AN: Thanks so much for the review. I think it's fun being in Derek's home town... I think P and D think so, too...

Chapter 3

Derek was standing in the never-ending line at the Home Depot near the youth center. Somehow, he'd forgotten how busy Chicago was and how many people were at everything. It wasn't like he could just run to the store and expect to be back in twenty minutes like he'd done back home. Already, he'd been waiting forty-five minutes, and the line was barely moving.

He picked up his phone and called his mother, just to make sure she was picking up Penelope on time. He'd tried earlier, but he'd received no answer. His mother was notorious for letting her voice mail pick up all of her calls, and then not checking who called. It was one of the reasons he'd sent Alejandro with her to get Penelope. The first being it would keep the two women he loved safe in case they broke down in a rougher area, and the second being that he could call Alejandro and he'd answer. That boy was never more than two feet from his phone.

After getting no answer again, he called Al, and as expected, the younger man picked up right away.

"'Sup?"

"Hey, Al," he began. "Is my momma there?"

"No. She went home."

Sometimes, Al was too closed-mouthed for his own good.

"Did she pick up Penelope?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Derek heaved a sigh of relief. That was good. They'd gotten Penelope and probably taken her to her hotel so she could check in.

"Did she say I should pick up Penelope at the hotel?"

"No need to do that," Al said. "She's here."

A cold wash rolled over him. Damn. He didn't have anything looking like he'd wanted it to. It was a disaster area, and he knew it. A circuit wire had a short in it, and when they went to plug in the shop vacs, the wire had blown to smithereens. That's why he was at the home repair store, to get circuit reinforcements.

"Is she okay?" he asked, feeling awful. He'd had her come down to Chicago to help him, and he wasn't even there to greet her.

"I don't know. I think she's good," Al said. "Want to talk to her?"

"Yes!"

"Okay. Miss P!"

That surprised Derek. Al was a kind formal kid. He called Derek sir, and he called just about every woman ma'am. It was a way to keep people at bay, to put them at a different level than himself.

"Miss P!" Al hollered again. "Mr. Morgan wants to talk to you."

"Oh!" he heard Penelope gasp, and then a second later, he heard a clatter and then "Frack!" followed by, "Sorry, guys! I didn't mean to swear."

"That's okay, Miss P," one boy said.

"It's all right, Miss P," another called out.

"Thank you," she said before getting to the phone. "Hello?"

"Baby Girl."

"Hi, angelfish!" she said, her voice filled with excitement.

"Honey, I'm so sorry I'm not there," he began. "I meant to be there after Momma brought you from the airport. I thought they'd stop at your hotel, and I'd have some time to get things ready."

She giggled. "I thought they would, too. But don't be sad. I'm totally fine. I got pizza for the boys—uberly delicious, fantastic stuffed pizza from a shop that's a total local legend, D—and we're all cleaning and getting things going here for the party tomorrow night."

Derek was smiling. Leave it to his baby to bribe the help, get them to love her, and take charge of what could've been a volatile situation. "Baby, you're amazing."

"I know," she answered in a singsong voice, which just made him smile all the more.

"So, how was your flight?" he asked.

"Hot Stuff, I have to let you go," she said quickly. "James is trying to put up this scenery he made, and it's just not working, and I'm still finishing with punch bowls, and your mom is coming with more decorations. No time to chat, lover."

"Okay, my lady. See you soon," he said.

"Bye!"

Derek sighed happily. He realized just how much he loved having her in town with him. He wanted to hear how everything was going for her so far and maybe show her off a little bit around the town. Hopefully, there'd be time to chat a lot more over the weekend, before they flew home on Sunday.

One hour, ten minutes later, Derek finally returned to the Upward Youth Center. He had what he needed to fix the circuit, which was the important thing, but he was still upset at himself for not being there when Penelope arrived.

As he walked up to the front door, the doors were shut. That was strange. There were empty pizza boxes neatly stacked near the entrance and some Mountain Dew bottles along with all the tables and chairs outside.

Oh, she was good at getting into a preteen and teenaged boy's good graces!

He took his key and opened the door, which emitted an eerie-sounding creak. This morning, that door had sounded like normal.

As he stepped inside, he stepped on a mat that howled a witch's scream, which made him jump about a foot in the air.

"Shit!" he called out.

Suddenly, everyone appeared from behind a large, Transylvanian castle-looking wooden scenery thing that James had been working on earlier. The boys were all laughing their asses off, holding their guts and chortling. Some even fell on the floor—which looked remarkably clean, now that he noticed it—and rolled around laughing.

In the middle of everything was Penelope. She was wearing a lower-cut, silky-looking pink blouse that was positively filthy, and her hair was mess behind the headband she had pushing it back. Her cheeks were pink with exertion, and she was smiling with both of her lovely dimples showing. Quite frankly, she was the most lovely sight he'd seen in forever.

"Very funny," he said, walking up to her and pulling her into his arms. "I take it that mat was your idea?"

Before she could answer, one of the boys said, "Yeah, it was her idea! We thought it was lame, but she said it would work!"

"It is lame," he said with a grin for her.

"Made you jump, Mr. FBI man," she teased, smiling up at him and causing more laughter among the boys that were paying far too much interest to them.

"Okay...maybe it's not too lame in the right circumstances," he said, winking at her. He leaned closer to her and said, "Thanks for everything, Baby Girl."

"Oh...this is gonna cost you," she replied.

He kissed her forehead. "I'm willing to pay."

"Whooooo! We got kissin'!" one of the younger boys teased.

Penelope blushed and stepped out of his arms. "I...um... Ah... I have more work to do."

"Anything you want me for?" he asked, following her. He wasn't ready to let her out of his sight yet.

"Morgan," James called out. "I need you over here with this scenery."

Penelope returned a wistful smile that told him she missed him, too, and then put her hand on his cheek. "You'd better go over there. We'll catch up when we're hanging decorations."

"Speaking of decorations," Fran said, stepping forward. "I have two trunks full of things I found."

"Great!" Penelope said.

Before she could remove her hand, he turned his face into it and kissed it. "Later, sweetheart."

She closed her hand around his kiss, and her smile faltered but slightly. "Later...Hot Stuff."