Even if she hadn't slept the entire night and the following day, which had been packed with a bunch of work, Penelope wasn't tired at all when she finally tried to get some rest on her hotel bed in the evening.
She couldn't stop thinking about Derek.
The whole case reminded her so much of him.
They had discovered many hints that this case was the worst one in a very long period. Reid and Emily had found out that there had been a few more corpses several years ago. Penelope had discovered them immediately in her system. The men had been treated the same way as the two last corpses: beaten to death, a considerable amount of drugs in their bloodstream, malnourished. Before that, all men had been in a healthy condition, just like Derek had been. They had been put in and around Sacramento like garbage after their death.
I had been ten men in about fifteen years. That was a lot, and Penelope couldn't stop wondering if Derek was there, if it was even possible that he was still alive...wherever the location was. She had a feeling and couldn't help herself, couldn't stop hoping to find her Hot Stuff alive.
Hotch and Rossi had assumed that it was a fighting ring that used strong, healthy men for their fights. The rest of the team had agreed quickly, so there was just one thing to find besides the ringleader: their location. And Penelope had been looking for possible places all day long. She'd found a few until now, but Sacramento was a big city, and Penelope was sure she hadn't found half of the areas that could be possible.
Sighing, she sat up in her bed. Sleep wouldn't come smoothly tonight, and she knew it. Taking a look at her clock, Penelope determined it wasn't too late yet to call Sofie, maybe her little daughters' voice would help her to get some much-needed rest.
So Penelope didn't waste more time and dialed the number of the cell phone, Sofie always had with her, when Penelope wasn't in town.
"Hello, momma!" The delighted voice of her and Derek's daughter greeted her after the second ring, causing Penelope's heart to jump in happiness. Hearing her daughters' voice made her forget everything she'd seen today.
"Heya, sweetheart! I'm thrilled to hear your voice, how are you and your granny doing?" Penelope asked Sofie with a tender smile on her lips. Her daughter always made her feel better, just like her father had been able to do that.
"We're good! We went to the park today after school and had some ice-cream before I did my homework. We had a great day. It was good, spending some time with grandma," Sofie replied, stifling a yawn. "I was getting ready for bed. We'll have a math test tomorrow." She explained then in a tired voice.
"Okay, sweetheart, I just wanted to hear that lovely voice of yours, have a good night, Baby Girl," Penelope answered, feeling more at ease than a few minutes before, even if she and Sofie had only talked for a few minutes.
"Okay...but, Mommy?" Sofie suddenly asked, appearing a little timid.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I know you promised to tell me when you're back, but could you maybe tell me one story about my dad? Just a little one," Sofie began pleading. "Just like some kind of a bedtime story?"
Penelope smiled sadly and sighed, closing her utterly tired eyes for a moment, which tried to tear up at once. That wouldn't be easy, but she'd given Sofie a promise, and why shouldn't she prove that she meant what she'd told her daughter?
"I'm sorry momma, you don't have to...," Sofie began, sensing the unease of her mother immediately. "Its just...I'm so curious about my dad. I want to know as much as possible about him," she explained...as if Penelope couldn't understand that. She had been entirely wrong, not telling her daughter about her father.
"No, no, it's alright, let's tell you a story. I'm absolutely fine with that, even if it still makes me very sad to talk about your daddy," Penelope answered honestly. She had to try for her daughters' sake. "How about the story when your dad and I first met?" She asked Sofie in a soft voice, who agreed quickly, apparently happy that Penelope had decided to tell her a story about her dad.
"Yes, please! I bet it's pretty romantic!"
Penelope found herself giggling a little at her daughters' words. "No, I'm afraid it's not nearly as romantic as you imagine it. But I'll tell you the story first, then you can tell me if you still think it's a romantic story," Penelope suggested, and of course, it was no wonder that her daughter agreed without a second thought.
"Okay, momma, wait! I sit up. I don't wanna fall asleep while you're talking!" Sofie told her excitedly, causing Penelope to smile once more.
"I would tell you again, you know? If you're too tired, we can wait one more day, sweetheart."
"No, I want to hear the story now," Sofie exclaimed excitedly, apparently fully awake by now.
"Alright, alright," Penelope answered. With a smile on her face, yet tears in her eyes, she began to tell the story of her first meeting with Derek Morgan.
"Okay, Baby Girl, the first time I met your daddy was at the BAU, where I'm working now. I wasn't working there then, though. To be honest, I was sitting in the interrogation room because I was on an FBI list. I was one person of the handful of extremely talented yet dangerous hackers in the world. And your uncle Hotchner wanted to recruit me or put me into jail for a very, very long time for hacking into many systems, which wasn't allowed."
"You were a hacker? Mom! Why didn't I know that? That's so exciting!"
"Because I didn't tell you," Penelope giggled amusedly. "After my parents died when I was eighteen, I quit school and became a Goth and a hacker; that's it. I'm not entirely proud of it, but that's my story. I'll tell you another time if you want to."
Penelope could hear a giggle on the other side of the phone. "Yes, of course, I want to hear that story! Oh, momma, I really wanna see you in a Goth dress, do you have any pictures?" Sofie asked her, still giggling.
"I bet I have some of them," Penelope assumed, not entirely sure about that. "I think they're in my album. You can take a look at it tomorrow if you want to. But let's get back to the story before we discuss my style back then. Of course, I didn't want to go to jail, so I pulled out my self-made pink paper and a pen, wrote down everything Hotch asked me to. Your uncle welcomed me to the team and left the room. Only moments later, your daddy stepped in. And he honestly took my breath away," Penelope told her daughter, who became silent as soon as she realized in which direction the story was going.
"He just was gorgeous, like a chocolate-colored thunder, with his well-formed eyebrows, he filled the room with all his being. Derek, your dad, didn't need to say a word; it was just his presence, which was stunning. He wore a suit, and his hair was shingled, his beard too, and he was watching me with the most serious expression on his handsome face. That's one of the moments I will never forget." She explained to Sofie, who couldn't wait for the rest of the story.
"What did you do then, momma?"
"Oh, I was as awkward as ever," Penelope joked tearfully. "The first thing I said to him was: 'Oh, beauty and brains!' And I observed him from head to toe. Your father didn't say a word, he just kept watching me, so I tried once more and said to him: 'Hey, eyebrows: when they do the men of the FBI calendar, is it just 12 months of you?'
Your daddy just snorted and welcomed me to the team. He let me out of the room, and I went home."
"Oh momma, you did that? That's so awkward!" But yet, Sofie laughed so hard that they had to take a break so Sofie could calm down.
"I know! I can be embarrassing sometimes. You're my daughter, you know that." Penelope joked, causing her daughter do laugh again in amusement. "Okay, that's all about the first part."
"Oh please, momma, don't tell me you stop now," Sofie begged her. "That was too short for a bedtime story."
"Oh no, I'm not finished yet. We'll have another part. On the next Monday, I began my work as the Technical Analyst for the FBI. I was put to Aaron Hotchner's team, where your daddy was at too. I don't know which day it was on my first week, but at some point, I was doing some copies when someone behind me called me Gomez. And I remember how I thought what a Jackass he was because I had introduced myself to the whole team on Monday morning with my full name. And no one had ever forgotten my name. So I acted like I hadn't heard anything. And then, the person behind me called me Baby Girl..."
"Baby Girl? That's exactly how you call me all the time!" Sofie realized, apparently excited and tense about what was yet to come.
"That's true," Penelope told Sofie. "Your daddy used to call me that, we had many, many nicknames for each other," she explained to her daughter before she started once more.
"Okay, when I heard that name, I decided to turn around and tell that man how disrespectful it was to forget your teammates' names. But when I saw who'd called me that all my anger disappeared with a puff. Your dad and I, we just stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, and I just was able to dumbly repeat: 'Baby Girl?' And your father, he was very polite, you know? He quickly apologized, and all I could say was that I've been called worse, which is absolutely true, and asked him what I could do for him. From that moment on, your dad and I spent as much time together as possible at work and on our days off. That's how it happened. That's how we met."
Penelope took a deep breath, happy that she'd been able to tell Sofie the whole story without crying even if it had been very hard on her. But she'd made it...and felt a little bit better than before. Maybe she should have talked a lot more about Derek. But it had hurt her too much to even think about him if it wasn't for searching for him.
"I think it's funny. Not really romantic, no. But I love that story very much. Thank you, momma, for telling me. Now I feel like I know my dad a little bit," Sofie told Penelope with the softest voice, causing Penelope to tear up once more this evening. "I wish I could give you the biggest hug now!"
"Oh, as much as I would love that, you really have to go to bed now, Baby Girl. It's getting late."
"You're right, momma. You know how much I love you, right?"
"Yes, I know that. Just like you know how much I love you. And when I'm back, I want that big loving embrace."
"I do know that momma. Okay, that's a promise, the biggest hug is waiting for my momma," Sofie replied with a bright smile in her voice. "Sleep well, I hope you're back soon. I miss you very much."
"I miss you too, Sofie. Soon, I'll be back home with you."
And with that, Penelope ended the call. Sighing, she placed the cell on her nightstand and laid down once more, closing her entirely tired eyes. Sleeping through the whole night without a dream, Penelope woke up in the morning, ready to face another day, looking for the unsub in Sacramento.

"I wonder how he made it. I put all my money on his death."
"Same here, dude, I don't understand how he makes it that long. He should've been dead a long time ago."
Derek, not nearly able to talk, just listened to the guys who brought him back to his cell. Somehow, he'd won the fight, couldn't really remember how, but he'd made it. Only the thought of his family and Penelope kept him alive. He didn't know how long he was kidnapped, but couldn't give up the hope, that Penelope and the BAU team would find him at some point. Derek wanted to live, wanted to have his Baby Girl back in his arms, his whole body craved for her, more than he did for the drugs they made him addicted to.
This night, they didn't chain him to the wall, they just laid him down on the floor, Derek wasn't capable of moving anyway, he felt so much weaker than before. Someone forced him to eat and drink something and took care of the wounds, the fight had caused him. After that, Derek was finally left alone in his cold, dark cell. Alone with his thoughts. He tried to remember the faces of his beloved family and friends. The look of Penelope, her scent he loved so much.
How was she doing?
Was she looking for him?
Derek would do anything to see her smiling face once more, to hear her voice, but he'd decided a long time ago, that he would fight until the BAU had found him. And something told him, that it wouldn't last long...just like his body wouldn't last long anymore.

"Okay, guys, another day, full of work. Reid and Prentiss made out a man, who could be involved in that fighting ring we're looking for. The police found him tonight, he's in the interrogation room. Rossi and I will interview him. Penelope, keep looking for possible locations, please. Reid, Prentiss, you'll talk to the family members of the dead men, Penelope, found yesterday. JJ, talk to the press, please, ask if they have any news on our case. We'll meet here for lunch. If you find out something, call me right away."
After Hotch had given his instructions, everyone got themselves ready for work. Penelope headed to the room, she could do her business, Rossi, and Hotch to the interrogation room.
Only half an hour later, Penelope's cell rang. It was Hotch calling her.
"Hey, bossman, what's up?"
"Come to the interrogation room now. This man knows you, and he only wants to talk to you."
"Uhm...alright, I'll be right there," Penelope answered unsurely. She'd never talked to unsub's before, and how did that person know her? Despite all the questions, Penelope stepped into the interrogation room only moments later, greeted by Hotch and Rossi, who had a very stern expression on their faces.
"Oh, there she is, Miss Penelope Garcia, or are you already married?"
Penelope looked up to face the unsub - a man she'd never seen before in her life.
"I don't know you..." she began, but the man started laughing. It was the coldest laugh she'd ever heard, and it made her shiver, her stomach turned. That man was bad news.
"You don't know me, but I know you. Do you still think about him? Wondering if he's alive? I really wanna know, Baby Girl, 'cause I can tell you, your boyfriend, he's a damned fighter!"
Penelope froze in place, her eyes wide open, she stared at the man in shock. He knew Derek, that could only mean one thing: that man had kidnapped the love of her life.