Chapter One:

To say the last few weeks had been weird would be an understatement. Penelope's best friend had left the team, and her other best friend was avoiding her. Derek had a new girlfriend, and since Elizabeth had come along, their friendship was essentially nonexistent. Aside from the very occasional use of 'baby girl'. She felt more alone than ever. And now, to top it off, something else was going on. Hotch and Rossi were holed up in the boss man's office, and she wanted to know why. She had circled past three times, but was unable to pick up any clues. She knew it probably had to do with finding a replacement for her beloved JJ, since Seaver didn't work out. As much as the technical analyst hated to admit, being down a member was hurting the team. Everyone was overworked, and they really needed another agent. Not that anyone could even dream of replacing JJ, but maybe Penelope could try and be welcoming to their new member. Of course, if that's what Rossi and Hotch were discussing in the first place.

"Baby, you're gonna wear out the carpet with all that pacing." Derek teased her, as she once again, not so subtly, tiptoed past the door. She shot him a glare, annoyed that he was acting like her pal now.

"Well what's taking them so long?!" Penelope asked in frustration.

"Not to worry, kitten, we are ready to update you all." Rossi's voice said as the door to the office opened.

Penelope blushed in embarrassment. The team followed their leaders into the conference room. Hotch stood before them, just like he always did before he would deliver big news. Penelope sat next to Emily, avoiding her usual seat next to Derek.

"You all know how strained things have been the last few weeks." Hotch began with his normal serious disposition somehow even more severe. "While JJ wasn't an agent, she was a very important part of this team. We are not functioning as smoothly being one man down. I know you have all been picking up a lot of extra slack, and while its much appreciated, it shouldn't be necessary. Rossi and I wanted to wait until we were certain to tell you, but we found someone to come fill in. Whether this is going to be permanent or temporary will be decided after a trial period. Agent Alvez will be here tomorrow. You're all dismissed. Today I want you all to get caught up on paperwork, and be prepared to start back in the field tomorrow."

It didn't seem that anyone was too surprised by this announcement. But, what everyone wanted to know was the same thing: who was Agent Alvez? Hotch went to his office after the meeting, and Rossi went off to guest lecture somewhere.

Aso soon as Penelope was back in her office, there was a knock at her door. Reid, Prentiss, and Morgan were standing outside. She sighed and let them in. She knew they wanted her to work some magic for them.

"His first name is Luke. I saw it on the file Hotch was holding." Reid supplied, clearly proud of his detective skills.

Penelope typed the name into her computer. With a few clicks of her keys, she had Agent Alvez's whole life story on her screen. Even if she had to admit that she was curious too, she felt a little bad investigating their new team mate. She felt like maybe they should get to know him for himself before reading his history on the internet.

"What does it say?" Derek asked, stepping behind Penelope, and resting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged his hand away.

"Agent Luke Antonio Alvez is coming to us from the Fugitive Task Force." Penelope said, scrolling through some facts on the screen. "He was in the army before being recruited by the FBI. Give me uno momento and I will find us a...ah there we go...a photo of our new friend. Oh my, what a nice hot cup of coffee."

"Hello." Emily moved closer to look at the screen with a smile."Luke Alvez, you my friend are more than welcome."

"He looks like a real jerk." Derek shrugged. Penelope thought for a moment that maybe there was a hint of jealousy. "Besides, baby girl, you have hot coffee right here. Right?"

"Elizabeth would disagree." Penelope replied, trying to keep her voice light. "And Luke...from what I can tell on his social media...is unattached. Momma might need to welcome the man to our team."

Derek made some lame excuse and left the office. Penelope wondered if perhaps he really was jealous. But then again, Derek seemed to believe he had some claim over her. It didn't mean anything, and she was done letting Derek pull at her heart strings. He'd had many chances to ask her out, and he never did. While she was mostly joking about the new guy, if she did find someone she wanted to date, Derek could be damned.

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The next day, the team huddled together. They were patiently waiting for the newest BAU member to arrive. Derek was looking pretty solemn, but Emily and Penelope were very eager to see Alvez. Reid was mostly just curious.

"Oh, the elevator is opening!" Penelope exclaimed.

A moment later, Luke Alvez stepped out. He looked even better in person, Penelope thought. Deciding that Alvez probably didn't know where he was going, the tech analyst walked to the elevator to greet her new co-worker. After all, he probably needed to be pointed in the right direction, and it might be nice to be the first face he saw when he entered the office.

"Hi! I'm Penelope Garcia, technical analyst, and you must be Luke Alvez, the newest addition to our team." Penelope greeted when the man exited the elevator. He smiled at her, and she nearly melted. This man could definitely give Derek Morgan a run for his money.

"I most certainly am. And if everyone on the team is as...welcoming...as you, I think this will be a great fit." He told her.

Oh, Penelope loved the flirtatious tone he was using. She loved a man that wasn't afraid to be playful. That's part of why she and Derek had gotten so close. And Derek was done with that part of their friendship, fine. She could find new ways to entertain herself.

"Actually, I'm the most welcoming one here." Penelope smiled. "Don't tell the others I said that though. They might get jealous. I just wanted to make sure you got to the right hands. Uh, that sounded bad. I-"

"Oh trust me, it seems I am definitely in the right hands." Luke chuckled. Penelope's cheeks turned red.

By now, Emily, Derek, and Spencer were joining them. They all introduced themselves to their new team member. Penelope noticed a hint of coldness in Derek's tone, and they stood between Penelope and Luke. It was like he was trying to mark his territory, but Luke seems oblivious to it.

"Penelope, will you be travelling with us?" Luke asked.

"Not usually." Penelope replied. "Most of the time, I am here, all by my lonesome. But, with JJ out, Hotch asked me to join you all in the field. Just until you adjust to the team."

"Baby, you're coming to California with us?" Morgan asked, surprised that Penelope hadn't mentioned this to him.

"I just said that, Morgan." Penelope replied.

"Are you all going to stand here gossiping all day, or do you plan to come here about the case?" Rossi's voice asked from behind them. They turned to see him and Hotch waiting for them.

They all quickly hurried to the conference room. Hotch pulled up photos from three different crime scenes onto the large computer screen in front of them. All of the victims had been found in wooded areas over the past two weeks. All of them were mothers of young girls. The mothers had all been single, and until this last mother had been taken, there had been no witnesses. When the newest victim, Roni Patrick, had been taken along with her daughter, Myla, a neighbor had seen the attack. It happened too fast for her to get any good information, but she said Myla went willingly into the car after her mother had been hit over the head with something.

"So, the little girls haven't been found?" Penelope asked.

"No." Hotch said, grimly. "And we all know that the likelihood of finding them all alive now is low."

"Why take the girls?" Rossi asked. "I mean, he killed the mothers probably in front of them. Keeping them alive seems dangerous, and yet, no bodies or any sign of the children."

"How old were the children?" Morgan asked.

"The first victim's daughter is Taylor Conner, she is nine. The second victim's daughter, Hannah Lowell is six. The third is Nina Martinez, she is only three. And the newest, Myla Patrick, is seven." Hotch replied.

"So the ages are pretty scattered." Luke commented. "The unsub is also crossing racial lines."

"It's the single mothers with young daughters that must be the key." Spencer concluded.

"Either way, we have four missing little girls, and a mother whose time is limited." Hotch started with a sigh. "Wheels up in 20."

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Derek was jealous. Penelope always sat next to him on the jet when she joined them in the field. Yet, this time, she was next to the newbie. Hotch had asked her to look up some surveillance footage from the deceased victims' apartment parking lots. She was looking it over with Luke. Derek knew he had no reason to be jealous. Luke was new, and Penelope was simply welcoming him to the team. Plus, Derek had been acting differently lately, and he knew it. His new girlfriend was jealous of Penelope. Elizabeth had told him that the constant flirting between the pair made her uncomfortable. Derek wasn't sure what else to do, so he'd put a bit of distance between himself and Penelope. She didn't seem to want more than friendship from him, so he was trying to move on, but he had to admit, he really missed her.

"Derek?" Penelope's voice brought him back from his thoughts. He looked up at her. "Luke asked you a question?"

"Sorry, zoned out." Derek replied. "What's up, man?"

"Oh, I was just asking if you'd be willing to go to the latest crime scene with me. Hotch said it's a good starting place, and said I should ask one of you to accompany me. I have to admit, in the Fugitive Task Force, we didn't have many scenes to visit, so it would be nice to have someone show me the ropes a bit." Luke explained.

Derek wasn't sure he wanted to go with Luke. He seemed like a decent guy, but Derek didn't want Luke coming in and competing for Men's attention. Not after she'd finally gotten rid of Lynch. But, Luke was different from Kevin. He was a member of the team now, and Derek knew they had to get along. He decided the guy deserved a chance, and going to the crime scene would give Derek a chance to talk to him, one on one.

"Sure, I'd be happy to show you what we do in the field." Derek replied.

"Thanks, man. I've heard nothing but good things about your field skills. I really look forward to learning from you." Luke said. "Penelope assures me you're one of the best."

"One of." Penelope emphasized. "Don't inflate his ego too much."

"Aw come on, P." Derek smiled at her. "You love to inflate my ego."

"Uhm.." Luke looked slightly uncomfortable by that comment.

"Oh, this is very G rated for them." Emily assured their new friend. She chuckled. "Honestly it's a miracle there hasn't been a sexual harassment seminar based soley on the exchanges these two have."

"No one does it like you and me, right baby girl?" Derek asked, hoping for a playful response.

"I don't know, I don't think being tied down to one man to flirt with sounds very appealing." Penelope shrugged. She turned to look and smiled. "So if anyone would like to apply, shirtless photos are optional, and will be considered when this momma picks a new-"

"Okay, Pen, we get it." Emily said.

"Just tell me where to send my application." Luke grinned. Derek sulked back into his seat. He needed a new plan.

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As soon as the plane landed, the team was set right to work. No one wasted even a second when children were involved. Penelope was set up at the local police station to look at some footage, and the social media/phone records of the women. Reid and Prentiss were going to where Roni and Myla had been taken. Rossi and Hotch were talking to the families of the victims, and Morgan and Alvez were headed to the scene where Nina's mom, Amya, had been found two days ago.

"It just doesn't make sense." Alvez stated, looking around the scene. "There's a playground a quarter mile away. No one saw him kill her?"

"Well, if you notice, there's drag marks, and not a lot of blood, despite the state of her body." Derek replied. "What would you guess that means?"

"This is just the disposal site." Alvez concluded. "She was killed somewhere else."

"Exactly." Derek nodded, impressed. "She was dropped here late at night, I'd guess."

"So, we need to look around, see if the first people at the scene missed anything." Luke said.

"Right again." Derek replied. "You look around here, I'm gonna check by the tire tracks. They've already sent in to see if we can link the tracks to a vehicle. But, I'm gonna see if we can find something else."

The odd thing, Derek noticed, was that there were no footprints. There were a few muddy areas, and Derek was certain there would have been something left, but there wasn't. This unsub was skilled, and knew how to cover up their tracks. Whenever children were involved, it hit Derek hard. He hated knowing that there were sick people in this world that would take out their problems on children. And the fact that none of the children had been found made Derek sick. He wondered what conditions they were in.

As Derek looked around, he noticed something. It seemed like a tag from a shirt. He picked it up. The logo wasn't one he recognized. The logo was of a child, but the size was a woman's large, so it couldn't have been Amya's, she was wearing a small, according to reports. He wondered if it came from the unsub.

"Hey look, come check this out." Derek called over his team member and showed him what he'd found.

"There's letters in the logo." Luke said, upon further inspection. "MAM".

"Never heard of it." Derek said. He pulled out his phone, and dialed his #1 speed dial.

"You have reached the oracle of all knowing, please place your requests after the beep...Beep." Penelope's voice came over the speaker. Derek smiled at her goofiness.

"Hey baby, we might have something, I'm just not sure what." Derek said back.

"Garcia, can you look up the clothing brand, MAM?" Luke asked her. "It might be an abbreviation. I'm not sure how hard it'll be to-"

"Oh, beautiful, sculpted, man. I can find anything." Penelope replied. Derek could hear the flirtatiousness in her tone. Jealousy rose in him once again. "Just let me do a quick search and- aha! An abbreviation it is, dear ones. Mommy and Me is a very small clothing brand. It looks like it was based in a mom and pop shop right in town, but they closed down."

"Does it say anything about the owner?" Derek asked.

"That might take a little more digging, it seems there's very little on the internet, but that's why I exist. Give me a few, and I'll call you right back! Penelope out!"

Derek chuckled. He was hoping he and his favorite girl were getting back on track. That conversion had seemed pretty close to normal. Maybe they were over their weird patch. He'd have to explain himself to her, and promise not to let Elizabeth, or anyone for that matter, come between them again.

Derek and Luke didn't find anything else at the scene, so they headed back to the station. The rest of the team would be heading back soon, and they could debrief. As far as Derek could tell, they weren't any closer to finding the missing little girls than they had been when they landed. He was getting worried they'd never find them.

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The body of Roni Patrick had been found not far from where she'd been taken the next morning. There was still no sign of her daughter or the other missing girls, and it was likely that another mother and daughter would be targeted within the next day. The team was growing frustrated. They needed to find this unsub, and fast.

"Guys, I think I found something." Garcia came into the conference room where everyone was sitting. They turned their attention to her. "Yesterday, Derek and Luke found a clothing tag at the scene. I had honestly started to think it was unrelated, and some litter bug had just left it. But, now that I finally got some information on the owner, there's definitely something strange."

"What is it?" Reid asked her.

"So, the owner of Mommy and Me clothing is Jenny Robbins. She opened the store when her daughter was just two years old, and ran it basically on her own, because, get this, she was a single mother. But, three years ago, when Jenny's daughter was four, she was hit by a car and killed. The driver hit her so hard, her body ended up in a wooded area nearby." Penelope told them.

"Where was Jenny when this happened?" Emily asked.

"That's the sad part. She was right there. Rosie slipped past her, and wandered into the road." Penelope told them sadly. "After that, Jenny, understandably, went through a really hard time. She was seeing a therapist, but stopped going. She lost her house, lost the store, and pretty much disappeared from society."

"Okay, we're gonna need any addresses we can find that could be connected to Jenny." Hotch stated.

"Already got it, sir. It turns out, Mommy and Me, is vacant again. The store is located a few miles off the freeway, and since Jenny lost it, business has been cursed, essentially."

"We profiled the unsub as a man though." Luke pointed out.

"It happens." Reid stated. "What we did get right was that the unsub is extremely skilled, and had to have an attachment to these children in order to not kill them. If she's trying to replace her own daughter, it makes perfect sense."

"We need to go, if she thinks we're on to her she might act recklessly." Hotch said.

"Go save the children!" Penelope said. "And be careful, my beautiful band of superheroes!"

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The team was right. Jenny was the unsub. She had been on her way to find a new mother and daughter. Thankfully, all four of the little girls were found safely, and they were being reunited with family members. It was awful that the little girls had all lost their mothers. Jenny hadn't gone down easily. She tried to attack the team when they went in to rescue the girls. Prentiss successfully talked her down, and she was taken into custody. Hopefully she would get the help she needed.

Derek was struggling with the aftermath of the case. He knew they had done everything possible to save those kids, and that's why they were alive, but he knew their lives would never be the same. Watching your parents die is a fate no child should have to endure. His father's murder had left an unfillable hole inside of Derek. When cases as tragic as this one came up, that hole in his heart seemed to grow.

When the team boarded the jet to head back to Quantico, Derek took the seat away from the rest of the team. He was feeling down, and didn't want to socialize with everyone. Plus, Luke was flirting with Penelope, complimenting her on her hard work. Luke was right, of course, Penelope had saved the day, but Derek didn't want to hear their exchanges anymore. To his surprise, though, Penelope didn't sit next to Luke on the whole ride home.

"Hey." Derek looked up to his best friend sitting down beside him. He pulled out his ear buds and turned off his music. "May I?"

"Was saving that spot just for you." Derek smiled at her. Penelope placed a hesitant hand on his knee.

"You okay?" She asked, looking serious. "I know how hard this must be for you."

"I'm hanging in there." He told her truthfully. "I just keep thinking about how those girls will never be able to forget this. It's not fair. They're even younger than I was when my old man was killed."

"It's not fair." Penelope agreed. "But, they all have families who love them and will help them get through it. We did good work, and Derek, there was nothing more you could have done."

"Logically, I know that." Derek sighed. He reached out and squeezed Penelope's hand. "I just wish we could have caught her sooner."

"I know." She said, squeezing his hand back.

For a moment, it felt like they were their normal selves. Like the past few weeks of weirdness hadn't happened. Derek wanted so badly to get back to that. He hated not being able to flirt with Penelope or have movie nights, or just sit and talk like they were right now. He knew he had to take the opportunity to start mending things.

"Thank you, baby girl." Derek said. She gave him a curious look. "I mean for being here for me, and for always knowing what I need. I know things haven't been the same lately, and I am sorry for that. I promise, that's all done with."

"Derek, you have a girlfriend. I get it." Penelope shrugged, pulling her hand back. "You don't have to apologize."

"I do, though. I shouldn't have let a girlfriend come between me and my best friend." Derek insisted.

"Like I said, it's no big deal." Penelope said. "We don't need to do the awkward thing where we talk about it, okay?"

"Fine, let's talk about something else then." Derek replied. "You were a rock star on the case."

"Aren't I always?" She teased with a smile.

"That you are, sweet thing." Derek grinned.

"Luke did good, it seems." Penelope commented. Derek tensed. "He blends right in with the family."

"He's okay." Derek said, trying to sound nonchalant about it. Penelope smirked. "What?"

"Can't handle the competition?" She chuckled. "What, you're the only one on the team who can be a macho man?"

"No, it's not that." Derek stated, though he wasn't sure it was totally true. "I just think he is treading on thin ice. You know, flirting with you like that."

"Derek, you flirt with me." She pointed out, slight annoyance obvious in her voice. "And I started flirting."

"I just think what we have is different."

"In case you didn't notice, oh wise one, I enjoyed his flirting." Penelope said, standing from her seat. "And unlike you, he doesn't have a girlfriend to stop him from flirting with me. You're not my boss, or my boyfriend, Derek Morgan."

"So what, you wanna get payback and trade me in for the newbie?"

"Jealousy is not a good shade on you." She quipped back.

She walked away, back to her seat near Prentiss and Luke. Derek slumped into his seat. If she wanted him to fight for her attention, he would. Luke might be new and exciting, but what Derek and Penelope had was organic. It was rare, and Derek wasn't going to let anyone come between them. He knew he had to make some changes, but he was going to start now. Penelope and him had chemistry that matched no other, and he knew they belonged together. He just needed to make Penelope see it too.

A/N: I know I have other fics to update, and I promise I will. Life has been super busy, and I am finally in a place where I have time to write again. This idea popped into my head, and wouldn't go away until I started writing it down. Thus, this fic was born. I hope you like it!