Disclaimer: Even on my 200th story, I still don't get to own even a smidgen of Criminal Minds!

A/N:A month long hiatus from this is totally unacceptable I know, but life took over and Uni took over and then when that passed, my muse ran! So after 30 days, you have an update... Thank you as always!

Mistakes are mine!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fate's Monster -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"You have no house?" Penelope asked as JJ sat on the other end of her bed facing her. Furrowing her brow, she watched as JJ shook her head at her, "You've got no house and I've got a house I don't want to go back to."

JJ cast a look over her friend and could see the terror that Penelope felt at not wanting to go near her home again. Here they were both homeless because of Andrew and for totally different reasons. Hers had been burnt down, exploded to pieces and Penelope's had been ambushed and the one place that should be sanctuary no longer was.

Sighing, Penelope rested to look at JJ, "I've been told I'm going to Derek's. Kinder like default, but it won't be the same as my home."

"We'll need to make new homes," JJ vowed positively. She hated that most of her stuff was now burnt embers and she had only a few bags that had made it outside in the process of Hotch getting her out. Everything that Henry loved was gone apart from what she had salvaged and what he had on him or at Will's.

"Guess that's something we'll have to do when we're both all healed up, Sweet Cheeks," Penelope told her friend, trying to grapple onto the shreds of hope that this was over. "A castle fit for my little Prince Henry."

JJ laughed and thought for a moment, "Maybe we can use this to our advantage. I mean Andrew ever coming into our lives. I can give Henry a better home, one that Will hadn't helped build up with me. Me and Aaron got one another, you and Derek were forced to confront one another and look how he saved you. I think we need to think more positive."

"We'll see what Derek thinks on that one," Penelope commented dully.

JJ looked around for a moment, "He hasn't even been in here this morning has he?" She asked after no noticing any sign of Derek's presence in the room today.

"He's getting a last once over before being discharged," Penelope told JJ and smiled, "Just me left in here."

"Well I'd say that now you're getting some more colour back you're be let out soon," JJ optimised warmly with a bright smile. "And you seem to wanting to do more so you getting up and about has to be some sort of leverage towards discharge papers."

"I guess," Penelope shrugged off, "The doctor doesn't seem to be hinting towards my release from this prison just yet, so you'll all be off and I'll be left here." She dropped her gaze, only to watch JJ's foot slide over to tap her lightly to make her look up.

JJ smiled as Penelope looked up, tears in her eyes heavily, "We aren't just leaving you here, Garcie." She gave Penelope a goofy grin, "Just because we have our family, doesn't mean we're taking away yours. I'm still going to be here every day."

"I just want to go home," Penelope said and crumpled and within moments JJ was up the bed holding her friend as she sobbed. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop him hurting you. I thought about it, but I was too weak and I let him hurt you. You should hate me for that, Jayje."

Pulling back a little, JJ looked at Penelope and saw the remorse, "The only thing you should be sorry for is playing this blame game."

Looking to her friend, Penelope's eye were wide like saucers, full with tears and fears and unspoken questions, "How do I stop that? He was hurting me most, I expected him to hurt me all the time and when he didn't I thought I had done something wrong." Penelope looked to JJ then, "H-he nearly killed Derek because of me."

"Is this about me or Derek?" JJ asked Penelope simply and she could see from Penelope's eyes that this was more about Derek than anything. "Shall I share something with you?" JJ asked and Penelope just nodded. "Before I was taken, me and Aaron finally admitted to each other that we were in love with one another and when the house blew up, I remember thinking it was him picking me up off of the floor after the explosion and thinking that he was hero, but then when I was able to look at him and realised he wasn't him, I thought one thing," JJ paused and took in a difficult breath. "I thought he had died, and I was in that place with you two thinking that maybe Aaron died back there and I did nothing to stop it."

JJ hadn't realised she was crying until Penelope took her hand in hers. "I never thought I needed a man after Will, but I can't live without Aaron anymore. I can't do this without him and I don't know if that makes me a fool to be dependent on a man like that or not, but I know that I love him if I have faith to be dependent on him. You do the same with Derek, Garcie, so let him take the reigns when he wants to and let him lead you to whatever you need."

"He needs to get better too," Penelope told her friend, "He was there too, he needs to help himself before he can help me. We all do."

"No we don't, it doesn't work like that. We help each other whatever," JJ fought back in disagreement. "We don't work like that, Penelope." She felt her tears dry up, as her tenacity renewed itself. "Do you know how much I was scared when I knew he had stabbed you and Derek told me to run?" JJ questioned her fiercely. "How much I wanted to go back and fight to save you because he had done enough to you already? Given I was hurt, I was scared, whatever, I wanted to go back to you."

"I would've taken whatever to make sure he didn't touch you," Penelope admitted, more with a deflective meaning than anything.

"You nearly died, Pen, how much more would you have taken?" JJ asked her friend sincerely. "You almost bled out in Morgan's arms, how is that not taking whatever to make sure we weren't hurt? You bore the brunt of it all."

"He cut into you though," Penelope began shakily, "A-an-and the blood." Her eyes pooled with more tears, "How am I ever going to get rid of these images, Jayje? I can barely make it through an entire night without a nightmare and I can feel it's getting to me. How am I su-supposed to make it through the day when I get home?" Penelope asked her friend helplessly.

JJ hated that her best friend was haunted so early on, as expected as it was, she hated the idea that Penelope was alone when she woke up from her nightmares.

"Shall I let you in on a little something?" JJ asked as she took Penelope's hand in hers and settled down a little, waiting for her nod of approval to continue. Receiving it, JJ smiled, "When I saw Morgan carrying you out, I had never seen a better sight. Course, I hated to see you both so weak, and you so close to being gone, but it was like I knew everything was going to be okay because he was your hero again."

"Why are you telling me this?" Penelope sniffled, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

Smiling, JJ allowed her grasp on Penelope's hand to tighten a little, "Because Derek is who is going to get you through this. You let him in and he will help you through every step of the way. You are never going to be alone. The dependency I have on Aaron is the same as you have with Derek. It's special and it's meaningful."

"I like being depend on Derek," Penelope admitted and looked up to JJ and smiled. "There's something normal about it. I feel at ease when I stop being so independent crazy."

JJ nodded and grinned like a fool again, "Believe me, I actually believed in your 'Noir Hero' description when he brought you out of that building," JJ almost swooned for a moment and remembered when Aaron had picked her up and cradled her after the car crash. He was her own hero.

"It felt surreal," Penelope spoke softly as she remembered their rescue. "I remember Rossi and someone putting an oxygen mask over my head and then Derek putting me down. I tried to grab his hand, but then Rossi yelled for help and I knew it wasn't good, but I don't remember much more than that. I tried to call to him and I couldn't. I was more scared not hearing him then than ever before."

"See," JJ commented delicately as she came and sat next to her friend, lying down with her, "You just need the man that loves you."

"Like you do," Penelope replied back.

JJ smiled at that thought, "Exactly like that."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fate's Monster -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"I expected you to be home," Hotch commented as he entered the room and went straight for a seat. It might have only been six days, but the aftermath of the car crash and the explosion were wreaking worse havoc on him than ever before.

"I haven't rang my mom to tell her I'm discharged," Derek told his boss. "I wanted to spend some time with Penelope, but her and JJ have been asleep near enough and hour."

Hotch looked at JJ as she finally looked peaceful. "She's not been sleeping well, so seeing her sleep this calmly is well worth it right now."

"Maybe that's because she's with Penelope," Derek commented, "They were there together, it would make sense."

Hotch nodded and felt a shot of pain in his head at that motion. Closing his eyes, Hotch battled the headache he still had and opened his eyes to see Derek watching from across the room in growing concern. "Headache," He commented and shook his head a little; "It keeps coming and going."

"Is it normal?" Derek quizzed.

"I've not been sleeping so I guess so," Hotch shrugged off and looked to JJ and Penelope. "I just feel like this isn't over."

"You too, huh?" Derek questioned, "I don't know how to explain it. I just feel like it ended too easily."

"Well if there's one thing I do know," Derek said as he shifted to get comfortable in his seat, "It's that I will do anything to protect Penelope from that bastard."

"I intend to do the same for JJ," Aaron commented and trusted those words immensely. He would fight his way through this and make sure his girl had it all, even Penelope and Emily. He wanted his family to be entirely safe once again.

Both men looked to their women they loved, and realised that unlike so many men they had seen on cases, they were the lucky ones. They still had the people that held their hearts so dearly.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fate's Monster -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Penelope gasped awake again, like she had done every night since being back. It was just as she felt Andrew biting down into her neck, only this time he started to suck on the wound as he drew again and ripped her flesh away with it. As he went for more, the feel of his teeth on her fresh wound made her wake up harshly.

She jumped when she felt movement to her side and quickly she moved in fear to see who was there. She exhaled as she saw Rossi next to her, his face masked with concern. "Wh-what are you doing here?" Penelope asked as she tried to calm herself down.

"JJ might have mentioned something about nightmares," Rossi told Penelope as he sat up. "Spencer is going to be on watch tomorrow." He then stood up and sat on the bed, offering Penelope a friendly gaze, "You need me to get anyone, Bella?" He asked her in a calm tone.

Penelope closed her eyes to make her breathing calm a little, "No thanks, Dave," She told him and opened her eyes slowly. "Just a stupid nightmare again," She cast her gaze to him as she said that, "You can go if you want. I can hold fort myself, My Italian Stallion."

"You're not being left here alone, Penelope," Rossi told her and pushed her hair out of her face fatherly. "You really think that because our parents, sisters, whoever come here we'd forget about you?" He watched her shrug. "I know the last few months really do contribute to making you worry, but really you have nothing to worry about where your family is concerned. We are going to be spending every day of this recovery together and then we are going to build a good future with each other."

Not able to ignore his confidence in their ability, Penelope calmed and realised that even though something terrible had happened, there was a future past it. "I guess I just forget who my real family is when yours are all around," Penelope admitted and smiled, "I'll stop it, I promise!"

Rossi sat up straight, "Good!" He exclaimed and the schooled his expression. "Right, you need more sleep, Kitten," He told her authoritatively and sternly.

"I don't bite, neither do you," Penelope murmured and looked away, "Only one person does and he isn't coming back." Penelope tried to make herself believe though words as she felt Rossi move to lay with her. "What would Emily and Derek say if they saw this?" Penelope quizzed teasingly as she lay there in the dim light of the night.

Rossi chuckled and put his arm around Penelope, allowing her to get comfortable against him, "I think Derek would be happy to know I'm looking after his girls properly."

Penelope smiled a little at that, "Do you really believe this was meant to happen? Like fate intervened in the fact we were losing with one another?" Penelope asked lowly into the night filled room.

"Well a certain tech kitten I know told us all that everything happens for a reason," Rossi spoke to Penelope, reminding her of her own saying. "I was waiting for her to reappear," Rossi commented to her, feeling like a corner was being turned.

"After my chat with Jen earlier I am pretty much starting to see the positives," Penelope countered as she mulled over everything. "I feel like we're a group again and Derek and me found a resolve." She smiled, "He's more than talking to me now."

"I think he's more than talking to you now," Rossi chuckled at her, "Or are my eyes deceiving me."

Penelope moved to look up at him, "You know, we had a lot of time to speak in there. I think we found time to get us back. He was my strength when I thought I had lost him." Penelope sighed contently, "It was my piece of hope that everything was going to work out."

"I'd say life is going to work out pretty damn well, Penelope," Rossi declared with confidence and he could feel Penelope relaxing at those words.

This was why she liked talking to Rossi. He was the man that always spoke to her like she was a long lost daughter. He never let her cast a shadow of a doubt over anything in life.

Penelope was just drifting off, and she could feel that Rossi was too. They had spoken long into the night, so much so the sun was beginning to lift in the sky readying to light it up. She was calm and sure that the more she spoke about everything the less the nightmares would haunt her. Both the pair jumped back to reality when they heard a nurse trying to stop people from barging in and the watched as JJ and Hotch ran into the room in urgency, their faces ignited with new concerns.

"What the hell?" Ross demanded as he sat up and looked at the pair.

"Spencer got shot," Hotch said immediately, not wasting any time not to confess why they were here.

Penelope pushed herself up at hearing that, "B-by who?" Penelope asked, her heart rate accelerating, her hands shaking with fear for her boy genius.

Hotch and JJ looked at one another, "Andrew's men." Hotch alerted them, "We need to get you to a safe house, Penelope. They're after us to finish the job."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fate's Monster -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-