Don't worry - I survived the half marathon... the last part of the summer has been insanely busy in the real world - so I haven't had as much time as I would like to write... but I managed to write this in the last few days.

Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the recent lotto winners here in Minnesota - so I still don't own it. Nuts.

Happy reading and enjoy :D


Spencer grunted softly under his breath at the weight on his chest as he woke up. He yawned and shifted under the familiar weight. He blinked as he opened his eyes to the sight of two familiar blonde heads; one sprawled across his chest and the other snuggled into his side.

He held his hand to Henry's back, holding his godson in place as the boy stirred, not wanting him to fall off the bed from where the small boy lay sprawled across his Uncle Spencer's chest. Spencer moved to get more comfortable, releasing his hand from Henry's back once he settled and then allowed himself to relax back into the pillows, enjoying the quiet early morning moment before they had to get up and get ready to head home.

JJ sighed in contentment as she rose from the depths of sleep; her toes dragging along the lengths of the long lean legs her own legs were tangled with under the covers; her face burrowing into the soft material of Spence's t-shirt. She smiled at the realization that instead of her hand being on Spence's belly, it rested on Henry's side. She opened her eyes, taking in the adorable sight of her son completely sacked out across Spence's chest. "Hey you," she managed to croak in a raspy sleep laden morning voice as she tilted her head back to find Spence watching her.

"Good Morning," Spencer whispered in reply, lifting his head to meet JJ's lips in a good morning kiss.

"Henry decided you were more comfortable than the mattress hmm?" JJ asked as she pulled out of their kiss and glanced at her son's still sleeping form.

"He woke up a few hours ago and had to go potty, but he was afraid of the dark. So I got up with him." Spencer replied, tightening his arm around JJ as she snuggled into his side.

JJ winced, knowing Spence's own feelings about the 'inherent absence of light', as her fingers brushing through Spence's hair. "Sorry baby, the night light in the bathroom doesn't work so well without electricity I suppose."

Spencer turned his head, managing to kiss JJ's palm. "It's okay. We added some more wood to the fireplace. That was good enough for a night light." He replied, glossing over his own fear of the dark. "He was so tired that he almost fell asleep washing his hands, so I carried him back to bed."

"From the looks of it, you were both asleep the moment you hit the bed." She said with a grin as she scooted up in the bed and rested her forehead against Spence's temple.


"Uuuuuugggggghhhhh" Penelope Garcia moaned as she woke up. 'When am I going to learn? Wine makes my hair hurt…' She reminded herself as she fumbled for the covers and attempted to drag them over her head. Even her eye mask wasn't enough to drown out the light of day from her very, very hung over eyes as her internal thought process continued... '…and shots make me…' Her internal monologue came to a screeching halt as visions of last night… or at least what she could remember of last night took over… shots… lots and lots of shots… visions of herself pressed up against the delectable Derek Morgan on the dance floor… a fuzzy vision of herself pressing against her best friend as he opened up the door to her apartment…

She shot up straight in bed, as the images of last night's events made their way across her mind's eye. "Ow, ow, owie," She whined, pressing her hands to her head at the pain and rush of dizziness at sitting up so quickly.

Derek Morgan paused in the doorway to his baby girl's bedroom and shook his head. Penelope's inner party animal had a lot of fun last night, but daytime Penelope was going to have hell to pay with that hangover today. "Tore up from the floor up huh baby girl?" Morgan asked as he stepped into the room and moved towards his ailing best friend.

"Uuuuuggggghhhhhh," Penelope moaned and then turned her head as she lifted her eye mask to look at Morgan. Then she blinked rapidly as she attempted to process what she was seeing. Her best friend was crossing her bedroom shirtless in a pair of low slung sweatpants… and from what she could see he wasn't wearing anything underneath them. 'Breathe Penelope, just breathe. This has to be just like a year ago when he spent the night and took a shower…mmm wet naked Derek Morgan in only a towel… Yeah… just like that. Nothing happened then either.' She told herself as she attempted to remain calm.

Morgan smirked and shook his head as he looked down at the contents of the tray he held. Hopefully his own personal multi-step hangover recovery program would work wonders for Penelope… well at least most of the steps… he wasn't too sure about the last step… "Move over baby girl." He said as he stopped next to the bed, tray in hand.

"Why?" Penelope asked cautiously. Derek wasn't acting any differently than normal. Maybe the visions she'd just had were a blended fusion of alcohol driven fantasy and the actual events from last night

"Because you clearly need some help with that hangover mama." Derek replied.

Penelope squinted at him, but shifted over in the bed so that Derek could sit down next to her.

"Alright, drink this." Derek said as he held out a glass of orange liquid to her.

Penelope eyed the glass warily as she accepted it. "What is it?"

"Just drink it." Derek replied with a teasing smirk. "That didn't seem to be a problem last night."

Penelope took a large gulp and winced as she swallowed. "Bleck, what is in this?" she asked as she handed the glass back to her very fine friend.

"Orange Gatorade, multi-vitamin powder, and 7-Up." He replied as he sat the three quarters full glass back on the tray.

Penelope's eyebrows rose on her forehead. "I had all of that on hand?"

Derek chuckled, "No, but luckily I keep Gatorade powder and multi-vitamin powder in my gym bag." He said as he picked up a plate of dry toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage and handed it to her. "Eat baby girl. You need some protein in your stomach."

"Oh that's sweet my dark chocolate knight, but…" she trailed off with a slight wince as she looked at the plate of food in front of her.

"Eat baby girl. I went to the market down the street to pick up tofu and vegetarian breakfast sausage for you. You need the protein. It'll help you start to feel better." Derek replied as he picked up his own breakfast of real scrambled eggs.

Penelope smiled that Derek had taken the time to run out to the market and pick up food to make her breakfast since her cupboards had been bare. Her brow furrowed in thought at the realization that Derek had left her apartment and come back… and stripped back down to just sweat pants…

"After you eat you should take a shower. It will help you feel better…," Derek continued, pulling Penelope out of her thoughts about his sweat pants… and what was and what wasn't underneath said sweatpants.

Penelope nodded obediently as she nibbled on her toast, not fully trusting her stomach to not stage a rebellion.

"... and then we need to talk baby girl." Derek said softly, watching for her reaction.

"About?" Penelope asked cautiously.

"Last night." Derek replied.


"SUV is packed." Spencer said as he came back in the cabin and slipped off his boots.

"Okay, here can you throw this in the back too?" JJ asked as she handed him a laundry bag.

"Sure," he replied as he took the bag from her. "Why didn't you leave my little buddy in bed until it was time to go?" he asked with a nod to Henry who was bundled up in comforter and sleeping on the couch in front of the fireplace.

JJ smiled. "Leaving Henry in the bed would have made it really hard to strip the bed and put the sheets in the laundry bag I just gave you." she teased.

"Oh" Spencer nodded. "Okay, well I'll just go put these in the car and then what else needs to be done?"

"Just flip back over to regular power and re-winterize the cabin. It shouldn't take too long. Maybe you can make us a pot of coffee for the road while Mom and I work on that?"

"Actually," Sandy said as she came down the stairs from the loft, having heard the end of Jennifer and Spencer's conversation, "Jake and Melissa are going to bring the girls up here next weekend. So we don't need to re-winterize it. He said it didn't make sense for just one week and that he'd take care of it next weekend."

"Alright then," JJ said sliding her hands into her back jeans' pockets, "I guess we have time to make coffee and enjoy a cup before we leave then."


Morgan finished pouring two cups of coffee and then turned to look at Penelope as he heard her come out of her room. "Startin' to feel better?" he asked.

Penelope fiddled nervously with her fingers, unsure of herself at the moment as she took in Morgan's more dressed appearance. "Ugh…ask me again tomorrow."

Morgan laughed as he handed her a cup of homemade brew prepared just the way she like it. "You shouldn't have too much caffeine with a hangover, but I know how you feel about your coffee baby girl. Maybe it will even help a little bit." He said with a wink and then wrapped his arm around her, guiding her over to the couch.

Penelope took a sip of coffee as she watched Morgan plant his very fine jean clad ass on her couch and then pat the cushion next to him. She hesitantly took a seat next to him.

Morgan sighed as he watched his baby girl acting like a skittish kitten around him. It was good to know that he wasn't the only one shaken up by last night, but the way he saw it; their time had come. He leaned forward and sat his coffee cup on the coffee table and rested his elbows on his knees as he ran his hands over his head, trying to figure out how to start the conversation. They definitely needed to talk. Talking had been the last thing on Penelope's mind last night…

"Sooooo," Penelope began awkwardly, fidgeting in her lap s she struggled to remember what about last night Morgan would want to talk about. Had they… did they finally… and she couldn't remember?! 'What the FRAK!' she screamed at herself internally. 'Something FINALLY happens with my chocolate god and I can't remember?' She groaned under her breath. "You said we erm, needed to talk about last night?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, we do." Morgan said taking a deep breath as he turned to look at Penelope. He hoped that last night meant they were finally in the same place emotionally at the same time.

"Oooookay what is there about last night that we need to talk about?" Penelope said drawing her words out, hoping that Morgan would give her something to work with that would jog her memory about what had happened.

Morgan took a deep breath. It was now or never. No way no how was he going through what happened five years ago all over again when he told Penelope that he loved her and she thought he meant only as a friend and then fell into the waiting arms of Kevin 'the uber dweeb' Lynch. "Well more than just last night… but last night is probably a good place to start baby girl." He said as he reached over and took her hands in his, his thumbs softly stroking the backs of her hands as he searched for the words.

Penelope drew a breath and squeezed Morgan's fingers. They'd been here before more times than she could count. "You know you don't have to worry about letting me down easy Morgan. Last night doesn't have to tarnish the integrity of our friendship." She said wincing slightly at the sound of the words coming across her lips.

"Baby girl just what do you think happened last night?" Morgan asked as he tipped his head.

"Um… well… I remember shots… lots and lots of shots… and dancing… and I have a vague memory of uh…" Penelope blushed, flustered at the memory of her hands roaming Morgan's body as he opened her apartment door. She cleared her throat. "you opening my apartment door for me." She managed with a squeak.

A wide cocky grin crossed Morgan's face. "Baby girl, you were like an octopus with your hands everywhere last night, and I might have a reputation with the ladies… but I hope you know that I would never take advantage of you when you couldn't remember. My main concern last night was making sure you made it home safe and that you were taken care of." Morgan explained

Penelope's eyebrows rose on her forehead. "Nothing happened… wait you said if I couldn't remember…"

"Huh?" Morgan asked confused about what his baby girl was asking.

"You said you wouldn't take advantage of me if I couldn't remember… what if I could remember? Would you rock my world and give me a night that I couldn't forget?" she teased anxious to get herself back on equal and familiar flirtatious footing with her best friend.

"One night would never be enough," Morgan replied, lifting one of Penelope's hands to his lips and kissing the back of her hand and then turned it, kissing her wrist, "and that's the more than just last night that we need to talk about. We've danced around the subject for years baby girl… but it doesn't seem like we've ever been on the same page. I told you how I felt after you got shot… but you chose Lynch…"

Penelope's eyes widened. "Wait… you were serious when you said…"

"That I loved you?" Morgan said repeating his words. "I did… I still do. I never stopped. But all I wanted was for you to be happy… and you and Kevin had a lot in common," Morgan shrugged, "but now it looks like maybe we're in the same place at the same time and I'm not taking a chance of it passing me by. I love you Penelope and not just as a best friend. I love you. I want to date you. I want to introduce you to my Momma as my girlfriend… I want us to be together." Morgan said finishing in a soft whisper, holding his breath as her waited for Penelope's response.

"Derek," Penelope replied softly, her eyes searching his face. She pulled one of her hands free from his and lifted it, hesitating in mid-air as her hand moved to cup his cheek, "I love you too."

"Good, then I can do this." Morgan said as he dipped his head down and kissed her, sucking on her lower lip and reveling in the soft needy sound of her moan.

Penelope wrapped her arms around her chocolate stud muffins neck as the kiss deepened. The weight of her nerves from the last several days lifted off her shoulders as she shifted and moved to straddle Derek's lap. "If you thought I was like an octopus with my hands everywhere last night while I was drunk, you haven't seen anything yet." She purred as her hands started to roam up and down his torso.

"Feel free to get as handsy as you like baby girl." Derek responded with a grin as he lifted his hips, his fingers clenching on her hips, grinding against her as her fingers slipped under the hem of his sweater, his boyish grin growing as her head fell back on her shoulders and she moaned. He delighted in reaching up and running his fingers through her hair as he brushed it off her face. "I love you baby girl." He said with a look of wonder on his face at how good it felt to say the words out loud and have her know that he meant it as more than friends.


"Okay, I'll book my plane tickets and see you at Easter." Sandy asked as they walked out to their cars after locking up the cabin.

"It's hard to believe that's only a couple of months away." JJ said with a smile as she leaned in to hug her Mom. "I'll call you when we get home. I love you." JJ whispered in her Mom's ear as she kissed her cheek.

Sandy smiled at the long time tradition of the phone call once they arrived home from a visit to let her know that they'd safely arrived home. "I love you too Jennifer," she replied, knowing all too well how important it was to let loved ones know you cared for them at every opportunity. Then she turned to Spencer and smiled at the sight of the young man standing nearby holding Henry bundled up in the comforter.

"Henry, baby, are you going to wake up to say goodbye to nana?" JJ asked as she stepped close to Spence and pulled back the comforter to see Henry's face.

"It's okay. It's early still;" Sandy said with a fond smile on her face as she remembered the years of tucking her own sleeping children into the car for the road trip home. She stepped close and pressed a kiss to Henry's forehead. "let him sleep."

Then she glanced up at Spencer as she rested her hand on his shoulder rubbing softly. "Take care Spencer." She smiled softly as Spencer blushed under her motherly affection.

"I will." Spencer replied with a nod to Sandy, silently implying that he would take of not only himself, but also of JJ and Henry.


JJ smiled and turned from the passenger seat to look at Henry in the backseat as she heard him waking up. "Hey little man," she spoke softly as he blinked and looked around in confusion, "did you sleep well?"

"Mommy?…" Henry replied as he blinked and rubbed his eyes, "where are we?"

"We're on the way home sleepyhead." JJ replied, "Are you hungry?"

"Uh huh" Henry nodded eagerly. "Can we have fwench toast?"

JJ chuckled. "I think we can manage that. Spence, there's a really good diner up just a little ways ahead." She said pointing out the sign for the upcoming diner.

Spencer nodded and squeezed JJ's hand that was resting in his on the center console.


"I don't want to ride in the car." Henry pouted as they walked out of the restaurant.

"Why not?" JJ asked in concern.

"It's no fun." Henry sighed as he scuffed his boot in the snow along the curb.

JJ nodded in understanding, knowing how hard it had to be for her very active little boy to be cooped up in the car, let alone a car seat for the five hour drive to the cabin.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Spencer said as he looked down at Henry, "how about Mommy drives for a while and I ride in the back seat with you. We can play games and read stories."

"Okay!" Henry replied, eager to spend some time with Uncle Spence.

JJ smiled and followed her boys, watching as Henry practically drag Spence across the parking lot and back to the car.


"Is it a person?" Spencer asked with a smile as he watched Henry.

"No." Henry replied.

"Hmmm," Spencer contemplated his next question while tapping his chin, "Is it inside the car?"

"No." Henry giggled.

"Okay, so then it's outside the car?" Spencer replied with a smile.

"Uh huh!" Henry nodded eagerly.

"How many questions is that now?" Spencer asked with a smile, knowing that he was about to run out of questions to use.

Henry's brow furrowed as he counted. "16, 17, 18…18 questions so far Uncle Spence."

JJ smiled as she listened to Spence and Henry playing 20 questions in the backseat. Spence always did a great job of making learning fun for Henry.

Spencer nodded. "So then, how many questions do I have left?" he asked as looked down at Henry.

Henry held up his fingers to count like Uncle Spence had showed him. "19, 20… two more questions Uncle Spence."

"Okay, have we been able to see it the whole time we've been in the car?" Spencer asked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded.

"Is it the road?" Spencer asked.

"No!" Henry exclaimed excitedly.

"You win Henry. I give up. What is it?" Spencer asked.

"The sky!" Henry explained. "Uncle Spence?"

"Yeah big guy?" Spence said sinking down in his seat next to Henry.

"Why is the sky blue?" Henry asked curiously as he looked between Uncle Spence and the window.

"Hmmm…" Spencer murmured as he pondered the best way to explain it so that Henry would understand. "Well, you know how you like to make waves for your boats in the bathtub."

"Uh huh," Henry nodded eagerly, "dats fun!" he grinned.

JJ's brow furrowed in curiosity, wondering what Henry's boats at bath time had to do with why the sky was blue.

"Well the light from the sun acts just like the waves you make in the bath tab," Spencer explained, his hand doing a wave motion through the air in front of Henry, "and even though the light from the sun looks white, it's made up of a lot of different colors."

"Like a rainbow?" Henry asked, remembering the rainbow that had been in the movie he'd watched with Nana and his cousins a few days ago.

"Exactly like a rainbow!" Spencer exclaimed proudly at how quickly his smart little godson had made the connection. "So the light from the sun is made of all the colors of the rainbow, but the different colors all move at different speeds. How fast the light travels affects how big or small the wave is for that color."

Henry watched Uncle Spence with big eyes, wanting to make sure he didn't miss anything. Uncle Spence knew the coolest things! He could turn things into rockets and make things blow up… and he knew magic!

"What color do you suppose is the fastest?" Uncle Spence asked conspiratorially, having a feeling Henry would guess correctly.

Henry's brow furrowed as he thought about the colors of the rainbow. "Red?" he replied.

"You're right Henry! How did you know?" Uncle Spence asked.

"Fire trucks are red and they're fast… and Wightening is red and he's very fast!" Henry explained using his four year old logic and the main character from his favorite movie at the moment, 'Cars', to back up his theory.

JJ chuckled to herself as she quickly glanced in the review mirror, catching Spence's eye. As her eyes moved back to the road, she was reminded of how much she enjoyed all of the little Henry and Spence moments she'd been able to witness over the last four years… but she had to admit, she was glad she was able to witness them more frequently now that she and Spence were together. She also couldn't help but admit that she wouldn't mind seeing Spence interacting with an additional little boy or little girl… or two. She bit her lip as she silently cursed her mother for putting the thought in her head and then refocused on the road while listening to Spence and Henry's conversation.

"That's pretty smart Henry." Uncle Spence nodded, acknowledging Henry's answer. "So red moves the fastest. That's why red is at the top of the rainbow." Spencer explained, going off on a tangent for a moment. "Do you know when we can see a rainbow?"

Henry nodded eagerly, bouncing up and down in his seat. "After it rains."

"Very good Henry," Spencer replied. "The reason we can see a rainbow after it rains is because there are still water drops in the air and the light has to go through the water drops to reach our eyes. Each of the different waves of light bounce off of the water drops at different speeds to create the rainbow. When the light comes to Earth from the Sun, it has to move through our atmosphere and the atmosphere scatters the light waves a lot like when there's a rainbow, we just can't see it quite as well because the atmosphere is all around us. It's sort of like we're standing right inside the rainbow."

Henry tipped his head as he contemplated what Uncle Spence was saying. "But the sky is blue not striped like a rainbow." He said in confusion, his little brow furrowed as he tried to connect what Uncle Spence was saying.

Uncle Spence nodded, "You're right Henry. The sky does just look blue most of the time. Our eyes are sensitive to blue light, so they notice it the most. The other colors have to work really hard for us to see them without there being a rainbow, but remember last week when we watched the sun set?"

"Oh yeah!" Henry exclaimed as he remembered. "It was red and purple!" he said his mouth forming an 'O' as he turned to look at Uncle Spence.

Spencer chuckled and nodded. "We could see the purple and red because the light had to travel through more of the sky to reach our eyes and there was more stuff in the air for the light to bounce off of."

"Cooool" Henry drawled out in awe of his Uncle Spence.


"Mmmm," Penelope moaned as she watched the delectable Derek Morgan move across the room back to where they'd curled up on the couch, his sweatpants once again hanging low off his hips as the muscles of his bare torso rippled and danced, "it is so much more fun to watch your sinfully delicious self when I can do this." She said wrapping her arms around him and leaning up to kiss him as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"We aim to please baby girl." Derek winked as he pulled out of the kiss and ran his fingers up and down Penelope's arm.

"Mission accomplished." She purred as she cuddled up into his side and he wrapped and arm around her.