Disclaimer: I don't own a single part of Criminal Minds…*tears fall down my cheeks*

Here's chapter 2 of this. I hope you all enjoy and thank you for the reviews so far :)

Emily sat down in JJ's office and let out a groan. "Jayje," she said. "I'm tired of the bullshit with Morgan and Garcia. It's ridiculous! Sure, they're still speaking, but they're not them. There's no pet names, no sickening flirting, no witty banter. They're acting…ridiculous."

"Agreed," JJ grumbled, slamming her file down on her desk and leaning back in her chair. "I'm tired of it too." Rising from her desk she began to pace. "We need to do something to do something to get them back to the road to each other." Both of them were noticing the cracks in their friends and knew they might implode on themselves within a given amount of time. They were meant to be together, Jackson or no Jackson. It was interesting how they both thought Jackson was nice, yet they couldn't stand how he was when he was with Penelope. Somehow the way he looked at her was similar to that of someone who'd just won a prize. And the way he looked at Derek; a look like he'd taken away the one person who meant most to him and it was all just a game. It unnerved them. Something wasn't right with him.

And they knew Derek was on a mission to figure out why Jackson Smith was so familiar to them all.

XXXXX

Derek was furiously searching for any clues in old case files for how he might've come across Jackson Smith before. Penelope certainly knew nothing of his new-found hobby or she would certainly have chewed him out and rearranged his personal records. She was fiercely protective of her boyfriend and since Derek's confession a month earlier, she'd shot down every stab at Jackson he made. They'd remained friends, but she took no shit on the subject of him.

As he poured through more files, Hotch knocked and arrived in the office, closing the door behind him.

"What do you want, Hotch?" he asked, barely looking up from his file.

"What do I want?" Hotch demanded. "I want to know why you're looking over case files from years back. You're looking at them like they're your only concern. Now I get that you're upset about Penelope choosing someone else over you, but this is beyond ridiculous. What does this have to do with anything? Are you simply trying to refresh your memory?"

Derek clenched his jaw in frustration before looking up. Growling, he said, "I just think there's something familiar about this guy. Something not right."

"Other than his having Penelope?" Hotch asked with a hard look.

Rising in anger, Derek roared, "Dammit Hotch! This guy is so familiar I just know there's something wrong with him! And I swear to God if he does one thing to hurt her, there won't be a damn thing anyone can do to stop me from destroying him."

"Derek, you can't just try to find something wrong with him," Hotch reasoned. "You probably won't find anything wrong with him. He's just a good guy who loves Penelope." On the inside he sympathized with his friend. He hated to see him suffer in any way, and just like with Lynch, seeing her with Jackson was killing him, slowly destroying every fragment of his being until eventually there would be nothing left but anger and despair.

"Not in the way I do," Derek said in a dangerous voice. "No way in hell will his feelings ever compare to mine." He shook his head and said, "Hotch, I'm telling you. There's something wrong with him. My gut isn't wrong."

Hotch looked at him sympathetically. Derek was a mess. He looked like he was in agony. And it was all because of a woman. Not a tough case, not a family problem, but Penelope Garcia. Putting his hand on his shoulder, he told Derek, "You need to realize something. The only thing keeping you two apart is her guilt over leaving him. Just be happy for her, and if it's meant to be, it'll happen."

"Don't expect me to stop looking for where I've seen him before," Derek growled. "If he dares hurt her, I'll rip him apart. Limb from limb."

"I know you will," he said with a small smile. "We're all going for a drink tonight. Come with us."

Derek scowled. "Is that an order?"

Nodding as he left, Hotch called over his shoulder, "Yes."

XXXXX

Penelope sat on a bar stool around a table with Emily, Reid, and Jackson wither. The whole team was at the bar that evening and Derek was pounding down drinks like there was no tomorrow. Penelope watched as he downed shot after shot, sliding down his throat like liquid poison. She also noticed the girls, all of them thin and model-like, flocking over him. She saw the way his mouth slurred as he talked suavely to them all and laughed along. His grin that Penelope loved so much glittered under the lights of the bar.

One of the women – a stick thin blonde – that was around him grabbed his hand and pulled him along to the dance floor with her hands running along his back and chest, her nails digging into his skin. Penelope felt the green snake of jealousy snake its way into her blood stream and crawl through her veins. Her blood began to boil and her hands clenched into fists.

"You want another drink, Penelope?" Jackson asked, nudging her slightly. "I'm going to get one."

Nodding somewhat stiffly, she said, "Yes. Please." As Jackson got up, Penelope continued to stare at Derek and the girl who was now groping him. She felt tears burning in the back of her eyes. But she had to remind herself that she had a boyfriend whom with things was going extremely well with. She wouldn't feel jealous. She couldn't feel jealous.

"You okay, PG?" Emily asked gently.

Snapping her head up to look at her friend, she said shortly, "Yes. Of course I'm fine. I'm completely fine." Rising from her seat, she added, "Let Jackson know I'm going to the bathroom, please."

XXXXX

Derek moved to the music with a fuzzy brain and a girl – was her name Shelley? – was moving along with him. He didn't know why he was dancing with her; he vaguely remembered her pulling him away from the team onto the dance floor. But as he was dancing, he saw Penelope rushing to the bathroom and his brain stopped. He needed to see her. Wiggling out of the girl's arms, much to her protests, he ran off after her, barging his way into the women's restroom. He saw one pair of shoes underneath the stalls, so he knew it was safe to lock the door to the restrooms. When he heard sniffles, he knew this wasn't a visit to the bathroom. Leaning against the door, he waited until Penelope came out of the stall.

As she came out of the stall, using a piece of toilet paper to wipe her running mascara, she gasped when she saw Derek. "What are you doing in here?" she spat.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly.

She tried to shove past him to get to the door, but he blocked her and grasped her by the shoulders. Pounding her fists against his chest, she cried, "Let me go!"

"I'm not going to do that, Baby Girl," he murmured, pulling her against him and wrapping her tightly in his arms to stop her from moving. He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, "I won't ever let you go."

"Please!" she said quietly. "Please don't make this more difficult for me than it already is." She looked up into his eyes with her tear-stained ones and continued, "Please…"

Tilting his head down closer to hers, he whispered, "No."

"Let. Me. Go."

"No," he repeated. Before she could open her mouth again, his lips descended on hers, wrapping her in a fierce kiss. His arms stayed tightly around her and she couldn't help but fall under the spell of his lips. With his fingers tangled in her blonde curls, he kept her close to his body. She pushed him against the door harder and he pulled his face back slightly to laugh. "Sweetness, you like it rough."

Whispering huskily back, she murmured, "Hot Stuff, you have no idea."

Moving her against the counter, Derek helped her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her heels digging into the small of his back. Her arms were around his neck, running her fingers over his smooth head. "You taste so good," he said. He let his fingers slide up her legs and under her skirt. The feel of his fingers against her thigh made her shiver and as they traveled up farther she let out a soft moan. "And you feel good, too."

Pushing her skirt up to give him more access, she let him kiss her neck and tilted her head back for him to trail kisses all the way down her throat. "Derek…" she moaned.

"Yeah, Baby Girl?" he said in between kisses.

She pulled his face to hers again and kissed his lips again. "Don't you dare stop," she moaned softly.

And he didn't.

XXXXX

"You seem a little tense, Penelope," Jackson said as he threw his keys onto the kitchen counter when they entered his apartment. "Everything okay, hon?" He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Penelope winced internally. After what she'd just done with Derek in the bar bathroom, she knew she'd just betrayed her boyfriend who'd done nothing but love her. "Yeah," she lied. "I'm fine. Just a little tired." Pointing to the bedroom, she added, "I'm just going to go lay down for a bit."

He nodded and said, "Okay, sweetheart. I'm going to go for a run. Work off some of the alcohol I drank."

She smiled and waved him off. When she heard the door shut behind him, she went to sit on the bed. Looking around at the simple, yet cozy room, she put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. There were no tears because she truly didn't feel sad about it. Yes, she felt guilty for what she'd done to Jackson, but she felt invigorated after making love with Derek. Though it had been in a bathroom on counter top, she still felt like nothing she'd ever experienced.

She remembered the feeling of his skin against hers; it was the most beautiful feeling in the world.

Rising in frustration from the bed, she went to the bathroom to splash water on her face before she decided what to do about her current situation. While she stood in the bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror, she kicked at the cabinets in frustration and was shocked when a panel shook loose.

Penelope squatted down and pulled the board out of the way. What she found scared her. A lockbox filled with surveillance photos of Derek. Along with it were clippings from a case that seemed familiar to her. And buried beneath it all was a gun.

Dropping the box, she gasped. She pulled out one of the photos and saw a tear fall onto it. What the hell was all this stuff? And why did Jackson have it?

And the most important question was: was Derek in danger?