Author Note: I'm glad it was worth the wait ! This story only has a few more chapters left but stick with me =]

Chapter 21-Work

She knew this day would come; that the best weekend of her life would be over and she would be heading back to the office. It was bittersweet, she missed it incredibly but also enjoyed the perfect days of just hanging with her love. She knew that this would also be the end of him basically living at her house.

Even after their love admittance they decided they didn't want to rush anything. Of course cuddles were an absolute must for them both but that was all he would allow for now. He didn't want to make her think she was a conquest; he wanted her to know she was completely different from any other girl he had ever even looked at. He cared about her too much to rush into anything, even if she knew exactly how to taunt him, especially that first night ...

He was laying in bed waiting for her to get out of the shower so they could finally fall asleep together, holding onto each other both physically and in their dreams. He was flipping through the channels when the door opened, and as he lifted his head to smile at her his mouth dropped open and his eyes popped slightly out of his head.

Out she walked wearing only his oversized dress shirt that he had taken off after their date before his own shower. "You catching flies again, Hot Stuff?" she smirked knowing exactly why he looked so taken aback.

He tried to bring his eyes back into his head and tried to shut his mouth but she just looked so damn beautiful in his clothes. He wanted to go into her closet and throw out everything of hers and replace it with his clothing, just for her to wear.

"Sorry I forgot to bring a towel in with me and it was this or back into my dress, and this just sounded much more comfortable," she cooed as she wrapped her arms around herself and heard him gasp. She could tell he was losing some of the control he had fought hard to have, but she wasn't going to push it, just like he didn't want to push her into anything, neither did she, "Alright fine, let me grab pajamas and then I think I deserve at least some cuddles from my boyfriend," she all but squealed, the Derek Morgan was her boyfriend! She must have had some good karma in her life in order to make all of her dreams come true finally.

When she next emerged from the bathroom in her matching pajama set he let out a slight chuckle. "I know, these are pretty sexy clothes huh?" she teased.

"Angel, you look stunning in anything and these just prove that even more," he said as he patted the spot in bed next to him. She laid down and the curve of her body fit perfectly into the curve of his. Just more evidence that this was the missing puzzle piece from his life. He kissed her forehead and said, "And Baby Girl, I think you were trying to kill me before."

"Hey, just because you, my handsome, are now officially mine, does not mean that the teasing stops. It just means that whatever we say can now be acted upon," she smirked.

He let out another little chuckle before he murmured, "Goodnight my love."

She smiled against him, "Goodnight my heart." And they fell asleep perfectly in each other's arms.

This was it. After work today he would be going back to a place that he didn't feel was home anymore. He wished this day would never come. He never wanted to part from her but he needed to if he was going to keep the control he needed to take things slow. They drove separately to the office but not before getting in many kisses over a perfect breakfast made together. Their morning goodbye was as if he was leaving on a case, and not just driving separately to the exact same place.

As she exited the elevator, she felt like she never left. When she reached her door, she touched it softly before opening it up and tearing up. Inside her desk was filled with gifts galore. There was a vase full of the most colorful flowers she had ever seen, a stuffed teddy panda holding a bag of chocolate kisses, a picture frame filled of her and the love of her life, a cup of coffee that she knew would be perfect, and a full bowl of all of her favorite candies (mostly mini Twizzlers). In the middle of it all she saw a note written in his handwriting; it simply read: Welcome back, My Love.

He was hoping he had covered all of the bases, flowers for her to smell, a teddy panda because a bear was too common but he wanted her to have something to hug if he got called away on a case, a picture of the two of them for her to always refer to if needed, and candy galore in case she needed something to chew on. He knew he wanted to make sure she felt welcome when she returned back to her lair after such an absence.

"Hey Pen, can you come to the conference room?" JJ asked when she peaked her head into Garcia's office.

Penelope's breath hitched thinking that they got a case and she would truly be without Derek even more so than before. "Be right there my lovely," she muttered back at JJ.

A few moments later she walked into the conference room to hear a giant "Welcome back!" as she saw her team, her family, through her tear filled eyes.

They had decked the entire room out with a giant banner saying We missed you Oracle! and decorations in about every color possible all over the room.

"We thought we should have a good memory from this room after all of the bad ones from our case consultations," JJ stepped towards her to give her a hug.

Reid was next to step forward to capture her in his arms, "It just wasn't the same without you Pen." Penelope felt so touched by her little brother.

Blake walked towards Penelope and gave her a hug, "Welcome back Penelope, we sure missed you here."

"Kitten, you have no idea how much harder it is to work these cases without your sunshine keeping us above the water," Rossi informed her as he too hugged her.

Hotch was the next to come up to her, "Things just are so much better with you here," as he smiled at her. She reached out and had to hug her boss at his words.

Derek was the last to come up to her and he stalked right towards her and wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, "Baby Girl, you are never allowed to do anything like that to me ever again. I love you too much for that," and with that he gave her a kiss and he could feel the smile on her face. They hadn't discussed when they should tell the team but right now seemed to be a great time.

When he released her, she glanced around the room and cried out, "I have the best family in the world! Thank you all for saving my life and for keeping me sane on my first day back."