Yeah, this is your standard opening of "I own nothing, nothing owns me, blah blah Criminal Minds is the best damn show, blah blah".

Part six: Reunions

"They left after we did and they got here before us," Emily Prentiss muttered dryly. The beach parking lot was empty, aside from an SUV and several police cars. "That's the last time we let you drive, Morgan."

"Stop giving me shit," Derek grumbled. "I followed the GPS directions, the GPS got lost, we turned around, got on H2 and got here."

"Yeah, whatever," JJ snickered. "You just couldn't tell north from west."

"O'ahu is an easy island to get lost on," Reid spoke up from the back. "There are only a couple of main routes around the island itself and –"

"Your sarcasm is heartwarming, kid," Derek snapped. "Let's just go already."

Emily and JJ were already out of the car, when they were stopped by a shout by Rossi, and came back to Derek. "Hey," Emily said, "we're supposed to get all the tablets and give them to you. The tech is in the other SUV – Rossi says she can reprogram the wi-fi to work properly." She handed him her and JJ's cases and smiled. "Apparently, you get to deal with the geek this time."

"Remind me to thank Rossi later," Derek muttered. "You guys go on – I'll be there in a minute."

He shook his head and sighed as he walked toward the other car. He knew Rossi's game – female tech, use Morgan to butter her up a little bit and then they'd get a more productive round of work out of her. That's the way it was on the road; Lynch never traveled with the team. And he was definitely a 9 to 5, 5 days a week guy: no extra effort to get the job done. But Derek hated being treated like a piece of meat some days – and this was one of them. He was more than slightly jet lagged with the eight hour time difference – it was two in the afternoon and his body was screaming that it was almost time for bed – so he was grumpy and just wanted to get back to the condo the FBI had put the team up in.

He knocked on the driver's side door before he opened it. "They told me to bring you the tablets," he said, setting the cases down on the seat and forcing a smile onto his lips.

The woman was turned away toward the other window, and she snapped into the phone, "I need you to make sure the patch is sent to every node in the country and added to the framework as soon as possible. That's the only way we're going to end this infection. I don't care that it crosses division lines – just hack the damn servers and install it."

The fire in her voice struck him first. Then the realization that –

His heart stopped.

"Thank you," she muttered, hanging up the phone. "Great – now I have to charge the damn thing." She fished around in a bag and came up with a cord which she plugged into the cigarette lighter and attached to her phone. Only then did she turn toward him.

She was so different, but this was definitely – it was Penelope. She'd lost a lot of weight, she was dressed in black and white, her hair was dark, her nails were done simply, and gone were her bright eyeshadows and sensual lipsticks – but it was his Baby Girl, in the flesh. And all he could do was stare.

He couldn't even open his mouth to make a sound.

She lifted her left hand to adjust her glasses and he caught the sunlight bouncing off the ring – his ring – the ring that was a promise that he'd find her and make her happy.

His heart thundered back to life and he jumped into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut, grabbing the back of her head and pulling her to him, kissing her with all the life he had left within him. Between desperate, hungry kisses, he whispered, "Baby Girl, my god – I love you. So much."

Her phone began ringing insistently and she pressed a hand to his chest, gently pushing him away before she grabbed it. "Garcia," she greeted in a clipped voice. "Kai – yes – yes – hell yes I told them to hack the Northeast and – well, fine. Tell the Director that if he wants the virus contained, he should stay out of this turf war. Otherwise, nothing is going to get done and this mess is going to be status quo for the forseeable future. And tell him that *I* said that – this is not coming from you. This is coming from Penelope Garcia. FULL STOP." She hung up and pinched the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses.

He hadn't noticed the dark circles under her eyes or the exhaustion written all over her face – he'd been too glad to see her. But now he saw her level of weariness and felt horrible for just grabbing her and manhandling her. "Penelope?"

"Leave the tablets with me," she said quietly. "You need to be out there, Derek – not sitting in a car making out with me. I'm going to be on and off the phone for a while – go ahead."

"Goddess," he said, his voice lowering in earnest, "you haven't even said hello."

A tiny smile quirked at her lips. "I think you did a pretty good job of that yourself, Handsome," she murmured. "And… we'll have time to talk. Later. Go do your job and let me try to do mine – I should be sitting in my office with the windows open instead of roasting alive in an SUV at the beach."

"Baby –"

She laid her finger over his lips. "I love you," she assured him, "but now isn't the time." Her gaze darted to the sparkling diamond on her finger. "I wouldn't be wearing your ring if I didn't love the hell out of you, Derek Morgan. But you need to go out there and go to work now. And I need to fix your wi-fi."

He kissed her fingertip and said, "I'm not leaving this island without you."

"You've only known I was here for five minutes," she said softly.

"I don't fucking care," he growled. "I am not leaving you again, Penelope Garcia."

She smiled and he could see the true extent of her exhaustion in the tiny gesture. He knew she'd been fighting the whole world for longer than she would ever admit, and she was just tired. "We'll talk later," she vowed. "I love you – you know that, right?"

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Absolutely."

"Later," she whispered, kissing him ever so gently on the lips. "Now go, before someone else calls me."

"Remind me to thank Rossi later," Derek said softly, responding with a deep, tender kiss that messed up her glasses. He smiled as he gently adjusted them back into place.

Her only response was a real smile – and an annoyed sigh as her phone started ringing again.

She hung up and looked down at the pile of tablets in her lap. Penelope sighed – she had only been able to get one up and running between calls. She'd just finished talking to the Director, laying down the line on what was exactly going on with the network and why it was imperative that she be allowed to run rough-shod over the other departments since she had a solution to the problem.

Fortunately, for once, he agreed with her. Maybe later, she would be forced to deal with the consequences of talking back to him, but for now, she would take the small victory. Her head was pounding and she didn't have anything to wash more pills down with, or she would have choked down another handful of ibuprofen.

Wanting nothing more than to throw her hands up in the air and run away to catch the bus back to Waikiki, she buckled down and re-programmed the wi-fi cards in the remaining two tablets in record time. Maybe she could get Kai to let her go home tonight instead of sleeping on the sofa in her office? Her back was killing her and the incessant phone traffic was beginning to overwhelm her.

Leaving the phone in the car, she grabbed the tablets and headed toward the beach. Once she got past the concrete walkway, she slipped off her shoes and made a mental reminder to go to Woolworth's and get more pantyhose as soon as things blew over. She carried her pumps in one hand and the tablets in the crook of her elbow as she strolled less than confidently toward the knot of people near one of the lifeguard shacks.

She flashed a snide smile at Nakamura as she walked right up to Hotch and handed him the stack of tablets before turning on her heel and striding away. She heard Prentiss say, "Well, that didn't take too long – I thought we were going to have to call AT&T."

"Hey!" Hotch called. "Where exactly do you think you're going?"

"Bus stop!" Penelope said as she turned around and faced him. "I've got to get back to the data farm – you've got my number."

"Oh hell no," Derek said, breaking from the pack and chasing after her. She didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting away from him, so she didn't even try – just waited for him to catch up.

"I was just kidding, dumbass," she said, smiling as he all but crushed her with a hug. "I'm just going back to the car."

"Don't even joke," he growled, kissing her with force. "Don't even joke about running away from us again, Penelope –"

"I think we're done here for now," Rossi shouted. "We'll meet you all back at HQ."

She moaned softly and kissed Derek again. "Totally unprofessional," she accused before diving in for another hungry kiss.

"Jesus, Morgan, you're gonna suck her face off," JJ said with thinly veiled disgust. "Not to mention those must have been some really fast moves in the car there –"

"What is it with you and technically-able women?" Emily asked, wrinkling her nose.

"He needs someone to program his VCR for him," Reid joked.

They didn't stop kissing, and Derek pulled her closer with one arm, holding her flush against him. She held out her left hand and flipped them all the bird. Penelope was laughing when they broke apart and she hugged Derek so tightly around the waist that she actually thought he'd have trouble breathing. It felt so good to hold him again – it was really real this time, not a figment of her imagination.

"Turn around, Baby," Derek directed in an achingly tender tone. She smiled up at him and released her grasp on him before she turned in his arms to face the rest of the team. He rested his chin on her shoulder and held her tighter around the waist. "Guys, maybe you haven't met my Baby Girl –"

"OH MY GOD!" JJ screamed, her hand flying to her mouth as she seemingly realized how loud she was being.

"Holy shit," Prentiss gasped.

"Hi," Penelope said softly, waving a little. She knew there would be hell to pay for this later, but right now, she was too damn happy to see her family again to care about the consequences. She saw the stricken look on Reid's face and slapped Derek's arms till he released her. She walked up to Reid and said, "Junior G-man, you know I wouldn't have left if I didn't have to – are we still good?" He shrugged and didn't say anything, but she opened her arms and took him in for a hug. "Look, I missed you – hell, I even used some of your magic tricks to break the ice with my staff," she murmured. "I'm sorry –"

She wasn't expecting him to hug her back – so hard that she couldn't breathe. "Never do that again," Reid pleaded against her shoulder. "Don't just leave and –"

"I'll try not to," Penelope whispered. "But I didn't have a choice."

"You've just… been here?" Emily asked. "The whole time since you disappeared?"

"Since I was relocated, yes," Penelope corrected. "I live in Waikiki, at Discovery Bay – the FBI set me up with a condo. Apartment. Whatever you want to call it."

"We're staying at Discovery Bay," JJ croaked.

"Which tower?" Penelope asked.

"Resolution," Emily said. "We've got units 1814, 1815, and 1816."

Penelope nodded. "I'm in 1821," she said softly. "You should come by if you can't sleep. I don't sleep much. You wouldn't be bothering me at all. Assuming I ever get to go home – my life is in a state of upheaval right now."

"Garcia, why don't you ride back with them?" Hotch suggested. "I assume you're coming back to the station with us?"

Penelope smiled. "Yes," she said. "But I'm on call with my division and I might have to rush back to the office."

"You need a car," Rossi pointed out. "My tech kitten doesn't take public transportation."

She chuckled and said, "That's what I used to say. But a couple of nights getting smashed and then not getting a cab can definitely change a girl's mind."

"We can appropriate another car," Derek said. "It's not a problem."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're not going to drive me around," Penelope muttered. "I do just fine on my own, Derek Morgan." She poked him in the chest with one finger to emphasize the point.

He grabbed her hand and kissed it. "The difference is that now, you're not on your own and you don't have to go it alone," he reminded her gently. "Didn't I say I'd find you?"

She kicked him lightly in the shin. "Fuckin' took you long enough," she muttered, earning herself another kiss for the effort of being petulant.