Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Here's the next chapter in this little saga! Thank you folks for the lovely reviews :) I appreciate them a lot…now on with the story!

Derek walked Penelope safely to her office, pecked her lips quickly, and then dashed off down the corridor again to find Rossi and Reid. He had a mission he was intent on focusing on and he needed the two of them to help. Hotch was in meetings all day, Blake was out of town with her husband, and JJ had already signed on to be with Penelope while he conducted his plan. It didn't matter how long it took. He was going to get the job done. And with two extra sets of hands it might just go a little faster.

It certainly would be entertaining.

As he reached the bullpen, he went up behind Reid, who was busy checking his email, and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. The younger man nearly jumped ten feet in the air and let out a short yelp of surprise. Derek raised a brow at him and smirked. "Careful there man," he sniggered. "Don't let your panties get all bunched up."

Reid smoothed his hair down and sniffed. "Humph," he said. "I'll have you know that I wear boxers, just like the rest of you men. Even I know that panties are for women."

Wrinkling his brow, Derek shook his head. "Eh, I'd rather not hear about your underwear, Reid," he said. "But what I do need is some assistance from you and Rossi. Something big."

"Did I hear my name being mentioned?"

Both Derek and Reid turned around to find Rossi walking towards them, a large stack of files in his hands. "Yes, you did hear your name," Reid told him simply. "Morgan here says he needs your help and mine."

Rossi raised a brow. "Oh?" he asked. "With what?"

An enormous grin lit up Derek's face. "At lunch time, we've got a job to do," he stated firmly. "And you both are going to help me out."

"No JJ on this one?" Reid asked in a puzzled manner.

"She's already got a job for me and that's keeping Penelope preoccupied while the three of us do this job I keep mentioning." Derek's grin widened and suddenly Rossi and Reid didn't look so excited.

"Your grin is telling me that this isn't going to be a normal job that would require our help, like going into a jewelry store and looking at rings?" Rossi bemoaned.

This time Derek's grin was positively evil looking. "Nope," he said.

"Do I want to know?" Reid asked. His face was covered with a frightened expression, like whatever the plan was meant he had to walk on his hands over a field of hot coals.

"Gentlemen," Derek said with a flourish, "wear pants you don't care about getting dirty." He paused. "We're going to go dig around in some bushes."

XXXXX

"So you buys are going out tonight?" JJ asked excitedly. She and Penelope were sitting in her office for lunch and she was waiting for an update on life with Derek. Ever since the two of them reunited and were expecting a baby, JJ was ecstatic and eager to hear everything about how their lives were evolving. "You've got to tell me where you're going?"

Penelope smirked at JJ's delight in knowing everything. "Yep," she replied as she sipped her water. "He's taking me to Le Royal for dinner and then we're going to The M Club across the street afterwards. You should see him…he's so happy right now." She smiled warmly, her heart shining in her eyes.

Across from her, JJ smiled dreamily. "That sounds lovely," she sighed wistfully. "Maybe he should give Will some pointers. We haven't been out in a long time."

"But you and Will have never had anything happen in your relationship that ended it and then restarted it," Penelope pointed out. The words fell heavily from her mouth and she found herself staring at the straw in her drink. Her index finger traced around the edge of the cup and she became lost in thought again. Derek was so kind, so attentive, so forgiving… She still hadn't admitted it to him, but she had yet to forgive herself for the miscarriage. It haunted her every day. She slept much sounder now that Derek was sleeping beside her again, but she still woke with a start occasionally in the middle of the night, breathing in short, gasp-like bursts.

"Garcie?"

JJ's voice broke through her daze and brought her back to reality. She shook her head and looked at her. "Oh, sorry Jayje," she murmured. "I was just thinking…"

"What were you thinking about?"

Another moment of silence covered the room and Penelope leaned her elbows against her desk. "I feel like I'm not worthy of him," she said quietly.

"What?" JJ squeaked. "Why on earth would you think something like that? That has to be the most off base thing I've heard you say in a long time! You and Derek are the most together couple I've ever seen. You're so in tune with one another that –"

Penelope held up her hands. "No, no," she said hastily. "What I mean JJ, is that I…I haven't even begun to forgive myself for what happened to the first baby. I don't know how he can forgive me when I haven't even begun to forgive myself. It's not as bad as when I was hiding it from people, but it doesn't change that it was my fault!"

"No," JJ stated firmly. "That kind of thinking is just not good for you or your little girl. You are not responsible. Something like that isn't anything you could've controlled. You've got to stop blaming yourself, Garcie." Her look was one of compassion and she took Penelope's hand. "You're about to be a Mommy, Penelope and one of the things you've got to teach your children is when to let go." She smiled warmly at her. "And you have to learn to let go of this pain and guilt. It's just something you've got to do."

Tears filled Penelope's eyes and she smiled at JJ. "I want to get past it," she said earnestly. "I want it more than anything."

"Let your heart guide you," she said gently. "I know it sounds weird and metaphorical and Disney-movie like, but sometimes those are the best ways to describe it."

Pulling her into a hug, Penelope held JJ close and said, "Thanks Jayje."

"And it's going to get better," JJ said as she was pulling back. "And the first step?" She paused for effect. "Talk to Derek. He's the best person to help you get through this."

Penelope nodded and wiped the stray tears from her face. Sniffling, she glanced at the clock. "Speaking of Derek…I wonder where he and the boys are. I know Hotch is in meetings all day, but Rossi and Reid? They're not doing anything."

JJ just smiled. "They're probably doing manly men things together," she said.

Taking a sip of her water once again, Penelope laughed. "Manly men things," she sighed. Looking at JJ in the eye, she added, "And thanks JJ. You know, for picking me up out of the ground." She smiled sheepishly.

"Anytime PG," she murmured with a glint in her eyes.

XXXXX

"Anything yet?" Derek hollered, lifting his head out of the bushes in front of Penelope's old apartment building. He and Rossi and Reid were all on their hands and knees looking for the ring box he'd planned on presenting her months ago. Now he planned on giving it to her tonight at just the right moment. He was thrilled and nervous, all at the same time.

Rossi groaned. "Please God tell me you've found something Reid!" he called out. "I'm ruining my trousers!"

"Nothing yet," Reid replied calmly. He actually seemed content with his task that Derek had set him on. He was grinning and rustling around in the nettles in the bushes like a child at play. "But we will find it! I'm sure of it. The spirit of love will lend itself to us."

Rossi's head poked up from the bushes and his brows were twisted in confusion. "What did he just say?" he demanded.

"The spirit of love," Reid repeated. "It's simple: Morgan and Garcia are true love. The ring will come to us. And when it does, Morgan is going to get down on one knee and pull it out and present it to her. Then she'll –"

Derek cut him off. "We know how this goes, Reid," he said. "We don't need a running lesson on it." Grumbling, he continued searching through the bushes. "God, I should've just put this in my –" Before the sentence finished coming out of his mouth, his hand felt a touch of velvet underneath his fingers.

"Find something, Morgan?" Rossi called. "You stopped awfully suddenly mid speech."

Jumping up triumphantly from the ground, he bellowed, "Hell yes!" The small box was touched up with dust, but when he opened it, the diamond was still as gorgeous as it had been when he'd last laid eyes on it. "Rossi, Reid! I've got it! I found the ring!"

Rossi and Reid rose to their feet and dusted themselves off, convening around him to look closer at the gem. It twinkled underneath the light of the sun and all three men smiled. "Damn, that's a nice ring," Rossi whistled, clapping Derek on the back. "You done good, Morgan."

"You think so?" Derek asked, hope in his voice. He wanted it to be perfect because Penelope was his perfection. She deserved the best in life. "I want this to be…beautiful."

Reid smiled. "It will be," he said confidently. "Now we must get you back to work so you can act like nothing is wrong whilst you really plan how to make this night wonderful."

"Humph, yeah," Rossi mumbled. "And we're going to get to go back to work and figure out how to get the grass stains out of our bush-whacked knees."

Derek just laughed, his thoughts entirely consumed with how the night would go and how he was going to ask Penelope to marry him.