"White or dark?" Derek asked, the serving fork poised over the plate of turkey.
"White, please." Reid replied. Morgan had already served his sisters and mother, knowing their preferences, but he thought it would be best to ask Reid and Garcia first.
"What about you babe?" He passed Reid's plate to one side and looked to Garcia at the left. She smiled at him coyly.
"Mmmm. You know I'm always up for a little dark meat." Derek raised his eyebrow. And Sarah and Des broke into laughter. Garcia looked at them and joined in.
"They do this all the time?" Fran asked Reid, who had been placed next to her.
"Um, well. Yes." He grinned, tucking his hair behind his ear.
"I see. Derek honey, do you have something you should be telling me?"
"Ma!" Derek seemed flustered, which Reid found amusing. He was really starting to like Derek's mother. "No, I….I forgot the salt and pepper." He pushed his seat back quickly and retreated into the kitchen. Which only made his sisters laugh more.
"Oh, mom, I love it when you get him like that." Sarah laughed. " Do you remember his junior prom?"
"NO! No junior prom story!" Derek called to them. Fran continued the story anyways, with a fond tone to her voice. Garcia was smiling, but her face was a little pink. Des leaned over, taking advantage of Penelope's momentary glance towards the kitchen.
"Go on."
Garcia turned to her.
"Hunh?" Des nudged her shoulder and looked towards Derek, whose back was to them.
"Der. Go talk to him." Garcia shook her head. "Girl. Go." Desiree passed her a glass bowl. "We're low on cranberry sauce."
Pen stood up, straightening her sweater and strode to the kitchen, glancing back for a moment as Des, who waved her on. Okay. This was….
"Hey hot stuff." Garcia slipped up beside Morgan. "You doing alright?"
He was pulling a pie out of the grocery store box. He shrugged, and reached away from her to turn on the oven.
"What, you can't take a little teasing, G-man?" She shifted to face him more fully. Derek slid the pie into the oven and dusted his hands off on his jeans. Her smiled faltered.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Penelope gently touched his wrist. She was afraid she might have crossed a line somewhere that she hadn't seen. Her hand ran up his arm to his elbow. Morgan's hands tightened into fists. "Oh. Oh, I…."
Penelope faltered, pulling her hand away.
"I'm sorry." She murmured, turning back towards the table.
Shit. Morgan rolled his eyes at himself.
"Baby girl, wait." He touched her shoulder. Derek's stomach pulled when she turned around. "I'm…." He glanced over at the table. His family and Reid were laughing, but he knew that his sisters would be glancing over. He stepped back into the hallway that led down to his bedroom, motioning for Penelope to follow. He put his back to the wall, running a hand over his head. Garcia stood opposite him, waiting with her arms crossed defensively.
"Come on, you know I wouldn't…." He looked up at her. He'd have to explain this somehow, and quick, or he would be deep into her bad books. Derek thumped his fist against the wall by his leg. " Why do you have to be a tease all the time?" He muttered.
"A tease?" Penelope repeated slowly. He could see her face tightening. "I see…." She pushed away from the wall, going to join the table again. Derek stepped up sharply and put both hands onto her waist. They moved back against the wall.
"Derek." Penelope exclaimed quietly, hating how breathy her voice sounded.
"Sometimes I want you to be serious about what you say to me." He mumbled, looking down, but not at her. His thumbs rubbed against her ribcage. This, this was new. Pen knew exactly what to do with cocky Derek, womanizer Derek, professional Derek, even angry or upset. She didn't know what to do with this.
"We should get back to the table." Derek replied, pulling his hands back and retreating into the main room.
The rest of dinner had still been enjoyable, even with Morgan's quieted retorts and Fran's observation of the young people at the table. Reid and Morgan were recruited into clearing the table, and the women huddled together on the couch with coffee.
"Is there anything wrong?" Reid finally asked, as they removed wine glasses.
"Hm?" Morgan replied.
"With Garcia?" Reid prompted.
"What about it?" Morgan loaded plates into the bottom rack of his dishwasher.
"Nothing." Reid retracted. A bowl slipped from his grip and he juggled to save it. "It's…just…..you know, you and her…."
"JJ." Morgan snapped. Reid turned red.
"Checkmate." They finished clearing the table in silence, occasionally glancing at each other. After several glances, they both cracked a hesitant smile, shaking their heads.
"Are you almost ready to go my beautiful little genius?" Garcia squeezed Reid's shoulder. He looked up from the game of cards he was playing with Sarah and Des.
"Yeah, yeah, of course." He stood up quickly.
"You've got a few minutes sugar. I'm just going to give out Christmas presents" Garcia moved over towards the coat closet, leaving Reid with the sisters. She pulled packages for each of the Morgans out, small gifts for the women, and a large flat package for him.
"Fran." Garcia held out the present. "Merry Christmas."
"Oh thank you darling. You didn't have to." Fran clasped her hand warmly for a moment.
"No really, it's been wonderful meeting you." She shifted past Derek and gave ribboned packages to Sarah and Desiree. " But we should get going." Reid stood up, getting unexpectedly pulled into hugs.
"We'll walk you out." Spencer was trapped by the two girls as they lead him to the coat closet and the foyer. Fran kissed her son's forehead and followed them. Penelope watched them for a moment, and then sat down, the flat package resting on her lap. She passed it sideways, dropping it onto his legs.
"Merry Christmas." She said, turning to face him. Derek picked it up. He flipped it over a few times, regarding the shape and weight.
"It's been checked for explosives and stuff, I promise." He gave a quick laugh at her statement and leaned back against the couch. Penelope carefully pulled her legs up underneath her.
"What did your unfathomable mind find for me girl?" Morgan shook his head with a small smile.
"Open it up and find out." Penelope watched his face a little nervously. Derek slit open one end and with a quick shake, a stiff paper folder slid out.
"I'll show you a Merry Christmas Hot Stuff. AND a happy new year." Derek read out the message Penelope had written in her curling, capitalized print. "Okay Mama…"
He flipped open the folder.
"Wow." Penelope watched him, biting her bottom lip. She felt an urgent need to explain.
"I have a friend, he's starting up his own novel, and he has a store, but I asked him if he had the time, if he could draw this up for me. He got in most of the things I wanted."
"Justiss Noir." Derek read the black, heavy letters in the top corner. "Baby girl." He looked over the illustration. It was him, clearly, looking tired and hard. He was emerging from a dark hall, one light bulb hung from the ceiling. It drew sharp contrasts over the face and angles of the figure. A dark black jacket didn't hide the shape of square shoulders. There was dirt, and what looked like blood on the undershirt beneath it.
"I know you don't like graphic novels much, but, I…I thought I'd show you….I thought you should see yourself as a hero."
Morgan slid a hand to massage the back of his neck. The other hand touched the corner or the picture.
"I told you. I'm no one's hero Penelope."
Penelope shook her head, her bangs falling into her eyes.
"You are Derek. You're mine." His eyes shifted from the gift to her profile. He leant in and pressed his lips against her cheek, his fingers supporting her chin.
"Thanks, silly girl." She swore that her skin was hot to the touch along the trail his fingers left as he pulled away.
"Unhunh." Penelope murmured. She clenched her hands around the discarded wrapping paper. " I…should go I suppose."
They both stood up.
"Thanks. For coming." Derek said, moving forwards. Penelope moved forwards around the coffee table, led by the pressure of his hand on her back. At the top of the stairs they fell into a close hug.
"Night mama."
"Good night Justiss." Derek laughed, giving her a squeeze.
