Derek paced the waiting room like a lion ready to attack. Panic was etched in his features. He had no idea what happened from the time she woke up to now, but it couldn't have been good. She was ready to tell him too. Then it went down hill. He wanted to call the team and order them to come back, but he knew she would have his head if he told them she was in worse condition. They needed to catch these unsubs before the next day. Luckily JJ would alert the capitol and see what precautions they can make before the possible attack.
Penelope Garcia, no, Penelope Morgan. That is what Derek wanted this moment. He kept imagining their future together and the happiness they could find together. Tears streamed down his face as he remembered the recent sounds of her heart monitors and her slipping into unconsciousness. "I love you, Derek," would forever be branded into his mind. He thought of her touch, the way her lips felt upon his lips, her kind smile, her bravery. He pressed his hands against the side of his head and he asked God for strength for his baby girl and himself.
"Mr. Garcia?" Doctor Ford said coming out of the operating room doors, blood covering parts of her clothes.
"What's wrong with Pen?" Derek asked, standing in attention looking at the doctor with broken eyes.
"Mr. Garcia, it seems we have missed a piece of metal that had lodged itself into Mrs. Garcia's kidney. We had hoped that with proper rest the piece of metal would have moved toward Mrs. Garcia's present wound and we could have extracted it easier and with a minor surgery. However, the metal moved in the opposite direction and pierced Mrs. Garcia's kidney, sending her into immediate arrest. We need to operate in order to save her and preserve her surrounding organs."
"Is she going into surgery now?" he asked.
"Yes, but we need to let you know that this is going to be an extensive surgery. It will take at least 4 hours and we are going to need you to be strong for her on the outside. Before we slipped her anesthesia, she told me to tell you she loved you and to have faith in her and you two. You have a wife that loves you, Mr. Garcia, and she needs you now." She gave him a kind smile and he watched her walk back toward the operating room to save her.
Derek took a step back and sat down and could barely register what he heard. Another surgery? Extensive? 4 more hours? With a heavy heart, he dialed the only number he could and felt his heart grow weary with every ring.
"Hello?"
"... Mom?" Derek felt his breath catch and the tears behind his eyes begin to burn.
"Derek? Derek, is everything okay?" Fran had only heard her son sound so broken twice in his life, when she lost his father and when Penelope Garcia, his best friend, got shot.
"Mom," he whispered rubbing his hand over his head feeling his hand shaking out of nervousness.
"Derek, Are you okay? Are you hurt? I saw the bombing of the FBI building on the news. Have you been hurt?"
"Mama, its Pen... she's..."
"Oh Derek," she said, feeling tears burn behind her eyes and her hand grip tightly to the counter top.
"Mama, she's back in surgery. She is hurting and I can't.. I can't save her this time," he said brokenly.
"Derek, she needs you to be strong for her now. She will sense your strength and confidence in her and fight this. She has cheated death before, she won't leave you now baby," she said attempting to comfort her son.
"I can't lose her, Mom," he said wiping the tears from his eyes. "She's my everything."
"And you won't but you need to believe in her, Baby," she said now moving to the couch.
"Mom, I told her I loved her. We were going to finally become a family like you wanted for so long," he said sadly.
"Don't go talking in the past Derek," she said sternly. "She isn't gone Derek. God is just testing you, baby."
"Why would God do this to us?" Derek said, now becoming angry at the shift in conversation turning to religion.
"God is everything, baby. Sometimes he tests us and our faith in him to make sure we realize he is the one who gives us light," she said with confidence holding her rosary beads tightly. "Now baby I know you are not in the best terms with God and your faith in him, however his love for you is unconditional. If you believe in him, he will heal your Penelope and he will heal you too if you let him."
Swallowing, Derek nodded into the phone. "Will you pray for her, Mom?" he asked sadly.
"Of course baby. And you too my beautiful son."
"I love you, I will call after her surgery." Closing the phone, he stood up and found himself moving toward the one place he would have never imagined himself moving to. With a heavy heart, he moved to the elevator and pressed against the 12th floor button and closed his eyes while his head hung low.
"Do you have the object located?" Doctor Ford asked.
"Yes and it is ready for extraction," Nurse Austin said, seeing the square object in place.
"Can you tell if it has gone through the kidney?" Doctor Ford asked.
"It has not, but due to the condition of the organ it would be best to extract the kidney," Doctor Shepherd, her assisting doctor, said.
"Okay, extract, Jack," she said watching him remove the organ. However when the organ was removed, Penelope's heart went into arrest and they were in active movement to save the young woman.
"Don't you die on us, Mrs. Garcia," Nurse Austin said moving quickly to help Doctor Ford revive their patient.
Derek found himself walking into the chapel inside the hospital, noticed the crucifix hanging upon the wall and candles beneath it, some lit, some waiting. Taking a deep breath, Derek moved in front of the kneeling area and deposited a dollar into the donation box beside the matches. Once he lit the candle he fell to his knees and began praying, an act he hadn't participated in in years.
"Lord, you know I am not good at this, but I come to you a man with a broken heart. My Penelope is in danger again and I don't know if I can save her this time. God, if you know all, you know she is my everything, the solace you gave to me for existing in this life. I vow to you lord that if you let her make it through this that I will be the man that she deserves, the man that I want to be for her and for you. Please God, don't take her from me. In your name, I pray with all that is me..."
After losing a few tears, Derek pressed his lips to his old worn rosary and stood to leave the chapel. Before leaving, he looked upon the cross again and whispered, "Come back to me. I love you Pen, come back to me."
Penelope loved to dream. She especially loved dreaming of her delicious chocolate adonis and their seductive getaways. Often times her fantasies would be in exotic places or the safety of his bed. But her man was still the same, her Derek.
She moaned and stretched as she awoke from her sensual dream, but couldn't help but smile as she found her man's head beneath their comforter and between her thighs. "Mmmm... honey bunny, I could have sworn I wore you out last night."
He chuckled and his morning scruff tickled her sensitive body. Penelope was left victim to his love and passion, but couldn't help but reach for him. "Derek, don't play," she said twisting and turning.
Kissing up her body, Derek mounted above her and moved her hair from her face. "Good morning, wife," he said, slipping himself inside her.
Groaning happily, she adjusted to meet him and gave him a deep kiss. "Morning, husband," she said.
Moving slowly, Derek kissed down her neck and she smiled as he tortured her. "Where are the kids?" she asked, wondering how on earth they were able to pull off this morning love session.
"Jade decided to take the kids to breakfast and an early movie. I think she could tell this last case had its effect on us. Im just glad Trey had the day off from football so he could spend the morning with the kids."
"I can't believe how big my babies are getting. Jade is already in her last year of high school, Trey is getting his license and our babies, Orlando and Jasmine, are in middle school. Adonis, when did I get so old?" Penelope said tearing up slightly.
Derek noticed her change in attitude and began quickening his pace, "None of that mama. You are and always be my sex kitten," he said, his bright smile above her. She could see the gray appearing in his morning shadow and the wisdom in his eyes. But the one thing that has never left him was his love for her, his baby girl.
As their pace quickened, she held to him tighter and whispered in his ear, "Derek?"
"Mmm... yes Baby Girl?"
"Promise you'll never leave me," she said, looking into his eyes.
Rolling them over, so she was on top, he held his hand to her face and bit her bottom lip playfully. "Woman, I have been with you 23 years already, why on earth would I ever want to leave you?" he asked.
"23?" she asked arching her eyebrows.
Kissing her breasts playfully arousing a moan from his goddess, he nodded and continued, "6 years of foreplay and the 17 we have been happily married," he said smirking.
"Ah, how could I be so foolish?" she asked playfully.
Derek brought her head down to his and kissed her deeply, "I am and always will be be madly in love with you Penelope Morgan."
Smiling she replied, "And I you, my Prince."
"Come back to me..."
Looking at him strangely, she asked him, "What babe?"
"I love you, come back to me Pen,"
He began to fade from her and her heart started racing. "Derek! Derek!"
Beep Beep Beep
"Saved her again, Doctor Ford," Doctor Shepherd said as Penelope's heart rate began coming back to normal.
Smiling at the doctor, Juliet looked at her patient and began working on sewing up her patient. "I didn't save her, Doctor Shepherd. I believe Derek Garcia did that just fine," she said.
Nurse Austin looked at Doctor Shepherd with a kind smile and his brown eye wink made her blush. Maybe Penelope Garcia brought life back to just about everyone she encountered.