Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Here's the next one of this little story. Thank you so much for your reviews! To answer the guest reviewer who decided to call themselves "not saying": yes, this is a Morgan and Garcia story, it says that in the story summary box. Hope you'll all enjoy!

Derek watched as the woman running the speed dating event prattled on. His ears barley registered what she was saying. He truly didn't care, though. The only reason he was here was because he wanted to spend more time with Penelope. Since their breakup a year ago, he had only dated two women, neither of them serious at all. He still held onto a small shred of hope she would want him back.

Since she was coming to this, apparently that was not the case.

His eyes drifted over to her as she listened intently to the event coordinator. Leaning in, he whispered in her ear, "You ready to be bored out of your mind tonight, Baby Girl?"

She scoffed. "I'm actually going to try and have fun," she shot back. "You should, too."

"Hah!" he snickered. "You really think I'm gonna find someone here?"

Penelope turned her face ever so slightly so she could smirk at him. He couldn't stop his eyes from going wide at how close her face was to his now. He was so close to her that he could smell her alluring honeysuckle perfume. A smell that heavenly enticed him. "You just have to open your options, Morgan. You're a handsome Adonis. There's a reason I dated you for so long."

She winked at him as the bell was run and the women were instructed to take their seats to begin the event. Derek watched her as she walked away, lamenting the fact they had broken up yet again. He didn't want to be here with them going around and meeting multiple people who would never be the right match for him.

In his mind, he was the only one for her, just like she was the only one for him.

"Morgan, how're you feeling?"

Derek looked to his side to see Rossi coming up to his side. He nodded, taking his eyes off of Penelope so he could talk with Rossi. "What's up, Rossi?" he greeted.

"You ready to try and find a date?" Rossi asked.

"This isn't really my scene," Derek admitted. "I'm here because you all came out."

Rossi gave him a probing look, but nodded slowly after a moment. "Right. Well, I myself am hoping to find a lovely young lady to go home with. It might be interesting to –"

Derek tried to hold it back, but he couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing. "Okay, Rossi," he chuckled. "I really can't hear that with a straight face."

"And why not?" Rossi said, lowering his voice.

"Rossi…for real. These women are your daughter's age," Derek remarked. "You really think you'll find a date here?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Rossi nodded a challenge to Derek. "Alright then," he said. "Man who gets the most numbers at the end of the night gets bragging rights and provides funds for the date one of us chooses to go on."

Derek's eyes drifted to Penelope again as she was sitting down at her table. Her face glowed in the candlelight of the tea lights on the table, and it showed off her red satin dress in a flattering way. Even though he had no intention of calling any woman he met her tonight, he couldn't very well back down from a bet either. He didn't want to hurt his ego in any way at all.

"You're on, old man," Derek said, sticking at his hand to shake Rossi's as the bell was rung for them to begin their dates.

XXXXX

"So what do you do for a living, Penelope?"

Penelope blinked at the man sitting across from her before giving him a demure smile. He sat with good posture, well-dressed with a pleasant smile on his face. He had a slight accent, indicating a Latin heritage.

A warm feeling filled her belly. Maybe this could be her sperm donor. He looked like he would make a beautiful baby.

Leaning forward, she smiled at him wider. "Well, José, I work for the FBI," she said. "I'm my team's technical analyst and all-around superwoman."

He laughed, showing his beautiful white teeth. "Superwoman, huh?" He leaned forward as well. "I know something about being a super human myself. I'm an entomologist. Top in my field."

Somehow that deflated Penelope's interest in him. The guy studied bugs? She didn't want to be rude, but this had stolen away anything she could want in this man.

"Oh, wow," she said, clearing her throat. "Well, that's –"

"It's amazing," he interrupted. "Our work is so important. We study the mating habits of termites. It's fascinating stuff."

Definitely don't want this guy's sperm anywhere near my uterus, she thought frantically.

"I think you would find the lab I work in fascinating," he continued. "It's absolutely amazing. I'd love to show you sometime. I think you would find the pheromones that they exude are very…seductive." He gave her a sleazy smile.

Despite not wanting to be rude, her mouth dropped. She couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. This asshole was reminding her of an episode of an X Files episode with the pushy entomologist flirting with Scully. The bell couldn't ring fast enough to release her from this date.

Thankfully, these individual dates lasted a total of seven minutes. When the bell rang, she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to spend another moment with this man who was overly proud to be a bug man.

"Send me your number at the end of the night," he said with a wink as he rose from his seat to move to the next woman. "I'd love to hear from a woman as beautiful as you again soon."

"Mmm," she said skeptically.

Penelope rubbed her temples in exasperation, hoping she would have some better luck with the next few.

Luck was not her friend. The next few were just as much of a bust as the entomologist. They didn't have the creep factor José had had, but they didn't hold her interest in any way, shape, or form.

"Well, now," a voice said. "What might your name be?"

Penelope looked up. In front of her stood Derek, a smile on his face. She smiled back, extending her hand for him to shake. "Well handsome sir, I'm Penelope. Who might you be?"

He sat down across from her, his teeth glowing in the candlelight. "Derek," he replied with a silly grin.

She puckered her lips. "Ooh," she purred. "What a sexy name."

He sat down in front of her and grinned even wider. "Thanks. I like it, too."

"So how's the night going?" she asked, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. "Meeting any gorgeous ladies yet?"

Derek held her gaze as she watched him. "No one who is holding my interest," he admitted. "I'm not into these things. You know me. Too many women with fake boobs show up."

She murmured low in her throat. "Chocolate Thunder, you are too much. I bet you've found six girls you want to take home already…fake boobs or not."

He shrugged. "There might be one woman here I'm into," he said. He looked away from her briefly. She studied him closer, realizing he must have been thinking about whoever the lady was he was talking about. His face in the candlelight reminded her why she had fallen for him all those years ago. Not only was he handsome, but he was kind as well. She would put her life in his hands. When they broke up, she was thrilled they managed to stay friends. Adding sex to their relationship had complicated things, even though it had been wonderful. Did she miss him sometimes? Hell yes. But then she remembered how much they fought in their relationship, and then being best friends seemed like the best thing in the world.

Yet, something stirred inside Penelope as they sat there. She stared at the contours of his face and a warm feeling filled her belly. The warmth spread through her veins, spreading to her limbs until her whole body was warm and tingly.

"What?" Derek laughed, snapping her out of her daze. "Whatcha lookin' at, Baby Girl?"

She shook her head. "Oh, um, nothing," she said, nonchalantly. "Just curious about how things are going to go for the rest of the night."

He chuckled. "Well, if this makes you feel any better, Rossi and I have a bet going on. We're going to see who gets the most numbers at the end of the night. Winner goes home with the sexy lady of his choice with the loser for the first date."

Penelope blinked several times at him, silent.

"Umm…what?" she said, unable to figure out anything else to say. She felt a twinge of something she didn't have a name for in her heart, but nevertheless, she felt it.

Derek laughed, probably at the expression on her face. "You sound really surprised."

"Just…isn't it a little unfair?" she asked. "I mean, Rossi is, well…he's older than a lot of the women here. And you're the most beautiful man in the room."

He shot her his thousand-watt grin. "You think I'm the most beautiful man in the room?"

Swallowing hard, Penelope regretted her words. They sounded too serious. She really shouldn't have said that. She shouldn't have tried giving him hints that she might still be interested in him.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I think you're the most beau – " he began to say.

Before he could finish his sentence, the bell signaling the end of their date rang. Derek's attention was drawn elsewhere, giving her an opportunity to try to slow her racing heart. Had he been about to tell her she was the most beautiful woman in the room, too?

Everything flew out the door at the mention of that, even her desire to be a mom.

Derek looked back at her and tweaked her nose. He rose to his feet, her silently watching him. "I'll see you at the end of the night, sexy girl." He gave her a wink before moving to the table next to her.

Penelope's eyes followed Derek as he sat down in front of a woman with huge fake boobs and too much eyeliner on. She pursed her lips as he smiled at her and shook her hand.

"Hi there," a voice said.

Looking back over at her date, Penelope smiled at the new man in front of her. He was handsome enough, reminding her a little bit of an adult version of Edward Cullen. Somehow that didn't faze her like she thought it would.

"Hi there back, handsome stranger," she said, sticking her hand out to shake.

The bell twinkled, starting the date, and Penelope braced herself for another hour of dates with lesser men than her ex boyfriend.

XXXXX

"Thank God this is over," Derek grumbled as he and Rossi went to the bar when the event ended. "None of these women were interesting at all. The best ones were JJ and Penelope, and we all know that's not going anywhere."

Rossi snorted, flagging down the bartender. He ordered them both scotches and turned to look at Derek again. "Yeah, well," he began, "you better be ready to pay for my date with the prettiest woman in the room. I'm winning our bet if it's the last thing I do."

Derek accepted the scotch given to him by the bartender and raised it to his friend. "We'll see about that."

There was only one woman he really cared about, though.

As they waited for Penelope and JJ to come out of the bathroom, the woman in charge of the event coordination approached them with a stack of cards in her hand. She grinned brightly at them.

"Hello gentlemen," she said. "Can I get your names so I can give you your cards and matchmaking results?"

"Matchmaking results?" Derek asked, arching a brow.

She nodded. "Yes, when you filled out the questionnaires to register for the event, we go through all the results to see if there are any women you matched with. It helps you go through the results and figure out who you might want to call first if the woman wants you to call her."

"Oh," Rossi said. "Well, I'm David Rossi and he's Derek Morgan. Let's see our cards." He shot Derek an amused look that said he was still confident he would be the winner.

The woman flipped through her cards until she found the bundles with their names. She handed Rossi's to him first, and then looked to Derek. Smiling in recognition, she handed him his stack. "Ah, yes!" she said, excited. "I knew I recognized your name."

He arched a brow. "Umm, thanks?" he said.

"You and one of the women who filled out questionnaires got the first one hundred percent match our service has ever gotten!" she exclaimed. "Congratulations!"

Taking his stack without bothering to count the cards for his stupid bet with Rossi, Derek looked at his match sheet to see who his one hundred percent match was.

When he saw her name, a bright grin broke out on his face.