Disclaimer: I own nothing of Criminal Minds.
Thanks for all the reviews guys! I appreciate your feedback. I also wanted to give a big thank you to CeeCee333. I should have thanked you in the last chapter, but I forgot to throw it in. She helped me go through the story and let me know her thoughts. Your help is much appreciated girly :)
"Alright, Morgan," Rossi said, putting a bag of fortune cookies down on his desk. "I pulled several strings to get these, but I got it done. Each one is personalized with what you wanted them to say."
"Exactly right?" Derek asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rossi glared at him. "Yes," he said. "Every single one is just the way you want it."
Morgan nodded. "Excellent," he said. "You and Reid are ready for a night of helping your bestest buddy?" He grinned wickedly.
He rolled his eyes. "I suppose," he said. "I get a supposedly good meal. I get to see the two most compatible people get together after years of watching you two dance around each other. The night should be...interesting."
"To say the least," Reid said as he entered the room. "Now, I made sure to call the restaurant earlier and set everything up. They're giving us a corner table and putting Penelope and Michael somewhere where we can see them. At various points in the evening they will bring fortune cookies to both of them, making sure that Penelope gets the special ones. They'll have a different wrapping as they were made at different places, so they'll know which ones to give her." He grinned. You know, this was a lot easier than I thought it would be. They were very accommodating. A little interested in why they were doing this, but were willing to do everything possible to help."
Derek shrugged. "Who cares? As long as it works, I'm good with it," he said.
"I'm pretty certain this will help," Rossi said confidently. "If it doesn't, I will lose all faith in the human race. You two are so stubborn, it makes me want to bonk your heads together until you realize you belong together."
"Well then, they should have nothing to worry about," Reid said. He glanced down at his watch and added, "If we want to make it at the same time as Penelope and Michael, we'll need to leave now. And seeing as this restaurant is nice, we'll have to put on some nicer clothing than these outfits."
Rossi and Morgan nodded. "Operation 'Dazzle Garcia Off Her Feet And Into Morgan's Arms' is starting now," Rossi said, motioning for them all to leave.
XXXXX
Penelope was just finishing curling her hair when the doorbell to her apartment rang. Quickly, she turned the iron off and slid her feet into her black stilettos. She clicked towards the door and opened it to reveal Michael. With his blonde hair and glittering blue eyes, he was the epitome of handsome. Well, a different kind of handsome than Derek. His abs were nowhere near as sculpted as his. When they were in bed together, she sometimes had to imagine him as Derek in order to climax. She knew damn well what that meant. She just chose not to face it.
He smiled and held out a bouquet of red roses. It was terribly cliche - and if anything she wasn't cliche - but it was sweet. She leaned forward for a peck on the lips. "Hi there birthday girl," he said with a grin. He stroked her cheek momentarily. "You look beautiful tonight in that lavender dress."
She blushed. She certainly felt beautiful. His words only added to it. "Are you ready to go, Handsome?" she asked brightly.
Nodding, Michael extended his arm for her to take. "Whenever you are, beautiful," he said.
XXXXX
"Alright," Reid said, straightening his tie. "According to my watch, if Penelope and Michael are to arrive at eight o'clock on the dot, they should be here within the next two minutes."
Derek was wringing his hands together nervously. "Yeah," he snapped. "Good to know the exact -" But then his speech stopped abruptly. Rossi and Reid looked in the direction of the door and saw Penelope coming in, Michael holding the door for her. She looked positively, drop dead beautiful. Morgan couldn't take his eyes off her. His mouth began to water as his eyes swept up and down her luscious curves that her light purple dress displayed perfectly.
"Morgan!" Rossi hissed, slapping his arm. "Menu! Up! Cover your face!"
Immediately Derek pulled the menu up to cover his face, peeking his eyes up over the top of the leather bound menu. He watched as Michael and Penelope were led towards their table in the middle of the restaurant. Rossi, Reid, and Morgan were well hidden from them, but could easily see the couple from their seats. Morgan bristled as Michael pulled out Penelope's chair for her and kissed the top of her head. That was his special gesture. He was the one who kissed the top of her head. Even when she had been with Lynch, everyone knew that Derek was the one who kissed her forehead, her cheek, the top of her head.
Apparently, Michael had a death wish.
"Okay, Wah is in position to go to the table," Reid said. "He's got the water and he's got the fortune cookies. He's all set. Garcia and Michael should be receiving their messages any minute now. Well, Michael will get some crappy, random messages while Garcia gets the personal ones you made, Morgan."
Derek nodded and Rossi said with a devilish grin, "The plan is now in motion."
XXXXX
Penelope smiled up at the waiter who had just come to their table, a tray in his hand. This puzzled her. Did he really need a tray to carry a pitcher of water?
"Hello, my name is Wah. I'll be your server this evening," the waiter said brightly bringing his tray down with an ornate pitcher of water on it. In addition to it, there were two fortune cookies. Now she was truly confused. Fortune cookies came at the end of the meal with the check. What the hell was going on?
He began by pouring water into their glasses and when he was finished, he set one cookie in front of each of them. He smiled. "I imagine you're wondering why I've brought you two fortune cookies right now," he said.
"Kind of," Michael said curiously. "Why have you brought us them now?"
"Well," Wah began to explain, "today just so happens to be Fortune Cookie Day. So with each course and drink, you will receive another one."
Penelope smiled brightly. "This is sort of a special surprise!" she said happily. "I've never even heard of Fortune Cookie Day."
Wah smiled. "I'm happy you've made a new discovery then," he said. "Now, what can I start you off with to drink? Our bar is extensive and we have drinks from all over the world."
"We'll have a bottle of your best Shiraz," Michael said. Penelope looked like she would protest and he shook his head, holding up his hand in the process. "No, no! I want to pamper you the way you deserve to be on your birthday." He looked back up at their waiter and repeated, "A bottle of your best Shiraz...please."
Wah nodded and started off to get the wine. Penelope looked down at her fortune cookie and began to open it, tearing the plastic off. She turned the cookie in her hands and smiled. Fortune Cookie Day, huh? It was a nice surprise to her to have it fall on the same day as her birthday. Cracking the cookie open, she brought out the little piece of paper and read it.
Your voice leads your love out of darkness. Never stop talking to them.
She frowned. This didn't seem like the usual fortune cookie message.
"Hmm," Michael mused. "Mine says, 'A good time to finish up old tasks.' That's kind of lame. Usually they are. I suppose I've never understood what all the fuss was about them. Personally, I've always found them to be pretty lame."
Penelope couldn't help but laugh nervously. She had always had fun reading them. You never knew what was concealed in the hard, sweet cookie. Derek and she had always had fun when they got Chinese takeout. They would laugh at each other's silly fortunes, wondering if they actually held their fate or if they were just lame crap.
"What does yours say?" he asked. "Anything good."
Deciding to hide what hers had said, she shook her head and went with bluffing. "Oh, it's just really lame. Just like yours."
He smiled teasingly. "Well, I guess we'll just have to buckle down for the other ones. We're going to get a lot more tonight it would appear. After all, we are doing a three course meal."
She smiled weakly. "Yeah," she said, still pondering the strangeness of her message. It sounded oddly familiar. It sounded like someone truly romantic was speaking to her.
But who?
XXXXX
Rossi, Reid, and Morgan observed as Wah, the waiter they had recruited to assist with their plan, brought Penelope and Michael a bottle of wine. Before the wine had come, they had watched the two open their first cookie of the evening. They watched as Michael laughed at how his was lame. But it was Penelope they were really concentrating on. And her reaction was exactly how they hoped it would be.
"Her facial expression is exactly what we hoped it would be!" Rossi said excitedly. "She likes the first one!" He clapped Derek on the back. "You got this in the bag, Morgan!"
"Let's hope," he said. "I don't think I'll be able to handle it if this doesn't work."
"It'll be okay," Reid said. "I'm positive. And usually I don't like to say that things are positive, but I know Garcia loves you. There's no doubt in my mind about it."
Derek was looking towards his Baby Girl and a fierce yearning began to make his heart thump louder in his chest. He watched as she bit her bottom lip and looked confused. She looked so beautiful when she was thinking hard. Her eyes drifted up and she looked around the restaurant in confusion, as if she was looking for the source of the message. He retreated further behind his menu and watched her.
"God, I really hope this works," he said dejected.
