Chapter 12
A month after the attack, Garcia was back to work at the B.A.U. She had multiple skin grafts done, and she felt more confident about her appearance.
"Well, I'm hardly ever in the field," she explained, "so there's no need to hide my face."
"That's my baby girl," Morgan praised.
"Hey, get your hands off of my woman," Hotch threatened.
"Oh, and what are you gonna do about it?" Garcia taunted.
"There's the Penelope I know," Hotch smiled as he kissed her head.
"It sure feels good to be back to normal," Garcia noted, "I just wish I could've seen Antonio."
"Oh, I think I can help you with that," JJ answered as she wheeled him down.
"Penelope!" Antonio exclaimed.
"Tony!" Garcia exclaimed as she bent over to hug him.
"I see you remember my old nickname," Antonio laughed.
"Oh, there's a lot I remember," Garcia chuckled, "how have you been?"
Antonio looked down at his wheelchair.
"I've seen better days," he quipped.
"Yeah, so have I," Garcia answered, "my range of motion isn't quite the same either."
"Penelope, I'm so sorry," Antonio apologized, "I should've seen it."
"No," Garcia whispered, "if anybody should've seen something, it's me. I mean, if we talked more, you wouldn't have gotten sick and..."
Antonio took her hand.
"It's not your fault, dear," Antonio said, "I fell for their sick games and I let it get the best of me too. What happened to Mom and Dad was not your fault and it took me this long to see it."
"Antonio," Garcia scolded, "they were rotten to the core. They've been messing with us for a long time. I know you held some resentment towards me for what happened, but it's water under the bridge now, okay?"
"Do you forgive me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I forgive you," Garcia giggled and hugged him again."
"Sorry to break up this reunion," Chief Cruz said, "but we've got a sexual sadist in Toledo."
Some things never change.
"Go on," Antonio coaxed, "Agent Anderson can wheel me outta here."
Garcia beamed. It was good to be back.