Dedicated to Kimberly. Happy Birthday.

This Christmas

2005

Isn't this your girl?

Derek's eyebrows scrunched together as he read the message in his e-mail. With a shake of his head, he thought Nah, not my girl.

He didn't get serious with any woman he dated. And all his friends knew it.

Players gonna play. It was just his nature to keep things superficial with the ladies. His game was always on point when he hit the clubs, coffee house, gym, grocery store, park or anywhere he could find a woman to flirt with and, just maybe, take home for a night or two.

Anything more than that would require things he didn't have to give: time, truth, love.

He didn't have a girl and, at this point, he didn't see that changing for years to come, if ever, so what was his buddy getting at with this e-mail?

Derek clicked on the link that was attached- knowing Penelope would kick his ass if she ever found out he clicked a suspicious link, but his curiosity was peaked. The link took him to a video sharing site.

"Baby girl!" The nickname slipped out as soon as he saw her face on the screen.

Elle teased him, from across the aisle on the jet, "Keep it down over there, Morgan. Some of us are trying to catch some sleep. Tell Garcia you can't talk dirty to her until you're out of my earshot."

"You think you're cute," he muttered to Ellle, pulling out a pair of headphones that he could plug into his lap top.

His eyes stayed locked on the sexy blonde taunting him from the screen. Her pink glossed lips were pursed, her dress hugging those curves that could kill a man dead with just the fantasy of being able to caress them.

What was Garcia up to this time? She constantly surprised him but this one had really come out of nowhere. Since when did she perform on stage? The video showed her with a microphone in her hand and it was titled The Quantico Players.

Underneath the video it read:

Our very own PG wows with a heart wrenching version of Last Christmas. Grab a hankie. She will break your heart. You've been warned.

Derek hit the play icon. The sultry voice that lit up his days, haunted his nights, and kept him coming back for more every day since he met her, filled his ears.

"This one goes out to a hunk of burning love that that I gave my heart this time last year...but he gave it right back to me."

The audience let out a collective groan of disappointment and sympathy. Penelope clearly had them resting pretty in the palm of her hand.

She went on "I know! He let a good one get away. But we're still best friends. He will forever have a piece of me but I think it's finally time I move on and find someone who wants to keep the heart I give away. It's taken a year for me to be ready to say this: Goodbye, my love," and then she spoke in French for a moment.

The slight wetness pooling in his eyes made watching her performance more difficult but he wasn't about to look away from her belting out the lyrics of Last Christmas.

She commanded the stage with such grace and confidence, that there was no way this was anywhere near her first time stepping on it. Emotion dripped from every syllable. The intensity of her pain and heartbreak couldn't be denied because it was in every word she sang.

How had she hidden it from him so well? Maybe he should turn in his badge. It was an old joke that profilers couldn't profile people close to them very well but Derek hadn't really believed it until right this moment.

Penelope had hidden her hurt under a bright smile, shiny clothes and neon streaks in her hair. He had been too burned to dare hope that was just a carefully orchestrated facade.

He knew he was a better profiler than that but when it came to her he often found his mind shutting off and his body taking over. He wouldn't ever let the smile on her face fool him again.

Or keep him from wrapping his arms around her, giving her the comfort she was pretending she didn't need. That is...if she would still have him, even as a friend.

I let her down in the worse way, he thought. I let us both down.

By the time the song ended, tears streaked her cheeks. A momentarily stunned silence clutched the audience before they burst into whistles and deafening claps for a full minute.

Derek let out the breath he had been holding. Leaning back in his seat, his eyes drifted close. His friend had been right. That was his girl. It had just taken him until this moment to actually know it.

One Year Before

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Derek would swear the whole room was chanting those words at him but maybe it was just the fog of alcohol clouding his brain-making him feel all warm, fuzzy and turned on- that made it seem that way.

Not that he needed alcohol to drool after his sexy co-worker. He did that on a daily basis. So much so that he was called Hot Stuff as a joke at the training center where he taught cadets.

Small price to pay to hear Penelope say that same nickname in her purring voice that never failed to make his spine tingle. Everything about that woman seemed to get to him in a way other women didn't.

Unnerving but addictive.

When her tongue slipped out and nervously swept across her bottom lip, his body tensed as he couldn't help but imagine that tongue licking down his chest, over his abs, towards his...

"Oh my!" she cried in embarrassment, a blush starting at her lush breasts and spreading upwards over alabaster skin. "I don't think this stud," she brushed her hand over his chest "could handle a hot mama like me."

Penelope went to move out from under the mistletoe. A collective groan went up in the crowd. And some shouts of "All talk, no action!" "Give him a little taste!" "Baby girl show him who is really Hot Stuff!"

The moment was ending and so was his chance to kiss her without it being a Huge Frickin Deal, like it was the last time he had tried to kiss her. She had evaded his lips and mumbled something he couldn't make out before scurrying out of the round table room, where they had been pulling an all nighter. After that things were tense for a while and he tried to take the hint: they were just friends who flirted.

That didn't stop him from wanting to know what it was like to taste her. To feel her body pressed against his. He thread his fingers through her long, blonde hair. Hear a moan that he brought on using more than just words.

Some days it felt like she wanted that too. Just a moment before she had been breathless at the idea, looking up at him with those dark eyes that held all her secrets. His world rested in her eyes way too often for someone who was just his friend.

Grabbing her hand, he spun her back around and pulled her against his body. "Baby girl," his tone was low and seductive as he tried to tempt her into giving herself to him for the length of one kiss. "It's tradition."

"Der...ek," she stumbled out the syllables of his name like they were a prayer.

He cupped her face, raising her chin.

A whistle and some cheers rose from the crowd but Derek wasn't paying a bit of attention to any of them anymore. His full focus was on the woman who had been making him think of her day and night for over a year now- every day since they met. She was a former criminal, a sassy mouthed flirt, an animal loving vegan with a heart of gold, and she could hack the hell out of any computer in the world.

Penelope Garcia was a whirlwind of energy, colors, emotions and insecurities. She made him laugh harder than anyone he had ever met. Made him dream of things he never wanted to even think about: like being a hubby and Daddy. Belonging to someone...her...for life.

"Trust me," he whispered, leaning in closer to tease her lips with his.

The softness of her plump mouth against his made his gut clench. He pulled her fully against him and deepened the kiss, urging her lips open as he swept his tongue over them. Plunging his tongue into her mouth, he moaned as her breasts hardened against his chest.

He grabbed her ass and lifted her slightly off her feet as they kiss grew more fevered. When they broke apart, the cheers were deafening. Their ragged breaths mingled as he gently set her back down on her feet.

She wobbled and he steadied her. "I got you, baby."

Her glasses were fogged up. He chuckled as he took them off and cleaned them.

One of his drunk friends slapped him on the shoulder "I always knew you two were doing the dirty on the side!"

The smile on his face was not from the comment. He couldn't help smiling when looking at how cute Penelope was. He put her glasses back on. She looked in a daze. He grabbed her hand and they wove through the crowd, grabbed their coats and stepped out onto the porch of his house.

He said "I don't know about you but I could use some air."

She fanned her face. "You're not the only one, Hot Stuff."

He ran his hands up and down her arms, staring deep into her eyes. "Merry Christmas, my goddess."

"Merry Christmas, my prince."

He rested his head against hers. Everything inside of him was on overload. He could barely stay on his feet- between the alcohol and the emotions. "I haven't been this drunk in years. I don't even know what I'm doing right now."

"Oh! Yeah...me too." She pushed back. "I hope that silly, little, meaningless kiss doesn't wreck out friendship. You wouldn't let that happen, right?"

Meaningless. The word slapped him across the face.

Just then the door of his house open and a guest told him the toilet was overflowing.

Penelope said "You better deal with that." She started to walk down the stairs of the porch.

"You're leaving?"

"I'll get a cab at the corner. Don't worry about me. I've been taking care of myself for a long time now."

"Penelope!" He took two steps to follow her and fell in the snow, face first.

She hurried away. The next day he tried to talk to her about the kiss but it was clear that she had all her walls up again. They were back to being just friends who flirt. Obviously, that was all she wanted...wasn't it?

Derek Morgan was so good at getting women into bed. But when it came to taking care of their hearts he struck out every time.

And when it came to making the only woman that mattered believe she should leave her heart in his clumsy hands he was a two time loser in that department.

Present Day

"Anxious about something, Morgan?" Gideon asked, as the team rode the elevator up to the BAU offices.

Derek forced himself to stop rocking on his heels and watching the numbers change from 1 to 2 to 3 on the panel as the elevator rose.

"Nah," he said.

Elle chuckled. "Has to be Garcia. He doesn't get like a lost puppy dog over anyone else."

The corner of his mouth crooked up, giving himself away.

Hotch, who was stoically staring at the wall, didn't break a smile as he dead panned "I have New Year's Eve in this year's pool, just so you know."

"This year's pool?" Derek asked. As in there was a pool last year too?

He let out a chuckle. Of course there was. It was him and Garcia. They had been setting the office on fire with their smutty flirting from almost day one.

Reid said "I had March 23rd and the research to prove why, if you were going to proclaim your heartfelt devotion to her, it would be that day."

"I'm not going to proclaim.." Morgan started and then just shook his head because, yeah, that is exactly what he was about to do.

As soon as the elevator opened he dashed for her office. Before he even got there, he spotted her going into the break room, mug in hand.

Derek took a deep breath before he followed her inside. "There's the love of my life."

She tensed before turning around, flashing him with a bright smile, "And there is the man who lights up my world with his smile."

Usually her flirting made his soul soar but he could see the pain she was trying to hide so well this time.

Letting out a long breath, he walked over to her, took her mug from her and set it down. "Penelope..." he whispered her name, his heart in his throat.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no," he murmured, reaching to cup her face with his hands. "Everything is right, finally. There's no mistletoe this time but I don't think we need it, do we?"

She stiffened under his touch and swallowed hard. "De...rek..."

"Oh, baby girl," he breathed out as his mouth covered hers, pouring all his love into that kiss. When they broke apart he rested his forehead against hers. "Been wanting to do that again for a year now."

"Then what stopped you?"

"A stubborn woman who doesn't realize that she's the only woman I've ever wanted to give my heart...and everything else there is to give. I...I ...know I'm no good at this but have me, Penelope. Have me, woman. Can't you see I'm yours?"

Tears came to her eyes as she pulled him down for another kiss. This year was sure beating last year in the ongoing saga of Morgan and Garcia. Next year promised to be even better...because he would be damned if he was ever letting her spend another one thinking he had given her heart back.

THE END