Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I'm glad you guys are giving me such great feedback! Thank you so much :) Your guesses for what caused Penelope to leave Derek are all great, but there's one who's closest! Keep reading to find out who and bless you all again for your kind reviews.

Warning: This chapter is rated M.

Derek had his arms wrapped tightly around Penelope's body and was kissing the life out of her. The months they'd been separated had only made his fiery desire for her even more passionate. Her sweet and powerful floral scent overtook him and he wanted nothing more than to devour her. The softness of her tongue melted against his mouth and he growled against her lips. His hands grasped her hips and he thrust her up against the brick wall of the alley. He broke the kiss to move down her neck and suckle on her pulse point, just where she liked it. A loud moan escaped her lips and she clutched him around the waist.

His arousal pushed against her hip and her moans increased as he held her even more tightly. He enveloped her with his body and reached behind her to the zipper on her dress. The dress slid down to reveal the breasts he'd always dreamed about. Her nipples had tightened to pointed buds and his mouth hungrily latched on to one of them, circling his tongue around it.

"Oh, God!" she cried, grasping his head and holding it tightly to her breasts. "Don't stop, Derek."

"I'll do whatever you want, Baby Girl," he murmured against her lily white skin. Trailing his tongue back up to her lips, he captured her in another kiss. In her ear, he growled, "Hook your leg around me."

She hooked her right leg around his hip and he reached beneath the skirt of her dress to tear off the panties she'd been wearing. Her fingers deftly pulled the zipper of his suit down, remembering exactly how they operated when making love against a wall. He grasped her other leg and pulled her up so that she slid down onto the length of his erection. A gasp escaped both of their mouths simultaneously and they wrapped themselves around each other, Penelope holding him around the shoulders and keeping her legs tightly around his hips and Derek burying his face against her neck.

Derek was being so gentle with her while at the same time trying to contain his fierce yearning for her. Never in his life would he want to hurt her and whatever he'd done to her to make her leave, he would spend the rest of his life trying to fix it. He hoped right now would prove to her how much he wanted her forgiveness for whatever it was he'd ever done.

"Oh my God, Derek!" she cried in ecstasy.

He knew when Penelope was about to climax and now was just that time. Her tight walls clenched around him and moments later his own release pulsed inside of her.

Derek held Penelope tightly to him and kept his face buried against her neck, never wanting the moment to end. True, the place wasn't the most romantic, but being with the woman he loved made everything perfect.

XXXXX

Penelope allowed Derek to set her unsteadily on her feet and zip her dress back up. He was busy retucking his shirt into pants and rezipping his fly. When they were both done fixing themselves, they looked at each other for a long moment, neither of them blinking or moving a muscle.

All over again Penelope felt the pain of hurting him.

Tripping.

Flailing.

Falling.

Landing.

Pain.

When he put his hands on her face, she stood mutely. It was all too much. The pain was starting to take a hold of her again.

"Baby Girl?" he asked, snapping her out of her daze.

She looked up at him with misty eyes and nodded. "Yes?" she whispered.

"Are you going to say something?" The look in his eyes was that of a desperate man. He was still as in love with her as when she'd broken his heart all those months ago.

Taking both his hands, she nodded. "I need to take a moment first," she whispered hoarsely. "I'll find you."

He looked as if he didn't want to let her go, that he was afraid she wouldn't come find him. "Please promise me you'll come to me when you're done," he pleaded. "Please…"

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I promise," she said.

But first she had to figure out how to tell him the truth. And that would be the hardest thing for her to do.

XXXXX

"JJ?"

JJ was sitting in the quiet lounge area, checking for messages from the babysitter watching Henry. Penelope, her hair now disheveled and makeup runny, was looking at her with tears in her eyes. Immediately she rose from her seat and rushed to Penelope's side. Putting her hands on her shoulders, she murmured tenderly, "Penelope, what's wrong?"

Taking a deep and shaky breath, Penelope said, "It's time I tell you what really happened between Derek and I…and what I did to screw it up."

XXXXX

Penelope was dancing around in Derek's bedroom, her excitement shooting through the roof. Derek and the team were supposed to be returning in a few hours and she was ready to tell Derek the news that hopefully would change his life. One week ago she'd found out she was two months pregnant and she was going to tell Derek tonight during dinner. It was all planned out: first, she would cook him a meal and she would get him a beer from the fridge; he would ask her why she wasn't getting one for herself and she would tell him the news right before he took her upstairs and made passionate love to her.

She couldn't stop smiling.

Glancing at her watch, she sighed. She still had four hours until the plane even got in. She'd better get the food ready for them. As she went out of the room and towards the stairs, she took off her glasses to rub her face lightly, but before she could put her glasses back on, her feet mixed up and she started to tumble forward. Letting out a cry, she grasped wildly for the banister. Her vision was blurry as she'd dropped her glasses and she couldn't quite reach the banister with her fingertips and she ended up tumbling down the steps, banging and thudding down.

She lay at the bottom of the steps for a moment, her head pounding from being hit so many times. Groaning, she made an attempt at sitting up, only to be wracked with pain in her abdomen. She clutched at her stomach wildly, gritting her teeth at the pain. It was then that she felt a gush of warm liquid rush between her legs.

Tears, not from the pain, started to fall down her cheeks and she felt between her legs before looking at her fingers; they were covered in blood.

XXXXX

"Baby Girl! I'm home!"

Penelope looked up from her seat on the couch. After she'd fallen, she frantically cleaned up the floor and tossed her clothes in the trash. The entire time she'd been sobbing. Then for an hour she'd sat and thought of how she was going to tell Derek that because of her tripping over her own feet, she'd lost their baby.

He would hate her, she was sure of it. All he'd ever done was love her and she repaid him by making a dumb mistake and it had ended in a miscarriage.

She couldn't tell him. She just couldn't. It would destroy him. He'd talked about wanting a whole horde of kids with her, but if he knew this…

So instead of being brave, she took the coward's way out, stood up, and pulled him into a kiss, trying to banish the memory of her baby, their baby from her mind.

XXXXX

"Oh Penelope," JJ whispered after her friend had finished telling the story. JJ pulled her into her arms and held her tightly while she sobbed. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she was going through.

"It just started to eat me up inside, what I did," Penelope wept. "I couldn't face him every day and not see our baby! And because I tripped, I killed that baby! I just couldn't tell him the truth and destroy him even more. He would hate me if he knew what happened…hate me!" She clung to JJ like a life raft while she cried. JJ moved her hand gently up and down her back, trying to soothe her.

When her sobs turned to sniffles, JJ murmured, "Penelope…you need to tell him the truth. He deserves it. And so do you. You don't deserve all the unhappiness you're putting yourself through. That miscarriage was not your fault. Do you hear me? You fell, it could happen to any woman. And Derek…if he knew, yes, he would be devastated, but not as devastated as now when he's lost you. That man could never and would never hate you. Plain and simple. He loves you so, so much, Penelope. You're his Baby Girl."

"But JJ, how can I tell him what happened?" Penelope asked with wide eyes. "He already hates me because he thinks I cheated on him."

JJ's brow rose. "That's the lie you told him," she asked. "I can't believe he believed that."

Penelope shook her head. "He didn't," she mumbled. She looked at JJ once again, tears misting her eyes. "Jayje, what do I do?"

"You tell him the truth," JJ said softly.

Congrats to those of you who guessed what happened! You know who you are :) Next one will be up soon my lovelies!