Promises Kept

A/N: Well, folks here is my newest Criminal Minds story about our favorite couple. It's my take on how I think "The Longest Night" should have gone and ended. I hope that you will enjoy it and let me know what you think. God Bless!

Nowwww, on with the showwww…

Garcia wait a minute… he walks to a quiet corner and takes the phone off speaker. Hey… Hey back… Baby Girl, I'm sorry for taking your head off… Ohh Darlin, our love is a rock. No bad day can come between us… Word!... she chuckled. Come home safe, I'll leave a light on…

Without thinking, before Penelope could hang up he blurted out. "Baby Girl, wait!" She instantly pulled her finger away from button that would disconnect the call with her Noir Hero. "Yeah, Sug?" he sighed and a smile formed on his handsome face. "I love you, Angel!"

(Penelope's POV)

Before she could respond, he clicked the phone off and headed back to the team. She sat there with her mouth wide open, shocked and confused. She tilted back in her chair and muttered to herself, "What the hell just happened?" As the next several minutes passed she pondered and tried to reason with herself. What did he mean by that? Sure, he'd told her many times before that he loved her. This time felt different though, he sounded different, but she tried not to read anything into it. He was just hurting and most likely still felt guilty on how he treated her earlier.

"Nahhh, you're crazy Garcie!" she verbally ruminated. She continued this internal debate with herself. There is no way that he could love her in that way. She was sooo not his type, he always went for the skinny model types. He would never want someone like her, she's a fat geeky undesirable nerd. She was just his best friend and that's all she ever would be. She convinced herself a long time ago to give up on her pipe dream that her "Chocolate God" would ever love her or want to be with her like that.

Penelope knew years ago that she was indeed totally, head over heels in love with her hot and very sexy best friend. In her eyes, he was the perfect man. He was kind, loving, protective, strong and possessed the purest heart of anyone she'd ever known. He'd always been there for her, he never let her down and never left her side even after she'd been shot. That was first time he told her that he loved her, but she got scared and jumped into a doomed relationship with Kevin Lynch.

Kevin was a nice guy, but he never could measure up. In her eyes, he was weak, too clingy, very indecisive and all he ever did was whine about her best friend. His final undoing was that he asked her to marry him and then wanted to take her away from her family and job. She faced the fact that she cared for him, but was never in love with him. The bottom line was, he was no Derek Morgan and somewhere deep in her heart she would probably always hold out hope. Hope that her prince would someday want to be with her and love her.

She thought she'd finally convinced herself to give up those dreams quite a while ago. Penelope mumbled, "Maybe, maybe not." So, at that time it was decided that she would sit on the sidelines and be his best friend. All the while, ensuring he experienced any and all of the happiness he richly deserved. She was determined to fulfill her promise to always be there for him. She needed him as much as he needed her and would not let him down.

He was in an extremely bad place right now! This case was really taking a toll on him. Not only physically, but more importantly emotionally and mentally. He was blaming himself for Detective Spicer's death and the kidnapping of Ellie. She knew how he always took these things personally. He always placed the weight of the world on his shoulders.

She knew him better than he knew himself. She was very aware that he would absolutely, positively need her when they returned from this case. The after effects of this case would be long lasting and have him brooding. As always, the guilt he felt would be horrific and cause him nightmares for quite some time.

God, how she loved that man! She would do anything to make him feel whole again and would stand by him no matter what. She continued to sit there and willed her phone to ring. She waited to hear that Ellie Spicer would be alright and found. If something happened to that little girl, it would completely crush the soul of the man of her dreams. She wasn't sure if she could pull him back from that abyss he would place himself into, if something happened to Ellie. Penelope knew he felt personally responsible for her after he'd watched her father shot and killed right in front of them. Not to mention, that Emily brought her up to speed about the promise he made to Matt Spicer. She also waited to hear that the case was done and that her whole family was safely on their way back home to her.

The next several hours dragged by as she tried to keep her mind on the case. She found that to be a losing battle. She couldn't keep her mind off her hunk of burning love. Not only was she extremely worried about Derek, but she didn't want to let go what he said to her. Her heart was racing, she couldn't help herself as she continued to hope and pray that maybe he did feel the same way that she did. As much as she tried not to, she kept daydreaming and fantasizing about her handsome, sexy and sculpted Hot Stuff.

(Derek's POV)

As he walked back over to his team, he knew that all eyes were on him. Derek also knew that they were all worried about him. His family was completely aware he was on the verge of losing it. He saw the worry and concern written all over their faces. He was sure that they wondered if he could keep it together until Ellie could be rescued and hoped that things were better between himself and his goddess. They knew that she was his rock, his anchor, his safe haven and if anyone could keep him focused it would be Garcia.

It was bad enough that he let Billy Flynn get the better of him. But, that was compounded by the fact that Flynn shot and killed Spicer in front of him and then made off with young Ellie. Then to make matters worse he jumped down Penelope's throat for no good reason, because she was worried and tried to be there for him. He felt the weight of his guilt all around him. He should've waited for backup like his gut told him to do. It took him a long time, but he finally learned to have complete and utter faith in his team, his family. But, noooo! He allowed himself to be swayed by Spicer and now everything had spiraled out of control.

He knew he needed to keep it together a bit longer and then he could head home to his solace. Wow, how he missed his lady love! She was certainly the only one that could help to make him feel somewhat whole again.

He inwardly reminded himself to concentrate on the case, they needed to find little Ellie, that was foremost and that took center stage…

Several hours later the case was over and they were on the jet on their way back home. They were all completely spent, physically and mentally. Things came to a climax very quickly after JJ's heartfelt and moving plea to Flynn to release the young girl. Flynn was now dead and headed to hell where he belonged. He was shot and killed by Derek. He deserved a whole helluva lot more then what he got! He managed to kill, rape, terrorize and torture over a hundred, innocent people for well over two decades.

Everybody was relieved that Ellie was released physically unharmed. His heart went out to her. At this present time, that poor little girl was all alone in this large scary mean world and would be placed into the foster care system. She had no one, her father was dead, her aunt was dead and no other family could be located right now. She was frightened and was left to try and deal with this by herself. He wished there was more he could for her. Before he left he made sure that she was checked out at the hospital and that she was placed in her emergency foster home. He also gave her his contact information so they could talk whenever she needed to. He promised her they would not lose touch, the two of them now had an unbreakable bond. They both were forced to watch their dad's die right in front of them. They were both killed while trying to protect other people they cared about, in the line of duty. He also promised that he would always be there for her and would see her sometime in the very near future.

Before they lifted off, he texted the woman of his dreams that they were headed home. After she replied that she would be waiting with baited breath for him, he tapped his phone on his chin while he shook his head, chuckled and grinned. His headphones were in place as he listened to some Smooth Jazz while he tried to make sense of everything. His mind was racing a mile a minute and would not shut down.

He couldn't believe that without any reservation he just blurted out that he loved her. He knew that he'd been in love with his beautiful "Baby Girl" since the moment they met and he called her the wrong name. She turned around, smiled at him and "Bam" he was a goner. He allowed himself a little smirk at that.

He craved his solace and would not feel calm or any peace until he could be around her. God, how he needed that woman and bad! His life would not make any sense until he talked to her. His gorgeous goddess would fix him like no one else could or would. Penelope was the only one he would trust enough to be able to break down in front of. He refused to cry around anyone, but allowed himself to fall off the rails with his one and only Sweetness. He knew she would never ever judge him or thought that he was weak, because of it.

As their flight home continued, his mind was fixated on one and one thing only. He couldn't stop thinking about Penelope. It was time! He needed to tell her the truth. He finally knew he was tired of being scared and a coward. He'd been hiding and ignoring his true feelings for long enough. His only hope was that once he was completely honest with her that he wouldn't lose her. That was his greatest fear. He was broken and never thought he was good enough for her. He didn't think she would want to be with someone like him.

She was perfect and needed someone that would never let her down. She needed a man that was whole, brave, and not a complete emotional mess. She deserved only the best and he'd never considered himself the best for her. He knew deep down that if she rejected him, it would kill him. He loved her with every breath he took and always would. He needed to for once and for all, to step up and be the man she would need or want. He decided he was now ready to fight for her, especially after this case. Life was too short and he didn't want to waste any more time. He also knew she was his everything and he didn't want live, without her by his side any longer. Not only as his best friend, but as his lover, his wife and his forever partner.

He couldn't wait to get home, he was desperate to be in her presence. He was dying to pull her into his arms and bask in the aura that was her. He loved the scent of her, whether it was her sweet perfume or her hibiscus shampoo they both sent him to seventh heaven. She was gorgeous, sexy, and had curves that just wouldn't quit. Whenever he was around her he felt like he was a better person and a better man. He was always his happiest and felt safest when they were together. They really needed to talk, he wanted her in his life forever. He someday hoped and prayed as Mrs. Derek Morgan.

TBC

PLZZZ REVIEW