Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds…no matter how much I want to.

Chapter 5

Since the doctor's report, Hotch, Rossi and Reid had been working on how to proceed with their assumptions.

"We all know full well that Garcia didn't try to commit suicide," Rossi announced. "So, basically that means someone was trying to either seriously harm her or even kill her. And I think we all agree that Lynch had something to do with this."

'How do we prove it, though?", Reid wondered out loud. "We have nothing to go on."

"Then we need to find some proof," Hotch plainly stated. "Rossi, I want you to head over to Penelope's apartment and see if you can find the antifreeze or something that would show how she was poisoned. Take Emily and JJ with you, they're pretty familiar with her apartment and where everything is. Tell them you need to go pick up some food or something for the team. Wait to tell them what's really going on until you get them out of here. We don't want to let Morgan know what we suspect until it's absolutely neccessary. Reid, I want you to work on Lynch. I think you would be the least threatening to him. Befriend him, sit and talk with him see if you can find out something that would suggest a motive for him doing this," Hotch instructed as Reid nodded in understanding.

"What are you going to do, Aaron?" Rossi asked.

"I'm going to try and get Morgan out of here for a while. He doesn't need to see Reid talking with Lynch and he probably needs something to eat about now anyways. Let's try to meet back here in about an hour. I don't think I can keep Morgan out of here any longer than that. Let's go."

30 minutes later:

It had taken some convincing but Hotch was finally able to get Morgan out of the hospital to a diner across the street. "C'mon Derek, you have to eat something…Garcia's going to want to see you there when she wakes up and you need to keep your strength up,' Hotch urged.

Sitting back in the booth Derek replied with a sigh, "I know, man, but my God, Hotch, what if she doesn't wake up? Why didn't I check on her sooner? I knew something wasn't right when I saw her this morning. Damn it all to hell!" Morgan slapped the table causing his untouched coffee to spill over the side of the cup splashing onto the table.

Reaching for a napkin, Hotch began to mop up the lukewarm liquid. "This isn't your fault, Derek."

"Yeah, well then whose fault is it? Where the hell did that antifreeze in her system come from?" Derek stopped short as the realization finally hit him full force. He had been so caught up in worrying about Penelope that everything the doctor had said hadn't really sunk in until he had said it out loud. "Hotch, someone's trying to kill her and I think you know what's going on….tell me, NOW!" Derek demanded with a fire burning in his eyes.

"Derek, I'm not going to tell you anything if you don't calm down. Right now we don't have any proof but we're working it. Until we do though, I can't have you jumping to conclusions and going off half-cocked on someone who might be innocent," Hotch reasoned.

"Someone? You mean you think you know who did this and you're not telling me? How am I supposed to protect my woman in there if I don't even know who to protect her from?"

"I promise you she's as safe as she can be right now, Derek," Hotch reassured the younger man. "By the way, do you realize what you just said?" Hotch asked with an amused look on his face.

"Yeah I want to protect my…" Derek stopped as he realized how easily and naturally the words had rolled off his tongue. "My woman. Damn it, Hotch, that's what she should be, should have been a long time ago but I've been too stubborn and stupid to do anything about it. And now it's too late. Even if she does survive this, she's with Kevin and is happy. Man, I have screwed things up is so many ways," he said as he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hands.

"It's never too late, Derek. I learned that the hard way, don't let it happen to you. When she's awake, you're going to tell her all of those things you've wanted to for a long time and I bet she'll be happy to hear them." Hotch rewarded Derek with one of his rare smiles.

"I hope so, man, I hope so."

Hotch was able to keep Derek talking about Penelope for the next 20 minutes, refusing to give him any information as to who their suspect was by promising to give him first shot at him only when they had their proof. Derek agreed to focus his attention on his Baby Girl until Hotch and the rest of team had the information they needed making it well known that he wouldn't let Hotch go back on his promise.

30 minutes later, Back at the hospital

Nightfall was approaching and the team had all assembled back in the waiting room, no one willing to go home until they could see Penelope's smile for themselves. Emily and JJ keeping an eye on Derek, while they also kept tabs on Kevin. They were doing their best not to give away what they had learned earlier with the evil looks they were sure they were throwing Kevin's way.

Hotch, Rossi and Reid had taken a walk down to the end of the corridor and were discussing the results of their investigations.

"Any luck at Garcia's apartment, Dave?" Hotch asked.

"Well, yes and no. We actually found a partially used bottle of antifreeze underneath her kitchen sink. We also found some cups and a pot in the sink that look like they had been used for hot chocolate this morning recently."

"That actually makes sense," Reid mused. "Antifreeze is often ingested by pets and small children because it doesn't have a bad smell and the taste of it is actually sweet. To put some in a drink like hot chocolate would be a perfect delivery system. The victim would never recognize the taste as something dangerous."

"That's great, then!" Hotch said. "But you said 'yes and no'. What aren't you telling us Dave?"

"Kevin and Garcia practically live together, right? So while we found this stuff and even found his fingerprints on it, it's not the proof we need. Lynch's fingerprints are going to be all over everything anyways…too easily explained away." Rossi said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Nodding sternly, Hotch turned to Reid, "Were you able to find out anything from Lynch?"

"Not exactly. I still don't think his emotional state is right. He appears to be almost removed from the situation. I mean, he says the right things about being worried about Garcia and all but there's no emotion behind it. It's like he's just going through the motions. As a matter of fact the only time he does appear to show true emotion is when Derek's name is mentioned."

"Derek?" Rossi interjected.

"Yeah, one mention of Morgan and Lynch's heart rate and breathing speed up and his body tenses up."

"There's our motive." Hotch stated. "He's pissed at Morgan and Garcia's relationship. It makes sense if you think about it. The last few months, Morgan and Garcia haven't really been as close but now that things are getting back to normal, their relationship is reestablishing. Kevin doesn't like what he sees so he finds a way to hurt them both," Hotch explained, everything becoming clear to him now.

"So we know who and why but we have no proof. What the hell do we do now?" Rossi asked.

"My guess is, Kevin's just here biding his time. Did you hear how upset he got when Morgan wanted to go and see Garcia first? He doesn't want that, he's worried she'll have figured things out too when the doctors tell her about the antifreeze. He's going to want to stop her from talking. So…..we let him." Aaron stated.

"What??" Rossi and Reid said at the same time thinking Hotch had lost his mind.

"Gentlemen, it's simple, we set him up and catch him in the act. And if we do this right, Morgan can be the one to catch him," Hotch explained with a slight sparkle in his eyes. This was going to be one sting operation he was going to enjoy.

TBC

Next chapter…the sting operation commencesJ Please review and let me know what you think.