Derek stood respectfully a few feet away while Penelope made her presence known to the receptionist smiling genuinely at his friend. He watched as Penelope spoke so softly that it was inaudible. He watched the receptionists face closely, looking for any clue that it may give him of what was going on. Penelope refused to meet his gaze and sat on the nearest chair. Derek sat beside her somewhat nervously.

"P…"
"Derek, I don't want to do this right now."
"Okay, fair play…but I'm not going anywhere. Whether you tell me or not, I am staying right here." He said unwavering. Penelope sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before turning to meet his eye, hating that they were about to have that conversation in her doctor's office.
"I haven't feeling a hundred percent lately, and at first I just thought it was because we were so busy at work that I was stressed out, tired whatever, so I brushed it off. I'd been getting these random back pains on and off, and I wrote it off as long hours in front of my babies, and invested in a new chair, which worked for awhile so I let it go. When I went home for the anniversary the pain had become so unbearable that I passed out and ended up in hospital."
"Your indefinite leave…" Derek pieced together as she nodded,
"Anyways, the boys weren't going to let me go home until I was completely checked out and given a clean bill of health. Clean bill of health, never came. They found a tumor in my pancreas, a small one, but a tumor none the less. Luckily for me, where it was positioned, it could be operated on. So I went in and out, no fuss. Much to my brother's dismay and protests I came back here. They begged, brow beat, threatened and blackmailed, but I wanted to come back here. I didn't want to fall apart there. In the end, they could never really say no to me, and I unashamedly used that to my advantage. I started seeing Dr. Walker at the recommendation of the Doctor at the hospital so I've been seeing her since. I did a round of chemo after I got back."
"How did I not know this?"
"Because I didn't want you to know. I didn't want any of you to know. I'm a great liar when I want to be Derek." She said trying to ease the panic that was about to over take him. She was being gracious and they both knew it. There was a time in their friendship where she would not have been able to hide that from him.
"But you were at work?"
"Dr Walker hooked me up to this portable thing. I had it on while I was at work, I just made sure it wasn't visible and that I was bound to my bunker the whole time. The actual experience wasn't so bad, it was more the after effects,"
"The weight loss, the paleness," he provided, as she nodded. The look of despair and guilt that flooded through his eyes made her heart ache for him. This is why she didn't want to tell him, or any of them.
"And now?"
"I'm here for my check up. To make sure that nothing's come back. They were able to remove everything in the operation, the chemo was to make sure that whatever that couldn't be detected will be combated before they surfaced. I'm fine Derek." Penelope said trying to reassure him,
"Shouldn't I be offering you the reassurances P?" he asked making her smile.
"I just hate that you were alone, that I wasn't there for you."
"I wasn't alone Derek. My brothers were there. Beginning to end, they were the last faces I saw before I went into my operation and the first ones I saw when I came to. On my first chemo Jasper came down the week and then Cae came down for the second week. Aidan took a week off work and flew down for my third week, and Ads was here for the last week of chemo. They would all be here right now if I didn't threaten to put their photos up on America's Most Wanted. I have never been without support Derek. My brother's were there. I just didn't want this to be a huge deal. With everything that was going on, I didn't want it to be…"
"A guilt thing…" he finished
"Yeah. There were enough issues flying around, and I didn't want to add this to the equation."
"I'm sorry P."
"Derek, you're not to blame for my sickness. You're not responsible for my health."
"I know P, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. For just disappearing from your life."
"It's okay Derek. It truly is. I'm a firm believer in the whole everything happens for a reason, and that seasons exists in our lives. You just weren't meant to be a part of my life during that time and that's okay."
"I let you down P. You're my best friend and I wasn't there for you. I wasn't even there for consideration for you." Penelope couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"You're here now. I may not like it, but you're here now."
"And I am here P. I'm all in."
"Baby steps Derek. Every fiber of my being is screaming that you're here, but there's this tiny little part of me that's holding on to the fact that we were best friends once that is relieved and comforted that despite everything you're sitting here." Derek bravely draped an arm around her shoulder. Penelope stiffened for a moment but eventually relaxed allowing him to pull her closer to him. Derek placed his lips on her temple,
"I'm never going anywhere again." He promised
"Derek no, I don't want to start rebuilding this friendship on the wrong foot. You can't be there all the time, you can't promise that even though I know you want to and have every intention to. If we're going to be friends, let's start it without so much expectations, we'll more than likely fail each other if we do. I promise to give this a go, but I need you to allow me to take it on my pace."
"Okay P."
"Ms Garcia," Dr Walker called out from her office. Penelope stood to her feet and Derek jumped to his to follow not letting go of the hand he managed to take into his own. Penelope looked at him and he shook his head no, that him going in with her was a non negotiable. She sighed and walked towards Dr Walker's office with Derek in tow.

"Hey P, do you want me to get that?" he asked as her phone buzzed again. It had been buzzing since they left the Doctor's office an hour before and she had been avoiding answering every single time. Without a word he had taken her keys from her as they walked out of the Doctor's office and she didn't protest. There was no point to.
"They're going to start to panic P and you'll have Cae or Jasper here in a couple of hours if you don't throw them a bone." He said knowingly.
"I can talk to them." Penelope considered it for a moment, could she really engage in that conversation with one of her brothers right then and there, and the answer was no. She knew that Derek was right, if she didn't answer them one of them would end up at her door step. She took her silence as an answer and took the phone that was in her hand,
"Hi Adam, it's me Derek."
"And what are you doing answering my sister's phone?" Adam practically bellowed that Penelope could hear his voice boom from her receiver. She cringed, maybe having Derek field her calls wasn't such a good idea.
"Hey Man, I know you want to kill me right now and you have every right to and you will get the opportunity but Pen's not up to taking calls so I offered to answer them," Derek tried to explain. Adam took a deep breath and silence overtook the conversation,
"Does that mean?"
"Yeah Man," Derek answered softly,
"She okay?" Adam asked as his voice cracked a little,
"Processing, listen I know you want to jump on the plane right now and if I were you and this was my sister I would too. But there's no rush, she's not alone, and she won't be I promise you. I'll be here till you get here. She'll call you when she's had a couple of hours and she'll fill you in, you can work out flight details then."
"Thank you. But I still want to kick you ass."
"I would too. Would you mind letting the rest of your brother's know?"
"No, I'll do that now."
"Thanks."

Penelope could hear the conversation between Derek and her brother despite his lowered voice. She had to admit that she appreciated that he was fielding her calls and allowing her the moment she needed to sort it all out in her head.

"I'm sorry Penelope, we've found another tumor. You'll need another surgery and we'll need to do aggressive Chemotheraphy after the surgery." Derek watched as fear filled her eyes. She dropped her gaze to her hands as they shook unwillingly.
"Again?" she barely breathed out as Dr Walker nodded empathetically.
"What are my other options?"

Derek watched as Penelope walked outside to her porch and sat on the steps to face the beach. He could see the thoughts flying through her mind, he watched as she closed her eyes hoping to slow them down. He let her be and began scouring through her fridge looking for ingredients to pull dinner together. He had pulled himself together so that he could be there for her. He didn't allow himself to fall apart as much as he wanted to because he knew that he needed to be strong for her.

Penelope almost jumped when Derek wrapped a blanket around her as he sat down beside her handing her a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thank you." She said gratefully. She appreciated the time he had given her to collect her thoughts, for fielding her calls and keeping her brothers informed without bringing panic to them, he was her Derek all over again and she wasn't prepared for how much that familiarity hurt her as much as it comforted her. Derek simply pulled her into his arms. She turned her head into his chest and buried her face into his shirt as he held her so tightly she could barely breathe.