I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.
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"I'll start," Derek pipes up. "I have some things I need to say and they took me a while to be able to say them, but I think I'm finally ready. Baby Girl, I've been in love with you since the moment we met." Derek looked over at Penelope, who looked shocked by his confession. "I saw you standing there, picking up some files and I just knew that I needed to get to know you better. I was so embarrassed that day that I called you by the wrong name, but you didn't even care. And from that day on you were my Baby Girl. We became best friends and I had always hoped that someday we would be more. But even I didn't realize how much I wanted us to be together until you started dating this fool," Derek pointed at Dave.
"Keep it civil, Derek," Emily warned.
"Fine. I'm trying. Honestly, I am, but him? Really? Why? You can do so much better, baby."
"Derek. Please stop," Penelope began. "I like Dave a lot and just because you're annoyed with my actions doesn't mean that you get to attack him. And it's your own dang fault that Dave and I got together. If you are so opposed to the idea, you should have gotten up the courage to ask me out at any point during the past ten years that we have known each other."
"I know, Pen. I'm so sorry that I didn't."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was so scared. What we have is so amazing. Our friendship is incredible. We've been each other's support system through everything. I was terrified that starting a relationship with you could someday mean the end of that. I can't lose you, Pen. I just can't. So, I wasn't willing to risk it and I suppressed all feelings I had towards you. And then that night that you got shot, I thought my whole world was falling apart. I didn't know what to do or where to go because you weren't there to guide me and I could have lost that forever. So, I had decided to finally tell you my feelings for you once you woke up and things got back to some semblance of normal. So when you finally got out of the hospital and it was just the two of us at your place, I told you that I loved you and I meant it. In every way. But you didn't understand. Because not two weeks later, I hear from other people that you're seeing someone else. And not just seeing someone else, but sleeping with him. I was so broken. I worked so hard to pull myself back together, and, no, I didn't pull myself back together in the best way possible. I drank a lot and I slept with a lot of random women that I picked up at clubs, but it was all so that I could get you out of my mind. And then I dated a victim's relative and lied to you about it, mostly because I wanted you to have to suffer as much as I did. But you didn't suffer."
"And then to top it all off, just when I was starting to get over the whole thing, Lynch starts asking me about proposing to you. I put on a brave face and pretended to be happy for you guys, but the whole situation was killing me. And he made you so happy, so I couldn't even tell you to say no when he asked. I tried to push you towards him. I figured that that way I could try to completely get over you, but you ended things with him. And my optimism came back immediately, only to be once again crushed when you started dating Sam. It forced me to realize that you weren't going to choose me. You'd probably never even consider me an option. In your eyes, I could only ever be the Derek who slept around with any woman he could get his hands on. I needed to prove you wrong, so I started seeing Savannah. At first, I didn't have any real feelings for her, because being with her was all about showing you how different I could be, but then I actually started developing feelings for her, but they never got close to comparing to the feelings I had for you. You know how I knew that? Because the moment the two of you told us that you were dating, I was so overcome with jealousy that I couldn't even function. I didn't go two seconds without thinking about. Thinking about how you should be with me, not him. I was so focused on you that I forgot completely about all the feelings I was supposed to have for Savannah. So, once I got home that day from work, I ended things with her. Because she'll never be you. You're the only one for me. I love you, Penelope."
"Now, Penelope," Emily cut in before Penelope could even gather her thoughts on what had just been said, "I think you need to let Dave tell his side of the story before you say anything. Is that alright with you?" Penelope nodded in response, too overcome with emotion to answer properly, and beginning to wipe the tears from her eyes. She looked up at Dave, only to find him no longer there.
