Chapter 5

AN: Thanks so much for the reviews! Wanted to get this out there before I pop popcorn, sit back, and squee for my favorite team in the whole world (the BAU team, of course!) Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Derek was sitting on Penelope's couch, easing off the uncomfortable pair of tights he'd had to wear. How electric blue tights went with the hot pink dress he was wearing, he didn't have a clue, but he'd worn them anyway because Penelope had wanted him to.

"Pompous...son of a...bitch," he growled, yanking at the toe of the tights while hopping on one foot. They seemed to stretch forever and ever and ever. "Worthless...good for nothing..."

"Peel them from your waist, Derek," Penelope snapped, coming into the bedroom. "You're going to tear a hole in them."

He wondered for a second how she'd gotten in, and then remembered it was her place; of, course she had a key.

"Well excuuuuse me," he snipped back at her.

"Hey," she hissed. "I didn't ruin your damned tie; you don't ruin my tights!"

He put his hands on his hips and looked back at her. "Well, I wouldn't have had to wear your precious tights if I hadn't had to tolerate two hours with dumb ass Lynch!"

"You leave Kevin out of this," she growled, stepping closer to Derek. She was nose to nose. "I had to spend two hours with Kayla pawing between my legs and pressing her almighty fake rack against my arm!"

He grinned at her. "It is a nice rack..."

Penelope tossed her hands up and said, "You're hopeless!"

"I'm hopeless?" he remarked, narrowing his eyes at her. "At least my date was kind to you. Your date was nasty to me the whole evening, talking about how you're infatuated with me."

She stared at him for a minute, the most hopeless—and embarrassed—look on her face. "Kevin said I was infatuated with you?"

God, he was an ass. He never meant to hurt her. It made Derek feel terrible. It was obvious she still loved and cared for Lynch, and he'd made a complete mess of it tonight.

"Baby Girl," he said, sitting down. "It wasn't exactly like that..."

She sat next to him on the bed. "How exactly was it, D?"

He scrubbed a hand over his face, scowling when mascara ended up on his hand. He almost wiped his hand on her hot pink dress, but then thought again about doing that; she didn't ruin his clothes or his relationship.

He looked at her and said, "Lynch said we were too close. He said you had feelings for me that you weren't willing to look into."

"Derek—"

"He also said I was trying to steal you away from him," he said quickly.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "He always thinks that."

"Well..." he began. It was time to come clean, completely clean, and start anew. He looked at Penelope, took a deep breath, and then said, "That's because he's been right."

"What?" she asked, her eyes going wide in surprise.

He smiled. He hadn't believed his eyes could go that wide, but Penelope had just proved him wrong. He thought about commenting, but he couldn't get sidetracked from what he needed to say.

"Penelope...I've wanted you for a long time. Longer than you would ever know," he said, and then paused and met her eyes. "Years, baby."

"Oh...oh, God."

"I am so sorry that it caused this much strife between you and Lynch," he said apologetically. "I didn't know it was that bad...or that I was that obvious." He chuckled a little. "Lynch could be a profiler."

"He's not that observant," she muttered.

Derek shrugged. "Anyway, bottom line is that I am a shitty best friend, and you deserve a hundred times better than me."

"No, I don't, D."

"I won't do it again," he said, his heart in his eyes. She noticed his expressions were so much more readable in her eyes, like he wasn't able to school them the way he usually did. "I won't stand in the way of your happiness," he paused, looking bleak. "Not anymore."

"Wait, Derek..."

He felt his stomach churn and his heart seize as he answered her, "That is why when Lynch gave me an ultimatum tonight, him or me...I chose him for you."

Her jaw dropped.

"I'll...I'll back off," he said. "I promise."

"Wait a damned second!" she snapped. "Are you nuts?"

He looked at her, very surprised. "Huh?"

She scoffed. "You are! You're more nuts than a tree full of pecans!"

"Hey!" he said, feeling affronted.

"Derek," she said, trying to calm herself, "when Kevin offered an ultimatum, you should've known I don't take well to those. He's done that to me before...and do you know who I always chose?"

He paused, his heart in his throat, at the rhetorical question.

"You are around, aren't you?" she snapped. "Guess who?"

It wasn't rhetorical after all. "Oh, P...Baby.."

"And that! Baby Girl!" she snarled again. "You call another woman Baby Girl when you come? What kind of thing is that to do? I would never come under Kevin saying Hot St—"

"I do not call another woman that!" he snapped back.

She laughed bitterly. "Ohhhh, yes, you do! You told Kayla—"

"It's not another woman!" he interrupted her. "It's you."

She stared at him, confused.

"Baby," he said, putting his hands on her face. They felt so small, so cold against her cheeks, so different than when he usually did it, but the look in his eyes felt the same as it had always been. "It's you. I close my eyes, and I picture you. Every damn time."

"Oh, Derek," she whispered, tears clouding her eyes.

"I always have...I always will," he said, and then chuckled softly. "That just like how I love you, too, Penelope."

For a long time, they stood there, his hands on her face, her standing there, taller than him, tears streaming down her face.

"I...I never dreamed...I..."

"Lean down here, Baby Girl," he said with a smile. "I can't kiss you up there."

"Oh, Derek," she said, sweeping her arms around him and kissing him like he had seen it done in the movies a million times. A thousand rushing tingles hit him the moment her lips touched his. It was magic, it was passion, it was life and love and everything they had ever been to one another.

She held him in her arms, and he held her back, afraid to let go, never wanting to let go. When she pressed forward for more, moving her mouth against his to sweep her tongue inside, he opened fully for her, letting the tide rush him away.

Soon, he took the heat of passion in control, alpha male that he was, and began to kiss her. He moved his hands down the curve of her body, over her breast, to loop under her sweetly rounded bottom. Her lush softness felt good against his planes, and—

Hersoftness.

"Derek!" she cried, ripping her mouth away from his as she came to the same realization. She began to cry and laugh in earnest. "We're...we're us!"

He beamed and laughed, too. "We are."

She paused for a second, in thought, and then said wistfully, "I'm going to miss being with you all the time...or at least part of you."

"You always had my heart," he said, as he held her a little closer. "That part will never change."

She touched his face lovingly with her fingertips. "Well, you can have mine, too. Then we're even..."

"You said it, Hot Stuff," he teased, before sweeping her up in his arms and continuing their magical kiss.

AN2: So sorry I forgot to post this on my last chapters...better late than never, eh?

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