I decided to continue this little string of fics I had and make it a bit of a series! This is the latest installment in Penelope and Derek's lives. I decided that the two other fics go together- Puzzle Pieces obviously goes first and then Late Night Surprises is the second. There are references to both in this fic; they serve as sort of prequels. Well, actually, Puzzle Pieces would be the prequel, and then Late Night Surprises is the first chapter.

Moving on, I hope you enjoy this installment! Please read and review, dear reader. :)

It was a sunny morning; that much was certain, Derek thought as he opened his eyes. Even through the blinds on the window, and even though it was early, the beams were streaming through, pink and orange and yellow, as the sun finished its journey to the top of the sky. There was minute shifting of his arms before he slid them from around Penelope's waist, kissing her temple before getting out of bed. He crossed a little sleepily to the window and pulled open the blinds. The sunlight went straight to the bed. "Rise and shine, babygirl," he said in her favorite scratchy morning voice.

She groaned, putting her head under her pink pillow. "Five more minutes…"

Derek chuckled. "You know we can't do that; you get to go in late enough because of our bun in the oven and I get to go in late because you need help, but we have to be on time." He walked back to the bed and gently removed the pillow from his wife's head.

She pouted, eyes still stubbornly closed. "But I'm sleeping for two."

"You're doing everything for two, you strong, beautiful woman," Derek agreed, running his hands up and down her arms. "But we have to go to work to provide for our baby, don't we?"

Penelope groaned and sat up, using the bed and Derek as necessary assistance. "I suppose you're right," she grumbled, scooting to the edge of the bed. Derek pulled her up by the hands, close enough that their foreheads were touching. She finally smiled. "Hi."

He smiled back. "Hi." He pecked her lips, then bent down to Penelope's stomach. "And hi to you, too," Derek added, leaning his forehead onto the swell of it before lifting the front hem of her shirt to lavish kisses all over her belly. Penelope giggled. They both disregarded the map of scars and bruises that marred Penelope's otherwise flawless skin.

"I wonder what they look like," she pondered, the smile still on her face. Derek raised his eyes over her stomach. "The baby, I mean," she clarified.

Derek straightened. "I'm sure you could just ask Reid when we get to the BAU," he said, half-joking. Penelope snorted. "Come on, babygirl. What do you want for breakfast? I'll make it while you get ready."

"Eggs, toast, chocolate milk. I guess the cocoa wasn't enough for the baby last night." Penelope smiled down at her hands, folded on her stomach. She kissed Derek's cheek. "Thank you." Passing him, she walked to the closet, scanning the rack of extremely eye-catching maternity clothes she'd found at a funky shop on the outskirts of Quantico. Derek smiled and shook his head, walking out of the room and towards the kitchen, turning the TV onto the news as he passed the couch.

The current story was of a couple who had gotten together under the most unlikely of circumstances and their upcoming wedding in a local church. Derek's thoughts turned to his and Penelope's relationship and its beginnings as he beat the eggs. Pouring them into the pan, he remembered the moments that they had always shared together ever since they had met, all of which had led up to the night Penelope got shot. Derek clenched his hands briefly around the handle of the pan, an involuntary response to the anguish and rage he had felt when he had been notified of what had happened. He remembered listening to the frantic message left by the usual calm and collected Dr. Spencer Reid in the driver's seat of his car. He remembered dropping the cell phone on the floor at the words "in surgery; no one knows if she'll be okay." He remembered screaming before collapsing onto the steering wheel into sobs that wracked his body for twenty-three minutes exactly before breaking all speed limits on the way to the hospital, courtesy of the police light stashed in the glove compartment. He was ashamed of himself for spending so much time in his car and not using it to rush to his baby girl's side. Derek had never told anyone, not even Penelope, what had occurred in the driver's seat of his car that night.

He remembered seeing her in the hospital bed, hurting and scared and traumatized beyond belief. He remembered never going home, only leaving to go to the BAU and spend hours in his office, trying to track down the psychopath that had done the crime when he wasn't sitting vigilant by her bedside. He remembered taking Penelope home from the hospital and spending all those nights on that couch. Most of all, he remembered going after Jason Clark Battle- the name put a bad taste in his mouth- and coming back to find Penelope, his baby girl, quivering in the corner, terrified. It was then that he had realized how he truly felt, that his feelings were not simply those of a close friend- that they were those of someone who loved another more than their own life.

Derek idly trailed the fork through the eggs in the pan. That realization had only intensified the night Derek removed the bandages from Penelope's wound. The nightmares had brought her to the point where she could no longer sleep alone, and as they settled into bed that night in their usual position, Penelope spoke up. "Why do you keep doing this?"

Derek shifted slightly to look at her. "Doing what?"

Penelope traced a hand lightly across his stomach, absentmindedly. "All of this." She paused to look up at him, her eyes finding his. "You take care of me like no one else ever would," she said simply. There was a temporary silence between the two of them. "What happened earlier today… that doesn't happen between people that are 'just friends…'" Penelope took a deep, slow, careful breath, trying to steady herself. She wasn't sure she was ready to broach this topic, but it was too late now. She could see the realization on Derek's face of where this conversation was going. "Derek." He refocused. "Why do you?"

He couldn't find the words to answer her at first, looking intensely into her eyes as he opened and closed his mouth like a very frustrated fish. Finally, he thought of the proper words to begin. "Babygirl, I have known since the first day that we met when you didn't whoop my ass for calling you names that you would be an amazing girl." A pleasant blush and a giggle from Penelope at this. "Instead of just being that amazing girl that I was expecting, you became the most important person in my life without even trying." Penelope stopped giggling, her mouth opening with a small gasp. "I would do absolutely anything for you, and for a while, I told myself it was because I was incredibly blessed to have such an amazing friend. But then that night when you got sho- when you got hurt… I couldn't deal with it…" For the second time that night, Penelope Garcia watched Derek Morgan slowly break down.

"When I held you in the corner of the room next door after that bastard got away… I knew," Derek managed to get out, emotion choking him slightly. "I knew that if I let you get hurt, if you ever…" He couldn't get through the rest of the words. Penelope, shocked, brought her hand to his neck as he buried his face in the top of her head, sobbing. Tears of her own traced rivers down her face, tears of disbelief and shock, but utter happiness, because…

"Does that mean you love me?" The bravery in the things she was asking was really quite a shock to Penelope; she wanted to kick herself and suck the words back into her mouth before he could process them, but it was already far too late. She tilted her head back up to watch him slowly pull his face from her hair. She refused to break her gaze, boring into his, even as he leaned his face down to rest his forehead on hers, closing his eyes. She found herself closing hers as well as his breath hit her eyelids. She waited.

"Yes," he had breathed.

"Derek! Derek!"

He snapped out of it in a second, his very pregnant wife snatching the pan out of his hands. "What?"

"The eggs were just about to burn." Penelope gave him a look. "What were you thinking about?"

"Us," he replied. "The first time I told you I love you."

Penelope's face lit up in her grin. "Really?"

Derek chuckled. "Really, really. The night our journey to this little nugget began." His hand rested on Penelope's stomach between them. They smiled at each other for a moment before Penelope playfully pushed him out of the kitchen.

"Obviously, you can't handle breakfast. Go get dressed, honey." With a kiss to her temple, Derek obediently left, his hand slowly trailing off of Penelope's stomach. His future. Their future. He couldn't wait to face it with her.