AN: Sorry for such a long delay in updates, life's been crazy. You won't have to wait so long for the next chapter…I promise. Thanks again for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. You guys truly make it enjoyable to write when I knew someone is looking forward to reading it. Just a little shout out…One of the first authors (and one of my favorites) that I read when I joined Fan Fiction added my story to alerts and I almost peed my pants. Thanks KLCM, knowing that you liked this story enough to follow it made my day!

The door opened and Derek was there. Penelope just looked at him. It was so hard to breathe that she couldn't even attempt to talk. She saw Derek's arm come out and hesitate before wrapping around her waist. He grasped her hip and put his head under her arm so it rested on his shoulder. When he lifted her off of Nathan she saw stars. Her head dropped to Derek's chest as he pulled her from the car. She heard him yelling for a medic, but it was all muffled, like she was underwater.

Her left arm fell backwards when he laid her on the gurney and she wanted to howl in pain but could only make the most pitiful of sounds. Derek got her situated on her right side and stepped back so the paramedics could do their job. When he left her side, Penelope started to panic. She tried to pull the oxygen mask off her face and sit up but strong hands held her down.

"Dere..." she managed to gasp out. In the next instant he was by her legs, holding her unbroken hand. She dimly heard someone call for Careflight and realized she was hurt really bad. She squeezed Derek's hand and when he made eye contact she mouthed 'I love you'.

"Don't do that," he commanded her. "No goodbyes. We are getting on the chopper and you are going to be fine. I'm going with you and I'm gonna hold your hand the entire time." As they loaded her on the helicopter she was jostled and the pain was so immense that she blacked out.

When she woke up, she was still on the gurney, but there were a bunch of people all around her yelling and running while they pushed her. All she could think was Grey's Anatomy sure made it realistic when they did these kinds of scenes. The lights were too bright and hurt her eyes so she closed them to the chaos around her.

Back at the scene…

Hotch had known the minute he saw the man exactly who he was and it made his blood boil. They had been looking in the wrong direction and they had lost Will and might lose Penelope as well. He had felt no remorse when he fired the bullet that ended Nathan Grannan's life. He only felt a slight pang that it was so quick. His pain had ended, but nobody else's had.

As he and the rest of the team watched Derek pull her out of the car, they could see the switchblade sticking out of her left side. They heard her cry out when her arm fell back, aggravating her obviously dislocated shoulder. She was covered in blood and bruises. When Hotch saw the bruises around her ankles he wanted to bring Nathan back to life…just so he could kill him again.

He heard the call go out for Careflight and felt Emily take his hand. He looked up from where he had been staring at Penelope and saw the whole team had gathered around, and they all looked as angry and lost as he felt. They stood and watched as the helicopter lifted off and Hotch felt the spell they were all under break. They had to watch their friend while she was there. Now they just wanted to get to the hospital.

Hotch told Emily, Rossi and Spencer to head to the hospital and that he and J.J. were going to get Jack and Henry and meet them there. When the others had left, J.J. told him there was something she had to do first and turned to the house her husband died in. Hotch took her hand, determined to not let her go in alone and followed her into the house.

At the hospital…

Derek paced the waiting room. It had been an hour since he had been separated from Penelope and he hadn't been able to get anyone to give him an update. The only thing that kept him from climbing the walls, was knowing that that at least meant she was still alive. The damage that was done to his girl was terrifying to him. There was so much blood on her and he didn't know how much of it was hers. She was so weak when she called his name it tore at his heart. He knew her lung had been punctured, he could hear it in every tortured breath she took. The ride in the helicopter had been the most nerve-wracking experience of his life. When she passed out his heart had stopped for a moment.

While the paramedics had done their thing, Derek catalogued every injury he could see. The hand shaped bruises all over her legs made him see red. He wished again that Hotch hadn't killed him, that he had gotten to be the one to end the bastard's life. He knew Penelope was in for a long recovery with just her physical injuries. He couldn't even begin to think about how emotionally traumatized she would be.

As he made his hundredth circuit around the floor Rossi, Emily and Spencer walked in. They asked if there was any news. Upon hearing the frustration in Derek's voice when he gave a negative reply, Dave decided to go throw his weight around to get an update. Running on nothing but caffeine and pure adrenaline, Derek continued to pace. Emily and Reid sat down next to each other and watched him. Rossi came back and told them someone would be out to speak with them shortly.

Shortly turned into an hour and found Derek at the nurses' station, demanding an update. When they realized he wasn't going to be placated this time and he wasn't going away, one of the nurses went to find a doctor. When the nurse came back she handed a phone to Derek and pressed a couple of buttons.

The phone rang and then he heard, "Hello, is this Agent Morgan?" Derek could hear beeping and murmurs of other people and knew he was talking to the surgeon as he did his job.

He said yes and the voice replied, "My name is Doctor Axtell and I'm doing my very best to save your friend. Right now we are stable, but critical. There is a lot of damage to her lung and surrounding tissue and I cannot walk away just yet. But I promise, as soon as I or one of my colleagues can, we will be out to fill you in on what's going on."

"Doc, is she gonna make it?" Derek asked, his voice breaking at the end.

Dr. Axtell replied in the same calm voice that he started with, "It's too early for me to say. I'm sorry; I wish I had better news for you right now. If I can get this bleeding under control and her lung reinflated there will be much more positive news."

"Ok, thanks Doc." He paused and then added, "You hang in there Baby Girl. We are all waiting for you." Derek handed the phone back to the nurse. Not really feeling any better, he headed back to the waiting room to tell the others.

When he got there he saw that Hotch and J.J. had arrived with Jack and Henry. Henry was asleep on J.J. and Jack was sitting quietly next to his dad, whose arm was around his shoulder. There was a weird vibe around the room, it was almost happy. Derek scanned the faces of his friends, silently asking what was going on.

J.J. looked at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Will's alive."