Exit Wounds:
Penelope had just lost connection with Kevin on the phone. He had been upset about her rooming with Morgan. It wasn't anything new, Kevin was always jealous of Derek. She had assured him that it would be fine. She was pulling an all nighter anyway, and she had told Kevin Derek took the floor. Either way, she was annoyed, and now she needed to fix the phone lines. She thought about waking Derek up to go with her, but decided the unsub would be crazy to try and attack here with the whole BAU inside. She was wrong.
She had followed the mysterious noise from around back. She caught the unsub mid action, killing another victim. The unsub took off when she saw her standing there. She ran to the victim, and knew he wasn't going to make it. She grabbed him, not caring that she was getting blood all over herself.
"Just keep looking at me." She cried, trying to hold his head in her hands.
She watched in horror as the life left his eyes. She had been too late. He was dead. If only she had brought Derek with her, maybe they could have heard the unsub sooner. Derek likely would have had his gun and would have been able to take down the unsub.
She didn't know what to do next, so she started yelling for help. She screamed as loud as she could for someone to please come. She was scared, and she didn't want to leave the victim alone.
After help came, Penelope was escorted inside. Derek led her back into the common area of the cottage, making sure she wasn't hurt. She assured him that she was, physically, fine, and that the blood had only been from the victim.
"He was alive." She told him as he wiped tears from her face.
"What?" Derek asked.
"He was still alive." She explained. Derek looked at her softly.
"Baby, there's nothing else you could have done." Derek told her. His heart was hurting, seeing her go through this.
"I felt him leave." Penelope informed her best friend. She took in a deep breath. "He was there one second and then...just a body."
"I'm really sorry that you had to see all that." Derek said sincerely. As much as he loved having her here with the team, he hated that she had witnessed this. She wasn't used to being in the field like he was.
"Derek I-I didn't see it, I was in it." She corrected him. "I was sort of used to seeing horrible things from the safety of my screens everyday, but this was right there."
Tears were still flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't get the image out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. Derek gently used his thumb to brush a tear from her face. He wanted to take her pain away.
"Why didn't you go and find someone before you went out there?" Derek asked her. He meant himself, honestly. He didn't understand why she didn't come and get him so he could keep her safe.
"Because when I got shot I remember thinking, 'the last thing I'm ever gonna see in this life is the man who killed me' and I couldn't let that happen to him." Penelope cried. "He had to see something good before he died!"
"You ran right toward the unsub." Derek said, slightly shaking his head. "You could have been killed."
And then what would he have done? He couldn't even imagine living in this world without her. Penelope was everything to him. The thought of her getting killed by some unsub was unfathomable.
"I know that." Penelope said, irritated. "Don't treat me like I'm the victim."
"Alright, I'm sorry." Derek apologized. He was just relieved she was alright.
He told her that he wanted to ask her some questions about what she had witnessed. JJ was coming in to check on her, and listened as Derek talked to Penelope. She felt weird, being the one questioned. She had already told him everything.
"No." She refused. "I-I told you everything I saw."
"You said the man's face was mostly in shadow, but there was also a lot of blood on it." Derek continued on, ignoring her. "You might have seen more than you actually realize."
She didn't like the way he was talking to her. She snapped at him, and essentially told him to shove his cognitive interviews up his ass. She was not the victim, and she was annoyed by Derek treating her like she was weak. Just because she was an agent didn't mean she was fragile.
She shouted at him for trying to break down that poor man's death into a silence. She stormed away from him, going for the stairs. She told him this was his rules not hers, and ignored him as he called after her. He was about to follow her when JJ stopped him and told him to let her go. He let out a frustrated sigh, but knew JJ was right. He made JJ promise to look out for her, knowing in that moment there was nothing else he could do.
"Yeah, of course." JJ smirked.
She gave Derek a knowing look. The two of them needed to get it together, JJ knew. Penelope and Derek had been dancing around their feelings for eachother for far too long. They hid behind nicknames and teasing, but she knew there was much truth to what the two said to one another. Someone just needed to make the move already.
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Penelope had barely spoken to him since their little spat. He knew she just needed some space, and that she would come around. She had basically saved their asses with the case, and he didn't think they would have caught the unsub without her help.
They were getting ready to leave, but Derek noticed Penelope had stepped away from the group. JJ had told Derek as they were heading for the car that Penelope had been struggling with this case. She suggested Derek go get his girl, and finally tell her how he felt. Derek knew, she was right. It was time to get his head out of his ass.
"It sucks doesn't it?" He asked from behind her.
'What?" She replied, still back to him.
"Just knowing that we couldn't have done any of this without you." He smiled, hoping it would cheer her up.
"Yeah, pretty much." Penelope said.
He could hear the smile in her voice for a moment, but he knew it didn't last. She let out a shaky breath, and he stepped closer to her. He was right behind her, he could smell her Cherry Blossom scented shampoo. The smell felt like home to him.
"I'm proud of you, Penelope." He told her. "Despite everything that happened you came back, and you got the job done."
"The sight of blood used to make me run away." She told him. "And two nights ago I ran towards it."
Derek knew she was having a hard time coping with what happened a few nights ago. She was used to images of victims, but being up close to one, it was completely different. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned toward him. He looked into her eyes.
"It means you're turning into something stronger than you realize." Derek said. "You cared enough to risk your own life to try and save someone else."
"Yeah but...what's the difference between being strong and being jaded?" She asked, growing tearful. "I'm scared, Derek. I don't want to lose who I am just so I can do this job."
She was crying now, her voice breaking. Derek knew, there was no way that could ever happen. He instructed her to look around at the beauty surrounding them. He told her he knew she could see that they were in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and she confirmed that she did see that. He reached out and caught a falling tear from her face.
"Then we have nothing to worry about." Derek smiled gently at her. "It's who you are, baby girl. You see the beauty in everything and everyone. No matter where you go. That part of you is never going to change, and I won't let it."
"I don't need you to protect me." She insisted.
"Tough." He responded. "I think I'm gonna stay on that job a little while longer."
"Yeah?" She replied, a smile forming on her face. "How much longer."
"Everyday of my life." He stated.
He was leaning closer to her. She smiled and tilted her head toward him. Derek Morgan always knew what to say. She let out a short chuckle.
"I kind of love you, Derek Morgan." She said, playfully punching him. He pulled her to him.
"I kind of love you, Penelope." He smiled.
Derek placed a kiss to the top of her head. She looked up at him and smiled. He knew, it was now or never. He leaned down, and placed his lips against hers. She let out a surprise moan, but quickly began to kiss him back.
This was the moment they had been waiting for. Years of pinning after one another, and here they were. They both had wondered for so long what it would be like, and they were not disappointed. Their first kiss was perfect.
"Uhm, guys?" They broke apart and turned to see a grinning JJ. "We gotta go."
'We're coming." Derek smiled.
He took Penelope's hand and they walked toward JJ. When they got close to her she mumbled something about it taking them long enough. They smiled. They had a lot of things they needed to work out, but they were going to do it together.
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Derek asked Penelope to come to his place to talk about things. She told him that she had something she needed to do first, and then she would come over. She wanted to be completely available before she and Derek talked, and that meant breaking up with Kevin.
She arrived at her boyfriend's place, and found him waiting happily for her. He explained to her that he had made her a vegetarian pasta dish. She felt a little bad, because Kevin wasn't a bad guy. He wasn't the one for her, she knew that, but that didn't mean he was some awful person. She was going to feel bad hurting him.
"Kevin we need to talk." She said seriously. She watched the smile from his face fall.
"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" He asked her, swallowing hard. "It's Morgan, right? You love him, not me."
"I do love you, Kev." She insisted. She breathed deeply. "But, I don't think I'm in love with you, and you deserve someone who is."
"Penny, Derek is going to break your heart." Kevin warned her.
"I'm willing to take that risk." Penelope replied. Kevin gave her a sad smile. "I know things between us might be weird for a while, but I hope someday we can be friends."
"Yeah, someday." Kevin gave her a short nod. He sighed. "I knew, for a long time that your heart belonged to him."
"I'm sorry, Kevin." She said, tears forming in her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"I know you didn't." He replied. He took her hand. "You're not that kind of person, Penelope. I think, maybe, you thought if you tried hard enough, you could fall in love with me like you did, Derek. I was a safe choice."
"I never thought that…" Penelope didn't know how to explain herself.
"You never thought he'd tell you he loved you back." Kevin finished. "It's okay, I get it. You should go. I need some space, and I think we both know there's somewhere else you want to be right now."
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Derek patiently waited to hear from Penelope. He wanted her to know that the kiss they shared meant everything to him, and that he was going to make up all the time they lost to her. He was going to tell her he wanted to be with her, and that she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
He was worried she thought the kiss had been a mistake. Maybe she didn't want to risk their friendship. That would break his heart. He hoped that this wasn't the case, and that she knew just as much as he did that they belonged together.
"Hot stuff?" The sound of his front door opening broke him out of his thoughts.
"In here, baby!" He called from his place on the sofa.
The sound of Penelope's steps got louder as she approached him. He smiled at her as she came and sat beside him. He breathed a sigh of relief when she curled up into his side. She was here, and that made him hopeful.
"Everything alright, my vision?" She asked him. He nodded.
"I was just missing you." He replied with a grin. She smiled back. "How was that thing you needed to take care of?"
"Sad." She answered. "He was sad, but he wasn't surprised."
"Come again?" Derek asked in surprise. Penelope let out a breathy laugh.
"I broke up with Kevin." She informed Derek. "I needed to end things with him so that you and I could be together. I mean if-if you want to."
Derek couldn't express how happy that made him. He moved so that he could look into her eyes. He smiled at, and then cupped her face. He leaned in and kissed. He felt tears on her cheeks as they kissed.
"Baby girl, why the tears?" He asked her as he pulled back slightly.
"I-I just can't believe this is happening." She cried. "I mean for years I've wondered what would happen if you loved me back, and now...now I can't believe we waited so long to do this."
"I can't believe it either, sweetness." Derek agreed. "But, we are here now, and I promise, I won't ever let you go."
She couldn't think of words to say, so instead she leaned in and kissed him again. He laid her back on the couch and enjoyed the feeling of finally being able to kiss her. She ran her hands along his back, and pulled him as close as possible to him.
He had never felt this way before. Kissing Penelope was better than any of the other women he'd ever kissed in his life. Her soft lips molded perfectly to his. He let a quiet moan as their tongues battled for dominance.
"Hm, baby boy, what do you say we take this upstairs?" The tech suggested with a wink.
"Are you sure, gorgeous?" He asked, not wanting to push her too far. "We can wait as long as you need?'
"That's very sweet, hunk, but I think we've waited long enough." Penelope smiled. "Take me up the stairs and show me what all those years of teasing builds up to."
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Derek and Penelope wasted no time in building a life together. Once they told the team they were together, they began spending all of their free time learning new ways to love each other. Going from friends to lovers was an easy transition for them.
The team had been happy for them, and Strauss had even taken the news fairly well. She knew Derek and Penelope were vital to the team to try and test them. Plus, they already talked to each other in dirty ways before, so not much would even change.
Derek's mother had been ecstatic to find out that Penelope finally knew how much Derek loved her. When Derek called to tell her, about two weeks after they officially got together, Penelope had basically moved into his house. They saw no reason to spend unnecessary time apart. Fran had started hinting to Derek already about a ring and grandbabies.
They had been together for around five months when their relationship took a new direction. The team had been gone for a long case. Penelope had been fighting off a bug the whole ten days they were gone. She couldn't explain what was wrong, it wasn't anything she'd experienced before. Even just some smells made her rush to the bathroom. It was Derek, when he finally returned, that suggested it to her.
"Baby, what if it's something else?" Derek asked her. She looked at him in confusion. He had just brought her a mug of tea to soothe her stomach. "Have you thought about buying a pregnancy test?"
"What?" She gasped. Her mind began to race as she realized she hadn't gotten her period this month. "Derek! We-We're always careful!"
"Things happen sometimes, pretty girl." Derek said. He booped her nose softly. "You should know that, my beautiful genius."
"I'm sorry...I-I didn't even think." Her eyes watered up. Derek could see her panic rising. "Oh my...what if I am pregnant?"
"Then we're gonna have a new addition in a few months." Derek smiled. "Baby girl, it's going to be okay. If you are pregnant, as unexpected as it came, I will be so happy. If not, it just means it wasn't the right time for us yet. I'll admit it though, I might be a little disappointed if it's just a stomach bug."
"You'd really be happy?" She asked.
"So happy." He confirmed.
Derek went out and bought three pregnancy tests (Penelope's request). He thought about the velvet black box he had hidden in his glove box. He wanted to wait and propose at the perfect morning, but there was nothing he wanted more in that moment than for her to be his wife.
Penelope took the bag from the drug store up to the bathroom. She came back out a few minutes later and told Derek they had to wait five minutes. She was nervous, and she was wringing her hands. Derek took her in his arms, and reassured her that everything was going to be okay.
"Baby, before we check those tests, there's something I want to give you." Derek said. "I know it's only been a few months, and I promise this isn't just because you might be carrying my baby. I love you, Penelope Grace Garcia, and I can't imagine my life without you in it. You are everything to me. Everything I have gone through in life was worth it because it got me you. I don't want to spend another minute without knowing I will have you for the rest of our lives. Baby girl, will you marry me?"
He pulled out the ring box. Her jaw dropped and tears flooded her eyes. She could hardly form words, but managed to tell him that of course she would marry him. He kissed her over and over again, causing her to giggle. He slipped the diamond ring onto her finger. Just as it was all the way on her finger, the timer for the pregnancy test went off.
"Let's look together." Derek suggested, placing a kiss on her head. She nodded.
The pair walked into the bathroom where the three pregnancy tests were laying on the counter. Penelope informed Derek she wouldn't look, and asked him to do it. Derek flipped the tests over and smiled widely.
"Well, mama, you are going to be a mama." He informed her, lifting her into his arms. "We're going to have a baby."
"Really?" She asked, happy tears streaming down her cheeks. "It was a positive?"
"All three." He grinned.
She kissed him on the lips. They were both happier than they had ever been in their lives. They were getting married, and soon would have a sweet baby. They spent the night discussing baby names and wedding plans.
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Derek and Penelope were married in a small ceremony three months later. She had wanted to get married before her baby bump was too big. They had been so happy on that day, when they finally became man and wife. It was just what they had both dreamed of for years.
On a rainy day in October, they welcomed their first child together. A little girl they named Alaska Jennifer Morgan. It was a way to commemorate the place where they finally pulled their heads out of their asses.
Alaska was a perfect baby. She had Penelope's nose, and smile, but everything else was all Derek. They loved her more than anything in the whole world. They could have been blessed with anything better than the sweet little girl they had created together.
"She's finally asleep." Penelope sighed, looking down at her three month old daughter. "Can you put her in her crib?"
"Of course." Derek smiled, gently taking his daughter out of her mother's arms. "Come here, princess."
Penelope stood up and followed Derek to their daughter's crib. He carefully laid her down, ensuring she wouldn't wake back up. Derek reached down and gently stroked his little girl's cheek. Penelope laid her head on her husband's shoulder as they watched Alaska sleep. They loved to watch her as she dreamed.
"You ready for sleep too, my goddess?" Derek asked his wife. "I fear our sweet girl will be waking us up in a few hours."
"I think you're right hot stuff." Penelope chuckled. "Let's sleep while we can."
The pair headed down the hall to their room and crawled into bed. Penelope snuggled up against her husband, her head resting on his chest. The past year and a half had been the happiest time of her life. She still couldn't believe it was real sometimes. But, it was. She had gotten to fall in love with her best friend, and have a family with him.
"What are you thinking about, baby girl?" Derek asked his wife. She grinned.
"How lucky I am." She replied. He kissed the top of her head.
"Do you remember when I told you when we were on that case that I would protect you everyday of my life?" Derek asked. She nodded. "I'd say I'm doing a fantastic job."
They both laughed. He was doing a very good job. He had given her everything she could have ever dreamed of. And she knew, they had Alaska to thank for it.
A/N here is the next installment of this series! I have a few suggestions that I will be working on, and I am always open to more recommendations :) I think the next one will be based off the episode 6X04 Compromising Positions, but worry not, if you suggested a scene it will be coming!