Garcia's POV:
The case we’re working on is draining on all of us. The unsub is taking victims who are connected to the team in any way, the barista in a coffee shop, waitress in restaurants, grocery store clerks, but he hasn’t come after one of us directly. Other than the fact that he’s getting closer to us we can’t figure out anything else about him.
None of us have left the office in the last two days. We’re all exhausted and coffee’s just not working for me anymore, I lay my head on the table for just a second closing my eyes.
I wake suddenly to the sound of someone talking. I throw my head up off the table, looking in the direction of the voice to see Hotch. He looks over at me to see that I had woken up and stops his briefing with the rest of the team. He stops speaking to them and instead speaks to me directly, “go home, you should get some sleep”
"No, sir I'm fine. I want to catch this guy," I spit out trying to keep myself from falling back asleep.
"You're going home, that's final. We can manage a few hours without you." Knowing the decisions wasn’t up for consideration I follow him out into the bullpen grabbing my stuff on the way, "Anderson, take Garcia home,” Hotch says before returning to the conference room.
I follow Anderson to the parking garage and climb into the passenger seat of a car. The drive was short enough but I still almost managed to fall asleep on the way.
We pull up outside of my apartment building and I get out walking to the front door and going inside, I hear Anderson's car pull away outside as I walk up the stairs to my floor.
I put the key into the lock and walk inside my apartment throwing my stuff on the floor, too tired to change clothes, I climb into bed, falling asleep before my head could even hit the pillow.
-A few hours later-
I wake up and something feels wrong, I open my eyes and see concrete where my bed should be. I lift my head up and look around trying to rub the sleep from my eyes. When I realize I can’t move my arms that’s when I feel the rope binding my wrists together.
I’m starting to panic when I hear something off to my right, I look into the dark expanse of where I’m being held and watch a man walk out of the shadows, “who are you, what do you want from me?” I yell, but he doesn’t respond, just walks closer.
I don’t know where I am, and I know that this man can’t be good. I weigh my chances knowing he won’t let me go, deciding the only way out of here is if someone hears me. I’m hoping the next action I take doesn’t get me killed.
I open my mouth and scream hoping to get someone’s attention. I watch as he panics and runs over to me shoving a piece of cloth in my mouth and tying it behind my head as a gag.
Once he’s done tying the fabric I feel a prick in my neck realizing instantly that he just drugged me. I can feel myself slipping out of consciousness knowing there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
-A few more hours later-
When I wake up this time I see the man sitting in a chair a few feet in front of me. Getting up from the chair he walks over until he’s standing just in front of me. He reaches his hand forward and I close my eyes afraid of what he’s going to do.
Instead of doing anything bad he unties the gag from behind my head and he walks back to his chair, sitting down. Clearing his throat he talks for the first time since I’ve been here, “the rules are fairly simple, you answer my questions truthfully and I won’t hurt your team.”
“What are you going to do if I take the second option and don’t talk at all,” I ask, risking angering him. I know any sort of consequence that comes from this won’t be good but I’ll do anything to protect the team, especially y/n.
Y/N's POV:
The police just informed us that they have a crime scene and a victim with the same mo as our unsub. The body was found at a construction site this time. We know our unsub takes he next victim almost directly after dumping a body and he spends a few days with them, which means he has his next victim and hopefully we won’t be too late to save this one.
Hotch walks into the conference room where we’re looking over all our evidence and starts rounding up the team, "They've found another body, Prentiss, y/n come with me to the crime scene. Morgan stay here and see if you and Reid can find anything using our previous victims, and JJ contact the media and see if we can get our profile out.”
Prentiss and I follow hotch through the bullpen only stopping at our desks long enough to grab our stuff. Leaving my desk and walking back over to where Hotch is standing I can see that he looks agitated at whatever one of the rookies is telling him.
Once I reach the desk they’re standing at I can hear the conversation. “When I told you take her home I didn’t mean drop her off, this psycho is targeting our team”
I knew immediately he was talking about Garcia, I get lost in my thoughts worried until the rookie agent responds, “I’m sorry Sir, it was a mistake and i should’ve clarified instead of assuming,” the rookie rushed out, knowing if anything had happened he would be thrown under the bus.
Hotch is clearly upset, but he would never blame anyone but himself if something happens. Without wasting any more time we left the building and decided to check on Garcia before going to the crime scene.
Hotch didn’t waste anytime getting to the apartment, on the ride there me and Emily tried to call and text her to make sure we weren’t over reacting, but she hasn’t answered.
Unsub’s POV:
I look down at the table and see the Penelope Garcia’s phone blowing up with texts from her team, I laugh to myself as I switch the phone off. They’ve finally found out, took them long enough.
Y/N’s POV:
We pull up to Penelope’s house and rush to the door almost flying up stairs and landing at her apartment door. The door is sitting wide open and I get a sinking feeling in my gut.
Cautiously we walk inside clearing the entire apartment finding nothing and nobody. Hotch is the first one to speak, “This is all my fault,” he lets out exasperated.
This causes Prentiss to speak up, “Sir, none of us could have known this was going to happen. All we have been going off are riddles and victims who were only vaguely connected to the team.”
Hotch calls down a crime scene team to sweep the apartment for any evidence hoping the unsub might have finally slipped up. I hope this son of a bitch will make a mistake so we can get Garcia back alive, if we don’t, I don’t know what I’ll do.
The ride to the crime scene is filled with tense silence. None of us knowing what to say, or even how to react to the fact that one of our teammates has been kidnapped or possibly worse, killed.
-A few hours later-
The only thing we found at the crime scene was a riddle, his riddles were starting to make less sense the more we got. The team at Garcia’s apartment found nothing either. I feel awful that I’m losing hope, but knowing the team I’m hoping we can crack his code.
As soon as we get back from the crime scene I rush to see Reid in his office, hoping he might have figured something out on the tech end of things.
-The next day-
None of us have left the office, we’re all too on edge. Just walking in the room you can feel that morale is low. All of us have lost hope, as bad as that sounds. We know that the unsub doesn’t keep his victims for more than a few days and I think that scares us more than it motivates us.
We’re all tired, and we’ve been analyzing the same evidence for hours on end and nothing is making sense.
-Two-ish days later-
Garcia’s POV:
I don’t know how long i’ve been here, I can only assume it’s been days. He keeps asking me questions that I refuse to answer. When I don’t answer, well it’s not good. Whenever he just wants to watch me suffer he has me gagged, presumably so I don't pull another stunt like the first one.
The less I talk the more severe the punishment is. He doesn’t make any effort to cover his identity which only proves I’m not going to make it out of this alive and I refuse to take my friends down with me.
My mouth is so dry and I’d kill to have a drink of water. The dehydration mixed with the pain makes it hard to stay awake, but he won’t let me sleep. I’m so tired and I can barely keep my head up but he won’t let me sleep until I give him answers.
Y/N’s POV:
The riddles and clues aren’t getting us anywhere, We’ve decided to scrap it all and start over with a new look at things. Starting with the basics.
We know the unsub is very careful and wouldn’t leave any clues at the crime scenes other than what he wanted us to find. So we started to think about things he would have taken with him.
I go back to Penelope’s apartment to see if anything is missing. Her badge and gun are on the floor in the bedroom, nothing looked like it had been taken or moved out of place. I search the whole house and the only thing missing is her phone, and we know she didn’t leave it in the office.
I run out of the apartment knowing this could just be wishful thinking, but I’m going to hope the unsub made a mistake.
I frantically call Reid knowing he will be able to track the phone, even if it is turned off at the moment we will have an estimation of where she is. Or at least a location he had been with the phone on him.
Not being able to make an actual sentence I hang up the phone and drive back to the team as fast as possible.
Running into the building I race straight to Spencer’s office rushing to tell him what I think I found. As soon as I run into his office I stop to catch my breath so I can tell him what happened
I’m trying not to get my hopes up as I try to explain what’s happening, “I-... the phone…” I breath out still trying to catch my breath but wanting to tell him as fast as possible. “Her phone, it’s not...it’s not there. The unsub has to have taken it with him by accident.”
“Are you sure?” he sounds skeptical “ do you think he could have made that big of a mistake, or if he took it out of the apartment while it was turned on in the first place,” he questioned, knowing how thorough the unsub was.
“It has to be worth a shot, we’re running out of time. we know he’ll kill her and I can’t let that happen, I love her,” you spoke so fast unable to stop and starting to panic, thinking about what will happen if you’re too late.
Reid turns around in his chair with a look on his face and starts running a ping on Penelope’s phone. Within 30 seconds Reid pulled up a location surrounded by industrial buildings and warehouses. “If he has her anywhere this would be a good place,” Reid commented.
“I’m going to go get Hotch. We need a way to double check without spooking the unsub, and causing him to do anything too rash.”
Garcia’s POV:
The last few hours have been the worst so far, I’m starting to feel the effects of the torture. All my limbs feel heavy and I know I’m covered in bruises and blood.
I look up to see the unsub laughing at me before I drift out of consciousness again.
Y/N’s POV:
-An hour or so later-
Hotch decided to go with this lead since it was the only thing we’ve gotten since Penelope got taken. He called his friend at the CIA to see if they could use a satellite to check for heat signatures in any of the buildings.
While Hotch was on the phone we all crowded into his office waiting to hear what they came up with.
He put the phone down and informed us that they found two heat signatures in one of the abandoned warehouses and that was enough for probable cause.
That was enough for Hotch, he called a swat team to meet us and we raced to the location.
-At the scene-
We are suiting up several hundred feet from the warehouse we had seen the heat signatures in hoping not to spook the unsub.
Everyone is suited up and we are waiting for the signal from the SWAT team so we can go in. Once we get the all clear the door gets busted down and we walk a few feet into the room and see the unsub sitting there waiting for us, his hands raised in the air, surrendering.
Morgan moves forward to cuff the guy then stands him up and leads him out the door and into the back of a car.
Penelope however is nowhere in sight, we search the entire warehouse but she isn’t here. The rest of the team stands there not knowing what to do. Hotch decides to take a quick crack at talking to the unsub hoping he’ll give something up.
After several minutes of questioning he gets nothing from the unsub. He thinks the best course of action is to go back and interrogate the unsub and get the answer out of him there. It doesn’t feel right to me to leave knowing she has to be out here somewhere.
Walking up to Hotch I announce against his command, “I’m staying behind, I want to check the rest of the buildings to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” afraid he wasn’t going to allow it.
Hotch lets out an exasperated breath with a look in his eye that told me he knew I was going to say that, “That’s fine, but keep Prentiss with you, you can cover more ground that way.” He relented.
The rest of the team left, leaving me and Emily behind. Deciding to split up to cover more ground, I chose to search the warehouse next to the one we had found the unsub in, and Prentiss took the one a few hundred feet away.
Walking into the warehouse I noticed all the lights are out. Taking my flashlight off my belt I flip it on and continue searching the building. Walking farther and farther back into the abandoned warehouse I start seeing old boxes and trash littering the floor.
The closer to the back of the building I get the darker it is. I continue shining my light around hoping to see something, anything too help figure out where he put Penelope. All of a sudden I hear a noise off to the right.
Moving cautiously in the direction of the noise my heart starts to race. I move my flashlight to point down towards the noise.
What I see causes my heart to surge in my chest. Sitting on the ground was my very bloody and bruised teammate. Within a split second I’m kneeling on the ground untying restraints from around the shell of the bright bubbly woman I was used to working with. After I untie her wrists I gently remove the gag the unsub used, pulling her into my lap. I frantically pull out my phone and call Emily telling her where we are, asking her to call an ambulance.
I shove my phone back in my pocket looking at the barely conscious Penelope in my arms. I shift my body causing her to wince in pain. “I’m so sorry, Emily will be here soon with paramedics, can you stay awake,” I ask hearing the fear and concern in my voice
All I get back is a muffled groan in response. I pull her even tighter against my chest and start gently brushing my hand through her hair. “I promise you’ll be ok. The team will be here soon.” At this point I can barely keep it together, all the fear and worrying I’ve felt the last few days are starting to show through as tears start slipping from my eyes.
Letting down the last of my walls I decide to just let the tears flow. “You’ll be ok, you have to. Just hold on a few minutes longer, I can’t lose you,” I know I’m rambling now, unable to hold in everything I’ve been hiding all these years. “Please be ok, I-... I lo-love you, i can’t lose you now,” my voice getting more muffled as sobs start breaking through the tears flowing down my face and me making no attempt to stop them.
Sitting on my knees I start rocking back and forth hoping to not hurt her anymore, getting more and more anxious waiting for the paramedics.
After what feels like hours Emily rushes in with a team of paramedics. They gently take Penelope from my arms to place her on a stretcher. Refusing to leave her side I get into the back of the ambulance for the ride to the hospital.
I grab her hand thinking she’s unconscious and won’t notice the sudden gesture, but I can feel her squeeze my hand back, as I breathe a sigh of relief somehow knowing she'll be alright.
-Hours later-
I’ve been sitting in the hospital waiting room for hours, the rest of the team have all stopped by occasionally to check if there’s any developments, there aren’t.
After what felt like days a doctor finally walked out into the waiting room, calling for friends and family of Penelope Garcia.
I walked up to him nervous “Is she ok?”
“she’s going to be fine, she’ll just need to stay at the hospital tonight and possibly tomorrow then she can go home, but she’s going to be really sore and she’ll need some help around the house.” he said
“can i go see her now?” I asked kind of nervous. The doctor just nodded his head and led me through the hallways to her room.
Once we got to the right door he left, probably to go back to his other patients. I stood in front of the door building up the courage to open it and walk in.
With a sudden burst of courage I open the door and walk in the room. She’s not awake which helps calm my nerves.
I feel like I don’t belong here, I’ve only been on the team a few years and she most likely would want any other member of the team here for her. I know her less than everyone else on our team yet I feel strangely drawn to her.
I sit down on the chair next to the bed and lean my head back drifting into the first sleep I’ve gotten in the last several days.
I wake to hear someone clearing their throat. I blink my eyes a few times hoping to clear the sleep from them but failing. I look over in the direction I heard the noise coming from and I see Penelope laying awake in the hospital bed.
“How long have you been awake?” I ask worried that i’d been asleep for too long.
“Only a few minutes, I thought i’d let you sleep, besides you’re cuter that way” she says trying not to blush. “that chair doesn’t look too comfortable,” she scowls, “come sit up here with me,” she says scooting over in the bed. I get up out of the chair and climb into the bed next to her.
I take my hand and start brushing it through her hair getting a groan in reply, I can see her shutting her eyes falling asleep under my touch. I continue running my fingers through her hair until i’m sure she’s asleep and I can no longer stay awake myself.
the next time I wake up I can feel Penelope shaking next to me and she’s mumbling in her sleep. I wake her as gently as I can trying not to hurt her. She opens her eyes looking at me, shaking less than before but still shaking nonetheless. I can see tears welling in her eyes threatening to spill over.
I let her rest her head on my chest and stroke her hair again knowing she’ll talk when she’s ready, I can feel her starting to shake more intensely again, I take my hand under her chin and tilt her head up so I can look at her face. I see silent tears streaming down her face as her body is getting over taken with sobs.
I take my thumb and wipe some of the tears from her cheek. I feel her start to calm under my touch and she opens her eyes to look at my face. “do you want to talk about it?” I ask not wanting her to feel forced to talk to me since we don't know each other very well.
She takes a deep breath and opens her mouth to speak, “It’s just, when I was asleep I dream't that I was back in that warehouse and I was never going to see you… or the team again. And all I could see was that bastards face, laughing at my pain,” she looked away expecting to see judgement in my eyes.
Instead I tilt her head up more forcing her to look into my eyes, “I promise you can’t get rid of me that easy,” the distance between your faces getting smaller, “and trust me, the team would never stop fighting until you are back safe and sound” As soon as that last word came out of my mouth I felt her lips smash against mine. She was kissing me, something I personally thought would never happen.
I sat there in complete shock until she pulled away, looking hurt, until I leaned back in and brought her into a slow passionate kiss. I tangle my hands in her hair and she cups my face with her hands. The kiss didn’t last very long but both of us pull away breathless. There’s a new sparkle in her eyes I see briefly before she lays her head on my chest. The beaming smile on my face is undeniable, I put my arm around her pulling her closer.
We lay there in the bed content until we hear a knock at the door and the team comes walking in. JJ being the first to speak “how is she, we were all worried” I can hear the concern dripping in her voice.
“She’s going to be fine, she bruised, sore, and very dehydrated but she’ll soon be good as new.” I said letting out a sigh realizing things were finally going to be ok.
Garcia’s POV:
The whole team had left now, y/n being the only one left, refusing to leave my side. I can’t complain though, who would’ve thought I could be so happy hours after being rescued from torture.
I move my head laying it on y/n’s chest falling asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.