My Broken Valentine

Hotch led the team down the steps into the dark cavernous underbelly of the school. Even before hitting the last step, they could hear voices. By the tone of the male voice, they’d hopefully arrived in time to interrupt his plans.

“I’m not a bad person.”

Inch by inch the team approached the spot where Penelope and Corey were; close enough to see that Penelope was crying but she was calm, eerily calm as if resigned to her situation.

“Della and Paolo are my family, I can’t let them down, you understand, right?”

Hotch motioned for everyone to take their positions and quietly each person did as they were told, aiming eyes and guns on Corey.

“No, I don’t, Corey; I don’t understand you killing me for them.”

“I have to!”

“No, you don’t have to!”

“You heard Paolo on the phone just now! It’s time, it’s time for you to die!”

“FBI, DON’T MOVE!”

Corey looked up in a panic, he was confused and startled and without any prompting or resistance, he raised his hands above his head. Penelope broke down in relief both laughter and tears sprung from her lungs as she was embraced by her team. Hotch handed Corey to a local officer and as he was being cuffed, Dave stepped in front of him.

“Where’s Derek Morgan?”

Corey hung his head in silence.

“Don’t make me repeat myself!”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

Reid pulled Dave back just as he lunged toward the man.

“Unless you want to spend the rest of your life behind bars, I suggest you tell him what he wants to know,” Reid advised.

Corey shook his head refusing to speak or reveal what he knew. Penelope pulled away from JJ and walked toward the young man.

“You told me that you weren’t a bad person; prove it!”

PARK-

Savannah pulled her son from Della’s arms. The younger woman watched as the baby wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck holding on for dear life. Derek tried moving toward Savannah and the baby but was quickly stilled by the sight of Paolo’s gun aimed in his direction. Della moved toward him, stopping within centimeters of Derek.

“You’ve ruined everything, don’t you see!”

“Let me get you some help, both of you! It’s not too late!”

“We need to end this now, Della,” Paolo insisted.

Savannah renewed her grip around DJ, as she looked on in horror.

“Della, why are you doing this? Derek and I are over, we’re moving on with our lives! Please let us do that, okay?”

“It’s not okay! It’s not okay to throw away families!”

“But that’s not what we’re doing,” Derek responded, “we’re just learning how to make a new family.”

“A new family?”

“Yes, yes,” Savannah began, “like you and me and DJ, we’re a family too! You’ve become my sister and I need you to do the right thing so that we can keep being a family!”

George Carver High School –

Penelope, and the others stepped out into the fresh air and watched as Corey was led to a nearby patrol car. It was almost over, now all they had to do was find Derek; she knew she wouldn’t be able to exhale until she saw him face-to-face.

Hotch pulled his cell phone from his pocket; he was hopeful as he answered.

“Hotchner.”

“It’s Della, she’s the one who took Derek and Penelope!

“Yes, we know but we found Penelope, she’s fine.”

“She took him! She took him! You have to help; you have to help him!”

“Where did she take him?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know! This is my fault, please you have to help him!”

Dave, JJ, Reid and Penelope surrounded Hotch.

“What’s happening?” Dave asked.

“That was Savannah and apparently Della was trying to force a reconciliation between Derek and her; things didn’t go as planned and she took off forcing Derek to go with her.”

Reid turned toward the parking lot and just as the patrol car carrying Corey began to head toward the exit, he took off running toward it stopping it before it headed away. Puzzled, the officer rolled down the windows.

“Where are they? Where would she take him?” Reid screamed into the backseat.

“I’ll show you...but we need to hurry!”

1106 Newton Ave. – Downtown –

Della had decided to leave Savannah and DJ at the park and for that, Derek was grateful. She wasn’t finished with him. She was spiraling, her plans for putting Savannah’s family back together had failed and this was no longer about him but more about the place where the three of them now stood. She didn’t have to tell him why they were there, why it was so important that the day ended here. Something had happened here, something that had changed her life in a significant way.

“What is this place, Della?” Derek asked.

“I was just a baby,” she began, my mother and father were too busy scoring drugs to be bothered with a child.”

“Is this where they bought their drugs?”

“No, it’s where they dumped me when they were too tired or too high to be parents anymore. I was garbage! Nothing but garbage!”

“They were sick Della! They didn’t know any better!”

The woman began to giggle and venture a few steps down the alley. Paolo nudged him with the gun forcing him to follow her.

“They didn’t know any better, Della,” he repeated.

Further and further the trio walked down the alley.

“Della, what are we doing here? It’s broad daylight for god’s sake!” Paolo asked nervously.

“They didn’t know better!” Derek repeated again.

“But you do, Derek; you know better.”

Hotch pulled the SUV to a halt behind the patrol car.

“What if he’s not here?” JJ asked.

“Then we have a problem,” Hotch answered.

One by one, the team and several local officers moved toward the alley, taking up positions to prevent anyone from escaping. Hotch led his team slowly down the narrow space toward an old building.

Derek watched as Della slowly pulled her gun from her pocket and aimed it at him; Paolo renewed the grip on his gun and aimed it his way as well.

“Say you’re sorry,” she ordered.

“What?”

“Apologize for leaving me in this alley! I was just a baby, but you dumped me like I was garbage!”

“That wasn’t me!”

“APOLOGIZE! Tell me how sorry you are for dumping me in this alley! TELL ME!”

He flinched as her finger pulled against the trigger.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry for dumping you in this alley.”

“You ruined my life, daddy! Do you know what they did to me in those foster homes?”

Hotch and the others followed voices down the alley, guns raised and aimed.

Then...the...silence...was...broken...with...the...sounds...of...gunfire...

“MORGAN!”