She felt every eye on her when she entered the bullpen, the box clenched tightly in her hand. Ignoring the openly hostile stare she received from Agent Morgan, she climbed the stairs and knocked on Aaron's door, true fear gripping her heart.
"Chief Strauss, what brings you here?" he asked as he opened the door.
Not looking around his office as she stepped inside, she countered with, "Is Ms. Garcia here?"
"Of course Kitten's here. She's been in her office all morning. What's this about Erin?"
She whirled around and pinned her steely gaze on him. "This," she said lowly, thrusting the box at him. "It's hers, isn't it?"
Rossi took the lid off the box and pulled out the peacock feather fountain pen. "Where did you get this?"
"My assistant gave it to me fifteen minutes ago. I ask you again, is Ms. Garcia here?"
Rossi got up from the chair and handed her the pen. "Let's go find out. After you, Chief Strauss." He opened the door and all of them filed out, going to Penelope's office. "Do you know the code?"
"Of course, David. I have to know things like that. Though I am loathe to invade her privacy if the door is locked. Please, see if it's open first," Erin replied, looking at him sadly.
"I will." He tried the handle and found Penelope had not locked the door. "Kitten, are you in there?" he asked as he stepped inside. They looked around the office and found her missing. On her computer screens were pictures of the team with her.
"Who wrote this?" Erin demanded, holding up the picture of JJ and Penelope, an angry look on her face. "Aaron, how could you let this happen on your watch?" She was furious at the slur scrawled on the glass and wanted to last out at anyone in her sights.
"I don't know which of my team did this, Erin. However, I don't think that's our problem right now, do you?" he responded evenly. "You do know the message she was trying to send?"
"I do, Aaron. And that's what terrifies me."
Rossi's brow wrinkled with confusion. "What am I missing here, guys?"
"Ophelia, Dave. When people decide on a course of action, a final course of action, they give away certain objects that are dear to them. Penelope decided to give her favorite pen to Erin, here, today."
"And now she's not here. I'm going to her apartment, you can't stop me."
"I wouldn't dream of it, Erin, I'll drive," Aaron replied, taking her arm as they went back out into the bullpen. "Do you know if anyone has a key to her apartment?" he asked Rossi.
"Derek does. I'll grab it and meet you in the parking garage." They nodded and moved to the elevator bank.
"I promised I would never let her go, Aaron. I have no idea why I did that, but I refuse to go back on that promise." She looked at him, her lips trembling slightly. "God help me, but I want to protect her."
"I feel the same way, Erin. There's just something about her that brings your protective side out." He led her over to his car and they got in, followed shortly by Rossi.
"I got it! Let's go." Aaron threw the car in gear and tore out from the parking garage, his lights blazing. Erin bit her lip, trying to keep from crying as Aaron drove, praying that Penelope had not done anything rash. The drive seemed to last too long, far too long, but finally, they were in front of the apartment building. Almost before Aaron had put the car in park, Erin was opening her door and racing up the walk, Rossi hot on her heels. "Third floor!"
"I know, David. I've been here before," she said shortly, running faster. She was soon in front of her door and jiggled the handle, hoping beyond hope that this door, like her office door, was open.
"I got it, Erin," Rossi said breathlessly, holding out the key and inserting it into the lock, opening the door. Erin pushed past him into the apartment, looking around for Penelope.
"Aaron, David, someone call 911!" she screamed as she sat heavily on the bed, putting Penelope's on her lap. Erin pried her fingers open from around the bottle in her hand. "Where'd you get the vicodin, sweetheart?" she murmured as she checked Penelope's pulse. It was weak and thread, but there, and she gave in to the tears.
"The ambulance is on its way, Erin. ETA was five minutes," Dave said, wrapping his hand over her shoulder. "The pills are from when she was shot. She refused to use very many of them after what happened with Reid." She nodded and leaned into him. "What happened to make you care so much?"
"I don't really know, David. There's just something about her."
Soon, the EMTs were in the room, taking her vitals. "Is this what she took?" one asked, plucking the bottle from Erin's limp hand as she nodded. "Do you know how many were in here?"
"It should have been almost full," Rossi responded, looking up at the young man.
"All right, let's move out. Do any of you want to ride along? We'll be taking her to Washington Memorial."
"I will," Erin said, standing up and smoothing her skirt. She followed them out, wringing her hands as she watched them carry her prone body down the stairs. Once on the ground floor, she opened the front door for them and followed them into the back of the ambulance. Just as they were shutting the doors, she saw Morgan pull up. It was too late to stop them, though, and the ambulance sped off, ignoring his frantic waving.
"Are you her…?" the EMT asked, looking pointedly between them.
"I'm her partner."
"All right, I'll need some basics on her. Her name's Penelope Garcia, correct?" Erin nodded and then answered his questions as best she could, while the other EMT drove.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you more. We've just been assigned, though," she stammered, lying quickly to cover her ignorance about Penelope's life.
"Assigned?"
"Yes. We're with the FBI." She pulled out her credentials. "Agent Erin Strauss at your service. Is she going to be okay?"
"It depends. As soon as we get to the hospital, she'll have to have her stomach pumped. I'm not going to lie, this is a very final way out, and when it fails, there can be changes to the person. Are you ready to support her when she wakes up?" Erin nodded. "Good, she's going to need a friend through this."
They fell silent, Erin focusing on Penelope. "You have to pull through this, Penny. I promise, it will be us against them when you wake up." She picked up Penelope's hand and squeezed gently. "We'll figure all this out, I know." She looked back up at the EMT. "Will I be allowed in the room with her?"
"Not the exam room, no. But you can be right outside, watching them. Once she's stabilized, she'll be moved to an observation room where you can stay with her." He smiled kindly at her and then recorded some information. As they pulled into the emergency room bay, Erin could see a team waiting for them. A doctor and four nurses rolled Penelope away, while another nurse led Erin to where they would treat Penelope.
"I take it you were the one who found her?" the nurse asked kindly, and Erin nodded. "Then you probably saved her life. It won't take long for them to pump her stomach, and all of her other vitals were strong, so you'll be able to rejoin her shortly." The nurse patted her shoulder gently and went into the room, assisting the doctor. Erin struggled to keep from throwing up herself as she watched them force the charcoal down her throat and then bring it back up after it had absorbed the residual traces of the drug.
After what seemed like days, the nurses wheeled Penelope into another room. "We'll keep her here for observation for the evening. Will you be staying?" the doctor asked.
"Yes. And may I restrict who her visitors are?"
"I don't know if you have the authority to do that, Ma'am."
"I'm her direct supervisor at the FBI, and I know the people that pushed her to do this are going to try to see her if they can. I do not want them unnecessarily upsetting her." She fixed her eyes on him. "I only want myself, Agent Aaron Hotchner, and Agent David Rossi with her. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Ma'am, of course." The doctor backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Oh Penelope, what am I going to do with you? I failed at keeping you safe, as you asked me. Some Section Chief that makes me." She picked up Penelope's hand, holding onto it tightly. Someone knocked on the door and Erin looked through the window to see Aaron. She waved him in and he closed the door once inside.
"Really, Erin? Just the three of us are allowed to see her?"
"I do not want any of those three anywhere near her. They, he put her in this room and has no right to see her," she hissed, fury filling her body as she stood to face him toe to toe.
"You can't keep me from her!" she heard Morgan yell outside the room, and every hair on her body stood on end. "You bitch!" he screamed as he burst into the room, advancing on her. "You can't keep me from my best friend!"
"Do not come into this room and claim her as your friend when you put her in that bed," she said lowly, controlling her anger as best she could. She poked him in the chest, locking eyes. "Now get out."
"Oh, hell no, lady," he said, raising his hand to strike her, but she was too fast, catching him with a quick upper cut to the jaw.
"You forget, I go through the same training. Now get him out of here," she said, looking on him with disgust. Hospital security hauled him away and she regally took a seat once more by Penelope, unwilling to let on just how much that punch had hurt.
"Erin, do you need me to get some ice for your hand?" Aaron asked, touching her shoulder. She looked up at him and tried to smile and shake it off, but to her horror, found herself tearing up.
"That might be nice," she whispered, using her other hand to wipe hastily at her eyes. At the door, he spoke lowly to someone and then left. "So, I just hit your best friend. You're going to come out of this hating me, but maybe it's better that way, for you."
"I'm not going to hate you, Erin," Penelope whispered, her eyes fluttering open. "Did you really hit him as hard as that sounded?"
"Yeah, and it hurts just as much." She smiled gently down at her. "How do you feel?"
"Stupid. Who figured it out?"
"David, Aaron, and I. Though I was more insistent about getting to your apartment." She clasped Penelope's hand. "Why would you want to leave us?"
"It seemed better than them hating me." Penelope struggled to sit up and Erin helped her, placing her bruised hand on the small of her back. "It seemed better than wanting something I could never have." She looked away from Erin and down at her hands.
Erin ached to say something, to make everything better. The first sob that tore from Penelope's body broke her heart and she opened her arms to the woman. Penelope fell against her, wrapping an arm around Erin's waist and crying into her shoulder. Erin tenderly ran her fingers through Penelope's hair, murmuring soft words of encouragement.
At one point, the door opened and then closed, but she didn't look up to see who might be intruding on them. Finally, she felt Penelope draw in a shuddery breath and pull back a little bit. Without thinking, Erin kissed Penelope's forehead. "It seems I'm always crying on your shoulder, Erin."
"And that's perfectly all right. I'll never let you go, this time." Erin felt herself blush as she spoke aloud words she couldn't imagine saying just a short time ago. Looking away from Penelope, she bit her lip. "That is, if you wouldn't mind that."
"Honestly, Erin? There's nothing more in the world that I could want more than that right now. You've seen me at my worst and still want to be here. It can only get better from here, right?"
"Yes." Erin had no idea what she was doing, but it felt right. After so long doing the expected, being better and tougher than everyone in the room because she had to, if only to prove to them she was good enough, it felt delicious to let go to her. Penelope smiled bewitchingly at her and leaned forward to kiss Erin's lips. Erin returned the kiss fervently, suddenly knowing she was home.
Someone cleared their throat and Erin looked over at the door to see David standing there, looking bemused. "I thought you said it was a one-time thing, Kitten?"
"I said I didn't know, Rossi. Now I do. Did she break his jaw?" she asked, smiling up at Erin.
"No, but he'll have a nasty bruise there. God, Erin, where did you learn to punch like that?"
"Seriously, everyone forgets that I go through the same training at the FBI. I have to be ready to be in the field at a moment's notice and if I couldn't take care of myself, what good would that do anyone?" She sighed. "Okay, so Minneapolis may have encouraged me to brush up on some of my education, but the ground work was always there."
"And you managed to terrify not only the ER doctor, but the security team here as well," David replied, to which Penelope giggled a little. "It's good to hear that from you, Penelope. I was afraid we'd gotten there too late."
Penelope held out her hand to him and he took a step forward. "I'm just glad you came to rescue me, all of you. Come in, Hotch."
He did, sitting on the foot of the bed. "So, Morgan's decided not to press charges. He really backed off when I told him I would tell the judge you acted in self-defense. And you did. I've never seen him react like that; though he does still want to see you, Penelope, along with the others."
"Erin?"
"It's up to you, Penelope. They're your friends," Erin said, looking at her. She sighed happily as Penelope stroked her face gently.
"I know you want to protect me, and I love that. But I need to see them eventually, and better it be around you. I know you can protect me, now." She smiled once more, and Erin felt herself smile back.
"Damn straight," Dave said, clapping his hand on Erin's back as Aaron handed her the ice pack.
"I'll go get them, then?" They nodded and Erin held the ice pack to her hand.
"Can I do anything for either of you?" Dave asked as he sat in the space Aaron had just vacated.
"Besides rewind time by about eight hours?" Penelope asked, looking at him.
"Well, I can't do that, Kitten. I'm not the god of time."
She snapped her fingers. "Darn. Erin, I want you here on this bed, sitting next to me when they come in. We are going to present a united front from this moment on." Erin was surprised to hear herself in Penelope's voice and manner and blushed as David laughed heartily.
"I don't know if I'll fit, aren't those beds made for one?" she stammered, looking to him for support.
"Oh no, Erin, what Kitten wants, Kitten gets, especially on today of all days. Now, on the bed, I'll take your seat."
"I'll remember this at the annual review, David."
"I'm sure you will, Erin."