AN: Our journey is at an end, with a nice lil lemon to boot! Thanks to everyone who commented, I hope you like the final chapter.
Chapter Nine
Since the apartment in New York was now a crime scene, Derek and Penelope couldn't stay there for the night, but JJ had thought to book them rooms in the hotel everyone else was staying at. Not wanting to be presumptuous, she had booked them two rooms and had given both key cards to Derek.
It was just after midnight when they got there and the whole team was exhausted. They had done good work today but it had taken its toll on them all. They could have flown home that night but they were all too tired to face it.
"We'll meet in the lobby at ten hundred," Hotch said as they entered the hotel and got on the elevator. As it stopped on their floor, he added, "Good work today."
They all nodded their understanding and headed to their rooms.
Derek and Penelope went into the first room they came to. An officer had packed their things up for them and as they sorted through their hastily packed possessions, they didn't bother with time-sharing the bathroom to change. Garcia didn't even take her makeup off, although she had already cried a fair amount of it off earlier.
She climbed into bed beside Derek and they lay facing each other.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"No, but I will be."
He gave her a tired smile and reached out to take her hand.
"Sleep tight, Princess."
"G'night, Hot Stuff."
The team arrived back in Quantico on Thursday afternoon and Hotch gave them the rest of the day off; tomorrow would be soon enough for their reports.
Penelope was looking forward to long, hot bath and sleeping in her own bed again. Derek was used to travelling and could sleep anywhere, but he was looking forward to not living out of a suitcase for a few days, at least.
"You feel like pizza and a movie tonight?" he asked Penelope as they headed towards their cars in the FBI parking lot.
"Thanks but I kinda want to be alone for a little while."
"You sure?"
"I am, it's just been an emotional few days and I think I could do with some time by myself to unwind. Do you mind?"
"Of course I don't mind," he assured her. "As long as you're okay?"
They paused beside her car.
"I am," she assured him.
"All right; give me a call if you change your mind."
He paused to make sure none of the others were around, then leaned down and kissed her tenderly. His warm smile as he pulled away, left her breathless for a moment.
Penelope unpacked, dividing her clothes into 'clean', 'wash' and 'dry clean' piles, then she ran herself a bubble bath, lit half a dozen small scented candles that were scattered around her bathroom, put some Michael Buble on, then she turned off the bathroom light so it was lit only with ambient light and the candles, then she stepped into the almost-too-hot water. She released a long sigh of pleasure as she adjusted to the temperature.
This case had been hard on her, perhaps harder than any other, well, except perhaps for the time she had been shot but that wasn't an official BAU case anyway. And maybe the time Derek had driven through New York with a bomb in his ambulance had been worse. Then there was the time Spencer had been kidnapped and tortured. And the case where Elle got shot was definitely worse. And how could she forget what had happened to poor Erin Strauss?
She continued to think about worse cases, the ones where they didn't stop the unsub in time, the ones where the team were hurt, the ones where catching the unsub just didn't seem like enough, given the destruction that they had already wrought.
Her mood began to improve and she changed tactics, thinking about all the things that she had to be grateful for, from the basics such as food and shelter, to her talent for computers, as well as a job she loved, at least most of the time, and that was still important even on the days when she didn't enjoy it.
Plus, her team was like her family (how many could say that about their workmates?) and now she had Derek not only as her best friend, but her man.
She was truly blessed and it didn't matter if some things in her life weren't perfect, or of some things about her weren't perfect (by whose definition of perfection, anyway?). She got out of the bath and quickly dried off, then pulled a robe on before grabbing her phone.
"You okay?" was Derek's greeting.
She smiled at his concern. "I'm more than okay," she assured him. "I'm actually feeling a little lonely."
"Is that right?" she could hear the smile in his voice. "Want me to come over?"
"Only if it's not too much trouble," she teased.
"It's not," he assured her. "I just got back from a run, so give me half an hour to shower?"
Penelope looked back towards her bathroom as she considered something. "Well, you probably already know this, but I have a pretty big tub."
He chuckled. "Will you scrub my back?"
"If you're a very good boy. I'll even throw in a home cooked meal."
"I'll be right over," he assured her, hanging up.
Penelope pulled the plug on the cooling water, then ran to the kitchen to prepare something they could cook later, but she ran into the same problem that Derek usually did when he got back; none of the food in her fridge was in date. Well, that put a dampener in her home cooked meal idea, but take-out it would have to be.
She went back to the bathroom and ran a new tub of warm water, adding lots of feminine smelling salts and bubble bath. When it was nearly full, she turned the water off, unlocked the deadbolt on the front door, then she poured herself a glass of red wine, a glass of white for Derek and after placing them on a table in beside the bath, threw her robe off and climbed back into the tub.
Not five minutes later, he knocked on her front door.
"It's open!" she called, trying her hardest to stop grinning like a loon, since she wanted to look sexy. She wasn't entirely successful but Derek's answering grin, not to mention his haste in disrobing, showed that he didn't seem to mind.
Rather than averting he gaze, she watched him undress, enjoying the show; she planned on getting far better acquainted with his person tonight, so being coy seemed slightly ridiculous.
He climbed into the tub at the opposite end and she picked up her glass of wine and handed him his.
"To us," she said as they clinked glasses.
"To us," he agreed. "Now am I to assume that you are in fact naked under these bubbles?"
"I am," she assured him.
He took her glass and put it aside, along with his own, then he pulled her against him. The tub was large enough, and the water made her buoyant, so she easily manoeuvred onto her front so that she was lying against him, her breasts squished against his chest. He kissed her, and she could feel his arousal pressing into her stomach.
She had assumed that they would bathe, eat, then sex but this worked too and as she continued to kiss him, her hands trailing over the hard planes of his muscles, her appetite for food had gone, while her more carnal appetites were making themselves felt. She was suddenly very eager to feel him inside her. His hands wandered too, over her back, coming to rest on her ass.
Penelope worried about the planet, she recycled and knowing how precious water was, she had agonised over her choice to purchase such a large bath tub. Now, as she straddled his waist and directed his length to her entrance, she was glad of her extravagance and as she slowly sank onto his shaft, feeling it fill her, she felt that the planet could just go to hell, for tonight at least.
Anticipation for the last half an hour of what was to come, ensured that she was wet and more than ready for him and once he was seated inside her, she broke the kiss and leaned back to look down at him. He maintained eye contact as his hands moved from her ass and came to rest of her now exposed breasts, tweaking her nipples until they were as hard as pebbles.
Penelope began to ride him, relishing the friction of his member against the inner walls of her vagina. He sat there motionless, allowing her to set the pace but if the expression on his face was any indication, he was enjoying her dominance every bit as much as she was.
His right hand left her breast then and trailed down to her hot core, where he began to rub a finger over her clit, causing her to gasp and closed her eyes.
"Look at me, Baby Girl," he commanded, and she obeyed, maintaining eye contact with him once again.
He smiled and sped up his caresses of her most intimate place, feeling the muscles of her hot core contract around his length. He couldn't hold still any longer and as she sank down on his shaft, his hips rose to meet her.
Thanks to the hot bath and their exertions, both were sweating profusely but neither seemed inclined to stop. Derek thought the droplets careening down her face to be rather sexy, while she thought the rivulets running over his pecks to be one of the sexist things she had ever seen (she did like to watch him work out, after all).
As her pace increased, so did his strokes on her sensitive bud and together they built to a crescendo. Her orgasm hit first and as the muscles of her tight sheath contacted around his member, he came moments later, filling her with his seed.
Finally she collapsed against him and his arms went around her, holding her against him. Both were breathing heavily.
"I should have run a cool bath," she commented.
Derek chuckled and began to run one hand up and down the length of her back, in an intimate but not sexual caress.
"Doesn't matter what the temperature, I'll always be hot for you."
She laughed too and now that she was recovering from their exertions somewhat, sat up. Although he was softening, she could still feel him inside her.
Suddenly a frown marred his beautiful featured. "We should have talked about birth control," he said. "I'm sorry, I just got caught up in the moment and-"
"Ssh," she placed a finger over his lips. "You can't get pregnant of you do it in water."
His frown asked if she was serious but since she was unable to hold in her mirth for long, he soon had his answer.
"I'm on the pill," she assured him. "And I think I know you well enough to know you don't have any hideous diseases."
"I don't," he assured her.
"I should have said something-"
Now he shushed her, but a kiss was his preferred method.
"We were both at fault," he said. "Let's leave it at that."
"Okay. So, do you want your back scrubbed now?" The relish with which she said it delighted him.
"Now how can I refuse an offer like that?"
The next morning, Penelope was perched on Alex's desk as they discussed the new tea flavours that Garcia was ordering, while Derek was chatting with Reid, when SSA Hotchner strode in.
"Morgan, Garcia, my office," he said, in his usual dour fashion.
They shared a look and reluctantly said goodbye to the people they were chatting with, then made followed Hotch up the steps to his office. He was already seated behind his desk when they got there.
"Close the door," he instructed, which Derek did, then they both say opposite him. "It's come to my attention that your relationship has become more intimate of late-" he began.
Derek cut him off. "It's not against the rules, Hotch. We aren't partners and we don't work together… most of the time."
"I realise that." Hotch frowned, wondering what made them think he was opposed to this new development. He made an effort to relax but having already had two meetings with the brass this morning, he probably wasn't in the best of moods. "The reason I asked you in here was because your relationship must be registered with Human Resources, and the both if you will be required to attend a half day sexual harassment course."
Penelope and Derek relaxed and shared a quick, relieved smile.
"I have the necessary paperwork here," Hotch handed over a file. "If you can get those forms back to me by the end of the day, I'll take care of it."
"That's it?" Penelope asked.
"That's it," Hotch conformed.
They rose to leave but as they opened the door, Hotch spoke again. "By the way..."
They turned back to him.
"Congratulations. It took you long enough."
It took them a moment to realise he was teasing but the smile on his face, something which was rare for their unit chief these days, was a joy to see.
"Thank you, Sir," Penelope said.
Derek nodded his thanks and closed the door behind them.
