Derek'sPOV
We ended our game night and we decided to call it a night. I drug myself up the stairs to my room and collapsed on the bed. I shot Penelope a goodnight text and covered myself up and doze off.
It felt like I was only asleep for a few minutes when my phone rang. I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock.
3:05 AM it read. Oh god not another case
"Morgan." I grunted.
"Derek?" I heard JJ on the other end. She has been crying.
I shot up in bed. "What's wrong? What happened?" I got out of bed and threw my sweats on and a hoodie.
"It's Pen. We don't know much right now. She was attacked."
"Where are you. I'm coming." I said as I ran out the house.
"We're all at the hospital."
I turned on the sirens and lights and made it there in less than 5 minutes.
Not my baby girl. God no. Not her.
I entered into the hospital and ran up the stairs and popped into the waiting room where the rest of my team stood.
"What the hell happened?" I asked.
"They called me and they said that she was brought in by ambulance. She's in pretty bad shape." Hotch said
"What happened last night? When y'all left the bar? What happened?" I was so angry
"Uh, she left first. She said she'd be okay. She said she'd take a cab back to the hotel. She said she'd be alright." JJ started to cry.
"You let her leave by herself! You let someone like Penelope leave by herself in Chicago!" I shouted.
"Morgan." Hotch started.
"Forget it." I said walking away.
I had to take a breath. I was scared. My baby girl. My solace. It couldn't be. I felt the tears trickle down my cheek. I was praying it wouldn't be as bad as it seemed. I took a seat and held my head in my hands and I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"I know I'm not somebody who's good at giving advice but Penelope's a fighter. Whatever happened, she'll pull through." I looked up to Spencer taking a seat next to me.
"I don't know what to do pretty boy. What she went through... she must've been so scared." I replied shuttering at the thought.
"We couldn't help her then but we can help her now, be there for her now."
"I-I love her. What if it's too late?" I asked looking up at Spence.
"I know you love her. You spend the majority of your time around profilers Derek. We all know, and it won't be too late. She loves you just as much." He responded.
I nodded my head, wiped my eyes and we headed back towards the rest of the team. We took a seat and waited. It felt like an eternity.
"Penelope Garcia." Said the nurse coming around the corner. We all stood.
"Immediate family only." The nurse said.
"We're the closest thing she has to family." I griped.
"Can we talk somewhere private?" She asked leading us away from the waiting room. We entered a conference room and we closed the door behind us.
"What does it look like?" Rossi asked.
"She was brutally beaten. She has a few cracked ribs-" She started.
"Was she raped?" I asked cutting her off.
The nurse pursed her lips and slowly shook her head. "Uh, yes. Ms. Garcia was brutally raped. We are looking at..." She paused and took a breath.
"We are looking at 6 assailants." She finished. There was an audible gasp between us.
"6?" JJ questioned.
"What monster would do this to an innocent person?" Rossi said in disgust.
"When can we see her?" I asked.
"She is awake. She hasn't said anything to us or the officers that came to take her statement. Just a tip going forward. Take it slow and easy. There's no telling what torture she endured this evening. Just keep that in mind. She's right this way." The nurse finished and led us to her room. We stopped at the door and peered in
My baby girl was laying in the hospital bed. Her hair wet, her skin pale and bruised. She stared straight ahead at the wall. No movement. We quietly filed into the room and stood on both sides of the bed.
I slowly reached for her hand and she flinched. "I'm sorry baby girl." I said.
"Penelope, do you know who did this to you?" Rossi asked quietly. She said nothing. She just stared ahead.
For the next 30 minutes, we stood there with no response.
"We'll give you some space baby girl. We love you and we're only a phone call away." I said holding up her phone and putting it on the bedside table. We slowly turned and headed toward the door.
"Th-there was so many of them." Penelope said quietly.
We stopped in our tracks and I slowly turned to face her.
"Penelope we would really love to find the people who did this to you." I said.
"Uh, I, only Hotch." She stuttered.
"You only want to talk to Hotch?" I asked surprised. She nodded. I was very reluctant to leave. The rest of us piled out of the hospital room and continued to wait in the waiting room.
"This is bullshit." I grunted out putting my hands over my head. I received questioning looks from the others.
"She doesn't want to talk or even look at me." I said.
"Derek think about it. It's Penelope we're talking about. She loves us all. What she went through... it's unimaginable. She doesn't want you to look at her differently. Same reason she didn't want to talk to JJ, Emily, Rossi, or I." Reid said. I looked up with tears in my eyes and nodded.
"We have to find who did this." Rossi said taking his seat.