Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters. Some "guest stars" are based on or named after people in my life while others are totally made up, as are some places and events.

Chapter 19

Penelope opened her eyes. She groaned when the pain from her head became too much and closed her eyes again. She took a few deep breaths and opened her eyes again, much more slowly, to let her aching head get used to the change. She gasped when she saw only darkness still. She reached for her face and her hand bumped into something hard. She reached up with her other hand and felt around her head. She gasped again when she realized her head was inside a box- a wooden one by the feel of it. She tried to pull the box off her head but it was stuck. She felt around the box again, until her hand came across what felt like a metal hinge. She followed the line of the hinge until she felt a latch. She pulled on the latch but it wouldn't budge. She felt something loose moving against the latch and she moved her hand around to feel it properly. Her heart jumped when she realized it was a chain with a lock attached to it. She ran her hand down the length of the chain until she felt a small metal ring and a lock just like the other one. She felt around the ring and but all she could tell was that it was attached to a cold, concrete wall.

"Hey, let me out!" she cried. She tried to sit up but between the weight of the box and her head injury, her equilibrium was way off and she felt waves of pain course through her head. She laid back down and tried to control her breathing. "Take it off, please!" she screamed. She tried to pull the box off again. She screamed again in frustration when it wouldn't budge. Unwelcome years fell from her eyes. "Derek," she wept. "Help me..." She cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

Penelope was only aware that she had nodded off again when she felt a large, calloused hand touch her foot. She jumped and tried to jerk away but the hand grabbed onto her ankle and held it tight. She stiffened when the hand traveled up her leg. She waited until the hand reached her thigh, thrnkicked out wildly with her other leg, grunting in victory when her foot connected with her captor. She figured her kick was aimed well, for her captor immediately took their hand off her leg. Penelope pulled her knees up to her chest and waited. She couldn't see or hear anything and she was terrified at what might happen the next time her captor cane for her.

"She got you good, didn't she?" Anthony Montgomery gloated a he applied a second strip of tape to his accomplice's nose. It was swollen more than twice its normal size. Montgomery had seen more than his fair share of injuries before and during his time in prison and it was obvious the second he came back and made Malcolm take the bloody wad of tissue off his face that his nose was broken. Montgomery had immediately set it back into place and when the bleeding finally stopped he began to tape it in place. Ford's nose was black and blue and he was already sporting bruising and swelling under his eyes, which Montgomery knew would turn into huge shiners in the next day or so.

"Shut up," Ford groaned. "I was just trying to see if she was all right. She hadn't moved since she woke up the first time."

"Uh-huh. You're a regular bleedin' heart, now?" Montgomery scoffed.

Ford narrowed his eyes and winced as even that action sent pain through his face. "She is no good to us dead, is she?" he grumbled. "Anyway, did you get it done?"

"Of course. The police and FBI are all at her place. No one is watching his," Montgomery sneered. "Do you think he'll come?"

"Of course he'll come. He'll do anything to save her. She's the woman he loves. He never stopped looking for Cindi and she was just his cousin," Ford sneered.

"I've called everyone." Rossi sat down next to Derek on the apartment building's front steps. "They'll be here soon."

Derek looked up from the ground. He'd been staring at the steps and although he was right years ago when he promised Penelope that the blood -her blood- would wash off, he could still remember what the stains looked like and that image had been engraved into his brain ever since that night.

"She's pregnant." Derek spoke so low that Rossi could barely hear him. "That's what our fight was about. She told me she's pregnant."

Rossi nodded. "And...?"

"And I reacted badly. I more or less implied that she did it on purpose."

"Derek..."

"I made her cry, Rossi! I should've... I should've... She didn't even want to tell me, man! I badgered it out of her and she wasn't ready to tell me! She was trying to process it herself and then..." Derek swallowed the lump in his throat. "She should've been so happy and instead I made her cry."

"Do you even want the child?" Rossi asked.

"Wha..? How could... you... off course I do!" Derek stood up and glared at Rossi as the older profiler looked at him knowingly. A smile flicked across Derek's face as he sat back down. "Of course I want the baby, Rossi. I've loved Penelope ever since I was a kid. I worship the ground she walks on. What gets me through the job is her in my ear and knowing she is always a phone call away. I was going to... Back in New York, I was prepared to stay with the ambulance all the way, but it was her voice in my ear that made me bail out at the last minute. She was my angel growing up. She was what kept me away from the gangs and who kept me sane... She called me her hero, back when we were kids. All I ever wanted was to be the hero she said I was. I can't imagine anyone else having my babies. I don't want anyone else having my babies. I was all set to beg for her forgiveness... Christ, man! She thought I didn't want her...! That I didn't want them! What have I done!?"

"We'll find her, Derek, and you can tell her how you really feel." They both stood up as Hotch and Kate walked up to them, with JJ and Reid pulling up in an SUV behind them. Derek and Dave caught the rest of the team up quickly. Derek felt intrusive telling them team that Penelope was pregnant, even though he knew it was vital to the profile. He felt waves of anger as he thought about how the team -the only family Penelope had- should have been told. She deserved a party, to be pampered and spoiled.

Derek looked at each member of the team in the eye as he described the fight. JJ and Kate were trying to control their tears and Hotch looked as stoic as ever, although Derek knew the Unit Chief was furious. Reid looked determined... and angrier than Derek had ever seen him. He knew how close the two geniuses were, having many of the same interests despite being so different. Penelope was like a sister to him and aside from his mother, she was the most important woman in his life.

The team walked up to Penelope's apartment and confirmed what they had profiled outside: whoever took her did it there, at her car. Her groceries were still in Esther's trunk and so were her keys, purse, tablet, laptop, and phones. The things they all knew she would never leave without. The profilers were all lost in thought; JJ and Derek were sitting on her couch, the others paced aimlessly in the living room and kitchen, while waiting for the CSUs to finish processing the scene downstairs. Hotch had already spoken to Mateo Cruz and the director, both of whom assured him that they had the full force of the FBI ready to back them up.

Derek was swiping through the pictures on his phone. So many were of Penelope: sleeping, smiling, working on her computer, staring out of one of the jet's windows, playing cards with Rossi and Reid, knitting... and of the two of them together: snuggling, hugging, making goofy faces, and kissing. He missed her so much already. He was still looking at pictures when Hotch's phone rang. He listened and looked at all of them before replying: "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Hotch, what is it?" Reid asked.

Hotch looked right at Derek and swallowed hard. "Metro PD just received a 911 call about the body of a woman matching Penelope's description found in a dumpster near M Street in Georgetown."

A/N: Thanks for reading.

XOXO,

PitaCake