A/N: Alright, this is a first for me in several ways. It's my first Criminal Minds fanfiction. It's also the first fanfiction I started since being at university (over five years already). And it's the first fanfiction I'm writing in English and not in my mother tongue German. I got the idea for it while reading Rhythm of Love by klcm and I just needed this initial idea out of my mind because I'm actually supposed to work on my thesis. I'm pretty much doing this for fun and as a way to get into the writing flow so I don't care much wether I'll get reviews or not. Usually I upload new stuff if I have some. Of course, reviews are still appreciated though. Also, I should warn you. It might be a little while till I'll be able to write more for this-unless I feel the absolute urge to procrastinate a bit.

Alright, that's it for now. There'll be another note at the end of the first chapter.

Penelope Garcia pricked up her ears. Since it was a slow morning at the BAU her door was open so she could hear what was going on outside her small word of screens and motherboards.

"Have you seen Agent Morgan is back?" Garcia heard a woman ask another one right outside her office.

The other one just giggled. "Yeah. Finally. I missed having my daily fix of looking at that fine body of his."

Now, they both giggled as they made their way down the hall.

Penelope couldn't believe it. Derek was back? It had been almost 18 months since she had talked to her best friend. Almost 18 months that she had waited to hear exactly those words, that he was back from his undercover assignment.

Without hesitation she got up from her chair and hurried towards the bull pen. All she wanted, all she needed, was to feel the embrace of her Hot Stuff again. After being constantly in touch with him both at work and in her private life for over six years, not being able to talk to him from one day to the next had been tough on her. The others had done their best to make the lack of her best friend up to her but as adorable as Reid and as charming as Rossi could be, nothing compared to the loving banter she had always shared with her noir hero.

"Where is he?" She looked around hoping to see a trace of him but so far nothing in the bull pen hinted at him being really back. Nothing but J.J., Prentiss and Reid standing together watching the door of Hotch's office closely.

"He's with Hotch," Reid anwered, "and he's been in there for 56 minutes already."

Penelope glared at them. "He's been at the BAU for almost an hour and no one felt the urge to let me know? Nice friends you are." She had thought they all knew how much she was looking forward to Derek's return.

J.J. and Prentiss gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry sweetheart, we figured it'd be a lot better if he surprised you in your office. We didn't want to take that away from him."

Garcia looked between the two. That even made sense. Still she felt a little peeved at being the last to find out. Pushing the feeling aside, she now concentrated on Hotch's door as well. Surely, her man would come out any moment now. And it seemed Kharma was on her side because it was only a few minutes later that the door opened and her Hot Stuff and Hotch stepped out of the office.

Penelope felt her heart start racing—how she had missed to just look at him. It took her mind a moment to realize that the men were followed by a blond woman who seemed to be in her late twenties.

Hotch looked at his team starring up at his office. He knew that all they wanted to do was to celebrate Morgan's return but he also knew that they had to start working the case that had just gotten in as soon as possible. Sometimes he hated to be the one in charge since he had to spoil their fun on so many occasions. "Alright guys, five minutes to get the welcome back done and then we need to get started." He nodded at everyone before turning back to his office.

As Morgan walked down the few steps to the bull pen the rest of the team gathered around him.

"It's good to have you back Morgan" Reid was the first to give him a quick hug. He would have never admitted hit but he had missed having someone around he could turn to when he was unsure of himself. Rossi and Hotch were not much of a help and there were certain issues he just didn't feel comfortable with to discuss with the girls.

"It's good to be back, man." He slapped Reid on his right shoulder before turning to J.J. and Prentiss. "Ladies." He gave them one of his infamous smiles as he pulled them both into a hug at the same time.

Garcia smiled as she witnessed the scene in front of her. This was so typical of her Derek, to share his love with the people he cared for without saying much. She felt herself getting giddy as he finally turned to her. "Garcia." He pulled her into a hug as well but Penelope couldn't help but feel disappointed. What had happened to 'baby girl,' to 'gorgeous,' of any of the endearments he usually used with her?

He smiled down at her as he pulled out of the hug but Penelope couldn't ignore how it didn't quite reach his eyes as it usually did. She couldn't try to figure it out though since Hotch reappeared, telling them they really needed to start working.

As everyone went to the conference room, Garcia realized that the girl who had come out of Hotch's with the two men followed them there. What was going on with that?

"Alright everyone," Hotch looked around the team. "First of all, I'd like to introduce to you Special Agent Collins. She has been recently assigned to support the team for the time being."

Garcia didn't understand. The team was constantly faced with troubles because of more and more budget cuts and now all of sudden the FBI had enough money to assign another member to a team that was well functioning the way it was.

Everyone exchanged a quick 'hello,' before J.J. started presenting the case: "We've been called in by the officials of Madison County. They have a violent streak of murders going on there. So far there have been six murders in the last three weeks. With every week there is one victim more. All of the victims are females in their late twenties to early thirties and have been dumped somewhere close to covered bridges. None of them had been reported missing which probably means they are killed and dumped within a short time period. With each victim the unsub also got more violent. And the time between each victim gets shorter each time. Between finding the first and the second victim a week passed, between the last two victims it's been only 48 hours."

"So we have even less than that to catch the unsub," Reid concluded.

"Exactly, that's why I want everyone ready to catch the pane in five minutes. We'll continue the briefing on the plane."

"Sir?" Penelope looked at him.

"Yes; you too. With this case we need all the eyes at the place we can get." With that everyone got up to gather their belongings.

As Penelope walked out of the room, she heard Collins whispering to Morgan. "So much for having some time to settle in. Is it always like this?"

"Most of the time, yeah. It's different with each case though. Now, get ready girl. Hotch is quite serious about when he wants to leave for the airstrip, and believe me you don't want to find out what happens when you're not on time."

She heard them both give a quick laugh and couldn't get rid of the feeling that her superhero knew Collins already. What was going on there?

It wasn't long before Penelope got an answer to that question. The two of them seemed to be rather close. As they had all gotten out of the SUVs bringing them to the airstrip, Penelope had witnessed how Derek took the luggage away from Collins, carrying it for her. And now they were standing next to the coffee machine, deep in conversation, laughing about an inside joke on occasion.

Penelope had to use all her strength to not start crying. She had imagined her reunion with Derek so often but none of the scenarios in her head had entailed something like this. She felt a stab of jealousy when Collins put her hand on his chest as if to emphasize her words. That in itself was bad enough but Derek's reaction to it made it even worse. Not only did he put his hand on her hip in a soft touch but he also gave one of his bright smiles, the ones that he had used to give Penelope all the time before he went away.

A/N: So, that's it for now. This story will eventually be Derek/Penelope but I just think they should overcome some obstacles first. What I basically planned for this story is to intertwine the story of Garcia dealing with Derek being back and flashbacks of what exactly happened to him while he was away.