AN: This is it. Wild ride! Don't own CM. Sad, I know.

Chapter 13-Aftermath

After three hours in the hospital, they were headed home. She had three broken ribs. The hospital had insisted on a rape kit, which thankfully had come up negative, because Garcia had blacked out. Morgan shuddered, realizing again how much worse things could have been. Her esophagus had been damaged by the fucker's repeated attempts to strangle her. She had told him, while they were waiting at the hospital for her to be released, how she had refused to give Ford the satisfaction of letting her cry out. He was both horrified and so immensely proud of her. She had refused to let him win. He had told her that her refusal to give him what he wanted may have made him off his game and made the rest of it possible.

He made sure she knew that it was her lead on Ford's connections the previous Friday that had made finding her possible. Without that, they wouldn't have had anything at all to go on. As they came to a stop light, he turned and looked at her. She was dressed in her favorite kitten pajamas and was wrapped in a festive blanket, both of which J.J. had brought from her apartment. She had a bandage around her neck, and her jaw was horribly bruised. She was whole and alive and here. He felt his chest tighten again. As the light turned green, he took her hand and held it tight.

Derek had a sense of déjà vu as he gently helped her from the SUV. He had done something similar when she was shot. That was the night he had first told her he loved her. She had mistaken it for a friendly kind of love, and had soon after embarked in her too-long relationship with Lynch. For reasons that he still did not understand, she considered herself beneath his "caliber" of woman. She truly was a hard head. He wouldn't let her misunderstand him tonight. He was glad, given all that had happened, that he had been flitting around the truth with her for several weeks. She could not accuse him of reacting to almost losing her. Well, she could, but it wasn't going to work.

He was pleased, but not surprised, to see that J.J. had left dinner for them when she had come to pick up clothes for Garcia. The smell of pizza met him as he entered the apartment. "Hungry?" He asked her.

She chuckled. "Other than that crap the hospital deigned to give me, I haven't eaten since dinner last night. Famished is a better term."

"How can you do that?" He asked her.

She looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Do what?"

"Just joke and laugh as if you haven't been through twelve hours of hell, baby."

"Because in the grand scheme of things, Derek, it wasn't that bad." She placed her hand over her heart. "You were right there with me, do you know that?"

He shook his head. "But I wasn't with you. I was if fucking Chicago."

"No, you were right there with me in my head. You kept me calm. I heard your voice all the time. And he didn't really take anything from me, other than some hours of my life. I'm alive and I'm whole and I didn't feel like I was alone because I knew you would come for me. I never doubted that you would come."

"I will always come for you. Always." He leaned his forehead against hers. "Since you are taking this whole being captive thing so well, could you please try not to freak out about what I am about to say?" Leave it to her to get completely bent out of shape when he told her he was in love with her, after hardly batting an eye at being beaten and held by an escaped felon.

"Umm, I can try," she chuckled.

He framed her face with his hands. "What I'm about to say has nothing to do with what happened today. I was coming close to saying it to you anyway. Today just reminded me that life is short and I think eight years is enough time for you to be ready for what I am going to say."

She put her hand on his chest and pulled back a bit, so that she could look him in the eyes. "Derek . . ."

He smiled. "Hush, hard head, and don't interrupt again until I've said my piece! Now where was I . . . "

To his surprise, she stood up on her tippy toes and kissed him on the lips. She smiled at him tentatively.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I have no idea when we crossed that line, Penelope, but I've been in love with you for a long time. I can't imagine my life without you, which is why I waited so damn long to tell you. I thought it was better to have you as a friend than not at all. I know now that there is no not at all—you are my future, and nothing is going to change that."

He bent down and kissed her, really kissed her. All of the worry and terror of the past day melted away. He was finally, absolutely home. When they broke apart, they were both breathing hard.

"I see you aren't running away screaming, crazy girl," he chuckled.

"Nope. In fact, my prince, I love you too."

He smiled. They would deal with work later. "You do realize we've had eight years of foreplay?" He asked.

"Just remember I have broken ribs . . . " she whispered, reaching up to kiss him again.

THE END