"For God's sake, Derek! I could have had a career!" Heather yelled, ignoring the screaming baby in her arms.

"What do you mean, 'could have'? You still can!" he told her, rubbing Chessie's back up and down as he held her. He didn't want his raised voice to agitate her.

She gave him a dirty look. "With this body? For God's sake, I've had babies now!"

Derek thought it would be futile to point out that there were plenty of women out there who modeled after they'd given birth. "What do you want me to say?" he asked. "What can I say to make this better?"

"Don't you think you've done enough, Derek?" she asked bitterly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he returned.

"You knocked me up! Did you do it on purpose?"

"Wha—are you fucking crazy? We're married, Heather. We were planning on having a family eventually. Things just got sped up."

"I didn't even want kids," she told him.

Derek's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "You said you did."

"Of course I did!" she said. "Because it was the only way you were going to marry me!"

Derek stood there for a moment in complete shock. Was this really the woman he'd married? Had he been so stunned by her beauty that he hadn't seen anything else? The answer to that was…apparently. He'd never seen this side of her.

"And if you hadn't come home early that day and found the damn pregnancy test on the counter, I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"What would you have done?" Derek asked, his jaw ticking. He shouldn't have asked the question, but he had to know. He'd seen what he'd thought was the worst of her, but he had a feeling he'd thought wrong.

"I would have gotten rid of them," she snapped. "For God's sake, Millie! Can't you, just once, stop screaming?" She changed the baby's position so she was no longer held against her, but sitting on her hip.

But she'd moved her too forcefully for Derek's liking. He walked over and plucked Millie from her arms, cradling her gently on his own hip. Derek was thankful he had the girls in his arms, because if he hadn't he was pretty sure his hands would have been around her throat. "We're going to bed," he told her. "You can sleep on the fuckin' couch."

The next evening when he'd gotten home from work, she'd been gone—the papers renouncing all of her parental rights propped up on the kitchen table. And Derek had been furious. Not that she was gone, he was glad for that. But what if the team had been called away on a case? Did she think the daycare was just going to keep the girls until he got back?

Derek physically shook his head to clear his thoughts as he pulled into the girls' daycare. With a sigh, he got out of his SUV and headed for the entrance. After collecting the girls, he buckled them in back and headed home.

WWWWW

"Daddy, when is Penelope getting here?" Chessie asked as she sat down on the floor to take her shoes off.

Derek smiled at his little girl with forced cheerfulness. He knew how much Chessie loved Penelope. She'd be distraught if she left. "She's not coming over tonight," he told her.

"Why not?" she pressed.

"Because she has plans."

"So she'll be here tomorrow, then?" Chessie asked, getting to her feet.

"No, baby. She won't."

"Are you mysterious?" she asked shrilly.

Derek looked at his little girl in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Millie rolled her eyes. "She means 'are you serious?'" she clarified. "She heard it on TV this morning and she's been saying it all day, Daddy."

He nodded. "Thank-you, Millie. And yes, I'm serious," he told Chessie.

"Well, when will she be here again?" she continued.

"I'm not sure, Chess," he told her honestly.

Chessie sighed. "Well, it better be soon! I'm so sick of these stupid pony tails!" she announced.

Penelope had made her way into every area of their lives, and Derek was afraid he'd taken her for granted. He had no idea what he'd do without her.

WWWWW

She should have told the rest of the team that she was leaving for Boston, Penelope thought as she zipped up her rolling luggage. But she'd been afraid that if she'd stopped to see them, they'd be able to read the devastation in her eyes. One of the non-perks to working with profilers. They could read you like a book.

She walked downstairs, did a quick walk through to make sure her all of her windows were locked and nothing left on, then made her way to the front curb where her taxi was waiting. All the way to the airport all she could think about was Morgan and the girls. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone four days without seeing Chessie and Millie. And she tried to pinpoint the moment she'd become attached to them, but she couldn't. She couldn't even remember when she hadn't been attached to them.

And to her surprise, she'd become attached to Derek, too. It certainly hadn't been planned, but Penelope was able to admit to herself that she'd fallen in love with him. And while she hadn't expected him to reciprocate her feelings immediately, she hadn't counted on him pushing her away, either. She was so sure he'd been falling for her, too. Well, she'd definitely misread those signals. A man who wanted you didn't push you away. Penelope sighed as her Aunt Daisy's words ran through her mind. Don't expect a man to buy the cow when he can get the milk for free.

"Shut up, Aunt Daisy," she muttered.

WWWWW

It was Tuesday, and after an incredibly long four days, Penelope would be back tomorrow. Derek was standing with one hip on his desk. It didn't even register that he was standing there staring at her empty office.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Reid's voice broke through Derek's reverie.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"If you ask her to stay. What's the worst that could happen?" Reid repeated.

"It could not work out," Derek said. He was too tired to ask Reid what he was talking about. Obviously they all knew about him and Penelope, and Derek wasn't going to pretend otherwise. "I could lose my best friend. My girls could lose the only woman they love."

"Aren't you losing your best friend anyway? The girls losing the only woman they love?" Reid reasoned.

Derek's eyes narrowed. "It's more complicated than that, Kid."

"No it's not," Reid argued. "You're making it that way because you're scared."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Derek said angrily.

"Sure I do," Reid said.

Derek struggled to hold his temper in check. Reid sure was argumentative today.

"You never failed at anything," he reminded Derek. "Until you got married. Or rather, divorced. You're afraid of failing again," he concluded.

Derek didn't say anything.

"But maybe you're looking at it the wrong way," Reid said. "Maybe it was really a triumph because it brought you to where you are today."

"Quit profiling me," Derek said.

"What? Like you don't profile me?" Reid said.

"I won't ask her to stay," Derek told him.

"Why not?" Reid pressed.

Derek didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Heather said I held her back. Me and the girls," he amended. "They were a…" He couldn't bring himself to call his daughters' a mistake, not when they were the best part of his world. "Surprise," he finally finished. "And apparently, they...we kept Heather from having everything she ever wanted."

Reid gave Derek a confused look. "So?"

"So I won't do the same thing to Penelope," he said.

"You're comparing Garcia to your ex-wife? Derek, she's spent more time with them than their mother ever did. Because she chooses to. The only thing you're holding her back from…is you and the girls."

Derek laughed bitterly. "If that's even what she wants."

"How can you even doubt that?"

Derek rubbed his face. "I have to think of everything, Reid. Because I didn't do it the first time around and now…my kids don't have a mother."

Reid shook his head in disbelief. "Yes, they do," he argued. "She just didn't give birth to them."