Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts.

YouTube (unless you have it) and listen to Tyre Tracks and Broken Hearts by Bonnie Tyler while you read this. Please and Thank You.

A/N: My first ever Criminal Minds fic. It's short and pointless. But we've all got to start somewhere.

Penelope Garcia was different. Being different had always been her thing. As a kid she never had many friends, choosing instead to entertain herself with technology. When her parents died, technology was her way of escaping and it stayed that way ever since. In a way, I suppose, technology was her thing more so than that of being different, along with being a little eccentric and always cheerful, despite the fact that she had one of the most "un-cheerful" jobs in the world. Penelope Garcia the leading technical analyst in the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI. She'd never have thought that would be her title when she got her first ever computer.

Everyday Penelope saw horrific images and heard things that people would barely believe, were they not in the FBI themselves. There was only one thing that kept Penelope from high-tailing it. One thing that kept her in this profession and in that chair everyday. And, contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the feeling of relief when they caught that UnSub, and it wasn't the warm fuzzies she felt when she saw a potential victim being reunited with their family. It wasn't ever then fact that her very nerdy, very adorable boyfriend, Kevin, was (literally) a six minute walk away at all times. No, it was non of those things that kept Penelope in the BAU. Because, realistically speaking, around here the bad usually outweighed the good. Unfortunately.

No. What kept her scanning the world for bad guys everyday was the inevitable five second exchange of words between her and a certain Supervisory Special Agent that went by the name of Derek Morgan.

Of course, Derek wasn't the only person that had impacted her life. He was just her favourite.

It was true that, as a child, Penelope had found it difficult to make friends with anyone that didn't have a screen name. But hacking the FBI had turned out to be the best thing that she had ever done. Through her job she had made the two best girl friends she could have ever hoped for, Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss. She'd also met the little, boy band look-alike, and the BAU's resident genius (whom she had taken to calling her 'bitch'), Spencer Reid. She'd also met the man that she could now call her long-term boyfriend, Kevin. But no one -not even Kevin- meant more to her than Derek Morgan. He was her rock and she was his God-given solace. His baby girl. And those few seconds that they shared every day were her world. Be it over the phone or at the beginning or the end of the day, they always made time to have those few moments.

She guessed that that's why it hurt so much that one day he didn't. They didn't.

He didn't see her that morning, choosing instead to finish Aaron Hotchner's paperwork for him. Something Penelope not only understood but respected. Hotch was having a rough time and Derek was amazing at putting everyone else before himself. He didn't phone her that day, either. Something she also understood. He was busy being her- a, being a- hero and kicking UnSub ass. Again, putting others before himself. And not talking to him after work was her fault. She had been researching something for David Rossi - co founder of the BAU. And when the co founder of the establishment that pays your rent asks you to do something, you do it. If you have to put off a date with your boyfriend or the prospect of a bubble bath or a five second chat with your best friend, then you did.

But it wasn't those things that broke her heart. It was the phone call. Yes, it was five seconds long but it was five seconds she wished never happened. She rang him - of course she rang him - but someone else answered the call.

She answered the call.

The girl he promised he wouldn't get involved with.

Tamara.

Tamara whatever-her-surname-was.

"Penelope Garcia?"

"Yes, how did you-"

"Caller ID."

Duh, Penelope.

"This is Tamara. Derek's in the shower. Can this call wait until tomorrow? He's had a long, stressful day and I think anything work related would just send him over the edge."

Aren't you "work related"?

"Y-yes. Of course."

"Great. Thanks."

And the line went dead.

She was spending the night with Derek? Had it hurt Derek this much when Penelope started dating Kevin?

That's when it hit her.

That's when Penelope realised that she'd been lying. To herself, to Kevin, to Derek. She didn't just love Derek Morgan. She was in love with Derek Morgan.

And suddenly the idea of work made her feel nauseous and sick in a way that was a million times worse than the ill that the images on her computer screens made her feel.

Because now the thought of going to the BAU made her nervous for a whole different reason.

What now?