This is not part of the challenge, but this song was begging to be turned into a fic, seemed very suiting.
This is how the story went
I met someone by accident
Who blew me away
Blew me away
And It was in the darkest of my days
When you took my sorrow and you took my pain
And buried them away, buried them away
I wish I could lay down beside you
When the day is done
And wake up to your face against the morning sun
But like everything I've ever known
You'll disappear one day
So I'll spend my whole life hiding my heart away
Adele ~ Hiding My Heart
It seemed that if everything happened for a reason, Derek Morgan had yet to figure out the reason for him meeting Penelope Garcia. Not that he would ever regret it.
Sure, things she did led her to work in the BAU where he had worked, but nothing could have prepared him for their haphazard meeting and what grew from there.
He called her by the wrong name, "Gomez" and quickly corrected it with "Baby Girl", it was the first thing he could think of, and their quirky friendship started there. Countless hours of flirting and innuendo over the years. They met by accident, but now couldn't live without each other.
They weren't dating, not that he didn't want that. She was taken, he missed his chance. He had been hurt and burned so he was careful who he trusted, she was the only one he could see himself spending any lengthy amount of time with. Anyone outside of their circle of friends would surely think they were dating, they had been accused many times before. He held her hand, kissed away her tears and pain and she always had a way of making him feel so much better, and he her. She was his Solace, and he had told her that so many times before and it seemed she needed him too, it was a weird type of give and take.
In the darkest of days, she took away his sorrow and pain and buried them all away and somehow made things better, it was only her that could do that, no one else had that power, no one he had ever met before.
He had tried to put himself out there, but at the time it was too late, she thought it was pity, not sincerity and he couldn't bring himself to do it again. She seemed happy with Kevin Lynch, so he put on his bravest best friend face and pretended to be happy for her. In reality, all the while he was wishing he could lay down beside her when the day was done and wake up to her smiling face against the morning sun, but instead it was only dreams he held in his head because he was still hiding his heart away. He hoped things would change, that she wouldn't disappear, but he couldn't guarantee that, he just wished he had to courage to be honest, to tell her how he felt.