I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters


Why is this happening to me? I can't fall in love with Penelope! She's in love with Derek! She's always been in love with Derek. But, she's not with Derek right now. That's for sure, I think to myself as Penelope slowly pulls out of our kiss, still with her hand gripped tightly behind my neck, not letting me go anywhere. The feeling of her in my arms is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've spent so much time dreaming of something like this happening, and now it is. There's no way I'm going to second guess any of this.

I don't know when I started to develop feelings for Penelope, but they've been coming on strong for a while now. Maybe it was when she called me Aaron the first time. Maybe it was when she first walked into my life all those years ago. I was a different man, and I had Haley, but Penelope still meant a lot to me, even if it was just friendship. She's always been different and she's always held a large part of my heart, even if I ignored it for a long time.

But now, holding her in my arms, feeling her body against mine, moving together as one, like we were meant to have this happen, everything feels right. There is no more Derek. There is only me and Penelope and this perfect moment. I look down at her and she is staring at me, taking in every aspect of my face, memorizing it as if it's the first time she's really seeing it. I look at her and realize for the millionth time why she so often gets hit on in bars and why she should have every man falling at her feet: she is absolutely stunning. Penelope is all confidence and light. She is everything good and beautiful in this world, and everyone near her can see that. That's why men hit on her. But how has Derek not seen that when every other drunk loser can see it?

I've spent too much time waiting for Derek to get his shit together and find his way to Penelope. I've tried to be polite and courteous, recognizing that they seemed to be meant for each other, but Derek's never seemed to even give her the time of day. If he's not going to take a chance with this incredible woman, then I'm not going to wait around anymore and risk losing her. She's too precious to me. I can't lose another woman that I love. Oh shit. I love her. I do. I've been trying to deny it for such a long time, but it's the truth. I love her. But it's too soon to tell her. So for now, I'm just going to kiss her and make sure that she knows that she is the most incredible person in the world.

I lean in, capturing her lips in another beautiful kiss, but this time, there's something different there. As I coax her mouth open, I can sense the pure passion that is flooding through both of our veins. This kiss feels electric, and not just because her tongue is fighting mine for dominance like no other woman's has before. This time, everything is different. This kiss. It's everything. It's everything a kiss should be. Pure, lust-filled, romantic, desperate. It's perfect. How is it that everything about this woman is perfect?

I turn Penelope's body around so that she is facing me and I bury my hands in her hair, deepening the kiss even more, as she wraps her arms around my waist, pulling our bodies together, placing her hands partially under the hem of my shirt, rubbing slow circles into my skin, and creating even more desperation within me as she slowly grinds herself against my growing erection. Well, still growing. Somehow, it's still growing even though I've been turned on from the moment I saw her across the room wearing a skin-tight purple dress that made her look as desirable as sin. It was no wonder that man had tried to stick his hand up the skirt. I would too, if given the opportunity. Hopefully, I will by the end of the night.

Although, Penelope means way too much to me for us to take it that quickly. I don't want her to think that I'm only interested in her as a notch on my bedpost. If we're going to do this, we're going to do this right. But, being with her could only be right. There could never be anything wrong in that regard. When we make love, whether it is later tonight or ten years from now, it will be absolutely perfect. Just like her. But I really don't know that I'll be able to make it ten minutes let alone ten years. With that in mind, I pull away from Penelope and she tries to pull us back together, but I take a slight step away so that I can take a deep breath. She opens her eyes and looks both confused and saddened by my absence, but before she can say anything or start assuming that there's something wrong, I say, "Do you want to get out of here?"

"Yes, please," she responds. I grab her hand and pull her along behind me through the crowd in the bar, finally reaching the table that we had both abandoned so long ago. The table was still full with the other members of our team who made a great show of pretending that they hadn't been watching us kiss on the dance floor. We head to our seats and I grab my jacket while Penelope grabs hers and her purse. We say our goodbyes to the table and head out the door quickly, not taking any notice of the team or anyone else who might be staring at us as we practically run out of the bar.