Attacked-Ch 14

A few minutes later when Grace walked out of the room Derek, Fran and the others were standing there waiting to see what the doctor had to say about Penelope's condition. Grace walked over to them and said, "she's doing good, she's stable right now and I have taken her off of the vent, however, she will still need to be hooked up to the machine that is helping to re-inflate her lung for a few more days".

Derek nodded his head and said, "does she remember what happened"?, Grace nodded her head and said, "she does, right now she is so hurt, she feels dirty, ashamed and afraid of everybody". Fran said, "she wasn't afraid of Derek, she didn't want him to leave her side", Grace said, "you and Derek are among the few that she feels safe with, I'm sure that she will feel safe with the others as well but she's going to be cautious".

JJ said, "is their anything we can do for her"?, Grace said, "just be there, don't try to force anything on her, if she wants to talk, be there to listen to her, if she needs to vent about what happened, just let her". Everybody nodded their heads yes in agreement and Grace said, "I've have talked to her about talking to a therapist and she said that she would so I will set her up an appointment for later this week".

Derek said, "is their anything else we need to know about her condition"?, Grace said, "for a couple of days her voice will be hoarse where she was on the vent so I have urged her not to talk very much, to save her voice". Emily said, "can we go see her now"?, Grace nodded her head and said, "yes, but please be careful with her, try not to touch her unless she initiates it herself", they all looked at each other and then back at Grace and Hotch said, "thank you Grace" and Grace said, "if you need anything please let us know".

When they walked into her room she was laying there looking out the window, she looked so pale, so tired and afraid, Derek walked over to her bedside first, followed by Fran and the girls. The team stayed back for a few seconds to let Derek and his family test the waters to see how she was going to respond to them, she looked up at them and weakly smiled and hoarsely said, "hi guys, I've missed you".

Fran said, "awww honey we've missed you too", Derek said, "that's right sweetness, I've missed that beautiful voice of yours and all of our banter, ohhhhh how I've missed that", she looked up at him and said, "me to angel fish, me too". The team walked closer to her bed and she smiled and said, "hello boy wonder", Reid said, "how are you feeling Garcia"?, she shook her head and said, "I feel dirty, I can still feel him on me".

She looked up at Fran and said, "will I ever feel clean again, will I always feel his hands on me"?, Fran said, "Fhoney try not to talk but you won't always feel this way, you won't always feel dirty, you won't always feel his touch, one day things will get easier I promise you that" and Penelope bit down on her bottom lip and said, "I'm I'm so afraid, what if he comes after me again, what if" and Derek said, "he's not going to get his hands on you again, we will do whatever it takes to keep you safe sweetness".

enelope looked around the room at her friends and hoarsely said, "I love you all so much", Derek said, "and we love you", he wanted to hold her, to kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be alright but he knew that now wasn't the time because she needed time to heal from her assault but he would tell her soon, very soon how much he loves her.

div dir="ltr" style="color: #26282a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"Everybody stayed for a couple of hours and then JJ looked at Penelope and said, "are you hungry"?, Penelope said, "starved" and JJ said, "how about we go grab some brunch and bring it back for you, hospital food isn't good at all from what I remember". Penelope said, "thanks, I appreciate that" and everybody started walking toward the door, well everybody but Derek, he grinned at her and said, "is it okay if I stay with you"?, she nodded her had yes and said, "yes please" as she watched him sit down beside her bed.

After everybody was gone Derek looked at her and said, "baby girl I need to tell you something", she said, "you don't have to, I already know", he said, "y y you do, you already know"?, she nodded her head and said ,"I do". Derek said, "just what did you hear"? she slowly reached her hand out and touched his and said, "I heard you say that you loved me, did you mean it, do you really love me"?, Derek touched her hand and said, "with every fiber of my being"

She weakly smiled and said, "I I I lo love you too but", he said, "I know, let's not talk about that right now, right now we need to focus on you baby girl because you need to heal right now and guess what, I'm not going anywhere, I will be here with you and I will help you for as long as you'll let me", she gently squeezed her hand and said, "I'm so afraid Derek, I can feel him touching me, feel him hitting me, stabbing me"./

Derek wanted to hold her, to help her but he was afraid so he said, "what can I do for you"?, she looked up at him and with tears streaming down her cheek she said, "just be here for me". He intertwined their fingers gently and said, "always baby girl, always" and he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it to reassure her that he would always be there for her.