chapter sixteen / season three episode nine.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Penelope underestimated how annoying the steady beeping of the heart rate machine could be. Granted, it was a great thing that after nearly bleeding out she had a steady heart beat but she would much rather not have to listen to that heartbeat over and over again.

She'd only been awake for a few minutes, but she lay totally still. She didn't want the doctor to come in yet, she didn't want to see anyone just yet.

Penelope just wanted to sit in silence.

With that stupid, fucking, beeping.

Penelope wanted to reflect on how stupid she had been, how blind she had been to fall so foolishly for the first man who showed her even the slightest hint of interest. She should've just listened to Derek, she never should've gone on that date.

It had been too good to be true.

She was so, so, fucking stupid.

(That's what she thought, anyway)

There was a groan that sounded from an armchair that had been pulled closer to the blonde's hospital bed, at first Penelope's heart rate sped up on the monitor before returning back to normal when she realized it was just Amelia.

It was just Amelia, who had been fast asleep in the chair five minutes before visiting hours began.

How...?

And not only was Amelia sat in the armchair beside Penelope, but the table at her bedside had been covered in flower arrangements from the little shop near Amelia's apartment. One of them, the biggest, was filled with the analyst's favorite flower: peonies. The second, the second largest, was filled with white roses, white lillie's and different white flowers Penelope didn't know of.

And the third, the smallest of the three, was just one flower in a glass jar with some compost in the bottom. It hadn't been bought from any store or anything like that, it was a glass milk bottle with some silk wrapped around the neck and a single geranium in the glass.

Penelope remembered Amelia mentioning wanting to get into gardening.

The agent must've made space on her balcony.

"You're up." Amelia spoke with a croaked voice, or so Penelope thought. Amelia didn't know if it was from just waking up or all the crying that she'd done in recent days. "You're up."

The realization seemed to have Amelia jumping out of the chair she had slept in, awkwardly, all night and wrapping her arms around Penelope and bringing the blonde in for a bone crushing hug.

Amelia had seemed to forget Penelope had been shot twice and had surgery.

"Too tight."

Amelia jumped away, settling for resting her hands onto Penelope's arms, "Sorry! Sorry! I just had to hug you."

Amelia squeezed her arm, "I need to go get your doctor, and— and call the team. Stay there."

The agent didn't linger long enough for Penelope to make a comment such as 'Where else am I going to go?' Or to tell her to just stay, stay before the chaos begins and she has to answer all the questions that she wishes to avoid.

To look everyone in the face after her idiocy.

Penelope wasn't ready for that, but Amelia had already run out the room and started making the phone calls.

✺

Derek was more than aware that he'd broken some traffic laws on his way down to the hospital, some accidental speeding, an accidental running of a red light...

They were all accidents.

It's not his fault he couldn't wait a second longer to get into that hospital and see Penelope Garcia as she lives and breathes.

And Derek was seriously aware that he'd broken some laws when he got to the hospital at the exact same time as Emily and Spencer, and considering he lived a further distance away than them... he was in for some hefty fines.

He didn't have to speed. Penelope was alive. It wasn't a life or death situation. But, it had felt like it was to Derek. This was his best friend. His best friend who'd been shot on their own doorstep and left there, found by a neighbor.

She didn't deserve that.

Penelope didn't deserve this.

And Derek was going to spend every second of today trying to prove that.

When they entered into the hospital, they all saw Amelia already there just hanging up the phone as they arrived.

JJ had her eyebrows furrowed and was first to question the woman, "Visiting hours just opened, how were you here before anyone else?"

Amelia pulled a guilty face, "They just let me in."

If she had tried to convince them of that lie, she had failed terribly.

Emily raised her eyebrows and that was enough for Amelia to let up the truth.

"I may have flashed my badge a little and said it was very important that I stay the night with Agent Garcia." She admitted quietly, not knowing how they'd react, "I didn't want her to wake up alone."

Emily laughed and high-fived Amelia, because if this got back to Strauss it was going to be hilarious.

Spencer couldn't imagine spending the night in the hospital as he thought of the germs in the place.

Derek, while he thought her actions could land her in some trouble, agreed that Penelope shouldn't have to wake up alone, and was grateful that at least one of them was there for when she woke up.

JJ could already see the situation getting out of hand, but wasn't going to badmouth Amelia's decisions when the liaison had thought of doing the same herself.

"Now come on, the doctor just left." She grabbed onto JJ's hand and led them back into the room she had left only ten minutes ago.

Penelope groaned with whatever they could conclude as happiness.

JJ kissed her cheek and remained at her bedside, while Derek and Amelia stood on the opposite side with Reid and Emily stood at the bottom of her hospital bed.

"Hi," Penelope whispered, "No tears. I'm afraid if I start crying, I'll come unstapled."

"How are you feeling?" Derek asked, even if it felt stupid to ask it was somewhere to start. He was talking to his best friend, again, and that felt like the best feeling in the world.

"Confused, stupid and in pain."

Amelia frowned. While the woman had been making all her phone calls she hadn't managed to ask Penelope how she was, when really that should've been the first thing she did.

How could she forget that?

Amelia wasn't good at this. She was terrible.

The last time she'd had a friend in hospital it hadn't exactly been a talking, breathing body, it had been a dismembered body missing some pieces that didn't talk back - that couldn't tell you how they felt.

"Are you up for some questions?" JJ had to ask, they had to find the bastard that did this but all JJ wanted to do was sit at Garcia's beside with shitty magazines.

"I never saw it coming." Penelope admitted. "He seemed deliciously normal."

"You know him?" Spencer queried.

Amelia's eyes had widened. There was only two people Penelope had referred to as delicious: Derek and her date. Now, it obviously hadn't of been Derek to shoot his best friend.

It was the date.

The date Derek had discouraged but the date that Amelia had encouraged.

The unsub hiding in plain sight that she'd merely looked over.

Oh.

What a terrible friend.

"You were right. I shouldn't have trusted it." Penelope told Derek, her eyes landing on him.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, squeezing her arm for reassurance.

"It was that guy I told you about." Penelope's eyes focused on anything but Derek, she didn't focus on anyone in the room afraid of their pity, when really they should've been laughing at her and her stupidity. "The one I met at the coffee shop."

JJ squeezed her arm but looked up at Amelia. A witness. Amelia would know what he looked like and this could be over by the end of the hour.

(If only it was that easy)

Derek squeezed his eyes shut.

If he'd just been wrong this once.

"I wanted to believe he was interested in me."

"Forget that." Derek told her.

"I let my guard down."

"Do you have any idea why he would have done this?" Emily asked.

"Did he threaten you? Did he want something?" Spencer asked further.

"I just thought he liked me." Penelope, sadly, admitted.

"Okay. We're going to come back in a little while." JJ told her. Penelope was upset, she felt stupid and she felt used.

She felt horrible.

"We need a name." Emily had to ask.

"James Colby Baylor." Douchey name for a douche. How fitting.

As Emily and Reid began making their way out of the hospital room, Derek and Amelia placed kisses on Penelope's cheek and followed out after them considering Penelope wanted to speak to JJ privately.

The second they were out of the hospital room, Derek punched one of the whiteboards in the waiting room, Spencer said to him: "You need to stay calm."

Amelia and Emily eyed the boy-genius, as he might've been correct but Derek wasn't going to listen.

"Don't tell me what to be." Point proven.

Deciding speaking to Derek wasn't a good idea, Spencer turned to Amelia, "Do you remember what he looked like? Or anything Penelope said about him?"

Prepare to be disappointed, Spencer.

Amelia bit the inside of her cheek before speaking, "I... didn't actually look at him, like I couldn't describe him to you. I just let Penelope do her thing and then we just talked about what she would wear." She swore she saw smoke come out of Derek's ears, "She said he was handsome, he was definitely flirting with her, but that's all I got."

"That's all you got?" Derek fumed.

Amelia looked up at him with a displeased face but, (un)luckily Emily stepped back in, having apparently left to go speak to Hotch. (Amelia did not remember this happening)

(Her senses were all screwed up and she couldn't wait for them to return back to her)

"I just talked to Hotch. They think he used a revolver." She informed.

Derek took a step further away from Amelia, "Who the hell uses a revolver?"

"Douchebags."

"Someone who doesn't want to leave shell casings behind as evidence."

Now, it will be very easy for you to tell which was Amelia's answer and which was Spencer's.

Amelia nodded her head, "Douchebags."

"What about witnesses?" Derek asked as he put his hands on his hips.

"None so far." Emily told him before turning to Amelia, "Do you remember him enough to get a sketch or just anything?"

Spencer winced as Emily finished her question.

"She apparently didn't look at him."

Amelia ignored him.

Emily's eyes widened as she decided it would be best to move the topic along, "He also staged it to look like a robbery."

"Which means if he's smart enough to use forensic countermeasures, odds are that the name he gave Garcia is probably bogus." Spencer said, as JJ approached, "What did she say?"

"She made me promise not to talk about her like a victim." JJ said as they all looked back at Penelope with frowns on their faces.

Emily and JJ shared some secret signs that neither Amelia or the men knew the meaning of, and they all doubted the two women even knew the meaning of their signing.

Emily sighed, "I really better go get some coffee, you coming, JJ?"

JJ nodded very eagerly, "Yeah! You coming, Amelia?"

There was a tone in both of their voices that implied they very obviously wanted Amelia to come with them and get her away from the attitude Derek was giving her.

Amelia didn't know why.

She probably deserved the attitude he was giving her.

Amelia nodded slowly before turning to Spencer, "If you guys get to see her, tell her I went to get her more flowers."

Spencer nodded with a small smile, "Are you sure there's going to be any more room for flowers?"

"No," Amelia responded with the shake of her head, "But I'll make room for, P."

Derek shook his head, "Make room for flowers but can't even look at her date properly."

JJ looked at Emily with raised eyebrows, to which Emily waved her hand with an expression that said she'd tell her later.

Amelia sighed, but she didn't speak back. She deserved it. She was a profilier but didn't pay close enough attention to realize Penelope's date was a douchebag who was going to shoot her. She should've known.

She should've been better at her job. And been a better friend.

Emily and JJ decided now was the perfect time to get Amelia out of there and down the corridor for some coffee, and as far away from Derek.

Which was something they never thought they'd have to say.

✺

Four days later and no leads. Derek still had a stick up his ass (according to Emily) and Amelia was exhausted. The agent had been waiting till visiting hours shut and everyone had gone home to flash her badge and spend the night in Penelope's room.

While it was a gross abuse of her badge, she didn't care and if anyone decided to have a problem with it she'd... well she didn't know what she'd do but if she had to she'd figure that out later.

Penelope enjoyed having someone sleep in the same room with her, and waking up to someone. It made her feel safe, and only in the company of her closest friends did she not feel so stupid.

Granted, she hadn't seen her two best friends at the same time since four days ago...

Amelia didn't like to reflect on that. She actually didn't think about it at all, because she deserved it, didn't she? Amelia believed Derek had every right to be angry at her, so Amelia would think no different.

She would carry on with her day.

And Derek could continue being annoyed at her.

(Amelia knew better than to argue when a man gets that way, didn't she?)

Due to Derek's (rightful) attitude adjustment, Amelia found herself in the pleasant company of her fellow women of the BAU. Which, while they were close friends, was quite rare! Amelia always found herself paired up with Derek or Hotch, so she wasn't used to spending the day with Emily or JJ but these past four days had been bliss.

They'd started with food from the hospital café, big mistake - would not recommend. And they'd sat in the corner sipping on their coffees, Amelia found herself in a safe environment to speak about Clara. She supposed that sitting down with the Unit Chief and revealing the truth meant that she could start speaking to others about the truth and letting them know more about her.

That was exactly what the three women had done after their tears had been spilt over three crappy coffees and a few biscuits. They gossiped, spilled truths and found themselves close together.

Amelia didn't know what it felt like to have this many friends. But, she couldn't believe she had this many friends at all! And the best part was, she felt safe with them all. They all welcomed her with open arms and made her feel like something, like she belonged and like she had meaning.

She would never forget what that felt like.

On day four, Amelia found herself in the BAU room texting Penelope to make sure the blonde was having a good morning or as good as a morning can get in hospital. When Penelope replied with a straight face emoji, Amelia decided that telling Penelope there was a tub of ice cream in the freezer would lift her spirits.

It did. But, Penelope wondered why Amelia spoke about the ice cream as if she wouldn't be there to enjoy it with Derek and herself.

A sketch was placed in-front of her by Rossi before she had the chance to respond to Penelope's questions, she looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows, "You recognize him?"

Amelia looked at the sketch and found nothing that stood out about the man, "He looks like every guy that goes to our coffee shop."

"The police said they took it back to the coffee shop, the place came up empty." JJ informed them as she came off the phone.

"He'd only been going to the coffee shop for about two weeks. He never got a drink, I always thought he was just there for free wifi." Amelia said, her shoulders sagged as she leant back in the seat. She should've realized he was stalking Penelope.

"I even ran it through ViCAP. No hits." Emily added.

"No luck with the rental car companies. No prints at the scene. No shell casing." No leads. "The cellphone the guy used to call Garcia at work was a disposable. The guy's a cipher." Hotch said as his hands came to rest on the back of Amelia's chair that she was sat in.

He hadn't had much opportunity to speak to Amelia in the past four days, he would be at the crime scene in the morning or haggling local police for any new leads or up in his office trying to find new leads. Hotch hadn't had any extra time to devote to his agents as he worried about the current one in hospital.

And that was good. That meant they were all focused on finding this son of a bitch who thought they can shoot Penelope and get away with it.

They still didn't have any new leads though.

Hotch stared at the sketch on the board they'd created and shook his head before exiting the BAU room.

They kept coming up short.

And if they didn't find a new lead soon, they were all going to get very frustrated.

Thankfully, when Derek and Spencer returned from the hospital they had information in hand (not literally.) "I think we're looking for someone who failed out of law school or didn't pass the Bar."

"Did Garcia say if he gave any details about the cases he was supposedly working?" JJ asked.

"No specifics."

"If he failed out of the system, it could explain why he's got a working vocabulary and not much more." Hotch said.

Emily nodded her head, "It could also explain his anger. Even in his lie, he rails against other people's incompetence."

"Well," Rossi shrugged, "He's clearly a narcissist. The clothes, the watch, the subtle hints at where he went to school. He's faking humility when he's saying New Haven and Cambridge, instead of Harvard and Yale."

"JJ, we need an analyst who can put our information through our legal databases." JJ nodded and made her way out the room to find someone, that someone who wouldn't be as good as Penelope but would get the job done for the time being.

"And I think it goes without saying that when Garcia gets out of the hospital, Levine and Morgan will be the agents to take her home and stay a couple nights." Hotch said, "I doubt it's much of an order to either of you but just incase."

Amelia stared at the Unit Chief. Was he blind? Had he missed the tension in his own unit these last four days and how Amelia and Derek had to be very much kept apart due to the comments made by one of them and the other's refusal to rise to said comments.

Or, was this his way of saying sort it out. Amelia was grateful that he wasn't locking them in the same room, so maybe there were some positives.

Morgan opened his mouth to speak but the Unit Chief raised his eyebrow and he was silenced.

He left the room, Rossi looked between the two best friends as neither one of them dared to speak to the other.

Until Derek decided to speak up, "We'll take shifts, that way—"

"That way, you don't have to see me and I don't have to see you. Yeah. You don't have to explain it, Derek." Amelia rolled her eyes with a huff as she stood up from the seat she was sat in and gathered her papers before exiting the room.

Rossi shook his head at Derek before following after Amelia who seemed to be stopping for no-one.

She didn't know whether it was the exhaustion, or the being spoken to like a child by her supposed best friend but she wasn't going just accept that. She might deserve Derek's passing comments and his mean glares but she did not deserve to be patronized.

"Wait up, kid." Rossi called out to her, making her stop at her desk with furrowed eyebrows.

"Kid?" She asked.

Rossi nodded with a small smile, "Yeah, you and Reid are the kids, or so I decided."

Amelia hummed. "Okay."

Rossi frowned, "I can stop—"

Amelia interrupted him with the shake of her head, "No, no, it's nice."

Rossi felt like there was more to discover about Amelia everyday but he wasn't there to discover. He was there to talk, and hopefully listen - if Amelia would talk to him of course.

"What's going on with you and Morgan?" He asked.

"Nothing." She responded far too quickly.

Amelia had a habit of doing that when she was trying (and failing) to cover something up.

Rossi raised an eyebrow.

Amelia scoffed at the expression, "Okay, there's something but it's nothing major. And it's my fault, so it doesn't matter."

"What's your fault?"

"Just..." Amelia sighed and shifted her weight across her legs, "Derek thinks that I should've spotted the fact P's date was the unsub and then she never would've got shot and she never would've been in any pain that she'd in now. That's all."

That's all. Yeah, that's all.

It's not as if he was completely wrong and Amelia should be taking every opportunity she got to to stand up to Derek and put him in his place.

Rossi looked at her as if she'd gone crazy, "You don't believe him, do you?" Of course not. (She totally did)

Her silence was his answer. "How were you to know that Garcia's date was an unsub? You weren't paying close attention to him, by the sounds of it you looked at him for five seconds, max, and on top of that you were off duty. You're allowed to be in a coffee shop and not feel you have to profile everybody in there just incase they were an unsub."

"You never could've known. You weren't on the look out."

"But, I should've been." Amelia argued.

Rossi scoffed, "Really? You think you have to be on the look out every second of everyday?"

"Yes..." Amelia said, slowly, "I don't know!"

"If I can't see that Penelope's date was a blaring narcissist, then how am I gonna see a sadist? Or satanist?" She questioned and continued when the older man remained silent, "Exactly. It makes me a terrible profilier, and an even worse friend."

"You can't believe that just because you missed this one guy and the only reason you missed him is because he shot Penelope. If he hadn't of shot Penelope, and you just continued going to the coffee shop he would've blended in: because that's what he's supposed to do. None of us would spot him."

"That's not the point."

Jason Gideon, you had some strength arguing with this girl.

"That is the point, Amelia. Just because you didn't spot him out in the open, makes you no less of a friend to Garcia, and no less of a profiler." Rossi told her sternly.

Hotch coming round the corner and standing beside the two forbid Amelia from arguing any further. She'd already cried to the Unit Chief this week, the last thing she needed was his friendship advice.

He was probably already sick of her.

"Dave, I've got an analyst down the hall."

The older man nodded and headed down the hall to go and collect Kevin. He even sounded less fun than Penelope.

"Are you alright?" Hotch asked with his usual furrowed brows and frown. (He had not been blind and thought that sending both Amelia and Derek back to Penelope's apartment would be a wonderful idea to bring the two back together)

(He hoped it work)

Amelia nodded her head, "Yeah. Just getting, uh, life advice from Rossi." Hotch looked at her unconvinced, "You know, he's been around longer than anyone else, so I thought he'd be the guy to go to."

"And what advice did you need?" Hotch asked. (He was also not stupid and already knew what Rossi had been lecturing Amelia on in the first place)

"Uh." Stop saying that! "How to cook a good pasta dish. 'Cause he's old, and Italian."

Oh, my goodness. You are the least subtle person on earth.

Hotch nodded his head slowly, "Right. If you need to talk, the door's open, you know that right?"

Amelia nodded her head, she was eager to sit back down and work this case without any more interruptions, "Yeah. I just didn't think you'd know the best pasta dish."

Hotch raised his eyebrows with his lips retreating into a straight line instead of a smile.

That was better than a frown.

"Sorry!"

He shook his head with a straight line on his face, (that was a smile in Amelia's books), "No, you'd be right."

Amelia smiled (for what felt like the first time in four days) "You better get going. I think Keith is getting pretty angsty."

He laughed quietly under his breath and looked through the glass doors to see the unimpressed Rossi and the other analyst on their floor, "It's Kevin."

"Oh!" Amelia gasped, "Whoops."

✺

FROM: HANDSOME [8:35PM]
Just got to Garcia's. You'll be here in the
morning?

Amelia winced as she read over Derek's text. About that.

Amelia decided to be a much bigger and a much better person than Derek and put Penelope's needs first, and that meant Amelia was currently making her way up the steps to Penelope's apartment.

Derek was going to kill her.

But, Amelia figured she didn't really care.

It was for Penelope's benefit that the two of them were in the same room and if he decided to make it all about him and his problem with Amelia then so be it, but she wasn't going to pay it any attention.

Amelia would just be happy to be in Penelope's company.

Her happiness of seeing Penelope out of hospital was reflected in her cheerful knocks on the front door, the agent was not going to leave it at one simple knock, no, she had to do three intricate knocks.

Three knock that Penelope would understand, and from her place on the sofa she understood, she looked at Derek with a confused frown, "I thought you said Amelia was coming in the morning, because Hotch sent her home to get a proper nights sleep."

Derek winced at the excuse he had used.

In any ordinary case, Hotch probably would've sent Amelia home to get some sleep if she'd slept on a hospital chair four nights in a row in an uncomfortable position. But, this was no ordinary case and it was no ordinary patient in the bed next to the chair, so Hotch would let it slide.

"Yeah. She isn't."

"Then why did she just do our knock?" Penelope asked, wincing as she sat herself up straighter to get a good view of the front door that Derek now stood in-front of.

"Our knock?"

Penelope nodded her head, "Yeah. Our knock. We have a system thing, you wouldn't get it. And no, you can't learn it, you'd make it more complicated than it already is."

Derek frowned, "Now I feel left out."

"Good." Penelope raised her eyebrows at him as he looked through the peephole with a sigh and let Amelia into the apartment.

"Evening ladies," she greeted, strolling past Derek with not even so much as a look at him, "I brought ice cream, just incase we finish the first tub, and I got peppermint tea, the good kind, with some cookies."

"That I made." She winked at Penelope and wiggled her eyebrows.

"So, that means you didn't make them." Penelope giggled as Amelia set down her essentials for Penelope.

Amelia hummed, "I was going to make you soup, but after recent events I don't think any of us fancy soup."

Amelia doubted she'd ever make soup again after Tracey Lambert.

Derek stood opposite her in the kitchen as Penelope watched them, curiously, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm doing what we were told, Derek." She told him, still not looking up at him, "It was Hotch's orders that we both stay at P's. So, I'm just doing that."

Derek shook his head, "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be anywhere near this case when you saw him, yet can't even remember what he looks like."

Amelia huffed.

Had she had enough?

Absolutely.

Was Derek wrong?

(After some deep thought on the way to Penelope's she had concluded he definitely was)

Yes.

"We aren't doing this here, Morgan. Not when we're supposed to be looking after Penelope." She shook her head, "So, push the blame aside for a couple of hours and focus on being here for Penelope."

"You can do that, can't you?" She asked him, quietly, making sure that the injured woman on the couch can't hear them.

Derek scoffed, "Yeah. 'Course I can."

"Good." Amelia smiled at him, "So, take the cookies over there and shut up about the case for a while."

Derek rolled his eyes before planting a smile on his face as he took the cookies and made his way over to Penelope.

Wasn't this nice? No Derek complaining for the first time in four days.

It was so peaceful.

Too peaceful.

Clearly, as two gunshots sounded outside the apartment.

Amelia and Derek exchanged a look, before he ran out of the apartment as Amelia guided Penelope off the sofa.

"Amelia!" Derek shouted and threw a spare gun to his friend. He opened his mouth to speak again but Amelia cut him off.

"Go! We'll be fine!" She shouted at him as he ran out of the apartment.

Amelia handed over the spare gun to Penelope before hiding the woman away in a corner of the apartment, "Okay, you take this."

"I don't believe in guns."

"This is very real, Penelope." Amelia said, as silent tears began streaming down Penelope's face, "Keep your finger off that trigger, if you see him before me you grab hold of it, and squeeze. Okay?"

"I know you don't want to, but if you don't shoot he will shoot you, okay?" Amelia asked, her hands resting on Penelope's shoulders, "Penelope, I need you to say okay."

"Okay."

"Okay." Amelia nodded, "Derek's gone to chase after him and I'm gonna hide in the kitchen, incase he's brave enough to come up here, okay? You'll be able to see me."

Amelia slowly retreated back to the kitchen and pulled her gun from its holster, "See? You can still see me, I'm still here, Penelope. I'm right here." She crouched down behind the counter, but leant forward slightly so that she could still see out into the corridor if the unsub was to make his way up to the apartment.

Oh, Amelia dared him to.

She would have a great time shooting that douchebag.

After a few minutes of just heavy breathing, footsteps were heard coming closer to the apartment. And these feet weren't just walking, they were running.

Amelia didn't have time to glance back to Penelope before the footsteps made their way into the apartment and she jumped up from behind the counter and pointed her gun at him.

She pointed her gun at Derek.

And even Penelope had in her shaky state.

Amelia sighed in relief that it was Derek, "A little knock next time, you know?"

Derek rolled his eyes, "Hopefully there is no next time."

Penelope still had the gun raised.

Derek lowered his gun and lowered his hands, "It's me, Garcia, it's me. It's Morgan."

Penelope sobbed as she lowered the gun, Amelia took it from her as the sirens wailed in the background.

Derek embraced Penelope in a hug and shushed her as her arms wrapped around his waist. He looked behind him before wrapping an arm around Amelia's shoulders and bringing her into the hug.

✺

Penelope had not let Amelia let go of her. In some form, they'd lost some contact. And by that, the blonde meant they'd had to pull away from the hug when police flooded the apartment building but the blonde kept hold of Amelia's hand.

Derek was constantly looking out the window, and squeezing Penelope's shoulder every so often to remind her that he was still here.

JJ stormed into the apartment, "What is going on?"

So much, JJ.

"I don't know. This guy's getting seriously bold and I can guarantee you, it's not over." Derek informed the liaison and Spencer.

JJ crouched down in-front of the woman, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know what he wants from me." Penelope admitted.

Spencer sat down on a stool opposite them.

Amelia frowned, "You said that you held your breath when he came over to check if you were really dead: do you think you have something on him? I mean, why else would you check if someone is dead?"

"This guy is trying to silence you because he thinks you know something." Amelia suggested. "That's why he came back, it's why he stood over you. He needs to make sure you're dead."

Amelia turned to the frantic face of Penelope, "But, we aren't going to let that happen, I promise."

He's already tried twice, and failed. He wasn't being given that third chance.

"But, I don't know who he is. I'm so scared." Penelope said.

JJ nodded and hugged the blonde before sitting down next to Penelope.

Emily, Hotch and Rossi came into the apartment, the latter asking Derek, "Hey. Did you get a good look at him?"

"Nothing solid." Derek said.

Amelia looked up at him with raised eyebrows. Not so easy, is it? But, she wouldn't make a comment.

"Garcia, we need to get you back to the hospital." Hotch ordered.

"No." Penelope gripped onto Amelia's hand tighter, and the agent fought to wince. "No."

"You know what? You should still be there." JJ said, "We need to get her someplace safe."

"I feel safe with all of you." She admitted.

Amelia squeezed her hand.

"We could take you to the BAU." Hotch offered.

Penelope nodded before seemingly zoning out.

Reid frowned, "You okay?"

She still didn't look entirely present but answered him anyway, "When we were at dinner, they wanted us to sit by a window but he insisted on sitting at the worst table in the place and he sat with his back to the corner."

Detectives came into the room as they tried to understand the meaning of what they'd just been told, Hotch had them clear the room.

"Tell us about the car."

Penelope's eyebrows furrowed at Spencer's words, "Why?"

"Just go with him." Derek said, as he sat down on the other side of Penelope.

"You said it was white, four-door, American. But what else?" Spencer queried.

"That's it. It was just a car."

"Now come on. Think. Anything. Go back." Derek tried to rejog her memory.

"His seat belt was buckled behind his back." Oh. She saw all their faces, "Why does that matter?"

"It wasn't a rental. It was for surveillance." Derek told her.

"Agents don't wear seat belts. They need to get out in a hurry."

"Alright," Rossi said, "Let's cut the crap. You need to be straight with us, right now." He sat down on the coffee table and ignored Amelia's harsh glare, "Look at me, not them."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"You got shot. Most people get shot for a reason." At his words Penelope tried to sneak a glance at Amelia, tried to at least, "Eyes here!"

"Calm it down." Amelia warned him. The guy who just tried to kill her just came again, he could take it down a notch.

"Hey, ease up, Rossi!" Derek also warned.

"You've got a room full of people here willing to believe that an FBI agent is trying to kill you. We need to know everything you do on company time that we don't know about." Rossi ordered.

Derek shook his head, "Come on, man."

Amelia's eyes widened.

Oh.

She hadn't thought of that, in-fact she'd completely forgotten about it's relevance to the case because in Amelia's world it was just something Penelope did. It shouldn't be viewed as incriminating, it was sweet, it was kind.

It was everything Penelope was.

Penelope seemed to have the same realization at the same time as Amelia. "It's nothing bad."

"Spit it out!" Rossi shouted.

Amelia squeezed on tightly to the blonde's hand, "Hey! Cut it out!" She shouted back at him, he raised his eyebrows at her, "You want her to talk, shut up and listen. Stop screaming in her face for five seconds."

Oh. Amelia, you never talk back to men when they get that way.

Hadn't you learned your lesson?

The agents around her raised their eyebrows, all exchanging glances between one another.

"Tell him, Penelope." Amelia told her, shaking her head at Rossi and leaning back on the couch after she realized she had accidentally got closer to shout at him.

"I counsel victims' families." Penelope admitted. "And they know where I work, so sometimes they ask me to look into case for them."

Amelia did a double take at Penelope. She knew the blonde was a councilor, she didn't know that Penelope looked into their cases.

Oh.

"What does that mean?" Rossi asked.

"It just means that the cases, the unsolved ones, I tag them so whoever's investigating them knows that the FBI considers them a priority." Penelope explained as Rossi finally sat back and gave her some breathing room.

Again, Amelia did not know that part!

"You're not authorized to do that." Hotch told her, with his frown now firmly stuck on his face. (He thought he had an analyst and agent who were doing that, together)

And the thing Penelope hadn't been authorized to do, had been the one thing to get her shot.

"I know I was just trying to help." Penelope said as Rossi walked away.

"Whoever works those cases can see that you've flagged them, Penelope, that means they think you're watching them." Amelia told her before looking up at Hotch, "On one of those flagged files will be the unsub. How many cases are we talking, Penelope?"

"I don't know. Seven, eight, maybe?"

Okay. That was a good low number.

Amelia nodded her head.

"I need to get into my system."

"You can't." Hotch said, "You're suspended." Oh. Amelia forgot about that.

"Wait a minute, Garcia." Derek sat forward, grabbing onto Penelope's hands, "On your date, you said this guy was pressing you to find out if you were working murder cases. Hotch, we got to look at those files."

Amelia and Derek turned to look at him, "It's your best bet at finding this unsub. He'll be in there somewhere."

"I told you," Rossi said, "I'm sick of this jagoff being right in front of us."

"Dave's right. We'll go back to the BAU. Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, you stay here and make sure no one forgets to log out of the system." Amelia frowned, wishing she could've been apart of this illegal activity.

She'd never done something illegal before, imagine the thrill!

"Levine, follow me."

Amelia kissed Penelope on the cheek before following Agent Hotchner to her doom.

That's what happens when you talk to men when they get that way...

He stopped in the middle of the corridor as JJ and Rossi walked past them and back down to the car, "Did you know?"

"No." Amelia answered honestly, as his eyes tried to detect any of her tells for lying, "I knew she was a councilor for families but I didn't know she flagged up files."

Hotch nodded his head. She wasn't lying.

Sensing that was all, Amelia pointed back in the apartment's direction, "So, can I get back to Penelope, now?"

He shook his head this time, "No. You're coming back to the office."

Well, there goes her chance at illegal activities.

✺

Amelia paced the space between their desks. She had a file in hand so that she could look busy.

But she was so not busy.

She was stressed. Anxious (no surprise!) And seriously worried.

She was stressed because she didn't know whether she had to apologize to Rossi for shouting at him.

She was anxious that they would never catch the guy who had shot Garcia and he would run free trying to hunt her down forever.

And seriously worried that he would succeed in his task of getting to Penelope when one of them wasn't looking.

Amelia would try her best not to let that happen.

The glass doors opened and she saw Keith (?) walked in with the internal affairs agent, and an officer.

Oh.

Oh.

Holy shit.

Keith looked up at her wide eyes and discreetly shook his head when he saw her reach for her gun.

What was she supposed to do?

Hotch.

Yeah. He'd know what to do.

"Hey, Keith, I'll be right back." Amelia kept her head down just incase this guy had a chance at remembering her face but if Amelia didn't know his, there was no way he knew hers.

Kevin let it slide that his name was not Keith as Amelia made her way up to the Unit Chief's office.

The unsub was too busy discussing with the internal affairs agent how Penelope might be a dirty agent to realize she'd made her way up the stairs.

Amelia didn't bother knocking, and she'd apologize enough for it later. "He's here. With Keith, and I didn't know what to do so I came to you."

"He's in our offices?" He asked and abruptly stood up from his desk.

Amelia subtly pointed down into the bullpen, "Out there. With Keith."

"Kevin." He whispered as they started to make their way towards the door of the office when his phone rang.

Derek.

Telling them the unsub was in the BAU building.

"Stay by me." Hotch whispered as they left the office and made their way towards Rossi's office, "He'll start shooting if we're too obvious."

"Yeah, because huddling outside of Rossi's office is just what we do all the time." Amelia scoffed as she forced herself to look ahead and not at the man who shot Penelope who stood so close to her desk it was almost laughable.

Hotch stood on the opposite side of Amelia and she wasn't quite sure if that was to stop her from shooting the unsub, or stopping the unsub from recognizing her.

Rossi opened the door immediately as the three of them spoke in hushed tones and ignored the presence of the man in the bullpen completely.

He's not there. He's not there.

He is there.

"He's trying to prove to himself he's smarter than all of us." Rossi whispered, as they began making their way down the stairs.

"It's too crowded in here." Hotch said, "We can't get an angle on him without putting people in jeopardy." The Unit Chief aligned himself so that the smaller frame of Amelia would be hidden behind his.

He wasn't taking any chances.

They pretended to be interested in a file in Rossi's hands, coincidentally it had been the file Amelia had been pretending to read earlier.

"Poor Keith."

"Kevin."

The unsub looked up at the three agents grouped together as he spoke to Kevin. The three of them spilt up, Hotch was going to the left, Amelia was to remain in the middle and Rossi was going to the right.

The unsub seemed to do a double take when he saw the woman in the middle.

Oh, no.

She didn't quite know who pulled out their gun first, because the unsub had looked like he was going to walk away but then he took the internal affairs officers into his hands and pointed the gun at his brain.

It was tough to decide whether Amelia or Aaron had drawn first.

"You're a cop. You know this isn't going to end well." Rossi said as they all drew in closer, agents at their desks pulling their guns out too.

Keith just sunk down in the desk chair he was at.

"You're standing in the middle of the FBI." Hotch reminded him.

"You think I'm afraid of the FBI?" He asked, tightening his grip around the officer's neck.

Amelia shrugged at him, "I know how this will end, and so do you."

"I'm a decorated officer." Because, you've sure done some actions to represent that.

"That's right." Rossi nodded, "And this is not how you want to be remembered."

"Cop killer, that'd sure be the headline that tarnishes your career. Or, you can change the ending and put the gun down." Amelia offered. "It's your choice, your legacy. Just depends how you wanna go down."

He laughed quietly, "Best minds in the FBI and you can't even stop me."

Amelia noticed a blonde figure in the hallway with their gun raised.

It was JJ.

JJ had shot through the glass doors and sent a bullet into that douche's brain.

Guns were holstered away as they approached the body, Amelia nudged it with her foot, "He's dead."

"I think that happens when you shoot people in the head." Rossi replied, plainly.

"I was just checking." Amelia mumbled, stepping over his body and checking on JJ. "You okay?"

The blonde nodded, lowering her gun and wrapping her arm around Amelia to bring her into a hug. It wasn't everyday JJ had to hold her gun, and it wasn't everyday that she had to shoot it.

"You ended it, JJ." Amelia whispered into the liaison's ear, "Penelope can know some peace now, be proud of that."

"I only shot him through the door." JJ muttered as Amelia pulled away and rested her hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah. But, it was that or he killed that bald guy. You did the right thing." Amelia reassured her.

JJ kept close to Amelia until the officers came into to take her statement and the agents from Penelope's apartment arrived.

"Levine, can I talk to you for a moment?" Rossi asked, pulling her to the side.

JJ and Penelope laughed quietly at her wide eyes as she followed after the older man.

Do not shout at me.

"I wanted to apologize for the shouting back at Garcia's apartment, it was unnecessary and I was taking my anger with the unsub out on her." Rossi said.

Amelia wondered why he was apologizing to her.

"And the glares that came afterwards were totally uncalled for."

Amelia nodded her head, and picked at her nail polish. It's not everyday the guy who stood in-front of your class on careers day in 1991 is apologizing to you. "I was actually going to apologize to you, I don't shout a lot. I... actually don't shout."

"Don't apologize, kid," he smiled and squeezed her shoulder, "I'm the one who should be sorry. I was going to apologize to Garcia as well, but I have no clue where she's gone."

"Oh, she's flirting with Keith in her lair."

Rossi's eyebrows furrowed, "Keith?"

"Yeah. The tech guy?" Rossi laughed at her confusion before patting her on the shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow, Levine."

"Bye...?" Amelia said watching him walk away in confusion, seriously? What was wrong with Keith?

It wasn't longer before Amelia found another man standing before her, as soon as she saw Derek stood in-front of her she resorted to picking at her nail polish.

Immediately.

And Derek hadn't missed her anxious tell.

Amelia felt the need to apologize, but then she always did. Even when she hadn't necessarily been in the wrong, even if the other party had clearly been in the wrong Amelia felt the need to apologize.

She'd always been made to feel like she was in the wrong.

Therefore, she always had to do the apologizing.

But, standing before Derek she found herself completely silent. Because, Agent Hotchner's words rung over and over again in her head: you were apart of these events, but you did not cause them.

She'd been stood in that coffee shop, but she did not have an obligation to stand there and profile everyone in there.

Not profiling the man Penelope would be going on a date with was not something she had to do. (But, she would be doing it from now on)

She blinked at Derek, multiple times.

Waiting for him to speak.

He hadn't said anything yet.

Amelia wanted to get Penelope home and sleep in the blonde's bed.

He was taking too long.

Amelia picked at her nails at a quicker pace.

(It had been two long minutes)

"You never could've known." Derek admitted.

Amelia looked up at him.

"I don't know why I thought you should've known. I was wrong. You didn't need to look at him, you didn't need to profile him, you were just getting coffee." He frowned, "I'm sorry."

Amelia looked down at her shoes.

People shouldn't apologize to her. It didn't feel right. She should be saying sorry.

She was wrong. She was wrong.

Everything you do is wrong!

Derek grasped her chin with his fingers and forced her to look up at him, "Don't do that. I'm sorry, Amelia. I was rude and had a stick up my ass. You didn't deserve those types of reactions from me."

"I did." She whispered, sadly.

"No, Amelia. You didn't. You listening to me, Mama?" She nodded her head, "Because you did not deserve me talking to you like that. It was rude and it was mean. And I'm sorry."

"And I wish you'd just shouted at me, or something instead of looking at me with those sad eyes of yours." She frowned even further, she didn't mean to have sad eyes! "Stop, Amelia, okay? It's not your fault."

"A bad thing happened, but a bad thing did not happen because you did not stand in that coffee shop and profile a serial killer who would shoot a federal agent and a cop."

"You hear me?"

Amelia hummed in response and removed his hold from her chin and just held onto his hands instead, "I'm sorry I have sad eyes."

Derek sighed and squeezed her hands tightly, "Amelia, you don't have to be sorry for having sad eyes. You don't have to apologize for anything."

He moved his hold and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her into a right hug, where it felt like everything would be okay.

Amelia wrapped her arms around his waist and deeply inhaled his scent, she gagged, "You couldn't have worn a better aftershave?"

He laughed quietly, "I knew you hated this one, so I thought it would annoy you."

"You've succeeded." She mumbled, pulling away as his arm wrapped around her shoulder and they began making their way towards Penelope's office.

"I don't like Keith, by the way."

Derek frowned, "Who's Keith?"

Amelia groaned, "Why do none of you know who Keith is in this building? The tech boy."

Derek nodded his head, "You mean Kevin, right?"

Amelia nodded with a smile, "Keith."

She wrapped her arm around his waist as they turned down the corridor to the left and inhaled his stupid aftershave again.

Under his wing, and in this building Amelia would always feel safe. Even if the carpet was stained with an unsub's blood, and they may argue from time to time but that's what friends do.

And friends be honest with one another.

And Amelia knew that while they dug into their ice cream tubs, Amelia could be honest with her best friends.

And they could know the truth.

And Amelia would tell the truth, knowing it wasn't her fault.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
this is mediocre ‼️‼️ but i have the most depressing twd fic in the drafts, with a 9 year old oc who is IMMEDIATELY adopted by rick grimes. i've wrote two chapters and have wanted to cry for elodie at least 7 times

that being said i'm half way through season seven of twd and would happily give rick and negan some freaky deaky 🫡 (SORRY GLENN!)

we're also like nine chapters away from act two 😮

so i need to slow down my updates and get faster at writing my chapters in my drafts because i like knowing things that you guys don't 😊 (i'm evil yes i know)