He'd been avoiding her for the past four days—and that was just fine with her. After the incident at the bar, she figured she'd need at least a month to cool off. Mostly from herself. She'd been so mad when she stalked away from him. He'd practically commanded her to dance with him, and instead of using words—which she couldn't seem to find in that moment—she'd obeyed. That, more than anything, had started her seething. And it had just gone downhill from there.

Then he'd made that comment about her getting married just to forget him. Before he'd said anything, she'd never even considered the possibility, but now…the thought had been plaguing her mind nonstop. She'd loved her husband when she'd married him. And the deterioration of their marriage had happened so quickly—light lightning, really—that she'd even loved him when she'd divorced him. But she'd seen what her parents had had, and she wasn't willing to settle for anything less than that.

And the way he'd looked at her when he told her that it was pure luck that she was in Virginia…she couldn't help but think he really believed that.

But most of all, she couldn't help but wonder—had fate thrown them together again? Or was it coincidence?

___

"I guess we're going to Colorado," Hotch said as he stood. "Wheels up in thirty," he informed them over his shoulder as he exited the conference room. Derek gave a sigh of relief. Staying away from Penelope was nearly killing him, but it was something that had to be done. He was used to being in control, but when he was around her, it never failed—his composure started slipping. At least now, he wasn't going to have to be around her. And this new case gave him something else to focus on. Prentiss and JJ exited right after Hotch, leaving him alone with Reid, or boy genius, as Derek had come to think of him.

"You haven't talked to her," Reid said.

"What?" Derek asked.

"Garcia. You haven't talked to her since that night at the bar."

Derek cleared his throat. "She doesn't want to talk to me," he said.

Reid lifted his eyebrows, nodding knowingly, his lips pursed.

"What?!" Derek asked impatiently. He didn't realize how trying it could be working with profilers. Were they always trying to profile someone?

"She doesn't want to talk to you? Do you think that's why she's up to ten cups of coffee a day now?" he asked.

"What does coffee have to do with anything?" Derek asked, confused.

"She has to walk past your desk to get to the kitchen," Reid told him.

Derek's eyes narrowed. Was she really looking for an excuse to talk to him?

___

"Hey," Derek said, as he walked into her office a few minutes later. His go-bag was ready, so there was nothing to take care of before he had to leave—except Penelope.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Hey," she replied, turning back to her computer.

He walked over and sat down next to her. He noticed her spine stiffen as she turned to look at him.

He took a deep breath and forged ahead. "I shouldn't have said what I did about why you got married," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. You…told me about your marriage and I threw it in your face."

She studied his face for a minute. "Thank you for apologizing," she told him, her eyes once again returning to her computer screen. It was clearly a dismissal. But he wasn't ready to leave yet.

"And you need to know something." He paused for a minute, making sure he had her full attention. "I'm not going anywhere, Penelope."

___

The past few days had been tough. They'd found two of the victims—strangled with the UnSubs bare hands—but not before he'd tortured them relentlessly. Derek had never seen anything like it. He took a deep breath as he put his back against the house, and moved along the shadows, trying to get a clue as to where in the house the UnSub actually was. It would make it much easier to apprehend him if he wasn't going in blind. And he wasn't gonna lie to himself—it was his first apprehension in the BAU, and he was nervous.

"Derek?" he heard in his ear.

"Yeah, baby?" he returned in a soft voice.

"You haven't said anything for a few minutes," Penelope told him.

"Just casin' the joint," he explained.

"You OK?"

He grinned at her concern. "I'm fine," he promised.

"But—"

"Charlie Hunter!" Derek yelled as he saw a shadowy figure run away from the house and towards the unattached garage. "FBI! Freeze!" The man didn't listen so Derek took off running after him. And the last thing Penelope heard was two gunshots.

___

"Derek?" Penelope said fretfully. There was no answer. "Derek!" she repeated, louder this time as she dialed Hotch's cell phone from the other line in her office. "Derek! Answer me, dammitt!"

"Hotch."

"There were gun shots at the residence," Penelope told him. "I don't know who was shot. Morgan isn't answering me." It all came out in a rush.

She heard a sharp intake of breath from the line she'd put on speaker phone. "Fuck," she heard Derek say.

"Were you shot?!" she demanded even as she sighed in relief.

"No," he told her. "My shoulder. I landed on it when I dropped."

"Where's Prentiss?" Hotch asked.

"Hold on," Penelope said. "I'm gonna get you on speaker." She hit the button. "Go ahead."

"Morgan?"

"I'm fine, Hotch."

"Good. Where's Prentiss?" Hotch asked.

"She's right here," Morgan said. "The first gun shot was Hunter shooting at me. The second was Prentiss. She shot him."

"He's dead," they heard Prentiss say.

"You're both OK?" Penelope asked.

"We're fine," Prentiss said.

"We're almost there," Hotch said, then hung up his phone.

Penelope hit the button to hang up, afraid that if she said anything, her voice might break. She put her head in her hands. She really didn't get paid enough for this.

___

"Hey, Prentiss, you wanna grab a drink?" Derek asked. The EMTs had just finished checking him out, and his shoulder was going to be fine, just a little lame. It was after nine o'clock, and Hotch had made the call that they'd leave first thing in the morning instead of tonight.

"Are you kidding?" she asked.

Morgan winced. "I need guy talk and," he glanced at the skinny kid. "Reid just won't do." He'd decided that Prentiss was his best bet.

Prentiss shrugged, not the least bit offended. "Why not? I could use a beer."

___

As it turned out, a buzzing Morgan was a hell of a lot more talkative than a sober Garcia. And speaking of Garcia—well, that was his favorite topic. Emily had no idea that their past was so…involved.

"So, when did you know you were in love with her?"

Morgan grinned as he played with the label on the neck of his beer. "It didn't take long." He laughed at the memory. "Girls would show up at the house all the time saying they were there to see one of her brothers. She'd yell for me to come down and then they'd get all flustered and leave."

"I'm sure that was hard for you," Prentiss said sarcastically. "To be captain of the football team and to have those girls crawling all over you."

Derek ignored her comment. "Penelope never did. She hardly even noticed when I walked into a room. I was helping her study one night, and she told me how smart I was. Stupid, I know. But after being chased by girls for other reasons, well, that was a real turn on for me. She said there was a hell of a lot more to me that my brawn. I don't even think she knew what she was saying. I learned more about her in that one sentence than in anything she'd ever said before. And I knew."

"Knew what?" Prentiss asked.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "That I was gonna marry her."

"You were seventeen," she said dryly.

Derek's grin widened. "Imagine my surprise. At seventeen years old, I didn't need to date anymore. I'd already found the woman I was going to marry. I just…never even thought twice about it, because it was like that for my parents." He sighed. "And then at 38 years old to realize that every single woman you've ever taken to bed has had blonde hair and big blue eyes. " He ran a hand over his face.

"My God," Prentiss said in awe.

"What?" Derek asked.

"I didn't think men like you actually existed. I thought you were a myth. You never fell out of love with her."

Derek didn't say anything, just swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"Why didn't you go back for her?" Prentiss asked curiously.

"I did," Derek said. "I showed up at Caltech and she was gone. And then, when I joined the force, even with all of my connections, I still couldn't find her. When Penelope doesn't want to be found, she won't be. And I can't risk her running off like that again. Because there's a good chance I'd never find her."

"Well," Prentiss said. "I just want to point out that your contacts are much more efficient now."

Derek laughed. "Ain't that the truth? So what do you know about her ex husband?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Absolutely nothing," Prentiss admitted. "I found out she was married that night at the bar."

"Well, I know one thing about him," Derek said, taking a swig of beer.

"What's that?" Prentiss asked, doing the same.

"If I ever meet the bastard, he's as good as dead."