Just a short prologue to get us started on the next Derek and Penelope saga. This might come as a shocker, but this one is AU. LOL
Prologue
"Anyway," Derek heard his younger sister, Desiree say. "We caught up on Facebook, and she told me that she's going to be in town this weekend. It's her nephew's first high school football game, too and her brother conned her into coming." She turned to look at Derek. "My kid OK?" she asked.
Derek grinned. "He threw up," he informed his sister. "But I've done that plenty of times before a big game."
Desiree winced. "My poor kid."
"He'll snap out of it," Derek assured her as he opened the fridge to grab a bottled water.
"I hope so." She turned back to their mother. "So Penelope and I are going to get together at some point this weekend catch up."
Derek's head snapped around. "Penelope?" he said.
Desiree nodded. "Yep. Penelope Garcia. I don't think you ever met her."
"Awww," her mother said. "I always liked that girl. Such a sweetheart."
As luck would have it, Carter chose that moment to come into the room. "Ready, Uncle D?" he asked.
This wasn't a conversation he wanted to miss, but unless he wanted his skeletons unearthed, he didn't have a choice. He reached over and ruffled his nephew's hair. "You too lazy to say my full name now?" he joked.
Carter grinned at him. "Just tryin' it out."
Derek watched as Carter headed for the football field, then put the car in park and sat there for a minute. Penelope Garcia was in town? He'd only met her a handful of times, but the girl she'd been had had spunk. And she'd been sexy as sin. If he hadn't been twenty-three to her seventeen at the time, he'd have made a move on her in a heartbeat.
But he was thirty eight now, which meant she was thirty two. And completely legal. If she was single.
It had been one o'clock on a Saturday morning. Derek had been a beat cop back then and he'd skun his knees in a tussle with a thief. Luckily he kept a spare uniform at his mother's house, so he'd headed over in the cruiser for a quick change.
His mother was working the overnight shift at the hospital, leaving Desiree and Carter alone for the night; this would be a good chance to check in on them. In true older brother fashion, he never stopped worrying about her. He'd unlocked the door in the kitchen and the first thing he heard was Carter laughing, a soft voice talking to him. But it wasn't Desiree's voice.
Heading swiftly to the living room to investigate, he pushed the swinging door open and the bluest eyes he'd ever seen had looked up at him. "Who are you?" he demanded.
She'd narrowed her gaze at him. "Who are you?" she shot back.
"Derek."
"Ahhh…Desiree's older brother. I'm her friend Penelope," she introduced herself.
She was sitting on the couch with her feet on the coffee table. Her knees were propped up with Carter lying on her bare legs. She'd been wearing the shortest shorts he'd ever seen and a tank top that was a little too snug to be stylish. But it had looked damn good on her. "Where's Des?" he asked.
"Sleeping." Her gaze fell to the baby, and she couldn't help but smile. "She has to get up with him every night. I figured one time wouldn't kill me."
He'd liked her immediately, which was unusual for him. But in these past few months, as he'd watched Desiree's friends fall away one by one after she'd had her baby, he'd wished she'd had at least one who had stuck by her.
"Did you catch a bad guy?" she'd asked, her eyes falling to the tattered fabric on his knees.
"Yeah," he'd answered with a grin. "I need a change of clothes."
"Well you be careful out there on those streets," she'd warned teasingly. "It's usually the good guy who ends up getting hurt."
His grin had widened. "How do you know I'm a good guy?" he'd asked, his gaze roaming slowly over her.
He'd watched as she'd blushed charmingly, and then he'd left before he'd done something stupid.
He'd only run into her a few times after that, but damn…the girl left an impression.
