover, Derek. Take all the time you need," Aaron said.
"Yeah. We want you at your best when you come back, Morgan," Spencer added.
"And we'll all be here to help you through this," JJ said.
"Thank you. Thank you everyone for everything," Derek said.
"You should really be thanking Penelope," Emily said. "She's the one who refused to give up looking. Even when Strauss told us we had to focus on different cases she refused to stop looking."
"Yeah, I know," Derek said with a smile, looking up at his Princess. "She's so stubborn, not even the President of the United States could stop her from something she sets her mind to."
"Oh, well," Penelope blushed. A tear escaped her eye but this time it was a happy one. They spent the next moment looking lovingly into each other's eyes, which of course felt like an eternity to the others.
"Okay, I'm getting out of here before she jumps this guy's bones," Emily said, getting a laugh out of everyone in the room.
"No need to worry. The doctor said I gotta wait. I'm too wounded," Derek said, looking only at Penelope.
"I'll show you wounded, Hot Stuff," Penelope teased.
"Careful with him, Garcie," JJ teased as she followed Emily out the door
"Glad to have you back with us, Derek," Dave said.
"Thanks, Rossi," Derek responded as the rest of the team left the room. All he could do was smile from ear-to-ear.
"What are you so happy about?" Penelope asked, returning the smile.
"You," Derek responded with an ever-bright sparkle in his eyes. "I've got the best seat right here."
"Yeah, you do! Well, I'm glad you're feeling better. You were so distressed when you woke up."
"I know. You light up my life, Princess. It's impossible to be down when you're in the room. Plus, the doctor just told me that I get to go home soon. Oh, and you're here. Did I forget to mention?"
"I think you covered that one, Sugar. But seriously, I'm glad you're back. I missed you. Like, a lot." Penelope chuckled.
"Don't even get me started, Baby Girl," Derek said, holding Penelope's hands tighter. He sat up, working through the pain in his ribs and side. He leaned in and kissed her, lifting his good arm from her hands to tangle his fingers in her hair. Penelope put her hand on his chest, forgetting that he was still healing. Derek winched slightly and pulled his lips from hers and put his hand over Penelope's.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" Penelope panicked.
"No, no, no, Sweetness," Derek said, giving Penelope one, two, three more quick kisses, letting the last one linger longer than the others. "You could never hurt me," Derek ensured.
All Penelope could do was smile as a few tears escaped her eyes.
A few days had gone by and Derek was one night from being discharged. His doctor referred him to a physical therapist for his leg and arm and an emotional therapist to make sure he was both physically and mentally ready before going back to work. The doctor had informed Derek and the rest of the team that it will not be easy, but with the right amount of work, love, and support, Derek will get through it with minimal permanent damage.
The doctor came into Derek's room where Penelope and Fran were sitting with him. The others had to go away for a case, but Kevin was filling in for Penelope's position as the Technical Analyst for this one. Once Derek gets home, Penelope would be able to work from home on her laptop.
"Good news," The doctor said. "This is the last night I have to check on you. You get to go home tomorrow."
"That is great news, Doc!" The doctor spent the next few minutes checking on Derek's vitals.
"Everything looks good. I will see you tomorrow."
"Night, Doc," Derek said as his doctor disappeared around the door.
"I should get going too, Derek," Fran said. "My flight back to DC takes off in an hour. I need to get to the airport." Fran stood up and kissed her son on the cheek.
"Bye, Mama," Derek said.
"Bye, son," Fran walked around to Penelope and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Bye, sweetie."
"Bye, Mama Fran," Penelope responded as Fran walked out of the room. She moved to sit on the edge of Derek's bed and a couple of minutes of silence went by before Penelope spoke again.
"Okay, my Chocolate Thunder, you need to sleep."
"What if I don't want to?" Derek teased with a great big smirk on his face.
"If you don't, you'll end up passing out when the doctor tries to discharge you and he'll make you stay here for another week," Penelope responded.
"That doesn't sound good."
"It's not. You need to get out of here, I hate hospitals," Penelope said. Derek laughed.
"Well, you're not the one who's stuck in here, Baby Girl."
"I actually am because I'm not leaving you again. You can't get rid of me that easy, Hot Stuff."
"Well, good. I don't want to get rid of you," Derek said, grabbing Penelope's hand.
"Good," Penelope said, playfully poking Derek in the stomach. She stared into his eyes for a moment. She didn't know how, but it was as if his grin got bigger. "Are you gonna do that thing?" She asked, teasingly timid.
"What thing?" Derek asked though he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"That thing where you sit up and, um… you know."
"Oh, what, you're making me work for it?" Derek teased.
"Well, I… I don't want to hurt you," Penelope said.
"Sweetness, we've been over this you-"
"I know, I know. I could never hurt you. But you're still obviously healing and-" Penelope started before being cut off by Derek's finger pressing against her lips.
"Come here," Derek said, pulling her closer to him.
He pulled her into a kiss. He picked up her hand and moved it to his good side. Penelope gave into the comfort of his body and placed her other hand on his arm.
Though he was safe now, she could still feel the bones in his arm. This was the first time since he was back that Penelope really got a feel of him. She pulled away just enough to get a better look. She ran her hand down his arm and fingers, becoming, for the first time, fully aware of how bad James Thomson really hurt him. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she looked up at his face and ran her thumb across his protruding cheekbone which frightened Derek.
"What's wrong, Doll Face," He asked, grabbing a hold of the hand that touched his face.
"He hurt you, Derek. Like, he really hurt you." Penelope cried.
"Hey, hey, hey," Derek said, pulling Penelope into his arms. "I'm getting better now, Penelope. Doc's got me hooked up with a bunch of people who will help me get better. All that hurt is in the past now, Baby Girl. I promise."
Penelope sat up again and Derek wiped the tears from her cheeks. He took her glasses off and put them on the small table next to his bed.
"Come here," he said, pulling her back into him. Penelope laid there next to him with her head on his shoulder with his arm around her. "I'm going to be okay, Sweetness," Derek whispered as he brushed her bangs back and kissed her forehead. "I'm okay."