Chapter 9

AN: Thank you for the reviews! This has been so fun to write...Sorry I am late with this posting. Seven year old decided to share her strep throat with me...So, have you all figured out Pen's plan?

It was Sunday night, time for Derek to crack open his laptop and start reading messages from perspective brides on MeetYourMatch. He glared at the hated shiny silver rectangle sitting on his coffee table. He was completely not in the mood to deal with this anymore.

He'd had a lousy weekend. He'd been scheduled to see a movie with Garcia—one of a few "dates" he actually enjoyed going on now—but she'd canceled on him early Saturday morning. So, he'd spent the weekend moping, bored and irritated. He'd started the pity train Saturday, and he couldn't jump off. The last thing he wanted to do was this wife hunt, but he'd made a promise to himself to do it, no excuses.

Bringing his cup of cocoa with mini-marshmallows—it was a rare frou-frou thing Derek loved—he plopped the mug on the table, then plopped himself on the couch. Thinking of Penelope, he moved the mug a touch farther from the laptop. He smiled to himself when he thought about how nervous she'd been when he'd had the wine glasses too close to the computer.

He stretched his arms over his head, then rolled his shoulders, laced his fingers and pressed them outward, preparing for the battle that was going to take place. Opening the laptop, he fired the screen up and opened his web browser, navigating to the MeetYourMatch site...

Welcome, HotStuff123, it told him cheerfully.

He admittedly wasn't too creative with nicknames!

He clicked the message button and pulled up the thirty-eight messages that were waiting for him. He stifled a groan—more ineligibles he had to deal with. A few he clicked away immediately, including one from Kitty Monson. He wondered how she'd gotten back again; she must've had twenty screen names. She really didn't know how to take no for an answer. A couple of other messages were from ladies who had names he didn't really like, like ImEZ4U, which sounded slutty, and oiahfpoihpa, which made no sense to him at all. Some had decent names, like Melissa1980, but put a greeting in the tag line that was offensive, like My place or yours?

Just when he was ready to click the damned thing off, he found one right towards the top of the pile. Someone named SweetPea34. She had a simple greeting, just a gentle, normal, Hi there, HotStuff123.

He clicked her message and opened it up:

Hi Hot Stuff!

I'm SweetPea34. My age is in my handle. Glad yours isn't—I'd have to alert Guinness! :)

I'd love to talk with you; I think we have similar interests, and yet are enough different to be interesting to each other.

Awaiting your chat. I should be on tonight. SP

Derek clicked open her profile and started to read. What she claimed was right—they did have similar and different interests. She liked computers and programming, which made him smile. He thought about how he'd teased Penelope Friday afternoon, that he'd find someone who liked computers.

He clicked on the link that said Chat now, and was surprised when a little box popped up. A second later, it said:

SweetPea34: Hi! :)

Derek paused for a second, for some reason feeling a little nervous.

SweetPea34: Go ahead...I don't bite. LOL

He smiled, then began to type.

HotStuff123: Hi there. Sorry I'm slow; new to this

SweetPea34: np

A second later...

SweetPea34:That means no problem!

HotStuff123: I think I need a dictionary for this! LOL

SweetPea34: You're not too bad. You got LOL right! You're a quick study. ;)

Derek chatted for about an hour with SweetPea34, past the time his battery pack on his computer flashed that it was running low. She seemed so nice, friendly, warm...and that was just from a computer desktop. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about this woman; maybe this computer dating thing wouldn't be so bad after all?

Then it flashed again...

SweetPea34: HS, I have to go. Work 2morrow

HotStuff123: Ok. TTYL?

Derek smiled. He was feeling hopeful for the first time in eons, and he was proud of the new computer lingo he was learning.

SweetPea34: When?

HotStuff123: Tomorrow?

SweetPea34: Sure thing, handsome

That last comment shocked him. It sounded exactly like something Penelope would say.

He sat there frowning for a second, thoughts coming together in his mind. He'd have to ask this SweetPea34...Were all technology Goddess that similar?

He didn't get a chance to ask...

SweetPea34 has signed off

Penelope watched as Derek walked past her office, his hands in his pockets, humming happily. He looked positively giddy. He didn't stop in like he always did. That was irritating, because she was waiting for him to do it. Sighing, she turned back to her computer and began to type.

"Feeling better?" he asked, finally stopping in her office later.

"What?" she replied, turning to face him.

"You were sick Saturday—you had to cancel our movie date—and then you were gone Monday and Tuesday," he reminded her. "Feeling better?"

"Yes. I'm feeling great. How are you?"

"I couldn't be any better," he answered, a big, radiant, nearly cheesy grin on his face.

"Oh...good," she said softly.

"I need you and Lynch to double with me one more time tomorrow night," he said, his huge grin never faltering.

"Really?"

He nodded quickly. "Yep."

"Oh," she said, curious. "Who?"

"This woman, SweetPea34. We've been chatting for three days now." He was still smiling, still so happy. "I'm going to ask her out."

Penelope smiled back at him, beaming. "Good! Good. So, have you seen her face?"

"No. She's new to the site, so she has no profile picture yet." He shrugged. "But that doesn't really matter to me. She could be a one eyed purple people eater, and I'd still like her a ton."

Penelope chuckled. "My, my. You are smitten."

"I think I found the right one this time, Penelope."

"How do you know?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Talking to her, speaking to her these last few days, I just know," he said softly, and then caught her gaze. "You know, she reminds me a lot of you."

Looking up at him, her eyes grew wider, and she lost all ability to speak.

"I...I'm...ah...," she began to stammer...

...then she simply fell silent. She couldn't think of the right thing to say.

"Tomorrow night?" he asked, and she thought that maybe his grin lost a little of that wattage he originally had.

Maybe just a touch.

She nodded and smiled. "Tomorrow night."