Derek had a look of muted horror on his face as he stared at Chloe, seemingly unable to look away. He distinctly heard the door close as the babysitter left, but he didn't look over. His eyes trailed over her form, taking in the obvious similarities. The most glaring one was her skin colour, slightly lighter than his, but clearly too dark to be Kevin's. Her facial structure was strikingly similar to his, the same brows, cheeks, nose and chin. The only noticeable differences between himself and Chloe seemed to be her eyes, which were staring up at him in fascination, and her lips which seemed slightly fuller than his own.

Penelope watched him take in Chloe one bit at a time, and she knew immediately that he recognized each and every similarity between them. He wasn't a profiler at the BAU for nothing, he had been trained to focus on details, and in the end it seemed like that would be her downfall. It would have been easy to lie and say that Chloe was the result of a one-night stand with someone else if he wasn't so meticulous about details.

After what seemed like forever, Derek finally looked up at Penelope. It was clear from the expression on his face that his shock was giving way to rage.

Penelope attempted to swallow the lump in her throat, and whispered brokenly "Derek…"

He walked over to her, and practically shoved the handle of the car seat into her hands. His own were trembling, and he kept clenching them into fists as if he was trying to regain some form of control. "Just don't." He said quietly, dangerously.

Penelope felt her words get caught in her throat, and she looked down at Chloe who was beginning to squirm and whimper. She had no idea what to say to him in that moment.

Derek suddenly turned and went right for the front door. He practically jammed his feet into his shoes, and stormed out of the condo without saying another word.

As soon as she heard the door slam, Penelope felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She put the car seat down on the floor, ignoring Chloe whose whimpers were quickly progressing into cries. After another minute of staring at the door, Penelope dropped to her knees and began to sob.


Eventually Penelope had gotten up from the floor, tears still streaming down her face and her breath still hitching. She looked at the clock and saw it was already 9pm. She had spent an hour mourning what she was sure would be the death of any relationship (friendship or otherwise) between her and Morgan.

Looking down at Chloe, who had stopped crying and was instead just looking around the room and fidgeting, she couldn't help but smile sadly. Morgan might not want to know his daughter, but that was okay, Penelope could be enough for Chloe.

She picked up the car seat and brought it into the nursery, unstrapping Chloe and hugging her close for a minute. She then lowered her into her crib and smiled. "I won't let you down Chloe; we're going to do this on our own. And we'll have our BAU family, won't we?" She winded up the mobile, and turned off the light before leaving the room.

Once she was back in the living room she picked up her phone where she noticed she had three new texts and a missed call, which unfortunately wasn't from Morgan. JJ, Emily and Kevin had all messaged her asking how things went. She ignored them all.

Grabbing the already opened bottle of wine and a glass that was still on the dining room table, she settled on the couch and began to drink.


Penelope stared at the computer screen in front of her, barely blinking. The weekend had flown by in a blur, and Monday morning had come far too soon. After downing the bottle of wine on Friday night and waking up with a fierce headache on Saturday morning she had decided that there would be no more moping. If Derek Morgan didn't want to be part of her, or Chloe's life then he didn't need to be. She would be fine with that.

On Monday she had dragged herself out of bed; dropped Chloe off at the babysitter's and firmly resolved that she wouldn't let Derek's rejection get to her. She plastered a big smile on her face and marched into the bullpen with her head held high. Whenever she passed someone she knew, she greeted them warmly and even struck up a few conversations.

No one but those on her actual team knew what she was going through. She had finally mustered up the courage to call Emily and JJ on Sunday, and after a lengthy explanation they had agreed that Morgan was being an asshole.

From the pointed looks she got from Hotch, Rossi and Reid she could only assume that they had been filled in on the entire situation as well. She wasn't bothered by it; she knew that the team supported her fully.

By the time she got to her office and booted up the computers, she found out that Derek hadn't shown up for work that day. She scoffed 'Probably got caught up with one of his one night stands.'

Penelope spent most of the day in her office, only leaving to attend a briefing for the team. Within an hour of that briefing the team was flying out to Texas, sans Morgan since he hadn't shown up and no one was able to get in contact with him.

Right before they left Hotch walked up to Penelope with his go bag slung over his shoulder "Garcia, I need you to continue trying to call Morgan. This case looks bad, we're going to need him to fly out and join us."

Penelope grimaced, but quickly replaced it with a small smile "Yes sir. Don't worry about Morgan, I'll be sure to find him and send him your way. You guys just be careful, you need to focus on staying safe…" she trailed off. She absolutely hated it when the team had to go on a case, they were always dangerous and there was never any guarantee they'd all come back safely.

With a smirk, quite often the closest Hotch ever came to a smile, he replied "We'll do our best." He started walking towards the elevator, but stopped. "And Garcia, try talking to Morgan about Chloe again." With that, he got on the elevator and was gone.

Penelope stared at the elevator doors for a minute before she sighed. "Yeah, because that went so well last time…" she picked up her cellphone and immediately began trying to get in touch with Derek.


Penelope was startled awake by the sound of her cellphone ringing loudly on her nightstand. She rolled over and snatched it up, putting it to her ear and muttering out "This is Garcia." She was in no mood for one of her creative welcomes, it was almost 3am.

"…"

"Hello? Is someone there?" she sat up, listening intently for a response.

"Penelope…" was the only reply she got.

"Morgan! Where have you been? And do you have any idea what time it is?" she hissed into the phone.

"I know, I know, I fucked up." There was a long sigh "What were you calling about?"

Penelope took a deep breath in, pushing away her irritation before responding coolly "The team left for Texas yesterday. They need you there."

She could picture him sitting up straighter as soon as she mentioned a case. "What are we looking at?"

"Three victims so far, all women in their late fifties. I worked with the team today, all we were able to determine is that there's more than one unsub. No solid leads." She replied, her tone all business.

"Listen, Penelope…" he trailed off, unsure of how to breach the topic of Chloe.

"Forget it Morgan. The team needs you right now, we can discuss our own issues later." She snapped. "I can get you on a commercial flight to Texas tonight, someone from the team can pick you up once you land." She was on her laptop already, airline websites flashing on the screen and she searched for the one with the earliest flight.

"Alright Pen, just tell me what airport I need to be at. I'll grab my go bag and hit the highway now."

"I'll text the information you need in a few minutes. Good luck with the case Morgan…be careful." She added before hanging up.

True to her word, five minutes later she sent Morgan his flight information and a message letting him know that Hotch would be picking him up at the airport.

Sighing, she closed her laptop and put her head in her hands. She didn't know how to talk to Derek anymore. He wasn't the man she had been friends with, and certainly he wasn't the man she had fallen in love with. She just wasn't sure how their relationship could ever be anything more than professional.

Setting the laptop aside, and rolling over she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.


Okay, so there you have it. You got Morgan's reaction :) Not sure that I'm entirely happy about how this chapter turned out, I'm considering a complete re-write but I figured I'd at least give you something new to read for now.