Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

----------------------------------------------------

The next day greeted them with a new view, Penelope was sitting up on the bed, her legs dangling down, a pair of Derek's grey sweats on, the hospital gown still on, her hand massaging her side softly.

'Where do you think you're going kiddo?' Joel asked as he walked in first.

'It's okay, I'm not going anywhere.' She said staring down at the ground.

'Where's Derek Penelope?' Fran asked as she entered to be the third one to see only Penelope in the room.

'Gone to get some drinks... he should be back soon.' She said looking up at them, they all noticed the dark circles gathering under her eyes, and felt worry gather again, they had seen her sleep most of the previous day away and had been told she slept all night, only being awake for at least 2 hours. They looked to watch Lance and Owen walk into the room, a box in Lance's hand.

'Well, well, well look at you Doris.' He said, walking straight up to her and planting a kiss on her forehead before placing the box on her lap. 'For you.'

'You didn't have to.' She said as the eyes of Fran, Owen, Desiree, George, Joel, Carl and Lance looked at her.

'Well I hardly did... just open it honey.' He stepped back and they watched as Penelope weakly pulled the lid off and put it to the side as she looked inside, she then looked up at Lance with disbelief at him. 'You didn't think something like that would disappear?'

'How?'

'We allowed him to have it Pen.' George said as she pulled the small stuffed rabbit out and pushed the box to her side and run her fingers over it.

Lance then knelt down in front her, hands on her knees. 'Remember when I got you that?' She nodded at him. 'Night of the first performance... good luck Doris.' She just blinked at him. 'I still have the one you got me.... they worked remember?'

'Why are you giving this to me?'

'Because it was always yours... and I vowed that one day I would give it to you and I have just followed through on that and given it back.' He said and smiled, he looked up to see Derek swan in, not at all surprised at the mass of people that had gathered.

'Morning guys.' He then looked at Penelope and smiled. 'Good to see you haven't gone further than that baby girl.' She smiled slightly at him but it was so quick most probably missed it.

'What is the story behind baby girl?' Owen asked having heard it on numerous occasions and found it exceedingly sweet.

'Thanks to Reid I got Pen's name wrong the first time we met, he told me Gomez, I called her as we needed her, got no response, she was the only woman in the room, so I called her baby girl, she turned around smiled, I apologised, and from then on she's been my one and only baby girl... let's just say I thought Pen would never speak to me after that but... well... ' He didn't end they got the picture and smiled.

'Did you not mind Pen?' She shook her head, less and less words escaping her as the minutes ticked by.

'It's sweet.'

'It stuck.' Hotch said walking in the room and immediately smiled. 'Seems you have a florist in here Penelope.... JJ and Emily knocking themselves out by any chance?'

'Seems that way.' She said looking around at the flowers, most from the girls to brighten the place up, others from everyone else.

Derek moved in front of her. 'Come on then goddess...' She looked up at him. 'Walk.' She sighed. 'You know you have to do this to get out.'

'When was this arranged?'

'Doctor stopped by earlier, hence why Pen's half dressed... she just needs to walk for a bit.'

Everyone nodded. 'How long we got?'

'An hour... thinking of going out to the park across the road.' Derek said and looked at Penelope. 'Shall we get the rest of you done and out?' She nodded and scratched her head, everyone quickly vacated the room and Derek tried his best to make Penelope smile but saw her struggling. When they surfaced, Penelope was gripping Derek's hand tightly, she was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and she was hugging herself protectively, the IV port and the pale complexion being the only things to indicate she was a patient at the hospital.

'Ready to go?' The pair nodded, and everyone circled them as they started to walk towards the elevator.

'Penelope's wearing Derek's top again.' Rossi joked as he saw the name MORGAN scrawled across the back, making them all laugh apart from Penelope, everyone making another mental note of her detachment as she usually lapped it up to be wearing his FBI training top.

'She's probably wearing more of my clothes than she is her own.' Derek added and Penelope did at least show a smile to that. When they made it outside they found a patch of grass and benches and Derek sat down with Penelope who took to his side momentarily, they sat around for most of the hour trying to coax her out of her silence but it didn't work in the slightest, when she did speak it was quiet and was getting harder to associate such a person with the Penelope Garcia everyone had grown to love, the loud, the feisty, the vivacious, the light in their dark had gone and they all couldn't help but pray she would grace their life once again, even if just to see a full blown smile creep along her face.

They finally took the walk back when Penelope started to tire again, silence gathering even more from her. When they got her back she refused to put the hospital gown back on, she was in her comfort clothes so decided to leave her be, she claimed the position on her side and it wasn't long until she was asleep, everyone didn't stick in the room, it was too small for them to sit in and the last thing they wanted to do was crowd her and make her feel claustrophobic.

'She's not coping with this at all.' Andy said as they formed a circle to share their doubts, everyone was feeling the urge to make her snap out of her mood but none of them knew of the loss she was struggling with, although Derek had lost a child as well, he had no idea how it felt for Penelope, he was coming from the father stand point after all.

'She will... its just the when that we need to think about.'

'If it's not soon, she might keep it in permanently.' Reid added, crossing his arms across his chest.

'She needs counselling.'

'Just not right now... she wouldn't cope with being forced into situations.'

'Some things going to trip her and she's going to lose it.' JJ said placing her hand to her lip. 'I mean after Battle she only broke because... you know... he came back.' Everyone looked even more shocked. 'She wasn't alone... Derek chased him.'

'Did he get him?'

'No but JJ did later that night.' Hotch added as he thought back to that night. 'Let's just say Battle was a clever man...just didn't expect a bullet through glass straight to the head.'

'You'd do that for Penelope?'

'We're a family... isn't it what you do for family?' Everyone nodded and smiled at how the team cared for Penelope. 'She'll break... we just have to be ready.'

'And we will be ready.' Everyone said with a definite tone, before breaking the circle, some taking seats, some pacing, some getting food, some getting air, some sorting home life out, the same routine falling back into place.