Chapter 11

AN: Thanks for the reviews and the well wishes!...I would also like to thank everyone who voted for me in the Profiler's Choice awards-I won a few!...I am posting a note on my profile...Because everyone knows: "The best weapon is a thorough and accurate profile"...*wink*...

Pen and Derek headed into work together the next day. Derek drove, since he'd driven to her house. They even had time to stop for coffee again at their favorite drive through shop.

"You sure you're feeling okay?" he asked as they stopped by her office first. He put his cup down on her desk, and then held her hands, his brow furrowed. "You look perky. No fever or anything?"

"Yes, love bug, I'm fine," she said, her heart warming. He was so sincerely worried about her, she knew he cared so very much.

"Okay," he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

Emily walked around the corner again. "PG! How're you feeling?"

"Better," she said. This time, she didn't feel sheepish at all about Emily seeing them alone together. "Derek made me soup, and I feel like a new woman."

"My momma's chicken soup did it," he added, looping an arm around Penelope's shoulders. "Works like a charm every time."

Emily looked between the two of them and smiled a knowing smile. "Great! Glad to hear it. You will have to share that recipe with me, Morgan. Dean gets head colds all the time."

Dean was Emily's on again, off again lover. Everyone knew she wouldn't settle down with Dean; there was absolutely no chemistry between the two of them.

"Will do," he said as his phone rang. He looked at it and frowned. "I'd better get this one. Bye, ladies."

"Bye, Morgan," Prentiss said in a sing song tone as he walked away. She immediately turned to look at Penelope. "We are on for lunch today, girl. JJ's coming, too. No excuses."

Penelope smiled and nodded as Em walked away. She was ready to sing Derek's praises, even if she couldn't quite sing about their relationship yet. She saw good things in their future.

"We've been going out for a couple of weeks," she admitted, answering Emily's first question out of what Penelope guessed would be many. She took another bite off her plate of carbonara.

Penelope sighed. She'd known this was coming. After they'd exchanged pleasantries with JJ, getting reacquainted, asking how the new job was going, and all that sort of stuff, she'd positively known it would head into murkier territory.

JJ gave her a skeptical look. "Okay...How'd it go from being buddies to downright affection?"

"We're still buddies," Pen responded. "There's just...a little more now."

"A little more?" Emily queried incredulously, then added with a smirk, "Any more, and that man would be drooling!"

Both of JJ's brows went up, along with the corners of her mouth. "Oh? Really?"

"It's not that serious, yet, Em," Pen answered, fighting a blush. "We're simply testing the waters of something; exploring options, so to speak."

That sounded like the most plausible thing to say. Saying, We're working our way through a sex book sounded rather...disgusting.

Smiling, JJ swallowed the bite of sandwich she took. "Well, I, for one, are glad you're exploring options. The two of you are a team."

Prentiss gave a knowing look over her linguine. "Options aren't the only thing you two are exploring..."

Penelope ignored her and speared a pea on her plate. "He's really good to me, JJ."

"I can tell. There's a glow about you, Penelope."

"She's right. Even being pale from being sick, there's a happy glow," Emily added. "I think you two would make a wonderful couple."

That made Penelope a touch nervous. She knew Derek cared for her, but the way Emily said it made it sound like forever. She wasn't sure if she—or Derek, more likely!—was ready for forever. They were just having fun, having sex, and—she smiled at the thought—making each other feel really, really good.

To both ladies, she simply nodded and replied, "Thank you."

"I think it's neat," Em continued, picking up her breadstick. "You two have always been so much more to each other; a special bond, unbreakable. Unlike anything else in the BAU, that's for sure."

Penelope internally gasped as that made her think even more. That was true, but that was best friendship. Nothing more. Why didn't they see that?

"Well, now that you have your news, I can tell you mine." JJ's grin spread to cover her face. "Will and I are expecting."

"Oh, Jayje!" Pen replied, reaching her hand across the table to hold JJ's. "That's wonderful. Congratulations."

"Congrats!" Emily replied with her mouth full of pasta.

They talked about baby names, toys, what Henry thought, what Will thought, all sorts of things. Emily excused herself to the bathroom...and then JJ added the shocker.

"You know, this baby could use another playmate," JJ said, leaving that statement rather open ended.

"Yeah?" Pen asked, not looking before she leaped, venturing into dangerous territory.

JJ grinned, giving her a teasing look. "Well, now that you are in love, I only thought..."

Penelope was taken aback for a moment. Not about having a baby, but the whole scheme of it. Did she come across as in love? She knew they kinda loved each other, but that kind of love, the marriage and baby love, seemed way off to her somehow.

A voice in the back of her head, one she couldn't ignore, called out, Really?

She wanted to yell at her subconscious, Yes, really! But she couldn't deny it, either: there was a huge part of her that felt so warm, so comfortable with Derek, she could seriously believe anything was possible.

She didn't realize that JJ was still talking, until she looked up at her and saw her mouth moving.

"Penelope, are you okay? I was just joking," JJ said, squeezing Pen's now cold hand. "You got awfully pale there."

Penelope snapped out of it and squeezed JJ's hand back. "No. I'm fine."

She frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Just the after effects of being sick."

Pen decided to dismiss the whole thing from her head. She'd just ended a long term relationship; she didn't need to have another right away. After talking to Derek last night, she knew neither of them were ready for that. She was going to have fun with this, that was all.

JJ gave her a look, still questioning her well being like the momma bear she was.

"Garcie, you okay?" Emily asked, taking her seat. "You look pale."

"Stop worrying your gorgeous heads about me," Pen replied, beaming her most reassuring smile at the two women. "There are far more important things to worry about. Now! Are you really thinking of naming the baby Oliver?"

Finally, it was a quarter to five, nearly time to go, and she was exhausted. She didn't feel as good as she thought she did, but she'd suffered out the whole day anyway. Pen wandered next door to where Derek's office was. She stood in the door frame, watching while he was on the phone. "Knock knock."

Derek looked up with a quick frown, and then smiled. "Oh, hi, Baby. C'mon in." She walked in and sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. He put his attention back to the phone. "Okay. See you later."

"Hey," she said in greeting.

"How are you feeling, beautiful?" he asked, coming around and sitting next to her. "First day back, you must be exhausted."

"I feel like a limp dishrag," she replied honestly. "I'm ready for a nap."

Derek chuckled. "I thought so. It takes longer to recover than you realize, especially when you are so high energy, like you are."

She nodded as he stood, reaching his hands out to tug her to her feet. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a hug, a nice warm one that melted her heart just a touch.

She sighed and leaned into him. "Feels so good, your hugs," she murmured, burying her face in his chest.

"Thanks," he answered, kissing the top of her head. He looped an arm around her shoulders. "Baby, I'm going to drop you off tonight so you can get some much needed sleep. I'm going to meet a friend for a drink. Old college friend who's having some problems."

"Anything I can do?" she asked as they headed towards the parking lot.

"No. Terry just needs a friend right now," he said, opening her car door.

"Oh." She slid in and buckled her seat belt. Terry. Who was Terry? The questions ran rampant in her mind, curiosity killing the cat. She was about to ask, when he reached for her hand.

"You okay, Baby?" he asked, reaching over to hold her hand. "Your fingers are like ice. You're not relapsing, are you? I'll cancel, if—"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "I'm fine. Just tired."

A moment later, they arrived at her house. He pulled in front of the courtyard, parked the truck, and hopped out to open her door.

"You're sure?" he asked, cupping her face, bringing his big, warm palms she loved against her cheeks.

She nodded briefly and added, "Tell Terry I hope he is okay."

"It's a she," he said, with a warm smile. "She was our statistician on the baseball team. She's having some issues with her ex-husband, who used to be a damned good friend of mine."

She frowned. "Used to be?"

He shook his head. "Long story."

"I wanna hear it," she protested.

He sighed and shook a negative again. "Baby, you look so tired, like you're going to collapse."

"I feel like I'm going to collapse," she mused, answering honestly.

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. "I'll see you tomorrow." He let her go, and then cupped her chin and winked at her. "We'll talk about those positions you picked then."

Nodding, she turned and walked up to her house. Wearily, she opened the front door, and then the door to her apartment. It took more energy to kick off the high heels she wore.

She stumbled into her kitchen and used the microwave to warm up a bowl of Mrs. Morgan's soup. When it was done, she only ate a few bites. She threw the rest down the garbage disposal, and then made her way into her bedroom. After tugging on her pajamas, she tied the waistband of the comfortable pants as she headed into the bathroom.

"Ugh," she said, looking into the mirror. She looked like she felt: wrung out, tired, and sad.

A quick, petty thought crossed her mind. I bet even with her marital problems, Terry looks a lot better than me tonight.

Chastising herself for her wicked thoughts, she scrubbed off her makeup and brushed her teeth. When she was done, she entered her bedroom and looked at the clock. It was barely seven PM.

At this point, she didn't care. She crawled into her bed, pulled the comforter up, and hugged her pillow, catching faint scents of Derek. The bed, which was the right size before, suddenly seemed big and lonely. It was strange; she was lonelier in the bed right now than she was after she'd broken up with Kevin.

She really wished Derek was there.

A few tears slipped down her cheeks, and she wiped them away, cursing herself for being sick and sentimental. After tossing and turning, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.