A/N: Look who's finally back! I'm so sorry for the long wait, guys. This semester has been brutal, and I just haven't had the spare time to work on this story. But thanks so much for all your patience!
Penelope devoted the next day to getting things ready for the team dinner that night, and she was glad that she had that to focus on. It limited the time that she had to think about other, much more complicated matters. It also didn't hurt that Derek, then Emily and JJ, came over to help.
Of course, there was a minor snag that occurred when—while shuffling through her crowded refrigerator in an effort to make more room—she accidently knocked the cake onto the floor, simultaneously shattering one of her best dishes and causing her masterpiece to crumble to pieces. She ended up sending Derek and Ivy to the grocery store to buy a replacement.
Thankfully, she had Prentiss and JJ there to help her clean up the mess. Her friends were the absolute best.
"See. It's like it never happened," JJ said as she swept up the last of the crumbs.
Penelope smiled gratefully, standing up once she was certain that there was no more glass on the floor. "I just hope the rest of the day goes more smoothly," she sighed.
"It will," Emily assured her.
JJ's phone rang, and she looked at it and then back at them. "It's Will. I'll be right back," she said as she walked out of the room.
Emily watched as Penelope sat down on the nearest barstool. As cheerful of a face as the blonde tried to put on, she could see that something was bothering her. And she seriously doubted that it was caused by the ruin of a cake.
"Hey, you okay?" Prentiss asked, sitting down next to her.
Garcia nodded, forcing a smile. "Yeah. I'm fine."
A brief silence passed before Emily spoke again. "I've known you for a long time, Garcia. I can tell when you're not fine."
Penelope slowly looked at her friend. She wanted to tell her everything. This whole secret had been weighing on her mind before she ever even joined the BAU. She wanted every last detail out in the open. But most of all, she just wanted to know what to do.
"You're right. I'm not fine," she finally said. "But it is such a long story."
"I have time."
She sighed, briefly closing her eyes. "Okay. Em, I'm really scared that I'm gonna lose my daughter."
Emily frowned. "I thought everything was good with you and Ivy."
"It is. She's been amazing. But she doesn't want answers, and I need them. And I keep telling myself that I have to respect what she wants, but I don't know if I can just let this go. Not when I've wondered for so long."
JJ slowly walked back into the room. "Wondered what?" she asked.
Penelope could feel both of her friends' gazes upon her as she took a deep breath and prepared to tell them the whole story.
Derek scanned the cakes in the grocery store, trying to pick out the right one. The only thing Penelope had said was "chocolate cake." The problem was that literally half of the cakes in the store met this classification.
He looked helplessly at Ivy. "So, you really don't know which one she would like?"
The teen shrugged. "You know her better than I do."
He sighed, wondering if that was really true. Yes, at times, he felt like he knew Penelope as well as he knew himself. But at others, she was a complete mystery to him. Ivy was the perfect example of that. He still could hardly believe that Garcia was capable of keeping such a huge secret.
"Ivy, can I ask you something?" he said, turning his full attention to the girl. "Does Penelope ever…mention me?"
The question garnered him a laugh. "Only all the time. Why?"
He shook his head, suppressing a smile. "No reason."
She appeared to accept his response at first, but he knew that he had given himself away the moment that her eyes lit up.
"Wait a minute. You don't ask something like that for 'no reason.'" Ivy crossed her arms in satisfaction. "You do like her, don't you?"
Derek was surprised. Not only by the question, but by the insinuation that she had suspected it before now. But while he desperately wanted to admit the truth to someone, his first instinct was to deny, deny, deny. No good could possibly come from admitting anything to a teenager.
"Of course I like her. She's my best friend," he said, attempting to brush it off. He turned his attention to the cakes in an effort to avoid Ivy's triumphant grin. Then, he quickly grabbed one that met Penelope's very unspecific criteria. "This one should work."
"I don't understand," Ivy lamented as they started walking towards the front of the store. "Why haven't you told her by now? She would dump Kevin in a heartbeat if she knew."
Because he couldn't afford to buy into what Garcia might do. She had given him no reason to think that she saw him as anything more than a friend, and he was determined to keep that friendship intact.
"You know she's not in love with him, right?"
He couldn't help but smile at the girl's persistence. "I never thought she was."
"See. But it could be different with you," Ivy pointed out. "You could be her soul mate."
Derek always found the whole concept of soul mates to be cheesy and unrealistic, but he had to remind himself that Ivy was still young. Teenagers were allowed to believe in things such as love stories and "happily ever afters." The sincerity in her voice almost made him want to believe too.
When they stopped at one of the checkout lines, she turned to face him. "Derek. Look me in the eyes, and tell me that you don't have feelings for my mother."
The moment their eyes met, he knew he couldn't do it. He couldn't lie to her. So he decided to try the next best thing.
"Penelope says you like Dairy Queen. How would you like to go grab a Blizzard when we get out of here?"
Ivy crossed her arms. "Are you seriously trying to bribe me with ice cream?"
"That depends," he shrugged. "Is it working?"
She smiled, rolling her eyes. "Why not. But just warning you, this conversation is not over."
"Wow," JJ breathed, after Penelope had finished explaining the extremely complicated situation to her and Emily. "That's some coincidence."
Penelope nodded. "I know. I still can't believe it."
"But it's really not surprising that Ivy wouldn't want to take a risk like that. You remember how hesitant she was when she first met you."
"She's scared of being disappointed and hurt," Penelope sighed. "And I completely get that."
Emily tried to hide how stunned she was as she watched the two of them discuss the situation. She prayed that her input wouldn't be requested, or she just knew that she would have to blurt out the truth.
Reid was right.
It seemed so impossible, and yet, Garcia had practically confirmed it. Morgan had been in possession of the necklace that Garcia had worn the night her daughter was conceived. Add that huge coincidence to Reid's little observation, and Emily was convinced. Unfortunately, Penelope had spent so long thinking that this was just some mystery man that her brain hadn't even registered the possibility yet. And it hardly seemed appropriate for her to just blurt it out like this.
When the doorbell rang, Emily jumped at the opportunity to go answer it. She wasn't sure who she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the person she saw.
"Kevin, hi," she said, forcing a polite smile as she let him in. "Penelope's in the kitchen."
"This is going to cause problems," she murmured to herself as she watched him walk away. But before she walked away from the door, she noticed Morgan's car pull into the driveway. She watched him and Ivy get out, the girl smiling as she said something to Derek. Then he smiled back at her in a way that made them look so much alike, it was scary.
Hearing her phone ring, Emily was relieved to see that it was Reid.
"Reid? Hey, are you almost here?" she asked slowly, glancing around to see if anyone was nearby.
"Not exactly. I think I have a flat tire. Rossi is coming to pick me up; I was just going to let you guys know that we'll probably be late."
She suppressed a groan. "Just please hurry. I really have to talk to you."
In the next several minutes, everyone except Reid and Rossi had flooded into Garcia's house. A few of her co-workers had brought guests. Hotch had brought Jack; JJ had finally gotten Will and Henry there. Garcia had felt obligated to invite Kevin, since he was her boyfriend. Though, as usual, things were tense between him and Morgan. Though she had long accepted that the two of them were not destined to be friends.
The majority of the guests chatted amongst themselves in the living room, while Penelope pulled out the disposable plates and napkins. Kevin was with her, though he really wasn't helping all that much.
"Penny, do you think Ivy likes me?" he asked.
She was pretty certain that the question stemmed from him seeing how well Ivy and Derek were getting along, and the last thing she needed was to make Kevin even more insecure than he already was. Even if that meant lying a little.
"Yeah, why wouldn't she?"
He shrugged. "I just never felt like she did. Not the way she obviously likes Morgan."
Penelope sighed. She couldn't exactly blame her daughter for preferring Derek. The two of them had just seemed to hit it off, from the beginning even. But Kevin didn't have the first idea of how to relate to a teenage girl.
"Rossi and Reid just made it," Derek informed her as he walked into the kitchen at this not-very-good time.
"Good," she replied. "I was beginning to think we would have to eat without them."
"I know, I'm starving." He looked around the kitchen. "You need help with anything?"
"Actually," Penelope said with a smile. "If you could go see what everyone wants to drink, that would be fabulous."
Derek smiled back at her. "Sure thing, baby girl."
Reid estimated that he was in the house for a total of about thirty seconds before everyone started to move towards the kitchen, and Emily pulled him out the front door.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked, concerned by her worried expression. Emily was always so put together, but at this moment, she looked anything but.
"Over here," she said, leading him to the side of the house, away from the front door.
"Okay, you're starting to scare me," he admitted. "Is everything okay?"
"No, everything is far from okay. We've got a giant mess on our hands, thanks to you."
He gave her a confused look.
"Morgan and Ivy, Reid!" Emily reminded him in a stressed fashion. "You were right."
The statement left him stunned. He was the one who had made the observation in the first place, and yes, it had nagged him until he told someone. But it was still extremely difficult to believe that it could've been true.
"Are you sure?" he finally asked.
"Not a hundred percent, no. But it looks very likely."
"Wow," Spencer breathed, leaning back against the brick wall for support. "How did you find this out? Did Garcia tell you?"
Emily sighed. "She doesn't exactly know."
"What?"
"It was a one-time thing. She had too much to drink one night and ended up leaving this bar with a stranger. I think you can figure out what happened next."
Reid slowly nodded. "But if she doesn't know who this stranger is, why do you think it's Morgan?"
"The necklace," she replied. "She was wearing a necklace that night—apparently a pretty distinctive one, and she was so freaked out the next morning that she accidently left it behind. Ivy found the same necklace at Morgan's house. Garcia hasn't put the pieces together yet, but I don't think it's a coincidence."
"No, I don't either."
A brief moment of silence passed before Emily spoke again. "We have to tell them, Reid. Garcia needs answers, and Morgan needs to know that Ivy is his daughter."
"What did you say?"
The voice was shaky and quiet, but they would have recognized it anywhere. Reid and Prentiss both turned, and standing behind them was a shell-shocked Derek Morgan. One look at him was all it took to let them know that he had heard everything.