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Come Back to Me
Chapter Four
It was as though time ceased to move; seconds turned achingly to minutes that dragged into an eternity as everyone in that small tense gas station seemed turned to stone. No one moved, or spoke, or even breathed for what seemed like hours or even days.
Morgan was tensed, waiting to see what the two hoods would do. If either of them headed in Garcia's direction, he was going for them, whether or not he got shot for it. She wasn't going to be hurt again, not when he had any bit of power to stop it.
"Where'd you come from?" the one with the gun now trained at Garcia barked at her.
"She was in the car with me," Morgan spoke up when he saw how her eyes flicked to his in uncertainty. "We just stopped for some gas, remember?" He forced himself to keep his voice steady; to not let them see either he or Penelope as a threat – or they'd only get more desperate.
And then, suddenly, pealing out plainly through the night air and into the station where their little group stood, came the sound of police sirens. Morgan closed his eyes for a second on the heart-stopping sense of disappointment. They just had to come in sirens blaring, bells and whistles going on full blast. If that didn't set these two off, then it would be a pure and simple miracle.
The one who by now seemed to have completely focused in on Garcia, suddenly radiated an anger he didn't even appear to know what to do with. "You call the cops, lady?" he spat, voice murderous in tone. The jumpy nervousness he had acted with up until then was gone, and Morgan shifted forward, knowing the punk meant business now and ready to spring into action to stop him.
The sirens had still sounded several minutes out, and Morgan knew better than most how much could happen in just a few minutes. Until then, it was going to be on him to keep her, and the rest of them, safe.
He attempted to find Garcia's eyes, to calm her and let her know she was going to be okay. And when he did, she met his gaze with such trust suddenly shining through her fear, that he couldn't help believing it was possible to get them all out of this. She had faith in him so implicitly, then he must be able to do it.
'Just stay still,' he tried to say through his eyes in a silent message. If they could just hang in here until help arrived…
Garcia shook her head quickly, in answer to the robber's earlier question. "No, I – I – d-didn't call anyone. It wasn't me," her voice shook slightly with the words, but she was convincing enough. Morgan would have believed her if he hadn't known she'd been the one to call.
The robber didn't seem appeased, however, and that fast, he was stalking towards her, gun still raised. "I don't buy that for a second," he yelled. "Maybe I oughta just teach you a lesson, right now…"
His fingers moved on the trigger as he spoke, and before he could finish, Morgan was flying into him, tackling him at a run.
Derek knew that he'd hit the thug before he got to Garcia, or could take a shot at her, for which he was grateful. But then he was pulled up short by a burning, horrible tearing pain in his shoulder, close to his neck. He could hear Penelope screaming his name, and it came to him fuzzily that the second robber must have shot him.
It took a huge effort to continue fighting for the gun with the guy he'd slammed into, but Derek knew his life depended on it now. Unfortunately, the arm on the side he'd just taken a bullet in didn't seem to want to work for him anymore. The gun was pried from his helpless hand and then his opponent was standing over him. Losing a hand-to-hand fight wasn't a position he'd found himself in very often, but losing had never looking as bad as it did just now.
The pain of a second gunshot ripping into his flesh, ripping through his gut, kicked him back completely flat on the cool tile floor. Darkness started to creep in on the edges of his vision, and though he fought to beat it back, to get up, to hang onto awareness and stay with Garcia and make sure she was safe, he couldn't do it. Instead, before completely fading into nothingness and letting it swallow him whole, he heard Garcia crying out his name on a choking sob, and felt her hands clutching his good arm as she fell to her knees beside him. Was she okay? Was she hurt too? He'd thought she was okay, but… Morgan tried to reach for her, "Pen – " he started, but found he couldn't get anything else out. His eyes closed heavily, and everything went black.
