Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I received a request from Baroness-32 to do a story involving Morgan and Garcia's daughter going on a first date, and Morgan going full on protective-dad-mode. Thanks for the patience with me, my friend! Here it is for you, finally. Hope you enjoy! Just some fluffy, Derek Morgan-as-a-dad oneshot fun.

"And you just said yes without filling me in on all this first?" Derek growled to Penelope as they sat down in the round table room for their meeting of the day.

"Baby Boy, she's fifteen," Penelope responded, not looking up from her laptop as she answered him. "Let her live a little." Derek scowled and leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee angrily. She glanced over at him from the corner of her eye and smirked. "Your face is going to freeze like this if you keep looking like that."

Derek turned in his seat to glare at his wife. "Do I look like I give a damn if my face freezes like this?" he snapped. "I have no idea who this boy is, what his intentions are!"

"Jesus, Morgan," Kate exclaimed as she and Rossi entered the room together. "What crawled up your ass and died that's got you all annoyed?"

Crossing his arms over his chest and scowling even darker, Derek sat back and allowed Penelope to give the explanation. Penelope sighed and leaned her elbows against the table. She folded her hands. "Well, my little girl was asked out on a date with the boy she's been crazy about for about a year now," she explained, pleased.

"Ellaria got asked out on a date?" Kate blurted in excitement. She clapped her hands together once and sat forward in her seat. "More details please!"

Derek snorted, but Penelope went on anyway, ignoring him. "Well, all she knows at this point is he's asked her out," she went on. "Tyler — that's his name, Tyler! — just asked her out last night at the football game she went to, and they're going to talk about when they're going out."

"They better make damn sure they schedule it when we're not on a case," Derek grumbled. "I wanna be there."

"Why?" Rossi joked. "To scare the shit out of the kid?"

"He's sixteen, Ellaria's fifteen," Derek stated simply. "The boy is a year older, and you never know what a kid a year older is going to do."

Kate cocked an eyebrow. "You do realize you sound incredibly paranoid right now, right?" she teased.

"I still wanna be there," he insisted. "I'll make sure to be cleaning my gun that day." That'll show any boy who wants to date my daughter, he thought silently to himself.

Penelope pursed her lips, her face becoming serious all of the sudden. "Don't you ruin this for her," she warned. "If you do, I'm making you sleep on the couch for a whole month!"

"And my guess is that month won't include any of the fun you two usually have," Rossi snickered as he and Kate began cracking up with one another.

XXXXX

As he wished for, Derek was home the night of Ellaria's date with Tyler. And as promised, he was sitting in the kitchen, his gun — unloaded since he was at home with his other two children as well — out on the table. He'd made his daughter promise she would bring her date in to meet him, his intention being the boy would see he carried a gun.

"Dad, why do you have your gun out?" nine year old Jax asked. "You never have it out when you're home."

"Well, kiddo," Derek said, "your sister is going on a date. And your old man is going to make sure the boy who's taking her on the date knows that he'll be in trouble if he hurts her."

Jax's eyes went wide. "Are you serious?" he breathed. "You're going to shoot him if —"

"He's not gonna shoot him," the eldest Morgan child, seventeen year old Liam commented, not looking up from his textbook.

Derek laughed. "No, no," he assured his youngest. "I'll just…scare him a bit."

"Remember my threat," Penelope sang out as she entered the kitchen. "You will be nice to that boy." She glanced down at her neon colored watch. "And said young man will be here in, like, five minutes." She went to stand behind Derek and dropped a kiss on his head. "Ellaria's excited, Baby. Just be —"

Before she could finish, an excited Ellaria skipped into the room. A broad grin that rivaled Derek's covered her face. "Mom, does my eyeliner look okay?" she asked.

"Mom, does my eyeliner look okay?" Jax mimicked. Derek snickered and held out his hand to high five his son.

"Shut up, Jax," Ellaria snapped.

Penelope left Derek's side and placed a finger under her daughter's chin. She tilted her face up and scrutinized Ellaria's simple, yet elegant makeup job. Derek remained scowling at the table, still unhappy that his daughter was going on a date.

"Looks fabulous, sweetheart," Penelope declared, kissing her daughter's forehead.

Ellaria opened her mouth to say something, but the ringing of the doorbell distracted her. "That's Tyler!" she crowed in excitement. She turned on her heel and scampered off toward the door.

Penelope looked toward all her boys with a death glare. "You all behave," she said sternly.

Liam looked up and arched a brow. "Mom, I'm just sitting here," he remarked. "Tell that to those two." He pointed to his father and younger brother.

Derek's jaw set in a hard line, and he crossed his arms over his chest. He had great plans for terrifying the boy taking his daughter out. He was willing to take the risk of sleeping on the couch for a month if it meant he could freak out the boy. Keeping a glare on his face, Derek resumed cleaning his gun, pretending to be greatly invested in it. The sound of Ellaria and a young man talking filled his ears, and when they finally appeared, he increased the level of his glare.

"Mom, Dad," Ellaria started, "this is Tyler."

Derek's eyes flicked to his wife as she went forward to greet the boy who was shaking with nerves beside Ellaria. Penelope smiled brightly at Tyler, taking his hand gently. "Hi there!" she chirped. "We've heard a lot about you."

"Good to meet you, Mrs. Morgan," Tyler said with a smile.

Penelope laughed and shook her head. "Oh, sweetheart," she crowed. "Call me Penelope. People calling me Mrs. Morgan makes me feel old."

Derek rose to his feet next, gun and cleaning cloth still in his hands. He continued wiping the already spotless weapon. Going forward, he stood beside his wife and grinned evilly at the boy standing beside his daughter.

Tyler stood at least half a foot taller than Ellaria, and he looked suspiciously like a blonde Abercrombie and Fitch model. As soon as Derek came into the young man's view, Tyler's eyes went wide. He took one look at the gun in Derek's hands, and visibly gulped.

"Uh, hi," Tyler said, all color draining from his face. "Tyler."

Eyeing the boy distrustfully, Derek slid his gun into his hip holster. He straightened to his full height before sticking his hand out to shake Tyler's. Arching a brow, he waited for his daughter's date to shake his hand. Hesitantly, Tyler shook Derek's hand. He managed to remain in eye contact with Derek, but he still looked afraid.

"Derek Morgan," Derek said to introduce himself.

Seeming to think he was safe when Derek released his hand, Tyler nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Derek."

Expression darkening, Derek shook his head. "Oh no, Trevor" he said. "You can call me sir. Unlike my wife, I don't care if I feel old."

Tyler's smiles dropped immediately, and Derek let out an internal laugh of triumph. There was that flicker of fear in the boy's eyes he wanted to see.

"It's Tyler," the young man said in a timid voice that didn't match his exterior at all.

Feigning innocence, Derek shook his head and chuckled. "Oh, I'm sorry!" he said with a laugh. "Tyler. Well, as I was saying, I don't care if sir makes me sound older. That, and I don't care if you like me or not. I'd actually prefer if you don't like me." To drive his point home he didn't trust Tyler with Ellaria, he rested his hand on his gun, and gave the boy a harsh stare.

His moment of self-satisfied humor got interrupted by his wife shooting him a death glare. Ellaria's face sat in an expression of appalled horror, and she looked for a moment like she might cry. The sight of his daughter on the verge of tears gave him pause. All of the sudden, a twinge of remorse tickled his conscience.

Penelope jumped in and moved away from Derek. "Why don't I walk you two to the door?" she said, clapping her hands. "You probably want to get going."

Before Derek could say anything, Penelope gestured for Ellaria and Tyler to follow her to the door. Ellaria shot him a dirty look before they disappeared down the hallway. His daughter's face as she left tore at him, and he immediately wished he would have scaled back on the boy.

Sighing, Derek sat back down next to his sons at the table. Both of them stared at him with incredulous expressions. He frowned at them both and set his empty gun back on the table.

"What?" he grumbled, leaning back in his chair.

"You made Ella really upset, Dad," Jax lectured, crossing his arms over his chest and shooting him a look that mimicked one of Penelope's classic annoyed stares. "She looked like she was gonna cry for a minute."

Liam, still looking down at his textbook, hummed in agreement. "You were a dick to Tyler, too," he added, finally looking up at his father.

Derek shot his eldest son an irritated frown. "You were over here reading," he said. "You weren't paying attention."

"You had your back to me, Dad," Liam pointed out. "You wouldn't know if I wasn't paying attention."

Before he could argue back against the onslaught of grief from his children, Jax jumped in and blurted, "I heard Mom talking on the phone with Aunt JJ, and she was saying that if you were mean to Ella's boyfriend that she wasn't putting out for a whole month." He frowned and bit his lip. "What does putting out even mean?"

Derek slapped his forehead, shaking his head. Penelope tended to have private conversations that ended up getting overheard by their children. And just their luck, each and every conversation that got overheard happened to be a dirty one.

"You don't want to know what that means," Liam commented dryly, returning his attention to his book.

"Don't worry about it, bud," Derek muttered, ruffling his youngest child's curls. "You can wait for finding out what that means until you're older."

As Jax prepared himself to object and beg for an answer, Penelope came storming into the kitchen. Fury sat splattered across her face, and Derek's shoulders slumped. No doubt he would get a well deserved earful for nearly bringing their daughter to tears.

"You!" she snapped, pointing at him. "Come with me. I'm going to give you a lecture so brutal you're going to wish you were in a time traveling police box so you can blast yourself back in time to get away from me!" By the time she finished yelling at him, her voice sounded strained against the confines of her throat.

Rising to his feet, Derek nodded. He knew he deserved this. That didn't change the fear his wife put in him, though. Following her out of the kitchen, they stopped in the living room. Penelope planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"How could you do that to Ellaria?" she demanded. "You were a complete jackass to that boy, however short your little tantrum was!"

Sighing, Derek bent his head like an ashamed schoolboy who pushed a friend on the playground. "I know," he mumbled, ashamed. "I saw her face before she left."

"You were a class-A asshat, that's for sure," she snapped. "Tyler is a perfectly nice boy, and he'll treat Ella well." She crossed her arms over her chest. Observing his ashamed expression, her face softened. She sighed. "Derek, what's wrong? You're acting like a jerk, and when it comes to the kids you never pull this stuff."

Derek went to sit on the couch, shoulders slumping. He knew he was pouting, but it didn't change any of his feelings. Anyone who tried to date one of his children would get a heap of distrust from him. Liam, though, spent his time enthralled in books, and Jax was only nine. None of his children had ever been in relationships.

Because of that, Ellaria dating someone scared the hell out of him.

"I don't want any of them dating," he mumbled. "I just want them to go back in time and be small enough for me to pick them up again."

With a heavy sigh, Penelope came up behind him as he sat on the couch. She leaned over the back to wrap her arms around him from behind. Kissing his cheek, she murmured in his ear, "Baby Boy, you are such a worrier that sometimes I feel like you're going to ruin their lives."

Derek frowned and threw his head back to look at her incredulously.

She smirked, and added, "Social lives I mean. You're turning into one of those dads who wants to keep them away from everything."

"That's 'cause I know the dangers out there," he argued. "I know that there are people out there who could want to hurt them."

She nodded along with him. "But Baby, you can't smother them," she said, kissing his cheek again. "I know just as much as you do that there are horrible people out there. But there's also a whole bunch of wonderful people, too." She chuckled. "And Tyler is one of those people."

He scoffed. "Pfft, the kid better be."

"After you nearly made him pee his pants, I'd say he'll be just fine to Ellaria," Penelope said.

Deep down, part of him knew Penelope was right. His wife and he differed on opinions about the people of the world. He trusted no one and looked for the darkness in everyone, but she believed good existed in everyone. And she was more than likely right about Tyler.

Reaching up to grasp his hand, Derek kissed her knuckles. "What would I do without you, Baby Girl?"

She purred in a seductive tone and ran her hand slowly up his chest and then to his face. "You'd be significantly less friendly," she said. She dropped a kiss on his head. "And you woulda killed that poor boy."

"In jail for homicide would not be a good thing," Derek agreed.

Patting his arm, she nodded. "No, not really," she said. "You're going to be fine. And when Ellaria comes home, you'll apologize to her for acting like a jackass."

Derek pouted. "If I apologize just right do I get to still sleep in our bed?"

Lips quirking into a smile, Penelope winked. "We'll see."

XXXXX

At ten o'clock sharp, a smiling Ellaria opened the front door as she arrived home. She near skipped into the living room where Derek and Penelope sat. Penelope sat on the floor in front of the couch so Derek had access to massage her shoulders, and between them they'd finished three quarters of a bottle of wine. He looked up from working on getting the kinks out of his wife's neck and gave Ellaria a small smile.

Despite his outburst at Tyler making Ellaria upset, his daughter's cheeks glowed with excitement. Her eyes glittered with happiness.

Penelope turned around grinned up at her daughter. "How'd it go, beautiful?" she chirped, rising from her position on the ground. She went to stand in front of Ellaria. Touching Ellaria's cheek, she smiled. "You have fun?"

Ellaria nodded vigorously. "Tyler took me ice-skating!" she said, unable to drop the grin from her face.

Derek rose to his feet as well, and went to stand beside Penelope. He smiled at his daughter, glad to see she'd had a great time.

"And?" Penelope pressed, excitedly. "Did he ask you to go on another one?"

Once again, Ellaria nodded. This time, her grin grew even wider. "Yes!" she cried. "He wants to go out next weekend, after the football game!"

Penelope grinned, pulling her daughter into a hug. "Oh, that's wonderful, Baby," she cheered. When she pulled away, she glanced over at Derek and smiled. Clapping her hands, she pointed toward the kitchen. "Well, I believe the dishwasher is all done, so I'm going to go check on that." She gave Derek's hand a squeeze on the way out before disappearing into the kitchen.

Derek and Ellaria stood in the living room. She smiled at him. "I had a good time, Dad," she said. "Tyler was super great."

Smiling, Derek nodded. "I'm glad, sweetheart." With a sigh, he added, "And I'm sorry. About being a jerk to him. I'm glad it didn't mess anything up with him." It was a small apology, but there was a torrent of feeling behind his words he hoped she heard.

Ellaria nodded and went forward to give him a hug. "You didn't," she murmured. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Baby Doll," he whispered back.

He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. Even if he wasn't getting his little girl back to the size he could pick her up, it made him proud to see her grow up. No matter where she went or who she dated, she'd always be his little girl.