Disclaimer I hate you so much for making me keep saying this: I do not own Criminal Minds.

A/N: Think prologue and you'll get the aftermath here!! =)

Derek stood back and watched the medics take over from him, the woman he loved was dead, she had actually stopped breathing in his arms, and then it all hit home.

'She's got a heart condition. I don't know what one; she said she was out of her tablets.' Derek frantically told them and then the medic sat back. 'You can't stop!' He yelled and then he watched the male's fist connect with Penelope's chest hard and Penelope gasped for air, coughing and choking as she tried to gather oxygen into her lungs, her eyes crying more tears, his eyes crying more.

'Miss, can you tell me what heart condition you have please?'

'HCM.' Was all she could muster in her drawn in drags of air.

'How long have you had it?'

'16 years.'

'Okay well I'm going to give you something to help with your breathing and then we'll get you to the hospital.' He said and set up an IV and then injected her with a clear liquid, an oxygen mask placed over her face, Derek just watched as Penelope closed her eyes, the tears still coming. It was in that moment of despair that he got on the floor next to her, comforting her and she opened her eyes and stared into his.

'I believe you.' He said tearfully, his voice thick with tears, and she could tell he was shaking. 'I'm so sorry Baby Girl.' He told her and leant down and kissed her forehead. Penelope remained quiet, contemplating if they could ever get over this. 'Pen?'

'Kevin's gay.' Was all she whispered as her breathing loosened some and Derek's eyes widened as guilt began to consume him. He just took Pen's hand in his and held onto it, only letting it go as the paramedics put her on the stretcher and then grabbing it again.

Once on the way to the hospital, he just sat and watched her, she was too quiet, too broken and he hated that he'd contributed making her like it. He listened to her give her details to the paramedic and then just leant in, making her his main priority.

'Right, Penelope, how are you feeling now?' The paramedic asked her.

'Tired.' She responded, she hadn't felt this type of tired for years.

'Have you had one of these types of attacks before?' Penelope nodded and closed her eyes; her heart was still thumping hard in her chest. 'Do you remember when?'

'When I was 17.'

'What caused it?'

'Running.' She saw the paramedic look confused. 'I used to do running, like athletic running but had to give up after this happened.'

'Okay, so immense exercise makes you tired and breathless?' Penelope nodded, she just wanted to sleep. 'Right well the doctor will probably just prescribe you new tablets and monitor you over night but apart from that you should be okay.' He said as he wrote into the chart. 'You're going to need as less stress as you can possibly get too.'

When they got to the hospital, Derek remained stuck by her side, and then finally there was a gap where it was just him and her alone. 'Pen...'

'You don't need to be here Derek.' She said as she looked away, she'd just be caught out in a lie, and to top it all, they'd both argued. 'You can go home.'

'I'm not leaving my Baby Girl alone.'

'I thought I wasn't your Baby Girl anymore.' She asked him and burst into tears, she couldn't handle this right now, she wanted Derek to take everything back but her mind was replaying every hurtful thing that was said and done.

'I was angry and hurt and...' Derek couldn't continue as the moment Penelope's heart stopped beating happened in his mind all over again. 'You died in my arms.' Penelope's head shot around to look at him. 'If we hadn't have fought, you wouldn't be here.'

'I lied to you.'

'It doesn't matter.'

'It does.' Penelope told him and took his hand this time, squeezing it tightly. 'It matters to me that you need to know the truth. You deserved the whole truth.' She went to continue but the doctor came in.

'Miss Garcia?' Penelope nodded. 'Right I've just finished looking at your notes and it seems you've had Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy since you were 16, is that right?'

'Yeah it is.'

'Well the ECG we've done shows that there is an abnormality.' He saw Penelope sit up slightly. 'You're blood pressures up, you're pulse is irregular and you're still getting chest pains.'

'So won't that just go?'

'It doesn't appear to be the after effects, I'm going to need to schedule an investigative operation to see if any of the left ventricles are affecting blood flow, the fact that you had a sudden cardiac arrest shows that there must be a restriction into the aorta.' He saw Penelope tense up, a scared look gather. 'We'll do it with local anaesthetic to numb the area and then a catheter will be inserted into your heart and we'll x-ray to see what's causing the problem.'

'I'm going to be awake for it?'

'You are, but to lessen the stress on you, we can allow you to have a family member in with you. I'm going to see when we can get you fitted in; we really can't delay with heart conditions.' He said and smiled before leaving, he'd tried not to be too frightening but there was no easy way to put it and Penelope was already understandably stressing.

Penelope's head was whizzing and she was still feeling broken but she turned to Derek and surprised herself. 'Please stay with me.' She told him, her voice small, and he could see she was trying to keep calm about all of this.

'Anything you need Baby Girl.' Derek told her a leant in. 'I know saying that I want to take everything back isn't going to help, it's said and done and I've hurt you but please know I only said those things because I was jealous that I was losing you again. I wanted to push you away so you didn't hurt me.' Penelope nodded and she knew she had to tell him the whole truth. 'What's up Princess?'

'I should've told you about this, about what's wrong with me but I kept taking my tablets and I was fine and the last week, the whole Kevin thing and us arguing nonstop, I forgot I needed them and last night everything got me and I don't know, I fell asleep in my car and...'

'Shh, calm down Baby Girl.' He told her as she got agitated. 'I understand. I'm guessing you didn't tell us because you know that everyone would treat you differently?'

'They did when I first found out and I didn't want you lot to do the same.'

'Well, we're not. This doesn't change who you are but Kevin is not going to know what hit him. I don't want you to worry about him Pen; he's not your problem. He wanted us to split up and, although, he nearly did, he lost, and I'm moving you in with me as soon as we've got you out of the hospital.'

'Derek... you don't want to do this.'

'Pen, you died in my arms, that's the closest I've come to losing someone I love since my dad, and even him it was from across a shop. I had you in my arms and you stopped breathing and in that moment I knew what I had to do. I had to make it right because I honestly can't live without you and I'm going to regret this day for the rest of my life.'

'Don't.' She told him and he looked at her, a hand on her face. 'Don't regret it, I wanted you to take it all back and believe me.'

'I do believe you.'

'Kevin never left me for a woman; he left me for a man, that's why I could never love him.' She said and cried. 'How embarrassing is that? I'm not much of a woman if I turned him gay.'

'I know how much woman you are Baby, and you're too much woman for me sometimes.' He told her and kissed her tentatively. 'I'm helping you through this.'

She nodded and closed her eyes. 'I've researched my condition, this helps make the assessment for whether or not surgery is needed.'

'One day at a time Pen, we'll take it step by step, no worrying about the future; we'll take it as it comes.'

'Thank you.'

'No thanks needed, you deserve the best and I've been nothing near that.'

She shook her head at him. 'Not true, I loved you more after that argument and that hurt more than losing you.'

A/N: There's what happened! Couldn't think I'd let her die could you?!

Lemme know what you think!!