GARCIA

Garcia slowly packed away each of her screens and wires meticulously. Each time she zipped a case closed her heart broke a little more. The case was over, the bad guy had been caught, and they were headed home. Prentiss had called earlier to report that Gerald Rinks and his fiancee were resting comfortably under guard, and with Stephanie's help his memory was slowly returning piece by piece. It had been good news, but Garcia hadn't been able to muster up any happy thoughts for them. It's not fair, her mind supplied. It was a darker side to her thoughts that she didn't often indulge in; the universe didn't need any more bad vibes, and she made it a point to keep hers locked up tight. But she couldn't help the small pang of anger at the thought of Gerald Rinks - the intended target all along - resting with his loved ones while other poor souls on the flight had perished.

It's not fair, she thought again as her keyboard slipped snugly into the foam that had been cut perfectly to contain it. Her mouse rested next to it, its wire wrapped securely underneath. Some of her tech pool comrades often made light of the fact that she still used wired peripherals when they had all switched to wireless, but just the thought of the connection fritzing out when her team needed her most was enough to keep her keyboard and mouse connected the old fashioned way.

Hotch's phone buzzed in his pocket, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him check the screen and freeze. It was never a good sign when their inflappable bossman was caught off-guard, and she found herself drawn to pay attention to his demeanor. He texted something in response then slipped the phone back into his pocket. He glanced up and caught her eye, and Garcia was floored at the sheer emotion she saw in his gaze.

"What is it?" JJ had noticed as well, and even Reid stopped what he was doing as Hotch stepped over to them.

"That was Dave," he said, and it must have meant something to the other two agents because JJ sank down into a nearby chair and Reid's face drained of what little color it had. "We need to get to the hospital."

"Oh my God," JJ breathed, and suddenly all eyes were on Garcia.

"What's going on?"

"Garcia," Hotch moved to her side and gripped her arm gently. "We'll explain in the car. But we need to go."

"Wait," Garcia shrugged her arm from the man's grasp and glanced under her desk. "We can't just leave Clooney here alone." She was hoping to buy some time, or even get a clue to what was obviously an "agents only" secret.

"Bring him," Hotch surprised her again, tapping his leg lightly in an invitation to the dog. Clooney woofed softly and jumped up happily as he followed Hotch out the door. JJ grabbed her arm and dragged her along as Reid closed up behind them. As they left the station, JJ's voice was soft as she explained.

"When we went out to the crash site this morning, Reid found something. You know that Gerald managed to walk away from the crash, and when we found where he was sitting it was obvious he'd survived." She spoke slowly, but Garcia could hear the eagerness in her voice. "He had unbuckled his own belt," she continued. "As Reid examined the wreckage, he found one other seat with the same evidence."

Garcia's mind raced to fill in the gaps, to reach the conclusion her heart had been clinging to for the last few days. One other seat? And Rossi had stayed behind? And they were headed to the hospital? That could only mean...

Spots danced in front of her eyes as hands reached out to grab her. She heard someone murmur something about lifting her feet before her vision went dark.

She woke in the car, startled by a rather large bump in the road. She was lying down in the backseat, her legs elevated by a stack of bulletproof vests from the back.

"Penelope, are you alright?" JJ was sitting in the seat behind Reid, leaning over as far as her seat belt would allow to check on her friend. A bottle of water was in her outstretched hand as Garcia sat up blearily.

"What happened?" Garcia accepted the drink automatically but didn't open it.

"You fainted," Reid supplied helpfully. "JJ and I barely caught you in time. Some officers helped get you into the car. You were only out for a few minutes."

Garcia blinked a few times to clear the fog that had surrounded her brain. She tried to remember what had happened, but her head throbbed from the effort.

"We should be at the hospital in fifteen minutes or so," Hotch said from the driver's seat.

The hospital, she thought. They had been headed to the hospital before, and JJ had told her...

"Oh my God, JJ," she sat forward as her heart began hammering in her chest. "Tell me this isn't a dream. This would be the worst dream ever."

JJ shook her head as her eyes filled with tears. "Not a dream, Pen," she reached out to grip Garcia's hand in her own. "It's real. Morgan survived...somehow," she added with a watery laugh.

"Oh God, I'm gonna faint again," Garcia felt her vision swim and she collapsed back into her seat. From the floor of the car, Clooney gave a whine of concern. She reached down and gripped the dog's fur in a light grip. "This is real," she told the pup. "He's really alive."

"We're going to beat Rossi and the ambulance to the ER," Hotch said. "The doctors are going to need to check him over thoroughly before we'll be allowed to see him."

"I don't care," Garcia shook her head, "I'll wait a week as long as I can see him. I need to see him."

"You will," JJ promised. Then, with a slight smile, she added the best icing to the cake. "I thought you might want to be the one to tell Mrs. Morgan her son is alive."

"Yes," Garcia dug for her phone quickly, her elation ramping up into excited rapture, "yes, yes, yes." Her fingers were shaky as she pressed the keys that would connect her with Fran Morgan. The phone rang twice before the older woman picked up.

"Hello?"

"Fran, it's Penelope," Garcia could barely contain herself, and her words rushed together.

"Penelope? You sound frantic, dear. Are you alright?"

"Yes ma'am," Penelope couldn't stop the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Everything is wonderful. I can't...I don't really know how to tell you this, so I'll just say it. Derek's alive."

There was a moment of heavy silence on the line, then Fran took a shaky breath. "Penelope," her tone was half-worried and half-warning.

Garcia wiped her eyes quickly and shook her head even though Fran couldn't see her. "No, I know what you're thinking. I'm not dreaming, I'm not crazy. He's alive, Fran. Somehow he survived the crash and walked away. He's been unconscious for the last few days, that's why we couldn't find him." It did sound crazy when she said it out loud, but she didn't care. Derek was alive.

"Oh my Lord," Fran breathed. "I need to call Desiree and Sarah and Yvonne and -" Fran stopped suddenly as emotion overcame her. Garcia listened to her sobs of happiness, adding her own joyful tears to the mix. The others stayed respectfully silent, though out of the corner of her eye Garcia could see JJ wiping her own tears away.

"I'll text you the address of the hospital," she told Derek's mother, "and then I'm getting you a ticket on the next flight out here."

"Oh no," Fran protested through her tears, "you don't have to."

"I want to," Garcia insisted. "I know you want to see him yourself."

"Thank you," Fran replied. "Thank you. You are an angel, dear. I'll see you soon. Give that baby boy of mine a kiss for me until I can get there."

"Yes ma'am." They hung up as Hotch pulled into the hospital drive. They parked in the lot outside the ER and jumped out of the vehicle almost as soon as it was stopped.

"Clooney has to stay," Hotch said, cracking the windows a little.

"Stay boy," Garcia scratched the pup behind his ears and closed the door. Just as Hotch had said, they had beat the ambulance to the hospital, and a quick phone call to Rossi confirmed they were about ten minutes out. Garcia busied herself by purchasing Fran's flight and sending all of the information by text. She received another thank you in reply, along with a few hearts, hugs, and kisses that she returned with gusto.

Seconds ticked by with only the drone of the news whispering from a television overhead. Reid was pacing up and down as JJ and Hotch sat stoically. Garcia alternated between circuits with Reid and quiet waiting with the others, her own worry and relief warring inside. Suddenly, without warning, the front doors slid open and the quiet ER was instantly transformed into a bustling cacophony of medical jargon and equipment beeping and buzzing. He was covered with a blanket and a number of tubes and wires, and his skin was ashen and drawn, but the body lying on the gurney was unmistakably Derek Morgan.

"Derek!" Garcia was up and across the room before anyone could grab her. Only Rossi's solid arms around her kept from sliding between the EMTs and the gurney.

"Hey, hey," he kept a firm hold even as his tone softened. "Let them do their job, Penelope. You'll get to see him in a bit. I promise." She fought his grip for a moment, but in that brief span of time Derek and all of his accompanying medicos had disappeared behind swinging doors.

"He's alive," she breathed against Rossi's neck as the senior agent wrapped her in an embrace. "He's alive."

"Yes, he is," Rossi patted her back as the dam broke and her emotions spilled over. Rossi's voice repeated in her ear as she sobbed into his shirt. "Yes, he is."