Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! Sorry it's so angsty. I hope you continue to like it :) This one is another long one, but I didn't know where to stop it. Sorry about that!

"We need to talk," Penelope said, stopping inside Derek's office. The team was due to start a meeting in half an hour, and she wanted to put the conversation she was about to have off until the last second. The extra half hour was because she was confident it would last for at least that long. She strolled right in and closed the door behind her. Going up to the front of his desk, she sat down in one of the chairs.

Derek looked up at her while he was scribbling his signature on a sheet of paper. "What can I do for you, Penelope?" he asked diplomatically, returning his eyes to his work. "Care to bitch at me some more?"

"No," she said softly. "I'm not here to do that. And for your information I don't bitch all that much at you." She tried giving him a small smile and was pleasantly surprised when he returned it.

They held each other's stares for a long moment before she realized she wasn't there to look at the gorgeous man she'd married. Coughing, she stuttered, "Er, what I wanted to talk to you about was Tala."

Derek's face lost its smile and he sighed. "I don't know what we should do about her," he murmured tiredly. "She's been full of attitude lately."

Penelope raised a brow at him. "Derek, she's been more than just full of attitude," she pressed. "She told me she's ashamed to be my daughter and that she wants nothing to do with me." Tears filled her eyes and she was appalled when a few trickled down her cheeks. She wiped them away hurriedly, not wanting Derek to see them. "I just don't know what to do about her right now, and it's making me crazy."

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked. "She's mad at us."

"No, Derek," she corrected. "She's mad at me. Just me. She's told me the same thing over and over. That I broke your heart. That she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," he murmured. "She's mad. And the two of you are practically the same person. When you share similar personalities with someone, you're bound to butt heads."

Penelope leaned forward and put her elbows on his desk. "You really think so?" she asked.

He looked at her with his deep brown eyes that she used to be able to spend hours in. Something stirred in her and she swore she saw the warmth and compassion she'd once seen before work and cases had got in the way. She could see the glow of his love for her and their children.

For a moment, she choked on her words, too overcome with the emotion of seeing the look in his eyes. But he blinked and then the glint was gone. She sighed internally. She was just seeing what she wanted to see, not what was really there. The way she was sitting, leaning forward in her chair, it reminded her of when they were still in love.

Or at least, when he was still in love with her. She was still in love with him; time had gotten in the way of his love for her.

"I know so," he finally said. "Anyway, you wanted a battle plan or something?"

She sat back in her chair, leaning away from him, and said, "When this case is over, I just need you to come over, and the three of us can have a chat."

He nodded. Suddenly his face turned more serious. "So listen, I also wanted to know if that bastard you've been..." He paused. "I wanted to know if he's going be out of the picture? I swear I'll take some action if I have to. No one threatens to touch my children."

The moment that Penelope thought had been tender was now shattered. Her heart felt sore and she murmured, "He's out of the picture. Or he will be as soon as I have the conversation with him. Today at lunch, in fact."

"Good," he said, returning his face to his work.

"You honestly think I don't care that Kyle said that to Tala?" she muttered. "Don't you?"

His gaze returned to hers and he arched one of his brows. "Excuse me?"

She glared at him. "You keep acting like I support what Kyle said," she hissed. "Like I was okay with him telling our daughter those things. How can you think that? How?"

"You're being ridiculous," he snapped. "I never said that."

"But you're thinking it, Derek," she said. "I can tell you're thinking it. It's written all over your face."

He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists. "I don't think you have any right to tell me what's 'written all over my face,' as you put it," he said through gritted teeth. "You don't get to say anything about how I'm reacting to anything."

Ignoring him, she continued. "And for the last fucking time, I'm not sleeping with him! I heard you pause right before you said it, and I'm not going to repeat myself again: I am not sleeping with anyone! At all! Stop saying that I am!"

"Do I look like I care if you sleep with anyone?" he thundered.

"Please, Derek," she laughed bitterly. "Don't try and tell me you haven't been sleeping with anyone."

His face was black with rage, a variable thundercloud. "How dare you," he growled. "Get out of my office. I have no interest in speaking with you any more. I'll talk to you when we get back from the case, but until then I don't want to hear a word from you." When she didn't get up immediately, he pointed his finger at the door and hissed, "I said get out!"

Penelope rose from her seat and glared at him, storming out and slamming the door on her way.

So much for needing a half hour to speak with him.

XXXXX

"Hey, Babe," Kyle said with a swagger as he sauntered towards Penelope in the coffee shop where she was planning on doing the actual break up. He leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You said you had an important thing you wanted to talk to me about." He sat down across from her at the small cafe table and grinned. "What's going on?"

Penelope folded her arms across her chest and met his eyes evenly. "Hey, Kyle," she said softly. Smiling grimly, she added, "We've got to talk."

"Okay," he said. "Let's talk."

The conversation from the morning with Derek was still burning in her mind. Penelope had never felt more angry in her life. She couldn't believe he would insinuate that she was sleeping with Kyle. Again. The thought of Derek thinking that she was fucking Kyle made her sick to her stomach. She had to do everything she could to fix it.

"Kyle, you're..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't think she could really call him a great guy, seeing as he'd insulted her daughter and threatened to hit her. "This really isn't going to work out. This thing between us, I mean." She watched as his face fell. "I'm very sorry. I just — I just don't think —"

He held up his hands and waved them around. "Wait, wait! You're breaking up with me? Why?"

She arched a brow at him. "Seriously?" she asked in disbelief. "You can't figure that out?" He looked at her in confusion and she shook her head. "Kyle, you threatened to hit my daughter. You called her a bitch. I'm sorry, but I just don't want her around that. So you're not welcome at my house anymore. Nor are you welcome in my life."

Kyle was silent for a moment before he burst out laughing. "I told you I was joking when I said that," he said, shaking his head. "You really didn't believe me?"

"You sure didn't seem like you were joking," she said hardly. Glaring, she added, "I don't want my children around people like —"

"What? Like me?" he snickered. "Serious?" He rumbled a dark laugh. "What about Derek? Is he the type of person you want your children around? He looked like he was ready to have a smack down in your living room over me being with you and your six year old was there."

Similar to how Derek's had earlier when they were having their conversation, Penelope's fists clenched. "Derek is the father of my children, you son of a bitch!" she snapped. "And Derek is the most wonderful father there is! You have no right to insult him. He is ten times the man you are and the reason he was ready to have a 'smack down' is because you threatened to hit our daughter." She paused with a frosty stare before adding, "And Soraya is seven, not six."

Rising from his seat, he pointed at her and said, "You know what? If you're going to defend his honor so much, then why don't you get back together with him?"

Feeling her cheeks turn bright red, Penelope looked away and averted her gaze completely. She couldn't acknowledge the truth in his words. She really should still be with Derek. But the reality that she had to keep reminding herself of was Derek had grown tired of her and of being married.

"Leave me alone, Kyle," she muttered as he continued to look at her. "Just go."

"With pleasure," he snapped, heading back out the coffee shop abruptly, leaving Penelope with a sour taste in her mouth and wondering why she had just defended the man who she had left when she was still so angry at him.

XXXXX

Two Days Later

Derek knocked and opened the door to Penelope's house — the house he used to live in — around ten in the evening. The team had just returned after two grueling days in Mississippi and he hadn't heard a word from Penelope...just the way he'd asked. Now that he was back, he was coming over for the conversation that the two of them were supposed to have with Tala.

In some ways that was more frightening than facing down an unsub.

"Girls! I'm home!" He didn't realize the words had left his mouth and he had called the house "home." Penelope was going to kill him for that.

Soraya appeared at the top of the stairs, toothbrush in her mouth and pigtails in her hair. "Daddy!" she cried through her foamy mouth. Holding up her finger to signal she needed a minute, she rushed out of sight and towards the bathroom. He heard the sound of water turning on and thirty seconds later his daughter was running down the steps towards him. She jumped off the bottom stair and into his arms, grinning the whole time.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Hey, sweetie," he murmured. "Everything been okay?"

She nodded. "Yep." Lowering her voice though, she added, "Although Mom was crying again last night. Tala came home and was yelling at her the entire time."

Derek sighed. "Where's your mom and Lindy right now?"

"Lindy's at a friend's house right now," she reported. "Mom's in the kitchen."

Leaning down, Derek kissed Soraya's forehead and murmured, "Alright, thank you m'lady. It's time for you to get up to bed, though. Sleep tight, alright?" His daughter nodded and hugged him around the waist before bounding up the stairs and disappearing from view again.

Heading down the hall, Derek ended up in the kitchen and found Penelope standing at the sink, a glass of wine in her hand. She hadn't heard him come in the room, and she took a long few gulps. Raising his eyebrows, he laughed. "Whoa there. That's a little much isn't it?"

She whirled around and glared at him. "Fuck off, Derek," she muttered. "You're here until we're done talking with Tala, and then you're gone! I'm serious. I don't want you here."

Taken back at the sharpness of her voice, Derek held up his hands in surrender and muttered, "Whatever you want."

They waited another half hour in a tense silence until Tala finally came slamming in the house. Derek rose from his seat, and Penelope's head snapped up. Tala emerged into the kitchen and almost immediately Penelope and Derek saw it; their daughter was stark-raving, stumbling drunk. Her bloodshot, glazed over eyes met his and she glared at them.

"Tala!" Penelope gasped.

Tala cackled. "Mom!" She giggled at the sound of her own voice. "Oh, and look! Dad's home! Did the bitch call you over to complain about me?"

Derek's face was hard when he spoke. "Young lady, you had better sit down right now," he said. "You are completely out of line. This is unacceptable."

Making a face, Tala leaned unsteadily against the kitchen counter. "I'd rather stand," she yawned.

Rubbing her eyes so neither her husband or daughter could see her tears, Penelope looked at Tala and said, "Tala, baby, this can't go on any more! Just — just..."

"Just what, Mom?" she snapped, the giggly side of her drunkenness gone in a second. "You want me to just sit back and relax as my family falls apart?"

"Tala, stop..." Derek tried to say.

"No, Dad!" she cried. "I'm not going to stop! This is ridiculous! I'm not going to be the only one around here who's not lying to themselves anymore. You both need to see it, too! My sisters live in a world where they think the two of you are getting back together any day now! I'm sick of them having all this false hope!" She wasn't leaning against anything now. She was standing adversarially to them both. Now that she had both her parents silent, she kept going. "I'm sick of all of this. I'm sick of that stupid apartment, I'm sick of going between places, I'm sick of all of it!" Her voice had risen to a scream.

Penelope rubbed the tears that were trickling down her cheeks before saying, "Tala —"

"No, don't Tala me!" she screeched. "Did you know, Mom, that Dad here is still head over heels in love with you? Why do you think he hasn't moved out of that apartment in the whole six months you two have been separated? He stupidly thinks you will let him come home! That you'll love him again." She whirled to face her father. "Tell her Dad! Tell her how you keep her picture in your bedside drawer at the apartment! Tell her how you still have our family photo as your background on your computer, or how she's still 'Baby Girl' on your caller ID! Better yet, tell her this!"

She strode over to her father and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him. But instead of slapping him, Tala grabbed a thin leather cord that was mostly covered by his shirt and pulled the necklace out from under it, yanking it off his neck and throwing it down in front of Penelope on the counter.

Tala gestured to it and yelled at her father, "Why don't you tell her this? That you still wear the damn wedding ring around your neck!"

Silence covered the kitchen and Penelope had tears running down her cheeks now. Derek was stony-faced, staring at the ground.

When neither of them spoke, Tala did again. "You're a coward, Dad, and Mom, you're heartless. Dad loves you, and you kicked him out because you fell out of love with him! Not the other way around!" Penelope shocked face kept her going. "Yeah, I heard you talking to Aunt JJ on the phone! I know exactly what you said and I know it's complete crap! You're the problem here, not Dad! You -"

"Stop!"

Derek thundering voice silenced his daughter. His gaze had turned up from the floor and he had a frightening expression on his face. Tala stared back at him evenly, but didn't speak. "You're going to go upstairs and spend the rest of the night up there. We'll continue this conversation in the morning when you've sobered up." When she didn't move, he raised his voice. "Go!"

Tala glared at both of them and turned on her heel, storming out of the room, running into the table in the hallway leading to the stairs in the process.