A/N: Once again, thank you to everyone who's read this far and thank you twice to those of you who have reviewed. Reading what you guys have to say never ceases to make my day.

Chapter Four:

Garcia returned to her office, focusing the entirety of her being onto not thinking about Derek, but despite all of her determination, it was still a matter easier said than done.

She was angry, to say the least, that she had allowed herself to be taken over again. After all the hours she had spent the night before, curled into a ball, sobbing, she had thought she was finally done. But it seemed she was mistaken. Just one look at the man, and she could feel the tears forming. She hated feeling weak just as much as she hated feeling vulnerable, but it seemed that whenever she was around Derek lately, instead of feeling independent and strong and carefree as she once did, she felt both very weak and very vulnerable.

Sighing, Penelope cleared her mind of all things Derek and focused on digging up the files JJ had asked for.

Miraculously, or not so miraculously, given the circumstances, the woman herself appeared outside her office door. Garcia had just been getting ready to walk across the building to deliver the information in person, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard the soft tapping on her office door, afraid that it was Derek coming to talk to her some more, in which case she would no doubt be reduced to tears again. She was half prepared to hide under her desk to avoid another crying fit, and was therefore very much relieved when JJ cracked the door open and poked her smiling face inside.

"Hey Garcia, have you got those files ready for me yet?"

Garcia waved her in, welcoming the distraction from her thoughts. "Yeah, I was just on my way to deliver them." She grabbed the folders off her desk and handed them over.

JJ thanked her friend and took the files.

"No problem," Garcia told her, taking her seat before her many monitors once more. "It's been a slow couple of days, so it was a welcome distraction."

JJ nodded slowly, surveying the small office and taking in her friend's appearance. She had not forgotten the phone conversation they had had the night before, or rather the conversation they had almost had, and she was out of her mind with worry.

"Umm…" she began hesitantly, not knowing quite how raise the topic. She had a vague inkling as to what might be bothering her, and if she was correct, it was a delicate matter; certainly not something to be thrown out in the open without first testing the waters. Discretion was key.

Garcia spun her chair around so that she was facing the woman who was still standing rather awkwardly in front of the door. "Yeah, JJ?"

"Look, Garcia," she began breathlessly, "I'm worried about you. I know something happened last night that caused you to call me at three o'clock in the morning and you've talked to no one all day. It's not like you."

Garcia flinched visibly upon hearing her friend's tirade.

So much for discretion, JJ thought pathetically as she watched her friend shuffle her chair across the small office in a misguided attempt to look busy.

"Nothing happened last night," she said lamely, hoping against hope that her friend would drop it, though she knew for a fact it wouldn't be that easy.

"Then why did you call me at three o'clock?"

Garcia froze, pondering all possible excuses for calling someone at such an ungodly hour, crying in their ear for fifteen minutes, and then hanging up without so much as an explanation. When she thought about it, there really was no excuse for what had happened other than the truth, which was the one thing she was unwilling to tell her friend at this moment. So instead, she just spit out the first thing that came to mind.

"I was watching this movie and it was really sad," she lied lamely.

JJ shook her head in disbelief. "That's a lie and you know it. You of all people would not wake me up at three in the morning just because of a sad movie." She stepped closer to her friend, taking her hand. "Look, Garcia, I know something happened between you and Derek last night, I'm just not sure what."

Penelope's mouth fell open in shock. So much for keeping that tad bit of information to herself. She hadn't even needed to open her mouth for someone to find out and make everything that had happened a reality.

She racked her brain for something, anything, she could use to deny the allegations, but all she managed to mumble was, "How did you know?"

JJ quirked an eyebrow. "Well, you mean besides the fact that you're distraught?" Penelope nodded slowly. "Derek's been acting like a complete jerk." Garcia winced. "Really, Emily's been hiding in my office for the past two hours. Derek's never in a bad mood. It can't be just a coincidence."

Garcia frowned. "You've been spending way too much time around profilers," she grumbled. That made JJ laugh, though she still did not forget the reason she was there.

"Please tell me what happened, Garcia."

JJ's brown eyes found Garcia's and there was a look of utter pleading about them that forced the truth from her. "I slept with him," she squeaked. Her cheeks flushed and looked immediately away, not trusting herself to keep eye contact.

"What!" Garcia repeated herself, and it was JJ's turn to gape open-mouthed at her friend. She took a minute to compose herself before inquiring any further but could not refrain for long. "And that was why you were crying last night?" Garcia nodded slowly. JJ thought for a moment before continuing. "What happened?"

"I already told you, JJ," Garcia said quietly, "I slept with him."

"Yes, I know that, but what happened to make you so distraught? There had to have been something else."

"No, that was it. I slept with him and then I left."

JJ could not be certain, but there seemed to be a lot more to the story than Garcia was letting on. She was closing herself off and hiding her emotions, which was something that she absolutely never did. The fact that she was now proved just how seriously she was taking this, whatever it was, and had JJ all the more worried. "Garcia, why did you leave?" she probed gently.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now, JJ."

JJ nodded in acceptance of her friend's wishes. If she did not want to get into details right now that was fine, but she was certainly not going to let this go. She knew that if she left Garcia to handle it on her own, she would be consumed by it, and that was not something she wanted for her friend.

"Well, you two definitely have some things you need to work out, and if I were you I would do it sooner rather than later." Garcia looked up questioningly. "We've got a case."

"Where?"

"Carlton, Oregon," she replied solemnly. "We leave first thing tomorrow, and from the looks of it this is going to be a tough one." She held up the case files as evidence, and Garcia realized for the first time just how thick they were. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but JJ shook her head. "You don't need the details right now."

Normally, Penelope would protest the censorship, but at the moment she hadn't the energy nor the willpower to fight. And personally, she didn't care all that much, not for now anyway. There would be time to worry about that tomorrow, when her effort counted; right now made now difference.

"I should probably get back to work," JJ said, standing up. "Thanks again for the files." She wrapped her friend in a warm hug, reminding her that she was there if she ever needed anything, and stood to leave. She paused as she reached the door, though, and turned back around to face her. "Garcia," she called softly, "talk to him. You two have too good of a relationship to let it go to waste without a fight." Garcia nodded weakly and JJ closed the door behind her.

She was right, Garcia knew she was, but that did not make her any more willing to subject herself to the humiliation and hurt of a conversation with Derek Morgan, not now anyway. She was still too broken up for that. She would pull herself together and then she would talk to him because if a conversation took place before she had reached that point, it would no doubt end in disaster.

Sighing, Penelope began shutting her babies down for the night. All this thinking could wait until later. All she wanted right now was to go home and curl up on the sofa with a box of chocolates and an endless supply of cheesy romance movies. Not that either of these things could really solve her problem, but they could do a mighty fine job of making her forget what that problem was, for the meantime at least, and that was good enough for now.

A/N: Chapter five is halfway done already due to the fact that I have nowhere better to be and nothing better to do, so I'll hopefully have that posted sometime tomorrow. Thanks again and Happy New Year!!!