His mouth was dry and his head hurt. Opening his lips, he could feel them sticking to his teeth. Slowly he began opening his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings. Raising his head Morgan realized he was sitting up at the dining table in a chair with his head resting on his arms. Looking across the table he saw Penelope seated in the chair directly across from him, slumped over her placemat. Reid was next to her on her right in the same position and Hotch was sitting at the head of the table to Morgan's right and Garcia's left.
Without thinking about the consequences Morgan automatically reached for the water glass sitting in front of him and took three large gulps, effectively draining the glass. With the cotton cleared from his mouth, he set the glass back on the table as realization dawn on him what he had just done. 'Looks like we'll see if it's poisoned won't we.' Derek thought as he stood on shaky legs. Holding onto the table to gather his bearings, he began walking around the table, trying to assess his friends.
Hotch began to stir the moment his hand touched his shoulder.
"Hotch. Man, you okay?"
"Yeah. Just give me a minute." He said digging the palms of his hands into his eyes, trying to relieve the pressure in his head.
Morgan continued to Garcia, touching her arm gently, trying to rouse her. "Baby Girl. Hey come on now. Wake up for your main man." Pulling the woman from her slumped position, Derek rested her head on his shoulder as he stooped down to her seated level.
By now Hotch was moving and began making his way toward Reid.
"Reid, wake up. Reid?" Hotch sat Reid back against the chair. As he did so Reid let out a loud snore startling Garcia awake.
"Dahellwasthat?!" Garcia yelling jumping from her chair, smacking Morgan in the jaw with her forehead.
"Ow! Shit mama. Calm down. It was just Reid doing his lumberjack routine." Morgan rubbed the side of his jaw where Garcia had hit him.
"Reid!" Hotch yell while lightly slapping the younger agent's face.
"'m up. What happened?"
Hotch looked around at the table while Morgan and Penelope snickered at Reid trying to wake up. "Morgan did you drink the water?" he asked.
"Yeah. I did."
"Derek what were you thinking?!" Penelope screeched causing Reid to grab his head and close his eyes.
"I didn't think okay. It was a reaction. I woke up with my mouth dry and I automatically grabbed it."
"You have no idea what could be in…" Garcia was cut off by the voice.
"I keep telling you that the I'm not trying to harm you. Yet you act like I am. What is it going to take to make you all believe that I am a friend to you?"
"How about opening the door and letting us leave?" Reid said tilting his head back and looking at the ceiling. "This is absolutely asinine. You say you're not trying to hurt us yet you're keeping us locked up like animals!" He finished his statement by standing screaming the last.
"Reid calm down." Hotch said putting his hand on Spencer's bicep and the back of his neck. Garcia immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face into his chest. Spencer wrapped his arms around Penelope leaning his head against the top of hers. Morgan came up behind Reid putting his hands on his shoulders and hanging his head resting his forehead on the man's upper back.
"Now you see there? You four are truly of one heart, mind, and soul. Here you will simply be able to accept it and act on it until it is natural. This is your personal paradise, at least for a while. Once you finally see the gift that I am bestowing on you, you all will see what has been there all along. You will see my friends. Life isn't meant to be lived alone. Now sit and eat as the family you are. I would hate to use the gas again so soon."
Morgan sighed shaking his head. "I'm not dead so far. Come on." Morgan said pulling away from Reid and walked around to sit at the place he woke up in.
Each person went to their seat and stared across the table at the spread. "No one eats yet." Morgan said as he filled his plate and began eating.
"Derek what the hell are you doing? It could be poisoned!" Garcia yelled.
"I've already drank the damn water. If one of us is going out, it might as well be me." Morgan reasoned.
Garcia reached for the bowl in front of her only to have Reid take it from her hand. "Not you Garcia. You are the last one to eat." Hotch informed her.
"What? Why?"
"If something is in this food we don't want you ingesting it."
"So, it's okay if Derek does? What the hell Hotch? If it's poisoned he'll die!" she yelled jumping from her seat.
"I assure you Penelope, the food is not contaminated with anything. Your beloved Derek will be fine." The voice assured her.
"I'm done. I'm absolutely done." Penelope said irritated grabbing the peas from Reid and flinging a spoonful onto her plate taking her seat.
Watching Penelope fill her plate, Hotch and Reid followed suit and ate their respective meals in silence. Once finished the group sat together and waited.
"I did tell you that nothing was done to the food my friends. However, this was not a meal shared by lovers." Penelope's stomach clenched. 'Oh God please don't.'
"That may be because we're not lovers." Hotch told the voice.
"That's where you are wrong Agent Hotchner. All of you have proved more than once that you're love for each other goes further than you would have everyone believe. What is it that they say? Actions speak louder than words. If that is true then you have all been lovers for years. You have all shared in happiness and pain, joys and sorrows. You have been there for each other in all things, and have even put your lives on the line to save the others. That my dear friends is the very definition of a lover."
"We're a team. We're a family. That's what you have seen and you're warping it. We would die for each other. We would die for the entire team. You do know that this is not our entire team, right?" Hotch elaborated.
"Oh, I am quite aware of the other three members of your team. But they are not like you four. They don't look longingly at each other from across rooms. They don't speak words of love for one another the way you four do. It's obvious between Penelope and Agent Morgan that they're love goes far deeper than that of mere friendship. If Penelope gave Agent Morgan the slightest hint that she wanted more, he would give up his playboy ways and settle down and start one hell of a lovely family. With that being said, it's a little subtler with Dr. Reid, but not too much. The longing and sweet smiles have always been there and when one of you three are around it increases tenfold. Dr. Reid abhors physical contact, yet any time that there is an opportunity to touch any of you he takes it. Agent Hotchner, however, now that is one hard nut to crack. You don't smile at all do you Agent? But you do, don't you. You smile the most at the people in this room. You let yourself be human around them. You allow yourself to be a man.
I am doing all of you a favor. Here you can be who you really are. You can love each other without any judgement. Without anyone watching. Well, other than me of course."
"You're sick. You're seeing things that aren't there. You need help. Let us go and we can get it for you. No one has to get hurt." Garcia pleaded with the voice.
"Beautiful Penelope. No one is going to get hurt. I give you my word. However, the length of time you all will be here is completely up to you. I am a patient person and I have no problem waiting for the inevitable."
Jumping from her chair again Penelope shouted at the ceiling, needing a place to focus her frustrations out on. "People WILL get hurt." she emphasized. "They will get hurt. You're trying to force them to feel things that aren't there! You want them to do things to me that they ARE NOT CAPABLE OF DOING!" Hotch stood pulling the woman to his chest as she broke down, Spencer coming up behind her and pressing close.
Morgan looked on trying to see what the unsub was seeing. The intimacy between the four of them was evident. All of them, at sometime within their captivity, had held Penelope close to them, pulling her to their chests. Heart to heart. Even the physical contact between the men in the room had been more apparent than usual. It could be because of the severity of the situation, or maybe it had always been that way and they just hadn't noticed it. He tried to think back at the past interactions that he had with the other men. Other than a handshake, shoulder grab, or the very occasional hug, there really hadn't been much else. So what did it mean now that at every opportunity they were seeking out solace in the form of the physical?
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "What do you want from us?" Derek asked looking once more toward the hallway door, just to confirm that it was still shut.
"All I ask is that you do what comes natural to you. You're men, she's a woman, let nature take its course."
Garcia began sobbing harder into Hotch's chest as Reid held on to her tighter. "Don't you see that's not what she wants? Does she sound like a women that wants her three team mates, her friends, violating her?"
"Agent Morgan you should really be more observant." the unsub said ironically since the direction of Derek's previous thoughts. "Earlier she said that YOU ALL would get hurt, and that I am trying to force feelings on YOU ALL that are not there. She even said that YOU ALL are not capable of doing the things that I suggested. If any of you had paid attention like you do in your cases you would notice that Penelope is concerned for your benefit and not her own. And she also doesn't think that you three find her attractive enough to be able to act out what we all know you ALL feel. Once again she cares only for you three and not for herself."