[a/n: just a short little chappy to explain the bet fully. also, tough times ahead for the team, but there will be juicy-ness coming directly in/and/or after that, so sit tight. spoliers warning!: i was thinking about when garcia replaces jj for a day and became the new communication liason, and how everyone reacted to her looking different, and thought it would be fun to explore what their reaction would be if she showed up drop-dead, knock em' out, and throw 'em down gorgeous. ;) love y'all. peace.]

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS OR ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HERE IN.. i merely dance with the devil in the pale moonlight sometimes...
(some lyrics from 'pretty women' from the musical 'sweeney todd')
"..pretty women,
silhouetted,
stay within you,
glancing,
stay forever,
breathing lightly,
pretty women!, pretty women!

blowing out their candles!,
(blowing out their candles..)
or combing out their hair!,
(combing out their hair..)
even when they-
(even when they leave you and vanish-)
they still-
(they somehow can still remain-)
are there with you, they're there with you!
(there with you, they're there with you!)

The elevator doors swished open and Penelope and Derek breezed into the FBI.

JJ, who was waiting for them at the elevator still trying to get a hold of Penelope, felt her jaw nearly drop to the floor when she saw them both. They were dressed awfully fancy for just heading in on a case. I mean, they looked keyed into the situation and totally serious, but wow! "p!, i was trying to get a hold of you!" she gave her friend a couple of looks up and down, "you look gorgeous!"

"thanks", said Penelope, slightly out of breath from having to keep up with Derek and his blasted long-legged-ness, "is everyone else already here?"

"yeah", JJ was shocked by Penelope's ignorance to the effect her unusual attire had in a work setting, "yeah.. they're in the conference room-"

Penelope turned to Derek and he nodded, heading off with not so much as 'hello'. She turned back to JJ. "you coming?"

JJ gave up, and gestured for Penelope to lead the way, "after you.."

Penelope gave JJ a small, fleeting smile, and headed off to see the other members of the team with JJ close behind.

'I've clearly missed something..' JJ thought as she followed behind the be-decked Penelope.

Rossi, sitting directly across from the open conference door, saw Derek enter the room first, and smiled wryly. "hope we didn't interrupt you're date, Morgan", he teased as the corners of everyone else's mouths turned up at the corners as well.

Derek shrugged, "we got to eat dinner at least, so I'm happy. you all still owe me a hundred bucks.. each", he said pointedly, taking his seat and picking up a folder to start reading and get up to sped on the case.

They all sniggered playfully, shaking their heads. However, they were not prepared for what they beheld next.

Rossi looked through the doorway and literally stopped breathing for a few minutes.

"Dave?", Hotch, who was seated slightly to the right of Rossi, asked concerned. "is everything alright?"

Rossi couldn't reply. He tried, he really did, but not a sound would come out.

Puzzled, Hotch took a glance to see what had afflicted him so. A rare expression of surprise passed over Hotch's face like a wave, as he too continued to stare through the doorway.

Prentiss scoffed at the two grown-ass men to her right and their left. "what's the matter?", she teased, slowly turning to look out the doorway, "cat got your- ?" but, she stopped as she saw it too. "oh, wow, Garcia!", she breathed.

"What do you mean?", asked Reid, head quirked in curiosity. But he saw what they meant seconds later as she swooped into the room. Reid was dumb-struck. Emily was right, wow!

Penelope, eyes darting around the room, trying to find an available seat, suddenly was aware that all eyes were now on her. She stared back nervously and innocently unaware.

Derek leaned back in his chair so that his head was almost upside down, "hey, baby girl!" he smiled brightly, "there's a chair right next to me that's free."

Penelope smiled, relieved by his goofy attitude, and took the offered seat. She looked at each of them in turn. "what are you all staring at?"

"you", answered JJ matter-of-factually. The others nodded slowly.

Penelope frowned in befuddlement, then realized she was still wearing her date outfit and felt suddenly very exposed. "oh gosh, i should have changed before we came in", Penelope fretted, biting her lower lip.

"that's alright, Penelope", soothed Hotch, "it's fine, really. we needed you both to come in right away, and you do look wonderful in that dress", he added with a small smile.

Penelope blushed. "thank you, boss man."

"wait a minute.. did you say 'we'?", JJ asked, astonished, "where did you go looking like that? Was it a date? What the heck did i miss?", she demanded.

"oh that's right", Penelope remembered, her hand fluttering to her mouth in surprised realization, "you were in your office when we made the bet."

"what bet? Who'd you make it with?", JJ was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"well..", Penelope was hesitant, but Reid had no such social barriers to overcome.

"Morgan told Garcia that he could make any women he wanted beg for mercy", Reid explained as if he were listing off statistics, "Garcia told him he was full of shit and she would bet anything that he couldn't-"

JJ suppressed a laugh and motioned for Reid to continue.

"-and he asked her what she was willing to offer up if she lost, and in usual Garcia fashion, she answered 'one hot date'. And then she asked him what he would forfeit if he lost, and he responded that he wouldn't lose, but she insisted he give up something, so he agreed to be help her re-paint her apartment. They both agreed to the terms of the bet and then Garcia asked him to go chose someone to test his theory on, so he walked right up to her, shoved her into the wall and kissed her rather ferociously."

JJ found that her jaw was dropping once again. "no way! Just like that?"

"it was actually rather more detailed then that, but, yes, that's the gist", Reid answered honestly.

"how come i always miss the good stuff?", JJ bemoaned, "wait a minute!, that means we all owe Derek 100 bucks!"

"hey, yeah, what is up with that anyway?", Penelope asked, looking to anyone for an answer.

"we all made a secret bet that you two would keep flirting forever and never realize that you had deeper feelings for each other", Rossi answered, leafing through his file folder again, "and we each had a variation on how far you would be willing to go across the line before there was no going back."

"yeah, and the one who's variation won would get the money", Reid interjected, "it started off as kind of a joke, with only a few dollars in the jar, but we kept adding to it year after year until -well- until three days ago."

"we had an agreement that if either of you ever completely lost it and just went at it in the office, we'd give the money to whoever made the first move", Emily explained, "and that was Morgan, so he gets the money. we never expected anyone to win really, we figured when the total got to so much we would just donate it to something or someone and never speak of it again, but we were wrong", she smiled at Morgan across the table, "someone just couldn't help himself.."

Derek gave Emily a dry look, "do you blame me?", he asked gesturing toward Penelope and causing her to blush again.

"Derek!", she scolded, batting his arm.

Derek just laughed, pleased.

"anyway, so much for briefing everyone on the case!", Hotch sighed closing his folder and hauling up the handle on his go bag, "we'll have to review on the plane."

"oh", Penelope moaned unhappily and slightly guilty, "where are you all going?"

"Oahu", JJ answered, collecting her bags as well.

"wait, as in Oahu, Hawaii?", Penelope asked, wide-eyed, "can i come with?"

Hotch gave a small apologetic smile, "sorry, Garcia. it's a sniper case. And from what we know so far, he's not that high-tech."

"but you'll call me if that changes, right?", she asked, earning her smiles from everyone.

"of course i will", Hotch assured her, before heading out the door. "good-bye, Penelope."

"I'll hold you to that, boss man!", she called after him, as she turned to Derek, "i guess I'll see you later then", she said in a small defeated voice.

"i will call you as soon as we land, and every minute afterwards", Derek promised her, giving her one last, heart-felt good-bye kiss.

"be safe", she whispered, worry etched all throughout her pretty face.

"you know it, momma", he affirmed, leaving to follow the others.

JJ, who was the last to leave, hesitated in the doorway, and then turned back quickly to give her friend a reassuring hug, "it'll be okay, p", she mumbled in her ear, "I'll make sure he stays out of trouble."

"thanks", Penelope said, hugging JJ back extra tight.

JJ released Penelope from the hug, and then sprinted to catch up with everyone else who were already at the elevator. "she'll be okay", she said to no one in particular as the doors to the elevator closed. They all hoped she was right.

Penelope sat all alone in the conference room and tried to hold back the lonely tears that were beginning to well in her eyes, wondering when they'd all return home safe and sound to her.

[a/n: hey everyone. i'm wondering if the lyrics work better at the open or close of the chapter, or don't work at all. let me know. love y'all. peace.]