Disclaimer: As ever we do not own Criminal Minds... we wish we did :))

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As Derek closed the door behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed and trying to make eye contact, Penelope suddenly very uncharacteristically nervous was wringing her fingers, her hands unable to keep still as her heart rate accelerated: was she going to be able to do this? What if he didn't feel the same?

Derek, upon hearing the increased beeping from the monitors next to Penelope began to worry. Taking her hand in his he tried to get her to calm down. 'Pen, you can talk to me, what's wrong? Baby Girl.' He implored tilting her chin upwards so that she was looking at him.

When their eyes met, she knew that she had to tell him, the sincerity and concern in his eyes almost overwhelming. They were both holding their breath, the last syllable of baby girl resounding in the air around them that had begun to almost crackle with electricity as their eyes remained locked. The spell was broken when Morgan reached out with his other hand and slowly moved a loose curl to the side, tucking it behind her ear, careful not to nudge her glasses. She turned away again looking to her hands, studying them, scrutinising them as if she had the answers there. But there were no longer answers to be given; this was all new territory, uncharted waters where her heart was the only guide. She just had to trust it, to trust it and in with it. She took a deep breath, steadying rapidly beating heart and she heard him breathe a sigh of relief as the beeping on the monitors returned back to the normal level. When she turned to look at him this time he saw the look in her eyes and the set of her jaw that she had something she wanted to say and he wasn't going to interrupt her unless he wanted the stuffing torn out of him. Afraid that she was going to tell him something that would lead to rejection, he made up his mind up and took a breath in before letting the words he'd had trouble finding and getting his head around spill out.

'Ever loved your best friend?' He said, and immediately knew that was the question that was supposed to stay in his head not said through his lips.

'I have yeah.' Penelope replied, shock absorbing her as she realised she automatically responded.

'So you know that a lot rides on it?'

'I do yeah.'

'More lose if the other one doesn't feel the same than win.'

'Yeah.' She said, now feeling unsure where this was going. 'Derek...' She started but felt herself withhold all over again.

'Why can't you talk to me?'

'Let me put this the best way my head can put it at the moment yeah?'

'Okay.' He said before grabbing the chair he had sat in whilst willing her to wake up, he pulled it close, and grabbed one of her hands, holding onto it as though it was life itself.

Penelope closed her eyes before breathing in and then looking at him again, her eyes locked on his, there was no moving from that gaze now. 'When I heard you and Emily were dating I felt, well, jealousy.' Derek smiled and went to talk, but stopped as her eyes told him not to stop her with this travelling thought. 'You started this new relationship, one where I was pushed aside, and to be honest, I didn't help I took steps back, steps out of your life because you were serious about making it work. As a result of me stepping out, Hotch did the same with his and Emily's friendship, we became closer because of it.' She saw fear gather in Derek's eyes.

As she said those words, we became closer, he knew he had lost her chance so he let go of her hands and looked away. 'So you became close.... are you together?'

'God no! Our friendship grew Derek, we bounced off each other like I used to with you and he did with Emily, and then he asked me to help with the case and I accepted, I had nothing to do with my free time but minimalistic things so I accepted, we got closer through that too, we talked about a lot, too much some might say but we both gained from it.'

'What are you trying to tell me?'

'He taught me to go with my instincts on a lot of things.' She said and felt braver, Hotch's voice in her head, stop stalling, he said because at that moment she knew she was prolonging the amount of time before she had to say the 5 worded sentence. 'So right now I'm going on my instincts; I know what it feels like to love my best friend because right here and now I love him.'

Derek gawped again for the second time that day, this time for an entirely different reason. 'You love me?'

'I do and I know you and Emily...'

'Broke it off...' He said to her and knew that his and Emily's relationship had returned to its foundations. 'She's known I've loved you for years, but I never thought I could get you so I went with her.'

'Couldn't get me? Handsome if you hadn't noticed I hardly have men at my feet... I'm not the pick of the girls.'

'You're the pick of my girls.'

She chocked her eyebrow at him and realised he was deadly seriously, the fire burning in his eyes. Derek then bent down and kissed her the way he had never been able to kiss Emily.

When broke away he looked at her. 'When I saw you on that video my heart sunk, and I felt so sick, and Emily felt the same when she saw Hotch, we knew then that we couldn't keep going like we were, we needed to be truthful with one another. So we were and we both came out the other side intact.'

'Is it definitely what you want?'

'More than you know.' Derek replied and kissed her again, gently at first, until she made it evident she wanted to pursue it further, at last the emotions flowed, they both had what they needed, wanted and loved.

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Emily followed Hotch's retreating form to his room, biting her nails in nervousness as the realisation hit that this was the moment she had been waiting for: she had Hotch all alone and she could now tell him exactly how she felt about him. Bit how come it had seemed so much easier earlier?

She helped him get onto the bed, before perching on it and looking at the floor in front of her she then twisted her body to make Hotch realise she needed to talk to him, she was leaving her body language open to him, inviting him to allow her to speak

'What do you want to talk about?' She asked feeling uneasy for once in her life.

'Did you know Penelope's good at teaching things without knowing she's doing it?'

'I had noticed that yeah.'

'She's taught a good few things over the last few months or so.'

'Oh?'

'The first one being honesty, another courage, and a third bravery...'

'Hotch.' She began, about to cut him off and go for it, to take that risk, to follow Penelope's unconscious teaching and be brave but felt her mind hitch and her lips freeze.

Hotch took her hesitation as a warning, a rebuke but knew that he had to tell her anyway, no matter what the outcome, he had to follow through and be done with the secrecy once and for all. He took a steadying breath, bracing himself before he opened his mouth to finally let those words escape. 'Do you love Derek?'

'I think I did...' She admitted looking down. 'Things changed though.' His heart ballooned at her words: did that mean what he thought that meant? Was she trying to work up the courage to do the same thing he was?

When he found his voice again she decided to ask. 'In what way?' He implored not quite knowing how to feel. The softness and nervousness evident in his voice were so at odds to his usual hard exterior that the next words to leave her lips left smoothly. He was as nervous as her about this.

I think I just fell out of love with him.' He wanted to ask what had happened, what had made this occur and what it meant but he couldn't, he needed for her to share with him, not to be forced to share. Instead of asking any of those questions he looked up at her, watching the emotions in her brown eyes. He was sure there was more than just friendship shining through. He implored her to continue by speaking no words. 'He saw right through me... saw that I wasn't all in that relationship with him, and nor was he, for similar reasons, he was in love with someone else.' She turned to him hastily. 'I love you.' She said and he saw a bashful smile play on her lips, he knew she had to blurt it out with such velocity or she would never say it.

He smiled at her, the one he always felt like he needed to use when she was in the room, the smile he kept for her, whether talking to her or about her. 'I'm in love with someone.' He saw her face dropped. 'But I couldn't say anything because she was in a relationship, a seemingly long lasting serious relationship.' He saw up, hiding all signs of weakening and grabbed her hand. 'I love you too.'

Emily smiled at him, a smile she had been itching to share, one that hadn't seemed plausible since seeing the news. 'You dare scare me like that again, I'll...'

'You'll what?'

'I can punish... my spur of the moment punishments are not always good.'

Before he could respond to her threat he felt her lips take his and the one thing that both had longed for happened, he couldn't help but smile as their lips withdraw from each other's minutes later. 'I promise not to scare you again...' He continued with a smirk. 'Did it take me getting kidnapped to realise that you're in love with me as much as I'm in love with you?'

'I think it did... but next time find an easier way to make us realise.'

'There won't be a next time.' He added certain that it was the beginning of something new, something they both wanted. This time he took charge and kissed her whole heartedly, all being reciprocated from Emily's side.

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Authors Note: So it finished!!! We'd like to thank everyone that read and especially everyone that reviewed!