Penelope sat cradling her travel mug full of coffee. Canada was cold and she was tired. Bone tired.
They'd hit the ground running and she'd barely drawn breath in 48 hours, but the unsub had been caught. Quicker than usual, his faith in his own technical genius had been sadly misplaced with her in the field and it hadnt taken much to narrow down the unsubs server, from there a fast and furious game of cat and mouse had ensued which thankfully hadn't ended in more loss of life.
'Hey sugar' SSA Rossi sat down next to her, the first one back to the hotel.
'Where's everyone else?'
'They stopped by the police office, won't be long. I thought I'd head back and check on you'
'Me? I'm fine'
'You seem a little distracted...' Penelope smiled
'Not really just tired' from sharing a room with Derek Morgan she wanted to add. They'd done it a hundred times before but this time she had felt his gaze on her, questioning, expectant. That did not make for a good nights sleep. She sighed out loud.
'Morgan making a nuisance of himself?' Rossi grinned
Garcia started damn profilers, too perceptive by far.
'No' she lied twirling the tail on her fluffy cat key ring.
'You two need to talk'
'Why?'
'Because you're not sleeping and he keeps biting everyone's head off. He's touchy and that's not like Morgan, his head hasn't been in the game theses past few days' pausing Rossi hesitated a second before adding
'I know he kissed you' Penelope blushed deeply.
'He was drunk, after the bar...'
'Was he?' The far too perceptive agent asked.
'He'd had a lot to drink but he knew what he was doing'
Penelope scoffed
'He could barely stand up'
'And how often have you seen Derek like that?'
'Not often' she shrugged, 'he gets weird when I get asked out, it's a male possessive thing'
'No' Rossi straightened,
'It's a Derek and you thing, you might want to think on that'
—-
By the time the others got back Penelope had packed her bags and was sitting downstairs again, fingers flying over her laptop.
'Hey baby girl' she looked up, a tired Derek smiled weakly at her.
'You in hurry?' Emily asked gesturing to the bags at her side.
'Just eager to get home beautiful' she quipped.
'Hot date?' Emily didn't see the sharp look Hotch shot her.
With a quick glance at Derek she shook her head. His gaze was fixed straight ahead.
'Nope, my only date tonight is with my pillow'
—-
Derek stared out of the window. Everyone was dozing but Penelope was not drooling on his shoulder as usual. Instead she had played some computer game with Reid. He rubbed a hand over his face, this was crazy. He'd wanted to talk to her all week but they never seemed to have time and for the first time ever he wasn't sure what to say to her.
He sighed again.
She'd seemed her usual self, but there'd been no movies, no late night talks once work was done. He tried to tell himself she was tired, it had been a craG few days for her and she wasn't used to being in the field...but since when did his baby girl not want to talk to him.
He'd really screwed this up.
—
'Wanna grab a beer?' Emily asked generally as they touched down, everyone awake and somewhat refreshed. JJ immediately shook her head,
'I'm heading home to Will'
'Garcia?'
'Sorry beautiful but I need my beauty sleep' they all smiled. Closer then Penelops realised Derek mad she'd jump as he took the bag from her hands.
'I'll drive you baby'
'Really Morgan don't you wanna...?' This time Prentiss did see Hotchs sharp look and trailed off.
'I'll come' Reid said quickly.
Derek took her arm gently
'We'll see you guys Monday'
'We will?' Penelope frowned turning back but Derek tucked her arm firmly under his and led her towards the elevator.
