Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

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The day came and went and Penelope progressed slowly, to the others though she seemed to thrive and they were never happily to see it happen like it did. As much as they wanted to stay, the call of duty had to drag them away.

'Morgan, I've got you an unlimited leave of absent, Strauss understands the pressure you've under taken the last 4 months and so has accepted it unwillingly. She also saw that our team went down the moment we found out Penelope was missing so she is allowing us to work week on week off, as long as cases do not over take us.' He then looked at Penelope. 'But we will be back to see you.' She nodded tiredly, the new dose of drugs doing their job perfectly. 'Right come on then troops let's get going.' They all hugged Fran, Desiree and Sarah and then made their way to Penelope. Hotch waited until last and kissed her cheek gently. 'It's good to have you back.' He whispered in her ear. 'You don't realise how important you are to us.' He then stood up straight, smiled at them and left the room.

'One minor detail you haven't told me.' Penelope said still with a quiet voice.

'What's that?'

'What's happening about Antonio?'

'Penelope, you don't have to worry about it.'

'But I do... I just want to know.'

Fran looked to Derek who sighed. 'P his being done with kidnap, assault and attempted murder.' Derek relaxed when he didn't see tears build, Penelope just took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'Hotch is going to the police department before they leave... he wants in on the interrogation.' She nodded, and they all knew she didn't want any of them to hear what she had gone through. Derek lightly massaged her arm. 'Hotch has it all under control baby girl.'

'I know but I just don't want any of you to hear what happened.'

'We get that P, we really do but I think Hotch needs to do this... he's been beating himself up about not finding you.' She looked at him. 'We all have.'

'I tried so many times to get out.' She whispered.

'Penelope, how did you really get out?'

'He didn't do the handcuffs tight enough, I managed to pretend I asleep and I slipped my hand out, he must have forgotten about the baseball bat he threw earlier that day, I got it and made some noise, he came down and I hit him around the back of the head.' She closed her eyes again. 'And then I just left... he must have thought I wasn't going anywhere because the front door was unlocked.'

'I'm going to ring Hotch and tell him to check Antonio's head out.' Derek said standing, he kissed Penelope's forehead gently and left the room. In the time he had gotten hold of Hotch and got back, he found Sarah and Desiree gone, his mom reading again and Penelope asleep. 'She finally gave in then.'

'Yeah... we kind of forced her to as well; otherwise she would have kept herself going.' Fran said looking up from the book. 'Get hold of Hotch?'

'Yeah... he said if it left a mark, it's another piece of evidence to add in to help convict him.' Derek answered as he sat down. 'I don't think Hotch is in the mood to do listen to a liar.'

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Hotch, having gotten off the phone, walked back into the interrogation room, shut the door and stood and stared at Antonio as he sat smugly in the chair.

'Does you head hurt?' Was all Hotch sat with his arms folded across his chest, the tone of voice told Antonio he was not in the mood for messing around.

'No... why would it?'

'Well a baseball bat to the head using results in a headache, and seeing as you've been here for a day with no pain relief at all you must have a killer headache.'

'No.' He lied through his teeth.

Hotch motioned with his head and the officer in the room tipped Antonio's head forward, there on the back of his head was red line, a bump and a bruise that was all noticeable within the hair parting. The officer nodded that he had found something and stepped back.

'Why did you take her?'

'Who?'

'Do not start the dumb act, Penelope Garcia, your sister, why did you take her?'

'She is not my sister, she is not blood, and the respect I had for her disappeared the moment she walked out of the door.'

'So you took her because she left?'

'Yes.'

'So it was all about revenge?'

'I guess so.'

'What was your plan for her?'

'I thought I could have fun with her and then just let her injuries take over.'

'Until?'

'The betraying bitch died!' Antonio knew that he wasn't going to get out, they knew too much, so if he lied it would only make it worse for himself to lie to an Agent.

'So you took her to your house here in Chicago, when she lives in Quantico, drugged her, bound and gagged her I'm guessing, and then locked her in a basement?' Antonio remained silent. 'How often did you feed her?'

'2 maybe 3 times every 2 weeks.'

'How big were the meals?'

'The size of my hand maybe.'

'What about water?'

'1 cup daily sometimes.'

'Was you plain for her to starve to death or was it to beat her to death?'

'Both.'

'What beatings did you give her?'

'Kicks to her stomach, punches... just the normal type of beatings.'

'So how did she get hold of the baseball bat?'

'I used it, you must've seen she has broken ribs.' Antonio said with a smile, he was going to start enjoying repeating what he had done. 'I got her up, tied her hands above her head and had some fun, to be honest I cannot believe how much force she got in that bat considering I managed to break what 5 possible 6, hell it could have 7 with the amount of snapping I heard.'

'It was 8 in total, 7 on her right, 1 on her left... did you have fun doing it?'

'Of course, I was doing what I was brought to do.'

'By?'

'My father, the man that adopted Penelope so she had a proper stepdad.'

'What did he teach?'

'Betrayal doesn't go unpunished... she knew that rule all too well.'

'How do you mean?'

'She got beatings as a kid if she disobeyed or lied about her whereabouts, petty things like that.'

'So its a family rule is it?'

'Except she was the only one to not want to beat the shit out of us if we lied.'

'Doesn't that tell you something?'

'She's a pathetic human being... that would ultimately walk out on the family.'

Hotch nodded. 'What else did you do to her?'

'Oh the best was grabbing her throat, the terror in her eyes as she realised the air was running out, then the slam into the wall. Then I just let her body slumped to the ground, unconscious or not. Then I would pick her up throw her on the bed and tie her down again.'

'How often did you hit her head into a wall or strangle her?'

'3 times a week on the minimum.' Antonio's eyes looked evil. 'But lately we had more fun increasing it.'

'Yeah I think we realise that.' Hotch answered emotionless, his emotion at the moment was pure anger, one that made him want to beat the crap out of Antonio, but he knew prison wouldn't go lightly on him. 'What about the burns?'

'Oh a little lighter fun.'

'And the other cuts occurred how?'

'Well I liked the idea of throwing her into the walls, on the ground and then one day the idea of a little knife dragging came to me.'

'Right... well I think we're done.' Hotch said anger present now, he knew if he carried on he wouldn't control his actions, and sooner or later Penelope would have to discuss what happened, whether to him, or Derek, or a police officer. 'I hope you know you won't be out any time soon.'

'Tell Penny to come and see me... we can have a nice little reminiscing session about it.'

'I am not letting her anywhere near you.'

'Why not... I'm family!'

'No you're not.' Hotch said now with a fierce fury. 'I gave you a light interrogation; the next bloke won't be so nice.'

'Send my love to Penny won't you.' Was all Hotch heard as he left the room, before he went anywhere he was going to make sure Antonio sweated like a pig in the next interview, then he was going to the hospital, he had one day to get back, he wasn't leaving a certain someone's side until then.