Hey guys, finally the next chapter. I have had a hard time with this dammed dialogue at the end between Penelope and Emily . And if the unborn child is Derek´s you´ll see in the following chapters. So sty with me and all of you will learn the answer soon.
Please read and review
3.
The following Monday Derek came back to work. He still sniffled a bit but it was much better than the days before and still he hadn't found a way to apologize to Penelope and explain her what happened. Everything that came to his mind about this turned out to be a bad idea and would probably make her angrier. So the best thing he could do was stay out of her sight till he found an excuse.
It was about lunchtime when Derek started to worry about Penelope. No one had said how she was doing or went over to her sanctuary to visit her. Worried about Penelope he asked Emily what was going on.
"Emily, do you know how Penelope is doing?"
Puzzled she blinked at her colleague.
"Didn't anyone tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"She took a two week vacation. She followed my suggestion to do something for herself."
"And who is her substitute?"
Like he was a genie in a bottle Kevin Lynch appeared just at that moment to give Emily some information. The angry look Reid gave the technician didn't go unnoticed by Derek. Nearly running for his life Kevin left the bullpen.
Deciding that Reid would be the best source of information Derek invited him for lunch. Bewildered the young man accepted the invitation and soon they found themselves in a nearby diner. Both ordered a small lunch. Reid knew why Derek had invited him and looked outside to avoid his colleague's gaze.
"Can you tell me why nobody told me that Penelope is on vacation?" Derek asked upset.
"Perhaps we didn't want to tell you who her substitute is while she's away."
"That's no excuse, you guys know I would start to worry about her, doesn't matter who told me."
"That's the other side. And fact is she won't be talking to you for the next few months if you are lucky and not one of us wanted to be pinned between you two. Penelope is really angry with you and you hurt her."
Frustrated Derek sighed loud. The waitress came with their order. Derek didn't even notice that she tried to flirt with him.
"Is there nothing I can do to reconcile with her?"
Reid saw a defeated and broken Derek. The genius never thought he would see Derek like this.
"I don't know. We both know Penelope is very emotional and we can't say how she will feel about you when she comes back from her vacation."
"Is there anything else I need to know about this mess?"
"Nothing." Reid said hastily and looked away again.
Derek knew this behavior good enough to get suspicious.
"What is it?"
"Nothing important."
"Reid look at me."
Slowly he followed the order.
"It's really nothing."
"Does this nothing accidentally have to do with your behavior against the substitute technician Lynch?"
The terrified look in Reid's eyes told everything.
"What did he do to my goddess?"
Silence.
"Again: What did he do?"
"Penelope will kill me if I tell you."
"Not if I kill you first."
Angrily Reid stood up.
"Why does everybody threaten me because you were a fool? I have had enough. You want to know? Ok, here you go: She kissed him. She wants to forget you. And now leave me alone and say thanks to Emily because she interfered in your problem and made everything worse."
In a rare moment of pure anger Reid left the diner. More frustrated than he was before lunch Derek rested his head in his hands.
"Great, really great."
Still angry the genius entered the bullpen again. Unfortunately Kevin bumped into him. Reid gave him a death glare and walked on. The next person who became a victim of his bad mood was Emily. She only wanted to know what Derek wanted but Reid didn't answer and gave her a death glare, too. The only place where he would be safe for the rest of the day was in JJ's office. He knocked on her door slowly calming down.
"Hey, Spence, how can I help you?"
"Can I stay in your office for the rest of the day?"
"Why?" she asked puzzled.
"Because Kevin is getting on my nerves, Derek is a damn ass, Emily can't keep her nose out of other peoples business and I need a damn rest from all this mess Derek started."
JJ blinked in surprise. She had never heard him talk like he did seconds before, she didn't even think he knew swear words.
"Sure, but one condition."
"This condition is?"
"Stop cursing."
A weak smile came upon his face.
"Ok."
Half an hour later Derek appeared at the bullpen. He still looked defeated and sad. Again Kevin had the bad luck of bumping into Derek this time. The profiler let out a growl like a dog protecting his home. If the whole situation weren't so serious Emily would have laughed about poor Kevin running for life. Still in a grumpy mood Derek sat down at his desk and tried to do some paperwork, which turned out to be a silly idea because Derek needed some information from Kevin if he wanted to close that file. He went on to the next file trying to get the picture of Kevin and Penelope messing around out of his head. After an hour Derek gave up.
Emily had the urge to help him even knowing about the risk that Derek would yell at her. With an angry Penelope on vacation who was calling her every evening, an upset Reid who was hiding in JJ's office and Derek giving the impression of a lost child she was willing to take the risk. For her normality couldn't be restored soon enough, so she was able to focus all attention on a specific young doctor.
"Hey Derek?"
"What is going on in your grouchy mind?"
"None of your business, just leave me alone."
Still sitting in her chair she rolled over to him.
"Playing Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street won't make it any better."
A small smile crossed his face.
"I actually feel more like Marvin from a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
"That bad?"
"Worse. It seems I am good at making people mad at me in the last few days."
"You are talking about Reid too?"
"Yeah. I have never seen anyone that angry."
"Ok, suggestion: I'll ask Hotch and see if we can have the rest of the day off and we are going to have a talk outside that building and far away from any other colleagues."
A couple minutes later Emily got permission from Hotch to leave under the condition she and Derek were only a phone call away. Reid watched them leave as he came out of JJ's office to get some coffee and asked himself what Emily was trying now to get Penelope and Derek back together. For a second he thought about apologizing to Derek about his outburst hours ago but Derek was out of sight as Reid finally came to the decision that it would be best.
Emily and Derek entered a small café, which wasn't very crowded.
"So Marvin, how are you feeling?" Emily tried to joke.
"Depressed, bad and sure that everything I do or touch the next few days will go wrong."
"Okay, I could of guess that. What do you want to do now?"
Lost in thoughts Derek spun his cup of coffee.
"I don't know. I wish I could turn back time. It's crazy how a single person can make such a big mess."
"It's like a stone was thrown into the water, even if the stone was small the waves grow bigger and bigger."
"You sound like Reid, you know?"
She smiled at the comment but became serious again immediately.
"I know, I guess it comes from working with him. So what now? Will you wait and see what happens in the future or do you want to do something?"
"Perhaps waiting isn't that bad. It doesn't matter what I do, Penelope won't talk to me again. I think she is trying to forget me or do you know another reason why she would have kissed the other tech?"
Emily sighed in understanding.
"I have to admit I would do the same thing Pen did. Ok I actually did it back in college."
"Why? What had happened?"
"This son of a bastard had cheated on me. I really loved him and I was pretty hurt. The best thing that came to my mind was throwing myself into the next boy's arms. See, what I'm trying to say: You never can say how you will react to specific events and also you never can say how you would react months later. The current situation is Penelope is willing to do nearly anything to get over you but there is a small chance she will stop it after a few months."
"And what if she doesn't? If she finds a guy or starts a relationship with that Lynch guy?"
Emily's heart sank as she saw how Derek was haunted by that thought. The whole talk wasn't going the way she wanted it to.
"If the impossible scenario happens she will never really forget you and that will ruin that relationship and every one following it."
"How do you know?"
"Personal experience."
Derek got the clue she didn't wanted him to dig deeper in that area. Suddenly Emily's cell phone rung. With an unhappy expression she answered.
"Hi Pen, how are you doing?"
"Fine, the spa is really good and there are a lot of nice men."
"Leave some of them for the other female guests."
Penelope giggled a bit.
"I'll try. Why aren't you at the bureau?"
"Oh there was nothing to do, so I left early."
"Oh, I thought there would be some nice juicy news about you dating someone."
"No, just bored and having a undeniable urge to escape Reid's bad mood."
"What is my little cuddly bunny doing?"
Emily smiled at Penelope's pet name for Reid.
"I don't have any idea. He is giving Kevin a hard time and since lunch he hasn't talked to either Derek or to me. Believe it or not but he's been hiding most of the day in JJ's office."
Penelope squealed with joy.
"Uh, is he finally making a move on her?"
"I really hope not."
"Emily, darling, do you want to share something with me?"
"No, nothing to share."
"Hmm, Em, you know I know Reid was over at your place and now you're telling me again you have nothing to share."
"I know you know and there is still nothing more to share than I told you a week ago."
"Please don't tell me you think of him as a colleague. I can tell there is more to it."
"Even if there is, he doesn't see me that way. End of discussion. And why are we discussing my non-exist love life?"
"Because you have something close to a love life. Mine is dead."
In the background Derek said he was going to get a new coffee.
"It's not. You know there is a certain person still wanting to be with you."
"Is that Derek with you?"
Emily was caught off guard at Penelope's question.
"Um.. yes."
"What are you doing together outside the bureau?"
Penelope sounded suspicious.
"We are just having coffee together."
"Are you on a date with him???"
"No, Penelope you got it wrong."
"I don't think so. Are you that desperate about wanting a child that you need to throw yourself on Derek?"
"Pen, please listen to me. I am not on a date with Derek. I'm interested in someone else."
"Sure and I am the next Queen of England. We have talked enough about your wish to start a family. I thought you were my friend, you snake in the grass."
Furious Penelope ended the call. Puzzled and with a bad feeling Emily looked at her cell phone.
"Damn. I guess you aren't the only one with bad luck." She said to the returning Derek.
"Why?"
"I don't know what made her think this but she thinks we are on a date."
"You are kidding?"
The sentence 'I-don't-believe-it' was written across his face.
"I'm not. Guess she is very sensitive to everything at the moment."
"At least Reid is still talking to you, I think he is the second person who won't be talking to me again."
"Can I join that club? I doubt either of the two will be talking to me the next four weeks at least."
"What have you done to deserve this dead silence?"
"I have absolutely no idea and ironically both wouldn't tell me, or you, what it is."
Both sighed simultaneous.
At the same time JJ was trying to get some information out of Reid about what the whole mess was about. She had seen him a couple of minutes ago watching Derek and Emily leave and she only could guess what he was thinking. Reid came back with his coffee, and also one for her, by the time she made up her mind.
"Thanks, Spence. Can I ask you something?"
"That is a question."
Both smiled a bit about this lame joke.
"I know why Pen refused to see, hear or talk to Derek, but what is your reason for avoiding him and Emily?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yeah, I am a friend to all of you."
Reid rolled his eyes.
"I wish I never have heard that sentence in the last few days. That was the same argument Emily used to justify her intervention in Derek and Penelope's problem. Don't get me wrong I think of all of you as my family but this is something that is better kept out of work."
"I agree it would better if Derek and Penelope cleared this privately but you know as well as me that isn't always possible in our job."
"Ok, I see your point but otherwise it was still not wise of Emily to force them to reconcile and Derek really needs to stop being over protective of Penelope and let her know how much he loves her. I have the least experience with relationships in the whole bureau but even I know that."
JJ had a hard time not laughing.
"You should follow your own advice."
"What?"
Reid was totally puzzled.
"Have you asked yourself why you are so upset that Emily cares about Penelope so much?"
"Should I?"
It was one of these well known moment when his naivety shone through.
"You need to."
"Why?"
"That answer you can only give yourself."
JJ watched him brood about this problem for almost an hour. She was wondering when he would finally find the answer but he hadn't come to any conclusion as of yet.
Still giggling about poor Reid JJ entered her apartment. She pressed the play button on the answering machine and listened to the messages. The first one wasn't important, just her doctor reminding her of an appointment. The second one was bad, it was Penelope.
"Hey JJ, my best dear friend..."
"Uh oh, that sounds bad."
"I just called to hear what is going on at the office but it seemed you are still at work. Take my advice and don't work so much. Bye"
"Ok that was weird."
But it became even weirder with the next message, it was Emily calling just a few minutes after Penelope, according to the answering machine.
"Hey it's Emily. I guess you have Pen on the phone who is probably telling you how bad I am. I don't know why but she thinks I am dating Derek..."
JJ rolled her eyes. That was a glorious mess.
"Ok, so if you hear this please call me. Oh and by the way I want to know what you and Reid were doing all that time in your office."
JJ shook her head. Next time she had the four of them together she was going to lock them in one room till they fought out their misunderstandings. Today she wasn't going to call anybody back.
