Chapter Three:

Penelope was surprised by how excited she was to hangout with Luke. She wasn't sure she'd call it a date, or if she was even ready for that. Spending some time with him outside of work, though, that was something she was looking forward to. She knew Luke had lost his parents when he was young as well. He reminded her, in many ways, of Derek. His macho man attitude aside, the pair were very similar. Both had lost one of both parents when they were young, both spent time at youth centers, and both had an uncanny ability to make her smile. She just hoped Luke wouldn't play with her heart the way Derek did.

"Hey!" Penelope looked up too see Luke standing in her office doorway, smiling at her. "Ready to go?"

"Sure thing, sweet thing." Penelope smiled back. She turned off her computers and grabbed her bag. "Follow me to your chariot."

"Oh you're driving, are you?" Luke asked in amusement.

"Oh, honey, I always drive." She winked.

Luke chuckled. He found Penelope absolutely adorable. The more he got to know her, the more he felt like maybe there was something there. He knew that he was attracted to her, and he enjoyed spending time with her. The only thing holding Luke back was the possibility that Penelope's heart was already taken. If that was the case, Luke knew he couldn't compete with Derek Morgan, even if he really wanted to.

"So, what's the plan for after dinner?" Luke asked as he slid into Penelope's passenger seat.

"It's a surprise." Penelope stated. She rolled her eyes. "Come on, you didn't think I'd actually cave and tell you, did you?"

"Worth a shot." Luke smirked. He looked around, taking in Penelope's car. "This car is kickass."

"Thanks." Penelope smiled at him. "I probably should have gotten something more secure for the winters, but that's what public transportation is for. I knew the moment I saw Ester that she was the one for me."

"Ester?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"When Derek first rode in on her, right after I got her, he said she smelled like his great aunt Ester's perfume." Penelope laughed. Her face changed for a moment, and Luke could tell it was because the conversation had moved to Derek.

"Well, she smells like vanilla now. Just like you." Luke stated casually. "I like it."

Penelope couldn't stop the grin that appeared on her face. Luke was definitely a smooth talker. She had missed having someone flirt with her and make her feel all giddy inside. Perhaps she couldn't get over Derek afterall. Though, the little voice inside her reminded her that Derek Morgan could never be replaced. No matter how much she wished otherwise, he would hold a piece of her heart. She just didn't know how big of a piece it was, or if she could go on without it. But, she knew she had to find out.

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Derek was ready to end things with Elizabeth. Ever since the night at the bar, she'd complained about how he focused all his attention on Penelope. Derek knew there was no use denying that because it was true. All his attention did go to Penelope, and he had no plans to change that. He knew that he had to fix things with his girl, and to do so, he had to cut ties with Elizabeth. He had asked his soon to be ex girlfriend to meet him after work. She suggested they meet at a sushi bar to talk, and he agreed. He figured neutral ground was better anyway, plus the sushi bar was close to P's place. He could go there after and try to grovel at her feet.

Penelope had avoided Derek all day. She was very good at it when she wanted to be. He had tried to catch her before work, during lunch, and many points throughout the day, but she always seemed to be out of his reach. He couldn't blame her. What he did at the bar was uncalled for. He had no business speaking for her, but the thought of Luke asking out his baby girl was just too much. He would explain that to her, and finally, after way too long of putting it off, he'd tell her how he felt about her.

When he got to the sushi bar to meet with Elizabeth, Derek searched the room for her. He saw a flash of blonde hair and started to make his way over. Elizabeth had blonde hair and brown eyes, just like Penelope, but the similarities stopped there. She lacked Penelope's beautiful curves, and her sparkling personality.

"Derek!" Elizabeth grinned as Derek took his seat across from her in the booth. "You'll never guess who I just saw."

"Uh, look Elizabeth we need to-"

"Your 'best friend' and her new boyfriend." Elizabeth said, ignoring Derek. That caught his attention. "Oh, they were all smiles when they walked in together. He must have finally asked her on that date."

"Wait, Penelope and Luke are here?" Derek asked. He turned around and looked for them. Sure enough, he found them.

"Anyway, it's nice that she finally found herself a man to occupy her time. You know, a man that's not my man." Elizabeth said. She picked up the menu and began to look it over. "Want to share an appetizer?"

"Pardon me."

Derek didn't even finish his sentence before he was standing up from his seat. He couldn't believe Luke would ask Penelope out. That violated so many unspoken rules. Plus, how could Penelope agree to go out with him? Luke was a second rate version of himself, and Derek was pissed that Penelope would even consider dating Luke. This was ridiculous. Why was this happening now when Derek had finally decided to get his head out of his ass?

Luke and Penelope seemed to be in their own little world. They were looking over the menu, chatting and having a good time. Just like Derek and Penelope used to have. Derek felt anger bubble up in his chest once again, and before he knew it, it was making its way through his throat and out his mouth.

"What the Hell is this?" He demanded, standing right beside Penelope. She looked up at him in surprise. "You're kidding, right?"

"Derek, don't do this." Penelope warned. "Go away."

"Seriously, Penelope, we need to have a conversation." Derek replied. He didn't even make eye contact with Luke.

"Uhm, I can step outside for a moment if you want, Pen." Luke offered.

"No. Don't you dare get up from that seat." Penelope replied, turning back to him. "Derek is being extremely rude."

"Oh I'm being rude?" Derek scoffeed. Penelope looked at him in confusion. "Okay, well I'm not the one replacing my best friend. You've been flirting with this guy since the moment he walked in, and I know you're just trying to make me jealous."

"Get over yourself, Derek!" Penelope exclaimed. Some heads turned toward them. "Not everything is about you. Maybe, just maybe, I flirt with Luke because I like him. And if you didn't want me to flirt with anyone else, maybe you should have said something instead of getting yourself a girlfriend. You don't get to keep me in your back pocket, Derek. It's not right, and I am so sick of you getting angry when I try and find someone. I'm not yours, I never was. And that's on you."

Derek looked at her in surprise. He had never seen Penelope so heated at him before. He realized that half the restaurant was staring at them now, and he felt like a real jerk. This was not how he had wanted this conversation to go, and now he felt like he'd ruined his chance. She was probably never going to let him talk to her again after this.

"Is everything okay here?" The waitress asked, approaching the table.

"It's fine." Penelope assured her. "We'll take our bill, please. I think it's time to go."

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Penelope refused to let Derek ruin the rest of the night. Despite Luke's offer to reschedule, she insisted they move on to the next activity. Luke didn't bring up Derek's confrontation on the drive, and Penelope was glad. She didn't want to think about it right now. She'd deal with Derek later.

"Mini golf?" Luke asked as they pulled into their destination. He chuckled. "Seriously?"

"Seriously, Agent Alvez." She grinned, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Ready to get your ass kicked?"

"Oh, you're so on, Garcia!" Luke smiled.

They walked into the Golf center, and Luke insisted on paying. Normally, Penelope would have put up a bigger fight, but she let Luke win this time. But, not after challenging him. She said whoever lost at mini golf had to pay for ice cream after. Luke took on her challenge.

Penelope, of course, picked the purple ball. It matched the aesthetic of the room, and she had always loved the color purple. She expected Luke to pick the blue ball, but was surprised when he went for yellow. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yellow?"

"It's my favorite color." He said sheepishly.

"Mine's purple. We're opposites it seems." She replied.

"More like complimentary." Luke said with a wink.

Penelope grinned. She really enjoyed Luke's flirting. Maybe Luke joining the team was signed. Maybe he was what she needed to move on from Derek. Luke was a great guy, and he wasn't afraid to be open with her about his feelings. He'd made it clear that he liked her. She also hadn't seen him flirt with anyone else since he'd started on the team. Derek flirted with everyone, and Penelope was beginning to question how special she really was to him.

"Oh, that was the first shot." Luke groaned, pulling Penelope back to the present. Luke's ball had landed pretty far from the hole. "Too much, I guess."

"Nice try." She teased. She took her shot. Hole in one. "Look at that!"

"Okay, don't tell me you're like some mini golf champion." Luke said in disbelief.

"It's the first hole, you can make it up."

But, Luke did not make it up. Penelope was surprised, and very amused, to find out that Luke was actually awful at mini golf. She had grown up mini golfing with her dad and brothers, so she had to admit, she was good, but Luke kind of sucked. It didn't matter though. Despite losing horribly, Luke had a blast. He didn't care that Penelope kicked his ass, he just enjoyed spending time with her. And Penelope was having fun too. She was really enjoying her date with Luke. If you could call it a date. She still wasn't sure.

After turning in their balls and putters, Luke paid up. They went to the little ice cream shop attached to the putt putt course, and he bought her dessert. A well earned ice cream, he had to admit. Penelope ordered peanut butter ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. Luke got a large vanilla ice cream in a cone with rainbow sprinkles.

"Vanilla ice cream?" Penelope asked. "Has anyone ever told you that's extremely boring?"

"I told you, I like vanilla." Luke flirted. Penelope blushed. "Plus, the addition of the sprinkles automatically makes it less boring, everyone knows that, Penelope."

"Okay, you win." She smiled, eating some of her ice cream.

"Shouldn't your favorite ice cream be Cherry Garcia?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean you love cherries and your are Gracia after all."

"Cherry ice cream is a waste. Who in their right mind choses fruit flavored ice cream? It's a crime." She replied. "Derek though loves Cherry Garica he always said it was so ironic because…."

She trailed off. Somehow, it always came back to Derek. He used to say he'd eat Cherry Garcia and think of how sweet it was, just like Penelope Garcia. She loved that it was his favorite flavor. Until now anyway. Now it just annoyed her that even eating ice cream made her think about Derek Morgan. He was everywhere all the time.

"Well, I agree." Luke changed the subject back to ice cream. "Fruit flavored ice cream is a crime." He reached out, grabbed some whipped cream, and put it on the tip of her nose.

"Okay, Mr. Sprinkles." She giggled. "It's on!"

She realized that this had been a really great date. Yes, she decided, this was in fact a date. And that was both scary, and exciting.

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The next morning, Penelope walked into her office to find a purple stuffed cat on her desk. She picked it up, and smiled. She wondered if Luke had dropped it off before heading to his desk. That was a sweet gesture.

"She's an 'I'm sorry Derek's an asshole' present." Derek's voice said from the doorway. Penelope put the cat down and sighed. Of course it was from Derek.

"You are an asshole." She snapped. She sat in her chair, and turned on her computer. She hoped Derek would just go away, but that was wishful thinking.

"Can we please talk for a moment?" Derek asked, he stepped over to her desk. He turned her chair around so she was facing him. "Then I'll leave and if you want, you can go back to being mad at me."

"Fine. Talk." She sighed.

Really she just wanted to get this over with. She knew it was inevitable. They'd have to talk eventually. And if they got it out of the way now, it wouldn't be looming over her head any longer. Derek wasn't going to give up, and to be honest, she wanted a chance to call him an asshole again anyway.

"I'm sorry." He said simply. "I was out of line, you were right. But, I need you to hear me out okay?"

"Okay." She said. "But, don't think I'm just going to forgive you for how you acted."

"I know, sweetness, and you shouldn't." Derek gave her a soft smile. "I love you. I love you in ways I didn't know were possible until I met you. But, I always thought you just wanted to be friends. So, I tried to move on. Elizabeth was jealous of you, and I thought maybe she had a point. Maybe I needed some space. I shouldn't have cut you out the way I did. I should have talked to you, and told you how I felt."

"Y-you love me?" Penelope asked in surprise.

"I thought it was obvious." Derek admitted. "When you got shot, I told you. I said it outloud, and you still got with Kevin. So, I let you go because it seemed like that was it."

"Derek I...I didn't realize you meant you were in love with me." She replied. "If I had…"

"Well if I had fought harder for you, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Derek said. He reached out and touched her cheek. "But, we can still have that."

"I don't know if we can." She said. She gently moved his hand away. "Hot stuff, I love you. You will always have a part of me that no one else can, but I'm not sure if we're a good idea. It seems like we just hurt each other when we try to be more than best friends. And, I'm dating Luke."

"Luke has nothing compared to us, and you know that." Derek replied. He clenched his jaw.

"I like him, Derek." Penelope said.

"But you love me." Derek reminded her. "Tell me something, okay? If you date Luke, fall in love, get married, have children, whatever. Can you honestly say you won't spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you had taken a chance with me?"

Penelope knew she couldn't say no. The truth was, she knew if she sent Derek out of her office now and never gave him a chance, she would always wonder. But, she always knew, she'd spent the past few years wondering, and it got her nowhere. She could live with wondering, she was certain of it. But, could she live with what would happen if things didn't work out with them? She wasn't so sure about that.

"Derek, you're jealous, that's why you're doing this now." She said. "You just want me because Luke-"

"Stop deflecting, P." Derek said. He took her hand. "Please."

"What are you asking me, Derek?" She asked. He squeezed her hand.

"Well, since Agent Alvez got a date and a chance to woo you, I'm asking for the same courtesy." Derek told her. "Penelope Garcia, will you go on a date with me tonight?"

"I can't tonight." Penelope replied. "Luke and I are getting dinner."

"Fine." He said. "Tomorrow?"

"You aren't going to give up, are you?"

"Not with you, baby girl. What do you say, will you go out with me tomorrow?" Derek asked again. She sighed.

"Fine, you get one date. That's all I'm agreeing to." She told him.

"One date is all I need." He smiled, confidently. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I'll be looking forward to tomorrow, sweetheart."

A/N Derek and Penelope have their date in the next chapter, and Penelope talls Luke about it.