Beating The Odds
Chapter 36
Leaving Chicago
AN: Thank you for all the reviews, and these last two chapters are going to be bittersweet. I've loved writing this, and getting all of your reviews, they have kept it going longer than I thought it would =) Enjoy and I got plenty more stories to come.
Jenna was sitting in the diner with Jeffery, waiting on Derek and Penelope, Gordinski had shown up few minutes earlier and wanted to talk to them. It was official tomorrow they were leaving Chicago for bigger and better things, but they were all wishing at the same time they didn't have to. It was their security blanket in a way. However, most of all it was their home, their family and friends were here, moving to Virginia meant starting over making new friends, but that would take time.
"Hey where's Nick at?" Ruth asked coming over.
"He went to get his stuff in Texas, he's supposed to be back tonight, Derek told him that he's not going anywhere besides with us, because I need him right now, my mom did abandon me, but dad never did not really, he sent stuff to me all the time, and I get why it's so hard on Nick losing him, my brother needs me too," Jenna said, "He's lost in that darkness, has been for so long, and the fact that Derek's giving him one more chance is…"
"Surprising?" Jeff asked, "He's just like his dad; William always saw the good in a person even through all the bad, and his son does the same," he said with a smile.
"You do too, both of you," Jenna said.
"I guess William left more than few memories," Ruth said, she was going to miss them so much, and she was good at hiding stuff, but being pregnant wasn't helping her emotions, "I just wish that you all had more time," she said.
"We're coming back before Derek starts at the FBI," Penelope said before she sat down, with William, "And you two are coming to visit us a lot right?" she asked.
"Of course, and holidays you'll be back if Derek's not working," Jeff said, "You're only going to be four hours away, it's not that far," he said.
"Says you, my family is here mostly," Pen said, "Steven got a job here now, and my other three brothers are going to be living in Chicago too, and I'm leaving," she said about to start crying.
"What did Stan want?" Jeff asked changing the subject before all three women started crying again.
"He can't make it to the fair well party; he got called in to work on a double murder," Pen said, "I couldn't stop crying so I had to come back in," she said, "God why does this hurt so much?" She asked wiping the tears away, "It's not fair, I wish Virginia was next door." she said before she felt tow arms go around her.
"It's going to be okay, baby girl," Derek said.
"Says you who only got a week after we move before the academy," Jenna said.
"I know, I know, but you'll have each other, and its six weeks, I'm sure Pen will find a way to drop by," Derek said.
"Just don't forget to tell us how she does that," Ruth said with a smile.
DPDPDPDPDP
The See You Soon party as they were calling it after Desiree told Derek he wasn't going anywhere, she'd been crying since he'd told her they were leaving a few days earlier. They'd known it would be harder on her, since Derek was the closest to her.
"Hey mom, so how's Cinderella doing?" Derek asked, one of his nicknames for Des.
"She refuses to come out her room," Fran said, "I don't blame her, I'd be curled up in my bed too if I was her age," she said before hugging him, "By the time you three actually leave with the kids, I'm going to be a wreck," she said.
"Mom I'm only four hours away, and I promise I'll call once a week and you know Penelope will be calling you a lot," Derek said.
"I know, it's just going to be hard to let another baby go," Fran said, "I lost your dad to that job, I don't want to lose you too," she said.
"You're not going to lose me mom, trust me Pen would find a way to bring my ass back and kick it," Derek said.
"You better go and convince Cinderella to come out, other wise I don't think I'll be at that party," Fran said.
"I'm going," Derek said before making his way down the hall to his sister's room, growing up they'd been lucky enough to get their own rooms, and Des had taken over Sarah's as well, but she refused to touch his. He'd come to get couple things, but he'd also brought something for Des, "Is Cinderella home today?" he asked knocking.
"Is her big brother abandoning her to the wicked step mother?" Des asked.
"I'm not abandoning you Desiree," Derek said opening the door.
"Yes you are," She said from the bed, "You're leaving here and going to some other state, and I'm left here alone," she said not bothering to hide her tears.
"I'm not leaving you alone Des, I'll be back in a couple months," he said sitting down on the bed pulling the covers back finding his ten year old sister.
"But what about dad's birthday, we always go to the cemetery and talk to him, who's going to do that with me, or make mom feel better because she misses him so much on their anniversary, I can't do that alone," Des said, "You can't just leave us," she cried.
"Dad's birthday isn't till September, I'll be back before I start at the FBI, and I know that you can make mom feel better," Derek said, "What you say we go and have some fun, less you want to wallow in here and miss out on Ruth's cake?" he asked.
"I'm not wallowing, my brother and best friend is leaving," Desiree said, "You've always been here, even when you were not talking to mom and Sarah, you talked to me," she said pulling the covers back over her head.
Fran was watching from the door hoping that her daughter would come out from under the covers soon, she knew that Derek's leaving was going to hurt her more, they'd spent so much time together after William's death. Des followed him everywhere.
Derek sighed, "Des, I was going to give this to you on your birthday, but I think I can think of something else then," he said, "That is if you want this little guy," he said.
Desiree peeped out from under the covers, "Derek," She squealed seeing the kitten.
"Come to the party and you can keep him, but you gotta stop crying first," he said.
"Then you might as well keep it," Desiree said, "Because you leaving is not okay," she said before getting up and going to her closet shutting the door and locking it.
Fran walked over giving Derek a sad smile, "She'll come around, but you can leave the kitten, I'm sure she'll come out before the party," she said.
"I hope so," Derek said getting up, "See you in couple hours mom," he said hugging her after setting the kitten down on the bed, "You to Cinderella," Derek said towards the closet before he left the room.
DPDPDPDPDP
Penelope, Jenna and Nick, who'd gotten back half hour earlier were sitting outside at Jeff and Ruth's house with the kids when Derek pulled up, "How'd it go?" Jenna asked.
"She locked herself in the closet," Derek said sitting down beside Penelope, "Mom let her keep the kitten, I just hope she can get her out the closet," he said.
"You're her best friend, Derek, look how many times she's stayed at the apartment in the last two months," Pen said, "And before that," she added.
"I know," he said leaning back in the chair, "I just wish she didn't feel like I was abandoning her," Derek said.
"What if she came with us?" Jenna asked, "For a while that is," she said.
"Yeah sure my mom's just going to let her come with us," Derek said, "She doesn't like me leaving, I doubt she's going to let Des just come with us," he said.
"Not forever silly," Pen said with s mile, "For the summer, maybe till school starts," she said, "She could drive Nick in sane," she replied.
"I already got a sister doing that," Nick said before Jenna hit him, "Ouch, okay I'll shut up," he said rubbing his shoulder.
"We were wondering where you got off to," Sarah said coming outside, "So is mom and Des coming?" she asked.
"I don't know," Derek said, "We'll be inside in couple," he said.
"I'm going to get the kids inside, and Rachel needs to be changed," Pen said looking at Derek, "Don't beat yourself up over this, Des is just hurt, she'll come around," she said before getting up and going in the house.
"I hope so," Derek said before he took Rachel to change her before they went and joined everybody else in the backyard.
DPDPDPDPDPDP
Everybody was having fun, dancing to the music that was going, and making plans for a few months from then when Derek got into the FBI, they already knew he was going to get in.
"This past year has been full of surprises, lots of wonderful memories, and some rocky times, however Derek and Penelope have gotten through those days and now are going to go off and start the next chapter in their lives," Jeff said, "I know they are going to have a lot of fun doing that, there might be some more hard times ahead, but they'll get through them again," he added before he went on.
Derek wrapped his arms around Pen whispering in her ear, "Maybe we should tell them now," He said letting his hand rest on her stomach.
"Not yet, handsome, after you are accepted into the FBI we will tell them," Pen said, "I love you and this baby, but I want to make sure you know, it's only been a week and two days, and I'm already nervous," she said.
"Everything is going to be fine, baby girl, we're going to have a lot of fun, and I promise I'll try not to kill Nick, long as Jenna keeps him away from your mouth I'll be fine," he said.
"Yeah, Jenna threatened to deball him if he tried to kiss me again," Penelope said with smile, "God this is going to be so hard to leave here, the apartment we made together, the home we've made together, just last year Ruth was giving me a job at the diner, and Rachel was a week old," she said.
"Hey, don't dwell on the past, think about me getting you alone on the roof tonight," Derek said moving his hand under her shirt as he kissed her neck.
"Derek Morgan, stop that now," Ruth said seeing what he was doing, "There is a house for that kind of stuff," She said.
"Sorry, I got carried away," Derek said with a smile before he went and sat down with Pen at one the tables so they could eat.
"Did you hear anything I said?" Jeff asked looking at them.
"Yes, you said that we're going to get through this," Pen said, "I know you're right, but it's still hard leaving here," she replied glad that Derek was beside her.
"You got bigger things in your future Penelope," Jeff said giving her a hug.
Pen hugged him back letting the unshed tears fall, "I'm going to miss you," she said, "Ruth and you have been like a second set of parents," she said.
"We still are," Ruth said hugging her as well, "I can't believe you are all grown up, and I know that Derek's going to take care of you four," she said.
"Yes I will," Derek said, "I already got few lectures, and Jenna will probably hit me if I do something wrong," he said.
"Bet your ass I will," Jenna said coming over and sitting down, "Where'd Nick get off to?" she asked, "I haven't seen him since we all came out here," she replied.
"I don't know, he probably is in the house," Sarah said, "Jeffery is changed, and Eric's got William who is trying to battle him for that bottle," she said with smile, "I'm going to miss having those three around," she replied.
"Well you know where we'll be," Derek said.
"Yeah yeah," Sarah said, "Still, I won't get to pick on you as much," she said.
"We're leaving tomorrow afternoon, if Des ever comes out, I thought the three of us could go do something, before I had to go," Derek said.
"Sure, I think I can lure her out," Sarah said with smile.
"Oh my god, I think somebody else did," Jenna said with smile, "So that's where my brother got off to," she said seeing Desiree, Fran and Nick coming down from the house.
DPDPDPDPDP
"Okay now that everybody is here, we can start," Steven said, "I never thought I'd be standing here giving this speech and having to let my baby sister go, but I know that she's in good hands with Derek, and they are going to do a lot of things in the years to come," he said, "I'm proud of the both of them, Pen's told me a lot about her hot stuff in the last year, and I know our parents would love him too," he said, "Pen's going to ODU to work on computers, hopefully no illegal hacking, which she's known for driving Derek crazy with," he joked making everybody laugh.
"Hey," Pen protested before she got looks from everybody, "Okay, I'll try," she said with smile before Steven continued.
After a few more speeches and more stories about the past Derek got up after giving Pen a kiss, "I thought that waiting over six weeks for this was alright, but, you can kill me later, Princess," he said, "It seems that I'm going to be a dad again, in about nine months give or take," he said.
"What?" was the reply from most everybody, except the few that knew.
"You're pregnant again, damn he works fast," Nick said.
"Derek," Pen shouted at him.
"Sorry, I'm too happy to care if you pound on me," he said with a smile
"Ha, you're going to be pounding me into the mattress tonight after this," Pen said, "That tongue of yours will be put to good use," she said a little to loudly and everybody heard her.
Derek closed his eyes feeling the heat against his cheeks as he blushed, "Woman I suggest you stop talking now," he got out finally.
"I'm sorry it just slipped out," Pen said with giggle before Derek came back over and he kissed her, everybody else was still talking about the fact they were having another baby so soon.
"I love you Penelope Morgan," Derek said kissing her, "I just couldn't wait any more to tell them," he said.
"I love you too, Derek Morgan," Pen said pulling him in for another kiss while every one around them clapped and cheered.
It was going to be hard leaving the family and friends they had in Chicago, but it wasn't like they weren't never coming back, they'd see them again soon, some more than others, but they would make it, they always found a way to get by.
TBC
AN: One chapter left, and this story comes to a close, thank you all for the wonderful reviews and special thanks to Kathy for some ideas and help along the way.