Hello :) I work a lot :/ New job , new hours ; New level of exhaustion.. Therefore my stories are going to be updated a lot slower than they already are . I'm terribly sorry for the news but I do hope that most of you bare with me and follow up with my chapters as they come . I miss writing and I can't wait to jump back into it consistently . I hope you all enjoy this next installment . Xoxo

Chapter 04.

Outside the air was cold and the sky was still dark, but the fresh air smell of a new day being born woke Penelope's senses up. She hugged her terrycloth robe closer against her body and inhaled another breathe of fresh air before turning around and heading back inside her house.

"Foolish girl." She shook her head scolding herself. "You know better than to get yourself trapped into Derek Morgans love spell."

Penelope slid off her fuzzy slippers and sat down on her couch. She reached for her mug of coffee and took a big swallow before setting it back down on the coffee table.

She starred straight ahead at nothing in particular for awhile until a stray tear slid down her cheek. Wiping it away Penelope stood back up and huffed as she pushed herself down the hall towards the bathroom. She grabbed a wash cloth and held it underneath the cold water.

"Wash him away Penelope, and you'll feel better." She told herself as she scrubbed her lips. She didn't want to savor the flavor of him though it would forever be burned into her brain. The way he devoured her made her head dizzy.

And the word 'Love'? What did Derek mean by that?

"Dear Lord Garcie, get ahold of yourself! He's your best freakin friend. It was the alcohol. Yep that's it. He's going to wake up in a few hours and remember what he did and apologize for it all day."

For some reason the idea of that didn't sit right with Garcia. To be honest, Derek having regrets about their kiss and apologizing for it was the last thing she wanted him to do. It would crush whatever dreams, hope, and fantasies she had of them ever being together. Sure it was somethign that would never happen but a girl had dreams and she enjoyed those dreams. Fantasy world was great!

Smiling at her reflection in the mirror, Penelope couldn't help but to be thankful for the small taste she finally got of her best friend though it was wrong. He was a married man and garcia was no home wrecker.

Sighing, Garcia hung up the rag to dry and hung her head a bit as she exited the bathroom. She needed to gain control of the situation and beat Derek to it by letting him know that she was sorry for provoking him in any way and that maybe they should tone things down with their friendship to make sure that it won't happen again.

Penelope poked her head into her son's room and watched for awhile as he peacefully slept. She thought about how unfair it was for him to grow up without a father. Thanks to Reid, she knew the statics on the outcome of kids that were abandoned by their fathers and she plus the team made a vow to try and keep him from landing into that category.

All of a sudden Penelope felt like as if she been hit in the gut as realization dawned on her. Not only is her best friend married, but they also work on the same team, meaning - no fraternization rule -

Garcia hung her head even more and stepped away from her son's door. With all the moons and stars in the galaxy aligning, Penelope Garcia still cannot be with her chocolate Adonis and live happily ever after without some obstacle.

Walking back to her room to start pulling out an outfit for the day, Penelope touched her lips lightly and reminisced on the tingly feeling she once felt.

"Thank you god, I will never regret this kiss." She whispered with an embarrassing smile.

"Oh come on Derek, that's totally not fair." Emily whined later on that morning in the bullpen.

"Life isn't fair princess." He teased, thumping her lightly with the end of his pencil.

"Oh screw you," she shot back hitting the pencil out of his hand with her arm.

Derek's eyes went wide from her reaction and he shook his head in amusement by how childish she was now acting.

It even got a laugh out of Reid who never picked up on juvenile moments as quickly.

"There there Prentiss, Is someone upset?" He asked innocently, before stroking Emily's thigh, which was a bold move in Morgan's eyes.

"Way to go Reid." he thought to himself.

Emily just stared at Reid's hand stroking her then back up meeting his eyes.

"Have any of you guys seen- ...Reid, what are you doing?" Hotch channeled his attention to Spencer's hand and completely lost track of what he was saying.

Derek stifled a laugh and folded his arms in front of him, dying to know Spencer's answer.

Emily put her hand on top of Reid's and lifted it off of her.

"Nothing!" He blurted out. "I was just.. Comforting a friend .. Uh uh, a coworker. She was upset." He rushed out.

Derek rolled his lips inward to remain quiet while Emily looked somewhat mortified.

Hotch held his stoic face in place though he too wanted to laugh at his youngest agent. Reid was a genius, but clueless when it came to his feelings for Emily Prentiss. If the team knew he had a crush on her, how come he didn't?

"Ohhkaaay," Hotch said slowly regaining his attention with the group, looking over at Derek.

"Morgan do you happen to remember the name of the front desk clerk back in Houston."

"Stephanie Mills."

"That's it, thank you."

"Pshhh, of course you would remember HER name." Emily said with an eye roll.

Derek would have snapped back but instead a mischievous smile graced his face.

"Pig." She mumbled.

"Emily." Hotch said firmly giving her an eye that brooked no argument.

"What were you going to ask us Hotch? When you first walked up." Reid asked, changing the subject.

"Have any of you guys seen Garcia?"

"Here!" She said in a sing song voice as she treked her way across the bullpen. She wore her favorite hot pink stilettos with a neon green skirt that stopped before her knees. The white blouse with the fluff in the cleavage area, did nothing to hide her succulent bosom, instead making Derek's eyes zoom in on it until JJ joined the group and smacked him in the back of the head lightly.

Hotch looked down at his wristwatch then back up at her. "You're late."

"Sorry about that boss man, I didn't get much sleep last night." She frowned.

Derek could just face palm himself for not texting Pen back after she sent him that text. Of course she didn't get much sleep last night, she was worried that he had regrets of their kiss.

"Do we have a case?" She added.

"No, we don't. So it's okay this time. But please don't make it a habit."

She nodded and he walked away.

"Good morning PG." Emily chirped giving her friend a wave.

"What has you late this morning?" Reid asked.

Penelope shot daggers at Derek on accident before regaining her composure and turning her attention to brother Reid.

"Alarm clock didn't go off." She lied.

Penelope's glare to Derek didn't go unnoticed but for now Emily was going to keep quiet about it and possibly ask what that was about later on.

"Don't you all have work or something you should be doing?" Rossi mentioned as he strode across the bullpen.

Emily rolled her eyes and headed back to her desk, while Reid spun in his chair back towards his desk.

Derek who was still propped on the edge of a desk leaned forward and waved at Penelope.

She pretended not to see him and walked away with a bit of annoyance in her step.

Derek was blown away by how she ignored him but he had to admit, maybe he deserved it?

The day went on as usual with the BAU deep in their piles of work. It were days like this that made Derek hate his job. Usually during time like this he spent most of his time down the hall in Garcias lair. But not today. She kept her shield on all morning, into the afternoon, acting as if her best friend did not exist.

By lunch, Derek had had enough. He was gonna get to the bottom of this and see what really was up with his baby girl.

"Woman pump your brakes!"

Penelope slowly turned her gaze to her best friend who stood up to his full height of six foot one and walked over to her with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Now you've done it Garcie." She told herself as she gulped.

Then she said the worst thing possible,

"Can I help you agent Morgan."

All voices in the bullpen quieted and everyone turned their attention to Pen who never called Derek by his appropriate him.

Derek was taken aback and anger flashed before his eyes. Before he could think about what he was doing he reached out to grab her arm. He felt her immediately stiffen before trying to pull herself from his grasp, but his fingers only tightened as he led her past several curious eyes, up the stairs to her Lair. When they reached her door, he swung it open and pushed Penelope inside.

"Now, I want an explanation," his voice unusually angry since he hardly ever was upset with her.

"I would also like an explanation" she hissed, "because I can't see that there is any reason for you to go and manhandling me and-"

"Manhandling?" he scoffed. "I remember a time not too long ago when me "manhandling" you certainly wouldn't have gotten any complaints. In fact, I believe it would have provoked exactly the opposite response. Isn't that right, Baby Girl?"

"Don't call me that!" she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't want to hear him call her that. Not now. Not after what he did last night to cause her to feel this way.

He let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. "Okay, Penelope. I don't know what's going on, but I know it has something to do with what happened last night."

Penelope's eyes went wide and Derek continued before she could interrupt him.

"You wouldn't have gone through such a tremendous amount of effort to avoid me for the whole day if it weren't. And if you ask me last night was pretty awesome so for you to be in a funk confuses me, so spit it out."

Penelope had never been good at lying, especially where Derek was concerned. But she couldn't possibly tell him the real reason she was angry with him. The truth was much too revealing. Even she was still reeling from the gravity of it.

Yeah she had to agree. Last night was indeed awesome and she would love a freakin repeat, but right now her heart and soul couldn't take that or be willing to stoop down to a level so low.

"Under the circumstances, I think it would be best if we discontinued our highly flirtatious banter." She said, aiming her gaze somewhere above his left shoulder.

"What?"

"I think it would be more appropriate if, from now on, I address you as Agent Morgan or Sir and you address me as Garcia or even Penelope, if you wish. But no more with the pet names like Baby Girl or Goddess or—"

"Mama?"

"No, definitely not Mama."

"Why?"

"Because it's too... Intimate," she bit her tongue, not pleased with her choice of words. "It's not professional. We're two co-workers. No, no. Actually, you're my best friend So, we need to act like it." Feeling proud of herself for coming up with a practical explanation to hide her real emotions, she finally lifted her gaze to Derek's.

He stared back her in disbelief. Confusion was clouding his eyes and he didn't have much of a response besides a sputter.

"Penelope, what are you talking about?" Derek asked, stepping forward and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I don't understand."

"I know you don't, Derek. And it's okay because I really don't understand it either. The only thing I do know is that it will be better this way. The less time we spend with each other and the more professional we are when we do, the better this situation will be for everyone involved."

When he merely blinked, still seeming consumed, she sighed and continued. "Everyone such as your wife."

Before Derek could comment, Penelope pulled away from him and hurried out of her own office. She needed to breathe and keep the stinging tears that pricked the back of her eyelids at bay. She couldn't let Derek see her cry or any of the others. Nobody knew what they had almost done last night nor did she want them ever too.

Reaching the elevator doors, Penelope pressed the up button, and tapped her foot impatiently waiting for the box to arrive. Once she made it to the rooftop, she nearly sprinted to the edge of the building and let out a choked sob over the railing. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as her own words seemed to punch her in the gut. She didn't want a professional relationship with Derek. She didn't want him to stop calling her pet names. In all honesty she longed for something intimate with Derek. So for it being the way they flirted with each other or how they could soothe one another with another's touch being their form of intimacy, Penelope was now a complete moron to dismiss it so easily.