I dislike saying this BUT Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, if I did we'd see a lot more going on if you get my gist....

'Case is over, let's go grab a drink and come back Monday and complete all this.' Hotch told said as they entered the BAU. 'I think we could all do with a good night's sleep after.'

Derek almost snorted at that, he was exhausted but only because he was occupied in his sleep, occupied with getting what he wanted, it seemed so easy to do in his dreamland but in reality it scared the hell out of him. Derek Morgan stood in front of his desk that night and inwardly admitted to being scared of rejection from a woman.

'Hey there Morga-meister.' Penelope said as she took her place next to him. 'Interesting desk. The history that comes with it's a good one. Been home to this actual God of a man for the last 9 years.' She groaned the God part to apply the emphasis on the word. 'This God is also a hero, come to think of it, he's my noir hero, heroic, stoic and drop dead hot.' She teased him and he looked at her as she smiled, her eyes staring off as she carried on. 'It's also a good seat.' She said and looked at him, a large grin showing her smile. 'Come on stud, you're holding the other heroes of the clan up.

'Hello to you too Baby Girl.' He finally told her and Penelope turned at looked at him as he caught her hand in his. 'Any dancing tonight sweet thing?'

'Oh, well I only have one dance partner and.... well... you see... if he's up for dancing then I'm, like, totally up for dancing.' She said and put mock nerves in her voice.

'Come on silly girl, let's get you dancing.'

'I think we do too much dancing, it's every time we go out hot stuff.'

'You can never dance too much with a Goddess.' He told her and put his hand around her waist as they walked to the elevator and met the others. 'Trust me, I've not got bored yet.'

The next morning Derek was sitting on the steps that led into his garden, the sun was beating down and Clooney was fetching the balls that Derek kept on throwing. That night he had danced with Penelope, he'd not touched a single drop of alcohol, he didn't dare. He didn't want to find some weird shrine cultivated for Penelope at the end of it. He didn't want that type of reality just yet.

Penelope had done her usual, she'd been her and no one else. She hadn't cared who was watching, she was up there to dance with him and only him and she was there to have fun. The more he watched her the more he knew he wanted her, he knew that every ounce of his being was soon going to be screaming for her to be his.

'Good boy.' Derek told Clooney as the dog dropped the ball and waited for Derek to throw it. Obeying Derek threw the ball and heard it hit the fence at the end of the garden, Clooney sprinted down to the end and then halted. Derek waited patiently for the dog to get the ball in his mouth and run back except he just sat down and looked at the bushes. 'Clooney!' He called out. 'Get the ball boy!' He yelled and Clooney looked at him before looking back at what he was looking at.

Groaning Derek stood up and walked down to the end of the garden, still Clooney didn't make any moves to get the ball. 'Why have a dog and bark yourself?' Derek asked himself sarcastically as he stepped over one of the bushes. He stood and scoped the area, looking by the tree's that were around for any signs of the yellow ball, he then looked in one of the bushes but as he straightened back up he froze.

Moving his hand up to the bark on the tree, Derek let his hand move over it; shakily Derek looked above it and did the same. Derek let out a deep breath as he looked at what was in front of him. On the entire bark of one of the trees was either Penelope on its own or Penelope in a heart. Occasionally his name with hers but the one that knocked the breath from his lungs was the one very scruffy bit saying Penelope Morgan.

Feeling exposed Derek looked up the garden, the only thing watching him was his dog, he looked back at the tree trunk and looked more closer. As he took his a step forward he felt his foot kicked something, looking down he saw a red pen knife.

Picking it up he closed it. 'You were in the drawer last night.' He muttered and put the knife away in his back pocket. His eyes traced the carvings and he worried if there were anymore. Leaving the covered tree he went and inspected the others. Finding most bar 1 more carving free he found the ball and headed back into the house.

Leaving the door open he sunk onto the couch and opened his laptop, letting it load he waited and contemplated. His psyche was really having a big deal with this. Just because he was being stubborn and not wanting to admit it openly to Pen seemed to be wreaking havoc on him in every other way possible.

He got the emails back up and read them through properly. The first one he read and read again and with each new point Penelope came into his head. Her entire beauty, inside and out, was now displayed in his head for him to see, hear, smell, touch. Shaking it away he got the quotes up from the second email, each one of them building in meaning, each one truer than the last. He read them a dozen times; he wanted them learnt so that one day he could speak them. Getting the last email up Derek read it aloud and fell back into the cushions, hands on head, eyes closed tightly.

Derek knew entirely that he wanted to take a woman home to his mom so that he could tell her that he was so madly, deeply in love that he had the prospect of future, he wanted to have a woman that kept his head on the right track, he wanted a woman that kept him on his toes, bit back as much as she could take, questioned him, teased him, loved him. A woman that made him happy, that kept him from losing his true being. He wanted nothing more than to measure his life with the love he had and he hoped and prayed that the love he received back would be the love that would help him measure his life through true love. He could already measure his life with his achievements but that was it.

Sitting forward he got all the emails up and carried the laptop to the printer. He printed each one and read them all once more before putting them in a box; the texts could wait until he was ready. Putting the box down on the coffee table he went into the garden and took part of the bark away, the one with the clearest carving and took it back inside. He added that to the box and closed the lid, putting the box on the shelf he backed away.

For now everything Penelope based in the way he was running from would remain in that box, he would give it to her when he stopped being a coward or when he got any idea she was serious about showing him a good morning or if he ever felt leaving was the best idea.

Until that day he was going to continue living the life he had with Penelope.

A/N: Right I know I've been gone a couple of days. Uni essays, not feeling great and general fun took over so I give you this!!

Hope you enjoyed!! =)

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