A/N: Just a little something I was playing with.

I never much liked the scene in 'Tabula Rasa' when Morgan called Garcia "Baby Girl" for the first time. It always seemed too contrived to me. So I decided to write it the way I thought it could have happened. I'm not even using the same case, because I don't have it as the first time they meet. One-Shot.

For those of you who asked about it and who are interested, I'm still working on the sequel to 'The Rest of the Story'. It's just going a little slower than I thought it would.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Criminal Minds. I'm just playing a little :)

No doubt about it. Derek Morgan thought to himself, leaning back against his seat in the BAU jet. Penelope Garcia gave a whole new meaning to the term 'computer genius'.

He was rapidly coming to realize that given just enough leads, there was nothing their new Technical Analyst couldn't find. Like in this most recent case, for instance.

They had been in Houston, Texas tracking an unsub who appeared to be kidnapping teenage boys. They had found no sexual component to the crimes, so they had to look elsewhere for motive. A chance comment from the parent of one of the missing boys led the team to realize that he had a sealed juvenile record for some sort of infraction committed in his early teens.

However, it had proven impossible to find out whether the other three victims to date also had sealed juvenile records. Hotch had called the request in to Garcia, who then managed to find the records, unseal them and get the data back to the team in twelve minutes flat! Damn near incredible.

It proved to be the break they needed to lead them to a bailiff who had worked on all four cases and was acting under the delusion of being a defender of justice. Finding two of the four boys alive in a makeshift 'prison' was an unexpected bonus, and would not have been possible if they had not got the critical information so quickly.

At the end of the call, when Hotch praised Garcia for her work, she only said, in a very professional tone of voice, "Thank you Sir. It helped that they were all in one court system."

Later though, when Morgan had called her for the address of a potential witness, and had included his own praises for her quick work, she answered,

"Well otherwise, this wouldn't be the Office of Supreme Genius, now would it?"

Her cheeky tone made him laugh and he hung up to realize that he had garnered a few stares from people in the station room where he currently stood. After passing on the information to the detective in charge, he had walked outside to where Hotch and the others waited in the SUV, shaking his head ruefully. Garcia always managed to catch him off guard and always made him laugh.

In the three weeks since she had joined the BAU as their assigned Technical Analyst, Morgan had learned several things about her. Apart from being pure brilliance at what she did, she also had a snappy comeback for whatever was thrown at her, and she loved her computers (which she called her 'babies'), colorful, quirky knick-knacks, online games and Star Wars, in pretty much that order. She absolutely hated the images she was sometimes forced to look at because of the job. Morgan had also learned that she was incredibly sweet and always seemed to have a kind word for everyone.

Now, as he walked into the BAU ahead of the rest of the team, he admitted to himself how much he was looking forward to seeing her, talking to her and hearing her sparkling laughter. He spotted her right away. She was leaning against Reid's desk, deep in conversation with young Agent Anderson.

Come to think of it, she had the whole 'tech kitten' thing going on too. She had a style all her own – bright, fun, funky – that always made him look forward to seeing the outfit of the day. Today, the colors were pink and green, and she rocked a pair of killer heels. She was sexy as hell, with a mouth that was way too sinful to match the innocent manner she adopted. There was a look in her eye sometimes though, that made him think there was a whole other side to Miss Penelope Garcia.

Morgan knew that she hadn't yet noticed he was there, even when he dropped his go bag with a loud thump next to his desk. The rest of the team was clustered around the BAU's glass doors, having stopped to speak to JJ, who had not gone with them. Even years later, Morgan could never explain what made him do what he did next.

Just as Anderson headed out of the room, Morgan took one step closer and called out,

"Hey. Baby Girl. Guess who's back?"

Garcia turned around slowly and with a little quirk of her pretty, pink lips and a single raised eyebrow, repeated, "Baby Girl?"

Instantly, Derek tried to pull it back, afraid that he had offended her.

"Sorry, I don't know what made me …"

Taking a single step toward him, Garcia interrupted him with a little toss of her blonde head and a half smile. "It's okay. I've been called worse."

There was an unfathomable expression in her brown eyes and Morgan was surprised to feel his gut clench at the hurt implied in her statement.

Before he could respond though, she surprised him by slowly raking her eyes over him, taking him in from head to toe. He could have sworn that her gaze lingered at his … nether regions … just a fraction of a second longer than the rest.

She spoke as her eyes traveled upward again. "Good to have you back …" There was a deliberate pause, where her eyes flickered down once and back up to meet his own, before she continued with a tiny smirk, "… Hot Stuff!"

He watched in absolute amazement as Garcia turned and sashayed away after delivering that stinger. Rendered speechless, Morgan choked as he tried unsuccessfully to keep in the bark of laughter that resulted.

She'd just thrown down one hell of a gauntlet, one he was more than happy to pick up. Suddenly he felt more excited than he had in a long time. Things were gonna get downright interesting around here.

FIN

A/N: Love to know what you guys think.