Alone Time Chapter Two

Kevin approached the apartment with cautious optimism. He wanted Penelope to choose him for once, not Derek Morgan! He seemed always looming in their relationship with Kevin feeling as if he was always being measured against this symbol of perfection. He’d grown tired of feeling second even though Penelope had always told him it was all in his head. Today was the start of all things bright and new. Once Derek was dead she’d be forced to focus totally on the two of them. He was almost giddy at the thought of beating Derek out for Penelope’s heart.

Ringing the doorbell, Kevin listened for footsteps but it was quiet. No noise from the television or music and no footsteps.

“You just missed her!” A voice from a distance rang out. Kevin turned around searching for whence the voice came.

“She just left!” An elderly lady watched him from the sidewalk waiting to get his attention. Smiling he walked toward her.

“ Hello. Do you know when she’ll be back?” Kevin asked trying to mask his disappointment.

“Don’t know. Didn’t ask.” The lady examined him from head to toe.

“Thank you. I’ll just wait for her.”

“Suit yourself” She said and continued slowly down the street.

Kevin took a seat on the steps; he was prepared to wait as long as it took for his Plum Sauce to come back. He imagined seeing her walking toward him; no running toward him beaming with excitement, happy to be reunited with her true love. There’d be no work, no team and no Derek Morgan to get in the way.

Home of Derek Morgan- Saturday Afternoon

Derek slowly began to regain consciousness, fighting against the drugs and the duct tape around his wrist, feet and mouth. He didn’t know when Kevin would return but he knew that he was running out of time.  Kevin perceived him as a threat and he had to free himself quickly.  He worried about Penelope and what he would do if she rejected him. The two of them had spent countless hours together discussing Kevin and his reaction to her turning down his proposal. She’d tried to talk to him and convince him to not give up on her or their relationship but he would not listen nor reconsider his decision to break up. Now he had become a raging lunatic demanding his way and blaming all of his failures with Penelope on Derek.

Penelope could hear her friend’s voice now, reminding her of his last instructions of no calls, no visits, no texts, no nothing, but she dialed his number anyway. It’s was odd that the call rang and rang; no matter what she knew that Derek would answer her call and he definitely would not still be in bed. An uneasy feeling crept over her as she dialed his number; again, no answer.

“I’ll just stop by for a quick hello.” She said to herself. “If he gets mad, I’ll tell him I was worried about him when he didn’t answer my call.” She continued to rationalize her visit to herself. She actually felt relief that now she had a logical reason for dropping by and while she was there, she’d mention Kevin’s visit.

While Derek fought to free his hands and feet he thought about the fact that he and the team seemed to spend more time together than apart. They had formed a family over the years and there was nothing they wouldn't do for each other. Now, he needed them more than ever, his life was in danger and if he couldn’t get free he’d surely die, alone.

He began to scoot his body closer to the door and lying on his back he began to ram his feet against the door. He knew it was a long shot, but maybe a passerby, the mail man, somebody would hear the noise and come to help. Over and over he rammed his feet against the door. After a while, he was exhausted and he knew this attempt was hopeless and futile. He caught his breath and started again; if he was going to die it wasn’t going to be because he gave up. He kept kicking, and kicking and fighting against the tape around his wrists.

Penelope wondered what the odd noise was on the other side of the door. She rang the doorbell and the noise, like kicking, increased. How odd, she thought and she rang the doorbell again, this time she heard a muffled moan as well.

“Derek?” She waited to hear a response from him. Again, the pounding noise against the door and the moans and she began to panic. Derek hadn’t answered her calls and now, she heard the odd noises inside.

“Derek!” Shaking now, something was wrong and she needed to get inside. Quickly, Penelope rummaged through her purse and grabbed the key that Derek had given her and let herself inside.

Apartment of Penelope Garcia

Kevin anxiously sat on the porch of Penelope’s apartment, foot taping nervously he looked for the tenth time at his watch.

“You might want to come back later!” The elderly lady from earlier shouted from across the street. With her hands on her hips she continued to stare at Kevin.

“Thank you, maybe I will.” Kevin shouted back waving and, cursing the old biddy under his breath. Reluctantly, Kevin heads to his car and takes off.

“First things first, I suppose.” Kevin knew he had other things to attend to and now was as good of a time as any and he headed back toward Derek’s.

Home of Derek Morgan

“Oh, my God, Derek!” Penelope pushed her way through the door and rushed to the side of her friend. She tried to stay calm for him as she quickly freed him.

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” Derek felt weak and tired but grateful to see her.

“What happened? We’ve got to get you to the hospital!” Her hands were shaking as she looked at him weak and leaning against the wall.”

“Penelope, we’ve got to get out of here, now before he gets back!” Derek knew it would break her heart if she knew that it was Kevin who was responsible for this.

“Who? Who did this to you?” She began to cry as she saw how weak he was as he struggled to his feet.

“Penelope, please let’s go. I’ll tell you later, okay?” Little did she know that Derek had no intention in leaving but he knew he had to get her out of the house and away before Kevin returned. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her, especially at the hands of Kevin Lynch.

The two headed out the front door to Penelope’s car. Once Penelope was inside he closed the door and leaned inside.

“Baby Girl, listen to me. I need you to do something for me, okay?”

“Yea, sure…what?”

“I want you to head toward JJ’s house, she lives the closest and while you are on the way there, I need you to call the police and send them here.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving you here! Look at you, you can barely stand! No!”

“Please Baby Girl I need you to do this, right now! Go! I’ll be fine” He started to panic but he had to hold it together. He knew Kevin would be back soon and he didn’t want her get caught in the middle; it wasn’t going to end well between the two men and it would break his heart to see her witness Kevin’s death, if it came to that.

“Derek, I don’t understand…”

“I know you don’t Baby Girl. Please just do this for me, okay?”

Suddenly, Derek and Penelope heard a loud screech as Kevin wheeled into the driveway behind Penelope’s car blocking her in.

“Lock the door!”

“What’s going on, Derek?”

Derek was ready for a fight. Kevin jumped out of his car and stood weighing his next move.

“It’s over man, you don’t want Penelope to see you like this do you?”

Penelope looked out of her side mirror to see Kevin. Stunned she opened the door to get out.

“No! Stay in the car!” Derek had to protect Penelope at all cost.  Ignoring Derek, Penelope slowly gets out of the car staring in disbelief at Kevin.

“Kevin, what are you doing here? What’s going on?” Penelope watched Kevin, a stranger now to her.

Kevin pulled a gun and pointed it in Derek’s and Penelope’s direction. Derek immediately stepped in front of Penelope to shield her.

“Come on, Kevin! Don’t do this, man!” He knew Kevin had already gone too far. Derek could feel Penelope trembling behind him.

“I’m so tired of you being in my way, Derek! Look at you, in my way…again!” Kevin slowly walked toward Derek and Derek continued to keep Penelope behind him while keeping his eyes on Kevin.

There was no more reasoning with Kevin. He had to end this, now. Derek knew that even though he wasn’t up to his normal self, he could take Kevin down.

It happened so fast, the gun went off a split second after he grabbed Kevin’s hand, the force of Derek’s strength changing the course of the bullet. Derek felt a sharp piercing pain shoot through his upper body. Another shot rang out as he forced the gun down and toward Kevin. A shocked look crossed Kevin’s face, mouth gapped open he collapsed to the ground. Derek could here Penelope screaming and crying behind him as he fell to the ground. All he could here was her calling his name and screaming hysterically, then, everything went black.

DC General Hospital – Saturday evening

Hotch, Rossi, JJ, Reid, Alex and Garcia are all seated in the waiting room, visibly upset as they wait for word on Morgan. Penelope is crying while JJ is trying to comfort her. The silence among this group of “family” members is deafening as they struggle to digest the weekend’s events.

Penelope was the first one on her feet when the doctor arrived to speak with them.

“Derek Morgan family?”

“Yes!” They all said in unison.

“I’m Doctor Mara Yamada…”

“How is he?” Rossi interrupted. Penelope gripped JJ’s arm and held her breath.

“He’s going to be fine. A centimeter to the left and we'd be having a different conversation.”

The team releases a collective sigh of relief as they continued to listen to the doctor.

“The bullet was easy to remove, we repaired the damage, stopped the bleeding and he should be able to go home in a day or two.”

“Can we see him?” Penelope asked.

“Yes, but he’s pretty groggy and needs his rest so please make it quick.”

“Yes doctor.” Hotch replied as they followed the doctor to Derek’s room.

For the next twenty minutes it was like a family reunion in the small hospital room; everyone competing to have a say, everyone trying desperately not to discuss the past two days’ events. They knew that conversation had to come but for now, they were celebrating the fact that Derek was alive.

Derek began to fade as the sedatives began to win the battle over his will to stay awake. The team took this as their cue to leave and they all said goodbye and quietly filed out of the room. Of course, Penelope stayed behind to have a final private word with him.

“Hey you.” Penelope grabbed his hand and fought new tears as she looked down on Derek lying sleepily in the bed.

“Hey you.” Derek felt as if he were floating. He was glad Penelope had stayed behind. He was too tired to thank her for saving his life and too tired to apologize for shooting Kevin.

“I’m so sorry for what Kevin did to you…” She didn’t know where to begin. He had saved her life, taking a bullet that could have killed her. She wondered if this would change them. It would be too much for her to handle if she lost him too.

“Shh…Baby Girl, you don’t need to apologize for Kevin. I loved you before all this happened and I still do.” He wondered if she would hold this nightmare against him later.

“I love you too.” That’s all she needed to hear from Derek.

“Kevin…” No one had mentioned what had happened to him. Derek was afraid of what all of this would do to Penelope.

“…Kevin is dead, Derek.”

It felt so cold as she said it. Kevin, the man who at one time she thought she loved and expected to spend her life with was dead; dead at the hands of the man who really possessed her heart.

“I’m so sorry…” Derek drifted off to sleep before he could finish his apology to her. He was alive and that’s all she needed.

It was hard to comprehend the day’s events; hard to understand that she hadn’t thought much about Kevin’s fate. She had solely focused on Derek and whether or not he would survive. Derek had risked his life for her without even thinking about the consequences. She was his priority and again like so many times before he had proven his friendship and love for her.

She hated to leave him here alone, but she knew he needed his rest and after all he wanted to be alone this weekend. She leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. He was still holding her hand and she hated to pull it away. As she turned to leave he opened his eyes groggy still from all that had happened to him over the course of the weekend.

“Where are you going?”

“You need your rest. The nurse has already shooed the others out.”

Derek gripped her hand tighter and she stayed momentarily in place watching him lying in bed.

“Besides, you said that you didn’t want to be bothered this weekend; no calls, no texts, no visits…no nothing, remember? I’m just obeying your wishes, my knight.”

“I didn’t mean you, Baby Girl.”

“But, you…”

“Shhh…alone time is overrated. Just a little longer…”

Derek’s eyes closed as he held onto her hand. She couldn’t leave him, not just yet. Her tears had been replaced with a smile and a warm feeling in her heart as she sat in the chair next to his bed, and watched him fall into a deep sleep. As he laid there safe and at peace she wondered if he’d remember his words, this private moment that was only theirs or would the drugs keep the memory of tonight hers and hers alone?

It didn’t matter, this night would be one that she’d never forget and she thanked God for keeping her Knight Noir safe once again.

*****

“ I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other.” (Rainer Maria Rilke)

The End…