Hey, y'all! Welcome back to How Sweet It Is, though it isn't quite sweet right now. This is the third chapter (really the fifth installment) in our story, and we arrive back in the conference room with Reid, Rossi, Morgan, and a certain brightly-dressed mom-to-be. Enjoy!

Reid and Rossi still had their eyes on Morgan, waiting for him to say something. Morgan stared at Garcia in the doorway. He was still completely mute. Garcia stood there, passing her gaze from one man to the next, eyes suspicious. "Uh-huh," she finally said, a usual remark of hers. "Well, I have this folder here for JJ, and I need to know where she is. I thought she was in here, but…"

Derek swiftly stood. "I'll give it to her, baby girl. Do you need help getting back to your office?" He walked over, and the folder slipped from her hands to his.

Her eyes regarded him with the same suspicious air. "Something's going on. What?" She tried to step into the room past him, but her balance was off, and she nearly tumbled to the floor before Derek caught her and gently pulled her back upright.

"What's going on? I'm walking my wife back to her office, where she'll stay until her doctor's appointment so she doesn't hurt herself or our child. Then, I'm going to go take her to the doctor's office so she and our baby can feel better." He took her arm and started escorting her down the hallway.

They were halfway there before Penelope spoke up. "Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be going to Cincinnati today? That's what the folder's for; JJ asked for old records on a case there, and…" She gasped as the pieces fit together. "You need to leave! The plane's leaving in, like, twenty minutes!" Garcia started having a mild panic moment, urging Derek to leave her be and to get his things together. Morgan waited a full minute before cutting in.

"Garcia!" Her mouth snapped shut as they walked under the doorway of her office for the second time that day. "Baby girl, I'm not going. You need me. The baby needs me. The team can live without me for one case." Especially Hotch, his mind grumbled.

"You're not missing cases because of me!" his wife retorted, defiant. She sat in her chair, refusing to let Derek assist her. "Your ass will be on that plane with the rest of the team whether you like it or not!" She turned her back to him, furiously typing on her keyboard. "And if you're not on that plane with them, I will get another one by hacking into Delta Airlines and getting you a private one!"

Derek leaned over the back of the chair and lightly gripped her forearms. "Stop it." She turned her head to look at him, her mouth set in a firm line, but once his eyes met hers, she relented. "How well do you know me?" he asked her, not breaking his gaze.

"Better than anyone else," Penelope immediately replied, a little breathlessly.

"Then you know I'm doing this because I know it's the right thing to do," Derek said, bringing a hand to her cheek. "This baby isn't just yours. It's mine, too, and I need to take as much responsibility as you."

She closed her eyes. "Fine," she conceded with a groan. "But as soon as the doctor's appointment is over, you're going to Cincinnati with the rest of them." Derek didn't have the heart- or the bravery- to tell her that he'd been suspended until his team returned, so he didn't respond. Smiling slightly, Penelope leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Go on, get. I have work to do, and I'm sure you do, too. Last time I was in your office, you had more reports to do than JJ." Derek groaned, but kissed her temple and left, heading towards his desk. A tall stack of case files perched on the far corner, forgotten on purpose. Derek sat down in his chair, eyed the stack, and then pulled it towards him, almost losing the top few in transit. He was only halfway done reading through the first file when someone interrupted him.

"Uh, Morgan?" He looked up from the dull file.

"What, pretty boy?" he answered, looking the young man in the face.

"Do you want me to try and talk some sense into Hotch while we're in Cincinnati? He doesn't have a reason to suspend you. I read the handbook through while you were talking to Garcia. He can't just-"

"Hold up, Reid. You read the entire handbook to check? I'm flattered but that's impossible; I was only with Penelope for-" Derek checked his watch. "-five minutes."

Reid just nodded. "Yeah. Five minutes. I skipped over the publication notes. Anyways, I know it probably won't change his mind, but it's been proven that suggestion can change someone's mind as long it's presented in the proper mindset, so I think that if-"

Derek held up a hand. "Reid, I appreciate it, but we both know that nothing is going to change unless I talk to him myself."

"And even then, it's an incredibly small chance." Derek glared at him. "Sorry! Just being realistic," Reid apologized quickly. He held out his hand. "I better bring that folder to JJ. We're leaving in twelve minutes." Derek handed it over, rubbing his forehead with the other hand. Reid looked down at Derek in his chair. "Hotch will get over it. It's just going to take time, and with Hotch's alpha male personality type, it will be longer than normal. Jealousy is a natural phenomenon, and-"

"Reid. This is more than just a jealousy thing, and you know that." He held a firm gaze with the young genius. "Go catch your plane, pretty boy. Let me know how the case goes, alright?" Reid nodded and left. Derel sighed and went back to the case file. Murders seem to have occurred based on past experiences with the killer. Each is killed according to the action or reason for their death, the case file read. So does that mean Hotch is going to kill me with a wedding ring and a baby toy? Derek thought to himself, chuckling darkly under his breath. He flipped the page with an angry air, not noticing the footsteps coming from behind him. A chin settled on his shoulder.

"Hey, stranger." Penelope tipped her head closer to his, reading over his shoulder. "'Death by blow to head with baseball bat and pieces of baseball glove stuffed down throat?' Why wasn't the bat enough?" She was disgusted, as usual, with the darkest parts of the BAU's investigation.

"What are you doing out of your chair, babygirl?" asked Derek, putting the file down out of distraction for the second time in a three minute period and turning to his wife. "What's gotten into you today?"

Penelope bit her lip. "I'm restless. Don't know why. Couldn't sit still in my chair, and wheeling around in it just didn't do the trick." He gave her a look. "What? It was safe, I went slow, don't worry. Me and baby are perfectly fine." She smiled at her husband. A shadow settled over both of them.

"What are you doing out of your office, Garcia?" asked a quiet, cold, emotionless voice. The couple looked up to find Aaron Hotchner looming over them, briefcase in hand. "You don't belong out here."

Penelope looked shocked; after all, it was the first time he'd spoken to her in months, so it took her a moment to gather herself. "I was getting restless, sir. The baby's really-" His face went pale at the mention of her child.

"You know what? I don't care. Get back to your office, that's an order, or you'll be suspended, too," Hotch retorted quickly and harshly, refusing to look either of them in the eye.

Derek felt the rage in him boil over as Hotch glared at the air above their heads. "Suspended? Derek's not suspended!" Penelope said, but Morgan could barely hear her. He slammed his fists down on his desk and stood up, drawing the attention of several nearby workers.

"What the hell is your problem, Hotch? What have Penelope and I done to you that's so bad that you can't even look us in the eye anymore?" Derek was yelling, but that was beyond his concern at the moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied Hotch quietly, emotionless.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. All of us know exactly what the problem is, but you won't say anything about it. It's gone too far, Hotch! You need to stop being angry with us for this!" Hotch froze.

Penelope had no idea what to say, mainly because everything her husband was saying made no sense to her. She wasn't a profiler, and even though she observed people just as much as her husband and his team did, she knew that she would never be able to gain as much insight from someone as the team could. She assumed quickly that the team knew something she didn't about Hotch's behavior. She stepped forward, a hand on her stomach. "What's going on?" she asked quietly and calmly in the space of the momentary silence between the two men.

Hotch saw her move through of his peripheral vision, her hand on her stomach, just like what he saw in his memories so often. It was in that instant that he buckled over. An agonizing cry flew from his mouth. Derek had heard this before, the same as the day when he had found his superior bloodied atop a cruel killer who had stolen Hotch's life away. That day and today, Derek dragged him off as he let loose the same howl, just as anguished, defeated, and destroyed.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter- I promise a new one will come just as soon as I can write it! Let me know what you think!