Note-I'm pretty sure Elle joined the BAU right when the show started but for the purposes of this fic she was working with them before hand. I do believe canon is that they had other agents that were killed in Boston in early 2005 but since I don't know their names I'm not going to use them.
Future Wifey
Chapter Four
August 2004
The conference room table was covered with boxes, papers and Chinese take out containers. It was just after four am.
Derek yawned.
Penelope was sitting next to him with her cell phone out, typing away. His yawn made her look at him. She said "Baby, maybe you better just call it a night and get a few hours of rest then look at this with fresh eyes."
Derek was supposed to be sifting through information on bombings to find a common thread. "I'm almost done with these case files."
She set down her phone and walked behind him. Talking hold of his shoulders she massaged them. "You're whipped. How can you even concentrate?"
"I'm all right, Garcia."
She yawned. "This place is hell on my sleep schedule."
He looked up at her. "Thanks for keeping me company. I appreciate it very much."
"You never have to ask me twice to stay up with you all night, Hot Stuff."
He rubbed his hands over his face. "The signature is here. I'm just missing it."
"Let me see."
"You become a bomb expert when I wasn't looking?" he joked
"It can't hurt to look...." She flipped through some mundane photos and then came along one of a victim. "Oh my!" She threw down the photo.
Derek flipped it over. "Sorry, baby. Its pretty gruesome, I know. But the way the bomb damages a person or car or building can tell me a lot about what kind it is."
Penelope sat back down. She checked her phone, typed something, and then told him "I'm just glad you got off the bomb squad. Not only would we have never met but you'd be risking getting blown to bits everyday. Unacceptable, handsome."
She typed some more into her cell while he flipped open a new box of evidence. Looking at her he asked "Doesn't Santos sleep?"
Penelope rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he must. He looks damn good each day and that wouldn't happen if he never got any shut eye."
"He's texting you this much about that game?"
"Actually I'm texting a hacker friend from California. Its not as late there, you know. So you can relax, Mr. Jealous, and focus on your task at hand."
After another half an hour he laid five pictures on the table and showed her how he had found a similarity in those bombs. She took down all the info about those cases on a notepad.
When they were packing up the boxes again she said "I hope me hanging around here didn't distract you and make this whole thing take longer."
"Nah, I work better with my baby girl around."
"You do?"
He flashed her a grin, picked up the boxes, and said "And its not that I'm jealous as much as it is that I'm concerned Santos won't treat you right. You deserve the best."
"I know that but I just don't know if I'm going to get him or not." With that said she left the conference room.
They got the boxes back into the evidence room and then Derek walked her to her car. He kissed her forehead. "Text me when you get in safe, okay?"
"You're so overprotective."
"Hey, I get to be if I want to be, okay? You're precious to me, sweetness."
She gave him a tender smile as she got into Esther and then drove away.
XXXXXXXXXX
Derek had to spend the last two weeks of the month in Alabama on a case. It started to wear on him to be so far away from Penelope for that long. He noticed she wasn't taking it that great either.
One day she complained "When will I ever get to come on a case with the team?"
He told her "Its not all its cracked up to be. They put us in crappy hotels half the time and we have to double up. Reid talks in his sleep and Gideon snores. I couldn't convince Hotch to let me share with Elle or JJ either."
"Frat rules and all."
"Hey, I don't need bureau rules to tell me not to go there. I got my own set that spell that out just fine."
"Oh yeah? Tell your Goddess all about these rules. Could one of them be stopping me from seeing your gorgeous body sans clothing?"
"Believe me, baby girl, you'd be happier with me in those fantasies you cook up in your sexy mind than in reality. I'm just not ready to be locked down yet."
Next he heard her voice go cool on him, something he always hated. He seemed to stumble into saying the wrong thing to her sometimes and then had to try and backtrack his way out of it.
She asked "In the eight months I've known you have I ever said one word about wanting to lock you down?"
"Garcia, I didn't mean-"
"Because I don't remember offering you anything past some hot, kinky, bendy fun. Do you remember me trying to trap you into being my one and only, Morgan? If I remember right its you who goes home with anyone he wants at the bars but can't stand for me to even text message a hottie who has no problem saying he is into me. Or am I remembering it all wrong and I've been trying to handcuff you to me for life?"
He rubbed his forehead. "I was just saying what I always say. I don't know why its making you jump down my throat today. I'm not ready for a relationship. I never lied about that."
"That is perfect, Morgan! Because the last person I would try to have an adult relationship with is a man like you who thinks making love is a four letter word. Enjoy your next hook up. But, just so we are clear, it won't be me!"
She hung up on him.
He let out a groan. He was hating this case more and more by the minute. He really needed to get back to Virginia and make things right between him and Penelope. He needed to see her every day, see her smile, her pretty brown eyes, those gorgeous red painted lips and he needed to be able to touch her again.
But now she was pissed at him. For the first time his baby girl was fuming mad at her Hot Stuff and it had him worried. Very worried.
He wondered if Santos was using this time that Derek was away to make his move. And if, after this fight, Penelope would finally let Santos get with her- the way the Spanish agent who called her nicknames in his native tongue had wanted to do from the start.
XXXXXXXXXX
A few nights later, when Derek was still stuck in Alabama (or This Hell Hole, as he had dubbed it now) he went to the hotel bar to drown his miseries.
Elle found him down there and sat next to him. "Hey, if you're gonna get wasted do it right." She ordered shots of tequila for them.
Derek shook his head, in misery, but downed two in a row. "Hotch will kick our asses tomorrow if we show up hung over."
"Not like we're doing any good down here. We're chasing our damn tails and I'm sick of it."
"This unsub is a disorganized psychotic spree killer. We should have been able to get him by now. Instead we're one step behind and people are paying for it with their lives!"
"So is that what this pity party is about?"
He downed another shot. "Its not a pity party. I'm just fed up with this bull shit."
She ordered a coke, paid for it and then took a drink. "Can I ask you something personal?"
He raised an eyebrow.
She went on "What's the deal with you and Garcia?"
He forced a smile. "What I do behind closed doors stays behind closed doors. Its not affecting the team, is it?"
"No, not at all but everyone noticed how, the last couple days, she's been all business with you and that's not the norm. It coincides with your mood going into the shitter. It doesn't take a Reid to figure out what that equals."
"A Reid?"
"A genius."
"Yeah, well, uh....I guess you could say she's pissed at me right now. It will blow over."
"You sure about that?"
Derek just downed another shot and then got up, threw money on the bar, and walked away.
XXXXXXXXX
Derek was never so happy to get back to the BAU as after that case. Though he was a little nervous about seeing Penelope he kept telling himself that he could smooth over her hurt feelings.
Because the alternative was not something he could even think about- losing her light from his life. Just the last four days of not flirting had tortured him slowly till he was itching to see her smile at him again. Hear her joke and laugh. He couldn't face never having that again.
He headed straight for her computer lab and found her dressed in black pants and pink shirt. Not as sexy as her dresses but she looked like heaven on earth to him in that moment. "Hey, baby girl, I'm finally in this zip code again and I thought I'd stop in to see my favorite girl."
Not looking at him she kept typing on her computer "Hi, Morgan. Welcome back."
"The team is going out for drinks-"
"I have a lot to do here. Its going to be a late night."
"Oh...well...how do you feel about some company?"
"No thanks. You need to rescue Clooney from the kennel."
Tenderly he asked "Hey, hard head, do you think you can stop typing for five seconds and actually look at me so I can apologize properly."
She turned around her chair and he crouched in front of her. He winced at how she looked like she had been crying for days and not sleeping. He could tell she was stressed when he saw her on the computer screen but this was way worse in person. He wondered if she had broke down in the last few hours because her eyes were red.
Knowing she was this upset tore at his heart. Before he could speak she started to talk really fast.
"No need to apologize for anything, actually, because I've been doing a lot of thinking and I think its best if we just wipe the slate clean and start over from scratch."
He grinned, as relief flooded him. "That works for me, sweetheart."
She said "Scratch. No nicknames. No flirting. Just professional. Like it should have been all along."
Derek swallowed hard and stood up. "Oh...yeah...sure. Okay, Garcia, if that's the way you want it."
"Its the way I need it."
"Fine. No problem."
"Okay, good."
He motioned at the door. "I better get going. You sure you don't want to join us at the bar?"
"Not this time. I'm going to be working for a while and then I'll play my fantasy online game till I crash from exhaustion."
"All right...well...uh...get home safe. Text me when you get in, bab-....Garcia."
"Don't worry about me, Morgan. I'm not your problem anymore." She sat back down and looked at the computer screen again.
He walked out with his heart down in his stomach.