Baby Girl

Morgan and Garcia

Chapter Nine

March 2002

All day long she had waited for this moment and now it had finally come. Derek was standing behind Penelope in her office.

His words washed over her and sent shivers through her "Hey there, baby girl. I have missed you something fierce."

She spun around and jumped out of her seat. "Derek," she said breathlessly. Then she dragged out the words. "It has been forever."

"Nah, but it sure felt like it some days. I'm sorry its been so long since we last saw each other. I was undercover for eighteen months. It lasted a lot longer than I anticipated."

"I know. Well I didn't know it was eighteen months. I knew it was fourteen though."

"How? Did you call my bosses?"

She tensed up. "Long, long story, sug. Too long to get into here. How about we get some drinks tonight? We have a lot of catching up to do."

He grinned. "Count me in, baby girl." He moved closer to her. "Can I have a hug? I could use to feel your beautiful arms around me again. Its been too long."

She easily went into his arms. For a little while she could close her eyes and pretend no time had gone by at all.

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Derek and Penelope met at a nearby by restaurant, after she gave him directions there. He got there first and got them a table. When she joined him he stood up and pulled out her chair. She sat down and they stared at each other for a long moment.

He said "This is blowing my mind. I can't believe we work at the same place now. How is that for a coincidence?"

"My Mom always said that there are no coincidences. Just what is meant to be and what isn't."

His face softened. He reached for her hand and held it. "I missed you. I know I said that back at work but it bears repeating...I missed you really bad, baby girl, and it kills me to know that you might have thought I forgot about you. I get it if you did and you got mad at me. I respect that you have a life here now and it might not have a place for me in it. But I did miss you and that's something I will not lie about."

"I missed you uber much. Many times I wished you were with me."

He grinned. "Well here I am now. So tell me you don't got a man and we can pick up where we left off."

She took her hand back. "I don't have a man but the other part...is complicated. Lets order and then we can talk more, okay?"

They decided to have dinner. Over dinner they discussed his undercover work and she mentioned how she came to be part of the BAU.

"Arrested?" Derek asked, taken back. "As in handcuffed, fingerprinted and locked up?"

"The whole shebang. I sat in a jail for the worst weekend of my life before I was offered a plea deal and was whisked here for training. They set me up with a place to live. It's a duplex. They also provided money for a car and expenses. Actually they were quite generous to me. But I had to cut contact with everyone in my old life. That was really tough. My hacker friends were my family for so long. But the team is my family now. They really embraced me as one of their own."

"Glad to hear it. Knowing that, I already like them. Its just wild that you went through all that and got assigned to the same unit I'm in now. What are the odds?"

"I wouldn't say its just random. I think it's the universe at work."

He grinned and waggled his head at her. "So you can get some more Hot Stuff loving? Well I won't complain if that's the case."

She remained somber. "Derek, I want you to know I tried very hard to contact you. I called your bosses and they wouldn't tell me anything. I thought often of calling your mother but I just couldn't. She doesn't know me and I would feel like I was a cheap slut in her eyes-"

"Don't say that, baby girl! You were important to me." He lifted her hand and kissed it. "So very special to me."

"I finally could take no more and I hacked into the Chicago Police Department files and found out you were still under. I figured as much though because there was no activity on your credit cards for the whole time you were under. Anyway, not even two days later I got busted by the Feds."

"For trying to find out about me?"

"No for other more serious things I did to earn money and also because I was cocky and wanted to prove I could. I should have been smarter but sometimes I was feeling crazy back then, very overwhelmed and my emotions led me places I shouldn't have gone. I hacked something that set off alarm bells and got me busted."

"I'm sorry to hear that but I'm glad you now work for the good guys. We could use your skills, mama. I never did like the idea of us being on opposites sides of the law anyway."

"Well we aren't anymore. Now we're gonna be working together every day and I want, more than anything, for us to build a strong friendship between us built on mutual respect, understanding and admiration for one another. And also the knowledge that once upon a time I licked your chocolate God body from head to toe and I loved every second of it."

He chuckled. "That sounds real good to me. I got a lot to get used to when it comes to working for the FBI. I have to prove myself but I will. And I'm glad I got you around to have my back. Our time together was amazing and, even if that's all we ever have, it will always mean a whole lot to me."

"Me too. It will always be a precious memory. But we have to focus on rebuilding now. And what we have in the here and now can't be what we had back then. I don't know what it can be but it won't be that because we are different people now. If you had come and visited me that summer maybe we would have burned out fast or turned into something glorious. I'm not sure. But now it looks like we're gonna be working together for a while and that means we have time to make a new version of us...and we have a really good reason to work hard at that."

"For the sake of the team?"

"Yeah, handsome, the team will need us to pull together but I need that too. I could use you to have my back too. I lost all my hacker friends from when I was underground and the team is my family now. I need that more than I can even explain. Derek...my life has changed a lot since that summer. I had a... I ...I gave birth to a daughter."

His eyes widened and he sat forward. "You what now?"

"I have a daughter. She's utterly adorable and very smart. My life is about her now, more than myself. That's why I said it would be complicated to date. I'd so love to just go back to your place and get in bed right now but I can't. I have a child to consider and that makes me and you very messy. So its probably best to not even worry about me and you right now because we have so much bigger fish to fry."

"Penelope, you had a baby? For real?"

"Very uber much real. She's at my place right now with Cathy. She's her sitter. The Feds found her for me. She lives next door, in the duplex., so she's always available. Her days off are when we get days off. The Feds pay her salary. It's a good deal for me. I know this is a lot to take it. Maybe you should just sit with it for a minute. I'm gonna go to the ladies room."

She hurried away. Derek sat there stunned.