Title: Suspicion
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Morgan/Garcia
Prompt: #15 Algiz (the protective urge to shelter oneself or others)
Word count: 1857
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to CBS. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time.
Summary: Part 4/? of the ‘Loser Lynch’ series. After Derek told his co-workers what he thinks has caused Penelope’s sickness Reid has an idea how they might help her.
warnings: spoilers for season 3
“Where’s Penelope?” Derek wanted to know when he entered the conference room. It had been more than a month now since she’d lost her baby and Derek had tried his best to make sure she was going to be alright “ well, every time Kevin didn’t separate her from the rest of them. Maybe four weeks off had been too long. Not for Penelope but for Kevin.
“She called in sick.” Hotch informed him.
“Again?” Derek raised both his eyebrows.
“She lost her child.” JJ reminded him. “I think it was just too early for her to come back to work. She needs time to get over it.”
“I don’t doubt that.” he assured. “But she’d been in the hospital for almost one week and then she had a whole month off. I don’t doubt that she’s having a hard time, I’m just saying. Yesterday was her first day back at work and now she called in sick again. She’s not the kind of person who constantly catches illnesses.”
“But she’s been pretty down.” Emily objected. “Listless and tired, almost depressed.”
Derek opened his mouth to say something but Hotch spoke first: “I know she’s also not the kind of person you would think is the type to become depressed. But we’ve seen that happen before.”
“I don’t know.” Derek sighed. “first the constant sickness, then the miscarriage and now a depression. Something must have caused this.”
“What do you mean?” Reid wanted to know.
“I’m just saying.” Derek frowned. “When she was in the hospital she didn’t seem to be depressed. She was sad but actually she was doing quite well. Even her constant sickness seemed to be better. And once she’s back home it starts all over again. I mean… She’s been ill before she was pregnant and she still is afterwards which means it can’t be the morning sickness. She told me that Lynch wanted her to quit her job. Now she’s constantly feeling unwell and can’t come to work. And she told me that he didn’t want the baby and she lost it.”
“You think Kevin caused all this?” JJ’s eyes widened in shock. “I don’t believe that. I mean, have you talked to her about Kevin? She’s happy with him, he treats her better than any other boyfriend before, that’s what she told me. She loves him. And I’m sure he loves her.”
“I’m not saying he doesn’t love her.” Derek mumbled. “But all of us know how fast love can turn into something very dangerous.”
“I still don’t think Kevin caused any of this.” JJ repeated. “Why would he? If he loved her he wouldn’t want her to be ill and he certainly wouldn’t want her to lose her child. He simply wouldn’t do this to her.”
“Or he just doesn’t want to share her.” Derek shrugged. “Not with any of us, not with her work and definitely not with a child.”
“I don’t think he’s so delusional.” Emily frowned. “He seems to be pretty normal.”
“He’s a good guy.” JJ nodded.
“If you think…” Derek mumbled.
“We all know that you don’t like him…” Emily started.
“No, something is seriously wrong with this guy.” Derek quickly interrupted her. “Did you know that he sneaks up on her? I mean, after everything that happened to her he should know better than ‘surprise’ her by scaring the hell out of her.” At the word surprise Derek grimaced and formed air quotation marks.
JJ and Emily rolled her eyes.
“Okay” Derek raised his hands defensively, “let’s assume it wasn’t Lynch. Let’s assume that he IS a nice guy and loves her and just wants to take care of her. Let’s assume everything is just fine. Still something must have caused Penelope’s constant sickness and the miscarriage.”
“That’s true.” Hotch frowned. “But it’s the doctor’s job to find out about that not ours.”
Derek didn’t really concentrate on the following briefing. His thoughts were still pondering over the question what could be wrong with Penelope.
“We’re leaving tomorrow at eight a.m.” Hotch ended.
This however got Derek’s attention: “Leaving? I… Maybe I should stay behind, just in case.”
Hotch frowned at him: “I’m not going to split up my team. Maybe it’s even better if you’re forced to stay away from Garcia for a while.”
After the briefing Reid walked over to Derek’s desk and mumbled: “You know, I can’t tell whether Lynch’s aims are good or bad. What I do know is that a periodic sickness for almost half a year is far from normal and I agree that something must have caused this.”
“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” he snorted.
“Because Hotch is right, it’s not our job to find out what’s wrong with Garcia. But I happen to know someone who might help her.” he explained.
“Whom?” he asked excitedly.
“Another doctor” Reid explained, “a specialist for infectious diseases at the Institute of Medicine in D.C.. And she also worked as a toxicologist. So if Garcia actually was poisoned she’s gonna find out. Maybe losing her child caused the depression and maybe her sickness caused the miscarriage. But still something must have caused the sickness.”
“What if she refuses to go with me?” Derek sighed again. “I can’t just kidnap her.”
“You should talk to Dr. Velasquez first anyway.” Reid suggested. “She’ll tell you what to do even if Garcia refuses to go and see her.”
“And you think she’ll help us?” he raised an eyebrow at her.
“She owes me.” Reid shrugged.
“I’m not going to ask.” Derek mumbled already halfway out of the bullpen.
“Hey, what do I tell Hotch?” Reid called after him.
“The truth.” Derek shrugged. “That I went to see a doctor.”
He drove as fast as he could and only forty minutes later a nurse showed him the way to Dr. Velasquez’s room. “Excuse me, are you Dr. Velasquez?” Derek asked as a black haired woman in a white coat left the room.
“It depends on who is asking.” she said and eyed him up.
“This is Agent Derek Morgan with the FBI.” he explained and took out his badge.
The woman frowned at Derek’s badge. “What can I do for you?”
Putting his badge back into his pocket Derek explained: “Spencer Reid sent me here.”
“What is it?” she wanted to know.
“It’s about one of my co-workers, Penelope Garcia.” Derek quickly answered. “She’s been ill for almost six months now. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s worse, but no one was able to find out what’s wrong with her.”
“First of all I need you to tell me her symptoms in every detail.” Dr. Velasquez replied. “Follow me, please!”
She led him into her office where she took out a pencil and a new clinical record. “What was the first symptom she complained about?” Dr. Velasquez wanted to know.
When he entered her office he was surprised to find it empty. It was just half past nine, so too early for her lunch break.
The door opened and Penelope stumbled more than walked in. “Hey” she greeted weakly, “I hope you didn’t wait too long.”
“What’s wrong?” Derek quickly hurried over to her to walk her to her chair.
“I don’t know.” she panted. “I have a terrible headache and can’t keep anything I eat in my stomach.”
“The headache along with nausea.” Derek replied. He’d never forget how pale she looked that day and how bad it had gotten. After three hours he’d pretty much forced her to go and see a doctor but they hadn’t been able to find anything and sent her home afterwards. If he’d known that it would get worse, he’d made her go with him instead of back to Lynch!
Nodding Dr. Velasquez wrote the symptoms down into the clinical record she’d started for Penelope. “Did she have to throw up?” she wanted to know.
“Yes.” Derek nodded. “She told me that she wasn’t able to eat properly.”
“Anything else?” the doctor asked.
He took a deep breath. “She lost her child and… seems to be very depressed now. I don’t know if that’s important but… Being depressed simply isn’t like her. Even though I could understand it.”
“Everything might be important.” Dr. Velasquez smiled at him.
“She looked pale.” Derek said. “And her eyes were dark, she really looked ill. She told me that she was nervous and shaky, more than would ever be usual for her even if she was under pressure.”
Nodding again Dr. Velasquez wrote the other symptoms down and frowned studying them carefully.
“And she was… a little moody.” Derek added with a sigh. “I don’t know if that’s important because I’m not even sure it was a symptom or just… well, because I was really getting on her nerves. But she jumped at me whenever I wanted to talk to her about her sickness and what might have caused it.”
“She also complained about abdominal pain, right?” Dr. Velasquez finally said. “I mean, before she lost the child but also afterwards.”
“Baby girl? Are you okay?” Derek asked over the phone when he heard her gasp.
“Yeah.” she replied and took a deep breath. “It’s just… I don’t know. My stomach hurts. If I didn’t know better I’d say I ripped my stitches.”
“And the doctors still don’t know what’s wrong with you?” He really started to get worried about her. She’d already been ill for over a week now. First it was the headache and the nausea and now she was in pain.
“Yeah, how do you know?” Derek asked a little puzzled. “Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
“I have an idea.” she affirmed. “But I need to run a few tests to be entirely sure. Can you give me the name of her doctor so I can get in touch with him or her?”
Derek gave her the name and address of Penelope’s doctor. Fortunately, he’d taken Penelope there last week. “But she saw several other doctors beforehand.”
“That doesn’t matter since they certainly all run the same tests. Plus, I’m sure her doctor already got in touch with them.” she answered as she took down the address.
“You should go and check on her today.” she then said. “Try to convince her to come here! If she refuses tell her to go and see her usual doctor. I’ll make her send me a blood sample.”
“Don’t you at least… want to see her?” Derek asked a little puzzled.
“I don’t need to.” she shrugged. “The blood sample can tell me more than spending two hours examining her. That’s what my job is about and that’s what I need to detect diseases or an intoxication.”
Derek just nodded.
“And try to get me some of her hairs.” she said. When Derek gave her a puzzled look she smiled: “The hair accumulates poison the best. You said that Agent Garcia has been sick for almost half a year now. Presumed someone poisoned her and whatever he or she used is detectable at all the person might have stopped by now “ but it would still be detectable in her hair.”
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ize678
11/20/23 09:43 am
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ize678
11/20/23 09:43 am
Thanks for A number of other enlightening weblog. <a </a>
ize678
11/20/23 09:40 am
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Nam
11/11/23 07:39 pm
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Nam
11/11/23 07:39 pm
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Pari
04/13/23 01:11 am
LilP7 you can find the link to create a series under the member account page, when you log in.
LilP7
12/10/22 07:18 am
Took the plunge and wrote a lil story. Thx to Pari and all other FF writers for inspiring me to put my idea on paper (well digitally at least)
LilP7
12/10/22 06:56 am
Took the plunge and wrote a lil story. Thx to Pari and all other FF writers for inspiring me to put my idea on paper (well digitally at least)
LilP7
11/29/22 11:54 am
As I mentioned b4, I am Garvez all the eay. Though I am definetly enjoying yr MorGar (or is that Morcia?) Ones too. Reading them again and leaving some reviews to show appreciation 4 yr hard work
Pari
11/29/22 08:31 am
@LilP7 Thank you for joining and I hope you enjoy the stories :)
11/20/23 09:43 am
Thanks for A number of other enlightening weblog. <a </a>
ize678
11/20/23 09:43 am
Thanks for A number of other enlightening weblog. <a </a>
ize678
11/20/23 09:40 am
web sot online Thanks for A number http://ize678.com/
Nam
11/11/23 07:39 pm
Only aspire to mention types written content is as extraordinary. This clarity together with your put up is excellent and that I could think you’re a guru for this problem. Substantial-excellent in
Nam
11/11/23 07:39 pm
Only aspire to mention types written content is as extraordinary. This clarity together with your put up is excellent and that I could think you’re a guru for this problem. Substantial-excellent in
Pari
04/13/23 01:11 am
LilP7 you can find the link to create a series under the member account page, when you log in.
LilP7
12/10/22 07:18 am
Took the plunge and wrote a lil story. Thx to Pari and all other FF writers for inspiring me to put my idea on paper (well digitally at least)
LilP7
12/10/22 06:56 am
Took the plunge and wrote a lil story. Thx to Pari and all other FF writers for inspiring me to put my idea on paper (well digitally at least)
LilP7
11/29/22 11:54 am
As I mentioned b4, I am Garvez all the eay. Though I am definetly enjoying yr MorGar (or is that Morcia?) Ones too. Reading them again and leaving some reviews to show appreciation 4 yr hard work
Pari
11/29/22 08:31 am
@LilP7 Thank you for joining and I hope you enjoy the stories :)
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