Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds…I just use it as a writing playground.

Sorry this is getting out so late! I've been working on all sorts of school things and that, my dearies, is no fun. Anyways, thank you for the reviews so far :) I love the feedback!

"Were you able to get anything?" Hotch asked the tech who'd joined them. "Anything to trace to a location?"

He shook his head and looked nervously at Derek, probably praying he wouldn't punch him the way he'd punched Lynch. "Nothing definitive," he said solemnly. "I was only able to get a rough estimate area. They're using really simple equipment. It's not easy to get a trace on. And as soon as he turned off the webcam, all signal disappeared."

"We should still check it out," Emily said decisively. "We have to."

Hotch nodded his agreement. "I'll notify the authorities in the area, let them know we need backup."

Derek looked around at his team like they were crazy. "Guys, we can't waste time getting the cavalry together! We should just go check it out now. Or at least send me to check it out."

"No," Hotch said. "You're staying here. You won't be coming anywhere near Harold Talbot because we all know he'll be dead in two seconds if you find him."

"Hotch!"

Hotch held up his hand to silence Derek. "There's no discussion here," he said in a clipped tone. "Giving Talbot what he wants is only going to fuel his feeling of superiority over you. So you're staying here." Nodding at Reid, he said, "And Reid is staying with you."

"What?" Reid and Derek said at the same time. Reid's response came out as more of a gulp while Derek's was more like a growl.

"You heard me," Hotch said. "Reid is going to keep an eye on you while we go out looking and he's going to make sure you don't leave."

XXXXX

After the team had left, Derek and Reid were sitting in his office, Reid glancing at Derek rather nervously every few seconds. He was sitting in his chair, a fiercely angry look on his face. There was a ticking in his jaw and every time he shifted in his seat Reid gave a small jump. There were many things Reid was good at, but anticipating what a livid Derek Morgan was going to do was not one of those things.

"Didn't Hotch say he was going to update us every hour?" Derek growled, glancing at his watch. It had been two hours since the team had left and there was nothing. Nothing to give him any indication that they had found anything of use. It was driving him to insanity.

"They probably found something and it just slipped their mind," Reid suggested hesitantly.

Derek grumbled incoherently. Amidst his cursing, the buzzing of his cell phone perked both him and Reid up. He looked hungrily at the text message but felt his stomach drop ten feet. It wasn't from Hotch. It was from an unknown number. Attached to the text was another picture of Penelope, her injuries from her most recent beatings prominent and extremely visible. Beneath the picture was a small message.

Noon. Come alone or she dies.

There was an address somewhere in DC along with it.

"Who's it from?" Reid asked when Derek didn't respond immediately. "Everything okay?"

Rising from his seat, Derek made a move for the door. "No," he choked. "They requested a meeting. I'm going."

Reid moved to stand in front of the door to his office, blocking his exit. "Morgan, you can't do that. You know what Hotch said. You can't go without having some backup."

"Move, Reid," he growled. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't get out of my way, I won't hesitate."

Swallowing, Reid said, "Think about this Morgan! You're not being rational right now. If you slow down and think, you'll realize how insane this sounds."

"What's insane is that you all won't let me do whatever it takes to get Penelope back!" Derek said furiously. "Now move."

Reid shook his head. "I can't do that," he said with concern.

Turning around to face his desk again, Derek bowed his head and said, "Sorry man. I don't know what's gotten into me. I just –"

"You love her," Reid said softly. "It's understandable."

Turning around, Derek added, "And I'm sorry about this too."

Confused, he asked, "Huh?" He didn't see anything other than Derek's fist hitting him in the face and knocking him flat on his back and into unconsciousness.

XXXXX

With a pounding in her head, Penelope opened her eyes and tried to move her sore limbs, only to discover that she couldn't. Her wrists were tied to the arms of a simple chair and her ankles were tied to the legs. Groaning, she winced as her jaw throbbed in the spot where Harold had kicked her. She was fairly certain he'd cracked one or two of her teeth. Looking around at her surroundings, she groaned. There was still only a dim amount of light and she could barely see anything. The one thing she could see was the shape of one of the men keeping an eye on her. She shivered as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Since Harold's threat about allowing his fellow kidnappers to rape her, she'd been extremely skittish of anything that moved.

The one door to the room opened and a blast of bright light hit Penelope's eyes, causing her to squint as the rays hit her corneas painfully. "Good morning!" Harold stepped into the room and came to stand in front of her. "Feeling okay this morning?"

She glared up at him hatefully from her sitting position. "Just wonderful," she answered sarcastically. Her jaw hurt even worse when she spoke and she cursed herself when she felt tears well up in her eyes.

"Good," he said, clapping his hands together excitedly. "That's wonderful to hear." He knelt down in front of her and added, "Guess what?"

Rolling her eyes, she spat, "What?"

Grinning, he said, "Your lover boy is coming to a meeting I've arranged."

Her eyes immediately grew wide. "No," she whispered. She tried to fight against her restraints. "Please! Don't hurt him." Tears began to fall from her blackened eyes. "Harold, leave him be."

Grasping her by the chin, he lowered himself to her face level and said, "Oh, no. I'm not going to this meeting. But he'll be in pain. Count on it." He smirked at her fearful expression and kissed her roughly.

Forcing herself not to choke on bile, she bit down on his lips as best she could and he yelped in pain. She admired her handy work on his lips and he glared at her, wiping his blood from his mouth. Smacking her hard, he growled, "Believe me Penelope. Derek Morgan should be the least of your worries right now."

XXXXX

The address Harold had sent him through the text message led him to an abandoned party store in a rundown part of DC. He was looking around at the empty shop and kicked at a dusty shelf as he waited impatiently for Harold to arrive.

"Harold's sorry he couldn't come here," a voice said, entering the party store. "He's been otherwise…detained." The messenger smiled wickedly and came closer to Derek. He held out his hand to shake Derek's. "I'm Seth."

Derek stared unpleasantly at his hand and glared at him. "Where's Penelope?" he demanded.

Seth laughed. "She's doing okay…if you call beaten to a bloody pulp okay. We've had to restrain her; she's such a little fighter." He cocked his head to the side and added with a sneer, "I wonder if she'll fight as hard on the mattress."

With fury in his eyes and wrath backing his punch, Derek's fist slammed into the younger man's face. Angrily, he rammed him into the wall and held his arm across his neck, cutting of his oxygen supply. "Tell me where she is," he hissed angrily.

"Is that jealousy, Agent?" he choked out with a smirk on his face. "Are you afraid she'll say one of us is the best she's ever had and not you?"

Taking his gun from his hip, Derek pointed it at Seth's foot and pulled the trigger. A screech of pain erupted from his mouth and Derek couldn't help but smile. "Feel that?" he growled. "Because if you don't talk, I'm going to shoot your other foot. And if you still refuse to talk, I'll shoot your balls off. You understand me?"

"You son of a bitch!" Seth cried. "You shot me!"

"It'll heal," Derek said unsympathetically, tightening his arm against his neck. "Where is Penelope? Where are you keeping her?"

Seth's brow became sweaty and he choked, "Let go of my neck and I'll tell you everything I know." He winced as Derek's grip loosened and looked down at his bleeding foot with anguish. "Listen, I don't know anything about where they're keeping her." He held up his hands in surrender as Derek aimed his gun at his other foot. "I was hired to come and taunt you. I don't know anything about her location or the guys that are in charge of the whole thing. All I'm doing here is making a little extra cash. Frankly, I thought I was just here to piss you off. I didn't think they actually took anyone. I didn't think this was real. Just something to scare you. No one told me there was a danger of getting shot!"

Pulling out his cellphone and presenting the most recent picture he'd received, he shoved it under Seth's gaze and hollered, "Does this look real enough for you?" He noticed Seth's frightened look and added, "Give me the name of the man who hired you and I'll call an ambulance for you."

Seth nodded and he said, "His name is Drake. Drake, er, Melvin! That's right, it's Melvin. His card is here…" He pulled a rumpled business card from his jacket pocket and handed it to Derek. "Listen, man," he added. "I'm sorry. If I had known this was serious I wouldn't have done it. Drake just seemed like a normal guy."

Glaring at him, Derek snarled, "An ambulance will be here soon."

Letting go of Seth's collar, he watched as he dropped to the floor and began to nurse his bleeding foot before heading back out of the shop and up the street to his waiting car.

XXXXX

"Reid!" JJ cried worriedly when she saw him lying on the floor of Derek's office. "Reid, what happened?" She shook his several times before he sat up and brought his hand up to his sore, bruised face. The rest of the team had gathered and were looking both at Reid with concern and around the hallway for Derek.

Reid groaned in pain and said, "Morgan…he got a text and I wouldn't let him leave so he acted like he was sorry for yelling and acting irrational…then he just turned around and punched me!" He held his nose. "It really hurt!"

Rossi rubbed his head tiredly and looked at Hotch. "He's gone after him on his own. What the hell are we going to do now?"

"We're going to do what we can," Hotch replied. "And when he gets back he'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Guys," Emily said softly. "Are we entirely certain he will come back?" It was the question they were all wondering, but not brave enough to answer. "If he's going with the intention of getting Garcia out, are we sure he's not going to stay there to give her a chance to escape?"

The entire team looked at each other with skeptical and worried looks on their faces. As they did, Hotch got a text and groaned when he read it. "That's Strauss. She wants Rossi and me in her office. Now."