A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long. I hope this update will make it up to you.
When Monday rolled around, Derek was an absolute grump. He had known that there would be a chance that she would leave and he had told himself that he would be okay with that. He had told himself that even if it ruined their friendship, one passionate night together would be worth it. But it wasn't. One night with her just wasn't enough. Once he had her, once he knew what it was like to be with her, he knew he would never be happy unless she was with him forever.
He tried to keep his feelings to himself but he ended up snapping at everyone. He had even made a new intern cry after she jammed the printer. Once that happened, Derek knew it was only a matter of time before someone confronted him. Sure enough, he got a call from Rossi inviting him to his office.
He made his way slowly to Rossi's office and leaned against his door frame. Once Rossi looked up, Derek spoke, "You wanted to see me?"
"I heard a rumor about Garcia."
That was not what he had expected to hear. He didn't want to hear about, or talk about Penelope. Derek's brow crinkled in frustration, "Oh yea?"
"Yea." He leaned back in his chair and frowned, "Apparently she's dating someone on the team."
His jaw clenched with aggravation. Of course Lynch was going to say something, the little weasel that he was. "Where did you hear that?" he asked slowly.
"Sylvia, the new tech." Rossi motioned for Derek to take a seat. Derek ignored it and continued to lean against Rossi's door. After a moment Rossi continued, "She heard that you and Garcia were at a wedding together and, apparently, you two were pretty cozy."
"She heard wrong," Derek snapped. All he needed was the wedding to get around. It would be a constant reminder of what could have been. He felt the urge to punch the wall.
Rossi raised his eyebrow, suspiciously, "I gathered that from your attitude. Everything okay?"
The urge to punch something grew stronger. Except now he was thinking about punching Rossi. The one thing he hated about the BAU was that privacy just wasn't an option. "Rossi, some things are personal."
"You know, if I spent half as much time with my ex wives as you do with Garcia, I doubt they would be my ex wives."
"Drop it, Rossi," Derek growled. He turned to leave when Rossi spoke.
"Some women are worth fighting for, Morgan." Morgan paused in the doorway and turned to glance at Rossi. If any woman was worth fighting for, it was Penelope. With a sigh, Derek shook his head and returned to his desk.
As he sat as his desk, he came to a decision. All Sunday long he had moped and sulked because the best thing that had ever happened to him had just walked out his door, and he had let her go without a fight. Four times he had picked up his phone to tell her how sorry he was but he had never actually made the call. He told himself that he would just have to deal with it, that he would just learn to smile and support her as she moved on with someone else. He made himself that promise before he brought her home Saturday night.
But Rossi was right. Penelope was worth fighting for. Derek didn't know why she thought it wouldn't work, but he was going to find out and he was going to prove to her that it could work and that it was going to.
He quickly made his way to Penelope's office. He paused outside of her door when he saw it was open and heard voices floating out from it. He didn't absolutely have to tell her right now. Maybe he could surprise her with something sweet. Penelope loved surprises. He turned to leave when he recognized Lynch's voice.
"So how are you and Morgan?" Lynch asked snidely. Derek wondered how she would answer that.
There was a pause before Penelope spoke, "We're great, Kevin. Everything is peachy." Her answer gave Derek some hope.
"Then why is he so grumpy today? I heard he made an intern cry today. It's nice to know that you're with such a nice guy." That pissed Derek off.
"Kevin, I'm really not in the mood for this," Penelope said, her voice ripe with agitation.
"Bad weekend? Have a fight with your boy toy?"
Derek couldn't stand it any longer. He told Lynch that he needed to treat Penelope the way she deserved to be treated. He walked into Penelope's office with a smile, "Hey, baby girl. I missed you." He leaned down and gave her quick kiss on the lips. He turned to Lynch, "I hear there's a serial killer down in interrogation if you want to meet him," he threatened.
Lynch blanched and quickly left the room. Derek smiled smugly as he turned to Penelope. She was glaring at him with a frown on her face and she looked absolutely beautiful. Her arms were crossed under her breasts pushing them up giving him the perfect vantage of her cleavage.
Penelope noticed where he was staring and huffed, "I didn't need your help."
Derek sighed, "I didn't mean to step on your toes, Penelope. I just was walking by and heard what was going on." He gave her his best innocent look.
The look on her face was one of utter disbelief. "Just walking by? The only thing down this hallway is other techies. And I know you didn't go to see them."
"Okay, so I came to see you," he said, flashing her his suave smile.
She rolled her eyes, "I'm really not in the mood for flirty banter with you today."
He sighed and took a deep breath, "I didn't come here for flirty banter. I came here because I wanted to tell you something. I made a mistake yesterday."
"Derek, I know it was a mistake. That's why I left." She refused to look at him when she said it.
"No, Penelope, that was not a mistake." She turned to look at him in surprise. "My mistake was letting you walk out that door."
"What?" she asked incredulously.
There was so much he wanted to tell her but he knew if he said too much, too fast that she would bolt. He smiled softly, "I have wanted to be with you for years. I finally have that chance and I'm not just going to let you go."
Penelope shook her head vigorously, "Derek, sweetie, it's not going to work."
"You don't know that," he said, frustrated. He wanted to shake her and make her see reason. "I know you enjoyed this weekend, too. Are you willing to take the chance of missing out on something great?"
"I'm not like the other girls you date. I'm not the love 'em and leave 'em type. I couldn't handle that and I won't let you hurt me like that."
That hurt but he knew that he deserved it. Out of all of the relationships that he had been in over the years, none of them stayed around for more than a few months, by his choice. He knelt down in front of her and took her face in his hands, "Penelope, I did that to other girls because none of them were you." He hated begging. He had never begged for anything in his life, but Penelope was worth it. "Please just give me a chance to prove to you that this will work."
"I don't know, Derek," she said but Derek saw doubt in her eyes. He knew she was going to give him a chance.
He smiled, "Just one date. This Friday."
She looked away and after what seemed like forever, she turned back to him, "Fine. One date. But if I think its going to ruin our friendship even remotely, we're done."
He smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I promise you, Penelope, it will be worth it."
