At the end of his first day back, she felt bad for him. At the end of the first week, she'd had enough of him. But at the end of the third week, the bastard was lucky to be alive.

"I'm gonna go grab some chips from the vending machine. You want anything?" Morgan asked.

Penelope shook her head. "I'm all set," she snapped.

Derek lifted an eyebrow at her, then turned on his crutches and left her office. She barely had time to relax before her phone started ringing. She hit the button, but no greeting flowed from her lips.

"Garcia. Do you have anything for me?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah," she snapped. "I have a hot tip. If Morgan goes missing, don't waste your time profiling. It was me. I did it."

"Garcia?" Hotch said again, indicating a request for clarification.

"Hotch, it's been three weeks. Can't he start travelling with you again?"

"He's not cleared for field work," Hotch reminded her.

"I swear to God, Hotch…" She looked around her office—at the circles on her desk area from the many cups of coffee he brought in—overfilled so the liquid sloshed over the edges of the cups when he put them down—and at the popcorn kernels he'd dropped all over her carpet. "I'm going to kill him."

"Garcia—"

"I can't take it, Hotch!" she yelled. "And no, I still don't have anything."

"Hopefully just a little longer," she heard him say, his voice tinged with humor. When she heard the line click, she threw her headset down onto her desk and dropped into her seat with a sigh. From the corner of her eye, she saw Morgan approaching her office with his bag of chips and a packet of peanuts. She turned her chair around so it was facing the door. "Stop!" she commanded before he could walk through the doorway.

"What?" he asked looking around.

"You can't come back into my office," she told him, on the brink of panic.

"Garcia—"

"Until you've cleaned up this…mess with your…fricken' coffee rings and…your fricken' popcorn kernels you cannot come into my office! I can't take it, Morgan! I just…I can't take it!"

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "I think I liked you better when you were hitting me in the face with a pillow."

"Morgan—"

"And speaking of pillows, what kind of pillow talk do you like?" he asked with a teasing glint in his eyes.

"What?!" she asked in disbelief. The last thing she was, at this exact moment, was attracted to him, and he was talking pillow talk? What the hell was wrong with him? OK, now she was attracted to him again. Seriously? Seriously! "You're infuriating," she spat.

He lifted one corner of his lips in a grin. "And yet you still want me," he taunted.

"I'm mad, Morgan, not blind," she muttered.

"Neither am I, baby girl," he told her in a low voice, his gaze travelling up and down her body. "Neither am I."

___

"Everything is going to be fine," Penelope told JJ and Will later that night as she looked at Henry, fast asleep in his crib. How hard could it be? He was her godson, for crying out loud. They must have some kind of bond just from that. So what if she hadn't seen him very often? Babies were simple…right?

"If you need anything," JJ said. "If he so much as sneezes—"

"Honey," Will said. "Our reservations are in an hour. And it's going to take that long to get there."

"Right," JJ said. She leaned down and kissed her son on his cheek, and then turned to her husband. "Ready?" she asked.

He nodded. "Thanks again, Penelope," he said as they left the nursery.

"No problem," she said as she watched them walk out the front door.

___

Except that forty-five minutes later, she realized that it was a big problem. Henry was awake—and screaming at the top of his lungs. She'd changed him, tried to feed him—but he wouldn't take his bottle, and now she was sitting in the chair rocking him, but it wasn't helping. He was still crying. She pulled out her cell phone and typed in "how to get a baby to stop crying." The first thing that caught her eye was riding. She put Henry in his car seat, wrapped a blanket around him, and took the shrieking baby to her car. She rode around for twenty minutes, and he had calmed down a little, but was still crying. She bit her lower lip as she heard him sobbing. She stopped the car and hit four on the speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Morgan, what are you doing?" she asked frantically.

"Just…reviewing a case," he told her.

"Are you…attached to it?" she asked.

"What's going on, Garcia?"

"I—I need you, Morgan," she said.

"Right now?" he asked.

"Right now," she affirmed.

"Well it's about damn time," he said.

"Morgan! Not for that," she told him.

"Then for what?" he asked, his tone low.

She sighed. "Are you going to be home?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Great. I'm out front. I'll be right in," she said, closing her phone.

She walked to his front door, and he had it opened before she even made it up the steps. "You brought company," he said, his eyes falling to the car seat.

She nodded. It didn't escape her attention how sexy he looked standing there, resting on his crutches in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. It was obvious that he was in for the night—and not expecting company. For some reason—that made her feel really good.

___

"What's the problem?" Derek asked when she had taken off her coat and was sitting down on the couch.

"He doesn't like me," she said with a pout as she leaned back into the pillows.

Morgan laughed. "Of course he likes you."

"No, Morgan. He'd been up for like…five minutes and already he was screeching so loudly that I think he popped one of my eardrums."

"Your ears look fine to me," Morgan observed.

"I'm not kidding, Morgan," she said. "It's like when he hears my voice—"

As if on cue, Henry started screaming.

"See?" she said.

Morgan laughed as he leaned forward and picked Henry up out of his car seat. "Hey, buddy," he said.

"I wouldn't talk to him," she warned.

But Henry broke out into a smile as he reached for Derek's face and rested both of his hands on his cheeks.

"Would you look at that?" Derek said softly.

"Awww…he likes you," Penelope said.

"Of course he does. Everybody likes Derek Morgan."

Penelope rolled her eyes.

"Jealousy is ugly, Garcia. Even on a hot momma like you."

She laughed at that, and Henry turned in her direction. At the sight of her, his face scrunched up and his lower lip began to quiver.

"Don't cry," Penelope begged.

Derek moved the baby so that Penelope was no longer in his line of vision. "It's OK," he said with a grin. And then, to Garcia, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing! I didn't do anything!" she said fervently.

"Well, you did something," Derek muttered.

"Do you have any liquor?" she asked.

"You're not drinking while you're watching JJ's kid," he scolded.

"I was gonna put it in his bottle," she joked.

"You're gonna make a great mom, Garcia," Morgan said sarcastically.

"Are you kidding? This kid is like live birth control. He's cute, but his personality leaves a little bit to be desired."

Morgan laughed. "He just needs to know that you're not scared of him."

"I'm not scared of him," she said.

"Wanna hold him?" Morgan asked.

"No!" she said quickly.

Morgan grinned triumphantly.

"Fine. He's a little intimidating," she admitted.

___

"Is he out?" she asked quietly.

"Like a light," Derek whispered.

She nodded. "Good. That's good."

Morgan stood up carefully, then used one crutch as he carried Henry to a room off the living room and laid him down.

"How's your thigh?" she asked when he returned.

He lifted an eyebrow at her, and fought a grin.

"Where you were stabbed," she clarified.

He laughed. "It's fine," he told her.

"Good."

"You want a beer?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I can't. I'm on duty," she reminded him.

"Right," he said, as he got up. He made his way to his kitchen and returned with a beer for himself and bottled water for her. "Sorry. It's all I have," he said, sitting back down on the couch.

"That's fine," she said.

"Listen, Garcia…I'm sorry I've been driving you nuts," he told her. "I'm just bored as hell."

"I know," she said understandingly. "I'm sure it's hard to be stuck at Quantico while everyone else is out in the field."

He nodded as he took a long swallow of beer. "That and the fact that I'm stuck in that tiny office with you all day long."

"Am I getting on your nerves?" she asked with a grin.

He smiled back at her. "More like…every nerve ending," he admitted.

"Derek…" she said nervously.

He reached over with his hand and picked up a piece of her hair. "Tell me you don't feel it," he said, his eyes darkening. He ran his hand down her soft locks until it fell back down onto her shoulder.

"Derek, that's not the point," she said evasively.

He put his bottle down onto the coffee table and moved closer to her.

"You're ignoring my statement."

"I know," she said anxiously. He kept coming closer and closer.

"Why?" he asked.

Instead of answering, she moved closer, meeting him halfway. "This will make things messy," she said.

"As long as the mess doesn't trickle into your office…" he teased.

"Derek…"

"Penelope…"

His mouth came down onto hers and he ran his tongue along her lower lip. He didn't want soft and sweet. He'd been waiting for this for a long time, and he wanted hot and hard. His tongue plunged into her mouth as soon as it opened, and when it found hers, he lifted his hands up under her shirt to rest on her bare skin just above the waistband of her pants. She lifted her arms to his shoulders and her grip tightened. He leaned backwards on the couch, taking her with him. She kissed him eagerly, and it excited him to know that she'd been waiting for it as long as he had. He brought his hands up to unclasp her bra and splayed the fingers of one hand along her ribcage before tugging her bra away from her breasts and moving it upwards. He reached down for the hem of her shirt and pushed it up, his thumbs caressing her nipples.

He pulled away from her, breaking the kiss. "Garcia," he said breathlessly.

"What?" she moaned.

"Take your hands off my shoulders and put them on the couch," he told her.

"What?" she asked.

He grinned at her. "Just trust me," he said.

She did as she was told, and he moved further down the couch so that his face was even with her breasts. He brought his hand up to run his thumb over one nipple, and at her sharp intake of breath, he lifted his head to take her other nipple in his mouth. He swirled his tongue around and around, and then used his teeth to nip at the peak of her breast.

"Derek," she said.

He pulled his mouth away, and moved to her other breast, paying it the same attention. He was reaching for the snap on her pants when he heard a ringing phone.

"Derek," Penelope said.

But he was already unbuttoning her pants.

"Derek!" she repeated. "That might be JJ."

He fell back onto the couch with a sigh, and she reached for her phone in her purse, sitting up so that she was straddling him, her hand resting absently on his stomach. She cleared her throat. "Hello?" she said, trying like hell to keep her voice even. But it was hard when Morgan reached up and took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, rolling them around. He was lying there with one arm behind his head, a smug look on his face. She batted his hand away, but he just reached for her again.

"Yeah, he's doing great, JJ. He's fast asleep. He loves his Aunt Penelope."

Derek had to bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing at that.

"OK. I'll see you in a bit." She snapped her phone closed and jumped up, giving Morgan an entertaining view of her bouncing breasts. "I have to go," she said.

He groaned. "Of course you do."

"I can't believe we fooled around like that! And while I was babysitting!"

He moved to a sitting position, watching her pace. Her bra was still undone, and it was hard to look at anything else while her breasts were practically beckoning him.

"I feel like I'm fifteen again and Todd Jenkins just snuck into the Harlow's house!"

Derek's eyes narrowed. "Who in the hell is Todd Jenkins?" he growled.

"Just some…kid I fooled around with," she said dismissively. "Can you fasten my bra?" she asked, turning around.

Now that he could do. She pulled her hair over her shoulder so that it was out of the way, and he stood up. But instead of fastening her bra, he began to place soft kisses along her spine. He felt her shiver beneath his lips. "Morgan!" she half scolded, half moaned. "No! JJ and Will are on their way home and…oh my God! I am so irresponsible. Henry was in the next room!" she said.

He fastened her bra and waited for her to adjust her shirt before spinning her around. "He's still fast asleep, Garcia," he told her.

She sighed. "I can't believe it! I was gonna make you work for it!" she said crossly.

He smirked. "But you just couldn't resist me, could you, Garcia?"

She shook her head and sighed. "Not for a second," she said, kissing him hard on the mouth again. "I have to go."

She spun around to go get Henry, but Derek grabbed her wrist. "Garcia?" he said in a low tone of voice.

"Yeah?" she asked distractedly.

"Just so you know—I have no problem working for it."

"Your leg," she said, as if just remembering that it had been injured.

"Has never been better," he assured her.