Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

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The next morning when they all arrived they looked stunned to see Penelope's room empty, and Derek wide awake.

'Where is she?'

'I don't know, she discharged herself last night.'

Hotch huffed. 'Oh she can be so infuriating at times.'

'But you know you love her.' Emily added on. 'Look she won't have gone far because she can't just quit work.'

'Emily with me, we're going to go by Derek's.' When Hotch and Emily left, everyone noticed Derek's disheartened disconnected behaviour and wondered what had happened.

'Derek what's wrong?' Fran asked reaching for his hand.

'She told me last night that may be me not remembering her means we weren't suppose to be.'

'Derek you need to realise that Penelope didn't feel right with you as her partner, she loved it and she knew you loved her but she never looked like the girls you went for.' Rossi said leaning in. 'She's always been just your best friend, the one you off load on, the one that protects her whatever.'

'And now I'm not?'

'Not by any fought of your own.'

'Or hers.'

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Penelope sat on the bed and looked out the window; she had just about packed what she needed and wrote a note about the rest. Now she sat in the hotel room in so much pain it was unbelievable. It was a time like this that she wished she was at the hospital with the pain relief and the help on hand, it would be the only time she would accept that a hospital was good for things.

She stood and looked at herself in the mirror, assessing the damage done; her face was pretty clean of cuts she guessed that was Derek's doing when he protected her, she cried that only 3 days ago he loved her enough to push her out of the way of a bullet and shield her from a bomb going off. She looked at her arms, one in a sling because of the break, the only wrapped tightly from the skin grafts to the burns, she knew her left side and leg were burnt and she was covered in cuts and bruises from the fallen rubble.

She made her way back to the bed, took the multiple bottles she needed of pills, and took one for the pain meds ignoring the rest for now. She then lay on the bed and let the strength of drugs do their job, through that sleep found her easily.

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Hotch and Emily made their way back to the hospital from Derek's place, Penelope's clothes were all mostly gone, the rest she had told them to throw out. Upon entering the room Emily went to Derek.

'Smell this.' She said thrusting the little red bottle under Derek's nose.

'Emily, what the hell?!'

'Just smell it.' He complied. 'Well?'

'It's familiar.'

'It's your favourite smell that's why, she left you the bottle when she went on this break, she left it to help you like you do with your aftershave for her...'

'You need to find her; she was in too much pain to be leaving here.'

'We're on it... we've got a description out for her, we're checking hotels near work as well but if she doesn't want to be found, she won't be.' They sat around doing the tedious job of telling Derek about who Penelope was to him, who she was to them all and they watched as he fell through the throes of emotions that he had done through the years, they watched the look of love get recreated but nothing was sticking, nothing was triggering. They watched him tire and when he was asleep, Hotch got up and rang for an update. When he got back he explained that no one had found her in 5 of the hotels yet. They sat around but worried as Derek began to move in his sleep, when he opened his eyes the first thing he said was Penelope.

'Derek?'

'I was laying over her, is she okay?'

They exchanged looks. 'Derek... you've been awake you know she is.'

'I've been awake?'

'Yes, you had memory loss... you didn't know who Penelope was.'

'What... why?' He said sitting up slightly. 'Why would I forget her?'

'We don't know, but you didn't and we don't know where she's gone.'

'I'm going to get a doctor.' Rossi said standing up.

'Why I'm fine.'

'Far from it, you've just gone through over a day with no memory of Penelope and now it's back.'

'Lynch?'

'Is dead... you got out with major burns to your back and arm but rubble hit your head and caused you to slip into a coma... which gave you amnesia...'

'And Pen?'

'Burns to her left side, and her right arm was trapped with rubble so she had to have plates and pins put in it.'

Derek sat there in thought. 'I remember it all...' He said after a few minutes of careful thought. 'She thinks we aren't meant to be because I forgot her.'

'We'll get her back.'

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When Penelope woke up she felt like she was going to be sick, so she eased herself up and rushed unsteadily to the bathroom. She then sat against the wall of the bathroom and felt completely and utterly useless. She was told she may be sick from the mix of sedatives and drugs swimming in her veins. She got up, she couldn't do this alone, she needed someone. The one person she needed, didn't know her though so she went for second best.

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Emily felt her phone go off; she pulled it out expecting it to be her mother but gasped.

'What is it?'

She wasted no time answering them. 'Penelope?'

'I need you Em.'

'Where are you honey?' She said the hotel and Emily didn't have to think for long. 'You're not far, Pen's what's wrong?'

'I don't feel great that's all.'

'You were told this would happen if the dressings weren't changed.'

'Can you just save the lecture and come to me.'

'Of course, I'll be there in 5 minutes.' She put the phone down. 'She sounds really ill.'

'Come on, I'll come with you.' Hotch and Emily then left the room and as promised 5 minutes later they were going down the corridor to Penelope's room, Emily used the room key reception had handed over and opened the door.

'Pen?' They rushed to the bathroom and found Penelope. 'You're burning up.'

'I know.'

'They said with the skin grafts and exposure to the dirt in the explosion you had to be in hospital to get it cleaned.'

'I was supposed to go back to outpatients this morning but slept through.'

'You 're going to come back now?'

'As long as I'm not opposite Derek.'

'Would that be a problem?'

'Except seeing him breaks me every time.' She said as she leant on to Emily for support, she wasn't shocked to see the boss with the bags ready.

'Well not seeing you is breaking him.'

'He doesn't know me.'

'Let's say you're perfume worked.' They saw Penelope smile. 'He loves you; of course he would remember you.'

'Come one Penelope, let's get you some help.'