Chapter 2

AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews. Trust me, it all works out. I promise...

"Yes," Penelope said, looking innocently at Derek, "we're going out."

"This is some kind of fucking joke, isn't it?"

She glared at him and spat, "Watch your language, Morgan."

He ignored that and continued to glare at her. "Since when have you been attracted to Reid?" He snorted. "Of all people! Fucking long haired, skinny ass-"

"Hey!" Reid interrupted, sounding both amused and offended at the same time. "I'm in the room, here!"

Derek whipped his head in Reid's direction and snapped, "Shut up, Reid. This doesn't concern you."

Reid's eyes opened very wide. "Ah, actually…"

Penelope put her hands on Reid's, squeezing gently. "Spencer, honey, he didn't mean that."

Derek thought he was going to gag. His head was positively spinning to match his gut. This couldn't be happening.

"When, P?" Derek questioned, looking over at her, completely ignoring Reid. He pulled a chair closer, so close his legs touched hers. "Why didn't you tell me?"

His voice was gruff, but somewhat gentle, and his eyes were narrowed, but glittering, soft. Somewhere in all the machismo, the male anger that was Derek Morgan, he was hurt. Very hurt by the look on his face.

She sighed. She didn't want to hurt him. He was her best friend, he didn't deserve to be hurt. His reaction didn't make sense to her. She didn't really know what the problem was; he never reacted like this when she was dating Kevin.

She attempted to soothe Derek by reaching for his hand and squeezing it. Looking at Reid, she said, "Spencer, love bug, can you give us a minute?"

Reid looked wary and skeptical. "I don't know..."

"Get out before I remove you." From the look on Derek's face, narrowed eyes, tight mouth, and a twitch in his cheek he obviously couldn't control, she didn't doubt he meant it.

"Settle down, Morgan; geez!" Reid said, cringing.

Morgan's response was a glare and a growl. "Get. Out."

"Seeing the mood that you are currently bestowing upon us, I will leave. But only if P states it's okay," Reid pontificated, glancing over at Penelope. He even put his hands on Penelope's shoulders, in a protective gesture.

Penelope nearly died. Bless Reid for being so sweet, but he was going to get his ass kicked...

Derek rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, Reid. I'm not going to hurt her; I need to talk to her."

Pen nodded, smiling, but only slightly.

"Okay." Reid gave Garcia a warning look. "Penelope, please remember..."

"I know, sweetie," she said, beaming brilliantly now over at Reid. "Don't worry."

"I'm not going to steal her from you, if that's what you're worried about, you little phisher," Derek growled, glaring at Reid again, the hostility back in less than a heartbeat. "And she's my best friend; she can talk to me all she wants."

"No, I didn't ascertain you would steal her," Reid said, smiling at him like he always did. It made Derek feel somewhat guilty for feeling such hatred for him right now. "Besides, you have a perfectly fine girlfriend; why would you want mine?"

Because she's mine, damn you! Derek thought, the great desire to throttle Reid coming back full force. It was a horrible feeling. Reid had always been like his little brother, always looking up to him, asking his help and advice.

Then again, he always thought Penelope thought of Reid as a brother, too. It was like the world tilted upside down. What the hell happened?

Reid left, not waiting for an answer. It was just as well; Derek could concentrate on Penelope. He needed to concentrate on her.

"Derek," she began, a half-grin on her face. "Sometime last week, Reid asked me to go out. He was nearby when I broke up with Kevin. It was really odd; we were at the same restaurant. Reid said he goes to that place a lot."

"Good for Reid."

Penelope sighed. This wasn't going to be pleasant. "He was the only one who saw and heard when Kevin argued with me. He saw my feelings were hurt, so he came over and sat with me. We talked for hours that night. We've always had a lot in common,and we had a lot of fun together."

Derek snorted yet again.

"He's great," she reiterated. "We're just going out, just having fun."

Derek couldn't listen. He tried, but somewhere the thought of Penelope in Reid's embrace, Penelope with Reid touching her, Penelope with Reid kissing her overwhelmed everything else. It struck the most raw nerve he had; he just couldn't see her with Reid. Something inside him would die if he had to see her with Reid. He needed to stop this.

Now.

"Baby, you don't want him. You can't want him." He brought his hand up to cup her cheek. He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb, his dark eyes calling to her, almost pleading. His face was suffused with passion, raw and needy.

She almost gave in. Almost ran into his arms. Then she thought about what was really happening and gave up.

"I like him, Derek. He's sweet. It isn't your concern, anyway." She stiffened and pulled away. "You have Crystal."

Derek frowned more, thinking again. He was doing too much thinking, it was making him sick. He couldn't say a damn thing against what she said. It was all true. If he had to describe Reid, he'd use the same things, the exact same words. He liked Reid, too, and even thought he was a...a… he fought retching... a sweet kid.

God, that sucked. Reid was a damn good kid, a nice kid, and a very smart kid. He couldn't profile Reid like he did every other boyfriend of Penelope's and find something wrong. That was part of the problem. There wasn't anything wrong to find with Reid, and it irritated the crap out of him.

He needed to calm down. There was nothing wrong with Reid or Penelope; there would be nothing wrong with them together. He just needed to toss away the thinking that Penelope was his; she obviously wasn't. Otherwise, he would lose them both, with good reason.

"Yeah, he's a nice kid," Derek said, shrugging. "I'm just really, really shocked. You could've knocked me over with a feather. I thought you thought of him as a brother."

"Well, there was that thinking, but it passed."

"It's damned unnatural," he said, scowling at her again. "That's what it is."

"Nonsense. After all," she tried to look rather nonchalant at that, "people think of us as brother and sister, too, Derek."

He gave her the hottest look he'd ever given her, heat flaring in his eyes, an absolute challenge to what she just said. "Oh, hell, no, Baby Girl. No one in their right mind would ever think we were siblings."

She blushed, knowing she bald faced lied to him. There always was a ton of chemistry between herself and Morgan. She turned quickly to start typing again. "Oh, come on. We're buddies, everyone knows that."

Derek let out a short bark of laughter. "Ask Reid, your lover boy. Even his naive ass knows better than that."

With that challenge, he turned and left.

Penelope was holding her breath. She blew all the air out of her lungs when he slammed the door shut. Her hands were shaking. Penelope was glad he couldn't see what she was typing. It was all gibberish, like how she felt inside.