(A/N: Relationships are complicated. Whether they are family or friendship; or maybe something more. I don't do a lot of angst. I really can't, my life is to full of angst as it is. But, there will be misunderstandings and surprises. The fun part, is finding out which one is coming next.)
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Her scream ended in a gasp as she was turned around and released inside the office with the door closing with a clack behind her.
"Okay, Sunshine, tell me what is going on." It wasn't a question that issued from Derek Morgan's lips. It was a demand as he stalked toward her. Penelope unconsciously backed away till her legs hit the chair behind her and she fell into the seat.
"Derek?!"
"What has you flirting with Rossi?"
"I would like to know what's wrong with flirting, Sweet cheeks!" Penelope moved to rise from the chair she had fallen into.
"Nothing is wrong with flirting, Sweet Pea. But, you're flirting with the Casanova of the BAU!" Derek leaned forward, placing both his hands of the arms of the chair his best friend was sitting in.
Shoving her rolling chair out from under Derek, she stood up indignantly. "Oh, low blow, Don Juan." Moving around to put the desk between them, Penelope waved her arms.
"Just tell me flirting is all that is going on between you two, Sweet Mama." Derek paced in front of the desk.
"I'm not telling you anything, Derek. Not when you're like this!" Penelope's voice had lost its shrillness in her fury.
"'You're not telling me anything?' Mama, you're telling me everything! And what you're not telling me, I'm learning from watching David Rossi! What did you do to send him storming to your office? It started on the way here on the plane and your office was the first place he headed." Pausing with one hand on the desk, he turned to face her. "What did you text him?"
"None of your business, Derek Morgan!" Penelope was furious. She was already worried that she might possibly have ruined something that was so new between her and David. She needed someone to talk to, not someone just adding to her frantic emotions.
"How can you say that?! You are my business. You happiness is my direct business, Sweetness. And when I see you throwing yourself away on a man twice your age-" He was abruptly cut off as Penelope viciously interrupted him.
"Stop. Stop right now. I can't believe that THAT is what has you upset! Ageism? What the hell!" Now Penelope was the one pacing behind the desk.
"Baby, have you realized, when he's 70, you'll just be 45? Do you want to tie yourself to someone you'll have to take care of for the rest of your life? Someone that will die before you and leave you alone?" Derek pleaded with her to understand what he was saying, "I want you to find someone away from all this, someone you can be happy with and spend the rest of your life with."
"Someone like Kevin? I tried that. I wasn't happy. Not the forever after kind of happy." Penelope's annoyance had only relented a little. "You take happiness where you find it."
"I don't want you to be alone."
Penelope stopped pacing behind the desk. Looking at Derek, she answered him seriously, "Nothing is guaranteed, Honey Buns. Look at my life, Derek. My parents were killed when I was a kid. I was shot while on a date. Hotch lost Haley while they were both still young. His high school sweetheart, Derek. The person he should have grown old with." Penelope had actually paused, ticking off memories on her fingers to prove her point. "Reid was kidnapped and tortured and could have been killed. Gideon's girlfriend WAS killed. Elle was shot. You were shot-"
Morgan cut her short, "Exactly! Damn it, Baby Girl, I want more for you than what you will find in this place! You deserve a life away from this!"
Walking around the desk, she clasped his face between her two hands, "Sugar, nothing in our lives is guaranteed. That's the one thing I've accepted, that we haven't been promised anything in this life. We can only live it the best we can." Leaning her head towards his, she pressed her forehead to his chin, "Isn't even a brief moment of happiness worth anything? To have 10 years of total happiness? Even 5 years with the one person you love? How does that compare to 5 years searching for something that was right in front of you all along? I'll take the happiness every time."
Placing both his hands over hers, he slid himself from her reach, stepping away and placing more space between them, "He shouldn't be starting anything with you! He's old enough to have fathered you! He's been married three times, Sugar! Three times!" Derek's voice started to rise again.
"I had a wonderful father, you twit! I'm not looking for a replacement. And, fatherly is definitely not the way I feel about him." Feeling slightly hurt that he had pulled away from her, she added, "And, since I've never heard that his divorces were because of infidelity, I guess that proves he doesn't have commitment issues then, doesn't it?" There was actually a bit of irony in her reply to that question. The sound of which seemed to spike Derek's frustration.
"He is committed to this job! He isn't going to let it go, not for you, not for anyone, Penelope. He's too hooked. And he's been in it too long to change." Derek turned and walked towards the door, stopping to stare at it, keeping his back to her.
With amazement, Penelope looked at Derek's shoulders where they were stooped, "Then we're a perfect match! I'm not leaving here. Not right now. I love what I do."
Derek turned, facing her with disbelief, "You hate what you see every day. I can see your face when you look at the computer screens or see the pictures. I hear it in your voice when you listen to us talk about a case. Don't you lie to me, Sweetness."
"Then, why don't you leave, too? It bothers you. It makes you question yourself; your beliefs? Why don't you leave, Derek Morgan?" Penelope went on the offensive.
"I can't! I can't leave. Not when-"
"-they need me here." "-they need me here" There voices meshed, saying the words at the same time.
Seeing that he was on the downside of losing this argument, Derek made one more inarticulate plea, "Please, Penelope, please, you have to choose elsewhere. The David Rossi's of this world are not for you."
Walking up to him, she demanded, "Is David Rossi a danger to me?"
"Mama-"
"No, answer my question. Is David Rossi a physical danger to me? Answer me!" Eyes on fire now, Penelope was tired of this. No longer worried about David and his other world, she was more frustrated upon realizing Derek's outlook and how it was affecting their relationship.
Resigned, Derek's eyes closed, "No, Mama. He would never deliberately put you in physical danger."
"Then, you have no call to insinuate that I can't choose him."
Pushing past Derek, all she knew was that she had to get away from him. He was her best friend, her family, and if she stayed around him right now, there would be things said between them that couldn't be taken back. Oh, they would still be family, and still be friends, but there were some memories that couldn't be erased. And, she didn't want that between them.
Forgetting her search for Emily or JJ, forgetting her worry over running into David, she stormed to her office and shut the door, not even deigning to notice as Derek trailed behind her and then ambled into the bullpen as her door slammed shut. Taking a breath, she tried to calm down. Penelope opened her eyes and walked to her desk but what she saw on her chair incensed her ire all over again. Picking up the file, she stalked from her office, straight for the bullpen she had so avoided earlier.
Coming around the desks, she faced Morgan before he had a chance to sit down. Still caught up in their prior argument, she didn't even notice the presence of Emily, JJ, and Reid standing amazed at the display. Slapping Morgan in the chest with the file, "And, if after that, you think I'm going to help you with your reports, then you can think again." Swatting him again in her ire, she continued with their prior disagreement, "You told me to trust my gut. My gut is telling me that this is a good thing, Derek Morgan. And if I don't trust this – if I don't trust my 'gut' as you call it, if I don't trust it, or trust my beliefs, or trust my heart, then what's left? What is there in this life for me? Huh? What?" With each of those last words, she repeatedly thumped his chest with the file he had left in her room.
"Woman, stop that!" Reaching to grab the file and jerk it from her, they had a brief tussle with it before it opened and pages flew everywhere.
"Oh, Frack!" Huffing out a breath, Penelope went to her knees automatically, reaching forward to pick up the pages as Derek squatted down beside her to help.
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Hearing a commotion beyond his door, Rossi snapped his phone shut, putting it away in his jacket pocket. He couldn't seem to make himself put the delicate blue satin back in the drawer of his desk so he placed it in his pocket, keeping his hand there for a moment to smooth his fingers over it one more time. Picking up his report to go sit with Aaron, he opened his office door and promptly stiffened, mesmerized by the site of his Kitten standing before him, right below him in the office. His eyes did not stray from her figure as she rose on her tiptoes to push a file at Morgan and her dress swayed, showing more of her hose with the seam that he had just seen on his phone. Rossi let his eyes drift up, watching the sway of her dress, the pull of the material as she moved. She hadn't lied; she had re-streaked her hair with blue and pink. Light streaks highlighted into it, lying loose and long down her back.
Feeling a tugging on his hand, he looked to his right. Aaron stood beside him with his arm outstretched. Following his arm down, he saw that he had actually curled the brown folder slightly around the handrail outside his office as he griped it with both hands. He didn't remember coming the rest of the way out of his office. And he didn't remember Aaron coming up beside him. Looking again, he saw that the tugging was from Aaron pulling on the brown folder. "Aaron-"
"I've got it, Dave." Aaron gazed at him. No judgment in his eyes. Only a suggestion of understanding coloring his scrutiny.
"Dave, go talk to her." Aaron's voice floated to him as a noise from Penelope drew his gaze back to her.
Watching in disbelief, he saw her go to her hands and knees to pick up papers from the floor. Dave couldn't have moved, even if someone had fired off a gun next to him at that moment, he would have remained frozen in place. Her heels on the floor, more of her legs showing with each movement of her body as she leaned out and back, stacking papers in a pile beside her, Dave couldn't be more drawn towards her. Realizing his hand was in his pocket, stroking against silk, he jerked his gaze back to her legs, noticing how her dress had risen with her recent actions, swaying at mid thigh now.
With a rumbling that remarkably sounded like a low growl, Rossi let go of the folder and strode around the balustrade. Reaching the stairs, he quickly arrived at the area Morgan and Penelope were at. As Penelope handed all the papers to Morgan and he placed them on his desk and stood, Rossi caught up to them. Morgan turned to help Penelope up but was too late as Rossi came to a stop beside and a little in front of him. He watched in paralyzed annoyance as Rossi took hold of her hands and pulled her to her feet.
"Kitten, I believe we had a date?" Dave couldn't hide the tone of voice that he used to say the endearment, his attraction obvious to everyone in the room.
Penelope was briefly captivated by his eyes and voice; with a slight movement, she found herself leaning into him. Feeling Dave squeeze her hands, she recalled where they were. Swallowing, she answered, "Yes, we do. You owe me dinner and a foot massage." Stepping back, she smiled as she said, "Let me turn off my equipment and get my purse."
She giggled as she flexed one hand, trying to loosen Rossi's hold, only to have him twirl her around with his hands and place one hand on her back, easing past Morgan with her and walking behind her towards her office. Deciding not to step into her office, halfway afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself if he followed her behind a locking door, he remembered her gift. "I got you something while I was gone."
Penelope felt a tug on her hand as she turned away. Looking back at Dave, she watched pensively as he reached into his jacket pocket. She was actually a touch uncomfortable, she didn't want gifts from him, not now, it was too-
She stuttered as the pen came into view, "What's this?"
Suddenly unsure of himself in the face of Penelope's question, Dave answered her with unrehearsed honesty, "I was checking out and saw it on the counter. I thought of you." Handing it to her, he watched her face for some hint of her reaction.
When all she did was look at it, "You bought me a pen? Agent Rossi, famous writer, and you bought me a pen."
Dave grimaced before reaching to take the pen back. He had been married three times. Shit. I should have gone with a necklace. "I can take it back."
Penelope clutched the pen to her chest as if it was her precious laptop and he had just threatened to demolish it. "NO! It's mine!" Pulling Dave's ever present notebook from his inside jacket, she opened it and did a few quick loops, squealing with pleasure as the heart on top lit up. "It's wonderful." There was a purr in her voice that he had only heard in one other context, bed. "I love it!" Reaching up, she wrapped a hand in Dave's shirt and pulled him into the office, shutting the door behind him.
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As the door shut, Morgan sat down at his desk and propped his forehead on his hands. Emily shook her head and came out of her brief bemusement at the sound of JJ's voice from her side, "Was that Penelope? And – Rossi?"
"Yep." The reply was given by Reid as he moved around them and sat at his desk. Hotch stood still behind the balustrade, silently watching his team's reactions. More of his focus on Derek than anyone else.
Emily spoke her musings aloud to the room, "Did anyone else catch the symbolism of the pen that Dave just gave our Penelope?"
"If you mean the colors of the pen itself, in some psychology references, the color purple symbolizes imagination and spirituality. The pink could represent compassion and love. The Red Heart on top is really the telling part, I believe. In almost all psychology texts, red symbolizes either love and sex on the positive side or revenge and anger on the negative. With the red heart being in conjuction with the pink and purple, you could say the pink tones down the physical passion the red usually signifies, and replaces it with unconditional love and understanding, with emotions focused on a deeper appreciation of creativity and imagination signified by the purple." Reid's voice trailed off as he found everyone staring at him. Gulping slightly, he murmured, "Yes, you could say it was noticed." Sitting down rapidly, he turned on his computer, ignoring the looks that were still focused on him.
"You know something, don't your Reid?" Emily moved like a shark, focused on their comrade.
"No, I don't," Reid's voice squeaked out a little.
JJ followed Emily as they clustered around Reid's desk. "Spence, you knew about this? And you didn't say anything?"
Hearing the door to Penelope's office, all sound in the bullpen silenced immediately. They watched Rossi step backwards out of the door, holding it open for Penelope as she exited with her purse in hand. Rossi shut the door and placing a hand on her back, walked to the elevator without a backward glance. Both stepped on the elevator and Rossi leaned away from Penelope briefly to push a button and then leaned back.
Everyone watched in shock as he took Penelope's purse and held it open. Their eyes widened further as the doors shut and they could see Penelope removing her cell phones and putting them into her purse at Rossi's insistence.
After the doors shut, everyone stood still for a brief moment. Emily was once again the first to shake back to the present. "Morgan, what-" Her question was cut short as Morgan pushed himself away from his desk and stalked up to Hotch's office, shutting the door behind him.
Turning back to other prey, she focused on Reid, "Come on, Reid, you have to tell us." Settling her hip on the side of his desk, "PG tells us everything, Reid, she wouldn't mind."
JJ settled on the other side of his desk. Swallowing hard, Reid suddenly decided to head somewhere else. "Uh, I need to-"
Both women pressed their hands on his shoulders and held him in his seat.
"You're not going anywhere, Spence."
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(A/N: So everyone knows now. Poor Spencer, he's about to get grilled. I think I know how the next few chapters are going to go. I'm thankful for all the reviews I've gotten so far. Please keep them coming, I love reading them, especially your reactions to the parts you like or don't like. I hope you enjoyed! KK)