"𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄. 𝗗𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲"
- 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲

-----

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝗻𝗲 - 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲

Valentina was on FaceTime with James when JJ's caller ID came up on the screen "Hey James, JJ's ringing. I'll call you back all right?"

After they said their goodbyes she hung up and quickly put the phone to her ear "Hey JJ, what's up?"

"Val, something happened with Garcia. You need to get here now" JJ's voice was panicked as colour drained from Valentina's face.

"What do you meaning something happened to her? Is she okay?"

"She got shot. I've texted you the address of the hospital"

"I'm on my way"

Valentina had to keep the tears at bay as she recklessly parked outside the hospital before rushing into the building to find JJ and when she did she brought the blonde into a bone crushing hug.

"She's in surgery right now. There's no word" JJ told her once they pulled away as Valentina then went and hugged Emily and Spencer.

"This is crazy" Spencer muttered as Hotch walked over to the group and Valentina didn't waste no time in wrapping her arms around him as his arms wrapped around her waist.

"You think she's gonna be okay?" She whispered.

"She'll be okay" He whispered back before they pulled away from each other.

Rossi spotted the group, walking over to them and handed everyone a cup of coffee. Valentina smiled at him "What do we know?"

"Police think it was a botched robbery" Hotch told him.

"Where's Morgan?"

"He's not answering his cell" JJ sighed. Valentina pulled out her phone and told the group she was calling him before walking away.

"What aren't you saying?" Rossi asked Hotch with narrowed eyes.

"I spoke to one of the paramedics who brought her in. It doesn't look good and I've just lied to her saying her best friend's gonna be okay" He subtly nodded in Valentina's direction. Rossi nodded, watching as the girl paced up and down while trying to get in contact with Derek.

"They won't give me an update" JJ came walking back from the reception desk just as Valentina came walking over to the group "His phone keeps going straight to voicemail, where the hell is he?"

It felt like hours had passed sitting in that waiting room. Valentina was sat staring at a wall with another coffee in her hand when JJ came over and sat next to her before placing her hand in her free one.

Valentina looked at her for a second and gave her a smile and the blonde replied by squeezing her hand. That was all the comfort she needed.

Valentina's head snapped up when she saw a panicked Derek walking in. She quickly stood up "Hey you all right? Where you been?"

"I was at church. My phone was off "

"She's been in surgery a couple hours. There's nothing you could have been doing here" She replied.

"The police got any leads?"

"I spoke to the lead detective. He doesn't think we'll get anything from the scene" Hotch informed when a doctor walked out of a room.

"Penelope Garcia?" A chorus of yeses echoed in the hall as they all nodded "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. One centimetre over and it would have torn right through her heart. Instead, she could actually walk out of here in a couple of days, and I'd say that's a minor miracle. She needs her rest. You can see her in the morning" Everyone sighed in relief, thanking the doctor as he walked away.

"David and I will head 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" Hotch nodded before walking away with Rossi.

They all sat down again and Valentina felt a bit better knowing that Garcia was going to be okay. Resting her head on Derek's shoulder, she eventually fell asleep to the sound of music playing in her ears.

-----

Morning came pretty quickly and Garcia was finally awake. The team minus Hotch and Rossi, were huddled around her bed. Valentina wiped a stray tear that fell from her eye as she gently hugged the blonde.

"Hi" Garcia said groggily before she noticed Valentina's face "No tears. I'm afraid if I start crying, I'll come unstapled"

"How you feeling?" Derek asked, standing next to her.

"Confused, stupid and in pain" She replied. Derek and Valentina shared a glance.

"Are you up for some questions?" JJ asked.

"I never saw it coming. He seemed deliciously normal" Garcia spoke as Spencer furrowed his brows.

"You know him?" He asked.

She turned her head to look at Derek and Valentina "You were right. I shouldn't have trusted it"

Derek looked just as confused as Spencer "What are you talking about?"

"It's that guy I told you two about. The one I met at the coffee shop" Valentina looked down at her feet as Derek sighed "I wanted to believe he was interested in me"

Derek shook his head "Forget that"

"I let my guard down" Garcia continued, staring into space.

Valentina's heart broke as she grabbed Garcia's hand and squeezed it gently "This wasn't your fault okay? Don't blame yourself "

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

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

"I just thought he liked me" Garcia croaked before shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Pen, we need a name"

"James Colby Baylor" The team nodded, saying their goodbyes before leaving room except for JJ who was asked by Garcia to stay a second.

Valentina was running a hand through her hair while muttering a string of curse words as Derek hit a wall "You both need to stay calm" Spencer told them.

"Don't tell us what to be" His tone of voice was cold but not the same tone he'd use in the interrogation room, this was different "Do you remember anything she said about him?"

"No. She only said about how good looking he was" Val sighed, her head turning around to look at Emily.

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

Valentina frowned "So he doesn't want to leave shell casings behind as evidence. Any witnesses?"

Emily shook her head "None so far. 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" Spencer spoke before JJ emerged from Garcia's room "What did she say?"

"She made me promise not to talk about her like a victim" She then looked at Valentina with a small smile "She also said she wants you to stop crying"

JJ and Emily went to the office whilst Derek, Valentina and Spencer stood outside of Garcia's room as they watched her through the window "I asked her to go out last night but she was pissed at me. She blew me off so I ended up at church"

"She called me last night to help her pick out an outfit because she was too mad to ask you. We even had James on the call" She smiled "He was so confused and didn't understand why the first five outfits weren't good enough. I'm sure it was just them arguing for the most of it" Everyone chuckled at Valentina's words before the mood turned dull again.

"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 20 years, she's on the table?" No one said anything after that until a nurse came out of the room.

"She's asking for you"

The three agents went inside and Derek held Garcia's hand in his "Hey. How're you feeling?"

"Good news, bad news. The morphine's wearing off "

Valentina chuckled "That's why they call it the good stuff "

"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?"

"Of course he isn't, Pen. Freddie Mercury's the real deal" Valentina smirked causing Garcia to smile at her "We've got a sketch artist coming in"

"Okay. I'm still a little hazy"

"It's okay. Anything you tell us will help" Garcia nodded at Derek "This guy say what he did for a living?"

"He said he was a lawyer"

"Did people know him where you went?" Spencer asked.

"He said he wanted to show me a place. It was half an hour away"

"Did you drive together?" She nodded "What kind of car?"

"White. Four-door Sedan. American. It smelt new"

"Rental car, maybe?"

Garcia looked at Spencer "Maybe. I don't know. I don't look at things like you guys do. I don't see danger" She was starting to panic.

"Okay. Hey, take it easy. Take it easy" Derek comforted her "What else can you remember?"

"He smelt good"

"Did he seem nervous?"

"I thought he was just afraid to kiss me good night" A tear rolled down her cheek. Derek wiped it away "Hey, are you sure you're up for this?"

She nodded and took a deep breath "I could hear him walking. He leaned over me, and I held my breath so he'd think I was dead" She bit her lip to stop herself from crying before continuing with the story of what happened to her.

"Penelope, I know it's gotta be hard to keep reliving this" Derek sighed.

"I just don't know what else there is to remember"

"Let's start with the behaviour" Spencer suggested, a small smile on his face "That's all profiling really is. It's just noticing behaviour"

"Sweetheart, any details you can remember will tell us who he is, okay?" Garcia nodded at Derek's words "All right, so let's go back to when you first arrived at the restaurant. Was he nervous?"

"No" She said while shaking her head "The opposite actually"

"So, he was trying to impress you by showing you how he can take charge?" Valentina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I guess so"

Spencer looked at her "Tell me about his watch"

"It's a fake Rolex. I know my knockoffs"

"Clearly he was playing with it, though, because he wanted you to notice. I mean, he wanted you to think it was real" Spencer said and that's when Garcia's breathing started to pick up.

"You okay?" Valentina asked in concern.

"I'm feeling really exposed"

"You're doing just fine. Just fine" The three continued guiding Garcia through the exercise when Spencer realised something at a certain detail Garcia just told them about.

"City attorneys don't try murder cases"

"What?"

"He knows enough to use legal terminology, but he's not actually a working lawyer"

-----

Derek and Spencer were still with Garcia while occasionally getting updates from the rest of the team while Valentina was just stood outside talking to James.

"Hey, is everything okay? I just wanted to check in since I didn't hear from you after JJ called"

Valentina smiled. He was always worried about her "I'm okay but Garcia isn't"

"What do you mean?"

"Remember that date we were helping her get ready for? Well the guy was full of bullshit. He wasn't a lawyer like he said and..." She sighed, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on "He shot her James"

"He what?! Fuck, is she okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. She's in intensive care and really shook up but she's alive"

"Thank God for that. You get a name?"

"Yeah but we think it's bogus. If he's lied about being a lawyer, what else as he lied about?"

"Yeah I hear you. I can still search his name in our database if you want, see if anything comes up"

Valentina didn't know what she'd do without him "Yeah I'd really appreciate that, it's James Colby Baylor"

"All right, I got it. If anything flags up I'll let you know"

"Thank you James, really"

"It's nothing Val you know that. Now send Garcia my love for me okay? And I'll talk to you soon"

Valentina chuckled "I'll let her know"

"You better" He smiled "I love you Val"

"I love you too James" After they hung up, she walked back into the room and smiled at Garcia.

"Hey, James sends his love" Garcia smiled back at her. Valentina looked over at Derek and Spencer "Even thought I told him the name the guy gave was probably bogus he said he'd look it up in their database anyway. He's gonna call if he finds anything"

Derek nodded, holding a mirror for Garcia so she could see whilst putting on her lip-balm "Tell him we said thanks"

Valentina nodded "Will do"

Hotch entered the room with a stern look on his face "How are you feeling?"

"You know, I've had better dates" Garcia replied.

"What's going on?" Derek asked.

"We found an encrypted file on your computer. Are you involved in something that I need to know about?" He said in usual stern voice.

"No"

"Aaron, what's going on?" Valentina asked but Hotch just shrugged her off.

"Could this be connected in any way to whoever shot you?"

"I don't think so"

"I need the password"

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes. The password" He looked expectantly at the blonde.

"Gilman street" She practically whispered.

"Thank you. We've been ordered by Internal Affairs to stop working the case. And until this is cleared up, you've been suspended. I'm sorry"

Valentina looked over at Penelope who was nodding in understanding "Right" She said heart-broken as Hotch then walked out of the room.

Garcia was quick to start pulling everything that was connected to her body and she went to pull out her IV tube when Derek stopped her.

"Pen..."

"What are you doing?"

"I need to get out of..." Penelope started to say before Derek sat on the bed in front of her with his hands resting on her shoulders.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Please, baby, listen to me. Listen, we're going to get it straightened out. I'm going to find out who did this to you. 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" Derek assured her.

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

"I get that"

"No, you don't"

Now Valentina was confused as to why Internal Affairs were more bothered about investigating Garcia than whoever James Colby Baylor was. Penelope then went on to explain how she was recruited to the FBI.

"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"

"So, they offered you a job?" Spencer asked. Garcia nodded "Like Frank Abagnale. The Bureau figured, if you can't beat him, hire him"

Garcia shrugged "Yeah, something like that"

"Pen, what's on the encrypted file?" Valentina got straight to the point as Garcia turned to look at her.

"I'm required to keep 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"

"We'll talk to the doctor, see if he'll clear you to leave" Spencer looked at Valentina, who nodded and gave a smile to Garcia before following Spencer out the door.

-----

Valentina was sat at home in her kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hands. Garcia had been able to go home after the doctor cleared her so Derek decided to stay the night so she could feel safe and get some much needed rest.

Valentina decided she wasn't sleeping that night when she had already woken up twice because of the nightmares plaguing her mind and instead she was sat watching her tv when her phone rang.

It was Spencer. Penelope's shooter had come back for round two and even killed Officer Mike Flemming's who was stationed outside. It didn't take long for Valentina to be out the house, into her car and over to Garcia's apartment.

She flashed her badge to the cops outside who lifted up the tape for her to walk in as she headed up the stairs and into her apartment where JJ, Spencer, Derek and Penelope was.

"What's going on?" JJ asked.

"I don't know. This guy's getting seriously bold and I can guarantee you, it's not over" Derek said, looking over at Valentina "Has James rang you back yet with an ID for this guy?"

Valentina shook her head "Not yet"

JJ went over to Garcia as she bent down and grabbed her hands "Are you okay?"

"I don't know what he wants from me"

"Could you know something about him?" Spencer asked from behind them.

"I don't know"

"Maybe you have something he wants" Spencer theorised.

"I don't know who he is" Garcia practically snapped at Spencer. She looked back down at JJ "I'm so scared"

Valentina sighed "Don't be, okay? With all of us here, he's not getting through those doors. You might not feel like it but you are safe here"

About five minutes later, Emily, Hotch and Rossi came walking through door as Emily asked "Hey, did you get a look at him?"

"Nothing solid" Derek replied.

"Garcia, we need to get you back to the hospital" Hotch told her but Garcia wasn't having it.

"You know what? You should still be there. We need to get her someplace safe" JJ said but Garcia was still against it.

"I feel safe with all of you" Garcia quickly said.

"We could take you to the BAU" Hotch decided so JJ stood up and looked back down at Garcia to see her staring into space.

"Garcia?"

"You okay?"

"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" She explained what she was starting to remember.

It went quiet after that as two detectives walked in causing Hotch to dismiss them for a moment.

"Tell us about the car" Spencer started.

"Why?"

"Just go with him" Derek said.

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

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

"Now come on" Derek helped her "Think. Anything. Go back"

So she did and that's when she remembered. The seatbelt "His seatbelt was buckled behind his back"

That caused the team to exchange glances with each other as Garcia asked "Why does that matter?"

"It wasn't a rental" Derek explained to her "It was for surveillance"

"Agents don't wear seatbelts" Valentina continued "They need to get out in a hurry"

"All right, let's cut the crap" Rossi walked over to her "You need to be straight with us, right now"

He was sat right in front of her as Garcia started to panic "Look at me, not them"

"I'm not hiding anything"

"You got shot. Most people get shot for a reason" His voice started to get louder "Eyes here!"

"Ease up, Rossi!" Derek shouted back.

"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" Garcia soon went quiet "What?"

"Come on, man" Derek said but even Valentina had to agree with Rossi's methods. Sometimes you have to play the bad cop in order to get the truth.

"It's nothing bad" Garcia muttered.

"Spit it out!"

"It's nothing bad! I counsel victims' families and they know where I work, so sometimes they ask me to look into cases for them" Garcia tried to explain.

"What does that mean?" Rossi asked.

"It just means that the cases, the unsolved cases, I tag them, so whoever's investigating them knows that the FBI considers them a priority" Garcia finally admitted.

"You're not authorised to do that" Hotch told her.

"I know. I was just trying to help" She said, feeling guilty.

"And we get that Pen, believe me we do but whoever's working those cases thinks you're watching them" Valentina said.

"I just want to put the pressure on them so that they don't slide"

Hotch looked at her with his arms crossed "How many cases are we talking about?"

"I don't know. Seven, eight maybe? I'd need to get into my system" Garcia replied.

"You can't. You're suspended" Hotch reminded her.

"Hold on, Garcia, on your date, you said this guy was pressing you to find out if you were working murder cases" Penelope nodded to what Valentina was saying. She looked over at Hotch "Aaron, we've got to look at those files"

Hotch sighed and looked over at Rossi "I told you, I'm sick of this jagoff being in front of us"

And so was Hotch "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"

Valentina hugged Garcia as the blonde smiled into her shoulder "Hang in there Pen, all right? We're gonna get him, I promise you"

Garcia nodded at the brunette's words as she let go of Garcia and followed Hotch, Rossi and JJ out the door. Valentina was following behind them in her car when James's ID came onto the hands free.

"James, please tell me you got something"

"You know I do. It took a while but it says here he was in the military from 1992 to 96 and then took a job with the Prince William County Sheriff's Office on December 29, 97, and has a BA in Administration of Justice" James explained to her "He also earned a Meritorious Award of bravery in the Line of Duty, July 2002. And then in October 2005, he earned an Award of Valor"

"James, you're a lifesaver, thank you" Valentina replied "What about his name?"

"Yeah you were right about that. His real name is Jason Clark Battle"

"Okay, I got it. Thank you James, I'll call you back all right?"

"Anytime Val now go kick his ass for me"

Valentina chuckled "Yes, sir" As James hung up, they were just pulling into the BAU car park. She smiled as she got out of her car and looked over at the three agents who were all confused as to why she was so happy.

"We got a name"

-----

Valentina was in JJ's office as she was telling Derek everything she knew on Jason whilst JJ was looking through some files and soon enough they were looking at the guy on their screen.

The conversation didn't go on for much longer when Derek cut her off in very serious voice "He's in the office, Val"

"On it" JJ looked over at Valentina in confusion as she watched the agent take out her gun from the holster on her hip and load the weapon.

"Val, what's going on?" JJ asked as she stood up.

"Battle's in the office and if we don't act now a lot of people could get hurt" The brunette told the blonde as they slowly walked out of JJ's office and  towards the office windows where they could hear Rossi and Hotch trying to talk Jason down.

"I know how this is gonna end and so do you" She could hear Hotch say.

"I'm a decorated officer" Jason replied in an almost sarcastic tone.

"That's right" It was Rossi's voice she heard this time "And this is not how you want to be remembered. You're in control here. You write the ending. Your choice"

"Best minds in the FBI" Jason scoffed "And you can't even stop me"

All it took was Valentina whistling to make Jason to turn around before the glass broke and Jason dropped to the ground with a bullet in his head.

Soon after, the police showed up along with Derek, Garcia, Emily and Spencer.

"Is it really over?" Garcia asked as Derek placed the body bag back over Jason's face.

Derek nodded "Yeah, it's really over. Now, can we please get you back to the hospital?"

"I..." Penelope looked over at the director as Emily spoke "Oh, don't worry about your reinstatement papers. He'll sign them as soon as his hands stop shaking"

Garcia nodded before walking over to Valentina who had just finished giving her statement "Hey"

Valentina smiled at her "Hey"

"I'm sorry, I never wanted you to have do something like that for me" Garcia was very quick to apologise.

"Garcia" Valentina cut her off from saying anything else as she rested her hands on her arms "I'd do it again for you in a heartbeat, okay? You do anything for the people you love"

Garcia's eyes filled up with tears as she hugged the brunette who hugged her back just as tight. They pulled away when Valentina's phone started to ring in her back pocket.

"Sorry" She whispered to Garcia who shrugged it off. Valentina smiled when she heard the voice on the other end of the phone "I think it's for you"

Garcia frowned "What?"

"It's James" Valentina smiled as tears also started to well up in her own eyes "He said he wants to speak to you, see how you're doing"

Garcia looked down at the phone in Valentina's hand before looking back up at her "Do you believe everything happens for a reason?"

The agent shrugged holding the phone out to the blonde who soon took it and put the phone to her ear as she went to go sit down at one of the desks.

Val was beyond happy to see a smile on Garcia's face as she watched her talk with James when her attention turned towards Derek who came and sat down next to her.

No words needed to be exchanged between the two as she let her head fall onto his shoulder and his arm wrap around hers and in that moment, Derek's arms felt more like home than any house ever did.