Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters. Some "guest stars" are based on or named after people in my life while others are totally made up, as are some places and events.

Chapter 1

1986

"Penny, go pick out a candy bar if you want one," a woman in the long line told her little girl.

Derek Morgan was ten years old and didn't like girls very much. He thought they were loud and silly and boring. The ones in his class were, anyway. He was also sandwiched between two sisters and they drove him nuts. He also had an aunt and a girl cousin that he spent a lot of time with. The only man in his life was his father, who was a Chicago police officer. He loved and respected his father very much. From as far back as he could remember, all he ever wanted to be when he grew up was a police officer, just like his dad. He chuckled, thinking of the joke his father told him that afternoon before he went off to his shift.

Derek felt a presence standing next to him in the candy aisle. He glanced over and forgot all his manners as he couldn't help but stare. The little girl was very pretty. A head shorter than he, she had long blonde braided pigtails and glasses. She wore a bright purple peacoat and a rainbow colored hat with a matching scarf and gloves. She wore silver sparkly snow boots and green tights. Even her name, Penny, was beautiful to him. Derek had never seen her before and hoped she was new to the block because they would probably go to the same school and ride the same bus, even if she was in a different grade. He really wanted to get to know this mysterious girl.

Derek watched as Penny wrinkled her nose as she studied the candy selection before deciding on a Kit Kat bar. She grabbed one and it got stuck in the box. She gave it a tug and the whole box spilled on the floor. Derek's manners finally kicked in and he didn't think as he bent down and helped her pick the candy bars up. She looked over to him and gasped a little before looking down again to pick up the rest of the candy bars. He took the box of candy from her and replaced it on the shelf.

"Thank you," Penny said. Her voice sounded like tinkling bells and Derek was speechless. She smiled at Derek and ran up to her mom. She realized she forgot her candy bar and ran back to Derek, who held out a Kit Kat. She reached for the candy bar. "Thank you again, my hero," she giggled.

Derek opened his mouth to say he wasn't a hero but froze when he heard a loud, booming voice yell, "Get down on the ground! This is a holdup!" from the front of the store. Derek dropped the candy bar, grabbed Penny's hand, and pulled her with him to the back of the store. He pushed her into the far corner next to the drink cooler and stood in front of her as a masked man in a thick winter coat walked over.

"Whatcha hiding there behind you, little man?" the robber sneered.

"Leave her alone," Derek said. He winced and fell as the robber backhanded him. Penny cried out as Derek fell down. She dropped to her knees to see if he was all right and felt herself being pulled by the arm to her feet. She screamed in terror as the masked man lifted her in his arms.

"She's a pretty one, all right," he said. Penny screamed again and flailed her arms, as she did she knocked the mask off his face. He didn't realize it and he laughed as she continued to struggle. "And she's fiesty, too! I like that!"

Derek growled and grabbed the rubber's arm, stomped on his foot, and kicked him in the groin. The robber dropped Penny, who whimpered as fell hard on her side. He smacked Derek and laughed he fell again. Derek gulped as the robber drew a knife from his waistband. Derek scrambled over and put himself in front of Penny again. He stared at the ugly, pock-marked face of the robber. He didn't recognize him from the neighborhood.

The robber advanced on them, then gasped as a much larger man grabbed the back of his coat and flung him away from the children. He crashed into cardboard display of potato chips and the knife skidded across the floor and underneath a shelf.

Everything happened so fast. Before Derek could do more than cry out, "Dad!", the robber pulled a gun from his pocket and fired blindly. Derek covered Penny with his body as a bullet whizzed near his head.

The larger man gasped as he fell down. Derek ran over and began to shake him, screaming, "Dad!, Dad!" and crying as the robber ran away.

Penny got to her feet and walked over to Derek and his father. Her eyes widened when she saw the police uniform and the stain of blood on his chest. She knelt down and put her head on Derek's shoulder. She sat there for what seemed like forever, until a lady police officer touched her and Derek's shoulders. She looked up to see her parents standing behind them. She stood and Derek looked up at her with tear-stained cheeks. "I'm so sorry about your dad," she whispered and leaned down and kissed his cheek. Derek watched as she walked away with her parents until the lady officer guided him away from his father's body.

The rest of the evening was a blur as he watched numbly as his mother and sisters sobbed uncontrollably. The days blended together and he stayed with his Aunt Yvonne and cousin Cindi until the funeral. He sat stoicly next to his mother as fellow officers and friends and neighbors paid their respects. The night after the funeral was the first time he really slept and he dreamed about the little blonde girl at the store. She had appeared and disappeared so fast in the dream that he thought she was an angel. He woke up and wondered if the girl was real or an angel like in his dream.

Penny cried into her pillow. She and her parents had arrived back home in California that day and she had barely spoken throughout the entire drive home from Chicago. She kept thinking of the boy at the store. He was cute and nice. Most of the boys she knew laughed at her glasses and thought she was weird because she liked to read books and liked computers but that boy looked at her like she never saw a girl before in his life. He was so sweet. He didn't laugh at her clumsiness or anything. And he saved her from the robber. She felt so bad when she learned the man who was shot was his father. A boy as kind as he didn't deserve that kind of heartache so young. "I don't even know his name!" she cried into her pillow. He was the kind of hero that you only read about in books. At age eight, Penelope Garcia knew she'd never forget about the boy in the store. Her hero. She had no idea that that little boy had set the bar for all the future men in her life.

A/N: Wait, what is this? A new story! The first chapter is based on a dream I had last night. The rest of the story will flow from that dream. I hope y'all enjoy this. Please review!

Xoxo,

PitaCake

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