A/N: Again, thanks for the kind reviews. It's encouragement and knowledge that you guys are anxiously awaiting the next chapter that makes me update every day.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds

"Rossi." he answered his phone, worried at what number came up. Hotch was supposed to be at dinner with Penelope revealing his feelings. He hoped this wasn't a call out of cold feet, or worse- the unsub.

"I already ordered the complete lockdown of the hotel. He's not getting out of here with her." Hotch rushed it all out, ready to continue his instructions before Rossi cut in.

"Whoa. What are you talking about?"

Hotch had to take a short breath. He wasn't doing well with explanations right now. No time. "The unsub has Pen, he's still in the hotel somewhere. I need the whole—" he could hear Rossi barking orders left and right to the team members still at the station. Only Reid had come back to the hotel the same time Hotch and Garcia had. And now he could hear the rest of the team hurriedly running out the room.

"Aaron. You still there?" the reception was starting to break up.

"Yes. I'm here. Hello?" he was scared at the desperation in his own voice. This was reminding him too much of when Haley...

"We are in the cars now. It will be five minutes, meet us in the lobby and instruct security to not let anyone with even a badge in or out unless you personally verify their identity. Our unsub is intelligent, he probably thought that far ahead."

Hotch hadn't yet considered that. Thankfully he was still functioning at a high capacity otherwise, he had snapped immediately into action once the elevator left the floor. But right now there appeared to be nothing he could really start with until the team got there, and every minute Penelope was getting closer to the terrible acts the unsub might commit. He was devolving, likely about to take punishment out on Pen for JJ's inability to nurture him as he needed.

He never felt so helpless.

"Hotch, what happened?" Reid's voice held pure panic as he rounded into Garcia's room. "I knew once I heard of the lockdown… did he take her for sure?"

"Yes. I saw them in the hall. I had no shot." And that fact would haunt him for years, he was sure.

"Did he inject?"

Hotch nodded. "Half of it. He said the rest in the syringe would kill her."

Reid began to match the nervous pace of his Boss and mentor. He almost lost the woman he loves to this unsub and now Hotch might have to pay that same price. "Ouch." He bent down and picked up a small object that almost wedged itself past the sole of his shoe. "Hotch, it' a syringe. He must have had two, Garcia must have knocked this one clear. I can take this to the hospital, if they can test it directly it will be easier to counter act the effects if we find her."

"When we find her. And I can't spare you. We will send it with officer Grantham when he gets here. I trust him enough."

They headed out to the stairs silently. Part of lock down procedure was to freeze elevator service, which he was thankful for. If the unsub hadn't gotten out of the elevator yet, Pen could potentially still be isolated in there. He would know once the team got there and the head of hotel security gave them access to the security monitors. He tried to not focus on the thought running through him that if Pen were still here he would already have that access through her magic. He could feel his desperation to find her choke in his throat. "Reid. If I start making unwise decisions—"

"Don't worry. Rossi will handle it." Rossi had handled him well enough when they searched for JJ.

They made it down there in record time, the team already waiting to be allowed access to the lobby when they arrived and Hotch immediately waved them in, Reid instructing officer Grantham about what tests needed to be run on the syringe.

There was more they could do now, now that the unsub was isolated within one building and Hotch could make a positive identification. This was a major advantage, having caught him in the act. It allowed for a quick sealing of the hotel but the unsub was likely aware of this, familiar with the hotel and its layout if he had been taking his victims from here before. Hotch shared this idea with the team and they agreed but Rossi pulled him aside.

"Aaron. I am taking over this investigation." Rossi placed a calming hand on Hotch's shoulder on their walk to the security terminal.

"I understand. But please don't make me leave the search all together."

"I know you wouldn't listen to that order anyhow." He responded before turning his attention to the chief of security, Allan.

"Nothing in the elevators, Agent Hotchner." Allan was thankfully not intimidated by this situation. He spent twenty years in homicide before retiring and taking this gig. "I took the liberty of sealing off service areas as well, however you may still want to check these four, though I am sure you will check them all. My entire staff is at your disposal."

"Thank you." Rossi responded, clearly marking his charge in the situation. Hotch was certainly still capable on running this if necessary, but there was no need to put his friend through that kind of stress. If they failed to get to her in time Hotchner would blame himself forever. "We will break into teams of three, each agent with two of your guards. And I will need master key cards for every team as well as radio silence on your comm system. We will use our own in case yours is compromised."

Emily took her team towards the top four levels of the hotel, Morgan's the next four and Rossi's the bottom four levels which housed rooms. Guest rooms would be much quicker to check and navigate than service areas which often contained large pieces of equipment one could hide behind or a series of doors and small spaces and rooms. That is why Reid suggested that he and Hotch's teams take a parallel route through the service areas in the basement, aligned with halls on either side of a main area where the laundry, kitchen and several utility areas were located, with side offices and rooms for each team to check individually.

Emily found herself wondering if they would find her in time. They had really lucked out with finding JJ as they did. But without Garcia and her magic this would really be difficult. It was only a blessing that the abduction happened as it did, with Hotch to witness it and jump into immediate action. If it were like with JJ, where no one had any idea of a location, things could be very different.

Each member of the team recognized that. And in a sense, they were really lucky and hopeful even if they were desperate. Each room made them one step closer. And each time Reid and Hotch's teams intersected in the middle space of their appointed sides Reid could read the determination on his friend's face. Both knew that one way or another they would find her in this hotel, they just prayed it would be in time.

-Criminal Minds-

"Shhh. Sweetpea. I had to wake you early." No wonder why he was holding another syringe to her. "Let's make this quick, ok momma?"

'Oh God. What does that mean?' She was beginning to panic, and unable to move. Yet, she could feel everything. Suddenly she didn't have to imagine what JJ went through, she was about to live it.

She knew which of her possible unsubs this was, Carver Hanson. He was the youngest, only twenty four and a nurse. His mother died two months ago and he lost his job a few weeks before, when his mother had told one of the doctors about her long affair with her son and her regret at the abuse-turned-relationship. Tolerance of that situation was not in the hospital administrator's vocabulary.

His mother had been a maid at this hotel for over thirty years, moonlighting with three other hotels in the area from time to time. She was single, and she had to work hard to keep her family house (which she failed at) from being foreclosed on due to an inability to pay property taxes. She lost the house and her husband when Carver was a small baby. She probably brought him to work with her during the early years.

Social services had stepped in when Carver was seventeen and told one of his teachers that he thought he might have gotten his mother pregnant. That set off a load of questions, of course. But the case was closed once Carver turned eighteen a month later and refused to press charges of abuse. At that point the county wasn't convinced that power struggle hadn't reversed. Carver's mother delivered that baby as a still birth and needed twenty four hour care when her cancer diagnosis was received. Somehow, all this new activity probably made sense to the unsub, fulfilling a child/lover/nursemaid role.

Penelope knew all of this, but none of it brought her comfort.

He bent from above her, depositing drops in her eyes. That was good and bad. Her lids felt like sandpaper, yet now she could clearly see him whip out his knife. Thankfully the drumming sounds surrounding them would have made a scream inaudible anyhow, that made her feel a little less helpless in her inability to cry for her life.

She assumed they were in the industrial laundry room, judging by the large hanging sheets she was able to make out with a slight turn of her neck and the smell of clean linen surrounding her. She tried to focus on that smell, so much like Aaron yet lacking his natural masculine musk. What she would do to feel his arm around her one more time, what she would do to feel his hands stroke her cheek rather than the coldness of the blade next to her skin as Carver readied to cut away her shirt.

She closed her eyes, unwilling to be witness to whatever he had planned for her. She felt two things. First, cold air on her chest as her shirt began to give under the knife, his hand reaching into the right cup of her bra to release her. The second, the blade slicing her right bicep as a crushing weight fell on her.

Her eyes snapped open when she heard something loud, he wasn't above her anymore. He was on her, his head resting against her bare skin.

What just happened? Why isn't he moving? None of this is part of his MO. Is this part of the punishment Reid talked about?

It was the very same that came into view as she heard Hotch's voice from afar. "Is she alright Reid?"

"She's alive. Cut, but it's mostly superficial. It'll need stitches though." He yelled back, now holding his hand firmly on her arm to stop the bleeding. "Garcia, look at me. Can you blink?"

She blinked twice, remembering the yes/no code.

"Good. Hotch will be here in a second, he's calling an ambulance." Reid had silently demanded Hotch not come in here. While he understood the need to rescue your woman, when he had seen JJ's shirt cut off his mind instantly went to places he wished he hadn't had in him. Revenge was number one on the list. But his own gun had now taken care of that. The unsub was dead where he rested, bleeding out onto Penelope. He rolled the man off of her.

Two blinks. "I take that as thank you?" Again, two blinks.

"I will print off a Morse code chart so we can communicate at the hospital. It should be faster for you to recover than JJ. We know what we are dealing with." And that should hopefully save Hotch from some of the pain he had to go through himself.

He clinically tucked Garcia's breast back into the cup of her bra and pulled her straight as much as was possible before Hotch could re-approach, unable to stay away.

She saw his face in her view and internally yelled a hundred endearments to him. But even then, a part of her was glad she couldn't speak, it was a vulnerable moment too soon to say all those things even if she did feel them. She just wouldn't be able to fully trust whatever came from his mouth at this moment in return.

He was thinking much the same. It was not the time to have their conversation. But he did want her to know he cared. "I am going to take care of you, ok? The unsub is gone. Its over." He pulled her into a loose hug, supporting her head as he looked back to Reid in gratitude. "Reid got him. He's dead." And he would never forget that favor as long as he lived.

-Criminal Minds-

"Hey PG." Emily was looking down on her lovingly. She tried, but she couldn't get any sound out yet. She must have been able to make facial expressions though, because Emily swiped to stroke her hair comfortingly. "It's alright. The doctors had instructed the paramedics over the radio to put you out on the drive here. Hotch rode with you."

Oh that sweet man. She blinked twice, hoping somehow that was adequate.

"Reid is bringing in a chart for you. But its late, we don't want you running your mouth, or your eyes, got it?"

Penelope gave what she hoped was a death glare, followed by two blinks. She was exhausted and felt like her body was shriveled like beef jerky. She could feel her eyes falling closed again, much like being taken under by sleep but she could hear everything going on around her.

"How's she doing?" Hotch whispered to Emily as he quietly stalked back into the room. There was a worry in his voice that Penelope thought he reserved for Jack and Jack alone. Part of her was flattered at that and part was saddened. She might just be imagining the extent of his care for her. Something was there but it was unlikely that he could possibly feel all of what she felt for him.

"She's in an out. Did you wrap up the case?"

"Yes. We return tomorrow afternoon to Quantico if these two can get discharged by then."

"And if not, you are going to stay with her aren't you?"

Penelope's heart clenched wondering the answer. Hotch was always the type of guy to be there for his friends. She just hoped that extended to her maybe a little more than she thought.

"Yes." He said it simply, and with so little emotion she had no idea what expression he might be wearing on his face.

Emily was able to see that expression though, and it surprised her. Hotch looked at Penelope's sleeping form with devotion, something she would never expect to see on his face again. But part of her wondered just how asleep Garcia really was right now so she decided to usher Hotch into the hall under the pretense of them getting coffee while Garcia rests.

"Hotch. I know I'm not Rossi." She began but her cut her off flippantly.

"Might as well be these days."

She ignored that, pointing out a seat along their trek to the cafeteria. "Hotch. How far gone are you?" She had wanted to ask him about his feelings for PG since she got back from being 'dead'. It wasn't much that made her wonder, but when she had walked into that conference room and saw PG's eyes light up, she also saw that Hotch turned his gaze to her and her alone to gauge the reaction. Noticing that had sparked up an old curiosity about those two.

Hotch sighed as he lowered his face to his hands. "So far gone. I didn't expect this to happen."

She hadn't said anything for a few minutes. He wondered how she would be taking this but when he looked back up at her she wore nothing but a proud smile.

"Perhaps PG is right, everything does happen for a reason. We caught our unsub, got the chance to bring you two closer together. I just wish JJ hadn't have had to go through what she did. She won't talk about it. You saw how she avoided the question on whether or not she witnessed what happened to the other victim."

Hotch nodded sadly. "I think she will take a long time to recover from this. But she has us all there for her. And Reid, of course. I am making him take his stored vacation time so they can work through this, establish their family."

So like Hotch, making sure the practical was cared for so others could focus on more important things. "I'm going back in there, get Morgan to take a break from his constant worry. He is taking this hard, but better than I had imagined." She stood and offered Hotch a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I will give her a sponge bath like she and I gave JJ. This is a good hospital, they understand how vulnerable a victim would be to have strangers touching her body. Fellow female contact with near sisters can't compare to anything when it comes to feeling safe. I'll get you, or send Morgan, when we're done."

He nodded and watched her leave, letting his mind wonder for a few minutes. The last several days had been a blur of activity and emotions. But he knew from Valentine 's Day that she was more to him than even an interest. She had always been more but he had just been fighting himself for so long. And now that he wasn't fighting any longer his instinct was to run in there and proclaim his love for her. But that would be too much right now, wouldn't it?

"Hotch. You doing alright?" Reid took the seat beside his boss, aware that they were alone in experiencing partner's grief over what almost happened to both of their women.

"Fine. How are you? How's JJ?" better to focus on someone else than himself.

"I'm fine. She's talking normally again, still needs a wheel chair as she struggles to keep balanced on her feet for long periods of time. She's still refusing to see a psychologist or discuss this in detail with anyone. Maybe when Garcia is better she will open up to her. She's in with Em and the nurse to care for Pen right now. Did you know Em and Garcia had taken care of her that way during all this? It must be a female ritual of some sort."

Hotch gave a small chuckle. "Women do that. They have to look out for one another, especially when one of their friends comes so close to…" Reid's a genius, he didn't have to finish that thought.

"Can I give you some advice?" Hotch nodded so he continued. "I had done considerable research on how to handle this all with JJ. Both she and Garcia are attempted rape victims and in a way that is almost worse because they will feel guilty for feeling as they do."

"I'm aware."

"So, the advice is still pretty much the same as if they were violated. Give them whatever space they need. If they want to hold hands, hold hands. If they want more, give that which only she seems comfortable but don't hold back on anything they do want or they may see themselves as dirty and rejected. At least for a few days with Garcia, until she expresses whether or not she feels she has moved on."

Hotch nodded as he thought on that. He knew there would be a recovery time for Garcia and he knew everything Reid was saying. He also knew Reid was only saying it because he wanted Hotch to know Garcia would get through this easier than JJ. One, she was strong of will. Two, Penelope would be more likely to need him rather than push him away and Reid was trying to tell Hotch he hoped he could be there as she needs him.

There was no foundation for that worry. "I'm in this for the long haul, so I am thankful for the advice Reid."

The two nodded, each satisfied with the situation as is.

"Baby girl is blinking strangely. It's not Morse code either." Morgan had stood back at the end of the hall when he saw Hotch and Reid talking. As unworldly as the youngest member of the team could often be, he was also the one to have the most experience in this area right now. But Derek did hear Hotch's proclamation about a long haul and that gratified him deeply. She would be cared for and respected, and that's what mattered to him.

"I will take a look." Reid led the three of them, later joined by Rossi towards Penelope's room again.

"Is it code or just a side effect of the drugs?" JJ asked, normally. It was the first time the other three men heard her return to normal sentences and they all gave her proud smiles.

Reid studied Penelope's face intently. "Garcia stop." She did. "Binary?" Two blinks. "Okay, start again. What do you want?"

"H.O.T.C.H. A.L.O.N.E." he looked to the man in question after translating then back to Garcia. "Ok. But if there is anything you need to say to him you will need me to stay behind a bit." Everyone else began filtering out leaving Reid awkwardly in the middle of Hotch and Garcia. At least now she was able to flick her hand and wiggle her shoulders as well as turning her neck like JJ. She was coming off this with much faster results.

"What can I do Penelope?" Hotch kneeled in front of her bed and took her hand. "Reid, what is she saying?"

"She wants to face you." Reid walked over to help Hotch adjust Garcia to lie on her side. She was blinking rapidly again, two eyes closed being zero, one eye open as one.

"You know Reid, I am glad you know binary. Of course she wouldn't even try learning another code when she already has one at her disposal." He really was grateful for his genius friend. Maybe he'll get him a gift card for books or something.

"Any time. She wants you to lay down and hold her, and put on Family Guy." He advised as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Hotch found the remote on the bed and flipped through until he found a station running a rerun of her show. He looked up at it as he removed his suit jacket and rolled up his cuffs. "I love this episode. Stewie reminds me of a mix of twelve specific unsubs."

When he looked back at Garcia he laughed in relief. "Your smiling!"

She couldn't believe it actually came out. She had been hoping it would, because the combination of Hotch relaxed and Hotch rolling up his sleeves was an oddly sexy experience and only he could work talking about unsubs into a critique of an animated television series. He was such a great man. How did she possibly deserve him?

"Blink twice if you want me to hold you from behind." Two blinks. "Alright."

He was only too happy to crawl into bed with her as they watched TV. There was no odd sexual tension tonight, there were no questions or anxieties about not being on the job. It was just them, a real couple's moment. And he was so content in that fact that he didn't make it back over to the convertible chair bed. He fell asleep right beside her.

When she heard him snore she laughed internally, noticing a small noise escape her. She really was healing faster than JJ had. It was so relieving to think that in the morning she might be able to tell Hotch thank you for protecting her, for taking the charge to close the hotel down. Reid had explained it all to her while Hotch and the rest of the team made out some preliminary paperwork and made their statements.

Her team had saved her, and she was glad that she could communicate to Reid the identity of the unsub and point him to where he could find the file on her laptop in the morning. And she was glad that JJ was up and functioning again. The ritual sponge bath that she had offered to her friend had just been returned and with every swipe of the cloth from Emily and JJ's hands she felt some of the fear come off her skin. She wasn't alright. She wasn't fully there. But she would move on soon. His death made it all so much easier. But JJ would have to live with her extensive emotional scars, and no amount of sponge baths would erase that.

"Fal, fault. My fault." Hotch began to mumble in her ear, still clearly asleep. She wiggled her hips… a new ability regained! She hoped she could wake him from whatever dream he was having. It broke her heart to think of how tortured he seemed at night.

"Sorry Pen." He whispered and stroked her hair. "I hope I didn't disturb you."

"Nnnn" sound!

It brought tears to his eyes to hear anything from her lips. "Go to sleep Pen." He cooed, her eyes shutting heavily. She was exhausted, so exhausted she had no energy to respond to the last statement she heard before she fell asleep. "I will never forgive myself for this."

A/N: So much left unsaid, and so much healing to do... plus lots more for the group and Hotch/Garcia to come. Stay tuned.