DISCLAIMER: I do not own a thing!
A/N:New idea guys! This one's coming along veeeery nicely if I must say so! It's not too long at the moment, and I'm ahead of myself!
I broke hearts with this, I apologise ever so slightly to Emzypemzy and Wordofwyrd =)
I hope to mend those hearts soon =P
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Penelope sat and fidgeted in the solicitor's office. She looked around, first at the diplomas up, the degree's showing the profession, then to the book shelves that were stacked to the high heavens with books on law and policies and she couldn't help but feel inferior at the power they held.
"Right Mrs Morgan what can I do for you?" He smiled and oozed professionalism.
She sucked in a deep breath. "I need to start the proceedings on a divorce, Larry." She said solemnly and watched as he sat opposite her a little aghast.
"A divorce? You and Derek are divorcing?" He asked in shock. He'd been a friend of Hotch's for years, since college even, and as a subsequent result had befriended everyone on the team, especially the two Morgan's of the group.
Penelope nodded and the tears built up, she was still in disbelief over the entire thing. She couldn't believe that just under two years of marriage was ending already.
"Here..." He said sympathetic and handed her a tissue. "Is this the only way? I mean can you not reconcile at all?"
"It's all we can do now." Penelope told him heartbroken. "I just never thought it'd be me, you know?"
He nodded in agreement and watched her, "Penelope why is it you're divorcing exactly?"
Penelope shrugged a little, "jobs taken over, we argue all the time, we've even started sleeping in different beds because we get in at different times... He tells me it's because he doesn't want to wake me but he never touches me anymore and it never bothered him before to crawl in next to me in the dead of the night. We're constantly arguing with one another over petty things and..." She sobbed harder and wiped the tear away quickly trying to gather some composure. "This is it."
"Penelope this isn't going to be easy."
She nodded and looked at him. "It's like this, 50/50 everything, we just do that and this starts a clean break from one another. There's no rivalry over anything, no kids to joint custody over and there's no arguments on the house. It's half to both and we're out."
He could tell the pair had obvious sat down and talked it over. "I'll start right away, I'll send you the fee's for this and we'll make this as painless as possible for you both."
"Thank you." She told him and sniffed, she took an even deeper breath, one that splinter her already breaking heart and listened to the procedures that were going to happen.
She didn't leave his office feeling any better. She felt ten times worse as a result.
How did you divorce the man of yours dreams, whom you're still in love with, and get on with life?
Simple, you didn't, but when you'd exhausted your strength trying, giving up was the only way.
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Derek walked through the park walking his and Penelope's dog, Clooney; he'd been dubbed hers even before Penelope became his wife.
"What we gonna do with you eh boy?" He asked the overgrown pup as he sat opposite the lake. "You love your mamma as much as you love me."
The dog looked up with sad eyes and made a low sad growl.
Derek sighed, sat back and ran his hand over his head in sheer frustration. "How did we let it get here?" He asked rhetorically. "How did I fall flat on my promise and let the job become between us?" Derek asked in vain. "I promised I'd never do that, not to her."
Derek closed his eyes, hiding the pain that now lit them. He was tired of this, he was tired of losing, but however much he tried to win Penelope back, to get their marriage and undying love back on track were thinning and fading.
They both exhausted one another with something that should've just happened and he'd tried everything to make it naturally reoccur, but the drift that had occurred was just too big.
Clooney's wet nose hit Derek's hand that sat on his lap and the heavy mutt's body hit his leg to gain his attention. Derek sat up and looked forward across the lake.
All he saw were couples everywhere, a man making his girl feel special and like she was alone, he saw them kissing and touching and loving the moment of being with the one person that made their heart swell.
He couldn't deny it, his heart still did that whenever Penelope walked into a room, he still saw the day they made one another theirs, when he plucked up the courage to ask for her hand, and when he'd finally watched her walk down the aisle. Even when he rang her for information at work he lapped up the raw flirting tone that she still inflicted on him, the one thing that set them apart.
His heart skipped a little, he guessed that once she was back to her maiden name, if she chose that, and once the ring was officially off that would stop and she'd go looking elsewhere for love.
The idea of seeing her with another man terrified him.
He looked at his watch, he'd finished at his solicitors that morning, had started the divorce and was waiting on Penelope to see hers, he wanted this as amicable as possible. He wanted her to have a man that they knew and trusted and so he'd sent her to their friend. He could hold his own, he knew when he was being done over with fee's and bills.
"Guess we better get you back and take some more stuff from the house." He said as he stood up, he noticed a group of women looking at him nearby and he wasn't in the least bit interested, none of them were, after all Penelope.
He sucked in a deep breath and went back towards his and Penelope's old marital home.
He had to get away, if this was it; he had to make a new start. Starting with a new house, a new found bachelor pad.
Derek was back to square one all over again.
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Penelope was packing more of Derek's things, it was an automatic move now, she was robotic with it all. Trying to disconnect, part herself some.
Her hand ran across the oak dresser and hit their wedding photo, she picked it up and just stared at how happy they once were with one another, when everything was carefree and easy and the future looked bright and happy and filled with immense measures of love.
She went to the bed with the photo and sat down heavily, the fat tears rolling down her cheeks, she put her head forward and sniffed, trying to stop herself, but when her body heaved with a sob she realised this was never going to be an emotionless process.
She still very much in love with Derek, and there was no denying it, yet she couldn't live in a house when it was becoming a suffocating struggle to make what chemistry used to just be there.
Penelope wiped her tears away and rested the photo on the bed and went to bathroom, she had a migraine coming, ever since the marriage officially began to break down they'd become more frequent, the doctor put them down to the stress. Telling her divorce was one of life's biggest stressors and health hazards in life.
She went back to the bed and laid down and picked the photo up. Derek was smiling at her, back in the day was so easy, nowadays it was a rarity, and she hated it. If he'd just smile she'd see some sort of light or hope, she'd see that he was still there under his work beaten exterior.
She closed her eyes and saw Derek when life was just absolutely perfect.
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By the time Derek made it to the house she was well asleep, he'd let himself in and gone straight to the kitchen and got a beer. It was like he still lived there, Penelope told him until it was sorted the house was still his, but he couldn't stay there when this was happening.
Whether the move to a divorce was a joint decision for the better, he didn't want to feel the hardship strengthen of making what should have been a happily ending begin to end.
He watched Clooney run upstairs and he guessed Penelope was up there, so he followed. He knew she was sorting their bedroom out and he wanted to help her and tell her he'd spoken to his solicitor.
When he made it upstairs the dog was sat by the bed looking up as Penelope slept curled up, one hand under her head, the other resting on a photo, as he got closer he saw what it was an image of and he saw her tears.
Putting his hands on his head he left.
He might be brilliant at saving people all over the country, but he couldn't save himself and Penelope from this and that was killing him the most.
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A/N: Whatcha thing guys?
Want more?