Chapter 1
AN: I am so proud and happy to be working on the continuation from "It Happened at Christmastime" with Harleyzgirl. This story can be read alone, but it is recommended that you read the above story for the full effect. Again, we don't own anything. Darn.
It was three months into their relationship and Morgan and Garcia couldn't have been happier. Everything in their lives was flowing so well. Garcia had given up her lease on her apartment and was slowly moving her stuff into Derek's place. It was a foregone conclusion, they already spent nearly every waking hour together.
"Baby girl," Derek said, holding up a little hula dancer figurine. "Where does this go?"
She laughed. He was absolutely hopeless when it came to decorating. His house was very bachelor, before she arrived. The only room that was really decorated was the bedroom, and that was more for function, not beauty. Derek never really cared to be home much, it was kind of lonely there.
Now, it had a homey feel they both loved. Gone were stark walls and plain leather furniture, now entered throw pillows, kitschy art work, and pictures of friends and family, She made a fantastic collage with Derek's mom and sisters, and one of the BAU family, too.
Derek had his say in a lot of the stuff too. She may be the technical analyst, but he was the high tech gadget man. State of the art televisions in the bed room and living room, blu ray players, surround sound; you name it, they had it. He loved that sort of stuff, she got enough of it at work with her mainframe babies she had to work with.
It was a great blend of the two of them; somehow, the whole place really worked. For the first time in many, many years, Penelope and Derek both knew they had a home. But they knew deep down, if they removed it all, they would still have that feeling. Because they had each other. It was almost frightening in intensity, how much they needed each other.
"Anywhere you want it to go, hot stuff," she said, bending over to dig in another box. Unpacking certainly was a pain in the rump! Then she saw the mail drop through the slot. "Ooh, mail! I'll get it!"
Penelope gathered up the mail and flipped through the envelopes, bundling the bills together as she moved toward their den. She had just sat down at the desk when an elegant heavy stationary in warm butterscotch caught her eye. A large forwarding label was plastered across it blocking out her previous address. Penelope checked for a return address and finding none used the letter opener to get to the contents.
The letter was odd and at first she thought it might be a queer joke. The stationary clearly stated it was from the Desk of Tamara Barnes, but the entire body of the letter was in words cut from different printed text. It was silly or so she thought until one word caught her attention: die. Smoothing out the tri-fold in the bond, she read the letter from the beginning feeling her skin grow colder with each word read.
Dearest BITCH, You may think that you have won because Derek came to you that night. It's not true. He's just making you think he's going to waste himself on the likes of you. One day soon, I'll come for him and we'll be together forever. First though, before you die, I am going to make you watch us make love. I am going to make you wish you had never come between Derek and I. I am going to teach you your place. Enjoy him while you can, cow, because he's going to tire of your unpasteurized offerings and come to a real woman. Ms. Tamara Barnes
See you soon, you little hussy,
"She's unhinged," Penelope said.
"What's that," Derek asked coming into the den.
"Nothing. Did you find a place for the hula dancer?" Penelope leaned to the side and put the letter through the shredder before standing up and coming round the desk to hug Derek.
"Something wrong, momma?"
"No, everything's good," she said as the shredder stopped rumbling and went silent once more.