Chapter 5

Penelope felt like she was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and safety. She sighed as she snuggled in deeper. She felt arms tightened around her and her eyes flew open. The jackhammer in her head made her quickly shut them again. Her heart raced as she tried to piece together the end of the night.

Images rushed through her head. She was dancing. She was dancing with Derek. She was dancing with Derek closely. She was dancing with Derek closely and could tell just how much he was enjoying it. Hotch ordered them home together. She was sleeping in the cab. She pulled off her…. Oh sweet little baby Jesus!

Taking a deep breath, Penelope tried to take stock of her surroundings. She realized she was clothed, even if it was just her underwear. She also realized that she could feel Derek's bare arms and legs wrapped around her. Moving very slowly, she reached behind her to his hip to determine his state of dress. Feeling fabric, she sighed in relief.

Derek grinned as he felt her lightly touch his hip. He nuzzled his face into her neck and whispered, "Good morning, gorgeous."

She stiffened up slightly but tried to remain calm. "I was afraid I had already showed you a good morning, Hot Stuff."

Derek chuckled in her hair. "No, Baby Girl. We just slept. Although other than the headache, this is the best morning I've had in a while."

Penelope rolled in his arms to look at him. She smiled sweetly seeing the happiness and contentment in his face. "Derek…. What's going on?" she whispered. Her voice was so quiet and small, so unlike Penelope. Her hands resting on his chest could feel the heat of his skin. She searched for the answers in his eyes.

Derek moved his hand up to brush the hair out of her eyes, his fingers trailing down the side of her face. He smiled at her with all the love in his heart. He wanted to kiss away all her questions. He wanted to do so much more, but he knew that it wasn't the right time.

Quietly he said, "I know I've never felt more happy, content, safe and loved than I do right at this moment. I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to move from this spot." He placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and nuzzled his face into her neck. He wasn't sure if he could look at her face if she was going to reject him. He just wanted to be close to her.

Penelope stroked the back of his head gently. "Me too, Derek. Me too." She whispered into his skin. Her heart was exploding. Could life be this perfect?, she wondered. She gasped slightly as Derek started to lightly kiss her neck, unable to control himself.

Before things went any farther, a cell phone buzzed from the bedside table. Derek groaned into her neck as Penelope lifted her head to look at the clock and said, "And the real world returns at 8 am."

Derek reached over and grabbed the phone without looking at it, never moving his face from Penelope's neck. "Morgan" he answered, without even opening his eyes.

"Where is my girlfriend?" came the bark on the other end of the line.

"What? Who is this?" Derek questioned not understanding.

"Agent Morgan, please put Penelope on the phone. I'd like to know why you are answering her phone this morning sounding like you just woke up." a very agitated Sam yelled into the phone.

"Holy crappola!" Penelope whispered as she heard Sam's rant into the phone. She grabbed the phone out of Derek's hands and jumped up, almost throwing Derek off the bed in the process.

Derek yelled "Hey Garcia, I answered your phone by mistake!" as if she was in another room, hoping Sam wouldn't think the worst. Yes, he wanted her to be single, but he didn't want to cause her any pain.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. She tried to compose herself and not feel guilty. "Hello?" she asked with a cheery voice.

"Why is Derek Morgan answering your phone at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning?" Sam yelled into the phone.

Penelope jerked the phone away from her ear in attempt to have mercy on her splitting headache. Calmly but with a little agitation in her voice, "Well, it was on the coffee table, and he picked it up by mistake. I'm guessing he was still asleep on the couch." She hated lying but knew the truth would not go over well. Sam was already jealous of Derek.

Sam calmed down slightly but continued on his line of questioning. "Why is he even there?"

"It was a late night and we split a cab." she said plainly, as if that should explain everything.

"Penelope, I do not want Derek Morgan spending the night in your apartment. Do you hear me?" Sam's tone was now something Penelope did not like, at all.

"Ohhhhh… I hear you! Now, you hear me. Derek Morgan is my best friend and if he needs to crash on my couch, he can do so. If you have a problem with that, then we have more issues that I thought!" she barked back at him.

"More issues than you thought?" Sam questioned into the phone. "You know what? This bullshit isn't worth it. You can have your best friend. I'm done." With the click of the ended call, Penelope dropped her phone on the table and dropped her face into her hands, elbows resting on her knees.

Her mind was racing. Am I upset? Is this a good thing? What is happening between me and Derek? Do I want anything to happen? Of course I do! I want everything with Derek!

Derek's voice rips her from her thoughts, "Are you ok?" He's leaning against the door frame to her bedroom, the beaded curtain parted around him, still in nothing but his boxer briefs.

Penelope's breathing hitched as she looked up at him. It was wrong for any man to look that good. "Uh..yeah. I guess. Apparently Sam and I broke up." She took a deep breath to focus her thoughts on her imploded relationship and not the man standing almost naked in her apartment. "I knew we were on our last legs, but I guess I wasn't thinking it would happen this way. I feel bad that I got angry at him when he had every right to be jealous of the situation. And I lied to him about what was going on!"

"Don't feel guilty, Baby Girl. I'm sorry. I never meant to put you in that position." He walked over and kneeled in front of her, pushing her knees apart and leaning in between her legs. He put his hands on her face and looked into her eyes, "But I'm not at all sorry about the outcome." He rested his forehead on hers and took several deep breaths.

"Baby Girl, you have no idea how hard it is to not to kiss you right now, but I've got my own phone call to make. And a cold shower to take."

"What?" Derek's words caught her by surprise. She looked up as he stood up in front of her, and she totally understood why he needed a cold shower. She searched for words but all she could do was gape at him, her mouth slightly open. He smirked at her as he turned to walk away.

"Maybe if you put on some clothes, it would help me." He said, as he looked over his shoulder at her with a giant grin on his face.

"What? OH MY HEAVENS!" Only then did Penelope look down and realize she was sitting there in her bra and panties. And while they were pretty red lace and did match, they left nothing to the imagination.

While Derek was in the shower, Penelope puts on sweat pants and a hooded sweatshirt that happened to belong to Derek. Just for good measure she throws on her robe on top of that. As she's making coffee, she's trying to slow her brain down.

She's nervous and excited and guilty all at the same time. Derek is obviously attracted to her in a way she never imagined. That was always the missing piece to the puzzle. That's what kept them as just friends. Wasn't it? She began to let her heart hope that it could be true. She just hates that she's hurting other people in the process. She likes Savannah. She liked Sam. But she loves Derek.

Derek pads in the kitchen in his jeans but nothing else. "Momma, you have a shirt I can wear?" He lets out a laugh as he sees all the clothes she's put on, "Unless you're wearing all of my clothes so I can't wear any."

She looks at him with a saucy grin, "Like I really have to try that hard to keep you shirtless." She laughed and raised her eyebrow at him, "I was just trying to help out, as you suggested."

"While I appreciate that, seeing you in my clothes isn't exactly helpful." He smirked back at her.

All she could do was look at him with wide eyes and her mouth in a small "o" shape. He laughed softly and wrapped her up in a hug, "I love you, silly woman." The words just slipped out of his mouth so naturally.

"Derek, do you mean that? Do you love me?" she pulled back looking into his eyes.

"You know I do." he said softly. He hadn't wanted to have this conversation just yet, but he wasn't exactly helping the situation with his touches, kisses and affection.

"I know you do." She paused and lowered her head briefly before she looked back at him with such uncertainty. "But do you love me?"

Derek looked at her with so much love and adoration, it almost knocked the wind out of her before she could even hear his response. "I've loved you since the moment I met you. I was just not ready for everything you wanted or needed."

Tears of joy were building in Penelope's eyes but had not fallen. Her heart was beating so hard and fast that she knew Derek must feel it too. "Are you ready now?"

"No. Not yet."

A/N: Of, first, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger. This part of the story has been hard for me to write. I want to keep the characters true to themselves, but how do you do that while writing something that's AU? I hope I had made it evident that Penelope was not too invested in her relationship with Sam and wasn't expecting it to go much further. I was hoping our snow days would help me get this out more quickly but the kiddo has kept me occupied when I'm not actually at work. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up tomorrow night. I have a fairly clear idea how I want the rest of the story to go, so I think we'll be wrapped up in 5 more chapters or so. I'll be on vacation for Spring Break in 2 weeks, and I plan to be done before then! Thanks for the feedback!