Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters. Some "guest stars" are based on or named after people in my life while others are totally made up, as are some places and events.

Chapter 14

Penelope opened her eyes suddenly. She was momentarily confused by her surroundings before remembering where she was. And with whom. She gasped as the previous night's events came flooding back. She turned slightly to gaze at the sleeping form of her best friend. It should be illegal to be that sexy, she mused. As much as she wanted to burrow back under the covers, a more pressing need was making itself known. She felt all over the nightstand for her glasses but gave up when she realized they weren't there. Sighing, she got up and made a beeline for the en-suite, praying she wouldn't crash into any obstacles on the way.

She finished and walked back to the bed. She found her glasses on the other side of Derek's pillow and donned them. She watched as her best friend murmured incoherently and stretched his arm to the empty half of the bed. He patted the mattress as if searching for something. She shivered in the cool room and gently moved his arm before sliding back into the bed. She turned to her side and Derek immediately brought his arm back over, pulling her close and burying his face in her hair. She took her glasses off and put them on the nightstand before closing her eyes and going back to sleep.

When she woke up again, sunlight was breaking through the split in the curtains. She smiled as she felt Derek's arm still wrapped around her. She put her glasses on and got up to begin the day.

Penelope was in the shower, rinsing out her hair, completely unaware that she had an audience. "Hey, you," Derek growled in her ear.

"Ahhh!" Penelope screeched, lashing out and hitting Derek in the face.

"Ow!" Derek grabbed his face and backed out of the shower. Penelope wiped the soap and water out of her eyes before whipping the curtain aside.

"Jee-sus, Derek! Way to try and give a girl heart failure!" she scolded. Her heart was still racing and she squinted, trying to see what he was doing. He had his back to her and was hunched over the sink. "Hot Stuff? Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Derek replied. He turned around and she saw he was holding a bloody wad of tissue to his nose.

"Oh, my God! Did I bloody your nose?" she cried.

"It's all right, Baby. Finish what you're doing."

'Are you sure you're OK, Handsome?" Penelope asked for the fourth time as Derek tied his shoes.

"Yes, Baby Girl, I'm fine. It's not even sore." Derek grinned at her. "I did learn not to sneak up on you, especially in the shower."

"Yeah, the combination of the job plus the whole horror movie genre makes me a little paranoid." She finished putting on her own shoes and stood up. Derek stared as she deliberately messed up her bed. She looked up and caught Derek staring... again. "What?" she asked, exasperated yet amused.

"Nothing. I like looking at you. Since when is that a crime?" Derek asked.

"Since..." She trailed off and blushed. "You're a profiler, Hot Stuff, and we work with a bunch more. You keep doing that and it'll only take them point-two seconds to figure it out."

"Don't you want people to know about us?" he asked.

"No! I mean, not yet... I mean... I don't know," she stuttered and looked down at the floor.

"Are you ashamed of me?"

Penelope whipped her head up and looked into his eyes. She was surprised to see fear and insecurity in those deep brown orbs. "Of course I'm not ashamed! I'm just... confused. I'd like to know what exactly 'us' is before even thinking about telling anyone and giving the bird to the frat rules... again."

"Hence the bed..."

"Yep. This is a small town and gossip is a hobby. I learned that all-too-well from that arson case in Indiana. A housekeeper sees what she thinks is out-of-town FBI agents shacking up and it won't take long before everyone knows and Hotch will find out..." she rambled.

"Hey, pump your brakes, woman." Derek crouched down on the floor in front of her. "There's nothing I'd like more than climbing to the roof of this town's tallest building and telling the world how I feel about you. But I respect you and won't do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I'm not Kevin, he thought to himself. "When you're ready to tell them, I'll be right there by your side."

"Thanks, my delicious cup of hot chocolate." She grinned coyly at him. She laughed when he dove at her and pinned her down on the bed.

"What you do to me..." he growled in her ear a day began a trail of kisses from her earlobe to her throat.

"Der... Hot Stu... Oh, my... " she could neither form a complete sentence nor think a rational thought. It was like he had honed in on a direct channel to her libido. She allowed him to nuzzle her head to the side and her eyes rolled back into her head as she made mewing sounds of pleasure.

"Damn, Baby. Keep doing that and we'll never leave this room," Derek whispered.

"Then we better go before they send out a search party," she whispered back. The longing in her voice made him wish more than ever that they were back home in Quantico instead of UNSUB hunting in Michigan.

"Hey, Buddy, check her out," the younger of the two men sitting in an old truck parked across the street pointed excitedly at the buxom blonde as she exited out of the black SUV. She walked with a group of men and women dressed in business attire into the café.

"Jeez, Freddy, remember how we talked about subtlety?" the older man snapped. "Don't point and keep your damn voice down!"

"Sorry, Buddy. She's just so... different," Freddy replied.

Buddy looked over at his little brother with interest. "Different in a good way or a bad way?" he asked.

"Good. Very good. I like her more than the others," Freddy grinned mischievously.

"Well, see how she talks and stuff. Do like you do. Get to know her." Buddy gestured towards the café.

"I thought we were going to have breakfast together," Freddy whined.

"Sorry, Bro. Gotta go to work extra early today," Buddy lied. "I'll see you back at home later," he added as Freddy exited the truck, grumbling under his breath.

"Garcia, what's wrong?" Hotch asked as they waited for their food. They were talking quietly about the case and he wasn't the only one who noticed that the technical analyst had looked up and scanned the room several times in the short amount for time they'd been there, but he was the first to ask her about it.

"I don't know, Bossman. I keep feeling like someone is watching me, but every time I look up to see everyone's going on about their business," Penelope explained.

"Maybe you're still a little on-edge from Boles," Kate suggested as the team silently profiled the small restaurant's occupants.

"Maybe, I don't know."

"Maybe I should stay with you in the room today," Derek offered.

Penelope scoffed. "Don't be silly. What could possibly happen? I have no intentions of leaving the hotel room unless I'm taking a break with you guys, anyway."

3 Days Later

The team was frustrated, to say the least. They had to adjust the profile again when another body had washed up and like the others, there wasn't any forensic or trace evidence left behind. The team spent most of their time trying to identify the body. Like the last victims, this one did not have an ID or anything on her person. The only identifying feature was a tattoo of a butterfly on her upper back. Nobody in a five-hundred mile perimeter had filed a missing persons report for someone matching her description so Penelope expanded her search nationwide. Still no dice.

The uneasy feeling followed Penelope every time she left the room. The team tried to keep her at ease, especially Derek. Every night he showed her how much he loved her. He was a most skillful lover. He always seemed to know what she needed without her asking. During the day he was a perfect gentleman, aside from their usual phone flirting banter. If the team suspected the change in their relationship, they didn't say anything.

"Don't those goons ever leave her alone?" Buddy grumbled as they watched the black FBI agent wrap his arm protectively around the blonde tech's shoulders as they walked into the hotel. They waited about ten minutes until the agent walked back out the way he came and drove off in his SUV.

"She's alone now," Freddy said.

"No shit, Sherlock. How do you think you're going to get into her room?"

"I dunno." Freddy shrugged. "Get them away from her, somehow."

"That's it!" Buddy said excitedly. He put his truck into drive. "Let's go."

A/N: Sorry I've been slacking. I'm back to work and working on the biggest project I've ever done. This will replenish the savings we spent when I wasn't working this winter and then some. I'm teaching one day and two evenings a week until the end of May. Still looking for a new house and may have found one. Canada was fun although it rained and snowed most of the time and Hubby wouldn't let me pout too much over the show. The baby was born three weeks ago and she's perfect. Trying to get past everything but my heart is hurting for all of the "what-ifs."

Thanks for reading,

PitaCake