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Penelope opened the door to her office and felt a flash of jealousy run through her skin. At the door of Derek's office stood Morgan himself and a petite brunette named Zoe, who he had been seeing for several months. Things were beginning to get serious between the two of them. The woman's face was lit up in a sweet smile and she leaned up to kiss his lips quickly before waving and going towards the elevator. Derek disappeared back in his office and Penelope had to resist the urge to go back into hers and not emerge again. It had been an agonizing three weeks since their fight and neither had spoken to the other, except to snap biting comments occasionally. Not that Zoe minded. Penelope had always been a thorn in her side to her relationship with Derek. In her opinion, the fight was the best thing to happen for Derek.
"Hey, Garcia," Emily said, coming up to her as she made her way to Hotch's office. "What's up?"
She forced a smile. "Nothing, Em," she said weakly. "Just feeling a little queasy, is all." It was true. Lately she'd been feeling terrible, nausea costarring with her anger over her fight with Derek as players responsible for her cantankerous mood. She adjusted her square-framed glasses and added, "Hey…you wanna grab a drink tonight? You, me, Jayje, Reid? Maybe Hotch and Rossi?"
Emily looked at Penelope sadly. It was no secret, the fight Morgan and Garcia had several weeks prior. While no one knew exactly what had been said, plenty of people could attest to their cursing and hollering that had taken place in front of the bar. "I'll talk to them," she said, not wanting to push Penelope's buttons and ask if it was okay to invite Morgan along.
Instantly Penelope brightened. "You're the best, Agent Prentiss!" she said, before heading up the ramp to Hotch's office.
Emily watched as her friend knocked and gained access to the Unit Chief's office. As she sat down, Reid, who was poring over a thick book, glanced up and said, "She still refusing to acknowledge Morgan's existence?"
Nodding, Emily replied, "Yep. Just like him. Have you figured out what the hell happened?"
Reid shook his head. "Morgan is refusing to budge on the topic," he conveyed, flipping one of the pages in his book. "He hasn't said anything, just keeps switching the subject to Zoe. I think he's going to ask her to marry him." He added the last sentence like he was commenting on the weather.
"What?" Emily blurted incredulously. "You can't be serious!" Morgan was going to marry Zoe, the woman who – no arguments could be made about this – was beautiful, but probably the most self-absorbed human being most of them had ever encountered and consistently demeaned his best friend? She found that extremely hard to believe.
"Yeah," Reid said simply. "You know, marriage is said to date back almost 4,350 years and –"
"Who's getting married?"
Both Reid and Emily looked up to see Penelope, who had just exited Hotch's office. She seemed generally curious and she looked at them expectantly. Reid, not thinking of the current circumstances regarding Penelope and Derek's relationship, relayed, "Oh, Morgan's giving off signals that he's going to ask Zoe to marry – Ow!" He bent down to nurse the foot that Emily had just stomped on.
Penelope's face fell and paled. For a moment, she looked like she might faint. "Oh," she said mutely. Her voice had shrunk and she hurried away from Reid and Emily to her office.
XXXXX
Once Penelope returned to her office and the door was locked behind her, she threw up into the trash can. Cursing herself, she took a sip of water from her water bottle and took a few deep breaths. If she'd been unsure before, she was confident now that she had a stomach bug coming. The news Reid had just graced her ears with had nothing to do with why she threw up her breakfast. So what if Derek was marrying the skinny twig of a woman who made Penelope miserable just by stepping in the room? It wasn't her problem anymore.
He wasn't her problem anymore.
XXXXX
"Come in," Derek called, not looking up from the report he was finishing up.
"Morgan?" Emily said hesitantly. "Can we talk for a minute?"
Derek looked up at the serious tone Emily's voice had taken. "Sure thing, Prentiss," he said. "What's going on?" He leaned back in his chair and looked at her expectantly.
The normally reserved looking Emily Prentiss was now looking very nervous as she opened her mouth to speak. "Listen, I know it's not any of my business…"
Derek's heart about stopped. He knew at some point someone was going to forcefully confront him regarding his fight with Penelope. Prentiss was just the person who would do the job. Reid usually pussy-footed around asking any serious questions so he was nothing to worry about. The truth was that Derek was still hurting from his fight with Penelope. He missed her every single day. There were times when he would find himself halfway to her office, ready to make things right with her, but then he turned on his heel and returned to work. He didn't understand why, but between the burning anger, the fear, and the desire Derek felt like a mess.
"Are you thinking about asking Zoe to marry you?"
The question took Derek off guard. He'd honestly expected Emily to grill him about Penelope. But her question was about the person exactly opposite who he'd had his mind on. "And what if I am?" he replied shakily. He knew his voice wasn't as strong as it should've been for answering a question like that, but he couldn't control it. His mind was barely on Zoe; it was on Penelope.
Zoe wasn't a keeper. She was merely someone who he'd gone on a few dates with and the few dates just so happened to turn into a few months. Penelope had never seen eye to eye with her, but she put up with her because he asked her to. After their fight, though, he'd just held onto Zoe, not really knowing where she stood in the sea of gray he felt like his life had sailed into.
"I think it would be a mistake," Emily said quietly.
Derek barked a laugh. "Oh, yeah?" he huffed. "And why is that?"
"Because I think there's someone else who you might love more and who loves you more than anyone else." Emily stared at him with her watchful brown eyes, signaling to him that she knew about the inner workings of Penelope's heart.
He swallowed hard, his face growing harder by the second. Every fiber of his soul told him to truly have this conversation with Prentiss, to try and work through the feelings and emotions that he'd been unable to process on his own. Maybe talking to someone would help. As he opened his mouth to ask a question, his mind shot backwards and he heard Penelope's words in his head.
We're not meant to be anything, Derek. I should've realized that a long time ago. Not friends, not lovers, nothing.
"No," he said, his voice finally finding its footing. "There isn't." His eyes drifted towards the picture on his desk of him and Penelope and he shook his head again. "There never was."