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Chapter 3

12:00 p.m.

Derek sat back from the paperwork he had been forcing himself to finish, leaned back in his chair and took a look around the bullpen. Things finally appeared to be getting back to some sense of normalcy at the BAU. Reid and Prentiss were at their desks having a "discussion" about some inane fact; Hotch was in his office on the phone, Rossi was in his office making notes, probably for another book he had coming out and JJ was in her own office, buried knee-deep in files of potential cases.

The only thing missing was the blur of color and sunshine that usually filled the office as Penelope would swish through for one thing or another. The way she would always tease Reid to the point of blushing or her laughter as she spoke conspiratorially with Emily and JJ, always bringing a lightness to the room that was otherwise missing. Derek realized that Penelope hadn't come out of her office all morning, and that worried him. He decided it was time to go and make a check on her.

Approaching the door of Penelope's office, Derek noticed that her door was closed and their appeared to be no light coming out from under the door. Knowing that she would have had to pass through the bullpen to leave, he was pretty sure that she had to still be inside. Knocking lightly and turning the door knob, Derek gently opened the door. All the overhead lights had been turned off but from the glow of the numerous monitors in the room, he could just make out Penelope lying on her couch with her arm crossed over her eyes.

"Baby Girl? Are you awake?" He asked softly as he knelt down beside the couch.

"Hmmmm? Derek?" Penelope stammered as she struggled to open her eyes and sit up. "Is it lunchtime already?"

"No, Penelope, I'm a little early. I just wanted to check on you and it looks like it's a good thing I did….what's wrong, Princess?" Derek asked as he watched Penelope rub her temples and fight more than she should to become alert.

"It's nothing, Sweetie. I just have this major headache I can't seem to get rid of and decided to lay down for a few minutes. I must have fallen asleep" Penelope explained to Derek although, in truth, she felt more like she had been hit by a truck. "So are you here to take me to lunch, my chivalrous profiler?" she asked trying to force a smile.

"Look, Penelope, if you're not feeling well, why don't you let me take you home. We can do lunch some other time."

"No way! I'm not missing out on a piece of luscious chocolate cake from my luscious chocolate adonis!" Penelope teased.

"Well all right then, let's get you out of this dreary office and into some sunshine. The vitamin D will do you good," Derek stood and went to turn on the light.

As the lights flashed on, Penelope felt as if someone was sticking an ice pick into her head, the pain was so intense. Not wanting to worry Derek anymore than he already was, she did her best to hide any outward signs of her pain. Derek headed back over to the couch and held out his hand to help her up off the couch. As she stood, Penelope's world began to spin and she became dizzy. Unable to keep her balance she fell forward into Derek's arms with a cry.

"Baby Girl!" Derek gasped as Penelope collapsed into his arms. Picking her up and carrying her back over to the couch, he gently laid her back down. "Penelope, talk to me woman! What's going on with you?"

"Oh Derek, I don't know….it hurts so bad! And when I stood up, it was like the whole room was a merry go round," she cried as tears began to fall down her face.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Derek realized he was going to need some reinforcements. "Hang on, just a second Baby Girl. I'm going to get you some help" he said as he reached for the phone on Penelope's desk. Dialing Hotch's extension, he prayed the Unit Chief was still in his office.

"Hotchner"

"Hotch, it's Morgan. I need you down in Garcia's office, right away. And call an ambulance, something's terribly wrong with her," Derek told him as he watched Penelope grimace in pain.

"You got it," Hotch quickly answered, "We'll be right there." Hotch hung up with Morgan and immediately called 911 for an ambulance. On the way to Garcia's office he stuck his head in Rossi's door and asked him to come with him.

"What's up, Aaron?" Rossi inquired.

"I'm not sure, Dave. Morgan just called up from Garcia's office telling me to get an ambulance for her. That's all I know right now."

"Well, let's get down there then." Rossi agreed as he quickly joined Hotchner.

Within a few minutes, Rossi and Hotch had arrived at Garcia's office to find Derek sitting on the couch trying to soothe Penelope as she cried in pain. She also appeared to be having trouble catching her breath.

"Ambulance is on the way, Derek. What happened?" asked Hotch as he entered the room surprised to see his usually bubbly technical analyst in such a state. Bending down to put a kiss on Penelope's forehead, Derek got up and allowed Rossi to take his place next to her while he told Hotch what little he knew.

"I'm not sure, Hotch. I know she came in this morning with a headache and when I asked her to go to lunch with me, she said she wasn't sure if she was going to feel up to it. I know she's been down with all that's happened and I thought it might just be related to that, you know?" Derek spoke rapidly, never taking his eyes off Penelope. Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck he continued, "When I hadn't seen her all morning, I came to check on her and found her in here with all the lights off, lying on her couch. She still insisted she was fine and wanted to keep our lunch date. When she tried to get up to leave, she became dizzy and collapsed. That's when I called you. It seems to have gotten even worse since then," Derek observed with worry covering his face.

"Derek!" Penelope suddenly screamed out. "Derek, make it stop hurting!" she panted as she tried to catch her breath.

Rossi stood up allowing Derek to sit back next to her. "I'm here Baby Girl, I'm here. Help is coming." Derek soothed as he pushed her hair out of her face. Feeling her head, he realized she was burning up with fever.

"Hotch! Where the hell's that ambulance?" he yelled. "She feels like a furnace!"

Finally, after what seemed like hours to Derek, the ambulance arrived and the paramedics readied Penelope for transport to the hospital. The whole time, Derek never left her side and kept a firm grip on her hand. Seeing Penelope in such pain was frightening and he knew that whatever was happening to her couldn't be good.

"Derek, you stay with her in the ambulance. I'll inform the rest of the team and let them know what's gong on. I guess somebody better inform Lynch, too. Does anyone know if he's working today?" Hotch asked.

"I think I saw him around mid morning, leaving Penelope's office" Rossi informed Hotch.

"Right. Ok Derek, take care of our girl, huh? We'll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can." Hotch instructed as Penelope was wheeled out towards the waiting ambulance.

From his office window two floors above, Lynch had seen the ambulance pull up into the FBI garage. He knew immediately that it had to be for Penelope. He had thought of going down to the BAU office right away but then decided that if he showed up with no explanation of how he knew the ambulance was for Garcia, suspicions might be raised. So he decided to wait for the call he knew would come. Acting as the surprised, concerned boyfriend would surely be the natural thing to do.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, the call came, from Aaron Hotchner, himself, no less, and Kevin caught an elevator for the BAU floor. His plan had been to swoop in and take care of Penelope as her white knight but when he arrived, the scene before him set his blood to boiling. There was Penelope being taken out to the ambulance with who else but that damned Derek Morgan by her side, holding her hand. Morgan was cooing and speaking to her like he was the boyfriend instead of Kevin. Before he could step in, he was approached by David Rossi.

"Kevin, why don't you ride into the hospital with us? She's in good hands right now and Derek seems to be able to keep her calm," Rossi said as he put on his coat.

"Uhm, yeah, sure…sounds like a good idea. Thanks," Kevin stammered as he struggled to keep his anger from seething over. "Do you mind if I run to her office and get her bag first? I didn't see it with her and she'll probably need insurance cards and stuff," he stated knowing that he needed a chance to dispose of the thermos in case anything was discovered at the hospital.

"Good idea, Kevin. I'll meet you in the garage in five mintues, " Rossi said as he headed out the door.

Once in her office, Kevin grabbed the thermos and as he was leaving the building, threw it into a community garbage container just outside the elevator doors. Having disposed of the 'evidence', he headed down to meet the others.

TBC

Not sure where my muse is taking all of this but I have a feeling there will be a confrontation at the hospital before it's over with. We'll just have to wait and see. Any and all suggestions are always welcome Don't forget to review!