CHAPTER FOUR: PENELOPE !

3x09
━━━━━━

      CASEY FIGURED THE PIT IN HER STOMACH WOULD EVENTUALLY GO AWAY. For now, she was just gonna go home and sleep this dreadful day off. She had already gotten to her apartment complex where her phone had started to ring and she checked the Caller ID to see that it had been JJ.

She immediately answered the call. "Hello?"

"Casey, are you back home?"

"Yeah, I was just about to—"

"Casey," JJ had then said three painful words that she had never wanted to hear in her entire life. "Penelope's been shot."

Casey's heart dropped down to her stomach and prayed for it to be a nightmare. JJ didn't really call her, she didn't just find out that her best friend was shot. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

"What?"

JJ's voice had chirped through the phone but Casey wasn't listening to a single word she was saying. "Which-Which hospital?" She asked.

"The one downtown." JJ told her the one and Casey continued, "Okay, I will be down there in a second flat."

"Casey—" The girl hung up and got back into her car and zoomed down to the hospital. She didn't care if she had to fight through police. One flip of her intern badge and she could get away with anything.

        Casey had immediately arrived at the hospital and spotted JJ and Reid, talking and Hotch standing off to the side. JJ had taken notice of the girl. "Casey."

        "I came as fast as I could, what the hell happened?" She asked. "The police think it was a robbery." Hotch informed. "On Penelope?" Casey wondered, who the hell would want to hurt the sweetest woman in the goddamn world? Casey then knew that that gut feeling she had wasn't because of the case. It was because of this. This was what was wrong. She should've checked up on her.

Rossi had come soon afterwards, along with Emily but Morgan hadn't shown up yet and turns out, he wasn't answering his phone. Reid trying dialing him again but no answer.

      After that, they all decided to wait for the doctor to come out and tell them about Penelope and Casey was left wondering if she was gonna be alright after the surgery. 

       The Willows girl had paced as everyone had seated themselves down in worry or stood up in discomfort. Casey chewed on her thumbnail as she paced around the waiting room. Reid looked up and took a notice to Casey's worrying. She looked like she was more worried than anyone else — even more than JJ, who was just as worried as her.

      "Casey, why don't you sit down?" Reid asked the girl as he sat up. "I-I have to pace." She said. Casey always had good news when she paced in a hospital. She figured it was good luck to pace in a hospital because something would be okay in the end.

       Reid stood up and stopped Casey. "Hey, just... just sit down. You haven't slept." Casey took a seat next to Reid and placed her head in her hands. She felt useless. She wanted Penelope to just be okay.

       Casey looked up once she had seen JJ stand in her peripheral vision. She saw that Morgan had walked into the waiting room. Everyone looked over and stood around him besides Reid and Casey, who remained seated.

"She's been in surgery a couple hours." JJ informed Morgan. "I was at church, my phone was off." Casey furrowed her eyebrows. Since when did Morgan go to church? He was pretty much against that type of stuff before. Maybe the previous case changed him.

"There's nothing you could have been doing here." Reid said to Morgan. "The police got any leads?" Morgan asks Hotch.

"I spoke to the lead detective," Hotch informed. "He doesn't think we'll get anything from the scene." Before Morgan could say anything, the door opened and out walked a doctor, looking down at a file and then the people in front of him.

"Penelope Garcia?" He asked and Casey shot up from her seat and nodded and followed the 'yes' chain in the room.

The doctor looked at the agents in front of him. "The bullet went in her chest and ricocheted into her abdomen. She lost a lot of blood. It was touch-and-go for a while, but we were able to repair the injuries." He explained as the group listened carefully.

"So, what are you saying?" JJ asked. "One centimeter over and it would have torn right through her heart. Instead, she could actually walk out of here in a couple of days." Everyone had sighed in relief. Garcia was okay. Casey had a relieved smile on her face and she looked over at Reid. He had the same look on his face. It was actually pretty adorable to her.

"And I'd say that's a minor miracle," The doctor continued. "She needs her rest. You can see her in the morning."

Everyone thanked the doctor as he walked away. "David and I will go to the scene. I think the rest of you should be here when she wakes up." Hotch told. "I don't care about protocol. I don't care whether we're working this officially or not. We don't touch any new cases until we find out who did this." Casey nodded in agreement. She wanted to find the bastard that did this and she wanted to pretty much hurt them until they could never walk again. No one hurts Penelope Garcia and gets away with it.

The nurses had led the four agents and trainee into Garcia's room as soon as she woke up. Tears brimmed in Casey's eyes as soon as she walked in the room. She hardly recognized Garcia without her makeup and glasses and also being attached to an IV. Even in a hospital bed, Garcia still looked beautiful.

JJ had approached Garcia first and kissed her on the head and Casey could tell she was trying really hard to hold back her tears. "Hi," Garcia greeted groggily and she immediately noticed JJ's face. "No tears. That especially means you, fair maiden." Casey wiped her eye as Garcia drew attention to her. "I'm afraid if I start crying I'll come unstapled." Garcia said.

"How are you feeling?" Morgan asked, standing by her side. "Oh... confused... stupid and... in pain." Garcia answered. JJ and Morgan exchange a glance. "Are you up for some questions?" JJ asked.

"I never saw it coming," Garcia spoke. "He seemed... deliciously normal." Reid furrows his brows. "You know him?" He asked.

Garcia looked up at Morgan. "You were right. I should have trusted it." Morgan looked at, confused as well. "What are you talking about?"

"It's that guy I told you about. The one I met at the coffee shop." Casey gave a look to Garcia and she noticed that Morgan had looked at her and looked down.

Oh, God, this is my fault. I encouraged her to go on that date. Casey thought, a million thoughts flooding in her head.

"I wanted to believe he was interested in me." Garcia said. "Forget that." Morgan shook his head. "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?" Reid questioned. Casey kept quiet. She felt absolutely terrible. If she hadn't persuaded her to go on that date, Garcia wouldn't be in the hospital right now.

"I just thought he liked me." Garcia said and Casey could tell by her face that she was in a lot of pain. "Okay, um... we're gonna-- we're gonna come back in a little while." JJ told, seeing that look on her face as well.

"We need a name." Emily said and Garcia looked at her. "James Colby Baylor." She told. Emily had grabbed onto her phone and started dialing and walked out of the room.

Morgan followed and Reid and Casey had exited the room as Garcia told JJ to stay for just a sec. Casey and Reid looked as Morgan was in distress. He had hit the wall in irritation and Casey flinched. She had seen this frustrated side of Morgan before but it was rare.

"We need to stay calm." Reid told Morgan and Morgan looked at him. "Don't tell me what to be." He said, annoyance lingering in his voice. Reid and Casey exchange a glance and Casey sighs.

"Do you remember anything she said about him?" Reid asks. "No." Morgan said and Casey notices Emily walking up to the trio. "I just talked to Hotch. They think he used a revolver." She informs.

"Who the hell uses a revolver?" Morgan asks. "Somebody who doesn't want to leave shell casings behind as evidence." Reid informs.

Casey looks at Emily. "What about witnesses?" She asked. "None so far," Emily said. "And he staged it to look like a robbery."

"Which means if he's smart enough to use forensic countermeasures, odds are the name he gave garcia is probably bogus." Reid looks behind Casey and she turns around, noticing JJ walk up behind her and into the circle. "What did she say?" Reid asks.

JJ exhales, "She made me promise not to talk about her like a victim." The group looks back at the room and Morgan noticed the guilty look on Casey's face. She bit the inside of her cheek and crossed her arms.

"What was that look you gave her?" Morgan asks and Casey freezes and then tries to play it off as if she didn't give her a look — which failed miserably. "What look?" She asked.

"After she mentioned him and the date, you gave her a look. What was that?" Morgan questioned. Casey bit her lip and gulped, seeing that Morgan was losing patience with her and she knew that if she told him that she persuaded Garcia into going on that date, he was gonna blow up for sure.

"Casey." He pressured, his voice stern.

"I..." Casey took a deep breath. "I convinced her to go on that date."

Emily's and JJ's faces were full of confusion and shock mostly. Reid's look almost looked like he felt sorry for her and Morgan's looked angry. "You what?" He questioned.

Morgan couldn't even look at Casey anymore. He turned back to her eventually. "How could you be so stupid?" Casey was taken aback by his words and Reid felt the need to stand by Casey as Morgan looked at her.

"Morgan." Emily said, giving him a look and not wanting him to go after Casey for something she didn't even mean to happen.

"I'm-I'm sorry." Casey stammered. "Well, 'sorry' doesn't replace her being in that hospital bed, now does it?" Morgan snapped. Reid stood in front of Casey now and looked at Morgan.

Morgan began to walk away and JJ and Casey began to call for him. "It's not like I knew what was gonna happen!" Casey told. "Shit." She looked away, her head in her hands and she was stressed.

Maybe Morgan was right, what she did was stupid. She shouldn't have encouraged her to go on that date. But how the hell was she supposed to know that he was gonna shoot her for dessert?

Casey rushed to the bathroom and found a stall and just let the tears fall. The doors opened and heels clacked on the floor. "Casey?" "Where are you?" JJ and Emily had walked through the bathroom.

"Go away." Casey sobbed. "Casey, are you okay?" Emily asked. "She's in that bed because of me." Casey stated. "No, she is not. You couldn't have possibly had any idea that this would happen to her." JJ assured. "Now, will you please come out and talk to us?" Emily asked.

Casey opened the stall door and walked out of the room and looked in the mirror. She looked like a mess. She grabbed a couple of paper towels and wiped her eyes. "Morgan was right, it was stupid of me to encourage her." She sniffled.

"Morgan, his head is just not in the right space right now. He's frustrated, but it was out of line to blame it on you." Emily told. "Casey, this was not your fault. This is on the guy that shot Garcia and we are gonna find him and take him down, okay?" JJ asked. Casey sniffled once more.

"It doesn't matter what Morgan thinks. You just have to know that it wasn't your fault. And you can't blame yourself for Garcia being in that hospital bed." Emily said. "Okay?" Casey sighed and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, we're gonna find this guy and it wasn't my fault." Casey repeated.

"Come here," JJ pulled Casey in for a hug and Casey gave into the hug and held on. This was something she really needed right now and she was glad Emily and JJ were there to back her up.

Reid on the other hand, he didn't like the way Morgan treated Casey just now. She didn't deserved to be blamed for that. Emily and JJ had left to go back to office and scout out any leads while Morgan, Reid and Casey stayed at the hospital. Casey stayed apart from Reid and Morgan so she couldn't deal with Morgan's glares. Reid thought it wasn't fair. Casey didn't even know what was gonna happen so why was Morgan blaming her?

Morgan and Reid watched Garcia outside of her room as a nurse was checking her vitals. "I asked her to go out last night. But she was pissed at me. She blew me off." Morgan told Reid.

"So you ended up in church?" Reid asked. "Yeah, what does it mean?" Morgan sighed. "On one hand, if she'd gone out with me, she would have never got shot. On the other hand... what are the odds that the first time I pray in twenty years, she's on the table?"

Out of habit, Reid kept looking over at the distressed Casey across the room and then looked back at Morgan. "You know, it was out of line of you to blame Garcia getting shot on Casey." Reid told.

"Reid—"

"She's done nothing wrong, Morgan," Reid spoke. "I'm just saying, I think you owe her an apology." Morgan scoffed at Reid's words.

The nurse had come out of Garcia's room and looked at the two men in front of her. "She's asking for you." As Casey saw Morgan and Reid entering the room, she followed.

Casey stood over next to Reid, not wanting to tick Morgan off than she already had. Casey grabbed on Penelope's hand in comfort and Morgan rested his hand on Penelope's. "Hey," Morgan said softly to Penelope. "How are you feeling?"

"Good news, bad news," Penelope started. "The morphine's wearing off. When I was in the ambulance, I could hear the song 'Heroes' playing in my head. I kept flashing in and out of consciousness. Everything was really bright. And I remember thinking, wait... 'is David Bowie really God?'"

Reid, Morgan and Casey smiled at Garcia and Casey gripped onto Penelope's hand and sniffled. "I'm really sorry, Pen." She apologized. "It's not your fault, fair maiden. It's okay, really." Penelope said and Casey tried to hide her tears. She felt really bad that Penelope had been in this situation.

"We have a, uh..." Reid had waited a minute when Casey's and Penelope's convo ended. "We have a sketch artist coming in." He told.

"I'm still a little hazy." She said. "It's okay," Morgan assured. "Anything you tell us will help." Penelope took a deep breath and Morgan continued. "This guy say what he did for a living?" He asked.

"He said he was a lawyer." Penelope nodded. "Did... people know him where you went?" Reid asked. "He said he wanted to show me a place. It was half an hour away."

"You drove together?" Casey asked and Penelope nodded again. "What kind of car?" She asked. "White, four-door Sedan. American. It smelled new." Penelope informed.
"Rental car maybe?" Reid asked. "Maybe, I don't know. I don't look at things like you guys do. I don't see danger—" Penelope took a deep breath and Morgan tells her take it easy.

"What else can you remember?" Morgan asked. Penelope begins to think back on the night. "He smelled good."

"He seem nervous?" Reid questioned.
"I thought he was just afraid to kiss me good night." A tear streamed down Penelope's face and Morgan wiped the tear off of her cheek. "Hey," Morgan asked. "You sure you're up for this?"

Penelope thought again. "I could hear him walking. He leaned over me and I held my breath so he'd think I was dead." She told.

Casey looked up and then took her phone out. "Okay, I'm gonna, uh, call Hotch and let him know your side of the story. I will, uh, I will be right back." With that, Casey walked out of the room and got Hotch on the phone and told him what Penelope told her.

        She had sat down and took a breather. Casey realized she hasn't slept in nearly fourteen hours. She rests her eyes for a minute and then heard footsteps approaching her. Casey looks up and sees that it's Morgan — someone she wasn't expecting.

        "Case—" He began and Casey interrupted him. "Please don't," She started. "I'm already blaming myself enough already. I don't need you to do it, too." Even thought Emily and JJ told her it wasn't her fault, Casey still had the pit in her stomach that told her it was her fault that Garcia was in that hospital bed.

         Morgan took a seat next to her, realizing that he shouldn't have put the blame on her. "I'm sorry, kid. I'm just frustrated that we haven't caught this guy yet and I just... I would do anything just to get my hands on him."

         "You and me, both." Casey nodded.

         "I just got mad at the first thing in front of me and that was you. And I'm sorry. I don't think it was your fault." Casey paused and didn't look up at Morgan yet. "Am I forgiven?" He asked.

         Casey looked up at him and had a content smile on her face. "If you get me a bag of Ruffles, you're forgiven." She told and Morgan had a soft smile on his face next. "I'll be right back with your Ruffles then." He stood up and walked away and Casey was happy that things had been settled and that Morgan wasn't mad at her anymore. She understood his frustration and she was pretty frustrated. She wanted to wring this dude's neck out.

        In a matter of four days, Casey, Reid and Morgan had gone back in and began to help Garcia relive the date again but it was no use. They came back empty with everything. Even the sketch came back negative. This guy was good at covering his tracks and Casey envied him for it.

        Casey was currently helping Penelope with her makeup and Morgan had been holding a mirror up for her. There had been a knock at the door and Hotch had walked into the room. "Hey." Penelope greeted.

        "How are you feeling?" Hotch asked. "You know, I've had better dates." Penelope said. "What's going on?" Morgan asked, wondering if he had a lead.

          Hotch looked at Penelope. "We found an encrypted file on your computer. Are you involved in something that I need to know about?" Casey furrowed her eyebrows. "No." Garcia answered.

         "Hotch, what's going on?" Casey asked, sitting up. Hotch ignores Casey and keeps a look at Garcia. "Could this be connected in any way to whoever shot you?" Hotch asked. "I don't think so." Garcia answered. "I need the password." Hotch said.

         "Is this really necessary?" Morgan asks and Hotch looks over at him. "Yes," He answers and looks back at Garcia. "The password."

         Penelope gives in and says: "Gilman Street." Hotch nods, "Thank you."

        "They don't honestly think Garcia's a security risk, do they?" Reid questioned. "I don't know," Hotch shook his head. "We've been ordered by internal affairs to stop working the case."

         Casey's eyes widen at the words coming out of Hotch's mouth. "What?" Morgan questioned. "They can't be serious!" Casey exclaimed.

        "And until this is cleared up..." Hotch looks at Penelope. "You've been suspended. I'm sorry."

        Casey looks over at Penelope and she nods in understanding. "Right." She could tell that she was definitely heartbroken. Hotch walked out of the room and as he did, Casey noticed that Garcia was fidgeting and that she was pulling everything that was connected to her body off. She was about ready to pull her IV tube out when she was stopped.

        "Pen."
        "What are you doing?"
        "I need to get out of here." Penelope said and Morgan sits in front of her and looks at her. "Please, baby, listen to me. We're gonna get it straightened out. I'm gonna find out who did this to you. Okay? I don't give a damn what IA wants me to do or doesn't want me to do, but right now you need to rest." Morgan assured.

       "But... one of the last things I said before he shot me was, 'everything happens for a reason.'. Derek, if I lose faith in that, then nothing in my life makes sense." Penelope told.

       "I get that."
       "No, you don't."

       Casey was confused on why Garcia needed to be practically investigated and why they were so much more focused on her than this James Colby Baylor dude. Penelope had began to explain and she answered her question right away.

      "After my parents died, I... kind of went off the rails for a while. I dropped out of Cal Tech. I lived underground, basically. But I kept teaching myself code. It was like the one thing that kept me together." Penelope explained.

       "So they offered you a job?" Reid asked and Penelope nodded. "Like Frank Abagnale." Reid said. "I guess the bureau figured if you can't beat 'em, hire 'em." Casey said. "Yeah, something like that." Garcia answered.

       "Garcia, what's on the encrypted file?" Morgan changed the subject and Garcia turned over and looked at Morgan. "I'm required to keep a record of everything the team does. And after my system got hacked and Elle got shot, I just didn't want anyone else to be able to get at you."

        Casey remembered the situation all too well. This had been when she was about to graduate from high school and The Fisher King had shot Elle. Not to mention, Casey had also been targeted and stayed at the BAU for almost an entirety of this situation.

       "We'll talk to the doctor, see if he'll clear you to leave." Reid said, looking at Casey and she nodded, following Reid out the door.

━━━━━━

     
        With Reid and Casey's persuasion, the doctor cleared Penelope to leave the hospital and Morgan had decided to stay with her so she felt safe. Casey was glad that she could go home, knowing Penelope was gonna okay and she could finally get a little bit of rest. Casey had barely slept knowing this guy was out there still and she stayed every single night Penelope was in the hospital.

       She loved Penelope, truly, but she missed her own bed after a while. But that peace ended when Casey woke up to her phone buzzing and she saw that it had been Reid, telling her that Penelope's shooter had come back, trying to strike again.

       Casey was wide awake and she immediately zoomed over towards Penelope's apartment complex and flashed her ID and headed up the steps, following right beside JJ and Reid. They arrived and walked in the apartment.

"What's going on?" JJ asked. "I don't know, this guy's getting seriously bold. And I can guarantee it's not over." Casey and JJ sit in front of a tense Penelope.

"You okay?" JJ asks the girl. "I don't know what he wants from me." Penelope answers. "Could you know something about him?" Reid asks. "I don't know." Penelope tells. "Maybe you have something he wants?"
"I don't know who he is." Garcia says and she looks at JJ. "I'm so scared." Casey sighs, "Don't be, we're right here and with all of us here, right now, this guy's not getting through those doors. He'll have to get through us first." Casey told.

Prentiss, Hotch and Rossi had walked in next. "Hey," Prentiss greeted and looked at Morgan. "Did you get a look at him?" She asked. "Nothing solid." Morgan told.

"Garcia, we need to get you back to the hospital." Hotch told. "No." Penelope said. "You know what? You should still be there. We need her someplace safe." JJ stated.

"I feel safe with all of you." Penelope said.

"We can take you to the BAU." Hotch decided and Casey and JJ had noticed that she was staring off into space and everyone noticed as well. "Garcia?" JJ asked.

Garcia began to remember something. "When we were at dinner... they wanted to seat us by a window, but he insisted on sitting at the worst table in the place. And he sat with his back to the corner."

The detectives had walked into the room before Hotch dismissed them for a moment and told them to come back.

"Tell us about the car." Reid looks at Penelope. "Why?" She asked. "Just go with him." Morgan told. "You said it was white, four-door, American. What else?" Reid asked.

"That's it," Penelope said, wondering where the hell this was gonna get them. "It was just a car."
"No, come on, think. Anything. Go back." Morgan told and Penelope began to think and something clicked in her eyes. "The seat belt was buckled behind his back."

Everyone each exchanged a glance and even Casey knew what it meant. "Why does that matter?" Penelope asked.
"It wasn't a rental." Morgan answered. "It was for surveillance." Emily continued, "Agents don't wear seat belts. They need to get out in a hurry."

"All right, let's cut the crap." Rossi stepped up and sits in front of Penelope. "You need to be straight with us. Right now." Penelope looked away for a moment but that stopped once Rossi said: "Look at me, not them."

"I'm not hiding anything." Penelope told. "You got shot. Most people get shot for a reason." Penelope looks towards Morgan. "Eyes here!" Rossi yells.

"Ease up, Rossi."
"Rossi!"
Both Morgan and Casey try to intervene.

"You got a roomful 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." Penelope looks at him. "What?"

"Come on, man." Morgan said.
"Yeah, lay off of her!" Casey told.

"It's nothing bad—" Penelope says. "Spit it out!" "It's nothing bad! It's ju-- I counsel victims' families and they know where I work, so sometimes they ask me to look into cases for them." Penelope explains.
"What does that mean?" Rossi asks.
"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."

"You're not authorized to do that." Hotch tells. "I know. I was just trying to help." Penelope says in a guilty voice. Casey knows that Penelope has a good heart and was trying to help these families but this might've been the reason she got shot.

"But whoever's working those cases thinks you're watching them." Emily tells. "I just wanted to put pressure on them so that they don't slide." Penelope says. "How many cases are we talking about?" Hotch questions. 

"I don't know. Seven, eight maybe. I need to get into my system." Penelope tells. "You can't. You're suspended." Hotch says. "Wait a minute, Garcia, on your date, you said this guy was pressing you to find out if you were working murder cases. Hotch, we gotta look at those files." Morgan stated.

Hotch exchanges a glance over at Rossi. "I told you, I'm sick of this jagoff being in front of us." Hotch takes a moment before deciding. "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. Garcia should not have access." Casey had rubbed Garcia's thigh in reassurance before she stood up. "You hang in there, okay? We're gonna get this guy." Garcia nodded at Casey's words before she walked out, following Rossi, Hotch and JJ.

Casey was ordered to go with JJ and look into the files that Penelope had marked down for the FBI to look at. Casey followed JJ into her office and sat next to her and began to sort through.

The girl had yawned at least three times before JJ said anything. "Hey, you okay?" She asked. Casey nods, "Yeah, just... barely got any sleep this week." She said. JJ nods, "You and me, both." She says.

Casey sighs, "I just wanna get this guy. He's gotta be closer than we think." Before JJ could speak, her cell phone begins to ring. She checks the Caller ID. "It's Morgan." JJ tells and she picks it up and drops the file she's holding on her desk and motions for Casey to stop as Morgan fills her in. JJ takes a deep breath and says a simple: "On it."

"What's going on?" Casey asks.
JJ looks over at Casey and hangs up the phone. "He's here." She told and grabs her gun from her holster. "What?" Casey asks. "He's here and his name is Jason Battle and he's a deputy and Garcia recognized him and he's currently in the office and we need to act now before anyone gets hurt."

Casey's eyes widen and she sees JJ load up her gun. "Whoa, JJ, I—" JJ gives a look at Casey and stares her down. "Stay behind me, don't make any noise, okay?" She puts a finger to her lips to quiet her down and Casey nods as JJ slowly walks ahead of her towards the office windows.

The girl can only hear her heart racing and as she approaches closer, can hear the words of her fellow FBI agents. "You're in control here. You write the ending. Your choice." She hears Rossi say.

"The best minds in the FBI. You can't even stop me." JJ stands directly outside of the door and Casey peeks from behind the wall and before he could even turn around, JJ took a clear shot. She aimed and fired and shot him in the head, killing him instantly — and also wrecking the windows, as well.

Soon enough, the police had shown up, along with Reid, Morgan, Prentiss and Garcia. "It's really over?" Penelope asked as Morgan places a bag over his body. "Yeah, it's really over. Now can we please get you back to the hospital?" Morgan asks.

"I..." Penelope looks ahead at the director. "Oh, don't worry about your reinstatement papers. He'll sign them as soon as his hand stops shaking."

Casey turns around and notices JJ and she looks like she has a lot of her mind. "Hey, you okay back here?" Casey asked and Penelope steps up and looks at JJ. "I never wanted you to have to do something like that."

"I never even blinked," JJ says. "You do whatever it takes to, uh... protect your family." Penelope engulfs JJ into a hug and Casey smiles at the sight. "And you looked badass doing it." Casey commented and Penelope pulled away from the hug.

Casey had taken notice of a guy in glasses, looking towards Garcia and practically drooling and staring at her and JJ seemed to notice as well. "I think someone's watching you." JJ nudged her head towards the guy. "Yeah, you have a bit of an audience." Casey comments.

Penelope had taken notice of the nerdy guy that been staring at her the entire time. "Do you believe everything happens for a reason?" She asked. Both JJ and Casey give a look at one another and JJ shrugs and Casey encouraged Penelope to go and talk to this guy by muttering: "Go!"

Casey and JJ watch as the two stand in front of one another. "You." Penelope starts. "You." The guy says.

"You're good."
"You're better," He says and holds his hand out. "Kevin Lynch." Penelope takes her hand to his. "Penelope."

"Oh, they're already cute." Casey commented next to JJ. "Right? To have what they have." JJ says. "Yeah." Casey yawns. "I am gonna head home and finally get at least twelve hours of sleep because that's what I need." JJ smirks, "You and me both, sister."

hey, lovelies!
personally, this is one of my favorite criminal minds episodes lol
but thank you for reading!
i love you all and can't wait for the upcoming chapter!
-mya <3