7
Chapter 10 – the team find out!
Derek, Penelope and a 4 month old Kayla Ashleigh Morgan were sitting on the couch waiting for the team to come and see them.
Penelope got up and went upstairs getting something from their room.
Derek was holding Kayla when someone knocked on the door. Derek smiled and got up carefully with Kayla who was also smiling, and walked to the door opening it to see JJ standing there with a smile a bottle of wine in her hand.
JJ stepped in and Derek said hello to her and then gave Kayla to JJ. He went into the kitchen and got her a drink, then came back as Penelope came down. 'Where's Kay?' Penelope asked.
'With JJ, I just went to get her a drink' Derek told her and gave her a kiss. He was going to walk back and give the drink to JJ when there was another knock on the door, Penelope offered to go and open the door and he agreed, going to give JJ her drink.
'Thanks' JJ said, as she took the drink from him and took a sip. Kayla smiled brightly when she saw her mum, Auntie Emily, Uncle Hotch and Uncle Reid; she stretched out her arms so her mum could take her.
5 minutes later someone was at the door again, Derek was holding Kayla and went to open the door to see Rossi there this time, and Kayla smiled and decided she wanted to go over to Rossi, he gladly took her when he got through the door and Derek went to get him a drink too.
'How's everything going at night?' JJ asked.
'It's going fine actually, she's an angel…' Derek replied with a smile on his face.
Penelope smiled and agreed with Derek.
Derek and Hotch were talking to each other about work and other things until Reid joined in and gave loads of random facts about anything.
Emily and JJ were talking whilst Penelope went to take a sleeping Kayla to bed. Emily went to go see Hotch and Derek and asked Derek 'how is it being a dad?'
Derek nodded and said 'yea, it's going fine, I love it'
Emily smiled and nodded her head 'yea, I can tell you're a really good dad. You're her hero'
Derek smiled 'thanks Em, I hope I'm her hero, all of us are' Derek said. Ashleigh's voice in his head saying 'you're my hero daddy' Derek got tears in his eyes and Hotch and Emily looked at him with surprise and concern.
'Are you okay Derek?' Emily asked wondering if she said something wrong, or hurt Derek in some way.
Derek shook his head, his face going emotionless apart from the fake smile on his face. 'Yea I'm okay'
5 minutes later Derek managed to get away and went upstairs, saying he was going to check Kayla.
He was going to check Kay but decided to get his diary first, bringing it with him and sitting next to Kayla's crib.
He looked at Kayla's peaceful face and smiled. He got out the diary and opened it, reading to her for a few minutes before he heard a knock on the door. He put the diary away and opened the door to see Penelope there.
'Hey baby girl, I'm coming down now' Derek told her.
Penelope nodded and asked 'are you okay? Emily told me what she said about you being a hero and then that you changed'
Derek smiled 'yea, I'm fine I didn't change or anything' he told her.
Penelope looked at him carefully but he wasn't showing any emotion so she didn't know whether he was actually okay or not. She gave him a kiss and then took his hand 'okay, as long as you're sure'
Derek nodded and walked downstairs with her, rejoining the team.
Most of the night, Kayla was the topic of discussion and Derek was quiet when they spoke about her.
'Oh Derek is like in love with Kayla, can't separate them' Penelope said, and the rest of them smiled, including Derek.
'Of course… I'm insanely in love with both my daughters' Derek said with a bright smile on his face.
Emily choked on her drink and Derek shook his head and left the room quickly before anyone could say anything. Penelope was just as shocked as everyone else was, even though she knew about his daughter.
Rossi was the first to recover and looked at Penelope 'what daughter? What is he talking about?'
Penelope grimaced and said 'I have to go get Derek' she told them and got up going to find Derek.
Penelope found him, sitting on their bed, the box next to him he had taken out a cute top and leggings, then a dress he got for her.
She sighed and went over to him, 'baby… are you okay?' Penelope asked him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Derek didn't look at her but nodded his head 'yea, I'm fine'
'Derek…' Penelope said.
'I'm fine; I didn't even mean to say it… I need to get a drink' Derek said and got up, putting his hands on his face.
Penelope sighed and put everything back and left the room to go back to the team. 'Derek's coming in a minute'
Derek walked in, with a strong drink. Instead of looking at his friends he looked down at his drink.
The team looked at Derek, waiting for him to do or say something.
He moved and went to sit on the edge of the couch, still looking at his drink, he took a sip and then looked up at the team, to find them staring at him and waiting patiently. He cleared his throat and said 'I have 2 daughters… Kayla and Ashleigh…' just after he said Ashleigh the light turned off.
Derek sighed and went to put it back on. The team continued to stare at Derek in shock. They couldn't believe it.
'Since when? That is so cool oh my god' JJ said. 'How come you've never mentioned her?'
'I have, kind of, to you JJ, when we went shopping and I got that dress I said it was for Ashleigh… I also said that I fell in love with someone else and that was Ashleigh, she's my daughter. Then you asked if I was still in love with this mystery person and I said no… but I lied' Derek told them.
'Ashleigh is 7 and she knows and loves all of you' Derek said, taking a sip of vodka.
'Oh wow…' Emily said in shock.
Derek got up again and went to get his wallet. He took out the ultrasound picture and came back again.
He gave it to JJ who was closest at the time and they all looked at the picture and said it was cute.
Rossi asked 'that's really nice; I love the picture, how come we've never met her? We've never even heard of her'
'Yea, I don't know, I just didn't know how to tell you, Penelope only found out a couple of months ago too' Derek shrugged. Penelope agreed.
'So you're a step mum Penelope, how do you feel about that?' Hotch asked.
Penelope smiled 'yea, I love it…'
Derek smiled a real smile for the first time and said 'she calls her mummy Penelope'.
Penelope smiled and nodded in agreement. She had no clue what to say.