TW: mention of cannibalism, mention of gun violence, mild gore, mention of medical procedures and fatal injuries, mild language, stalking
penelope, part one of one.
"keep looking up. that's the secret of life. " - charlie brown.
-
The latest case had come to a horrifying end - the killer, who had cannibalistic tendencies, had used the flesh of one of his victims to feed to the volunteer group who was looking for the victim. They had caught him alive, but not before Garcia and Derek got into a huge fight after the former had met a guy in a coffee shop, who Derek didn't like the sound of. Genevieve had just returned from her suspension and was deskbound for two months and was currently in a wheelchair due to her fractured pelvis. She had been living with Garcia and been working alongside the blonde in her bat cave, so had witnessed the entire fight, but did her level best to stay uninvolved.
Mostly out of spite towards Derek, Garcia had called her coffee shop guy (who's name was Colby), and arranged a dinner date for later that night. So, Genevieve was now at Garcia's apartment alone, her wheelchair parked on the tiny balcony while she closed her eyes, trying to wash her mind of everything that she had heard about in the past twenty-four hours. Garcia was on a dinner date with her coffee shop guy, and was due to be back any minute now. Her eyes flew open when she heard a gunshot.
Despite being incapacitated, she was out of the apartment in a flash, grabbing her badge from the kitchen counter. She got out of the apartment and into the elevator as fast as she could. The elevator finally hit the ground floor (which, based on the sound, was where the shot had come from), and wheeled herself outside to see a bloodied Garcia sprawled on the stairs leading to the foyer of the building, one of her neighbours crouched over her. The sounds of sirens were distant.
Genevieve gasped and pushed herself over as close as she could without going for a tumble down the stairs.
"Is she awake?" She asked, a hand clapped over her mouth as she whipped out her phone to call the first person on speed-dial. The neighbour shook her head, as an ambulance and fuzz cruiser pulled up outside the apartment.
Genevieve could barely hear any of the shouting as her eyes pooled with tears at the sight of her friend limp and bloody on the ground, her hand shaking as she begged silently for the line to pick up. Derek's cell went straight to voicemail. She cursed silently, and instead, opted for Hotch.
"Genevieve? It's late, what's wrong?" Hotch's voice sounded exhausted and full of worry.
"It's Garcia," She said tearfully, her voice quavering. "She's been shot. Bad. Paramedics are here now but- we need to get to the hospital,"
+++
"Penelope Garcia?" A man in scrubs walked into the waiting room. The entire team looked up, their expressions all a mixture of anxiety, restlessness, and fear.
"Yes," Genevieve and Emily said immediately.
"The bullet entered her chest and ricocheted into her abdomen," The doctor said, reading off a clipboard. "It was touch and go for a while, but we were able to repair the injuries,"
"So... what are you saying?" JJ asked cautiously.
"One centimetre over, and it would have torn right through her heart. Instead... she can actually walk out of here in a few days, and I'd say that's a minor miracle,"
The whole team, who had all been subconsciously holding their breath, let out a sigh of relief, wide smiles rippling through the whole group.
Emily and JJ hugged each other tightly, and Genevieve let out a breathy laugh, reaching up to grab Derek's shoulder and squeeze it. He put his hand up to hold hers there for a moment. They looked at each other, and their smiles faded slightly, before he dropped his hand, and she placed hers back into her lap.
"She needs her rest, but you can see her in the morning," The doctor nodded and sent them a professional smile. Hotch thanked him as he walked away. They all formed a ring as Hotch began to tackle the next problem - now that they knew she was okay, the next step was to find the son of a bitch who did this.
"Dave and I will go to the scene. I think the rest of you should be here when she wakes up. 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. And since this happened outside her apartment, I think it's safe to assume that the Unsub knows where she lives. Which case, Genevieve, I think it'd be safer if you stayed with someone else until this is solved,"
"You can stay with me," Emily offered. Genevieve accepted the offer gratefully, as Hotch nodded approvingly, and he and Rossi strode away.
+++
Garcia woke up a few hours later. Genevieve had dozed off between then, seeing as she hadn't had any sleep the previous night because she had been staying up in wait for the blonde to return home and spill details about the date, but she was alert as Spencer wheeled her into the hospital room, after Derek, Emily, and JJ filed in.
JJ immediately reached over to kiss Garcia on the cheek, and Genevieve reached out to hold her cold hand. Emily, Spencer, and Derek crowded around the other side of her bed.
"No tears. I'm afraid that if I cry, I'll come unstapled," She murmured groggily.
"How are you feeling?" Derek asked, his eyebrows furrowed. He was tense. They all noticed the tightness in his stance, and the way his vein rhythmically pumped against the skin of his neck. He was uncomfortable seeing his best friend so vulerable, as they all were.
"Confused... stupid... and in pain," She mumbled.
"Do you think it'd be okay if we asked you some questions?" JJ asked warily, knowing how hard reliving the pain could be.
"I never saw it coming," Garcia said as if she hadn't heard the brunette. "He seemed... deliciously normal,"
"He seemed- wait Garcia, don't tell me it was-" Genevieve paled. "Was it Colby?"
She nodded silently, closing her eyes ashamedly.
"Who's Colby?" Spencer asked curiously.
"You were right. I shouldn't have trusted it," Garcia addressed Derek, shaking her head.
"Garcia, what are you talking about? Who's Colby?" Derek asked softly.
"He's the one I told you and Gen about. The guy I met at the coffee shop," At her words, Derek hung his head. "I wanted to believe he was interested in me,"
"Forget that,"
"I let my guard down," She continued.
"Do you have any idea why he would have done this?" Emily asked, a quiet urgency in her voice.
"Did he threaten you?" Spencer spitballed, hoping that his suggestions would jog her memory. "Did he want something?"
"I just thought he liked me," Garcia's voice faltered, her eyes swimming with tears of pain and anxiety. Seeing how rattled she was, Genevieve patted her arm.
"Garcia, honey, I think we better leave you to rest for a while. I'll be staying here the whole time, if you need us, just tell the nurse, okay?"
"We just need a full name," Emily said hesitantly, as the rest of them all prepared to pile out of the room.
"James Colby Baylor,"
+++
It had been four days, and they'd found no leads on James Colby Baylor. Derek hadn't left Garcia's hospital room except to go home and shower, which case he made sure Genevieve and Spencer were with her, just in case their Unsub got word that she was alive and wanted to finish the job. Genevieve like Derek, was spending every moment that she was awake with Garcia, only leaving to sleep at Emily's house. She's tried to put up a fight and sleep on the futon beside her bed, but Derek had opted to instead, saying that sleeping in an uncomfortable plastic chair wouldn't be good for her recovery.
Spencer often dropped by too, and the three would spend their time asking her questions, trying to jog her memory, think of anything that could help them narrow her search, but she had just been getting overwhelmed reliving that night. Normally, they never got too far without overwhelming her.
But this time, they'd gotten somewhere.
"We're looking at a guy who failed out of law school or didn't pass the Bar," Genevieve said, as Derek wheeled her into the roundtable room, Spencer on his heels.
"What? Why?" Emily asked, looking up from a stack of papers she had been poring over.
"He told Garcia he was a city attorney, and that he had worked on a particularly traumatic murder case. But city attorney's don't work homicide cases," Spencer explained.
"But he spouted a lot of complex legal terminology at Garcia, so he clearly knows enough to fool the average person who knows close to nothing about the justice system," Derek finished.
"Therefore, failed out law student. He also talked about how how 'murders get away because of other people's incompetence',"
"Failing out could also explain his anger in that next statement," Emily nodded. "Even though he was lying, he felt compelled to rail against other people's incompetence,"
"He's clearly a narcissist," Rossi deadpanned. "The fancy clothes, fake rolex, subtle hints of here he went to school. He's faking humility when he's saying Newhaven and Cambridge instead of Yale and Harvard,"
"JJ we need an uh... analyst who can put our information through our legal databases," Hotch muttered, causing everyone to shift uncomfortably. The thought of someone else sitting in Garcia's office, typing away at her keyboard made them all grimace, but it was what had to be done.
"I'm on it,"
+++
Hotch had dropped by the hospital to give Garcia, Spencer, Derek, and Genevieve some bad news. The new technical analyst that was supposed to be working the case for them - Kevin Lynch, had uncovered an encrypted file on Garcia's computer. He had to report it to Internal Affairs, who then demanded that the team stop working the case, and that Garcia was a potential security risk, and that until the file was unencrypted and the rest of her databases were scanned and deemed safe, she was suspended from duty.
After he had left, the three confronted her about it.
"After my parents died, I dropped out of Cal-Tech, and went underground, basically. But I kept teaching myself code. It was like... the one thing that kept me together," Garcia smiled weakly. "And eventually, I started doing some things- not anything bad. I never hurt anyone, even if they deserved it. I just bent the law enough to get high on the bureau's radar. And not watchlist high, I mean, 'Most Wanted' high. So, they offered me a job,"
"Like Frank Abagnale," Spencer nodded. "The Bureau figured, if you can't beat him, hire him,"
"Yeah, something like that," She mumbled.
"But there's one big thing you're missing. What's on that encrypted file?" Derek asked sullenly as if he was not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"Part of my contract is that I'm required to keep a record of everything the team does. And ever since my systems got hacked and Elle got shot because of it... I had to make it more secure,"
The trio of profiler's expressions softened as they all understood what she was saying. She was just protecting them.
"It's getting kind of late, Gen. I'll call Prentiss and have her pick you up. I'll take care of the discharge stuff," Derek said, breaking the silence, before kissing both her and Penelope on their heads, and walking off.
+++
The whole team had gotten a call from Garcia, saying that the Unsub had shown up at her apartment again, and killed the cop who was meant to be serving as her protective detail. Luckily for her, Derek had made himself at home on her couch and managed to protect her. So, they had all driven over to her apartment.
"What's wrong?" JJ asked worriedly.
"In... in the restaurant. They tried to give us a seat by the window, but he insisted on sitting at the worst table. He was completely backed up into a corner," She said breathlessly. Everybody stiffened at her words. Refusing to sit near windows? Backing himself up into a place where he'd feel the most secure? That sounded familiar to all of them.
"Tell us about the car," Spencer piped up.
"Why?" Garcia asked, her head whipping to look between the seven agents around her.
"Just go with him," Derek said gently, not wanting to tell her their suspicions until they knew for sure.
"You said it was white, four-door, American, but what else?" Spencer pushed.
"That's it. It was just a car,"
"No, there's more that you aren't remembering. Anything, Garcia, give us anything," Genevieve shook her head. She nodded, and closed her eyes for a second, before her mouth dropped.
"His seatbelt. It was buckled behind his back," She announced. And just like that, their intuition was confirmed.
"Why does that matter?" She asked, seeing everybody's stunned faces.
"It wasn't a rental car. It was for surveillance," Derek explained
"Wearing our seatbelts behind our backs, not turning our backs on windows... it textbook law enforcement habits, Garcia," Genevieve said hesitantly.
"The man who shot you is an agent," Emily sighed.
Garcia didn't have any time to look taken aback before Rossi pulled up a chair and got in her face.
"Alright, let's cut the crap. You need to be straight with us, right now," He snapped. Garcia turned to look at Derek, "Look at me, not them,"
"Rossi, chill out a little-" Genevieve interjected, but she was ignored.
"I'm not hiding anything," Garcia said honestly.
"You got shot! Most people get shot for a reason. Eyes here," He yelled sharply, seeing the blonde glance at Genevieve for help.
"Hey! Ease up, Rossi," Derek shouted back, but his protest was also not taken into account, as the older profiler started yelling even louder. Hotch twitched as if he was about to extend his hand to put on Rossi's shoulder but then decided not to.
"You 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," He said harshly.
"Come on, man," Derek said, his brows furrowed into a cold stare at the older Italian man.
"It's nothing bad-" Garcia said softly.
"SPIT IT OUT!" He shouted, making her jump.
"It's nothing bad!" She blurted out, her words a jumbled mess. . "I counsel victims' families... and they know where I work so sometimes they ask me to look into cases for them,"
"What does that mean?" Rossi asked.
"It just means that the cases... the unsolved ones. I tag them so that whoever's investigating them knows that the FBI considers them a priority," Garcia said hushedly, her eyes downcast as everybody tensed.
"You're not authorised to do that," Hotch sighed.
"I know, but I was just trying to help," She answered him sadly, as Genevieve reached over to rub the blonde's shoulders sympathetically. Derek dropped his head into his hands, and Rossi hung his head as the full weight of what was going on dawned on the team.
"This means that whoever's working these cases thinks that you're watching them," Emily explained patiently.
"I just want to put the pressure on them so that they don't slide," She defended herself.
"How many cases are we talking about?" Hotch asked.
"I don't know, uh... seven? Eight, maybe? I'd need to get into my system,"
"You can't. You're suspended,"
"Wait a minute. Garcia, on your date, you said this guy was pressing you to find out if you were working murder cases," Derek realised. "Hotch, we gotta look at those files,"
"The common denominator in those files is the guy who shot Garcia. We need a look at those files," Genevieve implored.
Hotch sent Rossi a look as if to ask him if they were really about to break protocol.
"I told you, I'm sick of this jagoff being 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," Hotch said pointedly. "Genevieve and JJ, you're with us,"
+++
Genevieve's phone pinged as she made her way into the bullpen. She opened it up to see a message from Derek - it was a name and a photo of a man in his thirties with cropped hair, a strong jawline, and blue eyes.
Jason Clark Battle.
They had finally found their shooter. From the uniform he was wearing, he was a sheriff's deputy. Her phone pinged again, with the words 'angel of death' popping up on her screen. And it all made sense. He had staged the murders and then had been the first responder to the scene. He was trying to make a name for himself. And his mind, the only thing in his way was Garcia.
She saw through Hotch sitting at his desk through the blinds on his office windows and made to wheel over to him, her phone sitting open on her lap. She almost let out an audible gasp.
In front of her, standing at the desk with an Internal Affairs agent, and Kevin Lynch was Jason. She instinctively reached for her hip, before cursing under her breath, realising that she wasn't carrying her gun. It was in the safe she kept under her desk. She quickly switched her phone off, as Jason looked over his shoulder to stare at her. The last thing they needed was for him to realise they were onto him.
"You need any help, ma'am? You lost?" He asked patronisingly. She arched her eyebrows, unimpressed.
"No. Just trying to get to my desk," She said coolly. His face changed as she realised she was more than just some wandering civilian. He stood aside for her, and she rolled through the maze of desks until she was at her own. She noticed Hotch and Rossi standing together near the stairs to the conference room. She made eye contact for a moment before she subtly tilted her head in Jason's direction. They nodded, non-verbally confirming that they understood what she was trying to say.
They started walking slowly towards her, as she subtly reached down to dial her combination into her safe. She reached for her gun, and slipped it into her holster, sending Jason a wry smile as he looked over to her again, acting as if she was typing something into her computer. She didn't have a good angle - at least not without standing up, which she couldn't do. There were too many people in the room to take him out safely.
She laid her phone out on the desk, and casually started typing.
Battle is here in bullpen. // Genevieve
We know. Lynch leaked us footage of the building. Calling JJ now - we need to slip her in behind him to get a clean shot. // Derek
Good. I can't clear anybody without raising suspicion. Tell JJ to be quick. He's looking antsy. // Genevieve
She put her phone away, as Rossi and Hotch tried to inch behind Jason.
But he was onto them. Jason wrapped his arm around the throat of the internal affairs agent, and pulled his gun out of his holster and pressed it into his hostage's temple.
Like a flash, everybody, including Genevieve, had their guns out and aimed straight for the sheriff deputy's head.
"You're a cop. You know this isn't going to end well," Rossi reasoned.
"Put the gun down," Genevieve ordered. She saw Kevin squirming uncomfortably, and she shook her head at him, signalling him not to move. He was clearly out of his depth - he was a technical analyst. They were never supposed to be in the line of any danger.
"You're standing in the middle of the FBI," Hotch said sternly.
"You think I'm afraid of the FBI?" Jason snarled.
"I know how this is going to end, and so do you,"
"I'm a decorated officer," He snapped.
"That's right," Rossi said, feeding into his ego. "And this isn't how you want to be remembered,"
"Put the gun down, Jason. You're in control right now. How we react is completely up to you," Genevieve urged him, knowing that her words would please him.
"You write the ending. It's your choice,"
"Best minds in the FBI," He scoffed. "And you can't even stop me,"
A dark, small figure appeared behind the glass doors. Genevieve, Hotch and Rossi's eyes all floated off of Jason to stare at it. Wondering what they were all looking at, Jason turned around, just in time to lock eyes with JJ, as she pulled the trigger of her gun, and sent a bullet flying between his eyes.
+++
Genevieve jerked as she woke up to the sound of shuffling feet. It had been a couple of days since Jason had been killed, and Genevieve had successfully moved back into Garcia's apartment, and had decided that since they'd had so much fun living with each other, that they'd make it a permanent arrangement. It was four in the morning, and the both of them had taken a sick day to make the space more Genevieve-friendly.
Groaning, she hauled herself out of bed and onto the wheelchair, and rolled into the kitchen, where she saw Garcia sitting at the bench and making herself a cup of tea.
"One for me too," She mumbled, rubbing the sleep for her eyes as she wheeled to a stop beside her new roomate.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Garcia said, pulling out another mug.
"It's fine. I wake up easy anyways. Why're you up?"
"I never went to bed," She confessed. "I can't stop thinking about JJ-"
"JJ did what we're all trained to do - save as many lives as we can. You don't need to worry about her. My first time shooting someone... it was rough. And it doesn't get easier. But JJ gets to go to sleep knowing that she saved a lot of lives by putting an end to that before he could start shooting. So you should too,"
"But-"
"Garcia. If she isn't okay, then we'll help her through it. The whole team will. But you'll be of more use when you're running on sleep instead of those cold brews you drink every morning,"
"Fine. I'll go to bed. Only if you go as well," The blonde bargained, smirking slyly.
"Deal. But you've got to wheel me back,"
"Maybe tomorrow we can get hers and hers bathrobes. And we can drink lots of wine, and watch rom-coms,"
"Only if we watch 10 Things I Hate About You first,"
AUTHOR'S NOTE
lol guys sorry i've been so MIA, i hope that you enjoyed this chapter! i thought that making genevieve and garcia roomates would be such a cute idea so i thought i'd include it just like that :). have a good day guys stay safe, ily <3