Unexpected - Part 1
Title: Unexpected - Part 1
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Morgan/Garcia
Prompt for 30_forbidden fruits: #2 Sweet
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to CBS. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time.
Summary: Part 29/30 of the story ‘Love and Prejudice’. Derek’s POV.
warnings: none
AN: Once again I’m sorry it took me forever to write this. I just couldn’t seem to get this chapter right - maybe because it was supposed to be the last chapter (of sorts) and therefore end the story… I don’t know.
Anyway, then my new job got in the way. Because of the absence of one of the colleagues I suddenly found myself being the class teacher and therefore responsible for writing all the grades and then only three days before the winter holidays I was told that the school inspector was coming by the end of February to figure out whether I could get a permanent contract… You see, things got a little crazy.
But everything went fine and so it looks good for me to be allowed to stay at the school where I am now - and at the moment, I feel like my life couldn’t get any better. Yeah, I’m happy. ;)
Oh, I had finished this a while back, but got really sick then. It's been two weeks now, but I'm finally getting better. :/
Now I hope this chapter will make you happy, too. Enjoy! And thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! They were all very much appreciated, even though I really didn’t get to answer them. (Shame on me…)
When Derek awoke that night, the sweet scent of his Baby Girl’s shampoo filled his nose. Smiling, he wrapped his arms tighter around her. He still couldn’t believe this had finally happened.
“Good morning,” Penelope mumbled sleepily against his chest without moving.
“Morning,” Derek replied, softly kissing her hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Wonderful,” she whispered, stirring slightly. “And exhausted, and happy.”
“I love you, Baby Girl,” Derek whispered. A glance at his watch on the bedside table told him that it was already half past ten. “But I fear we have to get up, or we’re gonna be late for our flight back to Quantico.”
Finally, she raised her head, looking up at him. “What are we gonna do now?” she whispered.
Derek shrugged. “How about we just stay right here for the next fifty years?”
She grimaced at him. “I’m serious, Derek. We can’t go back and pretend nothing ever happened.”
He frowned at her. Was that really how she felt about their relationship? He’d thought she understood that this was serious.
“Who says that’s what I want to do?” he asked back.
Penelope sighed. “I’m just saying… We…we obviously can’t tell everyone what happened, either. I just…I’m not sure how to behave around you.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “You do realize that we can just behave like a couple, right? No one will notice any difference.”
“That’s not funny,” she told him, slapping his chest.
“No?” Derek teased, leaning forward in an attempt to kiss her. “Then why are you laughing?”
“I’m not,” she protested, giggling as he started tickling her.
In an instant, Derek had flipped them over and was lying on top of her again, grinning. He’d always thought if you’re yearning for something - or someone, in his case - the feeling would stop, or at least lessen, once you got what you wanted.
As a matter of fact, after finally having won his Baby Girl, he couldn’t get enough of her.
A knock on the door interrupted what Derek was about to start. Growling, he crawled out of bed and put on a bathrobe.
“Who’s there?” he asked through the closed door.
“Reception,” the woman answered. “Sorry to disturb, sir, but the airport just called. Your flight had to be canceled due to some technical issues. The next flight available will depart at two this afternoon. They wanted to know if you want that, but apparently couldn’t reach your cell phone.”
“All right, I’ll call them back in a minute,” Derek replied, still not opening the door. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” the woman said, and Derek heard her walk away.
“You call the airport. I’ll call Hotch,” Penelope said, already searching her purse for her cell phone.
Derek sighed. “You know, that’s not how I pictured you showing me a good morning.”
Grinning mischievously, Penelope replied, “Relax. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”
Of course, he knew that she was right. But he honestly didn’t want to waste a single minute - or hell, second - he got to be alone with her. He knew that once they were back in Quantico and he was back in the field, there wouldn’t be that many chances for some alone time anymore.
Maybe that was why the next couple of hours flew by way too fast for Derek’s liking - and why his mood didn’t change for the better. Luckily, Penelope was the master of lighting up the day - and of keeping him distracted. All the time on the plane and all the way to his apartment, she kept flirting shamelessly with him.
What he didn’t expect, though, was to find the crowd in front of his apartment door.
“Surprise,” JJ greeted them, grinning. “We thought we should properly welcome you back from the almost dead.”
“Thanks,” Derek grumbled. “I really appreciate that.”
“Frankly, you don’t look all that happy,” Reid remarked.
Derek reached out to ruffle his hair. “I am, trust me,” he assured him. “It’s great to see you guys.”
“Wait till you see what we brought along,” Emily said with a giggle.
Derek rolled his eyes at Penelope, who just shrugged in return. Of course he was glad to see his friends again, but he’d much rather spent some time alone with his Baby Girl instead.
Worst of all, JJ made him sit down on the sofa in his living room while the girls took care of dinner in the kitchen. They’d wanted to greet them for lunch, as Emily told them, but had heard about the plane’s delay and decided to make dinner for them, instead.
“You do realize that I’m not a cripple, right?” Derek called from the living room.
“We know that,” JJ replied. “We just want to…spoil you a little.”
That being said, she carried a large pot of spaghetti into the living room.
Derek raised an eyebrow. “Spoil me?”
JJ grimaced at that. “Wait till you try the sauce.”
He had to admit, the sauce was the best he’d ever tried, and the evening was much more fun than he’d expected it to be, considering it was depriving him of some more time to explore what his Baby Girl liked.
“So, tell me,” JJ said, moving a little closer to Derek. Hotch and Rossi had already bowed out about half an hour ago, and Reid had followed them only minutes later, leaving Derek alone with the three girls. “Any new…acquaintanceships you want to share with us?”
“Nothing of importance,” he replied with a shrug.
Emily and JJ exchanged a look. “So, no new hook-ups to brag about?” the latter questioned.
“I don’t brag about anything,” Derek grumbled.
“Uh-oh,” Emily mumbled, now moving closer herself. “That means this time, it’s got you pretty bad, huh?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, not even trying to hide the fact that he wanted to dodge the question.
“You’re in love,” JJ announced.
“You know what?” Derek got up from his couch, stretching a little. “I really don’t want to throw you out, but I’m tired. So…would you mind…?”
“Nope, we’re out,” JJ quickly replied, winking at Emily. “Pen, can I give you a lift?”
“No, thanks. I…I’ll call a cab,” she told her friend. “Don’t bother.”
“It’s no bother,” JJ assured her.
“I know,” Penelope said, biting her lip. “But you really don’t need to make a detour. I need to stop at the store and buy some groceries anyway.”
JJ frowned at that, obviously not entirely convinced, but decided to let it go and bowed out, followed by Emily.
Penelope let out a breath. “You know, for a minute there, I really thought we were busted.”
Chuckling, Derek wrapped his arms around her and started to nibble her neck. “I honestly don’t care, as long as we’re finally alone.”
“You’re oversexed, you know that?” she whispered.
Derek grinned against soft skin. “You have no idea,” he replied, lifting her up and finally carrying her where he’d wanted to have her the whole evening long.
As Derek had expected, none of their friends seemed to have noticed any difference between them. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even seem to notice that Derek and Penelope arrived together every morning. Things were going really great - at least, Derek thought they were.
One day, when he wanted to pick his favorite girl up for lunch, he suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.
Penelope was sitting in front of her computers, but she wasn’t working. She was just staring into space, her mouth slightly open, mumbling something that sounded to Derek like: “I don’t believe it.”
“Baby Girl?” Derek carefully asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I…It’s over,” she whispered.
Derek frowned at that. What was she talking about? What was over? Did anyone know about them and blackmail her? Well, that was probably too far-fetched…
“Penelope, what are you talking about?” Derek asked her again, but she didn’t even seem to realize he was there talking to her. He went up to her and turned her chair around to make her look at him.
Her eyes found his, and she stared at him for a moment. Then she suddenly jumped out of her seat, mumbled something about having to talk to Hotch, and off she went.
Derek stood there flabbergasted for a while. After about five minutes, he finally decided to go after her and try to find out what was wrong. When he stepped out of her office, Penelope was just leaving Hotch’s, now a huge smile on her face.
So whatever it was that had been bothering Penelope, Hotch had obviously been able to make it right.
Seeing him, her face lit up even more. “This man is just amazing,” she whispered before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. And then she whispered something in his ear he had never in a million years expected to hear from her…